Welcome to the Rémy Cointreau 2026/2027 second quarter sales presentation. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the question and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by pressing star 11 on the telephone keypad. If you join using a device audio, please click on the hand raise icon on your screen. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again and click on the hand lowered icon. You are kindly asked to limit yourself to two questions only. Now I would hand over to Mr. Luca Marotta, Deputy CEO and CFO. Sir, please go ahead. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our first half sales presentation. As highlighted in our press release, Q2 sales grew by 4.2% organically, bringing H1 organic sales to +2.9%. This performance includes, first, a strong growth in cognac of +12.4%, reflecting a significant acceleration in sales in APAC, particularly in China, and to a lesser extent in EMEA. Meanwhile, sales in the Americas declined, impacted by a high base of comparison in the U.S. Second factor, a decline of -7.4% in Liqueurs & Spirits due to the stock in the Americas following the transition as well from RNDC to Reyes in the U.S. In parallel, EMEA continued to show mixed performance, still weighed down by Europe, clearly inside EMEA, despite a return to growth in a key country like the U.K. Specifically, Q2 sales performance breaks down as follows: a volume increase of +0.5% and a positive price mix effect of 3.7%, largely driven by mix on the back, on the heels of the strong outperformance of cognac versus Liqueurs & Spirits. This performance is in line with our expected forecasted full year trajectory. Looking into the overall sales performance by region. Let's start with the Americas, where sales were down by 5.5% in the H1. Over the quarter, performance was impacted by high base of comparison in cognac and the stocking in the U.S. due to changes on distribution in a very challenging market. Still very challenging. APAC was up by 14.3% in H1, reflecting a strong acceleration in shipment in China in Q2, ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival, and an ongoing continued momentum across the rest of Asia. EMEA was down by 2.2% in H1. This reflects different type of performance, strong performance in EMEA region and a solid improvement in the U.K., but more than offset by subdued consumer environment in the rest of Europe. One last word on Global Travel Retail, which for us is a business unit spanning all three regions. Sales were up by very strong double digits in Q2, mostly driven by APAC and to a lesser extent, EMEA. Last year, the technical impact of duty-free disruption in China, you remember, was estimated EUR 2.2 million negative in Q2 and EUR 7.7 million in H1. Even excluding this comparable effect, this base effect, which is mathematically improving the performance, growth would have remained in a strong, I repeat, strong double digit. So a very positive quarter and H1 for Global Travel Retail. In terms of value depletion, best approximation of final sell-out for H1 at group level, all brands together. In the U.S., value depletion were close to flat, with the Liqueurs & Spirits offsetting decline in cognac. Volumes depletion were positive. There is a negative impact in term of volume value equation in term of depletion in the U.S. We were particularly pleased with the exit rates of September, which reached a double-digit growth. As I will highlight later in the Q&A session, this is too early to consider that as a sustainable, considering the strong month-to-month volatility that now we are even more than before witnessing. It's very important to look at figures at quarter level in term of trends more than single months. However, September was very positive. In China, value depletion were up by mid-single digits in the H1, which represent very good performance considering the current market environment. However, despite a high single-digit growth in Q2, Mid-Autumn Festival depletion were below our internal expectation. I repeat, internal expectation. Q2 was a high single-digit growth performance in depletion, and so below sell-in. Despite that, we gained market share in sell-in depletion and retail sell out during Mid-Autumn Festival. In EMEA, value depletion increased by low double digits, and so overall, we can say the H1 group value depletion grew by mid-to-high single digit year-on-year, outperforming sell-in trends that were lower than the performance of depletion value. To conclude on this very first slide, we are reconfirming our full year guidance, even if the underlying assumption related to tariffs and forex have been updated. I will provide more details at the end of presentation to let you understand where these new flows goes into. Now, slide number 3. H1 sales amounted to EUR 510.9 million, representing an increase of EUR 21.3 million or +4.4% on a reported basis. This performance was shaped by the following factors: an organic growth of EUR 14.1 million, which means +2.9%. This performance is split between a negative effect of -0.4% in volume and a positive price mix of 3.3%. Price mix positive effect is, in reality, totally driven by strong positive mix linked to the outperformance of cognac. Second, there was a change in the dynamics of forex, currency translation impact of EUR 7.2 million or a 1.5% gain, marking a clear shift in trends compared with the previous quarter. Of course, it is a bit early to know whether it is sustainable given the volatile macro environment. This gain were mainly driven so far by the appreciation of the Chinese RMB, which contributed for around EUR 8 million, EUR 7.8 million to be precise, while the US dollar, even if improving, still had a slight negative impact of -EUR 1 million. Let's now turn to slide number 4 to look more closely to the organic trends by region at group level. All brands merged together. Let's start with the biggest one, consider the figures, which is APAC, in which