CNOVA N.V.
2019 Financial ResultsAMSTERDAM, February 18, 2020, 07:45 CET Cnova N.V. (Euronext Paris: CNV; ISIN: NL0010949392) (“Cnova” or the “Company”) today announced its non-audited financial results for the full year 20191.GMV: 3.9 billion euros (+9.1% organic growth2)Marketplace contribution: +3.9pts driven by increased share of GMV (38.1%; +3.7 pts)3B2C services contribution: +3.4 pts driven by tenfold GMV increase of travelMobile share: 49.5% of GMV (+5.5 pts)CDAV share: 35.8% of GMV (+1.7 pts)Expansion of the international platform: +85% y-o-y growth in 4Q19EBITDA4: 79 million euros (+€31m vs. 2018)EBITDA before IFRS16: €51m (+€25m) in line with expectationsGross margin improvement: 17.8% (up +2.3 pts) driven by marketplace and monetizationCash generation close to balanceFCF before financial expenses5: +€35mNet financial debt6: €(221)m (€(23)m vs. 2018 year end) ***FY2019 operational and financial performanceOrganic GMV (gross merchandise volume) posted a +9.1% increase in 2019 of which +6.5% in the 4th quarter. On a yearly basis, the main contributors to GMV growth were: the marketplace (+3.9 pts contribution), B2C services such as travel and energy (+3.4 pts), and Géant showrooms (+2.4 pts). The 4th quarter was marked by a record-breaking Black Friday which brought c. €73m GMV in 1 day (+27% vs 2018) with strong performances of travel and energy offerings. This was partially offset by a no-hit video games market, which significantly impacted Cdiscount’s yearly and quarterly performance (-3.4 pts in the 4th quarter and -1.6 pt over the full year).The marketplace of products accelerated in 2019 and constitutes one of Cdiscount’s main profitable growth drivers. Marketplace GMV share increased to 38.1% in 2019, +3.7 points year-on-year (37.3% in 4Q19, +4.5 pts). The marketplace GMV fulfilled by Cdiscount experienced a very significant +63% growth while its marketplace GMV share grew by +9.8 points compared to the previous year to reach 31%. Fulfillment by Cdiscount is a key factor driving marketplace quality and customer satisfaction and contributes to CDAV expansion by adding express delivery SKUs to the loyalty program.Net sales amounted to €2.2 billion in 2019, a +3.5% organic growth compared to the same period in 2018, driven by marketplace commissions, fast-growing travel sales and showrooms. In 2019 Cnova accelerated the shift towards a profitable platform model and commission-based revenues. Traffic at Cdiscount totaled 1.0 billion visits in 2019. Mobile traffic grew by +16%, representing 71% share of total traffic (+6.2 points) and 49.5% of GMV (+5.5 points). In terms of Unique Monthly Visitors (UMV), Cdiscount was #2 on average over the year with around 20m UMV and a +26% growth on mobile, the 2nd highest growth among the top 9 players8 in France.Cdiscount à Volonté (“CDAV”)’s subscriber base grew by +10% and reached 35.8% of GMV in 2019. Its more than 2 million subscriber base now has access to more than 1.2 million express delivery eligible SKUs, four times more compared to last year.Gross profit was €390 million in 2019, with an associated gross margin of 17.8%, a +2.3 points improvement compared to 2018. It benefited from the increased marketplace GMV share and associated commissions, continued growth in monetization revenues as well as improvement of the core business profitability.SG&A costs amounted to €378 million in 2019 and accounted for 17.2% of net sales, increasing by +1.5 point. Fulfillment costs, at 7.5% of net sales (-0.2 pt), decreased as a percentage of net sales still benefiting from the first semester logistics productivity improvements with optimized processes, the rolling-out of 3D packing machines and innovative Skypod Exotec robots. Marketing costs rose to 3.7% of net sales (+0.9 pt) to support both unaided brand awareness (+7 pts over the year10) and Cdiscount’s #2 traffic market positioning (20 million average UMV over the year, +26% growth on mobile11), with increased efforts focused on offline media. Technology & Content costs were at 4.2% of net sales (+0.7 pt) driven by the investments supporting the development of the marketplace, services and new monetization initiatives. Development of new businesses also affected General & Administrative expenses, mostly offset by discipline on structure costs (1.8% of net sales, +0.2 pt).As a result, EBITDA reached €79.0 million in 2019, a significant +€30.8m improvement compared to 201812. EBITDA benefited from the strong marketplace growth and a solid expansion of monetization revenues, along with continued improvements of the core business profitability.Operating EBIT increased by €17.2m compared