Warpaint London PLC

LSE:W7L

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Well, we are now a minute or so past 5:30. So I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 people who'll join during the course of the event. But I'd just like to welcome you all to this evening [indiscernible] It's after the release of Warpaint London's results for the year ending 31 December 2021, earlier this morning. Eoin, Neil and Sam are going to run you through the presentation. But before that, we're going to have an introductory video to set the scene. But before I play that, I just wanted to run you through a few procedural things.

Obviously, we've got a lot of attendees with us this evening. So unfortunately, it's not going to be possible to go to you individually, ask you to unmute and put your questions directly to the team. So -- we do encourage questions. So please do use the Q&A button on your screen. Type anything in that you'd like answered, and I'll do my level best at the end of the presentation to put those questions to the team.

So without further ado, I'm going to play a short video. A couple of minutes long, just to set the scene, and then we'll move on to the presentation.

[Presentation]

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Well, there you go. Hopefully, that set the scene for you for this evening. I'm now going to hand over the team to run you through the presentation, and then we'll follow that with the Q&A session. So without further ado, I shall start sharing the presentation and hand over to the team.

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Good afternoon. My name is Sam Bazini. I'm CEO and Co-Founder of Warpaint.

[Neil Rodol, executive]

Good afternoon. I'm Neil Rodol, CFO.

[Eoin MacLeod, executive]

Good afternoon, I'm Eoin MacLeod, Managing Director and the other Co-Founder. [indiscernible] like to turn to Slide 4 first of all, about Warpaint for those of you who aren't totally familiar with us, I'll just give you a brief insight into what we're about, what we're doing and where we're going.

So Warpaint is an extremely creative designed cosmetic company. We have several brands, the leading brand being W7, who offer high-quality cosmetics at an affordable price. We have 120 staff worldwide, and we have an approximately 167,000 square feet of offices and warehousing.

Our headquarters is in Iver in Buckinghamshire where we're presenting from today. We also have a significant operation in Silsden in West Yorkshire as well as offices in the U.S.A, Hong Kong and China. We're a very asset-light company. We outsource all our manufacturing. It enables us to have a very competitive pricing, rapid production and it also enables us to move from supplier to supplier as and when needs demand.

Financially-wise, we're very strong. We're profitable. We're cash generative. We have a robust balance sheet. We are now totally debt-free and very importantly, we are dividend paying.

Moving over to Slide 5. 2021 was a landmark year for the group, we received -- we reached revenues of GBP 50 million, as you can see there. And very importantly, our gross profit margin went up to 33.8%. It's actually 2.7% higher year-on-year. And the main point to note is here is we didn't sacrifice any margin just to hit the magical GBP 50 million worth of sales. Adjusted profit for the year was GBP 6.9 million. And we're very pleased to announce that our increased final dividend of 3.5p will take the total dividend payable for the year to 6p.

Moving on to Slide 6, operational highlights for 2021. I'm sure a lot of you are probably aware of our launch [indiscernible] put out of the market. How successful we'll be in Tescos, but just to give it a little bit more perspective, in February 2020, we launched into 54 Tesco stores. Here we are just over 2 years later, and we're in over 1,400 doors with still more growth and more potential to come. In terms of the U.S.A. 18 months ago, we were trialed in 185 below stores with several W7 products. We're now in over 1,200.

We've also put in place 2 new hires in our sales team, there to target certain key customers in the U.S.A., one of which we've successfully managed to land as we put in the notes, we've had a significant Christmas order from CVS stores. Also, our profit in the U.S.A. is up, and our margin is also up. In terms of online sales, as you can see from the numbers there, we've had 159% growth year-on-year. This now represents 2.7% of the total group sales. We've managed to launch in China, our official W7 branded stores on Tmall and we're also working in conjunction with Red, otherwise known as the Red Book, which are the two major platforms and operators in China.

We also have 15 online distributors there. Finally, in line with the group's strategy and plans for the future, we're in discussions with several other major retailers, not only here in the U.K., in the U.S.A. as well as Europe.

[Neil Rodol, executive]

If you turn now to Slide 7, I'll run through some of the financial highlights. Well, the first thing is this is a year we've returned to sales growth, profitability and cash generation. When we came to the market, this is what we said that we would do, and we're back to the that. Group sales overall have increased 24% to GBP 50 million over 2020. And if we look at 2019, sales of GBP 49.3 million in that year. So we're 2% over there. And although it doesn't sound like a lot, you have to remember that Q1 '21 last year, most of our customers were closed during a lockdown in the U.K., Europe and overseas in the rest of the world.

