Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Biesse Full Year 2024 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Nicola Sautto, Group CFO and IR. Please go ahead, sir. Mr. Sautto, your line is open. Sorry. Good afternoon, thanks to you. I'm here with Sandro Vitale, our Chief Strategy. I would like to start the presentation with our worldwide presence. The Group Biesse has three manufacturing sites all around the world. The biggest are in Italy, then we have one manufacturing site in India and one in Thailand. Then we have 90 showrooms all over the world, starting from Canada to New Zealand. The final number in terms of headcount, as of December 2024, was close to 4,000 people, significant low compared to the last year, 2023. If we consider the economic scenario, we can easily see that there is a slight down of inflation, lower than the expectation, and also in terms of interest rate, we have a slowdown, but less than the expectation. We have several markets with growth predictions in terms of GDP, and fortunately, some of the markets we are very involved, for example, Brazil, India. We have several markets with a very difficult scenario if you're looking on Europe and US. We put in the presentation also some snapshot of the press release, and just to underline that we are very influenced on the declaration of the US President in terms of duties. Just to remind that Americas, US, for us, is our second market, so we are very influenced on this declaration. Then also in Germany and in France, there are other two of the our top markets, there are very negative trends in terms of economic trends, so also in these two markets we have significant problems. Unfortunately, also in Italy, in the 2024, our sector posted a significant decline, both in terms of sales and in terms of numbers of companies that shut down during the 2024. If we look at to the number of the group, we closed the year with EUR 755 million in terms of sales, with a reduction compared to 2023 of roughly EUR 30 million. Obviously, the number of 2024 was not strictly correlated to the 2023, because we bought, as you probably remember, the GMM Group in January 2024, so the 2023 numbers does not include the GMM figures. So if we are looking apples to apples, the Biesse old perimeter, so before the acquisition of GMM, posted a significant decline compared to last year of roughly EUR 140 million, partially compensated by the GMM Group that posted for 2024, a total sales of EUR 110 million. In terms of backlog, we closed the year with EUR 255 million, so a very, very positive backlog, notwithstanding the decline compared to last year, but the backlog remains solid and significantly above the level that we consider as the minimum level of the backlog. In terms of EBITDA, we closed the year with more or less EUR 59 million, so 7.8% on the revenues. Obviously, compared to last year, the number is significantly low of roughly EUR 18 million. In terms of net result, the group closed with a positive result of EUR 3.8 million, compared to the number we achieved in 2023, with a reduction of roughly EUR 9 million. Which are the biggest explanation between the net results of 2023, so EUR 12.5 million in terms of net result, and the bridge to the EUR 3.8 million that we closed the 2024. The biggest impact was on sales, obviously, w ith Biesse, the standalone closed with a significant reduction of EUR 140 million in terms of sales, significantly compensated by an increase of margin. Then we, in totally in line with our project that we call One Company, that started more than one year ago, we start to right-size the structure of the group, reducing significantly the G&A cost, EUR 5 million, more or less, compared to 2023, and the biggest impact was on labor cost, that we were able to reduce by EUR 20 million in 2024. This impact was mainly due to the contratto di solidarietà that we had, mainly in Italy, and also lower impact in terms of reward of the employees, because the numbers affected the MBO level, partially compensated by the inflation cost that we add every year on the labor cost. The other positive impact, compared to the previous year net result, was on the non-recurring items, mainly due to the fact that last year, so 2023, the group accrued a significant amount of restructuring provision. In 2024, we simply adjust, so in 2023, we had the full amount of the accrual, in 2024, we simply adjust the amount, considering the people go away, go out from the from the company in 2024, and the projection that we had for the 2025. The group GMM standalone posted a positive result of roughly EUR 1 million in 2024. In terms of head count, this is a very important point for us. The group closed the year with 3,972 head count. If we compare the number without GMM, the impact of GMM for 2024 was 383 head count. So means that the Biesse Group were able to reduce and to rightsize the structure of not only the plants, but also the HQ and the commercial area of roughly 335 people, so we reduce a significant amount. If we bounce back to the 2022, the reduction was roughly 600 head count. The majority of the reduction is in Italy, so in the industrial side and in the HQ, in the market, so in the Biesse, that we, the company that we