Good evening. Chorus Call operator speaking. Welcome to the presentation of preliminary revenues, the first half 2022 of the Brunello Cucinelli Group. I'd like to remind you that all participants are in listen only mode. Following the initial presentation, there will be a Q&A session. Speakers will be Brunello Cucinelli, Executive Chairman and Creative Director; Luca Lisandroni, CEO; Riccardo Stefanelli, CEO; Moreno Ciarapica, CFO; and Pietro Arnaboldi, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Planning. In order to receive aid from an operator, please press star followed by zero. I'd now like to give the floor to Brunello Cucinelli. The floor is yours. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining. It is a pleasure to have you back. As usual, investors, analysts, and there's always some members of the press joining us, and we're very pleased with that. As it is be. It has become a habit for this year, we want to organize some extra calls, this one and the one in December, as we did in 2020, in 2021, and the same also for 2022. Because probably next year, if there is a total rebalance, we'll go back to normal. The idea that you can actually receive as many information about our company and as many details as possible, I have always been very much in favor of this, and I think that you also appreciate it. What do you think, Luca, Riccardo, Moreno? Yes, we all agree. Before we start, we'd like to pay a very significant tribute to our very highly esteemed Cavaliere Leonardo Del Vecchio, who passed away a few days ago. We wanted to pay a tribute to Leonardo because first of all, he is an exceptional partner to us, a very serious partner, a wonderful heritage there. I have to tell you that the last two appointments we've had with him, the last one was when he actually came to view the collection. You see we are on the verge of laughing because he was so fun. When he came to view the collection for the ladies presentation in Milan, he stepped into our showroom where he actually saw his glasses, our glasses. You know, they were presented, showcased, displayed in a certain manner. He really enjoyed and appreciated the visual. We had lunch there because there were two of his children, and then my two daughters. Riccardo and Luca, together we said we really like this story and hopefully it will be the same for us for the coming years. A very special person. I also read in the press about when his son said to the father, "I'm going to Agordo." Then his dad replied, "How beautiful our factory, our plant is." I feel this is really a great statement. Which means that he really loved the manufacturing, the factory and the plant. To conclude, I'd like to say that when we designed these glasses, eyeglasses, we were together. I said, "Leonardo, do you like them?" He said, "Well, I don't know whether they're beautiful, but I like them very much. You should remember that they have been manufactured in the best way possible, the best way you can manufacture, sunglasses. Just to give you an idea of what this fascinating man was like, who really went down in history for the past 50 years of Italian manufacturing. Thank you, Leonardo, and here we are. The spirit of the enterprise, well, for the time being, it is very, very high. We had an Assembly on Friday, as we usually do on a quarterly basis. We actually call it Assembly, but actually you can't really call that because, until Friday I was the only speaker, so it was not really an exchange. This time, both myself, Riccardo and Luca took the floor. It is a very interesting moment for our company because we take stock of how the collections are doing, how things are performing in general, how we are all faring. I actually said it once again during the Assembly, saying who we were in 2020, and what we had envisaged in March, April back then, 2020. We really should keep this very close to us. We believe that the pandemic is in its final stages. Honestly speaking, I was hearing President Draghi today, and Italy is growing by about 5%. We really appreciate this because we can't be concerned and in a bad mood all the time. I find that Italy is once again strongly credible. Of course, we are grieved by the war because as we were saying a month ago. At the same time, I believe in the wisdom of men. I would like it to be somehow the call of exclusivity of the brands, the schools of high contemporary craftsmanship, and I'll talk about this later. Also the call of workplaces, because this will definitely rank high in the agenda. Who will make these products in the coming 20, 30 years? We are all here. Now, I'd like to read out the press release figures, and then we'd like to dwell on our vision for the end of the year, 2022. Then, would like to give you visibility on 2023 since the men's collection for Spring/Summer 2023 is out. What we believe, 2024, the vision that we believe is pretty visible. The ten-year plan, 2019-2028, that perhaps we might say that we can complete it about two years in advance, and we're very happy with that. We will talk about markets, the collection. About 10 minutes will be devoted to the exclusivity of product, to the Casa Cucinelli project you are familiar with, and also the training schools for the young artisans for the coming 30 years. I'd like to read out the highlights of the press release. Net sales of EUR 415.2 million, up 32.3% at current exchange rates and 28.3% at constant exchange rates compared to the first half 2021. We call this beautiful sales growth in the second quarter, which further improved the trends that was already very positive, a trend that was reported in the first three months of the year. This happens across all channels and geographies, and we'll go back to that. Very relevant growth in Americas, +52.7%. Of course, you should also consider