Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are extremely happy to welcome you here once again at the Salle Pleyel, a beautiful venue for this new general meeting for the Hermès International company. You've enjoyed the work of Geoffroy Pithon, who is both an artist and a designer, who uses manual and digital techniques to make up these beautiful, colorful artworks that you'll see today. As you'll know, this general meeting will take a look back on 2023, another very good year for Hermès. All the members of the supervisory board are in the room this morning, and I suggest that we also appoint bureau members today. To that end, I'm going to appoint as tellers the two shareholders with the most votes, Ms. Julie Guerrand, representative of the company H51, and Mr. Jean-Christophe Dumas, representative of H2. Both of them have kindly agreed to take on this position of teller. Mr. Nicolas Hunyck, director of Droit des Sociétés et Boursiers, will be our secretary for this meeting. The tallying of the votes and of the shareholders and the attendance sheet have been trusted to the company Uptevia t he current attendance sheet, as it stands, shows us that we have reached the necessary quorum, both for the ordinary and extraordinary meeting. We were at more than 85% for the quorum a few minutes ago. T he general meeting can get started and can validly deliberate. The final attendance sheet will close at 10 A.M., and the details will be shared with you just before we vote on the resolutions. Our statutory auditors, as well as the representatives of the Social and Economic Committee, are in the room, and Ms. Stéphanie Chambort is in charge of making sure that our proceedings take place in accordance with the rules. As for previous years, this general meeting is filmed, recorded, and streamed on our website. Finally, I would like to thank all the shareholders who have joined, either here in the room or online. Thank you very much for taking part in this general meeting. The file that I have before me has all of the documents required by law, which have been made available to the members of the general meeting. The documents and all the information in keeping with regulation has been sent out to shareholders and to statutory auditors or have been made available to them. Mr. Henri-Louis Bauer, Chair of the executive managers council, is now going to take the floor. Dear shareholders, welcome. We are very happy to have you here for this general meeting of Hermès International to take a look at our business for 2023. Before I share with you our exceptional results, I'd like to pay homage to Bertrand Puech, a member of our family, who played a very important role at Hermès and who passed away in February. He was on this stage as President of the management board, Émile Hermès, for more than 10 years. Grandson of Emile Hermès, son of Yvonne Hermès and Francis Puech, Bertrand worked for Hermès for more than 60 years. In 1964, upon his uncle's request, Robert Dumas, he became a store manager at the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and this was the beginning of a lifelong commitment. In 1990, he was then appointed deputy director of human resources and played a key role for 15 years by recruiting key talents. He also engaged in a quality social dialogue, and he also protected the founding values of Hermès. In 2007, Bertrand Puech was appointed president of the management board of Hermès, and he defended the independence of the group when LVMH increased its stake in the company, and he paved the way for the creating of the holding H51. Bertrand, as you know, always worked for the unity of our family, the bedrock of our independence. Today, as a tribute to Bertrand Puech, I would like to focus on two values that are close to our hearts: independence and quality. Independence is key. Over the last 10 years, it's because Hermès is independent that we have recorded outstanding performances, and 2023 is evidence of that once again. Independence is key to our success, but also to our current standing in the world. Independence is also key to free: free to create, free to innovate, and free to think. Every year, our managers, our teams, our creators, our craftspeople, renew the 50,000 SKUs of our collections and give life to unique objects and exceptional pieces. This independence also gives us this freedom to set very high standards in terms of quality. As you know, the training of our craftspeople takes years, sometimes decades. Making our products requires a lot of time, a lot of care, attention, and a unique know-how. This is why we have invested in that training. Our suppliers also have become true partners, and they supply to Hermès a sustainable, high quality, and responsible work. Quality is also a key value of Hermès. It is a point of pride for our craftspeople, and it's also what our clients like at Hermès. Our products are made and designed to last, and they become a companion for a whole life and sometimes for a whole generation. Quality is also key to our social model. As you know, we believe deeply in imparting knowledge, training, and promoting our employees. We actually often share with them the fruits of our growth with the free share allocation program and bonuses that reflect the success of Hermès. Quality is also about being mindful of our environment. This is why we are investing in transforming our production tools to respect our environmental pledges and also to secure our supply chains. Our financial capacity also gives us this freedom to choose where we set up shop, to be as close as possible to our local clients. Our independence and our high-quality standards are the bedrock of the trust that we have with all of our partners, including, of course, our shareholders, and that loyalty is very precious to us. Hermès is continuing on its successful journey. Over the last 10 years, the turnover has increased threefold, the share price by 10% and in spite of a complex environment, the 2023 results are once again exceptional. And we owe that to our 22,000 employees, members of the ExCo, and of course, to Axel Dumas. And I would like, before you this morning, to thank them for their commitment to the success of Hermès. This commitment, this collective confidence and trust that we have in Hermès, will be a very important asset going forward to continue on this great journey together. Voilà! All right, thanks to Charlotte, David, and our communication teams, all the members of the executive committee have been trained for this dance with results which don't deserve any of your attention. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am delighted to have you with us here for our 2024 shareholders' meeting, and I'd like to thank you for being here. Let us look back at 2023. 2023 was an exceptional year for Hermès. In an unstable international context, sales reached EUR 13.4 billion. In a market which is more and more polarized, this performance reflects the solidity of our artisanal corporate model, based on vertical integration and a strong territorial presence. It demonstrates the strong desirability of our creations and of all the sectors, all the [Foreign Language] métiers. This year was marked by the crossing of the historical threshold for Hermès. First of all, that of 22,000 employees that bring Hermès to the rest of the world, and I'd like to thank them for their enthusiasm, their creativity, their know-how, and their commitment. Then, the threshold of operational investments, which accompanied the momentum of Hermès and which have crossed the EUR 800 million. And finally, that of sales, which have crossed, for the first time, the EUR 13 billion mark. We have doubled our headcount in 10 years, and more than 60% of the job creations were created in France, where, may I remind you, we manufacture 74% of our items. On the whole, over 3 years, Hermès has strengthened its operational investments by nearly EUR 2 billion, of which 60% in France. We are happy to have been able to continue to invest in our production capacity and to have pursued our commitment for training and transmission. May we come back now to the excellence of the know-how within our leather workshop of La Grenelle through pictures? [Foreign Language] Ils ont 5 mois et demi de formation initiale. Ensuite, ils passent 10 mois en atelier de production, avec évidemment de la formation sur le modèle. Et tout ceci a une durée de 18 mois. À la fin de ces 18 mois, ils passent le CAP, reconnu par l'État, le CAP de maroquinerie. [Foreign Language] Nous avons des apprentis, évidemment, des personnes qui sortent de l'école, quelques personnes qui ont déjà leur CAP et on a des personnes, évidemment, en reconversion professionnelle. Sur la formation initiale, c'est exactement la même, puisque même avec un CAP de maroquinerie qui est basé sur essentiellement la machine à coudre, qui n'est pas au plus près de notre métier, donc les savoir-faire de la maison sont à revoir. L'envie des formateurs, c'est de transmettre. [Foreign Language] Il faut une petite étincelle dans les yeux pour adhérer à ce métier. C'est un métier passion. C'est un métier que l'on ne fait pas si on n'a pas envie d'arriver à quelque chose de magnifique. On est dans la précision, on est dans la délicatesse. Le plus important, c'est transmettre l'amour du métier à nos nouveaux arrivants. Dans leurs yeux, on sent une certaine magie et on se dit quand même: le parcours qui a été fait par l'apprenant, en passant par des bases solides pour arriver à un tel résultat. [Foreign Language] Waouh! Il faut 6 ans à l'artisan pour maîtriser plusieurs modèles. Et régulièrement, ils font de la formation continue sur des modèles différents, sur des matières différentes, tout au long de leur carrière. Il y a des regards croisés qui se font entre eux, des accompagnements différents avec le formateur. Notre façon de faire est un petit peu basée sur le compagnonnage. [Foreign Language] Voilà. 2023 was a year of creative abundance, thanks to the creative teams headed by Pierre-Alexis Dumas. Let's mention a few examples. In the leather collections, alongside the classics of Hermès, the new models have encountered great success, such as Arçon, Della Cavalleria Élan, but also the Sac à dos, proposed in several versions. Our women and men's ready-to-wear collections have also encountered great success all over the world. In 2023, we also celebrated the very strong momentum of watches and jewelry, with, for example, the watch Hermès H08 or the creations of Pierre Hardy around iconic lines, Chaîne d'ancre and Kelly. We are also delighted with the launch of perfumes Un Jardin à Cythère and Tutti Twilly, as well as that of the 5th chapter of Beauty, Le Regard Hermès. I'd also like to mention the home department, in which the textile and furnishing collections have met with great success, in particular during the presentation at the Milan Furniture Fair, where the Hermès Pavilion was visited by nearly 40,000 people. Finally, the Silk Métier sector has continued to develop around renewed designs in different formats and exceptional materials. Design, which has also inspired the renovation of a new store in Vienna. [Foreign Language] Pierre-Alexis m'a reçu dans son bureau et m'a demandé comment se portait l'ornement. J'ai trouvé cette boutade assez touchante parce qu'en fait, cela montrait qu'il suivait ma démarche personnelle et mon travail artistique. Donc, il m'a parlé de sa volonté d'intégrer plus d'ornements dans certains décors des nouvelles boutiques à venir. Et on a assez rapidement parlé de Vienne. Je m'appelle Pierre-Marie, je suis dessinateur pour la maison Hermès depuis 2008. [Foreign Language] À côté de cela, je suis artiste décorateur et parfois, j'aime à dire ornementiste. La demande qui m'a été faite était de décorer la boutique de Vienne, de lui donner une identité très affirmée grâce aux dessins et grâce au décor, en créant un vitrail, un tapis et des tissus d'ameublement. Pour moi, c'est très important pour offrir un lieu, son esprit. On parle souvent de l'esprit des lieux, de respecter finalement l'environnement dans lequel ce lieu est pensé. Donc, pour moi, à Vienne, il