Earnings call transcript: SMCP sees steady Q3 growth with positive outlook

Published 23/10/2025, 16:40
 Earnings call transcript: SMCP sees steady Q3 growth with positive outlook

SMCP reported its Q3 2025 earnings, showcasing steady growth despite challenges in Asia. The company’s nine-month sales reached 896 million euros, marking a 2.8% increase at constant exchange rates. According to InvestingPro data, SMCP maintains impressive gross profit margins of 63.12% and has delivered a remarkable 150% return over the past year. While the company did not provide specific earnings per share (EPS) figures or revenue forecasts for the quarter, SMCP’s stock price rose by 1.36%, reflecting investor confidence in its strategic direction. The company maintained its full-price strategy, with digital sales remaining strong.

Key Takeaways

  • SMCP achieved 2.8% sales growth at constant FX rates, with notable regional performance except in Asia.
  • The stock price increased by 1.36% following the earnings release.
  • The company is focusing on brand elevation and profitability with new store concepts and market expansions.

Company Performance

SMCP’s performance in Q3 2025 reflects its strategic emphasis on geographical diversification and brand strength. The company reported a 2.8% increase in nine-month sales, driven by robust growth in EMEA and the Americas. Despite a challenging environment in Asia, SMCP’s overall performance remained solid, supported by a decrease in the average seasonal discount rate and a strong wholesale segment. InvestingPro analysis reveals the company maintains a healthy financial profile with an overall score of 2.53 (rated as GOOD), suggesting strong operational fundamentals. InvestingPro subscribers have access to 13 additional key insights about SMCP’s financial health and market position.

Financial Highlights

  • Nine-month sales: 896 million euros, up 2.8% at constant FX rates
  • Like-for-like sales growth: 2.9%
  • Wholesale sales increase: 17 million euros
  • Seasonal discount rate reduction: 3 points

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, SMCP remains confident in maintaining positive organic growth in Q4 2025. Trading at a P/E ratio of 30.6 and a notably low Price/Book multiple of 0.41, the company’s valuation metrics from InvestingPro suggest potential for value creation. The company plans to continue its focus on brand elevation and profitability while optimizing its network and controlling costs. A new distribution contract in Korea is set to begin in Summer 2026, signaling further international expansion. Dive deeper into SMCP’s comprehensive financial analysis with InvestingPro’s detailed research reports, available for over 1,400 top stocks.

Executive Commentary

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO of SMCP, emphasized the company’s consistency throughout the year, stating, "The year has been a year of consistency for SMCP." She also highlighted the positive shift in physical store performance, noting, "We see a very interesting inflection point with physical stores like for like back to positive." Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, reiterated the company’s commitment to regularity and consistency.

Risks and Challenges

  • Continued challenges in the Asian market, particularly China, where network optimization led to sales losses.
  • Potential macroeconomic pressures in key markets like the US and Europe.
  • The need to maintain brand desirability amid evolving consumer preferences.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company’s performance in October, which was confirmed to be similar to September. Executives expressed no significant concerns about US consumer confidence and highlighted the completion of network optimization in China. Digital channels were noted to be less promotional than the group average, aligning with SMCP’s full-price strategy.

Full transcript - Smcp SAS (SMCP) Q3 2025:

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: Thank you, everyone. Good morning. This is Annalie Dennis in charge of investor relations speaking. Thanks for being with us today for the publication of SMCP q three sales. I’m here with our CEO, Isabelle Guichaud, and our CFO, Patricia Ubbeepont.

You can listen to the publication via the usual conference call, or you can connect to the webcast to have the presentation displayed. As usual, we’ll go through the presentation and then we’ll have the q and a session. Before I hand it over to Isabelle and Patricia, I invite you to go through our usual disclaimer on page two. And I think we can start now.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: Thank you, Amelie. Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for joining us today to talk about q three sales with first the key highlights on figures and business initiatives followed by Patricia who will detail our performance by region. You can see on page four that our nine month sales came at €896,000,000 representing an increase by 2.8% at constant FX rate versus last year and 2.9% in like for like, supported by a positive performance in all regions except in Asia. If you remember the figures we published for h one, you can see that the trend is pretty consistent also in q three and that it is quite clearly reflected in the graph on the bottom of the page.

Just like in h one, the third quarter performance was supported by a very good dynamic in EMEA with a high single digit growth and America with a double digit growth. Other points worth mentioning are the following. We continue quarter after quarter to confirm our full price strategy in brick and mortar and also in digital, which as you know is a very is a more promotional channel, and this despite a very good comps. Once again in q three, we managed to decrease average and season discount rate by a significant level of three points despite a very challenging environment. This continuous improvement demonstrates the strong price pricing power of our brands and their desirability.

