Release Date: March 10, 2025
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
- D'Ieteren Group (SIETY, Financial) reported a strong increase in adjusted profit before tax group share, up 9.6% or 12.7% at constant currency.
- Free cash flow group share increased by 22.2%, reaching over EUR740 million.
- D'Ieteren Automotive achieved a record return on sales margin of 5.1%, despite a 6% decline in the Belgian new car market.
- TVH experienced a significant rebound with a 30.5% increase in PBT, aided by cost containment and recovery from a previous cyber-attack.
- The company proposed a dividend of EUR1.6, reflecting confidence in its financial stability and future prospects.
Negative Points
- Moleskine reported a negative adjusted PBT group share of minus EUR3 million due to a cautious discretionary spending environment.
- Belron faced increased financial charges, impacting its PBT group share, with a EUR60 million rise in net finance costs.
- D'Ieteren Auto's market share slightly declined to 24% in the Belgian market.
- The company anticipates a lower headline number for adjusted PBT group share in 2025 due to full-year effects of new financial charges.
- TVH expects a slightly declining adjusted operating result margin in 2025 due to a dilutive sales mix and absence of cyber-related insurance income.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you clarify the guidance for 2025, particularly regarding the comparable financing perimeter and financial charges?
A: Edouard Janssen, CFO: In 2024, our PBT group share was EUR1.1 billion, excluding the EUR24.8 million net impact from additional financing. For 2025, we expect a slight increase, considering EUR140 million in financial charges at Belron and EUR40 million at the corporate level.
Q: Regarding Belron's 23% EBIT margin target, can you provide more details on how you plan to achieve this?
A: Francis Deprez, CEO: The target remains unchanged. We expect contributions from topline growth, transformation program benefits, recalibration, value-added products, and cost containment. These factors, along with modest volume increases and normal pricing effects, will help us reach the target.
Q: What is the outlook for TVH's growth in a soft market environment?
A: Francis Deprez, CEO: We anticipate mid single-digit topline growth, reflecting market share gains despite a mixed market environment. Some markets will show stronger growth, while others may have lower growth.
Q: Can you explain the mid single-digit organic sales growth outlook for Belron, considering recent challenges?
A: Francis Deprez, CEO: We expect normal developments at Belron, with some effects from last year continuing. The budget assumes a gradual normalization of insurance dynamics, but visibility on timing is limited. We are pursuing growth in all market segments, including cash markets.
Q: How does the current tariff situation affect D'Ieteren Group's operations?
A: Francis Deprez, CEO: Most of our activities are not significantly affected by tariffs. For TVH and Belron, we have flexible sourcing strategies to mitigate impacts. If tariffs lead to inflation, we will apply pricing strategies similar to previous inflationary periods.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