So we're comparing a 9-, 10-month trading period with a full year in 2019. In the U.K., revenue was up 20% to $25 million. If we look again at 2019's number, as a comparative, that was GBP [ 23.7 million ] in that period. So again, 12% up on a year when we had a lockdown in 2021. And that is because of the strategy of trying to get into these new key accounts that are large is really paying dividends and rolling out now.

Internationally, revenue was up 29% against the COVID year, the year before. If I look at 2019, it's a couple of million pounds down, and that is because in the U.S.A., we decided -- we took a strategic decision to stop selling closeout opportunities in the U.S.A., which were high volume, low margin through a third-party warehouse. And that has really helped with the margin, which I'll go on to now.

So profit growth, where is that coming from? Well, the most pleasing thing in these results, as Eoin has already said, is the gross margin, to have our gross margin go up 2.7% in the year, is no mean feat. We had a huge headwind on freight, which has cost us GBP 3 million to bring the same amount of inventory over for sales this year's 2019. And against that, we've managed to grow margin. The freight alone cost us 6 percentage points on the gross margin. Without that, we would have been nearly 40% gross margin for the year.

This is a testament to Sam and Eoin and running the NPD team and engineering product to make sure we hit the margins required for the group. And this extra sales and profit generations fall into the bottom line and grow our EBITDA and reported PBT. And when I look at what's happened here, overheads are pretty fixed for the group. We've got GBP 9 million of overheads, excluding things like exceptionals and share-based payments. And if you look at what's making up that GBP 9 million, most of it is wages and salaries, rents and rates, insurances, professional fees, audit fees. None of these are being affected by the huge 8%, 9% cost of living inflation increase that people are talking about. Yes, they are going up slightly, but not 8% or 9%.

So when I look at the overheads for the year compared to last year as a percentage of sales, we've actually reduced overheads by 3% compared to last year. And adjusted earnings per share, 7.8p, this is getting back to where we were a few years ago. And now that we've got a growth path with a strategy, we'll be heading towards 10p adjusted earnings per share. If we have a look at cash, slightly behind the previous year at GBP 4.1 million, but that really isn't the headline here. There's lots of cash there, and we don't have any debt to pay, but we've invested our cash in inventory.

And I need to talk about why it's called the USP of the business, a unique selling point. We hold a lot of inventory because it's the best return on investment for us using the cash to buy inventory. And as we attack these large grocers and key accounts in the U.K., we need to be able to invest in the inventory. We always said we'd have a full range of color cosmetics, all the time to deliver to our customers. And for the likes of Boots, Tesco, Wilkinson, we have to be fulfilling their orders in the high 90% all the time every week, and that's what we're doing.

So the just-in-time model of a couple of years ago is broken now in the U.K. with the way freights coming out from the Far East and the infrastructure of the haulage internally in the U.K. So we've really taken steps to make sure we're ahead of this and on top of this, delivering to our customers.

And finally, as Eoin has mentioned, given growth, we have a progressive dividend plan. That's what we came to the market with. We've managed to grow dividends every year. In COVID year, we were told to stop paying for a while to reserve cash. We then paid a special to bring it back online. So this year's 6p full is a 6p full year dividend ahead of last year's 5.8p.

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Slide 8, current trading. We've got record sales for the first 3 months of 2022, approximately 60% the same period in 2021. Obviously, 2021 was a COVID year. So what? We should be ahead. But what is also good to know is we're over 30% up on the same period in 2019, which was a non-COVID year. So we're very pleased to be back to growth and profit. We've successfully launched in Boots, 45 of our W7 products in 80 stores. The rollout started in February 2022, and it's just finished. So we haven't really got a full sight of all the data. However, the buyer has told us they're very pleased with the performance and the sales and the brand is performing as expected.

Gross margin continued to improve in the first quarter of 2022. A lot of the -- we're managing to maintain our margin due to a lot of resourcing over the last 18 months. We've gone out and resourced a lot of product to make sure that we're competitive. We've got boots on the ground in China that have gone around and found the factories. And this is helping maintain our margin despite all the headwinds. We also had a small price increase in January, which is also helping to maintain our margin.