to 2018 and turned positive, to €11.3m.Net financial expense, mainly related to installment payment solutions offered to customers, amounted to €(56.6) million13, increasing by less than 5%, mostly driven by business growth. As percentage of GMV, those expenses decreased from 1.4% to 1.3% in 2019.Underlying net loss from continuing operations improved by +€10.7m. The reported variation of €(27.3)m to finish at €(65.4) million (with an adjusted EPS of €(0.11)) was impacted by a positive 2018 one-off tax effect of €38m related to the spinoff of Cdiscount’s logistics activities into a separate subsidiary.Free cash flow from continuing operating activities14 amounted to +€109 million in the last twelve months, relying on strong fundamentals:Operating profitability increased at a fast pace with a doubling EBITDA at €79m (+€31m) ;Limited other cash operating expenses & taxes of €(13)m ;Positive change in working capital of +€71m, notably driven by inventory optimization and more efficient cash management on receivables.Capital expenditures amounted to €(74)m and remained stable compared to 2018, slightly decreasing as a percentage of GMV to 1.9% in 2019. It supported the implementation of the strategic shift towards the platform model and monetization initiatives. As a result, free cash flow before interest expenses reached a positive +€35 million during the same period.Taking into consideration net financial expenses and discontinued operations, change in net financial debt15 amounted to €(23)m during the same period.2nd half 2019 operational and financial performanceGMV had an organic growth of +7.6% versus 2018 2nd semester, to total of €2.1 billion.Traffic was again marked by the acceleration of mobile, which reached 73% of traffic share (+6.4 points) and 51% of GMV share (+5.8 points).Net sales amounted to €1.2 billion in the 2nd semester, a +1.9% organic growth.Gross profit was €215 million in 2H19 with a gross margin of 18.0%, an increase of +1.9 points.SG&A costs amounted to €190 million in 2H19, i.e. 15.9% of net sales (+0.9 point)EBITDA totaled €61 million in 2H19, showing significant a improvement compared to both 2H18 and 1H19, reflecting the benefits of the strategic focus on profitable growth through the increase in marketplace share and monetization revenues.Operating EBIT was €25.2 million in 2H19, almost doubling compared to the year before. Key business achievementsAcceleration in the marketplace of productsThe marketplace gained +3.7 points in total GMV share to reach 38.1% in 2019.The number of available SKUs increased by +34% to reach 64 million at the end of the year.Expansion of express delivery eligible marketplace SKUs was a key driver of growth, customer satisfaction and CDAV development, making it a priority throughout 2019.Fulfillment by Cdiscount kept growing quickly with a +63% GMV increase, now representing close to a third of marketplace GMV, +10 points compared to last year. A new marketplace service, Express Seller, was launched in 2019, for sellers able to offer express delivery to access CDAV customers. This option added more than 850k SKUs to the express delivery offer in 2019.Marketplace vendor value-added services revenues experienced a strong +56% growth, driven by the solid performance of Premium Packs and the Marketing services offer.B2C services: growing fast and widening its offerCdiscount Voyages (travel) significantly contributed to Cdiscount growth for its first full year of activity, supported by a strong GMV acceleration with a +49% growth between the two semesters ending with a full year GMV 10 times higher than in 2018. This achievement was supported by the launch mid-May of a marketplace of holiday packages which already encompasses more than 15,000 offers; including a very successful partnership with Disneyland Paris and many prominent tour operators.Cdiscount Energie (home energy) showed a strong +86% GMV performance in 2019, supported by a +63% subscriber base increase. In addition, a new gas offer was launched in December, experiencing a promising start.Cdiscount Billetterie (ticketing) performed well for its first full year of activity, with strong partnerships signed such as Ticketmaster and Funbooker, pushing forward the offer expansion. It accelerated throughout the year with a 4th quarter peak, x3.4 GMV vs the previous quarter (Q3, 2019).Cdiscount Mobile (cell phone plans) reached a record-high in 2019, ending with twice as many customers compared to end 2018. Launch of Cdiscount Immobilier (real estate) in November, a 20k new property offer platform.CDAV loyalty program enhancement ·CDAV customer loyalty program is a key driver of