Watches of Switzerland Group plc (WOSG) Q4 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

So morning everyone and welcome to the presentation of our results for fiscal year 24. Our agenda is an update from myself for the group, then David Hurley for the US, Craig Bolton for the UK, Anders Romberg our CFO will go through fiscal year 24 results and fiscal year 25 guidance. I will then present an update on our 25-28 long-range plan and we will then open for your questions. The Watches of Switzerland group operates in great product categories. The luxury watch market, which is more than 90% Swiss, is robust, resilient, with a long-term focus on product quality and innovation. Demand for Swiss luxury watches exceeds supply for key brands, and consumers often wait patiently for their chosen timepiece, in many cases for years. The market was impacted by the pandemic. 2020 was impacted by lockdowns. Then two years of unusually high growth for luxury watches and jewellery. And since mid-2022, the markets have adjusted to this high growth and normalised. Looking at this volatile period in total, the luxury watch market has been strong, as seen with average growth for the UK of 6.3% compounded per annum from 2019, and that is despite the loss of tourism in the UK. And in the US, average market growth has been 14.6%, evidencing the underdevelopment and potential of this market. A further significant factor in the UK in FY24 has been the impact of cumulative price increases from the brands, due mainly to the strong Swiss franc, at a time of high interest rates and cost inflation. This resulted in a perceived affordability gap and a drop in volume with the aspirational consumer segment. We are encouraged that brands have responded to this development through product introductions with product affordability and product appeal. The Watches of Switzerland model focusing o...