Moncler S.p.A. (MONC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good evening. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Moncler First Half 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Elena Mariani Group Strategic Planning and Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead, madam.

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining our call tonight on Moncler Group's First Half 2026 Financial Results. Before starting, I need to remind you that this presentation may contain certain statements that are neither reported financial results nor other result of information. Any forward-looking statements are based on group current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ even materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements, many of which are beyond the ability of the group to control or estimate. Let me also highlight that given the nature of our business, interim results can be influenced by seasonal effects and therefore, cannot be taken as a proxy for full year trends or results. Finally, I remind you that the press has been invited to participate to this conference in a listen-only mode. Before starting our H1 review, I would like to hand over to Leo Rongone, our new Group Chief Executive Officer. As you all know, Leo joined the company just 3 months ago, and he would like to share some first observations and thoughts after his first few weeks into the company. Leo, over to you.

Thank you, Elena. Good evening, everyone. It's a real honor and a great privilege to speak to you today for the first time as the CEO of the Moncler Group. Before handing over to the team for the Q2 results and the Q&A session, I'd like to share a few reflections on my first 3 months within the company, an important time for me of the listening, learning and meeting so many talented individuals across the organization from quarters to our regional offices from our stores to our production [indiscernible]. These initial months have been critical to gain a deep understanding of the group to shape my perspective and to identify where we can continue to evolve and where we will focus our energy from now on. You know I have admired Moncler from the outside for many years, has always had great respect from what Remo Ruffini and his team have built over the years. Now experiencing the company from the inside my amination as we increase even more. What I've found since joining the group is truly remarkable. An organization that perfectly combines outstanding creativity with strong operational discipline. You will know is the rare balance. And to me, one of the key reasons behind the enduring success of this group I've also been impressed by the uncompromising commitment to product excellence, quality, meticulous attention to details and a constant drive for improvement are not simply processes here, they are deeply rooted in the culture of the company. There is something else. The way we tell our stories, in an industry that's becoming even more crowded and noisy, our communication is uptime and engaging. We are able to make our voice heard to build genuine and lasting connections with our communities. This unique capability is a real competitive advantage. Most importantly, however, is the people who have really inspired me. Across every function and every region, I have found a strong sense of ownership, a deep commitment to excellence and a true passion. I've also met a solid leadership team that has built two of the most iconic and desirable luxury brands. This is an asset it value, and I'm fully committed to preserving and strengthening. Looking ahead, I see exciting opportunities for the group. As far as Moncler is concerned, our strategic priorities are clear: building relevancy in regions where we have great potential, cultivating a dialogue with our customers across all seasons and unlocking the full potential of our 3 brand dimensions you are already familiar with, collection, [indiscernible] and Genius. The focus now is on a further step-up in execution and making sure each of these priorities translate into tangible and consistent results over time. To do so, we will explore new ways of pushing creative and technical boundaries. Innovation in materials, for example, will be key to embody the true value of the mountain throughout the entire year, beyond the single season and to elevate our product experience, the mountains encourage while being intentional leading and a deep human connection, something we deeply rooted in our values and identity. Moreover, there is a significant potential to further expand the brand's legitimity beyond the core order category. Always respecting our brand DNA. Talking about Stone Island, have found a brand with an exceptionally strong identity, a unique culture innovation and one of the most authentic and engaged communities in the luxury sector. The foundation that has been built over these past years are very solid and the progress we are seeing today reflects disciplined execution of a clear long-term strategy. Looking at the future, we will continue to focus on product research strengthened the pot of our global distribution and invest in consistent culturally relevant brand communication. By doing so, we will deepen our relationship with our loyal community while introducing Stone Island for a new generation of clients around the world. For both brands, the way we engage with our clients represent a clear opportunity. Over the years, we have built a strong platform and the power saleability to reach and inspire wide audiences. Now we want to translate this strength into even more direct more frequent and more personal interaction with our VAC, building stronger relationship with them over time. To conclude, these first months have only reinforced my belief that many more remarkable chapter of this group story has yet to be written. And I'm deeply honored that driving them alongside Remo. His vision leadership has been the driving force behind the Moncler extraordinary journey so far. Together within an [indiscernible] management team, we will keep working with a long-term perspective. committed to helping this group reach its full potential, always guided by the health and desirability of our brands. I'm very excited by the journey had, and I look forward to meeting many of you in person over the coming quarters when there will be the opportunity to share more on my perspective. But tonight, we are here to talk about our Q2 results. So now let me hand over to Elena, Gino and Luciano for the H1 review and the Q&A session. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Leo. For our audience, I mean, of course, there will be the opportunity to meet and get to know Leo in the coming quarters. and to have corporate discussions with him. But tonight, we are here to talk about our Q2 results. So I will now move on to host our H1 results presentation. and Q&A session, of course, together with Luciano Santel, Chief Corporate and Supply Officer; and Gino Fisanotti, Chief Brand Officer. Before handing it over to Gino and Luciano, let me just present the key highlights of today's results on Page 4. Group revenues in the first half of the year were EUR 1.29 billion, up 9% at constant FX. In the second quarter, group revenues were up 5% at constant effects [indiscernible] MoCA brands accounting for 84% of the group's H1 turnover was up 9% in H1 and 3% in Q2. The [indiscernible] brands accounting for 16% of the group's H1 turnover was up both in H1 and in Q2. In the first half of the year, the group also reached an EBIT of EUR 254 million with a margin of 19%. Net result was EUR 165 million with a 12.8% margin, and our net cash position at the end of June exceeded EUR 1.1 billion. Let me now hand it over to Gino for the key highlights of the Moncler brands in the second quarter. Gino, over to you.