And finally, on this slide, we've got 6 new accounts opened in the U.S.A., including CVS, where we've received a significant Christmas order that we'll deliver in 2022. And we're currently in talks -- sorry, in September 2022, and we're currently in talks with other major retailers.

Slide 9. This slide really sums up what we do. W7, our lead brand is very often spoken about on social media of as King of the Dukes. We're not trendsetters, we're followed as a fashion. And our NPD, our new product development department, follow the Prestige brands very, very carefully.

And if anything interesting or innovative is produced by these brands, they look to bring out a W7 version within 3 to 6 months. Not only is the W7 version similar in look, it's also similar in quality. The quality is very, very important. It has to be fit for purpose. [indiscernible] or inspired products we call them, represent 30% of what the business of the rest is core. The rest of our products are red lipstick or red nail polish, black mascara, but these 30% are what create the buzz and the interest around the brand.

And if you look down the slide, you'll see, for example, a Huda Nude Eye Palette, it sells at GBP 56. This is the Prestige version. Produced by a famous influencer called Huda and above that is Socialite, the W7 version. The W7 dupe, very similar in look and in performance. GBP 56 for the Huda, GBP 9.50 for the Socialite. And we used this slide along with samples of our product and the original product when we go and see buyers and they immediately understand the proposition.

And once on shelf, the consumer also understands the proposition, they understand the value. Okay, GBP 56 against GBP 9.50. And they also understand the look they're going to get because they've seen it on social media and in the press.

Page 10, just a slide on some market data that we bought from Mintel. We expect the color cosmetic market in the U.K. to be in excess of GBP 1.7 billion this year. 2/3 of women use color cosmetics frequently, daily or at least some times a week. Most importantly, on this slide, we feel that it's important for our offering, 71%, I think the price of the product is important. And with the current cost of living crisis, we only think that 71% will actually increase. We're an affordable brand, so we're well placed to fill this gap and meet the demand. They also say 60%, I think feel and texture is important. As I've already mentioned, we make a very good product. We're very, very hot on the quality.

Slide 11, the strategy, develop and build group brands. We're constantly reviewing our brands and our products. And in the past, we've had far too many brands and far too many products, and this was leading to huge costs in the business.

You bring out a new product, you need new formulations, you need trademark registrations, design, compliance and particularly with the -- our retro business in the north in Yorkshire, which is a gifting business, they would create a lot of gift under different brands that would run them for a short time, a year, 2 years, and they would discontinue them. And all the development cost would be lost. So now we focus on our 5 core brands: W7, I've already explained is an on-trend brand; Technic is also an on-trend fashion brand, cosmetic brand, but much more generic in its packaging. It appeals to a much wider demographic.

Body collection is for the older persons, a little bit more premium packaging and focusing on skincare. Man'stuff is a toiletry brand for men. And Chit Chat, which is sort of an introduction to cosmetics for under 12s, we call it Where the Fun Begins. And we just focus on these brands. And these brands, because we're focusing on them, the proposition is better. The brands are growing, and we're building brand equity. And all the money we're saving from not producing these other here today gone tomorrow brands are -- the profit is trickling down to the bottom line as well as improving the margin.

Develop and nurture current business, protecting -- this is all about us protecting and growing our original customer base. There's no point acquiring new customers with the likes of Tesco, Wilko and Boots if we allow ourselves to shrink with our existing customers. So we're very, very focused to keep and grow our existing customer base. Growing market share in the U.K. is what we like to call our 75% strategy. Our business grew up in the discount sector with the likes of B&M, TK Maxx, Savers. This only represents about 25% of the cosmetic retail market. This leaves another 75% for us to go after, if you like. The Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Superdrug, Wilko, these type of larger retailers.

In the last 18 months, we've targeted these large retailers. We've landed 3 of them. Tesco, Boots and Wilkos, and we're in advanced talk with others. And what is happening, it's always the hardest to get into the first large retailer, but because we've done that, we're now getting the information from Tesco to Clubcard, and we're using this to state the case with these retailers to prove that our business model will work in their stores.