In q three, it was particularly the case in China. We’ll get back to this topic later. It’s another strong step in our auction plan in Asia. Our digital share remains at a satisfactory level above 20%. The network evolution is still negative on a YTD basis, minus 11 of sales, a more limited decrease versus H1.

As we have an increase of nine POS during the third quarter, mostly coming from retail partners with openings in Georgia, a new market, and in key existing markets such as The Middle East, Egypt, The Balkans. Direct return net network is stable for q three. Let’s move on to page five. You have now the usual detailed bridge of sales between the first nine months of ’24 and ’25. Same as in h one, mostly positive in the organic part with only one negative box, which is the impact anticipated of the network optimization.

The increase of sales is driven mostly by comparable stores and wholesale development. The like for like network is bringing 21,000,000 additional sales corresponding to 2.9% with a positive evolution in all our four regions. Reflecting our strategy of agile development, wholesale sales are increasing by 17,000,000 driven by our retail partners. The network optimization in China and Focal Diploma accounts for a loss of €13,000,000 of sales compared to last year. Finally, FX is negative by 7,000,000 coming essentially from Q3 as the negative effect already observed in Q2 was offsetting the positive one in Q1.

Moving on to page six now, you will find here the performance by region, which shows that the group has demonstrated again the strength of its geographical footprint with the capacity to navigate among macroeconomic uncertainties and to mitigate our risks. Patricia will get back in more details later in the presentation. Just a few highlight on the sales breakdown by region as anticipated and due to China network optimization. Asia losses two points, and symmetrically, Europe gains 1.5 points and America one point. By brand, no material changes versus last year.

And by channel, wholesale confirms in q three penetration increased by two points versus last year, in line with our strategy. So of course, retail network continues to represent the largest part of our business at nearly 90% contribution. Page seven, for once, let’s start with the two two small brands with very striking activation this quarter. You can see a recent Clodipialo pop up at Galleria Lafayette in Paris, beautiful creative space where customers discover the brand the brand’s latest launches and could customize the product using their own laces and then and charms matching their swing sneakers or the Alban bag. That is this initiative for us perfectly reflect the Clawdie Pierre Louis spirit.

For Fusak, the strategy of elevated KOL continues with the influencer Pierre Olivier Catier and also on a more surprising note, Natalie Portman showing that the style and comfort of masculine tailored pieces can also be perfectly worn by an elegant woman. Let’s move on now to our two main brands. Let’s talk about Sandro and their presence at the Venice Film Festival with several KOL and brands ambassadors wearing incredible pieces of springsummer twenty five. Alvaro Morte at the film premiere in Spain wearing more casual pieces of Sandro. This fall winter collection, Madre present a capsule inspired by Celine Dion and and a picture from from her in the nineties, a bold attribute to an era of confidence, effortless femininity, timeless allure, reflecting perfectly matched DNA.

On page nine, let’s talk about our retail project and more specifically, Maj who’s now currently expanding internationally while refining his presence in mature market like France and Europe. The brand is focusing on prestigious location, obviously, renovation, and especially on a brand new store concept that is featured in the on the slide. This new concept was first launched on King’s Road in London and Paris on the Riviera Du Tonte but recently opened. The idea is to turn my stores into real living spaces where every detail reflects the brand’s femininity, sensuality, and comfort. The new boutiques aim to make customer feel good and leave lasting impression.

At the same time, Mash continues to grow in regions like North America, The Middle East, Mexico, and India. Several new stores and renovation are planned by the end of the year, making it an exciting new chapter for the brand. Page 10, as I mentioned earlier, you can see the as a few openings with our main partners in Q 3 with the first two store in Biloxi, Georgia, which is now our fifty sixth market of presence for the group and new stores in Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. With that note, I will hand it over to Patricia to give you more granularity on our performance.

Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, SMCP: Thank you, Isabelle. Good morning, everyone. So some more details on sales by region on page 12. So in France, revenue stands at $3.00 €4,000,000 year to date, which is a resilient increase of 1% versus last year. Third quarter trend is minus 0.8% published versus q three twenty four, but plus 0.5% like for like.