that the comparison of the first half of last year. Asia, +27%, Europe, 20%, Italy, 19%. Strong revenue growth in both the retail channel, up 47%, and the wholesale channel that you know. It's about 40% of our business there, and this channel was up 16%. The very, very good performance the first half of the year, the deliveries of the Fall/Winter 2022 collections that are going very well, and we will finish, complete this in about a month time, the regularity of the production activities, and the particularly positive, favorable moment that we feel our brand is experiencing, all this leads us to estimate for 2022, we would like to call it a record-breaking year and a nice growth of revenues of around 15%. With equal confidence and concreteness, also on the basis of the very positive feedback that actually accompanied the presentation of the Spring/Summer 2023 men's collection and also the related almost completed order collection, we can therefore envisage a healthy good growth in the region of +10% for 2023. We are very satisfied with the path we are on, and we finally envisage that we'll be able to reach a turnover of around EUR 1 billion in 2024. We highlighted this because we believe that it is quite a good achievement. This is my comment on the first half 2022. It has been particularly good with important significant sales in terms of both quantity and quality. The autumn season started off with excellent results and with a strong image of brand, a strong image value. Therefore, all this makes us envisage a record-breaking year with sales growth of around 15%. In the great capital cities of the world, we have set up spaces that we call Casa Cucinelli, and which we feel are, you see, bestowing nobility and prestige onto the brand. The remarkable order intake for the Spring/Summer 2023 men's collection allows us to think of next year with a healthy growth of around 10%. As to the first half 2022, a very, very beautiful semester, growth worldwide. As of December 31st, in the U.S., we had 34%, Europe 42%, and in Asia, 24%, and nearly half of which was accounted for by China. Honestly, at the end of 2022, we believe that it should be more or less the same, maybe with just a point difference. Generally speaking, the taste of the brand seems to be very high. We see our taste places us not really in the fashion end. We are just an understated, recognizable brand, and we're very happy with that. We have delivered Autumn/Winter very, very well. We actually are still delivering. We're still shipping something, and we'll be complete in a few days' time. The interesting thing is that we had no raw material issues there. We all had raw materials in-house, so nothing to report there. The first sales of the Fall/Winter collection usually starts at towards the end of June, and the first feedback is excellent. What we are mostly interested in is the fact that the taste is very widely appreciated, because if the taste is right, then you can really have quite a good visibility on the rest of the half. No issues on the raw material, the materials. To conclude, I'd like to say that in the past couple of years, you see, we did not have that much inventory, so the suppliers did not have any raw material. That's why it was a bit difficult with deliveries. But this was not our case. As I was saying in the 2020 plans in April, I think that none of us could have imagined this. Back then we drafted five different budgets, and in the writings that I usually have, you see this is my hobby, has been my hobby for the past 40 years. I remember writing that I would have paid a fortune if I could guarantee that nobody would be actually fired in 2022. I had even written that I would also dispose of 20% if we had managed to do this and that. I have to say that we, well, managed not to lay off anybody and to restore the balance, but I couldn't have never conceived that. What about the second half 2022? We have a very good visibility on that. We envisage that we will have a healthy, gracious growth, and we'd like to consider it a record-breaking year with growth around 15% in terms of revenues and an EBITDA around 18%, a figure that we consider to be attractive and healthy. Just a couple of things, because we talked about this about a month ago, healthy profits, and I as an Italian citizen, I feel proud of my country and of the tax rate too. This year it will be around 29%, but we have enjoyed five to six years, Moreno, with benefits coming from our government. In the past five years on average, we paid 24%. Healthy investments and healthy inventory too. Healthy dividends, around 50%, as you know, but you know all this from the April call. Prices. We believe that they are balanced, these prices. As you know, twice a year we set prices when the collection comes out, in the summer and winter. If Europe is worth EUR 100, EUR 120 is the U.S., and EUR 120 is Asia. In the past. Actually, in the last roadshow, one of your analysts asked me a nice question, but it was a first, for me. They said, "Do you believe that your prices are ethical?" Honestly speaking, I don't know whether they are ethical, but we think that they are the right, just, fair prices to have a fair profit. E-commerce. It is also performing very well with a balanced and solid, sound growth. It is a very important channel for the image of the brand. We, more or less, have understood that 55% of our customers come to the shop after viewing something on online, which means that the presentation, the way we showcase and display the lifestyle of our items really is highly valuable. It is very important for lifestyle, and we like the e-commerce in terms of showcasing the product, and it's also very important for growth. 