Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the GVS Group preliminary first half 2024 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session. For operator assistance via web call, please press the headset icon on the bottom left side of your screen. For conference call assistance, please press star zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Massimo Scagliarini, CEO. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you very much. Good afternoon and good morning, and welcome to everybody to the preliminary first half presentation of the GVS Group. A quick snapshot on the number of this first half. So nearly EUR 250 million revenue that bring us to 1.6% growth versus the previous year. Why I am very happy about this result? Because last year the first half was still very faster, and we were experienced the destocking from the third quarter. So this number is preparing us for a very interesting third quarter, but we will see this later on. EUR 52 million of adjusted EBITDA. Again, another jump in growth of nearly 11% of improvement versus the previous year. And this is bringing us to a 24.2% margin for the first half, so nearly 210 BPS better than the last year. But the number that I like more is the 25% Adjusted EBITDA that we reach in the third quarter. This, because, is even better than we were expecting, and is keeping us perfectly on track for the 27% that we presented in our plan for the next for the next year. And again, a 260 BPS better than the second quarter of last year. Adjusted net income of EUR 22.5 million, so growing 12.3% versus the previous year, confirming, of course, the EBITDA and the previous number of revenue, and a net financial position that declined to a leverage ratio of 2.42. Okay, a quick snapshot on detail of this EUR 250 million. So we see a nice and steady growth, nearly 10% in the Health and Safety, confirming the positive trend from the beginning of the year. In Energy and Mobility, that is suffering a little bit, but again, this is more related to delay in delivery, and we are expecting to recover this in the second half. A steady growth, nearly 1% in Healthcare and Life Science, that, as I mentioned before, is preparing us for a nice, third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA, EUR 52 million, 10 point... nearly 11% growth, compared with the previous year, and the net financial position declined to EUR 241 million, leverage of 2.42. So now I will leave the speech to Guido for, again, some more detail on this number. Thanks, Massimo. I'm going to start from the composition of revenue growth. So, we have 0.7% reported, but 1.6% organic growth in the first half 2024. And, this growth is mainly composed by an increase of price for almost EUR 3 million, but still with contribution of volume growth by 0.5 million. And, this has more than offset the negative impact of the adverse effects, EUR 2 million across the first half of the year. Moving to the next slide, let's see the different dynamics of the segment. So starting from the first division, Healthcare and Life Science, positive news is all the three segments of this division reported positive organic growth in the first half. In particular, I would like to highlight the recovery of Lab segment. You might recall that we had a weak performance in the first quarter, that we were sure to recover, fully recover in the second quarter, and this has been achieved. In the half, we have organic growth of 0.5%. The Air & Gas segment confirmed the positive momentum on the first quarter, so with an overall 6% organic growth, and the Liquid that continue a stable 0.5% growth in the half. Moving to Health and Safety. Health and Safety is continue to be the growth engine of our revenues, and it's growing almost 10% organic in the first half. To continue the very positive trend already started in the last quarter of last year, in the first quarter of 2024, and according to what we see in terms of further momentum, we expect this positive trend to continue across the next quarter. Finally, Energy and Mobility. The performance is in line with what we saw in the first quarter, so -4% organic. Here, as already anticipated by Massimo, it could have been different because we had order for almost EUR 2 million, EUR 1.8 million, that we were not able to produce during the first half, and we are confident we can recover in the second part of the year. Now, I leave the floor to Marco to comment EBITDA. Okay, thanks, Guido. Hello, everybody. Here we see the adjusted EBITDA margin, the quarterly adjusted EBITDA margin. First of all, if you look at the quarterly performance versus the previous year, you see that over the past four quarters, we have always improved the performance. You see, starting from Q3 2022, year-over-year, improved, we improved by around 600 BPS. In Q4 2022, you see we are improving, we improved by around 400 BPS. In Q1, we improved by around 200 BPS. Finally, in the second quarter, we improved, as already said by Massimo, by around 260. This slide shows also that over the past 8 quarters, we have normally also improved quarter-over-quarter, the performance. I mean, you see, in Q3, we started from around 16%, and then we went to 19, then 22, and 22.4. And the same trend, positive trend, we are starting from Q3 2023. You see, from 2021 to 23.3, 23.4, and then 25. So it's clear that every quarter we are improving the performance, both compared to the previous year and also compared to the previous quarter. And now let's see at the variance analysis, the first half 2024 versus the previous year. Let's focus on the EBITDA in absolute terms. 