Good evening or good afternoon, and thank you very much for joining us at such short notice. What we'd like to do today is go through the commitment we have to acquire the Courvoisier brand. As you can see, Christmas came early to Campari this year. We're very excited by this acquisition opportunity. Clearly, it is a unique opportunity to enter the cognac category, an exciting category for us, within one of the top four historical houses, which also boasts world-renowned brand credentials. Clearly, our aim is, over time, to reestablish Courvoisier as a global icon of luxury, priming cognac to become also one of our four largest legs, actually the fourth largest leg, along with aperitifs, bourbon, and tequila. Clearly, the objective is to continue premiumizing our portfolio, and it is a significant step up in our U.S. presence, as well as presents us with a nice long-term transformational potential in strategic Asia. Just to go quickly over Maison Courvoisier, quite a historical house. Maison founded in 1828 in Jarnac, obviously, in the Charente region of France. It is the youngest, but actually the most awarded of the big four historical cognac houses. Its signature styles reveal the intricate nuances of the cognac craft, which have led the house to become the most awarded cognac house based on the top 20 spirits competitions since 2019. And most importantly, it is the only cognac house to ever win the coveted Prestige de la France title. In its range of VS, VSOP, and XO, it is also topped up and reinforced by a premium range of limited editions, and the brand has built solid credentials across a multitude of versatile liquid styles. Talking about versatility, the VSOP is quite versatile. It was designed back in the 1950s, especially for cocktails, and it has made inroads in the mixology scene. The Courvoisier Château serves today as the main headquarters of the brand in Jarnac. It's absolutely a beautiful building. It hosts a museum, a visitor center, as well as maturing cellars. The Maison Tour will bring you to the heart of its history, from Paris to Jarnac, and really describe the special features of Courvoisier cognacs, complemented by the discovery of an aging cellar and tastings. The key facts about the brands, in fiscal year 2022, it had net sales of $249 million, with a contribution after A&P of $78 million. If we look at this year, in the year up to the thirty-first of October, 2023, net sales amounted to $148 million, which represents a decline of 33% versus 2022, and a CAAP of $37 million. Clearly, the performance of the brand was impacted by the recent market-driven trends, such as the normalizing consumption in the U.S., particularly in cognac, after peak post-COVID sales, as well as destocking at the wholesaler level, in line with the wider cognac industry. The brand is sold in 160 markets, and the U.S. is, is by far its largest market, accounting for 60% of its net sales, followed by the U.K., China, and global travel retail, and the geographic mix reflects the current VS and VSOP SKU. So clearly, there's a very good overlap with our in-market companies. The volume at the end of 2022 was 1.29 million 9 l cases. The acquired business includes a, a very, enviable inventory of maturing liquid, with a book value of $365 million, as of, again, the date of 31st of October, 2023. And what's, really good is that it consists of well-balanced age profiles and really a superb mix of eau de vie quality, which will support future brand development. Now, what's in it for us? Clearly, this is a unique opportunity for Campari Group to enter the top league of the super premium cognac category. As you well know, the top four cognac suppliers account for 90% of worldwide sales and have different SKUs into markets and liquid variants, with Courvoisier currently skewing strongly to the U.S. with its VS offerings. China dominates clearly in value terms, the cognac category by premium variants of VSOP Plus, XO, and Prestige. While it's conversely in the second largest market, the U.S., that market is dominated by entry-level VS and plus VSOP, while VSOP Plus and XO high-end offerings are growing off a pretty small base in line with premiumization trends. The third largest market is global travel retail, and that's dominated by XO, and Prestige and VSOP Plus are increasing popular. Now, despite the recent negative trends, which are driven by destocking following, as I said earlier, the strong pandemic-induced growth, it is also amplified by inflationary circumstances. At the end of the day, we believe this is just, clearly, more of a cyclical issue, and that on the structural side, premiumization trends in the industry, most relevant in markets such as U.S., China, and GTR, will continue to drive the long-term prospects of the category, which is also supported by scarcity value and its superior liquid quality. Now, the fit within our portfolio is at absolutely fantastic. You can see how it strengthens our really premium offerings, you know, starting at $35, going up to $2,000, and it will be a very nice addition to our RARE division, which is driving the premiumization of the group. Now, clearly, this is a brand which