This is a mix of various drivers depending on channels and also depending on months. By month, in July and August, we observed a positive like for like in Paris, which was expected versus relatively lower comps due to the Olympics last year. In September, the context was tougher due to social and political uncertainty, which led to a softer consumer sentiment impacting all retail as reflected in market panels, which we continue, however, to outperform. By channel, digital sales traditionally more promotional were affected by the continued decrease of discount rate to enhance brands’ desirability, while brick and mortar is positive like for like year to date and in Q3. The store network recorded seven net closures during the quarter in line with our optimization efforts.

In EMEA, sales at €314,000,000 grew by 6.7% organic compared to 2024 for the first nine months and plus 8% for the quarter. We can underline that this Q3 at €110,000,000 revenue reaches an all time high for quarterly sales in this region. This very strong performance continues to be driven by both retail and wholesale. Retail with a strong momentum of our brands and a strict full price strategy leading to like for like growth in most of our retail markets. And wholesale with the dynamism of retail partners in existing stores, notably in Middle East and in Turkey, and through new openings, explaining the major parts of our 11 net additions during this quarter for the region.

In America on page 13, so our sales reached €140,000,000 at the September. The strong sales trend of H1 continued in Q3 with a plus 10.5% organic versus q three twenty four with a strong momentum of both Saint Paul and Match. During this quarter, all three countries recorded good trends. In The US, sales showed a healthy increase supported by robust like for like performance driven by a combined effect of higher prices and increased volumes. Mexico recorded sustained growth confirming its dynamism over the period, and Canada was also positive, especially in the brick and mortar like for like network and also benefited from some network additions.

Our store network saw seven net openings during the quarter in North America, and this is mainly due to new corners opening in Canada at hot run through, which offsets some closures at Hudson Bay earlier this year. In Asia, sales reached 137,000,000 in the first nine months, decreasing by 8.8% organic versus 24. The sales decrease is linked to the effect of the network optimization in China, minus 65 stores in ’24. After a stabilization of revenue in the like for like brick and mortar network in h one, we are back to positive like for like brick and mortar, mid single digits in q three. This is a clear indicator that our action plan is bearing fruit, and the quality of our revenue is also improving as we reduced discount rate drastically in q three by eight points, which is twice as much as we did in h one.

This has an impact on digital sales, which we are confident that this is the right path to enhance brand’s viability. In the rest of Asia, sales remained resilient with a positive trend, particularly in Malaysia and Thailand in retail, and a good start in wholesale of new countries such as in India and Indonesia. We are also happy to have signed a new distribution contract in Korea, contract which will start next year with the summer twenty six collection. We’ve been distributed in this very influential market for a long time and successfully, but we believe that partnering with the the Samsung Group, which already distributes many luxury brands in this market, is a great opportunity for us to leverage the country’s potential even further going forward. Thank you, Patricia.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: Before we take our questions, a few words of conclusion or main takeouts that I wanted to to highlight. I think that so far, the year has been a year of consistency for SMCP with a very homogeneous performance quarter after quarter. And in such a complex environment, it is reassuring to deliver a steady and constant positive trend. It is all the more reassuring that it comes from like for like. In this respect, the continuous effort and emphasis put on the reduction of discount both in brick and mortar and especially in digital is an essential part of this like for like increase, which enables the group to gain market share.

By geography, I think it’s fair to say that our performance in EMEA with a record quarter and in America growing double digit is outperforming the market and reflects the traction of our brands. As far as China is concerned, q three for me is very interesting. We see a very interesting inflection point with physical stores like for like back to positive again and with an impressive decrease of discount. The market continues to be uncertain, challenging, difficult to predict. This is why we continue quarter after quarter to deliver the implementation of our action plan in order to make the most of our geographical diversification, to elevate our brands, to improve the quality of our sales, and ultimately to limit our risk and regain profitability.

Before we conclude, a few words on our shareholding situation, a much weighted topic I know from you all. As you know, the 16% now 15.5 were returned to Luxembourg mid August, and it’s an important step in the process, obviously. Now the stakeholders have all the cards on the table to decide the next steps. That being said, we’re not the sellers, so we cannot comment any further. Obviously, SMCP being a listed company, any formal step will be communicated to the market in full compliance with market rules.

I thank you for your attention, and we’ll now take your questions.

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: You, Isabelle.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: The next question comes from David Dahmeyer from Cirque IC.

David Dahmeyer, Analyst, Cirque IC: Two questions from me, please. The first one on your outlook for Q4. So you said you are confident to sustain your trajectory in the end of the year. So are you basically saying that you intend to maintain a positive organic growth in Q4 despite, I would say, comp, especially in France and APAC? And related to that, can you just give us some color on the current trading?