organic sales were up by 14.3% in H1. Let's start with the volume value equation. Sell-in, this performance was driven by a positive volume effect. Inside APAC, clearly China is the most important one, countries in which sales were up by mid-teens in the Q2, in line with the expectation. While Q2, I insist, were very positive, improving sequentially compared to the Q1, market condition remained challenging with Mid-Autumn Festival depletion below our internal expectation, which were very, very high. Overall, H1 value depletion in China were up by mid-single digit, but I repeat, with an acceleration to high single digit in the last quarter. Given the mathematical equation, sell-in and value depletion in H1, inventory levels in China at the end of September were slightly higher than at the end of June, which will create the need for a measured destocking in Q3 ahead of Chinese New Year, as our overriding priority is to maintain healthy inventory levels in China. We are talking, I repeat, for a very measured destocking and this equation needs for this are aligned more in absolute level than in weeks of coverage. We did not explore the stock after Mid-Autumn Festival at the end of September, Mid-Autumn Festival selling campaign at the end of September. So the destocking needs is measured, I repeat. Elsewhere in the region, the rest of Asia recorded very strong double-digit growth in Q2, driven by cognac and to a lesser extent, liquor spirits. Finally, as already globally highlighted, GTR related to APAC region was up by strong double digits, even stripping out the technical effect of last year. End of September, APAC region accounted for 44% of group sales, up five points compared with the prior year. Let's now turn to the Americas, in which organic sales were down by 5.5% in H1. This performance reflects a mid-single digit decline in volume and slight growth in price mix in sell-in, mostly driven by mix. In the U.S., specifically, sales declined by low double digits in the Q2, impacted by a very high base of comparison in cognac and some destocking following also, clearly, some mechanical change linked to the change of distribution. In parallel, in depletion, H1 value depletion continued to improve sequentially and were close to flat at the end of September. This is very encouraging, even more if you consider the exit rate at the end of September. But we are not there yet because, as I explained, volatility is increasing. Technical factors are overwhelming compared also the underlying sometimes. So we need to be very cold to define what is a spark and how much of the spark is sustainable. But at least there was a strong spark, there was a fire. It was not so cold like before. Inside that, in terms of dynamics of states, control states, which account for more or less 20% of our total value depletion, are now in growth, which is very important. Control states are less impacted by sell-in sell-out stock dynamics because they're more lean in term of stock. While in term of mechanism stock. Open states accounting for 80% are close to flat with a solid performance depletion-wise of liqueurs and spirits offsetting the decline in cognac. In this context, inventory levels in the U.S. stood more or less at the same for months at the end of September, with a slight change of asymmetry between cognac and liqueurs and spirits. Less in liqueurs and spirits, a bit more in cognac, a bit before the dynamics of selling compared to sell out. Canada. Canada sales were down, so negative by low double digits in Q2 impacted by continued destocking. In parallel, in LATAM, sales were up a very strong double digit in the quarter, mostly driven by cognac. One last word on GTR Americas, which were slightly up in term of performance. Here, our footprint is very small so far, and the potential is therefore very important for the future. End of September, the Americas accounted for 35% of our group sales, down 4 points compared to the previous year. Finally, EMEA. EMEA region, which organic sales were down by 2.2%, primarily reflecting a negative volume effect and a positive price mix, essentially mix, as highlighted for everybody more or less. Inside that, by subclusters, performance were very differentiated. Within Europe, third-party distributor sales were down by high teens in the Q2, mostly impacted by Germany and Poland, where consumption is weak, promotional activity is high. Some news concerning the excise in Germany are not going in the right direction, mathematically speaking, for our sales. It will be a complicated not only H1 but year for Germany and Poland and for the subcluster inside Europe. In the UK and Nordics, sales were up by mid to high single digit quarter, accelerating from Q1, mostly driven by a very important market like the UK. After a touch of positive, a touch of negative. Benelux and France sales were down sharply in the quarter, affected by the discontinuation of partner brand distribution in the Benelux from April onwards. You remember we discontinued the cooperation with the William Grant brands. However, excluding non-group brands, sales would have been up. France was down indeed by low single digits. There is no non-group brands history to highlight there, so it is a negative performance by low single digit in France in the H1. Lastly, AMEI and CIS sales were up. So now positive again. We are very strong double digit in the quarter led by South Africa and partially also by UAE. The conflict in Middle East had a slight negative impact on the region, but still we grew compared to the previous year. This was sell-in. Overall, H1 value depletion were up by low double digits. As a consequence, inventory levels remained more or less unchanged compared to the Q1. And finally, GTR EMEA was up strong double digit. End of September, EMEA region accounted for 21% of group sales, down 1 point compared to the previous year. Now, let's turn to slide number 5 to talk about the analysis by division. Let's start by the