fits into our playbook, and we expect to relaunch it like we've done, and grow it substantially, as we've done with some of the other brands highlighted on page 7. Clearly, we'll be able to give it more focus and really leverage our brand development capabilities. As you all know, Espolòn, under our ownership, grew 47 times as we really updated it with disruptor style branding alongside premiumization over time. The Aperol brand grew 20 times since acquisition, and that, you know, included a total brand overhaul and strategic internationalization. It's become one of the hottest brands in, in the world currently. Wild Turkey Bourbon, which we acquired when bourbon was really a dusty category, grew three times. Again, thanks to portfolio premiumization and a very consistent brand messaging on its craft credentials and liquid quality. Courvoisier grew 1.3 times, and again here, we had a complete brand renovation, and we focused onto the high-end expressions. And, we've really stopped all the mainstream flavor variants. So actually, you know, if you take them out of the base, it's probably more a 1.5 times growth. Appleton Estate grew 2.2 times. Again, a total brand overhaul with age statements, focused premiumization. And Glen Grant, last but not least, grew 1.4 times, following a strategic focus on long-aged expressions. When we bought it, it was more of an ingredient into a large blended brand, and was selling some unaged expressions in mostly Italy. Now, clearly, it is a very respectable brand, which has also reached, you know, auction prices above $200,000. So cognac will become our fourth leg, and this leads to a true diversification of the group across key spirits categories. There's a very healthy exposure to multiple premiumizing categories. You know, aperitifs will account for 36% of our sales; tequila and mezcal, 8%; bourbon, 8%, and cognac, 8%, with the rest spread amongst our regional and local priority brands. So, a perfect addition to the portfolio. Now, clearly, this is our largest acquisition to date, so, Courvoisier will enter our global priority brands category, and it will have a significant boost on our business in the U.S. and China, but also in the U.K., which will grow by 50% and grow GTR by 30%. So the global brand priorities cluster will receive, you know, even more enhanced focus, reaching its full potential. We will also strengthen, thanks to Courvoisier, our premium portfolio, particularly in aged rum spirits, as well as supporting future long-term premiumization ambitions in all of our key strategic markets. It will boost overall Campari Group net sales by 9%, which is a significant step up in some of those broken markets, which I highlighted below. Now I'll pass on to Paolo. Thank you, Bob. The Courvoisier business has a strong fit with the group's French operation, supporting our French icons portfolio. That includes Grand Marnier, Champagne Lallier, the Cognac Bisquit Dubouché, and in the future, the Picon brand. The Courvoisier operation addition will definitely increase our distilling infrastructure in France, bottling and warehousing capacity, supporting the group's other local operation, coupled with deep relationship with the wine growers and suppliers in the Cognac region, where, of course, we're already present with the Grand Marnier, you know, business. Courvoisier has a state-of-the-art, true state-of-the-art facilities across five production sites. The biggest one is the one that you see on, on the map, is La Belle Étoile, where we have, you know, the bottling plant, essentially fiv fully automated bottling lines, maturing warehouses, and, and again, a fully automated, finished good, and raw material warehouse. Then, you know, the business comes with, you know, again, state-of-the-art distillery containing 28 pot still in Châteauneuf-sur-Charente. There is the, you know, Domaine Guillot, which, contains 30 hectares of vineyards and, and pot still, and then, you know, a further, site, Les Métairies, where we have maturing warehouses and blending station. Of course, in Jarnac, the business, comes with the headquarters, the château, and, a visitor center overlooking the Charente River. If we move on to the following page, a few comments on the acquisition structure and the metrics. Campari Group has entered into an exclusive negotiation with Beam Suntory, and granted, in such context, a put option with a view to acquire 100% of the outstanding share capital of Beam Holding France SAS, which holds in turn 100% of the share capital of Courvoisier SAS, which is the legal entity owning the Courvoisier and the Delamain brand, as well as, you know, the operation which I've mentioned. The enterprise value for the deal is $1.32 billion, corresponding to EUR 1.6 billion at today's exchange rate, and the consideration, the enterprise value is based on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The enterprise value, you know, is composed of a fixed upfront purchase price of $1.2 billion, corresponding to EUR 1.1 billion at today's exchange rate, which is subject to the customary price adjustment mechanism and also to an earn-out consideration for a maximum amount of $120 