Okay. Thanks, Leo, Elena, ciao. Good afternoon, night to everyone connected. Before we go into the business of the presentation with the channel, I just wanted to take a second to share a bit of the strength we are seeing within the running the very first 6 months of the year. I think we we've seen very robust results, not only in terms of the execution and the quality of the work that we were able the teams to put out there, but equally robust in terms of the global reach and impact, the community engagement we saw and more importantly, the organic brand interest in Moncler brand. In this case, I think the first 6 months were led by some very special and some first-ever executions for the Moncler brand. I have to say that the fee-driven forces over the last 6 years have been, of course, Aspen with a show of renewable. But then our return into the Winter Olympics was a very special moment for the brand with the whole story. And then last one least something that we'll start covering now in detail our first formal spring/summer end-to-end work. So if we go to the next slide, that I think is Slide #5. We can start talking about our official first end-to-end work against spring/summer. I think when I say end to end, and this is something we use a lot internally. It's about meaning that we connect all the different consumer touch mends under one single effort and narrative from product to retail, from marketing to digital platforms, from wholesale to e-commerce, and even from tape media to traditional media and so on. So this is the first time we officially wanted to bring something like this and I know this is a conversation. We have so many systems with all of you. And hopefully, you were able to see what was done in the last few weeks. This spring summer campaign, to be honest many more than just a seasonal effort for us. This represents a kickoff of a long-term commitment that we have as a brand, and we strongly believe that this kickoff means for us the opportunity to become relevant and meaningful across the entire year. Then, of course, this campaign was called Have a [ puffy ] Summer, but for us, Have a Puffy Summer means some are the one way. We believe that we with this campaign, we're able to create a unique opportunity for the brand to tackle this very interesting transition that happened between the spring to summer through a solution that we believe is a system of rest, which are fully expressed through the power of layering that we showcased in the campaign and, of course, through the retail experience. This network push a different home for the brand while remaining outride to who we are, despite our strong heritage and of course, DNA each winter. From very impactful executions across media pop-ups in Europe or Asia, all the way down to countless press coverage, editorials and digital and retail execution. This was just our very first season and efforts that we'll keep building on the back of this very, very important first step. To be honest, and to share with you, and I'm sure we'll go into details later in the Q&A., we are happy to see the level of results we were able to achieve during this period we're able to experience not only a strong global reach at a global scale, but more importantly, great results in some big consumer and community engagement on top of the performance of the collection itself. Last but not the least we're equally excited about the learnings we were able to capture the season to keep building even stronger plans and execution towards next spring season and the ones to come. So with that, I'm happy to go for into the next slide that has other highlights for Q2. First of all, on the back of the special season and we discussed about spring/summer for Moncler, of course, we did our first efforts as well as spring/summer around Grenoble, and if you think about renewable, I always think we discussed about this that we said of this very important run I mentioned just a few years ago. And even our first spring/summer product started very shy less than 2 years ago. So to be honest, I think we are very excited to see the acceptance and the global acceptance that this collection is having the performance of this dimension of the brand is having. And of course, the opportunity for us to keep reaching an inviting new and more customers into the brand. Then following into the next part of the last few weeks, of course, we just launched our pre-fall '26 for Moncler production. And we introduced this collection of setting what we call the language of deals. Behind this collection, and this is the great attention we pay not only to the layering and the solutions that we are going to, again, in this case, from the transition from summer into fall. Last but not least, a few weeks ago, we hosted a Moncler global headquarters, a new season of Studio Shanti. For those who don't remember what it is, to set is our annual platform where we present are coming footwear collection to media editors, celebrities and people from the sneaker culture and beyond. I have to say that despite I think I repeat myself that we don't want to become a footwear-led company. I think we're happy with the calculated efforts regarding this caster. We are really happy with the progress we are making in terms of this dimension of footwear decision introducing new styles like the [indiscernible], sorry. and especially new products and collaboration that creates some press coverage before launch like the Clarks to Grid or some of the fragment collaborations that are about to come on top of new innovations like the [indiscernible], a new concept that will be launched in 2027. Sorry, one more thing. I got one more. I said last on these. But one final thing for me to share with you all is I'm going to take the opportunity to thank, of course, the entire motor family for the app was made, but we were -- we are extremely proud to share with you that Moncler was able to win the very first Grand Prix Award at Cannes festival same for other recognitions like Gold and the [indiscernible] as a great testament to the work done behind Warmer Together campaign that we launched a few months ago featuring Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Clearly, we're not just happy because of the award or the recognition itself. But as we mentioned many times to each of you in the past, we strongly believe that we have a brand in the power of storytelling and by share our values on in a way that can create emotional connection and long last in relation with our customers out there, something that I think Leo just mentioned a second ago. I think when we get the news and we learn about this, I think Remo Ruffini said that advertising come and go, but emotional connections and creativity remains forever, and we strongly believe that, that's the opportunity to keep doing season after season. So that's all from my side. Of course, we'll talk later. I will pass it to Luciano to go into the next part of the presentation. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Gino and good afternoon and good morning everybody. Thank you for attending our call today. We are now at Page 6, where let me spend a few more Page 7, sorry, where we report some highlights of Stone Island marketing initiatives One is the no seasons project that was represented during the brand design week featuring iconic outerwear item designed in the early '80s in shifts of the most iconic fabrics of Boston Ireland, all of them in the same on. Second activity is about the [indiscernible] collaboration with the new balance, the visit in the world of football and featuring 2 professional football players, Andre, with Brazil and [indiscernible] playing for England. Last, still very important project presented at the end of June. That is called the community as a form of research and featuring the World Champion table Danish player using wearing a pinnacle item of the full winter collection. Okay. Let's move now to Page 8 where we report our results for Moncler brand revenues by geography. In the second quarter, multibrand grew 3% positive and a good growth rate, not good as much as in the first quarter, but still something we are happy with, with a very strong contribution of Asian market, plus 12%, good contribution of American 4% and a weaker softer Europe EMEA region down 8%, mostly due to a softer tourism flows, particularly from Asia, but also from Americas and also still with a very weak online performance. Americas, the plus percent represent is a weighted average of in the direct channel that is higher, slightly higher than the 4%. And this is something important light because, of course, that the channel is a very important approach. Let's move now to next page, Page 9, where we report the same revenues of Moncler brand by channel. Both [indiscernible] grew 3% in the quarter. And with the comp store sales in the first half of the year, of 7%. Again, the most channels and mostly the DTC channel was affected mostly in Europe by the weaker tourism loan. [indiscernible], was positive first quarter is positive in the second quarter, better than what we originally expected, also thanks to the good reorders coming from the wholesale market, which represent evidence a good sellout of our sale network. Okay. Let's go now to Page 10, where we report Stone Island revenues by geography. On Ireland, as Elena just said, for the fourth quarter in a row reports double-digit growth rate of 11%. Good growth would grow in all the different regions, particularly strong in Asia, very, very strong in America, of course, on a smaller base, but still very, very encouraging our project in the future and a weaker but still positive growth in Europe. Asia, of course, includes APAC and China very good. And Japan and Korea both very, very, very strong. You may remember that Korea until last year was not party good, but now I mean also in the first quarter, is doing very well and, of course, much better than in the past Okay. Let's move now to Page 11, still revenues to value revenues by channel. Again, behind the average growth rate of 11%, a very nice remarkable and encouraging 15% in the DTC channel that, of course, is particularly important and encouraging for the management team and a good solid in the wholesale channel. Next page, Page 12, we report our retail network for both brands. We opened stores in the quarter for Moncler, one in Monterrey, one in Vancouver acres, and the shared the one in the airport of Osaka Airport. Okay. Let's move now to Page 13, where we report as usual, our profit and loss for the first half of the year. an anticipated some important numbers. Of course, the top line, we already gave you some comments, a total of EUR 1.29 billion. we were slightly below EUR 1 billion in gross profit, EUR 995 million with 77.2% better than last year, slightly better due to a positive channel mix, a very good contribution of selling expenses below last year and a good contribution of GLA that has been affected by one-off EUR 8 million related to the new governance structure, EUR 8 million in the first half of the year that will be at the end of the year, less or slightly less EUR 10 million. So most of this one-off has been reported in the first half of the year. Marketing expenses in line with last year, 9.5% with our usual expectation we didn't change of a 7% contribution of our marketing budget on the year-end. At today, an operating margin better than the 18.3% reported last year. Just a comment on the net financial expenses that are higher than last year due to higher interest basis on these liabilities. At the end, the group net result 12.8%, slightly better than [indiscernible]. Okay. Let's move now to Page 14, where we report net CapEx, EUR 89 million with the distribution between infrastructure and the distribution in line with last year, slightly higher in percent of revenues, but still with -- I mean, with an expectation for this year to go back to incidents by the year-end. To go back because last year, due to some important investments we made last year, the incidence was closer as you see 6.9%. So many projects on the distribution side, including the upcoming new opening of our store in New York is revenue, but also many projects on our infrastructure. Okay. Let's move now to Page 15. I where we report net working capital at 10% higher than last year due to a higher inventory level due to strategic decision in investing in some strategic raw materials, particularly in down for several different reasons. But everything under strict control, nothing to highlight. And still with a plan for the year-end to go back to substantially in line with what we reported last year, that was 9.7%. Net financial position at Page 16. Okay, EUR 1.12 billion at the end of June as compared to the EUR 981 million last year, end of June last year. Just comment about our liabilities that are equal to EUR 1.19 billion as compared with EUR 1.19 billion last year. Okay. Let's go briefly to Page 18, where we report a cash flow statement. I do make a comment on balance sheet. But of course, please if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask cash flow statement, the free cash flow, very good, much better than last year, EUR 34 million versus EUR 15 million last year, mostly due to the better operating margin, better EBIT than last year. Important to highlight that net cash flow was negative, but after the payment of EUR 374 million of dividends. Okay. So we are done with the presentation now. Thank you for your attention and ready to answer your questions.