queen, which is cognac. Cognac division posted an organic sales growth of +10.3% in H1, driven by 16% increase in volume and a negative price mix of -5.7%, mostly affected, in this case, clearly by the price effect. End of September, cognac accounted for 66% of our sales, so increasing its weight overall of 5 points. Inside cognac, let's start with APAC, and let's start with China. Cognac sales in China were, as expected, positive up by mid-teens in the quarter, which means high single digit growth in H1 in a still challenging market. The performance was mainly driven in term of channel by direct channels, while indirect wholesale channel strongly underperformed compared to the weighted average. Does it mean it's negative? No, it is not. When I talk in terms of underperform, over-perform, it is always the meaning compared to the average performance and sometimes with our expectation. But I will precise that. Otherwise, I will tell negative versus previous year. E-commerce was up by more than 30%, accounting for 30% of weight of sales in Q2. Looking at the performance by brands, not by channel, Rémy Club continued to grow, and the quarter witnessed a particularly strong performance for Louis XIII, as well as a meaningful acceleration in Rémy XO. Finally, sales in Hainan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau were all strongly up in the quarter. This was sell-in, shipment, top line. Now, let us look at the other parts of the moon. Value depletion H1 were up by mid-single digit, including a growth of high single digit in the quarter. There is an acceleration in the quarter in cognac depletion in China. Mostly driven, in that case, clearly by Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau. Louis XIII and to a lesser extent, Rémy VSOP, led this performance, while at the same time, Rémy Club continued to be resilient. These results are positive, but clearly reflect a touch softer Mid-Autumn Festival below our internal expectation, which will require a very measured realignment between sell-in and sell-out in the last quarter. Despite that, at the end of the Mid-Autumn Festival, we gain market share compared to competition during Mid-Autumn Festival, doing a performance that we can qualify comparatively better than our peers. In rest of Asia, sales were up by very strong double digits in Q2, mostly driven by Rémy XO and Rémy VSOP. This was APAC. In the Americas, let us start with North Americas, sales were down by low double digits in the quarter, impacted by high base of comparison and some destocking. Clearly, particularly in Canada, as highlighted, mathematically speaking. Q2 U.S. value depletions were down by low single digit, low to mid in H1. What does it mean? That value depletion in the U.S. are improving sequentially from the previous quarter and period, driven by very strong performance of Louis XIII, for instance, as well as sequential improvement of Rémy Martin VSOP. 12 months rolling value depletion included a positive one point price mix at the end of September, year-on-year. In Latin America, sales were up by triple digits in the quarter, albeit for a very marginal basis, led by Rémy VSOP, Rémy XO, and to a lesser extent, Louis XIII. Last but not least, inside cognac, EMEA sales grew by very strong double digits. What happens? U.K. and Netherlands were flat in the quarter, led by the U.K., which returned to growth and benefited very strong sell-out as well, so quite healthy. Europe third party distributor cluster was down by low double digits in the quarter, most impacted by Germany. It will be a leitmotif of the year. AMEI and CIS were up by very strong double digits, boosted by South Africa, supported also by the continuous success of Rémy Very Special, RS, and the UAE. Finally, Benelux and France were up by very strong double digits ahead of the transition also to two new distributors that we named in October 1st in Benelux. One for Belgium, one for the Netherlands. Lastly, EMEA cognac value depletions were up by very strong double digits in both Q2 and H1. Now, let's turn to the Liqueurs & Spirits divisions, line number 6. This division reported an organic sales of minus 7% in H1, mostly driven by lower volumes. At the end of September, Liqueurs & Spirits accounted for 33% of our sales, down 4 points compared to last year. Let's review the division performance by region. Let's start with the Americas, with North America, sales were down by low double digits in the quarter, impacted by some destocking in the U.S. However, Q2 U.S. value depletions continued to display solid growth at low single digits, low to mid in H1, led by all key brands, Cointreau, Mount Gay, and The Botanist. So that's the reason why the stock realignment and the stock equation is less of a potential issue for the distributor in Liqueurs & Spirits compared to cognac, and we are still at the same 4 months over. Additionally, price mix for Cointreau was negative of minus 2 points over the 12 months period ending September, being a mix of price aggressively, which has been reduced compared to the past, but even more by the format and SKU mix. Latin America sales were up by high single digit in the quarter, supported by strong performance of Cointreau. Second region by weight of Liqueurs & Spirits is EMEA. Sales were down by mid to high single digit in the quarter. UK and Nordics up by single digit, driven by strong growth in the U.K. Also thanks to some new distribution gains and a solid innovation pipeline, including Cointreau Spicy and Mount Gay Spicy. The spice, it is something that we are trying to push to be a new wave of innovation, given solid top line and contribution to our growth for the future everywhere in the world. Europe third-party distributor was down by strong double digit. Once again, Germany and Poland. Benelux and France were up by low single digit, benefiting also partially by the change in distribution Benelux, while AMEI and CIS was more or less flat. In that case, more than