47 was last year, and now we are at 52, so we improved by around EUR 5 million. And why? Already said by Guido, we improved pricing, 2.9, which... Of which just EUR 1 million is the carryover impact from last year pricing. Around EUR 2 million is the impact of pricing implemented starting from January 1, 2024. Then volume, already said by my colleagues, very good performance, Healthcare and Safety, so the EUR 2 million here. FX impact is negligible. Negligible because you know that we produce normally in an area where we also sell. So, if you look at the EBITDA, we are quite naturally hedged. So Guido said EUR 2 million FX negative, it's just EUR 500,000 if you look at the EBITDA. And then other, you have, it's negligible, it's EUR 200,000, but inside you have fixed cost going up. I mean, people, staff, people in Bologna, sales people, but their higher cost has been offset by variable costs going down. Variable cost means raw material and the labor. And why are variable costs going down? You know that we are implementing the so-called special projects. So all the projects implemented starting from 2023 are helping us to offset fixed costs going up. And now, the adjusted net income. On the left part of this, of the slide, you see adjusted net income going from EUR 16.5 million - EUR 24.8 million, +50%. But if you remove the impact of the FX, you have in the financial charges, financial incomes, you see you come up with EUR 20 million last year and EUR 22.5 million. Why? Because last year, the impact of the FX was negative EUR 4.7 million. In the current year, we have a positive EUR 3 million FX gain. So all in all, adjusting the net income, we have an increase of 12%. You see, the 22.5 is a very good proxy of our ability to generate profitability, but also cash. So EUR 22 million in six months, so higher than EUR 10 million per quarter. And if you look finally at the adjusted net financial position, you see, Massimo already said we are improving our leverage ratio. So at the beginning of the year, 2.65, 2.42 now. We have generated EUR 10 million, you see, from the beginning of the year, but we can say also that we generated around EUR 48 million in 12 months, or EUR 13 million just in three months. Notwithstanding, we are investing money in the new plant in China, and we invested in twelve months, more or less EUR 10 million, which means that we generated-... around EUR 48 million in 12 months, but it would be EUR 58 million without extraordinary costs. And the same, in the last three months, we generated EUR 13 million, notwithstanding we have invested around EUR 5 million for the new plant in China. Massimo said that the profitability is perfectly aligned with our, let's say, strategic plan, with what we said last September. The same I can say for the net financial position for the leverage ratio. We said at the end of 2025, leverage ratio of around 1.2- 1.3, and what we are looking at now, the 2.42, is perfectly aligned with 1.2- 1.3 at the end of 2025, and is perfectly aligned with our guidance, which is around 2, the leverage ratio at the end of 2024. And now it's up to Massimo, I believe. Yeah. Outlook and guidance. Okay, so as I mentioned in the introduction, Q3 last year was the quarter where we suffered massive more the destocking, the destocking situation. So, for the visibility and the order book that we have now and the consistency that we have, we are expecting a nice gain on Q3 of this year versus the previous year. So that, that is very important, and we are very positive on these topics. Profit. Again, our target is 27% next year. We are moving even faster than what we expected, but we will continue working on this, and so we are expecting improvement in this area. So this bring us to the guidance. So guidance. Sales, we confirm the guidance, low- to mid-single-digit growth versus the previous year. But adjusted EBITDA, we were obliged to revise this because we are definitely better than what we predict at the beginning of the year. So we moved from 100 BPS -200 BPS to 150 BPS -250 BPS in terms of guidance, so revise it upwards. Adjusted leverage, we are expecting to close the year in the region of 2x. I believe that this was the last slide, so we can move now to the Q&A section. Thank you very much. Thank you. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To enter the queue for questions, please click on the Q&A icon on the left side of your screen and then press the Raise Your Hand button. Please do not mute your microphone locally, and when prompted, make sure you turn on your webcam in the pop-up window. If you are on the phone instead, please press star one on your keypad. The first question is from Christian Hinderaker of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Yes, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity for the questions. I want to start on the growth in Health and Safety, if I may. I think last quarter, you talked about a competitor that lost certification in the health in the helmet safety market. I just wonder how much of the sequential improvement in revenue for that segment came from share gains, if any, at all, and, and whether you think that's sustainable going forward? It's not an easy answer, because the division itself was already growing before then, this news by the competitor. So I don't have a firm number to give it to you. We were already gaining market share before. So I don't know, Guido, if you have any more detail on this? No, I... We had a positive improvement. We expect this to be accelerated in the next quarter, because and at the same time, we are in the process of launching a product that is a new version of a product already existing, that exactly match with the product that has been temporarily discontinued by our customer, our competitor. So the impact is in the next quarter that we would expect will accelerate. So we have definitely in getting this high single digit type of growth for the next quarter. Then again, as Massimo said, it's always difficult to quantify that, but, what we can tell you is this 9%, this almost 10% growth in the first half has not benefit only marginally benefit from the situation. This is pure organic growth of the business. There is a- Also- on top opportunity. Because there are technical time of the new customers certify, the new one, adopt, testing, et cetera. So I think you are right, Guido. It will be more visible in the third quarter than not in the second one. That's great. Thank you. Maybe secondly, just on a question on the bridge and perhaps more of a clarification point, but the net pricing number for the half was +EUR 2.9 million, and then Q1 was EUR 1.2 million. So obviously a bit of a step up in the pricing benefit. You talked to some of this, Marco, but is that all... When you say net pricing, is that all pricing, and then the cost benefit is reflected in the 0.2 other, or is there a cost benefit included in the net pricing? Net pricing is just pricing to customers. Okay. So the cost impact is embedded into the 0.2 that I called, I named others. Remember when I said fixed costs have been offset by variable costs? Variable costs are going down, first of all, because the projects we are implementing are helping us to reduce the consumption of raw materials and of direct labor. But we are also managing well the raw material inflation. Raw material inflation is the raw material pricing, so what we pay to suppliers, suppliers, which is slightly declining. So the 2.9 is just pricing to customers. The small impact of pricing we pay to our suppliers is included in the 0.2, in the rectangle, which is named Others. Very clear. Thank you. And then finally, just a couple of points on housekeeping. Firstly, were there any adjusting items? I don't think we've had the reported numbers in this print, if you're able to share that. And then secondly, just on the tax part of the equation, was that consistent with what we've seen last quarter, just for the sake of the model? Understood. So, adjusted figures are benefiting of adjustments for less than EUR 1 million in the first half. So the difference between adjusted EBITDA and reported EBITDA is gonna be around EUR 1 million. Taxes, adjusted tax rate is always the same, but we have, in the first half, a positive impact of... Oh, gosh, how do you say in English? Patent Box. Yeah, Patent Box. Yeah, it's- It's in Italian. It's Italian. It's in Italian. Thanks. We have a positive impact of less than EUR 3 million for the Patent Box, but this is something we adjust. Adjusted tax rate is equal to the first quarter. The reported tax is improved by EUR 3 million for the Patent Box. And just to clarify, because we didn't tell you at the beginning of the call. You don't see the PNL and balance and then cash flow number in the presentation, given the preliminary nature- Yeah ... of these figures. This will be published in the press release on September the 10th, when the final results will be approved by our board. But the number, of course, are not expected- The numbers are very, very, very accurate. So September figures are gonna be equal, exactly equal to what we are looking at now. This is just a technical reason- Yeah ... for which there are no schemes in the press release. Understood. That's very helpful. Thank you. You're welcome. The next question is from Anna Frontani of Berenberg. Please go ahead. Hi. Good afternoon, Massimo, Marco, and Guido. Thanks for the presentation, and congrats on the results. I have two questions. The first one is actually on the quarterly phasing. Is it correct to assume Q3, high single-digit