2023. The men's collection has been released. Ladies collection coming out next week. Orders or the collection for menswear, well, they really all go well. Also the summer season sellout rate was very good. We feel pretty strong, I would say, with about a 10% growth in the coming year with a healthy EBITDA and profitability. Orders have been collected. The value of the sellout is extremely high. As we were saying this morning in the Board meeting, we try to really keep high the idea of exclusivity and craftsmanship of the brand. We keep it very high. Of course, it's not up to us to express any judgment on taste. That's up to you. That's not something we can govern or rule, but we can definitely vouch for the fact that it is in line with the identity of the brand, but I think the exclusivity is something very important, and we would like to keep this exclusivity very high on our agenda. For 2023 we are happy with that. As for 2024, we still envisage a good year, and we should be able to achieve this amount, the famed EUR 1 billion. I have to say, when we were farmers, when I was a young man, in the village there were a couple of entrepreneurs who were celebrating achieving 1 billion in liras, and they would organize a great party, invite all the workers. You see this idea, this billion liras, has really stayed with me. It stuck with me. It was always a great kind of achievement. Now at this point, we can envisage that the 2019-2028 ten-year plan, we believe that it might end two years in advance, two years early, therefore in 2026. This is for the highlights in terms of results. The Casa Cucinelli, to tell you the truth, they really are providing a lot of satisfaction to us. It's in Milan, New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, and Solomeo, obviously. We are about to open in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. What do we do in these places? Well, these are places, spaces where we meet people. You see, it's not just reserved for VIP clients. This is just a meeting place. We organize dinners with customers and, you know, what we realized is that they really provide high value to the brand. You're happy too, Luca, Riccardo? Yes. Now moving on to product, and then we'll talk about employees, the workforce. You know, I keep saying that in order to make your company survive for one or two centuries ahead, you need to focus on your product. If your product is contemporary, then it means that you can maybe have decades ahead of you. Maybe you can run into a bit of difficulty if you get some investments wrong, but if you have high quality exclusive products, in that case, your company is definitely destined to survive a few decades more, a few decades longer. You know that in, there's 52%, we have measured this. Technically, 52% i n the garments is pure craftsmanship. It's made with the hands of workers. As to the Assembly on a Friday, we of course gave thanks for the creativity, the taste, the deliveries and everything. We basically offered a gift to our coworkers because we want to give them a supplement of 3%-4% to counter the inflation for the whole of 2022. Our workers for the whole of 2022, they will receive about 3%-4% of supplement in their wages. We decided to do this, but only in favor of those who earn less than EUR 2,500 a month. We have 2,500 employees, 1,250 in staff in the retail stores worldwide, and we think they make quite good wages. You know, it is not that difficult to actually go to work in Montenapoleone or in Bond Street. It's quite appealing. Whereas working in a factory, it should also always have that moral and economic dignity attached to it. We need to work on this. This morning, we really had a very wide and a deep discussion in the Board meeting because we talked about who will be manufacturing these exclusive handcrafted goods. We said that I seriously believe that in the coming decades, the problem will not be to whom we will sell extremely high quality garments or who will buy them, but actually the issue might be on who will make them. For us, as you know, we have set up the schools and we would like workplaces to always be somehow special. Because, you see, the workplace, especially in factories and plants, we were always discussing this with Leonardo Del Vecchio. Offices usually are very pleasant to work in. They might have some works of art displayed, but when you actually step into the production department or the Assembly line, then there is no proper lighting, there are no windows because the habit is that what we have been accustomed to thinking is that if you raise your gaze to the sky, you waste time. Whereas I am of the opposite opinion. I believe that if you have a chance to raise your gaze and to maybe look outside, then your spirits will be lifted. For a couple of months, we carried out research on that, and we actually realized that our project for a very high, for production of the highest quality, it won't run up into any difficulties until 2030, 2032. The average age of our craftsmen is about 45, so they're about 45 years of age on average. We now seeing to it that the future craftsmen will be trained for the next 30 years. It might sound preposterous or odd, but you see, if we can find young artisans who are 25 or 30, you can actually envisage them working for the coming 30 years. We were talking about this on, you see, in an evening out in the festival of Spoleto last Sunday. We always believe. think that it's always up to the children of others to ply some trades, but we are of the opposite opinion. We don't think so. Workplaces is a big issue. We believe that workplaces should be particularly special. You see, as we were saying this morning, you can maybe work at the dry cleaners, you see? If you have a full window in front of you and you can see outside, if you are. If you have beautiful equipment, if you have proper lighting, everything