compared to cognac, affected by conflict in Middle East and some on-trade impact, as most of our footprint for the on-premises is clearly touched. In parallel, EMEA Q2 value depletion Liqueurs & Spirits were up by low single digits, but down low single digits in H1. The last one, in terms of weight, 14% is APAC. In such, APAC China. In China, sales were down by mid to high single digit in Q2, affected by Cointreau, which faces high promotional competition, while whiskey was up strong double digit in the same period. Dual selling in term of value depletion, we are down by 18% in H1, but highlighting a strong improvement in the second quarter for whiskey, which are now back to growth. Rest of Asia for Liqueurs & Spirits was up by low to mid in the quarter, mostly driven by Japan, where Bruichladdich is still continuing to enjoy good momentum, particularly Octomore, and as Stillmon is doing, while Australia as a country continue to face tough market condition. One word on non-group brands, would it represent today less than 1% of group sales? They were down by 1 point in ratio compared to the previous year. Clearly, there is the Benelux part that disappears. They recorded an organic decline of -62%, 62.5% in the H1, mostly affected, as I said, by Benelux following the discontinuation of the William Grant partner brands distribution from April onwards. Let me now turn to the last slide number 7. In a nutshell, our organic guidance is unchanged. We expect a return to organic sales growth for the year. We expect operating profit margin, organically, to improve slightly on net of tariff. However, the underlying assumption has been updated. First, we have reduced the expected total tariff impact from EUR 20 million to EUR 5 million. Why that? Now, we expect, we forecast no impact in the U.S., an unchanged EUR 5 million impact for the price undertaking put in place last year in China. This mainly reflects a reduction in the U.S. tariff rate on European imports from 15% to 10%, as well as EUR 6.4 million in tariff refunds recognized and already received in H1. The second point, we already started in H1, we decided to reinvest the reduction in the expected tariff impact of EUR 15 million in the business to continue to fuel the growth, to improve the top line, and to increase the dynamic momentum of the company. I will be back on Q&A on that point, but now it is the fourth growing quarter of the company. On 12 months rolling basis, we are running in selling more or less at +4%. It touched more than +4%, and the same extends in depletion. Okay, we did not recover compared to the 2022, 2023, but in this context, we are a company growing four quarter in a row, and we are granting +4% top line and depletion. Not to be rocket rolling on that and dancing, but quite satisfied. On FX, Forex, given the favorable, very favorable evolution in RMB and US dollar, we now expect a positive impact of around EUR 50 million on sales, equally split between H1, H2, and now a positive impact, I repeat, positive on operating profit and publish rate between EUR 3 million and EUR 5 million, with most of the impact expected in H1. At the same time, discipline capital allocation remain a key priority, notably through tight management of inventories and capital expenditure. Finally, maintaining our debt ratio below 3.5 at the end of the year, this fiscal year, March 2027, it is a key commitment for the group. Of course, this target, set last June, as you remember, excludes the favorable impact of the hybrid issue completed at the end of September. As you know, the hybrid bond is fully recognized as equity, which should enable us to achieve a better A ratio at the end of the year. But the guidance is not surfing on that. Something will be on top. The hybrid bond has been announced end of September, but will not impact the H1 figures because we recognize in term of cash in the 7th of October. Thank you for your attention, and now I am happy to answer to your question. Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial star 1 1 in your telephone keypad or click on the hand raise icon on your screen to enter the queue. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again or click on the hand lower icon on your screen. You are kindly asked to limit yourself to two questions only. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our first question. The question comes from the line of Simon Hales from Citi. Please ask your question. Thanks. Morning, Luca. I wonder if we could go back to Mid-Autumn Festival and your comments there. Could you provide a bit more color on what you actually saw from a trade perspective, both within Rémy and for the broader industry through Mid-Autumn Festival itself? I think you talked about you having very high internal expectations for what you saw, which you weren't able to sort of meet. You also talked about a measured de-stock, I think, in China in Q3 to get inventory levels back to a more sensible place. How should we interpret that? I mean, how big is measured de-stock to come in Q3, Luca? Thank you for your question. I will try to start with the first one. Our performance in China were positive compared to the last year, both in sell-in and in depletion, even more if you include at our peers, Hainan, Macau, Hong Kong, and on top of China mainland performance. Mid-Autumn Festival has not been the Mid-Autumn Festival of the century for anybody. We set very high expectation forecast, and our satisfaction considering the challenge market, the promotional activity, which is very present there, everybody consider quite successful, even if we put a little bit more sell-in compared to the best estimation, the final sellout. Depletion were positive, but depletion clearly are representing tier 1 to tier 2, and then you have to go to tier 3, you have to go to retail. There is a long route to market in China to follow. We have to take that into account. In term of dynamics of Mid-Autumn Festival, satisfaction, gaining