Yes. We will now hand it over to the operator for your questions. I kindly ask you to speak to a maximum of two questions per person. Operator, you can now open the Q&A line. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]. First question is from Natasha Bonnet, Morgan Stanley.

The first one would be, could you please give us some color on the performances by cluster for the Moncler brand but also in terms of volume price mix able pricing was low single digit in Q2. And then the second one, has -- did you see any difference in trends throughout the quarter per month? And anything you can give us on current trends you've seen so far? What's the mood like in Q3 for these first few weeks.

Okay. Thank you for your question. About the cluster, cluster cost nationalities. I can tell you that Chinese and Americas were positive. Koreans and Japanese rates and Europe, of course, negative single-digit about the contribution of price volume in the second quarter, pricing was predominant volumes were flat issues likely negative in the second quarter, in the first quarter. As you may remember, they were positive about the second quarter, we reported a slightly negative volumes Something about the okay. The quarter has been a good not great, but a good, very good in the first 2 months of the quarter. Honestly, April and May were both a very good month of the quarter. June softer. Much softer due to an evident and a clear decline in traffic in all the different regions. Something we observed in June was a behavior of the customers of people that is more and more they buy now well now. I mean this is something different from the past that we started seeing a couple of years ago. Last year and this year, even higher than last year. That, of course, implies a little bit delay in purchasing of the following season. On the other hand, the good news, not visible in the results, but strategically very good for us for the management team is that in all the 3 months of the quarter, equally April, May, but also June, the 3 summer collection performed well performed very well. Of course, the very good performance of summer collection in June was not enough to offset the decline in the pointer collection. But again, it is still a very good and [indiscernible] because, as you know, as you said, I mean, the effort and the investment we made for this collection was only the first but a very important set of the non-ore project that, of course, we see Moncler more intentionally, even more [indiscernible] next year. Something I said during the presentation that, of course, impacted the slowdown in traffic, most in evident significant decline to this that, of course, impacted euro EMEA more than the other region. But of course, this an explanation, not only of the softer results in a year, but also of the software results overall. And this is something we saw again mostly in June. Remember that our business historically with the tourist was still is very important. In the second quarter, mostly in the quarter, much less in Q4 and Q1. But this year, even more than last year, we faced a decline in tourism coming from Asia and from America to Europe.

Next question is from Anna-Laure Bismuth, HSBC.