fallait quelque chose d'éminemment viennois, en tout cas dans les inspirations. [Foreign Language] Et puis après, c'est comment créer quelque chose de vraiment propre à la maison Hermès. Et pour ça, une visite au musée, c'est assez vite imposé. C'est vraiment un lieu où j'aime aller quand je suis en recherche d'inspiration pour la maison. Menou m'accueille toujours là-bas avec son lot d'idées et de malice. [Foreign Language] Ce qui était assez beau ce jour-là au musée, c'est qu'il y avait un grand soleil et que pour des questions de conservation, il y a des stores jaunes qui sont descendus. Et en fait, cette espèce de filtre coloré jaune, ça m'a déjà mis dans l'ambiance de me dire: Tiens, on dirait presque un vitrail. Je suis revenu avec toute une espèce de lexique de vocabulaire ornemental propre à Hermès, que ce soit la grecque en ferronnerie. [Foreign Language] Et puis après, je suis aussi allé chercher dans les collections d'autres éléments de vocabulaire ornemental qui pouvaient faire penser à la Sécession viennoise. Et j'ai tout de suite pensé à cette espèce de damier qui est souvent utilisé en frise. Et j'ai cherché constamment comme ça à créer des ponts entre les deux histoires. [Foreign Language] Sur les vitraux et les tapis, j'ai créé une histoire typiquement viennoise, qui racontait l'histoire d'un flambeau. C'est le flambeau d'Evald. Ça vient d'une sorte d'opérette, je dirais, 1900, qui est viennoise, qui reprend un conte traditionnel dans lequel une fée donnerait à Evald, donc le héros du conte, un flambeau qui permettrait de voir la vie en rose. [Foreign Language] Bon, là, on pourrait dire la vie en orange, mais c'est-à-dire qu'à la lumière de ce flambeau, la personne qui le tient crée pour lui et autour de lui, l'émerveillement… Dans chacun de mes projets décoratifs, il y a la création, mais il y a aussi la fabrication. C'est important de comprendre que mon dessin ne va pas être une œuvre finale, mais qu'il va servir d'outil, de plan, en quelque sorte, à l'artisan qui va réaliser la pièce. [Foreign Language] Voilà, il y a tout un ensemble de techniques qui font qu'on va pouvoir restituer au plus près le dessin final. Je pense que le projet demandait quelque chose d'assez monumental. L'échelle de ces œuvres permet de faire pénétrer le visiteur dans un décor qui a une intention. C'est vraiment un univers immersif. [Foreign Language] Ce que le dessin va permettre de faire, c'est de créer des ponts et des circulations entre les différents éléments de décor qui permettent de perdre l'œil du visiteur. Ça va créer une sorte de parcours, un cheminement. Ça devient presque comme un jeu. Pour moi, ça serait important que les visiteurs se sentent acteurs du décor, qu'ils se sentent à la fois privilégiés et en même temps, qu'ils puissent se raconter eux-mêmes aussi un peu différemment, se rêver différemment, comme quelqu'un qui prend part à une sorte d'aventure. [Foreign Language] Et ça, c'est toute l'histoire du flambeau. C'est l'espace d'un instant, d'être dans quelque chose d'un peu onirique ou en tout cas, assez déroutant. Pour moi, c'est une façon de continuer à raconter notre époque, à laisser aussi ce qu'on pourrait qualifier de fantaisie ou d'originalité, faire partie de notre quotidien. Voilà. In Hermès, everything is important. What might just seem a décor for the store is an adventure of artisans and creation. Attached to the excellence of know-how and transmission of it, we pursue our investments in our production capacity for the leather workshops, as well as for the other sectors, attached to architectural quality of all our production sites. In 2023, we inaugurated the leather workshops of Louviers dans le, in the Eure, Sormonne in the Ardennes. First industrial building in France, certified E4C2. Label of exception, which has the environmental performance according to energy conservation and carbon emission. We've also enlarged the Saint-Junien workshop. This year, we're inaugurating a new workshop in leather in Riom, in the former tobacco factory of the city, and work pursues in three other sites: L'Isle-d'Espagnac in Charente in 2025, Loupes in Gironde in 2026, and Charleville-Mézières in the Ardennes by 2027. Our model is based on a strong vertical integration. 55% of the items are manufactured in our in-house exclusive workshops, with a very strong local presence in France. The 60 production sites and training sites in, of Hermès, as you see on this map, are organized by areas of expertise regionally. Proud of contributing to the expansion of sectors of excellence, we also pursue the accomplishment of our partners. They are trained in the long term and, with quality requirements to maintain a unique quality of Hermès objects. Hermès maintains long-term relations with these suppliers and its partners in all the métiers, all the sectors with great loyalty. The duration of our relations with our 50 biggest suppliers is of 20 years on an average. On an average, a leather workshop of a human size is opened every 12-18 months. It integrates progressively 300 people, which contributes in revitalizing the territories in France. During the openings of new production sites, we attach ourselves to three criteria: respecting local expertise, the sustainability of the know-how, as well as job creation. Talking of long-term relations, the film Footprints on the World, by Frédéric Lafont, invites us to discover a cooperative of wickerwork in Villaines-les-Rochers, with which Hermès has been cooperating for over 40 years. [Foreign Language] La vannerie, c'est vrai que c'est un très très vieux métier qui remonte à la nuit des temps, puisque voilà, les premiers hommes, ils ont tressé de l'osier pour tout ce qu'ils avaient besoin comme ustensile. C'est vrai que c'est... ça a toujours existé. Ici, à Villaines, c'était des vanniers indépendants, comme partout en France, qui ont été regroupés sous l'impulsion du curé du village, au milieu du dix-neuvième, pour être plus forts et arriver à mieux vivre de leur métier. Ah, la coop, c'est à la fois notre employeur et à la fois nous, en fait. C'est plus nous d'ailleurs. C'est nous! Et nous, on a le savoir-faire depuis tellement longtemps que on maîtrise bien la matière. Eh ben, déjà, je la cultive, donc effectivement, elle est vivante. Après, on le sent. Quand on le travaille, on sent comment est l'osier. On le travaille pas de la même façon, suivant la variété, suivant les points de travail qu'on a à faire. [Foreign Language]...Il y a toujours eu, en fait, cette culture à Villaines-les-Rochers. Et c'est, c'est resté. Dès que des vanniers arrêtaient, c'était repris par des plus jeunes, dans le temps, de père en fils, mais il y a vraiment eu des années difficiles. On formait plus de, de jeunes, en fait. On essayait de donner du travail aux vanniers qui étaient là quoi. Il y a des gens qui ont passé beaucoup de temps dans leur vie pour que la coopérative perdure depuis 170 ans, presque 180. Et donc, on n'a pas le droit de laisser, s'écrouler une coopérative comme celle qu'on a. C'est la dernière en vannerie. [Foreign Language]Pendant très longtemps, on utilisait des osiers assez grands, même du très grand. On faisait beaucoup de vannerie de manutention. Avec Hermès, on est complètement à l'opposé. Là, on est sur de la petite vannerie. On a relancé certaines plantations de petites grisettes. Le tri, le classement, le bottelage, c'est beaucoup plus long à faire. [Foreign Language]Moi, j'ai longtemps été directeur, même avant, j'étais président de la Coop. Et c'est vrai que ben, on n'avait pas de vision à 2 mois ou à 3 mois hein. Alors nous, c'est vrai que cette collaboration avec Hermès, ben déjà, ça nous assure du travail. Ça a un petit côté rassurant. Là, depuis 7 ans, à peu près, on forme beaucoup, beaucoup plus. Aujourd'hui, on a plus de la moitié des vanniers qui n'étaient pas là il y a 6 ans, 6 ou 7 ans. [Foreign Language]Moi, celui-là, je ne le mettrai pas. [Foreign Language]Le travail avec Hermès, c'est plus difficile, c'est plus minutieux, mais on sait que notre niveau vannier a augmenté. Ça nous a appris à regarder avec une loupe l'osier, plus que, plus qu'autrefois, quand on faisait des articles pour la grande distribution. On n'aurait pas imaginé faire ça il y a 20 ans. Faire des vanneries si fines, de la couture, de la broderie, c'est de la dentelle. Donc c'est gratifiant, c'est très bien pour le métier, mais aussi pour les personnes. Le fait de fabriquer ces articles-là, ça nous... Je ne sais pas comment expliquer, ça nous rehausse. [Foreign Language]Que ça soit le cuir ou l'osier, c'est des métiers qui ne sont pas nouveaux du tout, mais qui sont réinventés. Je pense que c'est une façon de réinventer aussi ces gestes-là, de les mettre au goût du jour, finalement. [Foreign Language]Là, moi, j'arrive dans un... On a l'impression qu'il y a tout l'avenir à bâtir quoi. Il y a plein de choses à faire. Il y a plein, plein de choses à faire. Mon père a travaillé à la Coop, ma mère a travaillé à la Coop. Toute ma famille a travaillé à la Coop. Moi, j'étais boucher. Puis je suis revenu vers l'osier. Je me suis aperçu qu'avec 3 outils, puis 3, 4 brins de végétaux, on pouvait fabriquer à peu près tout ce qu'on voulait. [Foreign Language]Et un produit qui vient du village voisin ou de notre village à nous. Moi, j'ai planté là, donc je cultive de l'osier, c'est parti. Et puis, j'essaie d'en planter un peu plus tous les ans. Voilà, on a l'impression de faire partie de quelque chose quand même. Thank you. Let us now come to our integrated omni-channel and exclusive retail network. Operational investments have been pursued, respecting the balance between the geographical areas. They've allowed us to have our collections brought to the local customers with an extended service, with a multi-local approach. We've extended our retail network with new addresses in the USA, namely in Los Angeles, Topanga, and two new addresses in China, in Tianjin and Chengdu. In Hermès, each store is a house of objects with a unique architecture, combining the identity of Hermès with the local culture, and which, thanks to the freedom of purchase of the director, offers a specific, specific assortment. Our e-commerce network has pursued its development with the opening of the new platform in Brazil. The success of the collections and our products have led us to strengthen our logistics chain to serve all of the stores, including the e-commerce. At the end of December 2023, the group had 294 stores, of which more than 3/4 are operated directly. On this photograph, you see the photograph of our new store in Aspen, in the USA. The creativity of Hermès also expresses itself through the seventeenth sector of Hermès, that of communication. In 2023, with events open to public all over the world, we wish to talk about our creativity and know-how in the world of Hermès. The artisans of Hermès, with the event Hermès in the Making, traveled to encounter its public in Lille, Chicago, and Bangkok. The exhibition, Hermès Heritage, dedicated to the heritage of Hermès, went to São Paulo. We also wished to have our 16 sectors of Hermès discovered that of silk. For example, with Bride de Gala in London, that of the Maison / Home department with Parade is an event in Seoul, and Petit h in Beijing and Osaka. As every year, we organize a sporting event, which brings together the best horse riders of the world. I propose we discover in images the 2023 edition of the Saut Hermès. Now, let us take a moment to share our responsible approach of Hermès. In 2023, the group has pursued its commitments in terms of sustainable and responsible development through its climate strategy, local development, and responsible sectors. Nature, source of exceptional materials, is at the heart of our artisanal model, and its preservation plays a central role in our commitments. Climate warming and the protection of biodiversity are subjects of concern that we deal with through our climate strategy, concrete initiatives in terms of responsible sectors and the policy of the preservation of natural resources. We continue to affirm our attachment to the territories in which we set ourselves up, as well as the valorization of local