market share, clearly even more on China mainland compared to Hainan, compared to our peers. If I may, our performance, relatively speaking, in China mainland was more solid, and in other peers in non-China mainland were a little bit more hammering compared to us in term of dynamics, Hainan and Hong Kong. But also, we as well, we profit of that dynamics, but in a lower proportion. This strong positive sell-in and very positive, a single digit sell out of best approximation, calls for some cautiousness inside the Q3. But the Q3, if you allow me, needs to be analyzed a bit more globally in terms of dynamics of the company. What do we expect? Because you know the Q2 and you know the H1, +4%, +2.9%. This is too early to guide, but we expect at group level, not only China, a Q3 sales top line to slow down compared to the H1. Why that? Because of China? No. First negative compounders will be or should be because, clearly, we are always forecasting and nobody has a crystal ball. It is EMEA. EMEA will continue to be particularly tough. In part of Germany, Poland, other big countries, which are challenging for several months. There is a problem of promotional activity, of lack of consumption, and even if there is an excise tax increase in January 1, the ecosystem is so globally depressed with nobody in the industry is betting on a high last bite effect on the Q3 top line pre-ordering. The first reason of this Q3 sales to slow down, at the end, I will qualify that, don't worry. Compared to the H1, it is not China, it's Europe. The second one, which is a moderate one, it is China. They will face some, in absolute value, destocking ahead of Chinese New Year, considering a softer than expected level of final retail, and so depression in term of pull effect and push during March versus our internal expectation. I don't want to qualify that in million EUR, but we are clearly talking for a very measured, in absolute value, impact of destocking. But in Q3, China, in term of sell-in, probably will be negative. Less negative than EMEA. It's not the first compound. In parallel, Q3 will be clearly influenced by positive compounders. U.S. should be back to growth following the normalization of the distribution transition. The fact that even if we are not there yet, but overall, month-over-month, the sparks, and we are adding on weighted average some more solid sell-out data and no additional important destocking is expected in the quarter. And clearly, what will be the engine of the Q3, the positive compounders, rest of Asia, GTR, emerging market. GTR all over, and also we should start to see some improvements in Americas as well. In a nutshell, this is what you want to know at the end, at group level, we expect the Q3 to be more or less flat versus last year, so no negative, flat, and Q4 to re-accelerate. Inside that, China will be delivering probably a top-line negative impact to, in a very measured way, realign in absolute value, sell-in stock. We didn't inject a bomb of sell-in at the end of Q2 that now need to be digested with -30 million, -40 million. We are very far from that. I hope to have been clear and exhaustive. That is great, Luca. It is very clear. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question comes from the line of Edward Mundy from Jefferies. Please ask your question. Morning, Luca. Two questions from me, please. The first is around sparks, and you pointed to the improvement in depletion trends in both China and U.S. in Q2. As we think about the sustainability of this inflection, how much do you think this is due to a better underlying market, and how much do you think this is due to a shift in your strategy? That is my first question. The second question is on this change in the tariff burden that is quite meaningful. How should we think about this within the context of the RC Forward plan? What about a 1.5% on A&P, roughly? Therefore, are there things that you may not have been able to do from an activation standpoint, but you now can do, that should help this RC Forward plan? Is this more about giving more confidence in the profit drop? Okay. Let me try to answer your question. I will start with the second one, if I understood correctly the question, because it is quite a bit disturbed. RC Forward is meant to be not the strategic weapon of the company, but something that will help the company to conquer the strategic objective, will be more clear detailed on 25th of November. It is a sales conference, so I cannot enter in all the details in term of the profit dynamics. But two or three things I can say are, first of all, the benefit. The EUR 100 million that before reinvesting act we highlighted, will be more skewed to next fiscal year and the third one. So this year will be more or less 10% of the savings that we are expecting that will contribute theoretically to the operating profit of the year. But also on top, there was the good news of the tariffs, change of some refund, change of rate. So we are faced to three different type of dynamics. The program which is installed, some good news, a positive free cash flow tension that has been installed as a new milestone of the company, has always been, was more a consequence of some type of strategy. Now it is part of the strategy as well, so free cash flow tension. And the good news. So there was the decision by our CEO to focus on top-line dynamics, where we are bearing some fruits, and to reinvest in liquid right now, straight away, without thinking too much, without conceptualizing. And if you consider that the delta is more or less EUR 10 million in H1, because the EUR 6.4 refunds, and we consider that the EUR 7 million, because EUR 8 million and EUR 7 million between comes EUR 15 million, which is the delta between 15% and 10%, we can say that EUR 10 million would have been affected the H1 bottom line, has already been reinvested. So don't grow your estimation consensus. Why? Because some of that is already in the top line. Okay? Why