Watches of Switzerland Group plc (WOSG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our webcast and call on the results of the Watches of Switzerland group for the half year to October 23. We have previously reported Q2 and H1 revenues to the market, and we've presented the status of the company and plans for our group with our LRP. And therefore, this presentation is reasonably concise, allowing more time for Q&A. Our agenda this morning, I'll present an overview of the group's performance, Anders Romberg, our CFO, will then present the financials. Then we will present a summary of our LRP headlines and numbers together, following which we'll open the lines for Q&A. We are very pleased with our strong first half performance in the UK and the US, despite a challenging economic environment. Group revenue growth of 2% at constant currency, flat at reported rates. Strong US revenue growth of plus 11% at constant currency. Adjusted EBITDA of $94 million was 8% down at constant currency, 10% at reported rates. EBIT of 73 million, achieving a margin of 9.6%, which was down 170 bps versus last year, due predominantly to a reduction in net margin for product mix and interest-free credit costs. Net cash of 60 million compares to 26 million borrowing at half one last year, with cash conversion of 60%, 700 bps higher than last year. We've now completed the acquisition of the luxury showrooms from Ernest Jones. These stores had a combined LTM sales of around 45 million pounds. We have successfully launched Rolex certified pre-owned in both the UK and the US. We communicated our LRP through to FY28 on the 7th of November. Our FY28 goals in the LRP represent a more than doubling of our sales and profits. Looking here at the sales mix in more detail, the rapid growth of our US business means that US sales and a half ar...