know-how. Let us dwell on the details of our achievements this year. Hermès pursues its commitment in social responsibility as an employer. The group has accelerated its job creation in 2023, with a group recruitment of nearly 2,400 people, of which 1,400 in France, in all the sectors of Hermès. Faithful to its social model and its will to share the fruits of growth with those who contribute to it every day, Hermès has distributed, once again, a bonus of EUR 4,000 to all its employees in the world. Total, Hermès has paid in 2023, EUR 450 million, including profit sharing and bonus plans, exceptional bonuses, and free share plan. A 6th allocation of free shares to the benefit of all the employees of the world was announced in June. Today, the employee stock ownership plan, given the attribution rights, concern 80% of the employees. To accompany the growth of our activities and train the employees to our exceptional know-how, the internal training schemes continue to be deployed, namely with the École Hermès des Savoir-Faire and the diploma courses in its schools, and the Cutters diploma was launched this year. In 2023, Hermès continued its actions in order to reinforce inclusion and diversity. Hermès today, henceforth, has 7.12% of its employees who are disabled in France, over and beyond the legal obligation. In six years, we have doubled our rate of employment. The average weighted index of employee equality men, women is 92 over 100, and 4th rank in the feminization of the management bodies of the SBF 120 companies published in December. To conclude, turnover rate is under 5%, staff turnover rate. You see on the screen the strong progression of our staff over 10 years. The creation of jobs for us is a source of pleasure and pride. The group conserves a balance in its growth by maintaining a breakdown between its different sectors, which is stable. Our artisans, and more widely, the production sector, represent nearly half of the staff in 2023, which is a specificity in our industry. The geographical breakdown of the staff reflects, you know, production to the way it says, are very integrated, where 62% of our staff is in France. The employees in France occupy nearly, outside of France, exclusively in the commercial field. The women strongly represented in the group. They represent 68% of the employees, 60% of the management bodies, and 40% of the executive committee. Our ambitions in the environmental field are in line with COP 21 and with the climate warming trajectory of under 1.5 °C, validated by SBTi. The rolling out of the decarbonization plan on all of these sectors has allowed for a reduction of 49.6% of the emissions of Scope 1 and 2 in absolute values as compared to 2018, and a reduction of 52.2% under Scope 3 in intensity. Hermès already offsets 100% of the Scope 1 and 2 emissions and its emissions linked to transport, thanks to high environmental and societal value programs. What is more, our responsible real estate criteria, very demanding, is systematically applied and allow not only to significantly bring down the greenhouse gas emissions in the construction of our new manufacturing sites, but also the energy consumption of these buildings. Our commitment for the preservation of biodiversity is pursued. In 2023, the group committed itself in the science-based targets for nature approach, in order to establish scientific objectives for the preservation of biodiversity. Hermès figures amongst the 120 companies which have initiated this approach worldwide. Hermès pursues its partnership, namely with the World Wildlife Fund since 2016, or the CDC Biodiversity, in order to analyze the impact of these materials. Our strong attachment to the durability of objects continues, with over 200,000 repairs and the eco-design, reuse, and recycling approach. Hermès has been committed since 2012 in carbon offset projects with high social and environmental value. We propose that we dwell on edition 2024 of the Livelihoods Day in Pantin in March, which brought together more than 30 NGOs and over 1,000 participants. [Foreign Language] Il y a aujourd'hui 20 entreprises qui sont engagées dans les fonds Livelihoods. Livelihoods est né d'une initiative d'entreprises. Des entreprises qui ont considéré que, en se mettant ensemble, elles allaient pouvoir faire des projets beaucoup plus impactants, de plus grande taille, qui toucheraient plus de gens dans plus de pays. Et pourquoi est-ce qu'elles l'ont fait? Elles l'ont fait parce que ces entreprises sont engagées dans la réduction de leur empreinte carbone. Mais en plus de cela, elles ont décidé de soutenir des projets qui ont un impact positif sur le climat. [Foreign Language] On vit tous sur une même planète. Dans les grandes entreprises, il y a aussi des hommes et des femmes qui sont assez souvent sensibles et qui ont envie de faire bouger les choses. Donc, l'opposition entre ces grands projets, autour de la nature, autour de l'amélioration de la biodiversité et une opposition avec le monde de l'entreprise, je pense, est assez factice. [Foreign Language] En ayant un impact sur le climat, on a aussi un impact positif sur la vie des gens. C'est-à-dire que nous, nous travaillons avec des populations qui dépendent des conditions naturelles. Et donc, notre rôle, avec les projets Livelihoods, c'est de régénérer. C'est comme si on rebâtissait les fondations d'une maison. On repart de la terre. [Foreign Language] La journée Livelihoods, aujourd'hui, elle sert d'abord aux ONG à se rencontrer entre elles, à partager leurs idées, leurs projets, se connaître. [Foreign Language] Ces praticiens qui mettent en œuvre les projets vont échanger sur des sujets comme: comment réussir un projet d'agroforesterie? Comment améliorer le revenu des fermiers? Comment mesurer, l'impact sur la biodiversité? Et cetera. [Foreign Language]...Et c'est très pratique. Ça sert aussi, bien sûr, aux gens qui sont dans les mondes occidentaux, donc nos collaborateurs, à toucher du doigt ce que c'est qu'un projet. [Foreign Language] C'est assez génial parce que là, on a la possibilité de discuter en direct avec les ONG qui viennent présenter leur projet. Donc c'est hyper intéressant parce qu'on se retrouve projeté dans des endroits du monde, voilà, complètement différents. On est en Inde, en Indonésie, en Afrique. Je dois avouer que je suis assez impressionnée, en tout cas, du résultat. I think it's a good opportunity to really know what their money is used for, whether it is viable or not. So it is a good platform to really understand what happens in the field. [Foreign Language] On fait en fait partie de ce fonds depuis des années, donc en fait, c'est bien de le mettre en lumière aussi aujourd'hui, de pouvoir faire en sorte que de nombreux collaborateurs de la maison soient encore plus au courant. [Foreign Language] Ce que j'ai beaucoup apprécié dans les quelques stands que j'ai vus, c'est la projection à long terme. Je trouve qu'ils travaillent sur le temps long. J'ai vu des projets qui commençaient en 2015 et qui se terminaient en 2040. [Foreign Language] Moi, j'attends déjà en tant que citoyenne, mais aussi en tant que salariée, en tant que collaboratrice, que mon entreprise, en fait, s'engage. Et je pense qu'à titre personnel, c'est une certaine fierté, voilà, de savoir qu'on travaille pour un groupe, une marque qui s'investit dans ce genre de projet. It's a great day because I'm very happy to be part of the Livelihoods family. [Foreign Language] Livelihoods, c'est exactement l'inverse du greenwashing. C'est-à-dire qu'on n'est pas là pour faire de l'affichage et quand on voit toute l'énergie qui est mise par les ONG qui ont pu présenter tout au long de la journée ce qu'elles font sur le terrain, on peut se rassurer sur l'avenir de notre planète. [Foreign Language] Les projets montrent qu'il n'y a que de l'espoir. [Foreign Language] Notre rôle à nous, c'est de montrer que c'est possible. Our corporate model is highly integrated and rooted in the territories. Hermès maintains long-term relations with its stakeholders, and namely its suppliers. We accompany them to attain the level of requirement that the group has fixed itself in terms of social environmental impacts, namely through the dissemination of good CSR practices. The group has also called upon the assisted sector in France for its direct and indirect procurement, and this is constantly increasing every year. We now propose that we follow in pictures a project that allies environmental performance, architectural ambition, and the optimization of materials on the new production site, leather workshop of Louviers. [Foreign Language] Je suis architecte. Je m'appelle Lina Ghotmeh. J'ai mon atelier à Paris, ici, dans le onzième. Et c'est là où j'ai conçu avec mon équipe le projet de la maroquinerie, sellerie de Louviers. Je défends toujours la beauté comme intégrante à la fonctionnalité. Donc c'est aussi bien la fonctionnalité et la poésie. Et là, le point de départ, c'était de poser la question: pour qui on construit cette maroquinerie? [Foreign Language] Ce qui m'a toujours frappé dans le programme de ce projet, c'est le bien-être, en fait, qu'on veut accorder à l'artisan et à son travail. Donc, en partant de l'artisan et de cette précision de la main, je voulais que ce bâtiment ait cette même ambition de précision. Et ce qui a émergé un peu comme un élément naturel de cette maroquinerie, c'était la brique. [Foreign Language] C'est aussi cette forme d'arche qui dessine les façades et qui est aussi la forme naturelle pour faire des portées en construction brique. Et ce qui était intéressant, c'est que cette formule-là rappelle aussi les arçons de chevaux. C'est un matériau local, c'est un rapport aussi à une mémoire locale. Et l'idée, c'est aussi de refaire vivre une briqueterie par la construction de ce bâtiment. Pour le projet, on est à 510,000 briques. Là, on est dans le four. Celles-là, on vient de les poser. On va les récupérer dans un mois, le temps que le feu y passe, le temps que ça refroidisse. [Foreign Language]À 1 mètre sous nos pieds, on a 1,200 degrés. [Foreign Language]Il y a aussi la structure du bâtiment. C'est une charpente bois. Donc, le bois aussi, c'est un matériau durable et stocke du carbone. On utilise la géothermie pour créer de l'énergie. Pour compenser tous les besoins en électricité, c'est plutôt des panneaux solaires. On positionne des ateliers où on a besoin beaucoup de lumière vers le nord, avec une lumière qui est tamisée, qui est une bonne lumière pour travailler, ce qui fait que le bâtiment, il est vertueux. [Foreign Language]Ce qui me paraissait le plus évident, c'est cette forme carrée pour le bâtiment, puisque l'idée, c'est d'avoir un bâtiment qui a le moins de façades, le moins de d'échanges, en tout cas avec la température extérieure, pour garder une inertie thermique assez importante. [Foreign Language]Et là, le bâtiment entier, il a une forme carrée, mais il est composé de micro carrés à l'intérieur aussi, qui permettent cette flexibilité à l'intérieur même de cette structure. Et bien évidemment, tout ça, magiquement, fait que le carré, c'est aussi le carré parfait, le carré Hermès. In 2023, Hermès pursued its approach to increase generous actions in all of the regions where it is set up. The Hermès Corporate Foundation entered 2023 in its fourth five-year term, with a budget of EUR 61 million over five years. The foundation deploys programs around four directions: supporting creation, transmitting know-how, protecting the environment, and encouraging solidarity. I would like to mention, for example, the programs such as Manufacto and Manu Terra, to create awareness among children in school to professions of craftsmanship and the importance of biodiversity. Beyond the foundation, sponsorship actions, 400 solidarity actions have been carried out in 2023 for up to EUR 13 million. The employees have sometimes contributed during their working hours, but also outside of it, in the course of environmental, cultural, and solidarity actions with local communities. The exceptional progression of Hermès in the extra financial rating is pursued even this year and reflects our CSR commitments as well as strength