My first question is on the speed between space and like-for-like in Q2, would it be possible to have an indication of what was the space contribution in Q2? And how should we think about it in the second half of the year and full year? And then my second question is about the U.S. So we have seen strong performance across the few companies that have already reported is slightly [indiscernible]. Is it only linked to the normal seasonality of the business and all the campaign was received the stringer campaign was used in the U.S.? And maybe a last one, still be the U.S. So when you have the big flagship company in New York in September, and even we haven't had in [indiscernible] since October 2024. Should we expect a genome that opening or a different concept that you will deploy around that? Thank you very much

Okay. Thank you for your question. First question, I mean, of course, you know that we don't report this information by quarter not because, I mean, we have something to hide, but because the space contribution in 1 quarter is honestly not particularly meaningful I can tell you that for the year-end, we plan for this year in line with the water we said, and I'm sure you remember, in about a 4% space contribution. Of course, in the quarter was slightly below. But again, nothing particularly important honestly. And about the performance in America, again, I wanted to highlight that we report, of course, is the weighted average between wholesale and that needless to say, most changes driven by our deliveries plan. Of course, in America, there is a, I will say, business is with the department stores with the [indiscernible] and now is out of the [indiscernible], but I mean no study shot. Of course, we delivered less than what we could deliver. But what is very important to night is that the DTC business was higher than that. So overall, I don't know. I mean I do know, but I mean it's meaningless to compare Moncler with other brands that for sure have become more relevant in that region the [indiscernible] Moncler is now. But in any event, I can tell you that our growth rate in North America and in the U.S. specifically, is something we are happy with and encouraging to keep investing in that country.

What Luciano said, I think we discussed it probably last few calls as well about the journey, the brand is into the U.S., right? So I think we can even correlate this to probably the last 2 calls we have I think the chance that we are happy with the results we have. That said, I think it's important to keep reminding ourselves that this journey in terms of the level of maturity and awareness that we have in the U.S. is very different from what we have in Europe and in Asia. Therefore, we keep seeing this as the opportunity and the challenge in terms of execution. I will say, you mentioned something about -- specifically about spring summer or the campaign. I think I will reinforce what we kind of said, we are happy. I think things work well. For us, of course, sometimes we expect more to go to into that potential. I think as we discussed at the beginning of the year, we just come at the first 3 months of the year with execution we did in Aspen, the opening of the new [indiscernible] store. And of course, we're going to September when we'll open [indiscernible] and Moncler's biggest store in the world. Of course, the expectation here is, again, building blocks towards that opportunity to unlock that market. Again, we don't believe in today's world, that there's a silver bullet that will unlock everything in one go. I think what we're doing right now is, of course, working heavily in terms of leveraging the opening of the store in the context of something that is an offense altogether for the U.S. across all the different touch points. So in a nutshell, I think I could understand more or less some comments about these type of genius or something. Again, we will open this call, as I mentioned before, in September. We are working to that for a few months now. We are excited about what you come. But personally, I would say on behalf of the team, we're equally excited about the journey we're embarking into and something we started on the back of last year, beginning of this year. Of course, results are positive. We expect more. We all want more, but we have to do the work and build a stronger foundation and will come as a consequence season of the season.

Next question is from Thomas Chauvet, Citi. Next question is from Luca Solca, Bernstein.

Maybe a stupid question, but you do have a global retail network. And I would like you to maybe help me understand how is it that tourists not coming to Europe caused you a dent in revenue growth? How come that these tourists cannot be recaptured elsewhere in Asia or in America? Is it because maybe they exploit the big geographic price differences and so that you continue to have a significant price gap between Europe and Asia? I wonder. My second question, given that we have the pleasure of having Leo on the call, I was wondering if Leo after 3 months on top of appreciating the great strengths that the Moncler Group has, if you identified any specific areas where you could potentially bring your experience and improve how the company performs? And which would be these areas?

Luca, your first question is very good and right question. Actually, I may have been not precise, but my comment about tourism flow was mainly related to Europe, to explain the soft performance of Europe that's unfortunately something we have been facing for a while because also previous quarters were not particularly good for Europe. But you are right, I think that people that did not come to Europe purchased in their local markets. But I think that this is also the reason why Asia was so good, because plus 12%, honestly, I believe it is quite remarkable. It's not the over 20% of the first quarter, but I think that nobody expected to replicate that, let me say, unusual number due to the Chinese New Year, whatever. So 12%, mostly driven again by China, Korea and, to a lower extent, but still positive single digit, by Japan. And the same for the U.S. So again, you are right, I mean, in part because, of course, it's difficult to provide a scientific answer. But I think you are right.