growth, helped by volume and easy comps, and then a normalization in Q4 back to low single digit? And the other question that I have is on margin, with Q2 at 25%, how much of this performance you would say that is linked to your acquisitions, to your past M&A activity? Okay. So, the first one for the, in relation to the quarter, yes, of course, we are expecting the, more important jump in the Q3 because it's when, last year we were suffering more with the stocking. Q4 was a very interesting, Q4 also last year, and so this is why we are considering, the low to mid single digit growth, in the Q4. So you are right in representing the picture. Then Guido, Marco, if you want to add anything, please. No, that's fine. There is another question about Q2, if we have benefited of a high performance of the recent acquisitions, the three acquisitions that we made between 2021, 2022. So- No, I would say that it's all the group that is moving in the right direction. And so we are doing our job in terms of recovering efficiency. We're doing our job in the industrial reorganization that was planned, and we are doing our job in bringing the synergy from the acquired company. So it's an overall job that is improving our profitability. I will not highlight any specific region. It's overall. Anna, if you are asking why our Adjusted EBITDA margin went up from Q1 - Q2, the main difference is in the volume. Because the higher the volumes, the higher is the Adjusted EBITDA margin. So very simple. So Massimo said Q1 performance and Q2 performance is more or less the same, so all the areas are going up.... the difference is in the volumes, because in Q1, we were at EUR 104 million euros revenues. Now we are showing EUR 111 million. So with EUR 111 million, our Adjusted EBITDA is EUR 25 million. Okay, very clear. Thank you very much. The next question is from Emanuele Gallazzi of Equita. Please go ahead. Yes. Hello, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three questions. Well, the first one- Emanuele, sorry, we hear you very, very low. Okay. Can, can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Yes. Probably it's better? Yes. Okay, that's perfect. So basically, three questions from my side. Let's start with the first one on the Healthcare and Life Science division. I think that in the previous call, you mentioned that your clients are getting back slowly to restart ordering with still a lean inventory approach. So do you still see this kind of trend or something has changed? The second one is on the Energy and Mobility, and I was just wondering if you are seeing any slowdown in the orders from the automotive client, given the current tough environment. And the last one is on the Health and Safety, and on the full mask that you are about to launch. If you can just give us some details about the contribution expected and the market opportunity there. Thank you. Now, I would say that in terms of healthcare, the most important thing is solidity. So what we are seeing now is that all the customers are back ordering and confirming the order, so we can trust our order book. Versus last year was absolutely untrustable because in this quarter, they were canceling. It was a disaster. We are still not in what I would call the high tide of a classic healthcare market, but we are back on a solid market as we historically know this type of market. So that is the most important. To us, is the most important thing. So visibility and solidity in the result. Energy mobility, very sincerely, no, we don't see a slowdown right now. We don't have this feeling in the order book, but I would say that there are a quite big difference from geography to geography. I see a U.S. market still very solid, Europe suffering more in term of market, and China on the average between U.S. and Europe. Then, Guido, if you have comments. No, I think so far, I think, honestly, in our order book, it's still solid. Of course, we are not talking about, we are not expecting to have, in the mobility, a particularly, a strong growth this year, but just to slowly recovery volume that we lost last year. I mean, on the safety part, in particular, the trend is positive. There is a bit of slowdown in the, let's put it, powertrain and drivetrain, but this is again secular, related, to the gradual phase off of thermic vehicle versus electric, and we are on it. So we are working on it to reach this together with the market. Of course, something has changed compared to a few years ago when we were... Meaning, this transition to electric was also perceived as more imminent. Now we understand that it will take time, but still is a trend, and we are aware of that. And going forward, there will be a natural declining in certain volume related to the powertrain and drivetrain, and then we're gonna offset launching product and developing new solution for electric vehicles. This is the Yeah, even if I can comment on this, it's very interesting that we had a big change in the market because all the first implant builder sold all their activities. So like Magneti Marelli or