Grow market share in the U.S.A. and China. U.S. has always been difficult for us. It's taken us a while to get it right, but I think we have now. During 2020, we reviewed our U.S. business. We have too many products, too much stock. The overheads were too high. So we reduced the products we were holding there to our 100 best-selling core items. We also reduced the stock there from 2,000 pallets to 500 pallets. When you're storing in third-party logistics, you need to keep your stock as low as possible.

And we just top up from either the U.K. and China. And all these savings has helped us be profitable in the U.S. last year as well as helping us with the margin across the business. We also took on 2 new hires in the back end of 2021, resulting in 6 new accounts being opened as we already mentioned, including CVS. And we are in ongoing discussions with other large retailers in the U.S.

China, it's been a little bit stop start. We'd find distributors over the last few years. We'd worked with them for 6 months, and they want more cheaper prices, they'd want marketing costs and it would all unravel.

So in the end, we decided we will take control of our sales, and we'll sell directly to consumers online. We've launched our stores online stores, Tmall and Red, which is the equivalent of Amazon in China. As I said, we've got Boots on the ground in China. We register our products. We've got our responsible person that make sure we comply with all the local laws. We shipped to a fulfillment house, and we use a customer service company to promote the brand using influencers and KOL, key opinion leaders, and they do online streaming.

The business -- so the online business is still small, but it's growing month-on-month, and we believe in the next sort of 12 to 18 months, this will make us -- the sales in China will make a significant contribution to the Warpaint business.

Develop the online and e-commerce strategy. We are 159% up 2021 against 2020, and this momentum is carried on into the first quarter of 2022. Our online sales were up 29% for the first quarter. In the U.S., we use Amazon to supply that online market. We feel that we've got a cheap product. And therefore, we've got an affordable product, it's much better for them to ship our brands.

They operate something called Small & Light, and we couldn't compete with their distribution costs. So for us, it's the best option. And we're often asked, can you make a profit out of Amazon? We do make a profit. We make about net-net margin of about 14%, which is in line with the rest of the business. So for us, it's something that works. In the U.K., we run our website as well as putting our products on Amazon. We have a loyalty program for our own website. It's a bit like a NexsCard or a Tesco Clubcard. People buy product from us, they get points, and they can redeem them on future sales.

And to promote our brands, we use influencers, and we use platforms like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. Again, we're very, very careful to keep this profitable. We don't -- a lot of people can burn a lot of cash promoting online sales, and it turns out it's not profitable. We watch very carefully what we do, and all our online business is profitable.

Environment and sustainability. ESG, it's a very hot topic at the moment. It's very important to our customers, consumers and investors. So therefore, it needs to be important to us, and it is. There's lots of things we're doing, there's full details in our account. And on the website, I'll just run a few of the things that we're doing.

Less air travel, virtual trade shows. We've removed all plastics from our gifting, and we're using -- removing plastics from all our all-year-round products where possible. We intend to be paraben-free and vegan friendly within the next 12 to 18 months. We've put electric charging points in our car parks, and we allow staff to charge their cars free of charge to help encourage them to go out and buy electric cars. Most importantly, we've taken on a gentleman called Kevin Laughton, who's a packing technologist to make sure we apply with all the legislation.

There's a lot of packaging taxes and legislations coming into play in the next 3 to 5 years, and we want to make sure we comply. We do believe that Kevin will actually save us costs by pointing us in the right direction. ESG is a moving target. We're continuingly reviewing and updating our policies.

Finally, the summary, strong year in 2021 with sales and profits exceeding 2019 pre-pandemic levels. We've got a focused strategy in place that is delivering and will deliver growth into the likes of Tesco, Wilko and Boots. 6 new accounts opened in America, including CVS. E-commerce revenues significantly increased and increasing both here -- both in the U.K. and the U.S.

And we've just opened up our store in China. Strong Q1 2022, 60% up on the same period last year and most notably, 30% in the first quarter of 2019, which was a pre-COVID year. And finally, the most compelling reason to invest with Warpaint, we're part of a small elite group of AIM-listed companies that are profitable. We have a strong balance sheet, we're dividend paying, cash generative. And we've had absolutely no debt.