million, corresponding to EUR 110 million. Such earn-out will be payable in year 2029, based on the achievement of net sales targets that are realized in fiscal year 2028. The corresponding enterprise value of $1.32 billion is equivalent to a multiple of about 17x the contribution after A&P of the business in fiscal year 2022. The perimeter, of course, includes the trademarks, comprehensive production facilities consisting of distillation warehouses, vineyards, blending facilities, aging cellars, the automated bottling lines and warehouses, and the brand headquarters with Le Château and the visitor center. I said before, the value of maturing inventory, which is an aging liquid, as of the end of October 2023, with a well balanced age profile to support the future brand development, is worth $365 million. Vis-à-vis the funding, following page, the signing of this transaction is subject to the information and consultation of the French employees' representatives. And the closing of the transaction will be subject to the completion of the appropriate regulatory processes as usual, as well as the customary antitrust approvals. The closing is expected to occur of the transaction is expected to occur in year 2024. The funding of the acquisition is fully committed via bridge loan of EUR 1.2 billion with a tenor up to two years, 24 months from closing date, by a consortium of banks that comprises Bank Intesa, Bank of America, Crédit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, and, and Mediobanca. Campari Group intends to fund a transaction with a mix of debt, existing cash, equity, and/or equity-like instruments with timing and amounts yet to be determined. Campari will continue to monitor the market conditions in order to assess the best financing alternatives. As a result of this contemplated acquisition, and assuming a fully debt-funded transaction, Campari Group's pro forma net debt will be the adjusted ratio, would be expected to increase from the current 2.6 times as of end of September, to roughly 4, 4 times upon the deal closing. Thereafter, a sustained deleveraging is expected, which, will be, will be fueled by positive cash flow generation. I think, you know, this is it on, on funding. You know, we'll then back, to, to Bob for, for his conclusions. Thanks, Paolo. We'll quickly go through the conclusions, then we can pass on then to the many questions you probably have. Clearly, this is a unique opportunity for our group to enter the top league of super premium cognac category with a beautiful world-renowned brand. Courvoisier clearly will benefit from Campari Group's focus and brand development capabilities, leveraging the group's enhanced operational and business infrastructure. We are poised to leverage the heavy expertise in cognac, which we have at the board level. As you know, we have the ex-CEO of Rémy Cointreau, Jean-Marie Laborde, as well as the ex-CEO of Moët Hennessy, Christophe Navarre on the board, as well as the ex-CEO of the Rémy Martin brand, who is in our executive management team. So, there is a great expertise for cognac. They're all excited by this acquisition, and we aim to reestablish the brand's credentials as a global icon of luxury with their support. And this is clearly the largest deal in our history, enables further portfolio premiumization, and it is a significant step up in the U.S., with also long-term transformational potential in Asia, which, as you know, is a very important must-win battle for us. So this is it on our side, and happy to take your questions. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and One on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press Star and Two. We kindly ask you to use the handset when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press Star and One at this time. We will pause for a moment as callers are joining the queue. The first question is from Sanjeet Aujla with UBS. Please go ahead. Hi, Bob and Paolo. Thanks for the presentation. Three questions from me, please. Firstly, can you give us a sense of the 2028 net sales target upon which the earn-out is contingent upon? Would you expect sales to go back to or ahead of 2022 levels? Secondly, can you just comment on your expectations, if any, on cost synergies from the transaction? And thirdly, can you just give us a sense of how well invested the brand has been in recent years; A&P as a percentage of sales and gross margins would be very helpful. Thank you. Yeah, let me take the last question, and Paolo will handle the first one. I mean, the brand has been well invested, but we think, you know, the quality of the investment could have been different, and its allocation to the markets different as well. So with regards to the 2028 net sales target, you know, unfortunately, we cannot disclose that number. Cost synergies? Sorry? Cost synergies. Cost synergies, no. Even there, you know, we can add a little bit more color on what we've envisaged in terms of, you know, pro forma effect of, you know, an hypothetical consolidation of the business. You know, assuming, you know, year 2022 actual for Campari and actual for Courvoisier business, you know, clearly, you know, the