Half Year 2024 Lagardere SA Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Lagardere SA (LGDDF) achieved its highest historical revenue level at nearly EUR4.2 billion, up 13% as reported and 10.1% on a like-for-like basis.
- The company reported a new record in recurring EBIT with EUR212 million, an increase of EUR71 million compared to the same period last year.
- Free cash flow improved significantly, increasing by EUR123 million compared to H1 2023.
- Lagardere Publishing revenue grew by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis, with recurring EBIT up by EUR48 million.
- Lagardere Travel Retail reached a new peak in revenues, increasing by 13.5% on a like-for-like basis, with recurring EBIT hitting a record at EUR109 million.
- Net debt has slightly increased since last year due to investments in H2 2023.
- The dividend payment was reduced to EUR0.65 per share for 2023 compared to EUR1.3 last year.
- The press activity experienced a decline due to decreasing advertising revenue in a competitive market.
- The growth in the Americas region for Travel Retail was lower than in 2023, at roughly 7%.
- The unfavorable economic climate in China negatively impacted North Asia activities.
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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us this evening to Lagardère SA first half 2024 results. I am Emmanuel Rapin, Head of Financial Communications. And I will be guiding you through this presentation. The conference is led today by Arnaud Lagardère, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lagardère SA and Hachette Livre SA; Gregoire Castaing, Deputy CEO of Lagardère Group in charge of Finance; Dag Rasmussen, Chairman and CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail; and Stéphanie Ferran, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Hachette Livre. After the presentation, I will be reading the Q&A session from financial analysts only. And now I will leave the floor to Arnaud Lagardère.
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Thank you, Emmanuel, and good afternoon to everybody. Before I get to my brief introduction about H1, let me give you two quick updates. The first one is to introduce
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