Natuzzi S.p.A. Q3 2025 Earnings Call - Strategic Restructuring and Margin Improvement Amid Weak Consumer Traffic

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Natuzzi S.p.A. third quarter 2025 financial results webcast. As a reminder, anyone who would like to dial in, please dial plus four. I’m sorry, plus one, four, one, two, seven, one, seven, nine, six, three, three, then passcode three nine, two five, two one, zero three pound. Once again, if you’d like to be dialed in over the phone, in addition to the link already provided to join via video, please dial plus one, four, one, two, seven, one, seven, nine, six, three, three, then passcode three nine, two five, two one, zero three pound. At this time, all participants are in listening-only mode. Following the introduction, we’ll conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time to queue up for questions.

Joining us on today’s call are Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, and Piero Direnzo, Investor Relations. As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded. It’s now my pleasure to turn the call over to Piero. Please go ahead.

Piero Direnzo, Investor Relations, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you very much, Kevin, and good day to everyone. Thank you for joining the Natuzzi’s conference call for the 2025 third quarter financial results. After a brief introduction, we will give room for the Q&A session. Before proceeding, we would like to advise our listeners that our discussion today could contain certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements under the United States Securities Laws. Obviously, actual results might differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements because of risks and uncertainties that can affect our results of operations and financial condition. Please refer to our most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC for a complete review of those risks. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking matters discussed during this call. And now, I would like to turn the call over to the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Please, Mr. Natuzzi.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking part in this quarterly call. In addition to what already communicated in our press release, I would like to add some more details and remarks. While the geopolitical situation has not changed and, in some respect, is worsening as a result, consumer confidence remains weak. Despite our investment in marketing, foot traffic in our store, particularly in the United States and Europe, continues to lag, while in some cases we are seeing improvement in conversion rates. These gains are not sufficient to offset the decline in overall traffic. In spite of the current challenging business environment, we have improved our gross margin this quarter, surpassing the levels recorded in the first two quarters of the year. This achievement was made possible by a more favorable sales mix.

In fact, sales of Natuzzi Italia, which delivered higher margin than other product lines, grew by 18% compared to the third quarter of last year, while sales of unbranded products, which are not core to our business, decreased by 20%. We intended to continue in this direction, supporting branded sales that then offer higher margin. The closing of the Shanghai factory last year enabled us to realize a cost saving on industrial operation in China. However, it is important to note that improvements in margin remain limited by labor costs in Italy, following the reshoring process from China to Italy of the Natuzzi Editions production from the North America market, completed in the second half of 2024. Commercial and administrative costs deserve a separate mention, while wages and transportation expenses decreased this quarter. Overall, SG&A costs remain high relative to our current revenue base.

Therefore, both myself and the management team remain committed to support the sales while reducing fixed costs at the group level. We certainly continue our discussion with the Italian government, which has recognized the company as an enterprise of strategic relevance for the country. I would like to inform you that next Monday, I will personally be in Rome at the relevant ministry to seek major aid aimed to improve quality, reducing transformation costs at our Italian factory, and thereby increasing production efficiency. Lastly, we continue to invest time and resources in participating in international trade events, as well as the in-store visual merchandising and external architecture design, in order to offer customers an engaging and compelling shopping experience.

Recently, we were in India, and just yesterday, we completed a commercial roadshow in China, meeting with the leading architecture firms to develop a project similar to the Natuzzi Harmony Residences presented in Dubai and Jerusalem. I’m sorry, we are really doing not our best, more than that, really to satisfy the expectation of our shareholder and our stakeholder, and we will continue to do so, so if there are any questions, I would be pleased to answer together with Carlo, our CFO. Thank you. Thank you very much for listening to me.

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: Now, before we jump into the question-and-answer session, if you’d like to be placed into question queue, please use the ask a question feature on your screen. Once again, if you’d like to ask a question at this time, please use the ask a question feature on your screen. One moment, please, while we pull up our questions. Our first question today is coming from David Cannon. Your line is now live. Please proceed, David.

David Cannon, Analyst: Are you guys able to hear me?

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: Yes, please.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Oh, yes.