Thank you.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Well, thanks very much, Sam, Eoin and Neil for the presentation. I have had a few questions submitted. I must admit the presentation did answer quite a few of the ones that had already been sent to me ahead of time. But we would encourage you to ask any questions that you may have. So please do use the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen, type in anything. And as I say, I will put it to the team.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

But the first question I've had, you've spent quite a lot of time in the presentation talking about it. But the question I want to understand, you've managed to grow the margin last year when many companies have come under significant margin pressure. Can you just talk in a little bit more detail about how you've maintained and grown that margin? Where is it coming from? Is it coming from overhead savings? Is it coming from increased pricing? What are the key drivers?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

It -- really come from resourcing. If we were making something for $0.70, we went out and resourced it at $0.40. It only sounds like sales by 20%. But as a percentage, it's high. We haven't been able to get on everything. Some things we are -- where we are, we wanted to move our foundation supplier. We couldn't because we didn't get the quality. But last year, there were no price increases. It is purely from resourcing product. I don't know if -- elaborate...

[Neil Rodol, executive]

There are quite a few moving parts and variables and we can throw quite a few things into the pot here. So for instance, America, we took the strategic decision during the COVID years to stop selling low-margin closeout in America, reduced sales by GBP 2 million in that area, but the margin has actually come up to the group level that we expect across the whole group. It's a small amount of turnover by comparison to GBP 50 million, but it's -- nevertheless, it adds the online sales, again, the gross margin we achieved on online sales and the bottom line margin, as Sam said, 12%, 13% is in line with the other brands of the group.

We're focusing on the sales of the group brands more than the closeout and white label goods. They generate a better margin. So there's lots of different things going into that area. And then above all, I think the new product development, which is where products are engineered to meet the margin by then the products that came in into 2021, we knew what the freight rates were, we could engineer the margin for product that has not been in the marketplace before. It's very difficult for a product that already exists at a set price point. So there were lots of clever things that were done in the year.

And also the dollar average in 2020, the dollar average rate for us was about $1.32. In 2021 it's about $1.35, a slight help there on the dollar buying power. So there were subtle little things all falling into the pot and delivering that growth in margin. And as I said, without the freight GBP 3 million actually we paid for freight in 2021 to get the goods across the water, we would have had a margin near 40% for the full year.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. You mentioned sourcing. And the questioner understands that you're purchasing the majority of your product from China. Have you got any concerns over supply at the moment, particularly given the increasing number of coronavirus-related lockdowns that appear to be in China?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

At the moment, not. I mean we get daily updates because we've got people in China and Hong Kong. So at the moment, we haven't because we're well stocked up. We've put -- we've got orders in the pipeline, we've got orders on the water. We're also finding that although there are these lockdowns, they're quite short-lived. They're sort of a week, they can be 3 days, they can be 10 days. I mean, at the moment, we haven't got any concerns. I mean, obviously, should the Chinese decide to lock down for 2, 3 months, then all bets are off, but we think that's completely unlikely.

So no, we're well stocked. We're not -- as Neil mentioned before, we're not living hand to mouth. We make sure we've got plenty of stock on the floor. Whereas we used to order 3 months in advance, we're ordering 5 months in advance. So we're taking account of the delays.

[Eoin MacLeod, executive]

Also just -- sorry, just to add to that, we've got in excess of 20 different suppliers in loads of different provinces. So as much as some are being locked down, it's not affecting all of them. But as Samuel mentioned, obviously, if the Chinese decide to shut up shop then, obviously, it's a different question.

[Neil Rodol, executive]

And I was going to add, we also have supply base in Taiwan. There are a couple of European suppliers for a couple of products, not the vast majority, though. So at the moment, we're not seeing anything. And we're carrying about 7 months stock. I know it sounds like a lot, but we're expecting growth, and we're holding stock. So we -- the plan is to cover all bases for disruption, and that's what we're trying to do. We're lucky we have the cash generation to invest in the inventory to be ready for this.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Thank you. Moving to another topic. The questioner that says, obviously, with Tesco's rollout it's been a great success. You appear to be in the majority of their stores. Is there much more room for growth for Tescos? Or is it growth with other retailers in the U.K.?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

There is a lot of growth to come from Tesco. So we are in the majority of their stores in various guises. But -- so we're in 600 of their Express stores with a very, very small offering. We've now got some more SKUs going in there adding on to that. With regard to their large stores, although we're in 700 of the larger Tesco stores, we're only in 150 of them with our cosmetic range. And when I say our cosmetics range, those big illuminated cabinets you've seen, those floor stands. So there's still room to go into another 300, 400 stores.