that? We'll invest that EUR 4 million, and you see that, in price promotion top line dynamism. More or less EUR 1 million is not invested, is called by the Middle East war. More or less EUR 2 million in A&P and brand equity support initiatives, even if A&P, it will be more skewed to the H2 than the H1 because we have to preserve our bullet for the OND and Chinese New Year. And more or less EUR 3 million of injection of strategic OPEX. So we are already getting some gains, more from the tariff part, some from the RC Forward dynamism, and reinjected that on the business. And that's the reason why our internal expectation, as in China, are particularly high compared to the previous period. Second point, sparks depletion rate. What is sustainable or not? Clearly, let's start with the U.S. Things are going better, but we are not there yet. Market is still very complicated. And if you want to look at the negative side of the moon in U.S., you have a lot of arguments to continue to sustain this theory. But sparks are not only in the figures, are also in some consideration on 12 months rolling. If you consider, for instance, the performance 12-month rolling is much more driven by cognac than Liqueurs & Spirits in both, also in depletion. It means that the dynamism is there more than we expected. September exit rate was influenced by some technical factors way. Labor Day was some days of changes, or the fact that the national chains need to be delivered before OND, and comparatively were increasing their footprint. Change of distribution sometimes are negative, sometimes can give some disruption in a positive way. I do not think that the double digit rate of September, I hope to be wrong. I do not think that will be replicated in October. Then we will touch base on the exit on the current trading October for at group level, so you will have a brighter idea. But we are improving. Probably at the beginning of the year, we were too optimistic in term of the phasing, which is improving. At the end, we will be ending being more on short in term of our estimation compared to the realization, but things are improving. In China, I give you only one figure. October depletion are positive. Okay? Says it all. October depletion trends are positive in China in value and volume. I do not know, probably, maybe we are putting a lot of pressure in term of our estimation because we are reinvesting a lot as well. Potentially be a little bit disappointing compared to our internal expectation, but dynamism top line is really there, and the underlying in both should drive to positive figures, even if with different phases. Even more volatile in a positive way in China compared to the U.S. What has happened so far in current trading at group level in term of sell-in and value depletion, so something that does not need to become a habit, because otherwise you have to spoil. But in this moment, it is important to give some clarity. Sell-in in October is in line with our expectation, and we are growing. In value depletion, we do not have final data yet, but the mathematical compounders and worked on spreadsheet figures are showing that U.S. is clearly in a negative dynamism compared to September, because there is a technical factor, Labor Day. EMEA remain contrast with some negative in Germany and Poland. But at the same time, U.K., South Africa, and other major country of Europe are positive on depletion, which is something very important for us because at the end, when the other, the equation should reverse. China, I repeat, is growing. October is growing depletion in volume and value. So the stocking topics of the Q3, touching bases might be also a little bit reversed with an increase of the stocking in the first months of the quarter. GTR, rest of Asia, emerging market, I touch wood, but so far, very good. A lot of pressure about Franck Marilly, our CEO on this new territory is right, and if pressure bear fruits, we are seeing the result of this order because it is clearly what we witnessed so far. Great. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question comes from the line of Laurence Whyatt from Barclays. Please ask your question. Morning, Luca. Thanks very much. A couple of questions from me, please. Firstly, just on your different cognac SKUs, I was wondering if you can just give us a bit more information on which ones are performing particularly well, which ones are struggling a little bit with the de-stocking during the Chinese New Year period. I think from your comments earlier, you have done pretty well with the Louis XIII and the VSOP products in China, Club looked like it did all right. Can we then assume that the de-stocking is largely coming from XO? Similarly, you mentioned that Louis XIII is doing particularly well. You highlighted it in China and the U.S. I am just wondering if there is anything specific that is driving that improvement in that important brand. Secondly, in your U.S. business, of course, you have seen a bit more new products from your peer set in the cognac ready to drink space, and Rémy has talked about introducing new products in the U.S. I was wondering if there has been any developments on that, if there is anything you can share with regard to how you are thinking about new products within the U.S. market. Thank you for the question. I will start with the last one because very easy. We will talk about that in November. If I say something more, what you already said about it is a placeholder, we play that type of code more than I will be fired. I cannot speak more than that. This is something that we will highlight in a very clear, because also in term of competitive arrow, you understand that it is something very disruptive, in my opinion. Clearly, if we are wrong, everybody will be very happy. Of course, if we are right, we are a lot of jealous. I keep this news for later on. As we said, it should not be and will not be another SKUs on the wall, on the shelves. Not Pink Floyd