David Cannon, Analyst: Okay. Okay. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one pertains to your meeting next Monday in Rome with the government. And if you could give us some sense as to the outcome, maybe sometimes we talk in terms of the bear case scenario, the moderate, reasonable scenario, and then the bull case. What do you expect to come of the meeting? And then on a go-forward basis, what our cost structure will look like given the concessions that we hope to get from labor and so forth?

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: We are working on restructuring the plan, and one of the main actions that we need to do for that is to rationalize our factory here in Italy. In Italy, we have six factories and one logistics center. We plan to reduce the production in three factories instead of six. In order to do that, we need to move people from one city to another city, but in the same region. We are in the region where the plants are not so far away one from the other. But we need to move people from one factory to another factory, and that requires, let’s say, an agreement from the government and the union also to let us do that. Okay? That’s one. Number two, as everyone knows, we have today in Italy 1,350 workers, but we need 800, 750, 800 people.

The other people, we need to, I don’t know exactly the English word, but we need to use some help from the government to provide to use 800 people instead of 1,350. We call Cassa integrazione in Italian. Carlo, can you help me? It’s the appropriate word, probably.

David Cannon, Analyst: I start from here. So, David, if I can add on top of Mr. Natuzzi, we need two different levels of measures, what is called cassa integrazione, right, to keep on going. But I will be, let’s say, more strategic in this situation. Our target is to have, let’s say, a, when you talk about timeframe, it’s to have a negotiation based on some terms that need to be deployed within next year, and there is a more medium-term plan to achieve what we discussed last time in terms of financial sustainability. So it’s a double-layered negotiation. I see. And is your goal, assuming you can get these concessions and right-size the workforce, do you anticipate at the current levels of revenue that we would actually be profitable and stop burning cash? Because obviously, it’s unsustainable to continue burning cash.

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Let’s say that the target is always to be profitable around, let’s say, what we discussed also in the other call, EUR 28-29 million per month. So it means that’s the target. So always going through some different tools. Because here we are discussing about the measures that involve the workforce. Then we are talking about marginality. That means it implies review of the price list when our strategic positioning allows this. And then also to look into our retail network, rationalizing it. So through all these different measures, David, with those numbers that I mentioned before in terms of monthly turnover, we will not burn cash, but we will create positive cash flow.

David Cannon, Analyst: Okay, and as I indicated to you, on a go-forward basis, if you can achieve these concessions and we can achieve profitability, we would certainly be interested in putting more money in, perhaps through a pipe transaction to support the company and help you grow and thrive well into the future. We believe in the brand, and we believe there’s a lot of potential given the right conditions, so thank you for that. I’ll go back. I’ll go back and thank you.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Consumer confidence will make the difference, David. I mean, because unlikely the traffic is reducing, unbelievable. I mean, unlikely consumers are not getting in the store despite the marketing investment that we are doing and the new product, wonderful new product. Unlikely, I mean, but anyway, despite that, despite the consumer confidence, we cannot guarantee what will happen from the geopolitical situation and give, again, confidence to the consumer that the life will improve. We are certainly committed to work on cost reduction, no question about. We should reduce costs, and we are very much, and we should improve the margin also, so improve the margin by our price list because our brand has good recognition. We should reduce the cost, improve margin, and improve the sales a little bit if, again, the consumer confidence, but we are confident that we can achieve better sales next year compared with 2025.

Consequently, if we are, I mean, if we are lucky and capable to achieve that, we will deliver good profit to our shareholders. That’s our challenge, certainly.

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: As a reminder, if you’d like to ask a question today, please use the ask a question feature on your screen. Once again, if you do have any questions today, please use the ask a question feature on your screen. One moment, please, while we pull up for further questions. We’re just standing by to see if anybody has any questions. We do have a follow-up from David. Your line is now live, sir. David Cannon, your line is now live.

David Cannon, Analyst: Okay. Thank you again. So if you could give us an update on the commercial division that PJ has been spearheading, there are companies that exclusively in that sector, the commercial sector, that are doing more revenues than us as a combined entity, meaning $500 million. So I see this as a huge opportunity, and I think we have the right product and the brand to succeed there. Can you give me a sense as to the progress that we’ve made since last quarter? And you know I’m sure you see the pipeline of opportunities that you’re bidding on. How big of an opportunity do you think this could be next year, 2026?