have in the market, we experienced with an increase in terms of head count, because our strategy is to reinforce the commercial workforce all around the world to have a significant impact on the order intake and also in the sales. In terms of financial, so balance sheet and net financial position result, the net financial position at the year end, without the IFRS 16, was positive EUR 25 million, roughly. It's a very good number, a very positive number. Also, compared to last year, we experienced a significant decrease, mainly due to the acquisition of GMM Group, that we paid during the 2024 fiscal year, plus some CapEx. We made roughly EUR 16 million of CapEx in 2024, plus the dividend distribution last year, and also some severances that we paid during the year, in line with the restructuring fund that we accrued in 2024. In the balance sheet, for the group, for the consolidation number, we have more than EUR 64 million related to the bad debt reserve, to the inventories, to the restructuring, to the agent provision, and so on. So I think the group is very well positioned in terms of prudence, to face the challenges of the 2025. My last comment before leaving the stage to the question is that in the last two hours, honestly speaking, I was very surprised to the trend of the shares. So in less than two hours, we moved from EUR 8.2 to 7, more or less. I'm a little bit surprised, considering that our numbers that I presented to you now, and then, that we included in our press release are completely aligned on what we declare during the year. If you had the chance to look at our press release for the half year, we said that our provision for 2024 will be around the double of what we posted in H1 minus something, because we know that the second half of the 2024 will be negative, less not perfectly in line to the first H1. So our number is completely aligned, and also completely aligned to the analyst research that for sure all the investor has had the chance to review. And also, we have a positive net financial position, higher also than our expectations. So I'm a little bit surprised on the trend of the shares in the last two or three hours. I more or less arrived at the end of the presentation, so I will leave the floor for any questions. Thank you. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. We'll now begin the Q&A session. Anyone wishing to ask a question may press star and one on their telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The first question is from Marc Saint John Webb of Quaero Capital. Please go ahead. Mr. Webb, your line is open. Good evening. Thank you for the presentation. I didn't have a specific question to ask, but I do note that your, your presentation only lasted 15 minutes. I wonder if you can spend a little bit more time telling us about what happened in 2024, more in terms of what your clients are doing, which sort of clients are ordering less, which areas are ordering less? Give us a bit more color about how business was going in 2024. And you say that you're surprised by the share price reaction. Could you help us understand how the end of the year finished, compared to what you were expecting? All of this, try to give us a bit more feeling for what actually happened for your business. Thank you. Thank you for your question. I give you my first reaction on the second part of your question, then I will ask to my colleague to add some more colors on the first part of your question. I'm not talking about the general value of the shares, because I know that we started from EUR 15 in March, April. Now, the value was before the Board of Director s was EUR 8.2 something. So the value of the shares, per my expectation, per my understanding, is very underestimated. I just want to comment on the reaction of the shares in the last two hours, considering that the numbers that we presented once again are completely aligned to what we declare during the year, and more or less, let me say, two million less or more, compared to the analyst research. So I was surprised by the significant reaction in less than two hours. So this is only my point. Then, obviously, we consider the value of the shares underestimated, also considering that the market cap is below the equity of the group, so it is very strange value of the company. Sandro? Okay. But look, in terms of the geographies, which I believe is what you refer, so for sure, in 2024, we see the effect, the negative effect in the Italian market, and in general, in all the European markets affected by the end of public incentive, which has been a huge driver of the industry in 20... let's say 2021, 2022 and 2023, with all the, let's say, the backlog still coming from the government money. And this was mentioned also in the previous conference call, and still this is creating some downturn in the industry, so a kind of normalization effect. On the other side... For sure, the difficult situation in Germany, which I think is for sure one of the biggest market in terms, especially for the wood machineries. And you have seen also the result from some of the listed from the most important listed competitor just going out this week, which reflect this situation. And on the other side, still positive momentum