and transparency. I would like to mention the double A rating of MSCI, the second ranking by Sustainalytics in textile and garment, in luxury, the integration of the A-list of CDP, placing Hermès amongst the 300 companies deemed as the most high performance in environmental subjects worldwide. Coming now to activities in 2023, the turnover reached EUR 13.4 billion and progressed by 21% at constant rates. The activity was particularly homogenous with regions, which all showed growth of around 20%, and sectors which confirmed the beautiful dynamic in double-digit growth. In 2023, France, +20%, and Europe, excluding France, +20%, registered solid growth, thanks to the loyalty of their local customers and the momentum of tourist flows. Japan, +26%, registered a progression of a sustained and regular growth. Asia, excluding Japan, +19%, pursued its strong growth with very good progression of sales in all the countries of the region, despite a comparison basis which was high at the end of the year. Americas, +21%, confirmed an excellent performance as well. The geographical distribution remains stable year-on-year. Let us now have a look at the revenue per sector. In 2023, all the sectors confirmed their solid momentum. The saddlery leather +17%, strong growth. It was based on a particularly sustained growth and the increase of production capacity. Clothing and Accessories, +28%, pursued its strong momentum, thanks to the success of the Ready-to-Wear and shoes collection. Silk and textiles, +16%, had a solid performance around materials of exception and new production capacity. Perfumes, +12%, benefited from the success of the latest creations and the classics of Hermès and Beauty of the latest launches. Watches, +23%, confirmed its very good performance around unique creativity and exceptional watch know-how in models of complication, as well as the iconic models of Hermès. Finally, the other matters of Hermès, +20%, which groups together Jewelry and the home, were, have grown strongly. The evolution of the breakdown of these sectors reflected the dynamic movement of the clothes and accessories, and leather continued its in its growth in line with its objectives. Eric Duhalgouët, our CFO, will present the results to you after a film which shows the know-how of our leather craftsman, craftspeople. G ood morning, ladies and gentlemen. The group recorded solid performance in 2023 by stepping up its investments and speeding up its recruitments. The recurring operating income increased by 20% and net income by 28%. This graph here shows the progress of the turnover and the net result the last three years o ver 10 years, the annual average growth rate and the growth rate of net income reached 14% and 18.5%. Sales increased by 21%, and like in 2022, it was particularly virtuous. It was driven mainly by growth in both volume and value, combined with a price effect that was contained at 7%. The negative impact of foreign exchange was quite significant and amounted to EUR 570 million, driving growth down from 21% - 16%. Gross margin increased by 1.5% versus 2022. This improvement is due to our currency hedging. Activity was also very strong in our production site, and our sales through of our collections in the distribution network were very high in all the sectors, including fashion. Communication expenditure went higher than the EUR 600 million threshold. Communication and administrative costs, so the wages of the salespeople and support function people, as well as variable rents, reached EUR 2.6 billion. We've We've beefed up our teams in distribution to meet the increase in footfall in our stores. The other income and expenditure reached EUR 889 million, and that's mainly made up of depreciation of tangible and intangible assets, as well as depreciation of rights of use. They also include, for 2023, an expense for the free share plan that was awarded to employees. J ust as a reminder, a EUR 60 million expense was also booked in 2022 for the Fondation Hermès. The recurring operating income, therefore, reached EUR 5.7 billion, a 20% increase versus 2022. Recurring operating profitability reached its high watermark at 42.1% of sales, an exceptional level, and then a 1.6-point improvement compared to 2022. The financial result was a result of EUR 190 million against an outlay of EUR 62 million in 2022, including the currency hedging, lease debts, and income on cash, which, with the hike in interest rates, reached EUR 330 million. Tax expenses reached EUR 1.6 billion, or an effective tax rate of 27.8%. The result of associated companies reached EUR 105 million and reflect the strong dynamism of our activity in the Middle East, computed with the equity method of accounting. Our net income reached EUR 4.3 billion, a 20%- 28% increase compared to 2022. Our operational profitability and income on cash have both increased, and we've reached a record level of profitability at 32%, a 3 points year-on-year increase. Operational investments reached EUR 859 million in 2023. EUR 258 million were devoted to renovating and extending our distribution network, mainly in Asia, with our projects in Beijing, Wuxi, and Chengdu, and in the U.S., with, among others, projects in Chicago and Las Vegas. EUR 392 million were invested to boost the development of the group in real estate projects for support functions, for the different sectors, and for logistics. The group also sped up its expenditure in IT and digital projects. EUR 208 million were dedicated to reinforcing production capacities in the leather sector, but also in silk and textiles, perfumes, the home, the home department, and watches. Our cash flow reached EUR 5.1 billion, so a 25% increase. After two years of a drop in working capital requirement, our variation was a net amount of EUR 794 million in 2024. This comes from the replenishment of our finished products in our stocks and an increase in our raw material inventory to secure our production capacity. After taking into account the operational investments and the reimbursement of our lease debts, the adjusted available cash flow reached EUR 3.2 billion. Financial investments worth EUR 316 million were mainly devoted to acquiring shares and stakes in our historical partners, in keeping with our vertical integration strategy. Hermès International bought back 75,000 shares worth EUR 132 million and paid out EUR 1.4 billion of dividend. Adjusted net cash therefore increased by EUR 1.4 billion and reached EUR 11.2 billion euros at the end of 2023. As at the end of 2022, cash flow makes up 50% of total equity that are more than EUR 15 billion, more than 75% of our liabilities. Our financial structure is even more robust, which allows us to be more independent and to roll out our long-term strategy. Thank you very much, and now over to Axel to talk about the Q1 turnover and the outlook. Thank you very much, Eric. Let's take a look at the Q1. Sales growth was strong, with a turnover of EUR 3.8 billion or a 17% increase at the end of March 2024. All the regions posted double-digit growth. This is a testimony to the loyalty of our clients and the strength of our model. It also reflects our value strategy that we've deployed in all the sectors that are all recording strong performances. R egarding the outlook for the group, I can confirm that they remain unchanged. For 2024, we are heading into this year with a lot of confidence in our unique and robust model, based around our values of independence, entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, and creativity. It's therefore with great gratitude that we closed 2023. The spirit of the Faubourg is the theme for 2024. This location is a dream, that of Emile Hermès and the beating heart of Hermès. It is everywhere where Hermès is and conveys the values of Hermès. We're going to continue to create jobs in different locations and sectors, and also continue with our investments in production capacity. We'll continue to stand by our supplier and partners, and invest in our distribution network with opening and extension of stores such as Princeton last week, Shenzhen, Mexico, and Lille. We'll be reinforcing our vertical integration upstream and downstream, and also closing our ties with our partners in the Middle East. We're going to continue on this journey and continue to make it our client's dream. Thank you very much for your kind attention, and I now suggest that we take a look at our iconic Faubourg in a new light by following Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who is a world champion and Olympic champion in dressage, and she's a partner rider for Hermès. We wish Jessica all the very best for the summer of 2024. Before we talk about the main resolutions, I would like to thank Axel Dumas and Éric du Halgouët for their quality presentations this morning. But above all, and on behalf of everyone here, I would like to thank all the employees of the Hermès Group, who together achieved these exceptional results. As we have seen in all the different divisions, all the different sectors, all the different regions, and all the production sites, we've had a great contribution to this growth that overshot our initial objectives. This performance was achieved in keeping with the unique culture of Hermès, and also thanks to a total commitment to the teams who show their attachment and their belief in the model of Hermès. I would like also to thank the ExCo and the executive management for their commendable management of our company, for their values, identity, and principles d ear shareholders, I would like also to extend our gratitude to you for your loyalty and for your support. We are aware of the strong relationship that brings us together, and we would like to thank you for that. You can actually give yourself a round of applause. It's now time to talk you through the main resolutions. By the way, I'd like to say that the final quorum of the meeting is 86.5% for the general meeting and 87.2% for the resolution on the dividend. Now, for the 4th resolution, you'll be voting on the allocation of net income for 2023, that reaches EUR 3,358,639,584.15 billion. The supervisory board suggests setting the ordinary dividend at EUR 15 and the exceptional dividend at EUR 10 per share. And this is in keeping with our desire to find the right balance between the threshold of say on pay, which is balanced, and to distribute a part of the important cash that testifies to the relevant strategy of our company and the quality of our financial management. An interim dividend of EUR 3.5 per share has already been paid out on the 15th of February, and the balance of the ordinary and exceptional dividend, i.e., EUR 21.5 per share, will be detached from the share on the 2nd of May 2024, and payable in cash on the 6th of May 2024, on the positions closed on the evening of the 3rd of May 2024. Now, through the 7th to the 10th resolution, we are suggesting that you approve the total compensation and benefits of all kind paid during or awarded during the financial year that ended on the 31st of December 2023 to the corporate officers. The elements of compensations that you'll be voting on are all in keeping with the compensation policy that was approved by the general meeting. Variable compensation for executive managers, so paid out in 2023 for fiscal year 2024, and that paid out in 2024 for 2023, has evolved in tandem with the consolidated pre-tax result. The CSR criteria that determines 10% of that variable compensation was 100% reached. A complete and detailed information on the appraisal of the CSR and compensation committee is in the universal registration document as well as in the convening notice. I'd like also to remind you that the executive managers do not receive any multi-year or staggered compensation scheme. The compensation of the President of the Supervisory Board is made up of an annual gross fixed compensation, the amount of which was set in 2023 by the General Meeting to EUR 180,000. T hat was for 2023 and will be paid in 2024. I n the 11th resolution, you'll be voting on the compensation policy for executive managers, as described in the convening notice. This policy