level of gross profit, the Courvoisier business at this stage, you know, has a gross margin on revenues that is below group average in year 2022. And therefore, you know, we envisage, you know, potentially a dilution of roughly 80 basis points at the level of gross profit. You know, the AMP as a percentage of sales is, you know, quite in line with, with group, you know, AMP on, on revenues. You know, on the SG&A for, for the time being, we, we believe, we, we should be fine, in, in the future, you know, taking into consideration that, you know, we need to, to beef up a little bit, you know, our organization with, with roughly, you know, 4% of top line, of back then top line of year 2022, so roughly, EUR 9 million. This is, you know, highly accretive to, to, to group EBIT by about 130 basis point. Thereafter, we believe at the level of EBIT adjusted, the business will deliver, you know, the day it is, you know, fully consolidated 50 basis points accretion based on year 2022 delivered numbers. You know, thereafter, you know, as we're debating on the effect of the consolidation, you know, interest on the coupon on the additional debt, assuming, you know, the funding will be 100%, that financing would be again in the region of 4% of the purchase consideration, so clearly about EUR 50 million. In France, you know, you pay taxes at 25% tax rate. You know, worth mentioning the fact that, you know, not only the operations, but also, you know, the brands is sitting in France, and therefore, you know, the vast majority of the brand profitability in the future will be sitting in France. And in France, you pay 25% corporate income taxes. So then next, you know, based on 2022 numbers, the deal would be accretive by, you know, about 2%, low single digit accretion effect. Worth noting that the intangible, so, you know, the potential value of the goodwill and the trademark would not be deductible for tax purposes, it's not. And that's about it. In terms of R&D, you know, about 2% of sales, which is, you know, basically matching the historical CapEx. You know, given the fact that the plant, you know, and all sites are in state-of-the-art and pristine conditions, you know, we are not envisaging to step up, you know, the CapEx spend in the future. That's really helpful, Paolo. Can I just squeeze in one more follow-up, please? Obviously, there's been a big sales decline this year. This, the 33% decline you've seen in the first 10 months, do you, do you think that's pretty much in line with the sellout, or, those sales are below the sellout, globally? No, the sales decline has been greater than the sellout. Got it. There's been a destocking. Great. Thank you. The next question is from Olivier Nicolai with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Hello, Bob, Paolo, congratulations on the acquisitions, and it comes at a time when the demand for cognac is weak. So first question would be actually, could you give us your long-term view on the cognac category, particularly in the US and China, and if you see upside elsewhere? Second question is, how are you planning to develop the brand in China, since Courvoisier is mostly US, mostly in the VS segment, and have a very small market share in China? And then the last question, if I may, on the US. The brand didn't have momentum for decades. So as Beam Suntory passed the Courvoisier to you, excuse me for the pun, what do you think has been missed on the brand, and what will be the first step to reestablish the brand to its former glory? Thank you. Well, look, Olivier, we're pretty bullish on the long-term perspective of the cognac category. If we weren't, we wouldn't be spending $1.2 billion to make an acquisition. We think that what is happening in the US currently is not structural, not really cyclical. And if you look at, you know, the progression of the category in the recent months, it's starting to normalize... And one thing which everybody's a little bit missing is that if you take a step back and look at the volumes and value of the category versus 2019, they're actually ahead, particularly on the value side. So, you know, this is an—it's a category. So it's a category which has to normalize after the very frothy, pandemic eras, and then what happened in terms of, you know, significant price increases due to, you know, being on allocation and at the same time, you know, compensating inflationary pressures. The players in the industry clearly overdid it, and there's a short-term backlash, but there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the category. Now, in China, yes, it is a small brand, but it's nice to start with a clean slate, and we think it's not just a China play, but it's a broader play in Asia, in many markets, as well as a very interesting play in Eastern Europe. So, but last but not least, we think, you know, with our usual playbook, tender loving care, and focus back on the fundamentals, with our marketing model, we can get this brand to perform at a very different pace. Now, you know, I wouldn't comment on what the current owners did or didn't do. Clearly, you know, we think that the Frenchness of the brand and its history and all of its archives