reference, but not another SKUs on the wall. Something different. They should move differently without cannibalization. Teaser. Products in China, the moderate, I insist, Laurence, I know that we personally sometime diverge of that, but the semantic is the same. Moderate the stocking in China because we are positive, I repeat. Solid Club, very positive on XO as well, on lower basis. It may seem counterintuitive, but the stock will be more in the Lacoste spirit in China, even if it is a very small part of portfolio, and partially as well in Club, because it was positive, resilient, but lower than the average weighted increase of top line driven by the remaining part of portfolio. But at one point, we cannot be also so reliant on Club, so it is also something which is very important. Club in the third quarter might be a little bit more top line negative compared to other product of the portfolio. Does it mean he has a cold, is a flu? No. It is the dynamics of sell-in, sell-out because it is becoming what was to be VSOP in the U.S. We do not want to end in the same way, so it is very protected in terms of means, on terms of code, on terms of geography. As you know, Club is only sold in China 99%, so we did not decide and will not decide to sell it to Asian consumer and elsewhere in the world like in the U.S. But the dynamics we call eventually for a small adjustment on Club in the Q3. Once again, very measured stocking. China can be negative in the Q3, probably will be, but is on the heels of very healthy depletion level, and October were positive as well. Louis XIII, it is doing quite well. Because there is a lot of pressure with the change also the helm of the division, with some creativity on top. A lot of top-line pressure in term of attention, execution, attention to the detail, more focused A&P, a little bit less on the brand equity long term without any impact on top-line volumes than before. We think that we can increase also at the comp. Compared to the old days, Louis XIII is not what it used to be. So we can have a volume game, which is not easy, but is less complicated to realize +10 in Louis XIII or +20, +3 on Club volume-wise. It is not the same thing. We cannot compare Club and Louis XIII. By the end, figures are figures. So also the comp are playing positively on ourselves. But the dynamics everywhere in the world, including travel retail, including emerging market, including some more dark countries in term of dynamic, the performance in Europe in this moment is positive. The momentum is positive. That is really clear. Thanks very much, Luca. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question comes from the line of Trevor Stirling from Bernstein. Please ask your question. Good morning, Luca. Two questions from my end. Luca, just wanted to dig in a little bit more into China. You talked about China still being a challenging context, but you did deliver high single digits depletion growth, so clearly something is going right. Would it be fair to say that it looks like Hong Kong and Macau and Taiwan are in better shape and mainland China is where the challenges are? Then in challenges, in terms of channel, clearly e-commerce is doing incredibly well, but it is the on-trade channels, the nightclubs and the karaoke bars where the challenges exist. Then my second question, I guess the old one, how do you feel about consensus at the moment? Thank you for your two interesting questions. Your assumption is quite fair. Everybody in the industry in this moment is performing better, in selling at least, in non-mainland China, so Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, compared to the previous period. The weight of mainland China has been reduced for us between 8 and 10 points compared to the past. The challenge is to protect also clearly the price competitiveness inside a big ecosystem like China. That's the reason why it's important that, in our opinion, GM of China is in charge of all the compounders of China, cooperating sometimes with some customers that are also present in Hainan, but also in the travel retail. By the way, huge debates at some time are arbitrated also at a CEO level to grant this kind of identity. In our figures, the shift, I have the feeling, is less important than our peers. It's fair to say that mainland China depletion battle on a day-to-day is our global biggest, not challenge, but topics. In terms of channels, you are absolutely right that we are lucky in that we are only 5% of on-trade. I would prefer to have bigger problem at 40% of on-trade, but it's not the way it is. We are 5%-10% on on-trade compared to our peers. So the problem, and the 100-days campaign that up and go and some restriction, is more overwhelming on the global confidence. But in terms of specific outlet in which our products are sold, we are less exposed than our competitors. I agree with your two sentences, your point of view, playing some modulation considering the structure of our sales and the fact that I think our internal governance, it is better prepared to avoid internal cannibalization of pricing and volumes between different views. So we are very, very attentive to that. Positive tension, but at the end, very important attention to avoid internal disruption of value. Let's talk about consensus for a while. Let's start with the H1. H1 operating profit so far it is at, in my opinion, what I read, Visible Alpha +2.9, and our company consensus +4. At this stage, also for the reason we explained, we are comfortable with the consensus. I explained also what we are planning to do with the mathematical EUR 10 million that we are getting in H1 in terms of reinvestment. I repeat, EUR 4 million in price support, EUR 1 million logistics, EUR 2 million A&P, and EUR 3 million strategic OpEx. But it's even more important, I think your question, for the full year. I need to complicate things a bit. Divide them by two in sales consensus and operating profit consensus. So in sales