remains unchanged with just two slight changes. We are using the same principles as usual, with a compensation which is tied to the performances of the previous year, as well as a variable compensation, which is calculated on the basis of the pre-tax result, and 10% of that is determined by CSR criteria. These two changes are, first of all, on the cap, the capped increase of the annual compensation set at 5%, and the setting up of a defined contribution pension plan, an Article 82 pension plan, to take over from the Article 39 pension plan, which is closed since 31 December, 2019. These proposals were approved by the management board and by the supervisory board, and these two bodies came together on the 9 February, 2024, and all of the terms and details are in the convening notice. F or the 12th resolution, you'll be voting on the compensation policy for the supervisory board members. There's no change to that policy. From the 13th to the 16th resolution, you'll be renewing the terms of four members of the supervisory board: Mr. Matthieu Dumas, Mr. Blaise Guérin, Ms. Olympia Guérin, and Mr. Alexandre Viros. They all bring their own expertise to the work of the supervisory board and put to good use their skill and their involvement, and their presence also make the council much more diverse, with different ages, genders, different professional backgrounds, et cetera. These four terms would end at the end of the general meeting in 2027 for fiscal year that will end on the 31 December 2026. For the 17th resolution, we are asking you to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as a statutory auditor to certify all of the information pertaining to sustainability and for a 3-year timeframe, so up until the general meeting of 2027 for the fiscal year 2026. These new appointments are in keeping with the CSRD European Directive. PwC has a long expertise with a very disciplined and competent team, and I'd also like to tell you that the Audit and Risk Committee has issued a positive opinion on this appointment. From the 6th to the 18th resolution, we'll be asking you to renew the authorizations given to the executive management to buy back their own shares with a cap on 10% of capital. The maximum buyback price will be 3,000 EUR per share. The shares that we buy back pretty much entirely are used for the free employee share plan, as it's been the case actually for many years now. For the 19th resolution, you'll be voting on the renewal of the authorization to executive management to grant free existing shares. I 'd like to highlight that in keeping with our compensation policy, executive managers do not have any compensation made up of shares. T his is in keeping with our compensation policy, since we want to share the fruits of our growth with employees and bring them in closer association with the decisions and the development of Hermès in the long term a s you've seen during the presentation, employee shareholding involves about 80% of our employees at group level. In the universal registration document and on the Hermès Finance website, you will see the report of the supervisory board on how the company is governed, and you'll also find that report in the documents outside. I t's now time to hand over the floor to the statutory auditors so that they can share with you the finding of their reports. Merci, monsieur. Thank you, chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, on behalf of the College of Statutory Auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit, and Grant Thornton, to report on the financial year ending 31 December, 2022. I'd like to tell you about the terms of the report, which are in the universal registration document. The report on the consolidated accounts and the annual accounts were reproduced successively on pages 460-464 and 489-492 of the universal registration document. The objective of our mission is to obtain the reasonable assurance that the accounts do not have any significant anomalies, and in order to do this, we implement adapted diligence in the organization of your group and its different sectors in France and abroad. We intervene in 43 subsidiaries in 43 countries i n 23 countries. We were able to carry out the diligences in a satisfactory manner in all these countries. Our audit and conclusions have been shared with the financial manager of the group during regular exchanges. We've also reported on our work to the audit committee, the risk committee, and the supervisory board. The key points related to any risks of significant anomalies that have been identified and the weights related to the accounts or the complexity of the evaluation or the importance of the judgment exercised to appreciate the consolidated accounts are on the evaluation of the current inventory and booking of hedging transactions and for annual accounts, evaluation of the equity interests. You'll find the description of the diligences that we've implemented in our report. At the end of our work, we have expressed an opinion without any reservation or observation on the consolidated account and the annual accounts of your company. Concerning our report on the regulatory conventions that are reproduced on pages 554 and 555 of the universal registration document. It is to communicate in this report the characteristics and the modalities of the regulatory conventions that you have been informed about without giving any opinion or well-foundedness. Within this framework, we inform you that we have not given any opinion on the convention authorities submitting submit to your approval. Our report takes up on general the description of all the conventions approved. We have issued two reports for the extraordinary general meeting. These reports and figures in pages 557 and 558 of the universal registration document concerning the different authorizations that related to the capital of your company w e have no observation to formulate concerning the report managed by the executive management. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, thank you very much for your attention. [Foreign Language] Je souhaite remercier ici- Here, I would like to thank Vincent Frambourt for his intervention. I'd also like to address a warm thanks because this general shareholder meeting is his last one in this role, and we wish to recognize his full contribution all along these last years. Thank you very much again, Vincent. [Foreign Language] Nous allons- We are now going to pass on to the questions session, and before that, I'd like to say that the company has received before this meeting about 12 written questions from three different shareholders in the form and deadlines required by the text. These questions are mainly on the environmental, social, and governance-related challenges of our different activities. They relate to our commitments vis-à-vis the Paris Accord, the questions in terms of our commitment to biodiversity, animal wellbeing or sponsorship. The executive management has brought its answers to these different questions that have been published on the Hermès finance website under shareholder meeting. You can, of course, consult these answers as of now. With regard to the live Q&A session here with the room, I would like to remind you some instructions. We will be granting the requisite time for Q&A as usual. Would you kindly introduce yourselves, indicating your name, your function, if you are individual shareholder or whether you represent a company, or whether you're a journalist, before asking your question. F inally, I'd like to thank you, and let me have the opportunity of believing this, to be succinct in the presentation of your question in order to leave each one an opportunity to express themselves. Not telling you that you don't have the right to, to only one question, because normally everybody respects this, but I'm counting on you to limit yourself and try to be concise in the expression of your question. As you've been able to see, there are hostesses and hosts in the room to provide you with a microphone to ask your question. Maybe we should have more light in the room for this purpose. [Foreign Language] The session is ouverte et le quatre- T he session is open. Thank you for giving me the floor, and congratulations for your economic performance, actual financial performance. I'm an individual shareholder, and I represent my shares and that of my family. You have rightly mentioned the share price of the last 10 years, and I don't see how we could complain, especially for me, because... The value of the Hermès share, I don't know how to interpret the limit of 3,000 It's higher than 2,000. T his could be a disadvantage to new shareholders who would hesitate to invest such a large sum. For the older shareholders, this could represent certain drawbacks because, as you know, the taxation is not proportional to the other, but presents certain thresholds that is difficult to respect with the value of 2,000 EUR. If we were to divide the nominal by two or by five. A s I was saying, if we were to divide the nominal by two or five, this stuff would not be incompatible with our status, and, this would allow attenuating some of the drawbacks. N ot very big drawbacks that I mentioned. Thank you for the tolerance of the room. Thank you for your question. I think the movement in the room was only alluding to the fact that this question comes back regularly, and that, we every time answer this question. At this stage, we do not, envisage dividing the nominal and, therefore, the share price. It's not necessarily appropriate. About 10 years ago, I could say that the share price corresponded to the price of a carré. T oday it's more like a leather and canvas bag, handbag. I 'm happy to, to say, I think that we've all been able to grow and valorize our company and our shares. W ith regard to the division, as you know, there's also the possibility of buying amounts of subscription through indices or UCITS or groups of shares, which allow the investor to invest an amount and not necessarily to have a full amount of shares. I think there's several sufficient amount of possibilities for our individual shareholders, whatever be the amount of their investment, to have access to integrate the Hermès share in their portfolio. W e remain vigilant w e see that the number of individual shares grows every year. We have an extremely large number of shareholders, and so we don't see any sign as such, important sign that would deserve implementing this measure, which does represent a certain cost, and, at this stage, we prefer to stay, with stability. But thank you for your question, sir. [Foreign Language] Hervé De Lage, Association Nationale. We are representative of the National French shareholders, the executive management. Hermès, over the last few years, as you've shown, has been growing year on year, and the numbers are really good since 2023. What is your analysis of the broader international luxury market and how it has evolved, and also how it's going to evolve going forward? I t's a very broad question that you're putting to us. I cannot, you know, read into my crystal ball and look at the future with greater accuracy. However, what I can say is that I've been at the helm for 10 years, and I could never have hoped for a better first decade. What we have seen is that, since the beginning of the 21st century, we have a world that goes through many crises. Every two years, there is a global or a local crisis, with 9/11 in the U.S., and then terrorist attacks in France, Fukushima, the financial crisis in 2008, etc. W hat I see is that we are in an unstable world, and therefore, it is important to be a resilient company. In other words, to be able to make progress when that is possible, and then to sit tight when there is a lot of difficulties. T his is, you know, what we do with Eric Duhalgouët and everybody who's in charge of finance at Hermès. W hat are the three main structural changes in our sector? The first important sector in change, in my eyes, is that, people no longer buy luxury items based, on their income, but rather on their wealth. U nlike a GDP or real estate, we see