And on the -- yes, on the second question, I mean, of course, Leo will share some thoughts. Clearly, there will be then look at dedicated opportunities in the coming quarters to meet him and discuss all these broader topics with the time and attention that they deserve. So here tonight, we will focus on Q2. But Leo, over to you for some thoughts.

Yes, of course, I can share a bit of color, and thank you for the question, Luca. So as was mentioned before, together with extraordinary abilities that are very clear in this group, I've also noticed a few opportunities we're going to develop. So based on your question, I'm going to stick to your curiosity, let's say, on the clients. And I would say that for sure, Moncler clients, let's say, frequently rank among top spenders in other brands in the luxury industry. And we have demonstrated in the past years to be able to talk to large audiences, wide audiences. So a clear opportunity that I see and, for sure, would be a key focus starting for both brands on this is that we can translate this ability into something which is more curated, let's say, allowing this trend into more direct, more frequent personal interactions with our VICs. I'm sure that this dedication to key clients will further nurture our business globally, especially in those countries we have -- where we see today high potential to express our business.

Next question is from Daria Nasledysheva, Bank of America.

This is Daria from Bank of America. Thank you for taking my questions; I have 2. First one would be on profitability with 19% EBIT margin in 1H and actually 60 basis points higher excluding the one-off. Could you please share any comment on margin outlook for the full year considering the cost control that you have exhibited? Consensus currently models just 10 basis points improvement on the year. And my second one, sorry for this question, but can I please quickly follow up on the current trading? You have very helpfully answered on the shape of the quarter. Should we assume June trends continuing into July? Or has there been any sort of inflection since?

Thank you, Daria, for your question about the profitability I'm sorry, but our usual answer is that we don't know, but simply because operating profitability is totally mostly dependent and driven by the top line, which is difficult to predict. Of course, first half of the year, profitability was good for 2 main reasons. One is what you said, because, I mean, our attention to cost control is quite high. And we tend and we all work to become more and more efficient in everything we do. But the other important point is that the top line in the second quarter was fairly good, but it was much better and very good in the first quarter; that also is much more relevant than the second quarter. So this is what made profitability -- operating profitability very good, but as you pointed out, taking out the one-off would have been significantly higher than last year. What may it be for the year-end is difficult to say. Of course, as you know, we have not a target, but an ambition, a goal to protect our profitability that over the past years has been in the region of 29%, 29-plus percent. And this is still our ambition. But honestly, difficult to predict now what may be. It will totally depend again on the top line in the second half of the year that, of course, needless to tell you is the most important half of the year. About the current trading, I mean, nothing to highlight more than what I said. June was softer than the first 2 months of the quarter. July, I mean, we have only 2 weeks behind us. I mean beginning was in line with June, and then a little bit better. But please don't make me comment business results of yesterday or the current trend of today because it will be totally, totally meaningless. Again, from the qualitative point of view, we see, and let me say again, there are 2 factors. One is negative for the result of this period of the year, that is the buy now, wear now approach behavior of people, of customers. But the other that is very positive, because strategically it is extremely important for the brand and for the future and for our project, is the very good performance in April, May, June, and also for what it was the first 2 weeks of July of our spring/summer collection. So this is something that, sorry to say it again, but it is something we are very happy with, okay?

Next question is from Oriana Cardani, Intesa Sanpaolo.

The first one concerns the share of new customers within the overall customer base. What percentage of the total did new customer represent for Moncler and the Stone Island in the first half of the year? Should the strong momentum for Stone Island be attributed to the acquisition of new customers or to an increase in the value of existing customers? And the second question is on sales contribution and price effect. Could you already provide some guidance regarding these 2 drivers for 2027 in particular? What are your expectations regarding the price increases for next year?

Oriana, on your first question about customers, I didn't get it if you were asking specifically about Stone Island or both brands. Maybe I can just give you some color on Moncler. I think this is a figure that we provide typically on a yearly basis. We don't give Q1, H1. But what we have been seeing over the past few years, and it's been pretty stable, is that about 50% of our revenues are coming from new customers. About 50% of our revenues is coming from existing customers that are already loyal to the brand. From the point of view of numbers, we are slightly more skewed towards new customers. It's about 60-40, 60% new, 40% existing. Of course, this means that the loyal customers, the existing ones, are spending a little bit more. But the share of revenues is equally split. And Gino, maybe you want to add.

