Full Year 2025 Pepco Group NV Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Alison Lygo - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : First one, just on whether we can unpack the drivers of that six-week revenue growth for next year, if we kind of put FMCG and that drags the side, just interested if you could add some color on what your working assumptions are in terms of category, how much is coming from kids, how much from kind of saving wallet share in some of the broader kind of categories? And then I guess the second way of kind of coming at that, how are you thinking about that on a regional basis as we think Poland, CEE, and then kind of Western Europe. I'll leave it -- give you kind of one at a time. But yes, that's my first question, please.

Question: Alison Lygo - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Great. That's really clear and very helpful. Then the other question I have is just on gross margins. So the midterm guidance now upgrade at 40.5%, which is in line with what the Pepco format delivered this year. Just wondering how we should be thinking about the midterm moving parts within that in terms of whether you think there's room for kind of further underlying kind of gross margin expansion? Is there some investment enterprise built into that? Just how you're kind of thinking about those puts and takes.

Question: Michal Potyra - UBS AG - Analyst : Maybe the first question, you could comment on your inventory level. Is this at the level you like it to be? And perhaps you also could comment on the sourcing trends from Asia, and I know how easy it is about pricing trends, et cetera. Let me stop here and perhaps I can ask another question later.

Question: Michal Potyra - UBS AG - Analyst : I have two more follow-ups, kind of more technical questions, please. So the first one is on -- regarding your guidance, regarding earnings growth. I'm wondering if that includes the impact of buybacks, right? Because is it more like EPS or kind of pure earnings guidance? So just this question. And another one regarding the composition of your like-for-like sales. I'm just wondering, looking at the Slide 27, where you are showing a volume versus price mix that appears to be more skewed toward direction of price in the fourth quarter, but also I understand it includes FMCG. So maybe you can provide more description of your volume versus price trends, maybe excluding FMCG throughout 2025.

Question: Janusz Pieta - mBank SA - Analyst : Could you give us a bit more color on the -- on your incentive program? What's the dilution do you expect in 2026 and throughout the whole program?