consensus, Visible Alpha +2.6, company consensus +2.4, and at the same time, operating profit consensus, it is more or less +5, between 5 and 5.5. On sales, we are okay at this stage with the company consensus yearly at +2.4. Today, we are at 2.9 organically. Clearly, we have a higher base of comparison in H2. There is the EMEA issue that will wave clearly in the Q3, and I suspect also for the remaining part of the year. The U.S. will be a positive compounder second part of the year GTR and emerging market, the rest of Asia as well, with China at the end of the year remaining positive. Even if there will be a Q3, will be specifically probably negative, I repeat, with measured stocking. Overall, China will be a positive global performance compared to the previous year. We are talking top line. Today is a sales conference, so I will not elaborate very much on operating profit. But so far, we are comfortable with the +5.1% organic COP growth, despite good news on the tariff side and the extra gains or cost avoidance versus initial forecast will be reinvested also in the second part to fuel the growth. Clearly, dynamics of margin and so on, and what will be the future, all that will be detailed at the 25 on November, including RC Forward phasing, one-time cost, payback, all the classical stuff. We say is comparable with operating profit. Perfect. Thank you, Luca Marotta, and we look forward to talking more on 25th of November. Thank you. Thank you. We are now going to take one last question. The last question comes from the line of Chris Pitcher from Rothschild & Co Redburn. Please ask your question. Thank you very much. Thank you, Luca. Two questions, one following on from the last one. In terms of these tariff refunds accepted, have you said how much more you expect to come through? In terms of the way you are reinvesting, had you not had the tariff benefit, would these investments have not been made? I mean, if we look out beyond any extra top-line growth driving operating leverage, are you still very much in a reinvestment mode? Just a clarification, Partner Brands is incredibly small now. Are there any direct costs associated with Partner Brands? It would seem logical to me to roll that into another division. Could that improve efficiency or save some costs? Thanks. I will start with the second one. So far, the 1% on non-group brands is the result of a series of decisions which were partially decided by ourselves, partially was a decision of our partners. When I joined the group, non-group brands were more or less 20%. At the time, Macallan was in our portfolio in the U.S., so 20%-25%. Today, we are 1%. I do not know what is the right. Probably it is something between 3% and 5%, because I agree with you. When you are a small company and you want to control your distribution, in some countries, if you do not enter with the right distributor, it can be the right strategy to enter in joint venture or be in distributor by big guys. Being ourselves a non-group brand, in that type of case, you need to send the lift back because they call it the other floor. In that case, we might, in the future, for some important countries as well, distribute some of our brands of our competitors, peers to profit of our depth and knowledge and human mastership of the field. Non-group brands are always considered for cost allocation, like. Sometimes it can be something more strategic because it can also give you the twofold opportunity to penetrate new market, to enter a new market that otherwise we would have the size and the means to get all along. A subsidiary costs a hell of a money to be put in place, and you have to be very patient before bearing the bottom line return that you expect. We are in a reinvestment mode, yes. Yes, because we believe a lot in RC Forward. Touching wood, we had some positive news compared to the budget assumption in tariff. Today, I repeat, our assumption is zero in the U.S., composed by EUR 8 million refund, of which EUR 6.4 million already in our bank account, and EUR 7 million, which is the differential rate. But if you go to our URD of last year, the amount of tariff we paid last year was EUR 16.7 million. What that means, that I am still cautious considering that part of that will not be paid because they are experiencing some slowdown at federal level in the U.S., but also part of that, more or less EUR 4 million, are blocked in RNDC Chapter 11. Is it a problem for our account? No. It is something that can be a positive additional element. But on top, we believe a lot on RC Forward, like a slimming program to improve top line. It is not a cost cutting. It is something that increase our ability to run marathon. It is something that is fueling our muscles. And that is why, compared to what we did two or three years ago, EUR 230 million of saving, we are more in evolving, rolling, dynamic game of saving and reinvesting, top line dynamic reinvesting. Also because pricing power is not there. We cannot live anymore with a fixed trailer movie that is replicated a picture which is no more valid. Season one of our series has been done. Now we are in season two, season three. Let us go all together to be able to run the season four of "Game of Thrones" for Rémy Cointreau, the best one. Thank you so much, Chris. Thank you. Thank you. There are no more questions at this time, so I will now hand back to you for closing comments. I would like to thank you for your attention. My answers were particularly long today, but it was important because Q2 was a very positive picture. The last 12 months, four months of growth was very positive. Today, I am very into series. Season 1 of a series. The Q3 is the trailer of the series, which is experiencing a little bit less dynamic figures, so flattish. We hope to be able to discuss all together all the wonderful next episode of the season 2 that will start the 25th of November. Thank you so much. Have a nice day. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.