and, you know, it has incredible latent equity, and we're sure that we can bring that back to life, as well as benefit from the expertise in the cognac category, as I said earlier, of our two board members, as well as our managing director of a key geography of ours. Very clear. Thank you very much. The next question is from Edward Mundy with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Evening, Bob, evening, Paolo. Congrats on getting this deal across the line. A couple of questions. First of all, in the past, you have walked away from potential opportunities to buy dusty brands, you know, such as Southern Comfort. What makes this brand different? Is the first one. So the second one is, you know, clearly there's a lot of VS at Courvoisier. Is the plan ultimately to shift from VS to VSOP and above, and how do you think about doing that, and sort of with what investment? And then the third one, you know, you've obviously got quite a lot of inventory in cognac through Grand Marnier. And what's the opportunity to integrate the two, and is that part of the thinking, you know, behind this transaction? Yeah, I mean, what makes this brand different? I mean, this brand has really solid, you know, latent equity. You know, it's from 1828. It was, you know, the official cognac for the two emperors of France, Napoleon First and the Third. It's won incredible awards, it has an incredible liquid, and if you really focus on its fundamentals, you can get it back to growth. It, it's not a brand invented 30 years ago or whatever, with a liquid which anybody can copy. I mean, as you know, this is a very special category, and it's a premium category, growing very nicely if you look at it from, you know, at the right perspective. And we see it's got really the credentials to do well in that. Now, in terms of shift, et cetera, I mean, these are all things which we will study and do. We're currently studying it in detail. The good news is that we have plenty of inventory to actually grow the brand and premiumize it further, so there are no limitations from that side. With regards to, you know, yes, Grand Marnier, et cetera, this makes us a bigger player in the region, no question about that. But, you know, our number one priority here is really the commercial synergies and drive those forward as fast as possible across our key subsidiaries. Can I just ask a quick point of clarification? You gave, Paolo, you gave the potential accretion of 2%. When we're doing our modeling, and you've given us the coupon, what EBIT should we be using for 2024? Any help you can give on that slide? Actually, you know, that's, you know, difficult to say at this stage. Honestly, you know, put aside the fact that 2024, you know, will not be, you know, a, you know, the. Given the fact that the, you know, the signing and then the, you know, the closing, you know, are deferred, you know, we cannot say, you know, what is, the impact in the PNL of the acquired business in 2024. You know, regulatory approvals, you know, take time, particularly in France. So you know, we sense, you know, for next year, we will, you know, most likely benefit of, you know, just a portion of the overall, you know, business profitability. You know, as Bob just said, 2023 has been, you know, massively impacted by, you know, soft demand, but even most importantly, by significant, you know, destocking, particularly in the U.S. market. So, you know, we, we feel, you know, pretty confident in the year 2025, which will be the first full year of, consolidation of the business, you know, we, we will have, you know, good, good results. But, you know, at this stage, it's a little bit, you know, crystal ball exercise. Great. Thank you. The next question is from Trevor Stirling with Bernstein. Please go ahead. I think probably you've answered my questions, Bob, because it's really was around where are you, where are you most excited about the opportunity to develop the brand? I think you've probably touched on it in terms of premiumization and geographic expansion, so, so I'll probably pass it on to the next person. Yeah. But, you know, just to underline it, you know, this isn't something we will do for a first time. This is quite... This is quite, you know, a repeat of what we've done many a times in the past. And what is different, it's a new category, but we have the right people to advise us. Very much, Bob and Paolo. 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 Paola Carboni with Equita SIM. Please go ahead. Yes. Hi, good afternoon, everybody, and congratulations for this achievement. I have a couple of questions, which probably go back to the indications Paolo gave on the profitability. Actually, I was wondering whether the development of Courvoisier will entail different profile or stronger investments in marketing compared to the current average for the group. So I understood that at the moment it was in line, but I was wondering if you expect your brand building activity to leverage on or to need stronger push on marketing, or it would rather be more a matter of SG&A support, commercial support, like strengthening more your RARE organization, for example, than in some geographies. I was wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on, on this. Thank you very much. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, vis-à-vis the future development of the brand, of course, you know, the premiumization strategy that we intend to take clearly is also aimed at expanding the gross margin of revenue. That's, you know, the first target that we define. So, you know, definitely, you know, in cognac, the marginality, typically, you know, at the level of gross margin is way higher than the historical one that is, you know, below 50% in 2022 for the business. So we see, you know, a lot of opportunity of expanding this, you know, this ratio of gross profit on revenues. It will come by a combination of, you know, positive, you know, sales mix, and premiumization of, of the offering and a price increase. You know, vis-à-vis the A&P, you know, luckily enough, we're starting off, you know, a good base of A&P on revenue, so there is, you know, the brand is being funded. We may decide to do probably different things, but, you know, we do not envisage, you know, a significant step up in A&P on revenues. Of course, if we are, you know, extremely successful in lifting the gross profit on revenues, we may decide to release a little bit of the, you know, growth of the EBIT margin accretion into the A&P spend for the brand. That has, you know, clearly a lot of potential, not only in its current big markets of the U.S. and the U.K., but you know, most importantly, in Asia, where we have, you know, a strategic objective of building further our business. Vis-a-vis the SG&A, you know, I said, you know, in the region of EUR 9 million, something like that, it's a fairly prudent assumption. You know, thereafter, you know, we have, I said many times, a scalable model for our business, so we rely on centralized GBS organization functions, IT and delivery, service delivery and so forth. So we don't need to be fat at supporting functions to absorb this business. So, you know, the investment, which I've alluded to, would just be in the area of commercial and marketing, and we sense this is enough to cover, you know, the business. Taking into consideration, in two markets, the largest market that I've mentioned, we already have our own, in-market, companies. So in the future, you know, we would expect that the, you know, the contribution after A&P as a percentage of revenues and say, the, you know, the pro forma, business, EBIT on revenues, would grow, over time. Importantly, this is a brand which will benefit the rest of the rare portfolio because clearly, you know, cognac opens doors, which will be very interesting for the rest of our portfolio. So in particular, as far as my question on the RARE organization, you don't expect to- No, but that's within the number which Paolo already shared with you. Okay, perfect. Yeah. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you very much. The next question is from Chris Pitcher with Redburn Atlantic. Please go ahead. Thank you very much, Paolo. Very quick question. Is there anything that you've seen in Courvoisier's performance that makes you think you're buying this towards the bottom of the cycle? Or is it more your confidence in the long-term positioning of cognac into 2025 and beyond that gives you the confidence to do the transaction now? Thank you. Well, look, I mean, we clearly see great long-term potential for the category, and, at the end of the day, you know, this is a better time to make such an acquisition than when the category is really frothy. So, it makes a lot of financial sense as well. What really convinces us about the brand is really the latent brand equity and the very high quality of the liquids... Every single element is there. I mean, from the state-of-the-art production facilities to an incredible brand house. We just need to make the asset a focus for us and make it work, and sweat much more than it has for the previous owners, which had other priorities. I suppose, specifically, you've not seen any sort of sequential improvement in the declines that you've quoted publicly? Look, I mean, you have the same Nielsen numbers or NAPCA numbers we all do, and you can have a look at them, and you can see them normalize throughout the year. Thank you very much. Sure. The next question is from Genevieve Cross with BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead. Hi, good evening. Thank you for the question. I just wondered if you could offer any perspectives on what you see as the mid- to long-term growth profile of the Courvoisier brand, and if to any extent, that's limited by any volume constraints or it's not at all? Thank you. No, we don't have any volume constraints. I mean, really, the aged inventory is fantastic. You know, very well-rounded, very balanced, so we can drive this forward. No issues there. Cognac is not sculpture. Yeah. Bear in mind that XO starts at nine years. Yeah. Okay, thank you. For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question is a follow-up of Paola Carboni with Equita SIM. Please go ahead. Paola Carboni, your line is open. Yes. Thank you very much. Yes, just a purely quantitative