Cdiscount growth, representing close to 36% of its GMV in 2019, +1.7 pt compared to the year before. It experienced a 10% growth to go over 2 million members. Efforts were primarily focused on expanding CDAV-eligible products, now comprising more than 1.2 million SKUs, driven by the fast delivery options proposed to marketplace sellers: Fulfillment by Cdiscount and the Express Seller program launched in the 3rd quarter.Brand reinforcementCdiscount strengthened its efforts on reinforcing its brand, leading to a +7 pts unaided awareness gain over the year, reducing the gap with the leader in France16.2019 was marked by a 17-days TV campaign in partnership with Disney on the Aladdin movie in May, a campaign seen by 29m people, following another strong media campaign for Cdiscount Voyages in April. Moreover, advertising with Lenovo was broadcast on TV (and replay) during 2 weeks on 15 channels, boosting November computer sales.Brand reinforcement along with optimized online marketing acquisition led to growing Unique Monthly Visitors traffic (+25% on mobile) and a #2 position according to Médiamétrie studies.Multichannel strategyCdiscount continued to develop synergies with Casino Group, with the opening of 5 showrooms in Franprix stores around Paris. Franprix started to display monthly discounts on a selection of Cdiscount non-food and wine offers in its stores.Opening of La Nouvelle Cave, a joint-venture between Casino Group and Cdiscount, is a 130 sqm wine cellar innovative concept store in Paris, combining proximity and technology with human and digital advice. Added to the 650 in-store SKUs, 7,000 Cdiscount SKUs are available through tablets. This store isInternational platform acceleration driven by new initiatives47 websites are directly connected as of the end December 2019, +44 compared to end of 2018, enabling delivery in 25 countries with more than 670k products published.In its first full year, international sales showed promising performances and strongly accelerated throughout the year, with a 4th quarter 2019 GMV 85% higher than the year before.Creation of the International Marketplace Network (IMN) in September 2019, an alliance of 4 marketplaces leaders in Europe (Cdiscount, real.de, eMAG and ePrice). Addressing potentially more than 230 million consumers, IMN offers sellers a single, simplified European seller interface and is expected to contribute to significantly increase SKUs available for Cdiscount customers with the potential of doubling the number of sellers registered on its marketplace. The technology behind IMN was developed by Beezup, a startup acquired by Cdiscount in 2018. Hundreds of sellers have already joined the alliance.Commitment to responsible logistics innovationAgrikolis, Cdiscount’s rural farming pickup points exclusive partnership, extended its network by 28 farms compared to the previous quarter to reach 83, with more scheduled to roll-out in 2020. In addition to improve delivery in isolated areas, Agrikolis generates complementary revenues for farmers and strongly contributes to improved customer satisfaction by fostering genuine social bonds. Cdiscount is the first player in France to roll-out a new generation 3D packing machine, twice as fast as the previous one. It brings the number of 3D packing machine used by Cdiscount to 5. 80% of light parcels were packed without any void in 2019.Cdiscount’s supply chain won the LSA magazine award in the category “development of the distributor environmental responsibility” and the 2nd place of the FEVAD’s CSR trophy, for its actions aiming at reducing carbon emissions via packaging reduction and supply chain optimizations. Outlook
In 2019, Cnova’s continued elevated growth combined with a strong increase in profitability once again showed the relevance of its strategic shift towards a platform model that it accelerated throughout the year.Cnova plans on carrying on its transformation, focusing on growth and profitability.Growth will be supported by:the solid marketplace of products growth, driven by the Fulfilment by Cdiscount service ;B2C Services, with two pillars, Travel and Energy with a strong growth expected andinternational development, with a GMV high growth along with an increase of both connected websites and SKUs available.Profitability will be driven by:the marketplace GMV share continuous increase ;the expansion of other commission-based and monetization initiatives andB2B development through logistics and technology assets monetization.As a consequence, Cnova expects a sustained growth of the marketplace of products and services and further EBITDA improvement in 2020.***About Cnova N.V.
