Takeaways from the CMD
Embellence spent time elaborating on its brands' strengths during the CMD. The deep-dive into the hospitality market by Wall & Decó's new (as of March) CCO was especially promising, we believe. Mr. Lugano pointed out that hanging wallpaper is minimally disruptive to e.g. a hotel, a key advantage over other methods of redecorating (done every 3-5 years in high-end hotels). Hospitality is a key growth driver from here, together with DTC, the latter of which could help boost the gross margin (and thus also the EBITA margin). Despite the communicated increased investments into product development in current brands, we expect the SG&A ratio to remain at current levels around 42%, as we understand it to reflect changing priorities rather than new hiring.