Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
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| The full impact of a wide range of initiatives identified will accrue over the coming quarters and will drive a lasting improvement in our operating performance |
| So next to that plus consolidation that's happening in the market in this time of the season, at this time, we're very confident that we get out of this with a stronger setup and even more opportunity ahead for us to continue to build our business |
| And also second point, like, if you look through this, in the midterm, right, the megatrends that drive the consumer behavior that drive eventually the growth of our markets into segments that we're operating in, are very positive and they're continuously to be positive |
| We're very confident while we continue to execute against the plans that we laid out that the results that we showed today will improve already in H1, as Alex alluded to as well |
| Taking the UK, as an example, we have seen a boom in e-bike sales from pre-COVID levels, sizable growth in selling prices of bikes throughout the market, and a sustained uptick in activity with average daily bike participation currently at 1.4x the March 2022 levels |
| The company now has a clean order book for fiscal year ‘24 and its position to take advantage of the overstocking market, and favorably manage our intake margin |
| With this additional investment, the business is well positioned to execute against our organic and inorganic ambitions in the coming years |
| As Stephan mentioned earlier, an improving market and economic picture, as well as our solidified financial footing, leave us encouraged that our performance in the back half of the year will compare favorably to H1 |
| Across our core markets, we see a meaningful advantage in profit contribution and driving orders from these geographies will best position us for return to profitability |
| So we're starting to see the green shoots in terms of gross margin improvements, and we anticipate that to continue into next year |
| Net average order value grew 4% due to improved product mix and the relative strength of the e-bike category, thanks in part to improved supply chain environment |
| These measures range from a much tighter inventory management program to reduce our dependency on pre-orders and improve our inbound flexibility to tweaking our commercial offering by optimizing assortment and our marketing and fulfillment activities for maximum margin contribution |
| And so that's resulting in, we suddenly see an up-tick in adjusted gross margin and that will ultimately result in, at the end of the stock and the market starts to clear and the levels of demand on stock are aligned obviously, healthier gross margins |
| So we do anticipate that will results in a healthier consumer in, as we go into next fiscal year |
| So the way that we look at it is that, we have a frequent exchange, and ultimately, it's ultimately going to be dependent on the outlook for the business, but we're confident that the commitment today and will enable the business to execute against our -- for the core pillars, as Stephan laid out and enable us to return the business to adjusted EBITDA profitability in subsequently free cash flow |
| For fiscal year ’26 and beyond, we expect the full benefits of our recent acquisition, as well as the benefits of operating leverage would allow the business to be cash generative for fiscal year ‘26 as we approach our target financial profile of 7% to 10% adjusted EBITDA margins |
| Our business has a dominant position across the DACH region, Southern Europe, parts of Scandinavia, the UK, and a growing presence in the American market |
| Despite the turbulence we have experienced in the first half of the year, we are optimistic that we are now through the worst of this dislocation and are focused on delivering a stronger second half of the year |
| And so, we'll be somewhere in June now and so we've got good visibility on Q3 |
| Taken together, we are confident these measures will result in a refined operating model that will provide the basis for our renewed focus on achieving profitability |
| With this backdrop in mind, we engaged in a thorough strategic realignment process to ensure the business was best positioned to navigate the near-term market turmoil and more importantly ensure we are all prepared to capitalize and build on our market position over the long term |
| We've begun to realize Group procurement synergies as a result of our enhanced scale and have teams in place to optimize our tech stack and drive efficiencies across our organizations |
| Lastly, we've touched on the numerous transaction benefits in our prior calls, but we have made progress on delivering sizeable synergies from our Wiggle and US Tennis acquisitions and have a clear pathway to realizing the full potential of these Group benefits |
| Although, the near-term picture remains uncertain as the market still navigates to this period of disruption, we are focused on delivering a more resilient business that is poised to benefit from the lasting consumer megatrends that would drive the attractiveness of the sports specialist retail industry and our position within for decades to come |
| We are very pleased to have reached an agreement [indiscernible] of our major shareholder to provide the financial resources to execute on our long term strategy with an incremental EUR150 million in available liquidity to fund the business to cash flow breakeven |
| With the EUR100 million run rate EBITDA benefit a strategic realignment process enabling the business to be breakeven on a cash flow basis by fiscal year ‘25 |
| And we start to improve in the third quarter, so in the fourth quarter, that's our expectation really because the -- as we look at just the lapping effects of when demand started to slow last fiscal year, the overstock in the market really picked up in our Q4 |
| In the medium term, we anticipate the market to further consolidate and for SSU to return to 12% to 15% top line growth in the coming year |
| In addition, growing our own brand portfolio and cross-selling our brands across platforms remains a critical strategic initiatives and one that we are keenly focused on executing |
| While some of this inflation will be permanent, there are signs that many input costs are at or below pre-pandemic levels, which we are starting to see a benefit from |
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| When considering our results on a pro forma basis, our financial performance was impacted by difficult market dynamics and a softer demand environment than we saw a year ago, with pro forma H1 revenue down 17% from the prior year |
| Our financial performance in H1 fiscal year 2023 was heavily impacted by the severe overstock presence in the market, particularly in the bike category |
| However, following the onset of the Ukraine war and persistently elevated inflation, a material downturn in consumer demand set in as our customers pulled back on spending while the economic outlook became challenged |
| As retailers, distributors, and brands have enforced to aggressively manage stock position, heavy promotional activity has led to a material margin contraction |
| That being said, the overstock in the market will likely take another 12 months to 18 months to fully clear, and we'll continue to weigh on gross margins for fiscal year 2023 |
| In the first half of the year, our gross margin heavily declined by a 1,000 basis points to 26.4%, mostly driven by deliberate inventory reduction measurements at high discount |
| A lower revenue base coupled with a contraction in our gross margin resulted in a reported adjusted EBITDA for the half year of negative EUR97 million |
| As you may have seen in our materials release this morning, Q2 fiscal year 2023, net revenue was EUR195 million and H1 revenue was EUR441 million, a 23% and 2% decrease year-over-year, respectively, on a reported basis |
| Visits were down 9% to 119 million, and net orders fell 3% to 3.5 million |
| In H1, fiscal year 2023 and on a reported basis year-over-year, active customers declined 15% to 6.1 million |
| As many of you will recall, H1 fiscal year ‘22 was marked by severe supply disruptions, resulting in unmet demand throughout the market |
| The adjusted EBITDA margin increases discontinued operations was negative 22% |
| I note these trends to help illustrate that while our business has been severely impacted by market conditions, the overarching megatrends that are driving our operating thesis have shown no signs of slowing |
| But, generally, again, year-over-year, we will see year-over-year declines reported revenue declines in the kind of high-single digits |
| As a result, we anticipate revenue growth of between negative 9% to negative 11% on a year-over-year reported basis, as well as an adjusted EBITDA margin of negative 16% to negative 18% for the full fiscal year 2023 |
| The result was a material increase in inbound stock, ordered 12 months to 18 months prior in a meaningfully lower demand environment |
| with finished goods growing by nearly 40% [Technical Difficulty] of this supply overhang was felt acutely in the first half of our fiscal year as brands, distributors, and retailers across our industries work to reduce their inventory position, often at meaningful discounts, particularly in the bike industry |
| In H1 fiscal year 2023, net cash from operating activities was negative EUR136 million, and our net cash from investing activities was negative EUR17 million, corresponding to investments in logistics consolidation and IT projects for the re-platforming required asset |
| Core inflation is higher than expected, taking longer to come down |
| Similar to other retailers and discretionary categories, our business has not been immune to a rapidly shifting macroeconomic picture |
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