that, people, are buying, our products first and foremost because, they are wealthy. Two points of GDP drop in a country is not a huge change, but a crisis in real estate in a country will have a bigger impact on us. The second thing that has changed over the last 10 years is that, our sector is much more polarized. Previously, we had an average of 5%. The best would do +8%, and the worst would do +2%. W e're still at +5% on average, but the best do +20%, and the worst do -20%. So either you are very successful or very unsuccessful, and that's very new a nd third thing, which is quite new, is that there is an advantage to being of a certain size. You need to have a certain size to invest in production and communication. T here is a premium to being a large company, and we definitely benefit from that a nd then over the last 3-4 years, we have benefited from quite unforeseen circumstances. There was a year where 87% of our stores were closed in the year, and you can be as resilient as you like, with your stores closed, you're not making any money. T hen there was a pickup, which was actually so strong, a recovery that was so strong that we grew for several years on the trot by 20%. W e are coming back to a more normal situation, although Q1 is at +17% of sales. But we do see that there are very strong post-COVID effects that are kind of petering out. W hat about the new and important trends at the moment for our industry? I believe that there is a very strong dynamism in Asia with the middle class that is growing, growing in number, getting richer and younger. I am quite optimistic when it comes to future growth in our industry. But we also have to seduce these potential clients. We need to have the right creations. We need to have the right designs. As you know, our sector is about desire, and this is something that you can't just decide unilaterally. Okay, that's my answer to your question. Panel number two. President, Executive Manager, Mr. Dessoulange, for the APAI Association for Wealth and Individual Shareholders. I'd like to make one comment and ask three questions. Y our ambition is to open two new stores per year in China, and I've taken a look at your results, and you talk about the evolution of sales in Japan and then Asia minus Japan. C ould you tell us? for both Asia and Japan, whether the increase in sales in Japan are down to local consumption, or is it Chinese tourists who are buying these products in Japan? Second question. A question on your ambition in cosmetics. Can you maybe give us some flavor on what you would like to do in this particular area? And other question, you've got two American clients who've decided to enter into litigation because they could not buy a second iconic Birkin bag from the Hermès store where they were shopping. T here is a class action that is underway since you seem to be infringing on the antitrust American rules. And I was very happy actually, to see that the people carrying the panels and the microphones are wearing silk scarves or lovely silk ties. Could you confirm? that they'll be able to keep them after the general meeting, or do the hosts and hostesses have to hand them back? Well, this is a fourth question then. Well, look, I have no idea. I'll ask around, or you can ask them. Okay, so for Japan, indeed, growth is very strong in Japan. I am always amazed by the quality of our teams in Japan, our general director over there, and Florian Craen is doing an incredible amount of work with great teams over there. So our position in Japan is quite unique, and we've got a very loyal local client base. And actually, we often have this question: How are you able to seduce a new generation, the Zen generation? And our sales director in Japan says that he doesn't focus on a single generation, but on all three generations: the grandparents, the parents, and the children. W e are successful in Japan because we do have a very loyal local client base. T hen, you know, on top of that, there are some tourists who come in from China, but also from the rest of Asia, because yen, as you know, the Japanese currency is quite cheap at the moment, so a lot of people are going to Japan to do their shopping. So we do have a lot of tourists who go to Japan to buy Hermès products. But this is offset by our very loyal client base in Japan w e have got a very small share, relatively speaking of tourists who go to Japan to buy Hermès products. Y our question on cosmetics. W e've got two objectives. We are much more ambitious than for perfume some 10 years ago. Agnès de Villers, who manages, among other things, perfumes, decided to add makeup and foundation and lipstick. I see some people miming making up makeup in the room, y es, it's all very successful at the moment. What we love first and foremost is the product, and then it sells or it doesn't sell. Sometimes I love products, but they don't sell, and they just disappear. What we really want to do is to make the product a success, and we've done that precisely with makeup. W e have, in my eyes, the very best lipstick, great mascara, nail varnish are also great, and they're also selling really well. T he third step will be to move into the cosmetic space. We're currently working on that with the same team under the supervision of Agnes. I'm a bit more in a hurry because I need these cosmetics more than anyone else, but Agnes wants us to take a bit more time. The idea is to find something that works. W e're doing a lot of research in the hope that we can improve these cosmetics and all look a bit nicer here on the stage. F or the class action. S adly, I'm not going to make any comments on a current litigation because the U.S. law is quite specific on this particular point. Of course, we are sticking to antitrust law in the U.S. as elsewhere, and we'll definitely be defending ourselves in this particular matter. Bonjour. Morning, Mr. Axel Dumas. I'm Rizic Zakia, who has worked 33 years in Hermès at Pierre-Bénite. I've come from Lyon to come and talk to you about the Pierre-Bénite hub, where I worked, where the House of Hermès made me dream and gave me a good life. What I wanted to evoke today is the subject on disabilities, where since the year 2000, we put in place a charter on disabilities, which hasn't really brought the results expected in all these years. I, myself, was recognized as a person with disability. We didn't cut you off. Just please go ahead. I left the company in 2022 because I could no longer make the beautiful bags of Hermès. However, what I wanted to explain was that the charter on disabilities, with hundreds and hundreds of papers that led to nothing whatsoever on the Pierre-Bénite manufacturing site. No employee, excluding those who were concerned by disabilities, delved into this question. T hings like these that have been dealt with, but which bore no fruit on the putting in place of disabilities related questions at Hermès. W hat my question is: What can you envisage to put in place on handicapped employees who make some beautiful bags on all the manufacturing locations and workshops in France? I suffered a great deal in my work. I was put in the logistics. I can't find my words, like telling me that I would be put elsewhere. With my handicap, I was operated at least four or five years on my hands. Nothing was done, and that is why I accepted to leave for inaptitude to the workstation. I would ask you, Mr. Dumas, to come to Pierre-Bénite to see what's really happening, the big problems. I opened this workshop in 1989 with Mr. Jean-Louis Dumas, and the first 10 years were marvelous. And then, you know, the story. You know, Mr. Axel Dumas, the stories that took place in Pierre-Bénite, and they are continuing. There are people who are leaving Pierre-Bénite, people who are suffering at work. There are people who are giving in their resignations. M y question is w hat are you going to do for people who are recognized as disabled workers? Because on that location, there's no reconversion, as it were, for a given activity. People are asked to leave or are laid off. There's a very strong pressure. Thank you. T hank you for your moving testimony. We've received it. I'm going to let Axel respond to it, because, as you will have understood, the handicap policy is an area on which Hermès is working very willingly. T he results, you haven't experienced them, but the whole challenge is to show that... Let Axel answer, and I invite you to liste to him. Thank you for your question. It's, of course, difficult, and I don't know your- p ersonal question, and I apologize for that, and I will find out, and have a look at the dossier. T he handicap or the disability issue is very strongly one of the subjects on which we have acted upon in France, as you know, because you were still there. We had the third group level agreement with the trade unions on disabilities, and we have doubled the number of disabled people employed in the company because we have a very clear policy of training and integration of disabled people. In France, we have 7.12% handicap rate of employment of disabled persons. T he objective of the group, which is up to be above 6%, so we are above not only that objective, but also those of the legal thresholds. Y ou can have mishaps, things that, you know, we missed out on, but we worked really in-depth and with artisans employed with conditions of handicap y ou were not there two years ago, but we've had programs of reconversion for those who've been wounded at war to be able to come in as artisans. T his is something that we work, we work on. The figures, as you know, are particularly good because 7.12% rate of employment of disabled persons, and the figure is much higher than that of the industry and in general. I will look particularly at your case, and I will come with pleasure to Pierre-Bénite, as I always do. But you know, you're always learning things, you know. W e will look at this with interest, and be rest assured, rest assured of the interest and the passion that Hermès puts into integrating the disabled employees. Two? Bonjour, monsieur. Morning, Chairman. I'm Sylvie Boser, individual shareholder. I first wanted to say the immense pleasure that it is for me to be here at this shareholder meeting, and how much I congratulate you for the quality, for your values, and everything that you represent. I have a question. H ow do you? be ahead on the question that you mentioned that is going to be more and more important, namely climate warming, biodiversity, and you yourself spoke about animal well-being, which is a key subject? The second small question or suggestion is h ow is it possible for shareholders who are so interested to come closer to your manufacturing sites and to be able to visit them time and again in the Paris region or in the provinces? Thank you. Thank you for your question. I'm going to let Axel answer your question on the climate and eco responsibilities, CSRD. I don't know whether we are still ahead of, you know, at the time, but Hermès in its way of manufacturing is very artisanal methods. Our company was created with an artisan and craftsmanship, which was done before the Industrial Revolution w e were created in 1837, so by nature, W e don't issue, emit carbon w e're very low emitters of carbon, so to speak. Today, we are at 40,000 t, if I'm correct, on Scope 1 and 2. That's very, very little, and that is why we are already with the carbon offset. We can't say carbon neutral, b ut in total compensation. Hermès, by nature, is a very low emitter, and thanks to Olivier Fournier, who's in the Executive Committee and who heads, among other things, sustainable development department, reduced our impact, from the beginning, before the subject was of the order of the day. You know, passing our stores to the LED lighting, and it's been a long, long time that we've, you know, switched on to LED lighting. Our new leather workshops are really made with the biggest, best environmental criteria. You know, low consumption of carbon during the building and low consumption during operation give you an order of magnitude. And we can also do this because Hermès is very profitable. A CSR criterion for