TREVISO, Italy – The Board of Directors of De’ Longhi SpA approved on March 12, 2024, the consolidated results¹ for the 2023. In the fourth quarter the Group achieved revenues of € 1,078.1 million, up 4.7% (+8% at constant exchange rates) and adjusted² Ebitda of € 179.1 million, equal to 16.6% of revenues (a marked improvement compared to 14.6% last year). Free cash flow before dividends and acquisitions totalled €336.6 million.
In the twelve months the Group achieved:
- revenues of € 3,075.9 million, down by -2.6% (-0.2% at constant fx);
- adjusted² Ebitda of € 444.2 million, equal to 14.4% of revenues (compared to 11.5% in 2022);
- net profit (attributable to the Group) of € 250.4 million, up by 41.1%;
- positive net financial position of € 662.6 million, a marked improvement of €363.8 million compared to the end of 2022.
The Board of Directors also has proposed the distribution of a dividend of € 0.67 per share, equal to a pay-out ratio of 40% in line with the Group’s dividend policy.
Revenues fell slightly in the first half of 2023, mainly due to a start to the year conditioned by some transitory and extraordinary factors, such as the challenging comparison with the first quarter of the previous two years, the reduction in the levels of inventories held from distribution and the discontinuity in the mobile air conditioning business on the American market.
From the second quarter, the Group demonstrated a significant progression and expansion of the underlying trends, both in coffee and in the nutrition and food preparation sector, achieving organic growth at a high single digit rate in the second half of the year, confirmed in the fourth quarter.
Over the past year, the Group’s margins have steadily improved in comparison to 2022, which had been impacted by inflationary pressures on costs and some production inefficiencies.
This margin recovery was facilitated by rigorous investment control and a partial easing of inflationary pressures on some industrial costs (in particular logistics costs), which, combined with effective price management and continuous product mix improvement, contributed to bring the Group’s profitability back close to the historical average.
The current macroeconomic and geopolitical scenario remains uncertain and variable, however the trends of organic growth improvement highlighted in recent quarters have been supporting to consolidate the phase of progressive post-pandemic normalisation.
Regarding the product segments evolution, the core categories performance improved gradually throughout the year, with organic growth trends considerably picking up in the second half.
In terms of product segments, the domestic coffee machine sector highlighted a turnover in line with the previous year, with growth reaching a mid-single-digit rate in the fourth quarter. This was supported specifically by an acceleration at a low teen pace in the full-automatic machines category, thanks to the success of the new products recently launched on the market;
The company highlighted the significant growth of Eversys’ professional coffee machines, which maintained a consistent expansion trend throughout the year, resulting in a turnover growth of more than 30% in the twelve months.
In the words of the C.E.O., Fabio de’ Longhi:
“In 2023, the Group once again demonstrated its ability to seize market opportunities, achieving organic growth at a high single-digit rate in the second half of the year, supported by its ongoing expansion of the coffee machines category and the path back to growth of the nutrition and food preparation sector.
During the year, margins improved significantly due to rigorous cost control and a careful investment strategy, allowing the 2022 decline to be quickly recovered.
These results enabled the Group to obtain significant cash generation (approx. €436 million before dividends), which was also strategically used in the establishment of the professional coffee hub with La Marzocco and Eversys for further strengthening its leadership in the market and for creating value for shareholders.
The Group’s recent improvement in growth and profitability dynamics leads us to estimate a revenue growth in 2024, which includes the perimeter expansion with the business combination between La Marzocco and Eversys, in the 9%-11% range. In terms of margins, we expect an improvement for the new perimeter, potentially leading to an adjusted Ebitda of around €500-530 million.”
On December 23, 2023, De’ Longhi Group announced the signing of an agreement for a business combination between Eversys (a leading company in the production and distribution of automatic coffee machines) and La Marzocco (a leading company in the production and distribution of semi-automatic coffee machines and coffee grinders based in Scarperia, Florence, Italy), which creates a world-class operator in both the professional and domestic coffee machine industry.
¹ The audit of the financial report is still ongoing
² “Adjusted” is understood to be gross of non-recurring income/expenses and the notional cost of the stock option plans