in North America, which has been positive throughout the 2024. Now is for sure affected by certain uncertainty, I would say, given the change in the administration policy, which is creating some uncertainty, especially in the local market. In reality, it's more than the duties per se, but it's really creating uncertainty. So this is more or less the key points in relation to the geographies. I don't know if this Okay, I'm afraid I still don't really get a good idea of what actually happened last year. Your sales are down 20%. Can you give us a bit more color on what Biesse is doing? Did you bring out any new machines? Did you have any competitors gaining market share? Can you just tell us what is happening to your company? Well, uh- And give us a bit of a feeling as well, what happened in Q4, and maybe a little bit of a feeling about what is happening in the first three months of this year? Yeah. Okay. On the industry, the industry is down, more or less, 10% in 2023 and 10% in 2024. So if we look at the industry trend, more or less, our performance is aligned to the trend of the industry itself, which is down 20% in the last 24 months. This is for wood, stone, and glass. In terms of portfolio, we are heavily reinforcing the portfolio through the acquisition of the GMM Group. As a matter of fact, we have a complete portfolio in the stone machinery, and also completing the portfolio in the glass machinery. So on one side, there is a contingent effect of the industry, though we are investing heavily in reinforcing the market structure and the commercial structure in the market, to reinforce the capability to serve the market locally. On the portfolio, I believe the acquisition of the GMM Group provides a significant edge, especially in glass and stone, differentiating and in the part of the multi-materiality, which is clearly outlined in the strategic plan. Just to give more color, if you had the chance to see the HOMAG financial result, HOMAG is the key competitor, is the biggest company with EUR 1.4 billion. HOMAG is specially concentrated on wood, so two times than us, if we compare the total value in terms of sales of Biesse. But honestly speaking, HOMAG is mainly concentrated in wood. Biesse is the only player in the world that has all the four materials, so we are completely different, if you look only to HOMAG. In any case, HOMAG in 2024 posted a sales decline of 13%, 13. In the last quarter, 24%. Okay, so in terms of incoming order. We need to also understand that our market has been adopted by the government aids that we had in 2021 and 2022. The Q1 2023 was the highest quarter in the history of Biesse, only because in the previous two years the Italian market, the Italian Government and also the European Government gave a lot of state aids to. And they increase the sales from the client, and then after that moment the sales and the order start to decline. So we are perfectly in line to the market trend, but on the other side we started our strategic plan that is included in our website, and all the action included in that strategic plan remain valid. And we want we are accelerating that strategic initiatives, because we are strongly convinced that that strategic initiatives are the best way to approach this very difficult market situation. And we have an idea that at the end of our strategic plan, Biesse is the best positioned company to grab the potential increase of the market. Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the back of the queue. Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question is from Alberto Francese of Intesa Sanpaolo. Hello, Alberto Francese speaking, Intesa Sanpaolo. Good evening to everybody. A question on the personnel cost reduction is quite important in 2024. I wonder if you still have some room for doing something more also in 2025? Secondly, it's always related to cost of personnel, how much do you think will be the decrease of labor cost in 2025? And if related to the headcount reduction, and if you're seeing inflationary trends on labor cost in Italy or in other countries where you are present. Thank you. So in terms of labor cost, as you know, we made an incredible job in 2024, starting from 2023. My point is, we do not cut the people, we right-sized the number of the people, considering the new approach to the business. It's a very important differences, because HOMAG reduced the number of employee of 600 in the same period. But we reduced the number of people because we are changing our supply chain, our plant, we reduced, we rationalized the portfolio, and we review completely all the operation related to the Biesse Group. So the reason why we reduced is because we are changing the baseline and the basics of the Biesse Group. Yes, we have additional headroom for 2025, because the plan that we presented, including our website, is for three years plan, so 2024 to 2026. Some of the activities that we listed in the strategic plan are not completed to the final point. We have other significant headroom that we see we can reduce significantly also in 2025 the number of people, considering that we are finalizing some of the activities in strategic plan, for example, the plant rationalization. So we have numbers of plant in Italy