leather workshop is investments of EUR 10 million higher if we didn't meet those criteria. H ermès does so as well as possible, and we've still got progress to make, and this is a subject you saw the film on Livelihoods, which motivates our employees and is a commitment of all. There's another subject which is slightly more complicated, which is that of biodiversity and nature, because we are victims in the sense that the overuse of breeding and the overuse of raw materials, it becomes sometimes difficult for us to keep the quality that we have access to, et cetera. W e are in a lot of programs in order to improve this, to try and have greater sectors without pesticide w hen we have silk, for example, when we make silk, we have to use mulberry leaves, and we can only use mulberry leaves that have no chemical input, because otherwise it doesn't work. T hanks to where we make silk, we did a study with Cambridge University. Biodiversity is highly respected because there are no chemical inputs, and on the other hand, you see people who stop making mulberry to make soja, soya, or something else t hat's a real important subject on which we work and with great passion to recreate virtuous sectors which preserve biodiversity, et cetera. We have strong charters for animal breeding, for the animal well-being, on which we'll certainly be coming back to. This drives us, and we try to have the highest standards by doing research, working on vertical integration and investments, and being audited by bodies, external organizations and bodies. That is how we try to be in this evolution. If I were to sum up, I would say that today Hermès does not participate in climate warming because we have very low emissions. We are very vigilant indeed on the effects of climate warming on the planet, which sometimes unfortunately impose upon us the difficulties in supplies. We make investments in R&D, so that we offset this and adapt our production. There was a question on the visit of our workshops, but don't want to forget. Y es, I will answer that. With regard to the visit of the workshop, as you know, we are in a very sustained activity with high growth rate and organized formally. O rganizing formally the visits of the workshops would be a destabilizing factor for our artisans f or the moment, we try to protect the integrity of Hermès and all of the production and our workshops. I know that is not satisfactory as an answer. We're trying to reflect upon, trying to find other ways and means of lifting the veil or the curtain, so to speak, for our shareholders, t hat they can discover us even better. One of the solutions is this assembly and the quality of the videos that we present to you. Some might find it's too much, others might feel it's not enough. I t's one way of sharing what is happening behind in the wings, in the intimacy of Hermès all through the year. But I do take your remark, it's well noted, because this link that we spoke about is there. We must think of nourishing it, and keeping it up t here's not just the financial value to do so. W e have this in our minds. Just a quick word on my part, because we have our communications teams that are there, and they built a great program called Hermès in the Making. We have some craftspeople from watches, from jewels, a carry designer, a saddle maker. All of these people come together and take part in this traveling show. I f you get a chance to see this event, Hermès in the Making, do go and see it. It gets you a chance to really see what our craftspeople do close up. Okay, panel number three, please. James Fraser, I have a question for Mr. Dumas. I knew that we'd get back on this topic, A question from PETA. Last year, there was a question, and you said that you were abiding by the highest standards in terms of animal welfare, and that that was particularly important for Hermès. PETA showed that, so long as you'll be using exotic skins, you will not be reaching these high standards. 10 surveys on exotic skins have showed that lizards were stripped of their skins alive, were decapitated, likewise for crocodiles. PETA also revealed that thousands of crocodiles bred for their skins are raised in small basins in Thailand. One crocodile was seen agonizing for 23 minutes after being stabbed in his neck by one of the employees. Regarding of where Hermès is supplying their skins, we see that these practices are widespread in the industry. In your policy, you recognized that animals are sentient beings and should not suffer, and that you should look out for their welfare. P lease be patient. I'm sure the question is coming. Mr. Fraser, over to you. Y ou are acting as if you have nothing to hide. Please prove it. W e asked to accompany Hermès in visiting these sites to see precisely where are the exotic animals, where they are being bred. Y our other shareholders would probably see it as a useful initiative. Our question is therefore the following: when will we be able to go together and see the conditions in which these animals live and subsequently die? Before we hear from Axel, I would just like to frame your question. This is a Q&A session in a general meeting, and the whole point of this general meeting is not to be a platform for people to convey their message. W hen you are calling into question a whole industry, and this industry is not a supplier of Hermès, you know, we consider that this discourse is not appropriate. Last year, you asked us to not repeat the questions that you put in writing. This question has been answered on the website in writing, and you're asking that same question once again. So you either put it in writing or ask it here in the general meeting. I 'd like us to maybe stick to these rules in the future. But Axel, nonetheless, is going to answer your question. L ook, I'm going to answer, and I often get told off both at work and at home, so I'm used to this kind of atmosphere. First of all, I'd like to thank you for your question because Hermès really respects the opinions of everyone, and it's not because we have divergent points of view on animal welfare, that I'm not grateful that you're here every year, although I think that you didn't buy shares because you like the company, particularly. You have indeed showed some films of breeding farms in Thailand that we do not use at all at Hermès. As you know, the standards with CITES allows us to trace the origin of all of our exotic skin. So the only thing I can say is that the footage that you've showed or the farms that you've been to are not farms that we use to supply ourselves. I 'm not saying that there's no problems in the industry. You have to be very humble in such things, w e do not work with such farms. W e do work with NGOs. We do work with experts, with veterinarians in our farms, and it was recognized by some people that we had a positive positive role in the protection of some species. Some species of crocodiles were close to extinction, but because they were bred in these farms and then released into the wild, they are no longer endangered. We've also protected their habitats, avoided deforestation, so I believe that we are bringing a lot of positive things to the table. W e're striving to find this right balance between humans, nature, and wildlife. I 'll also be very honest with you, in the same way that you are honest and frank with ourselves. I don't think that you will ever see a good farm in your eyes, because any breeding farm is an issue. Y ou said, "Okay, it's in Thailand, but it could be anywhere else. It'll be the same problem." Well, we see things a little bit differently. We try to do things properly and to be a little bit more nuanced, and we went for a science-based approach. We work with researchers, with vets, with NGOs, to try and come up with something that is respectful of standards, but also of animal welfare. And then I'll just finish on that because it's a topic that you haven't broached. It's that of bovines. We cannot have a beautiful material at the end of the day if there is no animal welfare before hand. We see that the breeding of bovine is much more industrial nowadays, with people who are making less money out of it and quality of the skin, which is much lower w e invest in industries and in cattle farms where we know that people are making a good living, that animal welfare is important. I 'd just like to conclude on the final item, where we agree, in that we invest significantly in R&D to find new leather, to find new products. We recently were very successful with, I don't want to call it leather, but mushroom skin. The idea is to find alternatives for the future, but alternatives that remain natural and that can take on patina over the time. We don't want to invent a new form of plastic. There's enough plastic out there in the world w e are investing in research and development to find biotech alternatives and solutions j ust a final word to say that we continue to search for incredible materials, like the wicker, for example. I hope that you enjoyed that film. It was like for Toile H, a canvas that was used for the hoses of firefighters at the beginning of the 20th century. W e've used also these materials, and that's a part of Hermès' success w e take a look at all natural materials that exist out there, including plant-based ones. Thank you. Panel number one, please. Good morning, Mr. Dumas. I am a individual shareholder, and you told us that over the last 10 years, the share price has been multiplied by 10. Of course, if it had been stable, we would not ask you to divide it by 10. So I'm quite glad that it has increased in that way. W hat about counterfeit goods? To which extent this has an impact on your turnover, and what are you doing to fight counterfeit goods, and how do you think it's going to have an impact going forward? Thank you for your question. If I multiplied the figure by 10, you wouldn't be asking me the question, but somebody else. Counterfeit, this is a... It's quite a complicated question, but which doesn't necessarily touch Hermès like others, I would tend to say, if I may. Obviously, it is a scourge, and we have very strong teams fighting the counterfeit question. M artin and Olivier Fournier. I don't want to minimize the fight that we carry out with the very good cooperation with customs authorities and different authorities in many countries where there is counterfeiting. However, I believe that we are protected differently from two points of view. First of all, in most of the countries, our customers don't want to be seen with counterfeit products. Hermès products are not with a lot of logo. A counterfeit product, which is badly made, where there's no logo, our clients don't really wish such a product. So there's not a very big demand for counterfeit product like for other houses. Secondly, we have very strong control. Over 60% of our staff is in production, so it's made to a very, I mean, mainly in France and by our employees. Y ou don't have this concept of the supplier who could continue to work little later in the day to continue to supply counterfeit products to others. T he phenomenon of counterfeit is more or less circumscribed, and we have, but we have to continue to fight because we fight very well against it. I don't see much impact on the sales. T he complicated subject in Hermès is something that you probably find in your question on the class action, is because of the value of our products, people who buy our products to sell them, resell them. That's the biggest subject. They don't buy the stuff, product for themselves. They're not real clients, but they buy them to resell. More expensive than the price for which they bought them. That is a specificity in Hermès. Our products cost more expensive in the resale than in our stores. I would like our clients to be able to benefit from service in our store and the price of our stores, and that's why we have to be vigilant. It's more on the market that we qualify as parallel market. But you do see that there's a very strong demand for our products, and people want a real Hermès product because they are attached to it, not just to appear with it, but also the attached to the quality of the know-how, the quality of the leather. I think it's very difficult to make a beautiful object in a counterfeit. Thank you for your question, but I observe that there's no panels coming up. There's one on top there because there's a nine, panel nine. 