like Continental, they have sold it to the PE market. And so now they are reinvesting again, betting on the fact that the thermic market will definitely last longer than what is predicted. So there is a lot... There are movements. It's not like one year ago, but let's see how this will move in the future. The rate of the full mask, maybe I can just add a bit of color. Mm-hmm. So it's a very important product for us. This is a relevant product for the industry, among the top five products for our competitors in terms of volumes, and it was a market that we were not covering at all. So we had only the half mask. ... but for the full mask, also distributor had to buy and buy and offer product from our competitor. So now the Elipse brand has completed the range of product. Consider that this is not a market that there is cannibalization with the health, is a different use. So we can expect a market that is similar, might be similar for us in terms of total size. Currently, we realize EUR 25 million in Elipse half mask. This might be a target for us also in terms of full mask. Of course, it will take some year to get this gradual result, but this, this, this is our target. Very clear. Thank you so much. If I can add, I believe that an important point of view is if we look at our competitor, the full face is the primary product in terms of sales. Yeah, I think it's between third and fourth. Yeah. In any case, a top, a top-selling product. Exactly, a top-selling product. Absolutely, a top-selling, and it's very important. Thank you again. The next question is from Matteo Bonizzoni of Kepler. Please go ahead. Yes, thank you, and good afternoon. I have a follow-up question on your slide 7, which is the bridge of the EBITDA, you know? Because I was a little bit struggling to reconcile this bridge with your organic performance. So your organic performance in Q1 was +1.9%. In the first half, +1.6%, so it means that in Q2 there was a slight slowdown to sort of 1.3%. But if I look at this bridge compared to the one provided with the Q1, both volumes and prices are more than double, and volume and prices should incorporate exactly the organic growth, particularly the volume one, has materially improved, you know, in Q2 compared to Q3, which I was not reconciling with the slight slowdown of the organic growth. On the contrary, given that your margin was accelerating significantly, you know, from 170% - 260%, I would have expected to see in this bridge sort of operational synergies. Because if you have a slowing organic growth, but an accelerating margin, I would have expected to see a sort of contribution from, let's call it, synergies or cost cutting or operational actions, let's say, which I do not see. So just to know little bit the origin of this bridge compared also to the Q1 bridge. And then, I'm sorry, because I joined a little bit later because I had another call starting at 4:00 P.M. Maybe the question has been already asked. The question is the following one: You have increased the margin guide, now by, I would say, 50 basis points, both in the bottom and in the top. The first half progression was pretty strong, 210 basis points. If I'm not wrong, you have commented that the organic trend in the second half should accelerate. So in principle, I would say that, looking at your guidance, you are maybe targeting more the top of the bracket, so 200-250, and not 150-200. Am I correct? Thanks. Okay. Very long question. So, Matteo, it takes some time also to answer, but let me keep the answers very short. If you assess Q2 versus Q1, please bear in mind that the revenues are going up. In Q1, you had 104, in Q2, you have 111. So you have around a delta, a variance of EUR 7 million, around 6%. So revenues in the second quarter are 6% higher than in the first quarter. You know that every time we increase by 1% our sales, more or less, more or less, we recover more or less 30 basis points EBITDA margin. So if your GVS revenues go up by around 6%, you can expect an increase in EBITDA margin of around 150-200. As a matter of fact, we went from 23.2 - 25, which is... No, 23.4 - 25. So we increased quarter two versus quarter one by around 160 BPS, which is driven by the increase in the revenues. This is the easiest way to look at Q2 versus Q1. Then, each quarter is different. For example, in the second quarter, you have Christian said before, Christian Hinderaker, you have a better, a high impact of pricing, because some pricing was implemented middle of February, so you have the full impact in the second quarter. In the first quarter, you do not have the, the full, the full impact. Tell me, Matteo, if I gave you an accurate answer to explain you the difference in the performance between Q2 and Q1. If so, are you there, Matteo? ... Yeah, yeah, just to know, the action on the operational footprint, where do we see in this brief? In other, is in volume? Yes, yes, because, you have, each quarter between EUR 500,000 and EUR 1 million impacts in the other. So if you look at the first half, you have more or less, something below EUR 1.5 