changes, and nobody can actually make me change my mind on that. Going back to wages. We're not talking about those who make more than EUR 2,500. We believe that with just 1% less EBITDA, you can definitely change the workers' lives. The genius hands of your company or our company can be remunerated in a different manner. I'll just give you an example here. If you make EUR 1,500 or EUR 1,400 a month, you can live well in Umbria compared to the large city. If instead of that, you make EUR 1,900 or EUR 2,000, that really changes your life. If we apply this kind of standard to those who perform slightly more humbler jobs, and we consider these people as thinking source, as we saw in the Assembly the other day, I think that we can achieve really good results. In 2013, we in the, in our village, in our hamlet, we set up these high craftsmanship schools. These schools really are providing a lot of satisfaction to us because currently, we have young tailors who have been hired in New York, Los Angeles or Milan. As you often tell me, if you go into a store and if you are met with a 35-year-old tailor, a tasteful tailor, then of course it's much better than being met by an elderly man. What about these schools? 60% of these people work in the company as employees of the company, and they perform specific duties. Whereas in the village, we have schools for men's and women's tailoring. To do that, you need for at least two, three years to train a tailor, a men's tailor. You see, it works with the factory, and the seamstress can cooperate with our 60 young style people, and there is a very high contribution in taste, and this is very important. The difference is, these people, they work for eight hours in our company, whereas in the hamlet, they work for five hours a day because we want them, you see, to have a. Since they are switching from school to work, you know, they need to take it slowly. Instead of eight hours, they just basically work five hours. They receive a fair remuneration. Then the interesting thing is that once they end their training cycle, of course, we ask them whether they want to join our company or not. We have actually realized that we have students from all over the world, so maybe some of them go back to their own country of origin, or maybe they go back to Tokyo, and they can go and work in our store in Tokyo as a tailor. This means that you are an open company. It's not that you train for three years, you become a tailor and you are forced to stay in Solomeo. You might go to Mr. Armani and say, "You see, I have attended schools there, and will you hire me?" What do we want to do today? In about two weeks' time, we will be convening the whole Umbrian press to talk about the value of these schools and of these trades, of these crafts. In 2013, we drafted the first five-year plan, which ended. We drafted the second plan. It was between 2018 and 2022. Of course, for a year and a half, schools were nearly closed. Now the third project is starting, the third plan, five-year plan, up until 2027. You might say, "Why are we having a call on these topics?" Well, because we believe, we very much believe that high level, high craftsmanship products can definitely make the difference on the market. Of course, in order to do that, what I'd like to say in conclusion is we need to have very special workplaces. Last time with these six entrepreneurs, they were asking me, "How can you do that?" I answered, "You see, my father, my brothers, they worked at places that you can't even envisage, you can't even conceive that a human being can work there. So for us, it's very easy to understand." Allow me to say that it does not depend on what kind of industry you're in. If you were at a steelworks, I can really prove that our friend from the steelworks in Terni was able to make his company contemporary and very modern. Now this company has been bought by another Italian company, but he was able to provide very good working conditions for his employees. What we would like to say is that we work with a peace of mind. We actually discussed this during the Assembly the other day, and every day, I keep saying that we don't want to be dragged down by the ordinary issues that we cannot possibly change. We want to focus on what we do. At the end of the day, the daily recommendation is maybe we can go back and read what we wrote back in 2020. The five scenarios that we depicted in 2020, in March, April. What did they say back then? We had very different thoughts back then. Well, if we just take a look at them, of course, we are relieved. Then now we can envisage the coming future, 20, 30 years, but also with a pinch of optimism. Because if we keep worrying about something every day, you see it's not healthy. You see. Also about the government. I'm 68 years of age. I experienced 62 changes of government. Next year, they will be 63. We should not be dragged down by that or weighed down by that. We are very happy. We are very confident. Of course, you need a beautiful contemporary product because no matter what kind of marketing strategy you have, that you can have the most stellar marketing strategy in the world, but if your product does not go along the same lines, then you have difficulty. Then the great value of exclusivity. We have always claimed and maintained this, but still today, you see, we are very happy. The other day, we welcomed the CEO of Vacheron Constantin. The CEO of Audemars Piguet came two years ago, and we'd be very happy to welcome my friend, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz at the end of October. Nine managers will come too in order, in October, to talk about luxury, quality, and exclusivity. There is a kind of desire for a special product. We will have August, October, and December, and then if everything goes back to normal next year, we'll give you the figures in July and December. We'll report in July and December. You see some people might say, "Why so many calls?" Well, I feel more confident. I feel safer if we convey, give you visibility every month or month and a half. Thank you, thank you. Let's now open the floor to questions. The conference call. Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your keypad. In order to exit the booking list, press star followed by two. Please ask your question speaking into the microphone. Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one now. There will be a few seconds of silence so they can book questions if they want to. First question from the Italian conference call by Flavio Cereda, Jefferies. Yes. Thank you. Good evening, Brunello. Good evening, everyone. So I have four questions, as many as four questions today. Yes, I know. Well, we have time. You see, we are open to that. Whatever we are not able to discuss in the time allotted, we can, you can send emails anyway. So the first one, inflation. I really praiseworthy the initiative that you mentioned to help the employees below a specific salary bracket. That's really praiseworthy. Then as to the supply chain, what kind of issues, if any, are you envisaging there? Any issues with suppliers having to do with the inflationary trends? That was the first question. The second question, either you or Luca can answer, the dollar. The dollar equal to the euro, the parity. If I was your American customer, I would shop. I would really go binge shopping in Europe and then bring everything back to the U.S. If this situation was to persist, what are you going to do? Are you going to act and intervene on prices? Three, multi-brand stores. When you talk to them, do you perceive any concern from them? Meaning that there is no slowdown, but they actually make commitments. They buy goods because they think they can buy them. I wanted to understand their take. The last question, you talked about schools and the fact that craftsmanship, you also make sure that there are no bottlenecks in the future. Whenever I come to Italy, but the same applies to U.K. or U.S., you see young people, they have disappeared. Everybody is looking for staff. Yes, we'll be pleased to talk about that. I was wondering, but these candidates, are you able to find them? Are they good? They seem to have disappeared in thin air. No. Thank you, Flavio. First of all, I'm speaking in favor of Italy. We had one day of meeting with the new President of AC Milan, and his coworkers, and it was a very interesting meeting. They're really fascinated of the fact that they bought AC Milan, that they're coming to Italy. Maybe soccer might change also, thanks to how the executives behave. I really like the fact that they did come to us one day to try and understand how to do the visual marketing. Inflation, as I was saying before, we supplemented the wages to our employees. We did it for the first half, but we will do it for the second half too, and then we'll see about next year. As to the supply chain, no issues there. No, nothing wrong to report. But I have to say that we actually have prices that change twice a year and honestly speaking, they really have such a huge workload. Of this 5,000, 3,500 work with us. They work 12 months a year because they have so much business, so much work. The remaining suppliers, half of which work for us and half for Hermès and Chanel, they are performing well and making good money. The dollar. Flavio, I believe that such a wealthy, well-off individuals, you see, they will not really be interested in how the dollar is performing or the exchange rates. We set the exchange rates every season before we come out with the collection, so you should never expect any profit or loss from Forex. Of course, this season, we benefited from the performance of Forex, and if that persists, the same will also go for 2024. The 2024 collection. You see, we never change prices during the year. We have the price lists twice a year, and we set them when the collection comes out. The price list that the multi-brand are using, these are the price lists that they will have also in January, February, March and April. The orders for the menswear collection, we have to say that many multi-brands have a lot of plans ahead. Everybody wants to renovate, wants to expand. This trend had already started about a year ago. They have basically reorganized their network of vendors, the vendors they want to invest in. Some of them have renovated, refurbished their stores. Of course, the war is there in the background, but what I notice is there is a fear about the war, but not because of any economic concerns. Draghi said we will grow by 3%, but you see, we do not actually see that. Schools, that's a very important topic. First of all, we, as we discussed during the Board meeting this morning, many people have resigned and they don't want to go back to their old workplaces, which means that your workplace needs to be pleasant. Usually we receive between 50,000 and 70,000 resumes a year, but not just for the style, the offices. The reason why we receive them is also because they want to ply those trades. The thing is, if I come to work and I am a tailor and at 22 years of age, I can make EUR 2,000 a month and I can work surrounded by a dignified environment, knowing fully well that the company, the enterprise behaving properly with the environment, that does make the difference because there are two important topics that we mentioned this morning. First of all, the problem of being online all the time. All those who are white-collar workers in offices in any company, they of course maybe they work better, but they are all online all the time. They call you on Saturday and Sunday to talk about this