'Cause we've filled... The room is chock-a-block. Nine, we don't see you at all, but we will hear you. Hello. Blandine Godeau, individual shareholder. Thank you, Chairman, for this wonderful presentation. We recognize here the Hermès quality everywhere, up until each of your presentations, and well done to all your teams worldwide to supply beautiful products and such a beautiful performance. I'm now going to break the atmosphere because you're going to reassure me. But in introduction, you spoke about independence. In conclusion, you spoke about independence, and this term came back several times in your presentation. And since independence is a term that we hear in shareholder meetings, but with not so much of a repetition, and in parallel to this...... your cash situation very high y ou use a part to give us an exceptional dividend. Thank you very much. That is a very good initiative. Nonetheless, to hear, in hearing all these interventions, a question came to my mind: Do you fear from hostile operations, and, are you preparing for it? Reassure me, Chairman. I'll let the executive manager answer. Well, you're blowing hot and cold with your questions. Hermès is also a family-owned company, an independent company, and that was our strength, and this is something that we see in our economic success. The fact that we are a house separated, not part of a big group, allows, has allowed us to have a stock market development, which is quite strong. When we talk of independence, we talk not only of shareholding structure, but our independence, as you have noted, with our strong cash situation, which has allowed us, in particular during the COVID, to give you an example, to maintain the employment and salaries of all our employees in the world by asking no state assistance. We refused the assistance of the different states, so the idea is to be free and to have the means of your freedom for this purpose. We're also very independent in the sense that we are highly integrated. 54% of our products are made in-house or exclusively by us. That is a form of independence as well, which is very rare in our industry, so we really, we really count on ourselves. T hen Henri-Louis Bauer, who is the chairman of the family of Emile Hermès, I hope reassured you on the attachment of the family to this shareholding structure and the will to remain independent. This was made more to reassure you, and as you will have noticed, we have Julie Guerrand, who is a teller, and she heads the H51 company, which was created by the family, and it's... As it indicates, it has more than 51% of the shares, and the specificity of which is to have Hermès shares which are not sellable for 20 years. That's another way of saying that there is a very strong independence of Hermès on this account, because even the family does not have the power to sell these shares for a period of 20 years to show its attachment to Hermès. Must we follow the autobiography of the mythical leader of Intel saying only paranoia, the—he who is paranoid will survive? We like to be cautious on these subjects, and we talk about them openly with our shareholders, whom we appreciate to receive regularly. Well, Madam, thank—I hope you are reassured. I suggest now, since there are no other panels being put up even in the dark of the room. Sorry, we can't see anything from here. I don't know where the number 10 is. This is gonna be the last question from 10. Right on top, second balcony. Go ahead, please. Hello, thank you for taking my question. I'm Marie Sibony, individual shareholder. I'm going to respect your instructions of one question, but I must admit I was a bit disturbed by the intervention of your former employee. A question which is more of a social aspect. Normally, those who work for you in your sales force are very happy to work with you, so I'm really disturbed by the testimony of your former employee, who has shown a suffering, but not just for her, but for her colleagues as well. I think it's worth your looking into her request. My question is: You have distributed a lot of bonuses to your employees, which is very laudable, but is there a variable amount in the sales made by your sales force? Depending on the regions and depending on the sales force, how is that distributed? Thank you. Thank you for your question. Quite obviously, as you emphasized, the human and social project is at the very heart for us, and I will, indeed, as I said, look at this particular case and to see what are the lessons that we can draw from it. W ith regard to the variability, that's very cultural. I can't give you an exhaustive list because each country is very different and has different practice and very different. To sum up, if you're in Europe, mainly, and in France, there's, it's collective. Mainly, it's a collective bonus on the success of the store, the success of the country, and when you go to more Anglo-Saxon countries, it's highly individual. W e try to tone down both, and in some countries, there's no point in having collector because they're not gonna be happy. In other countries, if you put the individual, they won't be happy either. O ther than these two extremes, we try to have the two as a function of—I mean, in order to have something that functions for the culture of the country, the culture of the market, in which people work. T his is really important when we say we are multi-local, it's highly differentiated, country by country, depending on the culture of the country. If I may just say that this is an indicator that I look at personally very strongly, namely the turnover rate, that is to say, the rate of departure of employees per country. This is a constant feature in Hermès, that we have a turnover rate which is much, much lower than that of the market and much lower than in all the countries. W e have a lot of long careers in Hermès with the average seniority because we recruit a lot, 2,500 people this year. 30% of the employees have over 10 years seniority. 4% of the staff have 60 years and more. Every year, I give the medal of seniority. We have 25 years, 30, 35 years, seniority, 40 years. 10% of the employees have seniority of 55. T urnover is very low. T his remains an indicator of the quality of management, and this is part and parcel of, you know, for each country boss to have a turnover rate that is very low. Merci, Axel. Thank you, Axel. Vote. Let's move on to the vote. Yes, we've had more than 50 minutes for Q&A, which I think was very reasonable. I now suggest that we move on to the vote on the resolution. Y ou all have a little handset. It is, of course, yours and yours alone, and you have 15 seconds to vote once the vote is open. All you have to do is use one to vote for, two against, or three to abstain. A confirmation message will then appear on your screen, and during the 15 seconds, if you made a mistake, you can, of course, change it. It's your last decision that will be reco rded. I f you've made a mistake or changed your mind, says Axel Dumas, but you have to be very quick in your decision-making. So if you're quite agile and nimble, why not? Okay, we will only take into account the votes made by the shareholders who are present, sorry, either in the room or by proxy. We're now going to move on to the first resolution, the approval of the parent company financial statements. The vote is open. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. Second resolution, approval of consolidated financial statements. The vote is open. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. Third resolution, executive management discharge. The vote is open. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. Fourth resolution, allocation of net income and distribution of an ordinary and exceptional dividend. The vote is open. The vote is closed, and the resolution is approved. 5th resolution, approval of related party agreements. The vote is open. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 6th resolution, authorization granted to the executive management to trade in the company's shares. The vote is open. ... Le scrutin est clos. The vote is closed, and the resolution is approved. Seventh resolution: approval of the information referred to in Article L. 22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code with regard to compensation for the financial year ended 31 December 2023 for all corporate officers. It's an ex post vote. The vote is open. Le scrutin est- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. Eighth resolution: approval of total compensation and benefits of all kinds paid during or awarded in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2023 to Mr. Axel Dumas, Executive Chairman. It's an ex post vote, individual this time. The vote is open. Le scrutin- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. Ninth resolution: approval of total compensation and benefits of all kinds paid during or awarded in respect to the financial year ended 31 December 2023 to the company, Emile Hermès SAS, Executive Chairman. The vote is open. Le scrutin- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 10th resolution: approval of total compensation and benefits of all kinds paid during or awarded with respect to the financial year ended 31 December 2023 to Mr. Éric de Seynes, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. The vote is open. Le scrutin est clos. The vote is closed, and the resolution is approved. 11th resolution: approval of the compensation policy for the Executive Chairman, ex ante vote. The vote is open. Le scrutin est clos. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 12th resolution: approval of the compensation policy for the members of the Supervisory Board. The vote is open. Le scruti- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 12th resolution: approval of the re-election of Mr. Mathieu Dumas as Supervisory Board member. The vote is open. Le vote est clos. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 14th resolution: re-election of Mr. Blaise Guérin as Supervisory Board member for a term of three years. The vote is open. Le scrutin- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 15th resolution: re-election of Ms. Olympia Guérin as a Supervisory Board member for a term of three years. The vote is open. Le scrutin est clos. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 16th resolution: re-election of Mr. Alexandre Viros as Supervisory Board member for a three-year term. The vote is open. Le scrutin est- The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 17th resolution: appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as statutory auditor, tasked with certifying sustainability information for a term of three financial years. The vote is open. ... Le scrutin est clos. The vote is now closed, and the resolution is approved. 18th resolution: authorization to be granted to the executive management to reduce the share capital by cancellation of all or part of the treasury shares held by the company. General cancellation program. The vote is open. Le scrutin est clos. The vote is closed, and the resolution is approved. 19th resolution: authorization to be given to executive management to grant free existing shares of the company. The vote is open. Le scr- Now the vote is closed, and the resolution is approved. 20th and final resolution: delegation of authority to carry out the formalities related to the general meeting. The vote is open. Le scrutin- The vote is now closed, and the final resolution is approved. Thank you very much. This, general assembly is... general meeting, sorry, is now, finished. Thank you very much once again for coming in, such great numbers, and, we, hope to see you once again next year on the 30 April, 2025, in the same room. Please, use, the, exits that, our hosts are, and hostesses are pointing you to, and thank you once again for your questions.