No, I think, Oriana, the only color commentary there is beyond the factual data that I shared with you, of course, the opportunity regarding new customers around spring/summer is a real opportunity. I think as we were mentioning before, this is something that, as a reminder, this spring/summer was executed deeply in a few doors of our entire network. We will keep increasing this. This is driving a new interest and the new customers into the brand. So spring/summer, again, if you were referring to this Q2, we have good reception from existing clients. But of course, it's allowing us to start capturing new demand and new clients into the brand and even some specifics that hopefully we'll start sharing later about gender behavior, et cetera, regarding the product proposition we have around spring/summer.

And on Stone Island, I mean, as you can see from our numbers, it's a very nice balance between capturing new customers and also keep cultivating our loyal familia. I think that for Stone, this is very consistent with the strategy that we have. So keep a very strong connection with our loyal audience, but also adding new and recruiting new customers into the brand. And on this, I mean, results, as you know, are very organic. All the retail KPIs on Stone Island are positive, very encouragingly. It's a very high-quality growth coming from just the underlying development of the brand. As you know, there is no space. And so we are seeing both type of customers buying into the brand.

And Oriana, about your question about expectation on pricing, I understand that you are talking about Moncler. Moncler, for 2027, honestly, it's quite premature and early to give you a precise number. I can tell you as a rough indication that we expect space to be still in the region of 4% and the pricing based on the current production cost increase and the current level of currencies, of course, should remain low to mid-single digit. Of course, any more precise indication will be provided in the next future when we have a better understanding of what may happen next year.

Next question is from Melania Grippo, BNP Paribas.

This is Melania Grippo from BNP Paribas. Congratulations to Mr. Rongone on your appointment. So my first question is on online. I understand this is performing a little bit weak, and I remember it was also the case in Q1. I mean anything -- is there anything specific happening to this channel? Is there anything that you can say around it? And my other question is on the spring/summer collection. I actually had the opportunity to visit some of your stores in the past week. And it seems to me that, yes, there were not too many products that you could -- that would be worn immediately. So I was wondering whether you intend to change the cadence of the deliveries to give more floor space to spring/summer products.

I think on the first on online, just I think Luciano mentioned a bit this before, but I think the reality of the picture of online, I will almost tell it in 2 halves. I think we have a weaker performance in Europe from the beginning of the year. So this is something we saw in Q1 and Q2, while the other part of -- or the other regions have been performing in par or, even in some cases, better than physical retail. So I think this is a bit of the context. I think we have a good performance in the U.S., in the Americas, solid performance in all the different Asian markets. I think in Europe, specifically, we are seeing a bit of a softer demand and a bit of a softer traffic, while the other regions is exactly the opposite. So right now, as you can imagine, we're working through those details. We understand that there's opportunity for us to do better in certain markets within Europe. But again, I will say the overall picture is almost 2 halves. It's Europe and the rest of the world with very disparate performances between Europe and the rest. Regarding spring/summer, I think it's a great question. And I think I want to go back to a few comments we make at the beginning. This spring/summer for us was, as I mentioned before, the first ever, right, effort. And I think the other important reminder is when we execute this initiative, we literally use a small percentage of our retail network to fully deploy the collection and everything we have done around summer because we really wanted to learn about this, as I mentioned before, was the very first step. In some cases, we found out that some of the styles and the new products were performing quickly pretty well, better than we were expecting. And then, of course, I think this is, as you mentioned before, I think as you were going into June, we're already having pre-fall and in some of the stores, they started to have a more fall type of assortment versus a bit more of a spring/summer. I think as you mentioned before, this is -- what I mentioned today, we are taking the learnings of this spring/summer as we go to next year as well. One of the areas we're focusing more is to make sure that our offering will be not only relevant as we believe we have the product, but even extended to make sure that we can cover the season on entirely and not having a specific push on the very beginning of the season and then run back into old behavior. So again, take it as we said at the beginning, we are happy. At the same time, we are the first one to know that we have tons to do and tons to improve, and this is part of the process.

Next question is from Erwan Rambourg, Goldman Sachs.

Welcome to Leo Rongone and thanks for your enthusiasm. So 2 questions on my side. First, given the magnitude of the New York opening and potential events around it, maybe, Luciano, can you mention what influence it has? Will it be visible on the cost base? And do you have any other major openings that are planned in H2 that could weigh on the cost base? And then secondly, can you talk maybe about Korea, South Korea, how relevant it is in terms of Asia growth given the wealth creation we've seen recently? What is the weight of Korea? Is it relevant? Is it a real standout? Or is the growth in Asia really broad-based?