market or the other market and people are, you see, they are weary. The only advantage of workers or blue-collar workers is the fact that after 5:30 P.M. nobody will call you. This is a true benefit there. Now going back to what I was saying before, wages and workplaces really rank high on the agenda. I say it once again, with just 1% EBITDA, and Moreno can confirm that. If we just allocate 1% of our EBITDA, we can end up really changing the lives of the artisans of our crafts people, because between EUR 1,500 and EUR 1,900, if you make that EUR 400 more, that's when your life changes. That's why we will be holding this press conference locally so that we can once again return moral dignity to some jobs and also economic dignity accordingly. Some research has been carried out, and someone said we need to pay them more. There's no way around it. But it also depends on what kind of work conditions you have. The other day, I visited a very important factory, and if you see it from the outside, you might be taken aback. It's really wonderful. You actually step into production, and you actually realize how tough it is. Of course, people need to work, but we want to strive and change these conditions because we are fully convinced that there will be. The problem will not be who we will sell our goods to, but the problem will be who will make them. I am sure about this. We invested in this. That's why we call this the year of schools in our five-year plan. Hopefully, we will have twice as many by September. We said even if we want to increase to 100%, then we will do that, so we can definitely make the difference there. I don't know if I've answered your question, Flavio. If there's something more that I can add. No. Very clear. Thank you very much, and have a nice evening. Also for AC Milan, we'll introduce you to the President, Scaroni. You see, I was fascinated by that because this is a very important issue. He said that perhaps the era of patrons in football, in soccer is finished because if we could change this, also in our football, companies with such huge revenues, maybe it could be, you know, we could restrike the balance. But the idea is good. Thank you. Someone might say, "What? They're talking football." Well, there are a few listed companies there. Next question from Andrea Randone, Intermonte. Thank you and good evening. I have three questions. Very strong first half, and also the sell-through. Maybe if you can expand on the sell-through number. Secondly, your availability to comment on what you see. I'd like to exploit this to have an update on what your take is on China. Because it's not really understandable in terms of openings, and you had fantastic sales numbers there on the rise. I'd like to understand from you what the mood is of consumers. The last question is your +15% in the year as in the second half, there should be lower revenues than in the first half. No, no. We'll try and explain this. First of all, something nice that happened in the past year and a half, there has been a new rebalance in stores in terms of sales season. Sales, the sales timing has been complied with, and this is very interesting. Of course, the performance in the first half last year, we had some closed stores, and this is very important to be remembered. There is a rebalancing. Sales started on June 25, which is the right time in different countries, you see. We are very happy with this new sales season. Luca, maybe you can talk about China here. What I want to say is that be careful. You see, out of 24 points in Asia, 13 is from China. Dear analysts and investors, you should really consider this. Before it escapes me, I'd like to say that I'm fully convinced that the first half results of all brands will be very interesting. This is not my trade, this is my impression. I have the feeling that it will be very, very interesting. Of course, there is. Yes, we are very satisfied with the fact that we were able to grow in both quarters in China. I think that our results is the consequence also of our size, as Brunello was saying, and the fact that, you see, we can catch up on the lost days, on the day of closures. I think that two elements contributed to acquire an increasing number of customers in China. First of all is this very strong desire and craving for exclusivity in that market. Brunello was saying this before. I think that this is particularly true in China, and if you look at the different segments in our industry, all brands with the highest positioning, they have experienced a better. They have fared better. Secondly, clothing is really taking center stage, not just in China, but worldwide. The growing visibility of each and every one or of each player's, really, is such that we want to take care of our products. Clothing is a very important way of showing one's image, one personal visual image. Thanks to the kind of offer that we have, we were able to have a great first half. The rest of Asia also offers a positive contribution. Brunello does Japan very well, Korea very well, and Emirates very well, too. For this reason, as Brunello was saying, in the geographic breakdown by continent of our revenues, in spite of the fact that this first half was a bit tough in China, we still. Yes, but January and February, it was definitely not tough. It was actually very interesting. Two months were fine, and they compensated the rest. It was not really stormy or troubled. Yes, we can still see a lot of opportunity there. Our comment was that there will be great first half results. This is just our opinion. About the Just Chinese multi-brands, too. They were very excited about this campaign, sales campaign. In the second half of the year, we envisaged this kind of a figure. Last year, the second half had been very good, and there was the pleasure