question. You have indicated in the press release that the debt-to-EBITDA ratio would rise to 4x, let's say, at the moment of the acquisition. Can you give us a sense of how fast can the leverage be? So when do you expect to come back to around 2.5-3x, which is the starting point? Thank you. As you know, you know, the first time is the assumption that, you know, we consolidate the asset day one, which is not, you know, the case. So, you know, it would most likely be, you know, sometime next year. And so, you know, the leverage ratio, the starting point will no longer be probably 2.0, marginally lower. You know, there would be, you know, a deleveraging, but, yes, we think, you know, we can, qualitatively in direction, I can tell you now, we will accelerate the leveraging, but, you know, we've not, you know, setting targets of, you know, deleveraging, because, you know, first and foremost, we need to understand exactly what is, you know, the exact, you know, funding strategy. You know, taking into consideration the timing of the closing, you know, first and foremost, you know, the market conditions, and understand exactly what is, you know, the ideal mix between, you know, debt, equity, equity-like, you know, securities, and on and so forth, and the use of existing cash. Once we have, you know, a clearer picture, then we will give, you know, a target for through leverage and subsequent deleveraging. But as you know, Paola, we have much more flexibility in our capital structure now. So I guess, clearly, you know, this deal doesn't affect our appetite or ability to do further deals. Mm-hmm. Yes, very clear. No, actually, my question was more on the intrinsic cash generation power of this business, and also on the desirable level of inventory, whether you think the starting point is correct, or maybe do you believe that the business will need higher or will be run also with the lower inventory going forward? So just to understand whether there is an opportunity in terms of cash generation to see anything specific going forward? Thanks. No, you know, in terms of, you know, effects of first-time consolidation, you know, I said that we have this, you know, $365 million of working capital. It is, you know, the fixing as of, you know, October. You know, it's a cyclical business, so, you know, then you enter into the distilling period, you know, it goes up and it goes down. You know, we sense, you know, overall, the, you know, the current level of inventory is more than adequate to support the future, you know, development of the brand. If, if anything, you know, given the, you know, the stocking that has occurred in the US, you know, potentially we have, you know, more headroom, to, to accelerate the growth trajectory, with, with, the existing, aging liquid inventory. On top of, you know, then, you know, if you look at, you know, payables and receivables, you know, at consolidation, you know, immediately after they would offset each other, you know, the business comes with roughly $30 million of finished goods sitting in, in the, you know, sellers in market companies... which are, you know, part of the, you know, consideration included. So, you know, we would not have to fork out, you know, any further dollar to get that finished goods. In the future, you know, we feel, you know, operating working capital for the business will grow proportionally to the development of the business revenues. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much again. The next question is from Alessandro Tortora with Mediobanca. Please go ahead. Yes, hi, thanks. Good evening to everybody. Just, let's say, to follow up. The first one is just related to the last point you touched. So considering everything we discussed on the liquid, but also on the 30 million EUR finished goods you mentioned just before. So basically, can you give us an idea of the working capital on sales, which is running today, let's say, this Courvoisier brand? That's the first question. And the second question is related to the year-to-date trend, the 10-month trend you, let's say, you described in the presentation. Can you give us an idea of the split of the 33% decline between volume and prices for Courvoisier trend? Thanks. Yeah, I mean, I can take the last one. There's no major difference between volume and value, honestly, in terms of trends. So, you know, vis-a-vis the operating working capital on revenues, you know, receivables and payables, as I said, you know, would offset each other. Then you have, you know, the 365 based on October, and then it will change, you know, at closing, depending on the cyclicality. You have the $30 million finished goods, and, you know, 355 + 30 over the, you know, if you take the 2022 actual net revenues of $249 million. Okay. Okay. Okay, thanks. Yeah. I mean, that's very normal in the cognac category. Yeah. For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephone. Mr. Kunze-Concewitz, there are no more questions registered at this time. All right. Well, thank you all very much for joining us, and we look forward to talking about more about cognac in the years to come. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.