that needs to be rationalized in terms of function and in terms of people. So for sure we can reduce on that the number of people related to the industrial site, but also in terms of other department we can reduce because we are changing, for example, the product portfolio. And we already we did because the new portfolio is live from March 6, 2024, so two weeks ago. So we reduced, we rationalized the portfolio also in other department of the company, we are working to find the best way to approach the new market needs. So yes, we have a significant headroom for also for 2025. For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question is a follow-up from Marc Saint John Webb of Quaero Capital. Hello again. Please forgive me for my very generalistic questions, because I haven't heard from you for several years, so I'm just catching up. I'm just trying to understand, I gather from just looking at your figures, that your sales are down roughly 18-19%. HOMAG sales are down 13%, and you said the market in 2024 is down 10%. So, you know, has there a new leader been emerged in the market? I mean, why are you both losing market share in 2024? The market is down 20% in the last 24 months, then, in certain geographies, is down much more than the 20%, because the 20% is average global number. If you look at markets like Germany or Italy, the market is down 50%, because as a matter of fact, is half of what was in 2021, 2022, I would say. Then 2021 and 2022 still had carry on the backlog in 2023. That's why most of the companies made a record year in 2023, and then start depletion of the backlog in 2024, which was down, and then we got a normalization of the market. These are the numbers. It's pretty aligned to what we have seen from HOMAG, which... As of now, we're not here to discuss about HOMAG, but is also different geographical span. So, the 20% is what we have seen in the industry data in the last period, but was quite expected, a moment of normalization of the market. It was heavily pumped up by the government aid, especially in Western Europe, given the COVID situation. Most of the governments provided, let's say, free support, so this is the effect that we see now of the reshoring of the industry. Okay. Now, I understand that now. It'd be useful if you were to give variations by geographies to help us actually understand that, rather than having to discover it through questions. So, second thing, could you just help us understand how the year ended in 2024 and how the year has begun in 2025? If I can include that in the same question. So just to get a bit of a feeling, are you still in the absolute bottom of the downturn, things will just keep on getting worse? Or has, at some stage, things started to improve? Can you help us understand that? I don't know whether it's sort of evolution of sales or it's evolution of order intake, but are you still sort of seeing a market collapsing or things started to turn at some stage? So in terms of the projection for 2025, honestly, we do not see a significant increase compared to what we seen in 2024. The first three months, two months and a half, give us the confidence that nothing is changed comparing on 2024. We noted some significant problems that, honestly speaking, we do not expect to have, and I'm talking about the US market. The US market due to the declaration of the president has a significant reduction in terms of order intake, not only for us, but is a market standard. So we do not see any significant changes in the trend. This is why we do not foresee a significant difference compared to what we achieved in 2024. I don't know, Sandro, if you want to add? No, no, just to say that, I believe what was declared by you. Also, by HOMAG, we are quite aligned on that. We don't see until the second half of 2025 we don't see market condition to change. So still is very rough, and the turmoil in the US with all the duties is not helping, for sure. So we look month by month how is the trend. Thank you. And just a second question there. I wonder if you can give us an understanding of how your cash flow is likely to evolve. We see that you're a company that had a significant amount of net cash. It's down to just under EUR 25 million. How is that sort of net cash on your balance sheet likely to evolve over the year? Considering the fact that we hope that our EBIT DA remain significantly positive also for 2025, we are not a capital-intensive company, so our normal dimension of the CapEx is starting from EUR 15 to 30 million. It depends on the fact that during the year we need to renovate or build a new industrial plant. Considering that, we are on average in terms of CapEx every single year. I think that our net working capital will remain more or less stable compared to what we have in 2024. I am not expecting to have a significant drop in terms of net financial position. If we were able to confirm what we have in mind for the budget, I expect to have a slight increase in terms of net financial position at the year-end. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. For any further questions, please press star and one. Mr. Sautto, there are no more questions registered at this time. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.