of returning to stores, to physical stores. We are very confident on this. It was a particularly good half in all markets with a lot of fascination and the desire to return to brick-and-mortar stores. Thank you both. Thank you. Next question by Guido Lucarelli, Citi. Good evening. Good evening, Brunello. Hello, Guido. Three questions. The first one, can you give us some colors on how the quarter evolved, whether there has been an improvement or a deterioration in the quarter, in the retail, I mean. Also how July started. Yes. Yes, I will answer your question. If you want to know about the first days of July, of course, I will tell you. But you see, we just ended a wonderful first half, and you see. Now you want to know how the first seven days of the new semester went. No, but I'm just joking, Guido. Yes, I remember in New York, I had a meeting with someone in early December, and I said, "I've come here to talk about the coming year." He said, "No, actually, I'd be just interested in the first eight days of the year." I said, "Well, why don't we just have a coffee together and that's it?" Guido, move on. Of course, we will be very clear in our answers. No, I was asking this question because I saw we saw a dip in the consumer confidence in June and then July. I'd like to understand whether you have actually experienced any slowdown in Russia. If you think that given what you're saying about the other brands, what's your take on the Russian consumer, whether your product is helping here? The last question has to do with prices. Very useful indication on the difference of price in depending on the country. I'd like to know vis-à-vis the price adjustments that you do twice a year. In the half in question, if we were to think of the contribution purely from the price increase, whether it's the same this year or last year. I want to start off from prices, Guido. As we were saying, we set exchange rates, then the collection comes out, and the same price will be the same for multi-brand and mono-brand twice a year, so you have no issues. This has always been the case, and there will be no changes or increases from one month to the other, because since we deal with the multi-brand, you have to to reset the price, you sold it. That's it. We do not expect any capital gain or any capital loss in terms of prices. We have always done it this way. It's also part of once someone asked us, as I was saying before, "Do you think the prices are ethical?" What I want to say is that we would like to have a balance between America, Europe, and Asia. Because if I was a Chinese customer, and I have a very high price compared to Milan, well, I would feel uncomfortable. It's not that I cannot afford it, because I'm sure that our customers can afford it, but it's really uncomfortable. The other evening, we paid EUR 70 instead of EUR 30 at a restaurant. It's not that we can't afford it, but you're not. It's not right. As to the first half results, we believe they will be very interesting, but of course, it is up to you to judge the brand and the different brands. I think that we have gone back to a few years ago when there is a huge gap between exclusive true luxury and what was used to be called accessible luxury. Luckily enough, this is no longer in use, this term. I was there with Loro Piana in Milan at the Bocconi University. There was Giovanni there. There was me, Loro Piana and Giovanni Burani, and Giovanni had just bought a company in Perugia, my friends. They were selling sweaters at 27,000 lira, EUR 12 more or less. He said, "I firmly believe in accessible luxury." Sergio Loro Piana looked at me and said, "What was that? I don't understand what that is." Seriously talking, that's when accessible luxury was born, and then there's true luxury. We want to only talk about true luxury brands. We don't want to talk about products that are more commoditized, because we don't know this kind of market. It's not our market. Okay. Very well. Thank you very much. Well, if you have any questions, you can call us tomorrow, send us an email, because this is the first call of the half results, semester results. We don't want to mislead you, not with our figures, but maybe with our comments. Next question, Melania Grippo, BNP Paribas. Good evening. Good evening, Brunello. I have a few questions on the EBITDA performance. You gave us an indication for 2022, but since you are already accelerating on your targets, what can we expect in 2023 and 2024 in terms of the EBITDA margin? Also, given this is the first half of the year in terms of top line, it's very strong. Can we expect in the first half of this year the fact that you exceed the 2019 level? Second question on the potential gas rationing in Italy. How are you tackling this issue? Are you getting prepared? I think that you do not have the high dependence on gas, but I don't know whether this can imply something in terms of electricity contracts and how you are tackling the whole thing. Thank you. Melania, as to the gas question, roughly, we do not see any issues there, truth be told. If they shut it down completely tomorrow, I'm not sure. So far, we feel that it is not an issue anymore. That's what our rulers are saying to us, too. In terms of EBITDA, this year, hopefully, we can achieve our 18% target, which is the EBITDA level that is somehow pleasing or pleasant. As to 2024 and 2025, we definitely do not want to go down that path that you might be used to, you know, continuous increase. We believe that the EBITDA of this company should be the one that I mentioned, because with this kind of EBITDA, it means that we can have a 10% net income. We believe that this is what we call a fair profit, a balanced. With a fair balance between profit and giving back. We do not want to chase because we believe that younger