Starting from Korea. Korea represents about 10% of our business overall. It is still growing very nicely. Remember that Korea has been very strong for Moncler since many, many years ago, even during COVID. Korea was the only region that was growing and kept growing in 2020, 2021. And so again, last year, there was some kind of slowdown in Korea, but this year is still growing, with very, very high sales density. But again, I'm saying that because we keep growing, but of course, we start -- we have a base of comparison that is quite important. About New York Fifth Avenue cost impact, let me see if I understand the question because, of course, there will be an important cost impact associated with the cost of the store, with the rent and with the cost of people that will operate that store. We don't disclose the cost, but let me say again that, for sure, it is an important cost. Of course, what we expect from that store is to perform very well. This may not be 100% the case in the first 3 months after opening of 2026. But of course, we have great expectations for that store in the next years. But please tell me if I understood correctly your question.

No, I was wondering if it had an impact in terms of the weight of H1 versus H2 in terms of your cost base relative to a normal year. I was also wondering if you had other big projects that were lined up for H2 outside of this New York opening.

Yes. So there are other projects, but for sure, this is the most important one. Of course, all the expenses associated with New York as well as all the stores are reported in selling expenses. And so again, it will depend how much will be the top line and, as a result, how much will be the productivity of the store. There might be some dilution, maybe, but I don't know, honestly. But nothing I need to highlight right now because I don't know. Also, again, I expect the first weeks after opening to be good, I hope. But for sure, not as much as we expect the store to perform after 1 year and after 2 years, okay?

Next question is from Charles-Louis Scotti, Kepler.

I have 2. The first one on Stone Island, which delivered a very strong performance in the first half. Could you please elaborate on what explains the relative underperformance in EMEA? I would assume the brand is less exposed to tourist flows than Moncler. And also now that the wholesale to retail transition has largely been completed and the brand momentum appears particularly strong, does this give you greater confidence to accelerate store openings in line with the ambitions you initially outlined at your Capital Market Day a few years ago? And secondly, on licensing, if I'm not mistaken, your fragrance licensing agreement with Interparfums expires in December this year. There is an option to extend it for another 5 years. Has the decision already been made regarding the renewal? And more broadly, would you consider entering into a long-term licensing agreement with a bigger player such as L'Oreal, for example, and allocating maybe a less selective distribution strategy in order to build a much larger beauty business as many of your peers have done?

About Stone Island, Stone performance was very good. To your point, in Europe, less than in other regions, for sure. But I mean, Europe for sure at this time, we discussed a lot about Moncler, but I think for all the brands, Europe right now is not particularly a strong region. There is a slowdown in demand. And this is what makes the growth rate of Stone Island good but not strong, not as much as in other regions. Also in the region, in Europe, there is a very important relevant wholesale business that is under review, under, let me say, scrutiny because we keep selecting that channel, we keep selecting the best wholesale doors, and of course, this implies a negative impact in terms of wholesale doors. But I mean, overall, the organic growth even in Europe is good, is very good. Talking about the future and how much the current momentum may imply, let me say, a distribution growth over the next years. I believe that, I mean, for the time being, to the best of our knowledge, we don't have very important plans of new openings for 2027. And so our approach, our strategic approach, will still be to make our channel, that channel to grow organically. But of course, maybe next year, during next year and, hopefully, the year after, we may start to open still on a selective basis some additional stores. But we want first to make sure that the brand achieves a relevant top line and significant sales diversity. Other question is?

Yes. Charles-Louis, I think shortly, I think, yes, it's true, our license expired regarding fragrances. I think we decided together to put a pause for a second and decide our next step. And I think this is the process we are in right now in full transparency. And I think for us, as a brand always is, in this case, is being extremely selective in terms of the strategy we have and try to make sure that we have a relevant proposition at the highest level in the market. So more to come, but thank you for the question. We're in the process of reevaluating the best next step forward. Thank you.

Next question is from Carole Madjo, Barclays.

A couple of questions from me as well, please. The first one on spring/summer. Can you come back on how much of your offering in store in Q2 was spring/summer compared to being your classic fall/winter offering? And how should we think about the split evolving in the year to come? Second question, similar question, still on the spring/summer. Any comment on the economics of the spring/summer versus fall/winter in terms of basket size, sales density? Anything to keep in mind here around that? And last quick question. To come back on your comment on see now, buy now, what do you think is the reason behind this trend? Have you seen it across all the key markets? Or is it maybe a bit more in place in Europe where there was really hot weather in June? So any comment around this see now, buy now trend and how long do you think it can last going forward? Could be interesting.