The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Volker Bosse - Baader-Helvea Equity Research - Analyst
: Congratulations on the great top line momentum. And the first question would also be regarding top-line, plus 6% like-for-like. Could you break
out how much of that is inflation-driven? And in that context, perhaps elaborate a little bit on the -- (inaudible) strong growth in Eastern Europe is
plus 74% to put that into perspective, please?
And the second question would be on the gross margin. Encouraging to see that the gross margin stabilized or even slightly increased by 10 bps
year-over-year. Is that a sign? And for our modeling, could you confirm that this will be an ongoing trend in the current year?
And last but not least, on Spain, a bit struggling here with the performance, as Spain has been, or was the best country in your portfolio, the most
profitable country in your portfolio. So what happened here? Is this a temporary weakness currently? Or is it a structural change? And how we have
to look at Spain in that regard?
Question: Volker Bosse - Baader-Helvea Equity Research - Analyst
: Yes. May I add a follow-up, as you -- just to repeat, you mentioned the figure, I guess, in the presentation, but I did not catch it. It's about the number
of store visitors. How did the store frequency develop also in comparison to pre-pandemic levels? Where are we in regards to frequency figures?
Question: Clement Genelot - Bryan Garnier & Co Ltd, Research Division - Analyst
: Yes. 3 questions on my side. So the first one is on the growth. In your view, what is explaining such gap in the consumption and sales growth
between DACH and Southern Europe (inaudible)?
The second question is whether on the gross margin, do you see any early signs of competition easing, both at [Europe] or (inaudible) and then in
Germany? And my third question is on the Retail Media. Could you give us any update on the ramp-up of this new business?
Question: Stephen Benhamou - BNP Paribas Exane, Research Division - Analyst
: I got 2 questions. First, on the portfolio rationalization. Are you satisfied about the new scope? Or should we expect further disposals? This is my
first question. Second question is about the working cap. Are the inventory optimization and improved payment terms sustainable? And if so, what
level of working cap should we expect going forward as percentage of sales?
Question: Andreas Riemann - ODDO BHF Corporate & Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: Yes. 2 topics. Eastern Europe, I guess, driven to a large extent by Turkey. So maybe you can shed some light on the growth in Turkey? Was it
volume-driven, price driven? I guess there was volume growth. So maybe also comment on the fast volume growth in Turkey, what's happening
here?
And the second topic, divesting Sweden and Portugal implies probably that you're buying lower volumes from the producers. So does it affect the
buying power and thus the gross margin, or was the sourcing process so far, maybe too de-central?
Question: Andreas Riemann - ODDO BHF Corporate & Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: But why is Turkey growing then, as you say, maybe more than 30%, 40% in volume? I mean, I don't know, extraordinary demand? Or any insight
you could give us, what are these guys buying?
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