generations, I myself too, I do not buy products of companies that have a preposterous profit unless I have to buy something exclusive. For example, a few years ago, someone very, very important came to us to visit, and of course, I said, "I will buy your product because it's one of a kind." Someone once said to me, "I buy on Amazon." Do you remember Pietro? "I buy on Amazon because everything costs less." I said, "You're an Analyst." Seriously, what we say is we firmly believe in having a fair profit and/or therefore in fair EBITDA. A few years ago, Melania, fashion, the fashion industry had about 16%-18% EBITDA. That was the average level. I have always maintained that if you pay people properly, this should be the fair degree level of EBITDA for a company. The idea is that you should not expect EBITDA of 25% from us. Well, if we decided to perform a price increase, we could. I'm sure that we could sell. Nevertheless, I believe that younger generations would not agree with that. You see, when we welcomed the four monks here about a month ago, there were four young monks, and one of them said, "Let us eat a fair amount so that enough is left for the rest of mankind." I found this very relevant as a comment. The fact of having balance, fairness, where you work, how you work, how you behave with mankind. Personally, I do not buy any product that is actually with a preposterous profit. We call our products expensive, and because we basically pay the whole of a supply chain, but this is just a strategy. When we went public at the beginning, we told you, "Yes, we would like to have a constant 10% growth." In the past 20 years, we grew by 13.1% on average. That's what we mean. I have many friends who say we are always chasing 10 basis points on EBITDA and. You should never expect this. Never. Not from us. I don't want to be boring, Melania, but this is what we think. Since we believe that what really matters, you see the value of your enterprise is not provided by two extra points of EBITDA, but rather is how your image is and how people want to know who you are, how you behave. We already answered your question on gas. Yes. Thank you. Next question, Paola Carboni, EQUITA. Yes. Good evening. Good evening, Brunello. I have four quick questions. First of all, have you noticed in the past quarters a different performance between tier two and main cities? Of course, considering Europe and United States. Another question on the multi-brand positive mood there. I was wondering to what extent you have a feeling that this positive mood is translating into higher market share for you. Knowing that the environment could slow down, the scenario could slow down or whether you. These multi-brands still believe that there is a supportive context. Whether this mood has to do with the market or your brand, with the strength that you have. One question on pricing. No changes in price during the season, but if we thought about 2023 spring summer that you already presented, we already sold it, Paola. Yes, already sold. Whether this collection has a price increase compared to Spring/S ummer 2022. Well, this, yes, like every season, the season starts, you see, the cost, employees, raw materials, and we set the exchange rates. We are in line with the historical, yes. Yes. Multi-brand, we do not see any difference than on the performance. Wherever you go, there is no free hotels or free restaurants, no matter whether you are in a small or big cities, everybody is going to cocktails, to restaurants. There is a desire, craving to go back to normalcy, and sometimes even exaggerated, I believe. I had 41 dinners in a row. This is the way it is. I see it even very much so. Multi-brands have good budgets, but not just for us. That's the way it is in general. The price is, you know, prices is a choice. We change it only twice a year, and that's final. Last question, we saw three openings of stores in the first half. What about the second half of the year? Yes. We have a beautiful store we are about to open in Palo Alto for the Silicon Valley customers. Then we have a renewal in Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse, and one in the Emirates. Two openings and one refurbishment. Actually, one expansion into Zurich. These are our plans. We are pretty confident. Of course, the product is key. The question always is whether your product is contemporary. You see, we have no issues in terms of production. Very often, we complain about deliveries, but very few people have taken on risks. You see, you need to procure ahead. It's, for example, the fabric for your shirts, you need to procure them ahead. As a follow-up question, any openings plans for 2023? Yes, of course, 2023 and 2024. Well. Hopefully, you'll be here in 2050 and 2060 and 2050s. When we, you see, also this is something we talked about with Vacheron Constantin. You have to invest with a high and great value of brand and exclusivity. Very fascinating. All these people, I really like the fact that we have so many people coming to visit. What really matters is to find the right people to make watches too, because spending eight hours, you see, looking at the same thing and making watches, of course, you're very tired by the end of the day. We need to protect production. That's what it is. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'd like to remind you that if you want to ask a question, you can press star followed by one now. If there are no further questions for us, it has been a great call. You see, that's what we were saying before. Just think. Thank you very much from the depth of my heart. Enjoy your summer. Whatever you need, we are here for you. Enjoy your evening. Goodbye. Goodbye. Chorus Call operator speaking. The conference call has ended. You can now disconnect your phones. Thank you.