Cnova N.V., one of the leading e-Commerce companies in France, serves 9.2 million active customers via its state-of-theart website, Cdiscount. Cnova N.V.’s product offering provides its clients with a wide variety of very competitively priced goods, fast and customer-convenient delivery options, practical and innovative payment solutions as well as travel, entertainment and domestic energy services. Cnova N.V. is part of Groupe Casino, a global diversified retailer. Cnova N.V.’s news releases are available at www.cnova.com. Information available on, or accessible through, the sites referenced above is not part of this press release.
This press release may contain regulated information (gereglementeerde informatie) within the meaning of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht) which must be made publicly available pursuant to Dutch and French law. This press release is intended for information purposes only.***
Appendices
Cnova N.V. Consolidated Financial Statements(1) IFRS 16, which replaces IAS 17 and the related interpretations from January 1st, 2019, eliminates the distinction between operating leases and finance leases: it requires recognition of an asset (the right to use the leased item) and a financial liability representative of discounted future rentals for virtually all lease contracts. Operating lease expense is replaced with depreciation expense related to the right of use and interest expense related to the lease liability. Previously, the Group recognized mainly operating lease expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease and recognized assets and liabilities only to the extent that there was a timing difference between actual lease payments and the expense recognized. The Group decided to adopt the full retrospective approach as a transition method on January 1, 2019 and IFRS 16 has been applied retrospectively for each period presented. Detailed impacts of IFRS 16 application are included in Note 1 of the Unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.SG&A: selling, general and administrative expenses.Operating EBIT: operating profit/(loss) before other expenses (strategic and restructuring expenses, litigation expenses and impairment and disposal of assets expenses).Adjusted EPS: net profit/(loss) attributable to equity holders of Cnova before other expenses and the related tax impacts, divided by the weighted average number of outstanding ordinary shares of Cnova during the applicable period.
1 The audit procedures by the statutory auditors are underway. 2018 financial figures were adjusted for IFRS 16 which replaces IAS 17 and the related interpretations from January 1st, 2019, eliminates the distinction between operating leases and finance leases: it requires recognition of an asset (the right to use the leased item) and a financial liability representative of discounted future rentals for virtually all lease contracts. Operating lease expense is replaced with depreciation expense related to the right of use and interest expense related to the lease liability. Previously, the Group recognized mainly operating lease expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease and recognized assets and liabilities only to the extent that there was a timing difference between actual lease payments and the expense recognized. The Group decided to adopt the full retrospective approach as a transition method on January 1, 2019 and IFRS 16 has been applied retrospectively for each period presented.
2 Organic growth: figures include showroom sales and services but exclude (i) technical goods and home category sales made in Casino Group’s
hypermarkets and supermarkets (total exclusion impact of improving by +3.1 pts GMV growth) (ii) 1001Pneus for the first 9 months of 2019 (-1.0 pt)
3 Marketplace GMV shares have been adjusted to take into account coupons and warranties and exclude CDAV subscription fees. 2018 GMV share has therefore been adjusted by +0.1pt for comparison purposes.
4 EBITDA: operating profit/(loss) from ordinary activities (EBIT) adjusted for operating depreciation & amortization and share based payment expenses.
5 Calculated as EBITDA – other cash operating expenses (taxes and exceptional expenses) – change in working capital – net capex – €27.0m of repayment and interest on lease liabilities (IFRS 16)
6 Calculated as current financial debt for €308.1m – cash & cash equivalent for €78.3m – current accounts with other related parties for €8.3m
7 Post-IFRS 16 restatements
8 Latest Médiamétrie Study (November 2019)
9 Subscriber base on December 31, 2019
10 Source: latest Respondi study
11 Latest Médiamétrie Study (November 2019)
12 IFRS 16 impact on EBITDA: +€29.4m in 2019 and +€22.9m in 2018
13 Net financial expense includes €7.0m of interest on lease liability
14 FCF from continuing operating activities = EBITDA €79m (+€31m vs 2018) + change in working capital +€71m (€(65)m vs 2018) – other cash operating expenses and taxes of €(13)m (+€6m vs 2018) – repayment and interest on lease liabilities €(27)m (IFRS 16 impact)
15 Calculated as current financial debt for €308.1m – cash & cash equivalent for €78.3m – current accounts with other related parties for €8.3m
16 According to the latest Respondi study Attachment2020 02 18 Cnova FY19 Results ENG
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