Interparfums confirme ses objectifs annuels après un bénéfice annuel en hausse de 43%

Well, take the word: it's not the whole world, it's a part of the world, and it's maybe the two or three percent, or four percent, who have the means to go for these products. But visibly, the markets are rising, and it's not just us who have very good results. No, now we're also talking about something else: prices have gone up. So in volume, if you look at the amounts, the French market is rather flat in volume, and many other markets are also flat in volume. And you have all increased your margins under the pretext of inflation. Well, that's not really our case, because we did a 5% increase overall over the last two years in total, which is quite little, and we decided to do practically nothing next January. So we are not increasing our prices. Nevertheless, when you look at the state of the market overall, indeed, volumes are not increasing much, even if the market is increasing.

They are not setting up a perfume division. I think the press release was not well perceived, because we spoke with the people at Richemont the same day, and we have continued to talk since then, for three or four days, since the announcement was Wednesday morning. So I had several people from Richemont, who are the CEOs of the different brands, including notably the CEOs of the brands that we have, and they told me that, one, they were quite unaware, and two, their perception of this press release was mainly that they now have a 'Mr. Perfume' there, which they didn't have before, since before my reporting was directly to the CEOs. And I think it's good to have someone who will manage the perfume division internally in relation to the licensee, which is the case since we've already spoken and we'll see each other soon. So really, I have no concern, and we re-signed Montblanc, I remind you, about a year ago to go until 2030. As for Kering, because there was also that announcement before the summer of their desire to reintegrate internally a whole part of the cosmetics and perfume part. Is there Boucheron with you? Yes, Boucheron is with us. Is there a risk on Boucheron? There is a serious risk, and we must not hide it. It's serious, since we go until 2025. We have discussed it several times with the people at Kering, with whom we are very close, by the way, with very friendly relations, so that simplifies the discussion. I think they will take back Boucheron either at the end of 2025 or one or two years after, the time to set up their division, knowing that Boucheron is the smallest brand in terms of size in the Kering cosmetics division, which is struggling to get other licenses. I think, for example, Saint Laurent is with L'Oréal, it's a license for 100 years, or something like that? Well, we don't know exactly, but it's a very long license, since Nicolas Hieronimus said the license is very, very long. I heard it on this set. Exactly, we don't have the dates because it's confidential. But for you, losing Boucheron potentially from 2025, is that a problem? It's manageable. What percentage of revenue is it? It changes nothing. It's between 15 and 18 million euros out of the 800. Lacoste is arriving next year, so overall we will start to get closer to 900 million, and if all goes well, we will get closer to a billion in, I don't know, three or four years. I won't give a date, and I don't have an exact plan, and it will depend on the results of Lacoste and many other things at the same time. In short, the Boucheron license is quite minimal today. So, the interesting people, the financial analysts, the investors, have completely misinterpreted all the announcements of recent months. You tell them, 'I am very serene.' You look it. No, but they misinterpreted the announcement from last Wednesday. And it's true that when you read the press release, it's not necessarily very clear. So there was this doubt, but when we questioned them and talked closely, visibly they reassured us. There is no desire to integrate. Now, everything we say today could be false in a year or two. Nevertheless, we have a contract that goes until 2030, and we will handle renewals from 2027 so as not to be caught off guard.

Well, China concerns us relatively little, because we have a turnover of about 25 to 30 million euros out of the 800 this year, so that means 3 to 4% of the business. This figure will rise, but we are behind in China overall, because they are behind, and it's true that China should be double in our accounts. So today, it's not a subject. After that, there are a thousand subjects that can happen on the planet, there are plenty every day. It's complicated to make a forecast, but overall, when I look at our roadmap, I see the brands we have, and I would say in 4.5 years, we have no real issues.

First of all, 40 years. We made 100 million more in activity over the semester, which we had planned less than that. So obviously, the differential of 100 million more compared to last year's semester at comparable scope generates completely high profits once we have amortized the marketing and advertising costs, etc. We generate profits very quickly. It's on the balance sheet, it's not a secret. And then we have 25% communication costs, and then we still have 8 to 9% royalty costs. So when you add it up, you quickly get to 40% gross margin, minus 15% fixed costs, and you have the 25%. There is also another thing: we have much higher communication expenses in the second half than in the first, we say it all the time. So our first-half results are always very high, and the second-half results are much lower, since we expect about half of the first-half result in the second. And overall, that will make an operating result of 17-18%, as we said yesterday in the press releases, which is not abnormal in relation to the activity.

I don't really know about the advertising market itself, but I know that we have increasing levels of advertising, increasing levels of media, and an increasingly important share of influencers and social media in the spending as well. And overall, when you add the three, with very strong in-store expenses, as we say, in-store visibility and merchandising, we have about 22 to 23% of total advertising spending every year, which makes very significant amounts.

There is a place for a very specific, high-end, custom, niche perfume. That has been demonstrated for three or four years, since all the niche brands... I told you a little off the record when we started, I didn't believe in niche brands because I thought the prices were very high. They started about ten years ago, and in fact we see that all these people who have smaller businesses have taken important positions. To talk about Le Labo, Byredo, and many others, they have taken important positions on the market everywhere, and there is real demand for products that go from 200 to 300 euros. It's recurring, and it's a market that is rising very surprisingly. There is real demand for these more expensive and more sophisticated products. So, there is purchasing power for some.