What have you seen so far in October in your main markets? The second question on profitability. I know it’s a sales call and that Q4 will be key, but could you give us some indications on what to expect in terms of gross margin and OpEx development in H2 in the context of your continued focus on full price strategy as seen in Q3 and also your strict cost control approach? Thank

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: Thank you, David. I will first answer on the current trading. The the trend we’ve seen October is comparable to September for France and in line with q three for the other regions. In France, what I want what what we’ve highlighted in that call is that the brick and mortar, like for like, is positive and that the deliberate strategy to to control promotional the activity of digital, obviously, has an impact on the top line, but it’s also deliberate move for our brand’s ability and our margin protection. So all that we’ve said about the positive trend in American EMEA and the positive like for like in physical storage in China is still valid and and and that’s all what can set that point.

Mhmm.

Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, SMCP: And as you mentioned, David, we we won’t comment a lot about profitability since this is a sales presentation. Just to say that we continue all our efforts, you mentioned gross margin and and clearly the a very massive and continuous decrease of discount is obviously helping. You mentioned the cost. We continue our efforts. So Isabelle mentioned in her conclusion that it’s all about being regular and consistent, and this is true for sales.

This is also true for for p and l. I don’t remember if you mentioned also the decrease of of debt, and this is also something that we continue. So we are keeping the same direction in terms of profitability as we do for sales.

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: You. Think we can take the last question.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: The next question comes from Marie Linefort from Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Marie Linefort, Analyst, Bernstein: Yes. Good morning. Just want to come back on the like for like in APAC. Because you mentioned that China was back to mid single digit positive. And I don’t understand why the like for like is not improving in Q3.

What countries which are pushing down the like for like? That’s my first question. The second question is about U. S. Because you seem to keep good momentum there.

What are telling you to your sales manager in The U. S. Are they still positive in ordering? Or do they feel some decrease in consumer confidence there? And the last question is about the optimization of your network.

Do you think that you have achieved your program? Or have you still some closure, particularly in China, to handle over twenty twenty six?

Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, SMCP: Hello, Marlene. I will take the first one just to to give the precision. In APAC, the mid single digit positive is for brick and mortar. And as you may recall, we also mentioned that the very strong decrease of discount has affected digital sales. So this is why the total like for like is not improving yet, but the the the brick and mortar, which is a very important indicator for us, is is back from stable to positive.

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: And I will leave it

Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, SMCP: to Isabelle for the other question.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: Just one point when we mentioned. Yeah.

Marie Linefort, Analyst, Bernstein: Sorry.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: No. You wanted maybe to have a to ask another question to Patricia?

Marie Linefort, Analyst, Bernstein: Just wanting to know how the digital channel probably is predominant in your sales. Is it sales?

Patricia Ubbeepont, CFO, SMCP: No. No. It’s not no. No. No.

It’s not it’s not predominant. It’s it’s even lower than the the group average in terms of penetration.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: But the impact of promotional activity on that channel is massive. In China. Sorry for the if we come to to to America because you had a you had a question America, we benefit from a good resilience from The US economy for our brands. So far, there is no impact on the volumes, and we also benefit from the, you know, the the price increases that we passed early on this year and that have helped us really to navigate throughout the the the the announcements. The region is also favorably impacted by Canada.

Patricia mentioned that we we we we opened with a whole trend through after closing HBC. So we have a good momentum in Canada, which has impacted really negatively last year, is back to growth. So we don’t have any particular concern in the industry from the from the future for the future. Sorry. And, again, in this region, we also apply the full price strategy both in brick and mortar and in digital, which is, again, in that region highly promotional.

And that’s also something that we’re able to to to do in in parallel with the with our ex retail execution.

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: Thank you, Isabelle.

Marie Linefort, Analyst, Bernstein: You On the retail?

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: On the retail. Sorry?

Marie Linefort, Analyst, Bernstein: I had a question also to know what’s your policy in terms of optimizing your we’ve been working for the end of the year.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: I think that we we really now we’re no longer in the optimism the optimization phase. Now we’re more in a, I would say, back to normal activities where we constantly monitor our network. We don’t have any you know, in The U in in in in in China, it’s been it’s been you know, our commission plan now is is finished. It would be more, you know, usual maintenance of the retail network like we do in all the other regions of the world.

David Dahmeyer, Analyst, Cirque IC: Thanks.

Annalie Dennis, Investor Relations, SMCP: Thank you, Isabelle. If we don’t have any more question, we we can wish you a good day, and thank you for your attention.

Isabelle Guichaud, CEO, SMCP: Thank you. Thank you.

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