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: To be honest, it’s not easy to forecast, but I can tell you that we are making a huge investment in order to increase the trade contract business. Certainly, we signed, I mean, last November, no, last November, November 2024, we launched the first Natuzzi Harmony Residences. We designed the building with 50 apartments. We designed the furniture, everything. People are purchasing Natuzzi apartments in Dubai. We already are in the process to sign the second contract with the same dealer, the same developer in Dubai, and we signed another contract already in Jerusalem, and we designed the building, we designed the apartment, we designed common parts, everything. Again, Natuzzi Residences proves the value of the Natuzzi brand, okay? They are paying just royalty, $1.2-$1.3 million just to use the name. And then, obviously, they are going to pay the furniture, the cost of the furniture.

Now, just because we believe in this new business to leverage our brand awareness, this year we attended an exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an exhibition in Dubai this year, 2025. Two times in Mumbai, in India, September and November. Last December, a few weeks ago, we were in Miami. Miami Design Week, another huge event to meet architects, designers, and then we just finished last week. My son has done a roadshow in China for one week, meeting the biggest firm, architectural firm, to engage them and do a project for them. There is a long list of projects that we are discussing.

David Cannon, Analyst: Okay. I mean, I see that you’re working very hard, and I appreciate that. But if you can give us some sense as to the magnitude of the opportunity, I’m sure you have an internal goal for 2026. Again, kind of the bear case, the base case, and the bull case. Can you give us a sense as to what that opportunity is?

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: David, thank you very much for your question, first of all, because that allows us to give you a more color about what we are doing. So we are treating the contract trade division as a startup, right? Because in this phase, as Mr. Natuzzi was mentioning, we are doing a lot of bidding, right? But we don’t have yet statistics on the success rate, okay? Because we are, let’s say, providing and exposing our capabilities in a lot of roadshows, and we are receiving a lot of positive feedback from the market. And now we are going into the bidding phase that is taking us sometimes to understand the real potential. In order to play conservative for 2026, we do not have a very aggressive plan because we are considering it as a cherry on the cake on our numbers.

So the magnitude of the business that we forecast for 2026, it will be between EUR 5 million and EUR 10 million. But then it’s an exponential business once you start deploying all the projects. So just to be fair, it’s a cherry on the cake. We are not very aggressive on that. Just to close the topic. I hope I did answer to your question.

David Cannon, Analyst: Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And then I guess one more question. You had implied in the prepared remarks in the press release that you’re in the final rounds of the CEO selection, if I’m interpreting correctly. Any additional color you can give there? How many candidates would you say it’s been narrowed down to? Is it two? Is it five? Is it 10? And what do you think the timeframe is for a decision to be made?

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: The decision will be made based on the lack of meeting the appropriate person to cover the position. I’m using my weekend time because I’m likely to interview people during the working day. It’s very difficult. So I’m using Saturday and Sunday interviewing people. And to be honest, absolutely, we are going forward. We hope to give good news in a very short period of time.

David Cannon, Analyst: Okay. Okay. That’s really all I have. I’d like to wish you and your team a wonderful holiday and Merry Christmas. I know that you have the real San Nicola is right there in Bari, so I hope he brings you good gifts.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Yeah. Thank you very much. Happy holidays. Thank you very much.

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you. No other question?

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: At this time, it appears there are no further questions. I’m going to turn the floor back over to management for any further closing comments.

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: So Mr. Natuzzi, non ci sono altre domande. Possiamo.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Okay. We can.

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Okay. So thank you very much. If there is no other further question, we are always available to be reached out for any clarification you may need on our results and performance also in the next days. So thank you very much for your kind attention from all of us.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you.

Carlo Silvestri, Chief Financial Officer, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Grazie tante. Grazie mille. Thank you very much again for everyone.

Pasquale Natuzzi, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A.: Thank you. Bye.

David Cannon, Analyst: Thank you.

Kevin, Conference Call Operator: All right. That concludes today’s webcast. You may just connect your lines and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.