million positive impact in the variable cost. Unfortunately, or luckily, I don't know, also the fixed costs are going up by the same amount. So you are right, you see there, the impact of the, of the footprint organization. Yeah, thank you. Okay. Then you asked about the guidance. You are telling us that our guidance are safe, then I don't know, Massimo, if you want to go there. We are safe. Yes. We must be safe. Absolutely. Eh? Absolutely. It's our mandate to beat the our- Guidance ... for our guidance. So we prefer to be accused to be prudent, if you wish, but we want to move step by step, and bringing at every call, surprise and positive result. This is our aims. Clear. Thank you. You're welcome. The next question is from Alessandro Tortora of Mediobanca. Please go ahead. Yes, hi. Good afternoon to everybody. I have three questions. The first one is a follow-up on the target on the third quarter sales. So considering the high single digit growth expectation, basically, we should assume, let's say, also remind me the, you know, the seasonal trend, Q3 basically touch lower than Q2. Are there any specific reason why we should expect a margin and the margin overall stable? Or considering the lower level of sales, as you were discussing just before, we should have, let's say, maybe a trajectory a bit lower in Q3 and then going up again in Q4. So this is the first question. Thanks. Thank you very much. Okay, the first question was about target Q3 sales. He said, "Do you expect something slightly below than in Q2?" In Q3 was EUR 111. Right, Marco, right. I was trying to give the question to Massimo. Okay, don't expect to have in Q3 sales higher than in Q2. Then last year was EUR 99, so we are expecting increase by mid-high single-digit in Q3 versus last year, which means something between EUR 105 and EUR 110. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the question was, so considering that sequentially is down the, the turnover, but also the seasonality, that we saw also in the past, the profitability, also considering what you just mentioned before, should we think about, some, let's say, decline versus Q2, or you are able, for all the measures you put in place, to keep that level? Alessandro, don't decline, but a very small decline. Okay? Now, I- In terms of anymore. In terms of Adjusted EBITDA margin. Oh, okay. He was asking if adjusted EBITDA margin can go down, given that the revenues should slightly go down versus Q2. Yes, the average should be slightly lower than in Q3. The adjusted EBITDA margin should be slightly lower than in Q2. Okay, okay. Thanks. Thanks, thanks for this. The second question is... Sorry, just on the full year horizon. Can you confirm the sales expectation, and do you still consider feasible the high end of your sales guidance, considering also the first half results? Okay. Look Again, the expectation right now is low to mid single digit, and I will not expand myself in other comment right now. It's, let's say that we see a positive quarter. Fourth quarter is always very positive, but I will not. I think we can be more precise when we're going to comment the third quarter. Yeah. That will- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because, of course, we expect this to be a strong quarter. Depending on the strength of the revenue of the third quarter, you will understand where exactly we're going to land, on a year basis. That I think is the most- Exactly. Oh, no. Okay, okay, okay. The question was just related to the fact that I think we already know the first half, basically the, let's say, the high end of your sales guidance would imply a high single digit for the, you know, for the second half, but I understood your answer on this. And then the last one is just on, let's say on the EBITDA margin evolution for the, for this year, but also on the next year target. You know, you mentioned also before. Is it fair to say that the cost benefits from special projects contributed largely this year, and probably next year, in order to get the 27% margin is much more, I would say, a game of volumes? Again, as I mentioned before, it's a mix. We have a lot of activity that we have launched the last from 2022, and so we are expecting synergy, we are expecting return from the industrial organization. In the next year, we have a lot of new product that will get certification, and so will come out. So there is really a lot of things, a lot of positive things that will pop up on 25. So I will not indicate one specific as a winner over the other. We can say that for sure, the contribution of volumes on the EBITDA margin improvement will be higher next year compared to what happened this year. Yeah. But this is just mathematical. Yes. Okay. Okay, thanks. For any further questions, please press Q&A on the left bar and raise your hand or press star one on your telephone. Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time. Okay. Thank you very much to everybody, and see you again to the next quarter presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your devices. Thank you.