The other stores, we've sort of got 16 SKUs of hair bands and nail glue and sort of accessory items. So there is a lot of room for growth, at least -- I would have thought, at least double, if not more.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. Thank you. And a related question, the questioner asks about the cost of entering new store groups. Is there a significant capital expenditure on stands, store furniture ahead of rolling out?

[Neil Rodol, executive]

I'll answer that. So in the last 2 years, we've spent GBP 1.2 million on stands and furniture going into these big key retailers. And we take quite an aggressive policy on writing them write them off straight line over 3 years, even though our fixtures and fitting is 5 years straight line. So if you take Tescos, we've nearly finished the second year and we're still in Tesco. So there is CapEx expenditure. It was actually GBP 800,000 in 2020 and GBP 580,000 in '21. And luckily, we are cash-generative asset light. We've got the cash to invest in that problem. And we do wish that problem would come because we can invest in the furniture and go into more big retailers.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. Thank you. You mentioned cash and cash generation. A questioner here asks you've obviously undertaken acquisition in the past, would you be looking at any further acquisitions?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Not at the moment. I mean, if something came along and dropped on our lap that was compelling, but we feel we've got so much growth potential growth within the business and the brands that we've got -- if you listen to the strategy, we're in Tesco. We're only in 80 Boots. There's 2,000 Boots. There's 1,800 Superdrugs. I don't know how many Sainsbury's or Morrisons there are. So there's plenty of room for growth on all our brands. And the same certainly goes for the U.S., I mean in the U.S., we're really just scratching the surface, but we hope this year is going to be a year of significant progress there.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. And obviously, the balance of sales at the moment is roughly 50% in the U.K. and 50% elsewhere. Can we expect that balance to be roughly the same, i.e., growth in both? Or are there new territories, other areas internationally you would like to go into?

[Neil Rodol, executive]

I was just thinking the big opportunity is in America because of the power of the huge retailers there. So if one or two of those come on board, and we're working very hard to do that. The strategy is already working with the new sales team there. An order -- we've had to announce the significant Christmas order with a retailer there. So it could accelerate the U.S.A. very quickly. It's not happening yet, but we're trying our hardest to make it happen. But we're also trying in the U.K. And there's -- our biggest client, has been disclosed in -- the biggest customer rather is disclosed as a Danish store group. They're across Europe, and they're 10% of the business this year. Last year, they weren't the biggest client.

And the year before that, there was a different customer that was the biggest client. We always seem to have one around 10%, and it seems to be changing. And that was -- so we've had a couple of Europeans, we've had Australia, we might have an American client that's the biggest. So it is a changing tapestry, but we are attacking in all those key areas.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

And that's geographically, product-wise, you talk about narrowing down the focus on the brands. Are there any sort of gaps in your offering? Any new things that you feel you need to offer to be a compelling proposition for customers?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Not really. I think we're pretty well covered. I mean, we are an affordable business. So the only thing we're probably lacking is a more premium or prestige product, which is not something that we want to do, it becomes a whole different business model. The product margin is great, but then you have to spend an awful lot of money promoting and marketing the brand to get people to buy at that high price. So we feel we are pretty well covered with what we're doing in the area we're in.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. We're running towards the end of the questions that people have submitted. So if we have got a few minutes left. So if you've got anything else, please do get it in quickly. But one of the final questions that's related to what you just said. Obviously, economic times are not that easy at the moment. We've got a bit of a cost of living crisis. Dare I say, are you actually seeing benefits from that and people moving to the group's brands from others? And do bad economic times mean good times for Warpaint?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

No. We're -- as I've mentioned earlier, we're 30% up in the first quarter against [indiscernible] 2019. So I would like to think that's obviously the growth we've had, but it certainly won't do us any harm. I mean, Eoin and I have been in the cosmetic business for nearly 40 years. We started off in the Closeout, selling other people's products to market traders and Pound Land and those type of people. And the harder things got, the better we did. It was always like that. So I mean, we've always sell-through. We've always made a profit.

But when things get tough, you're absolutely right. People go hunting for a bargain. So yes, we think this is our time.

[Eoin MacLeod, executive]

We're in the right place in the right position.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. All right. Well, we've -- that would have been a good one to end on. But I've had a couple more just people throwing questions in. I've got one on ESG. And what you're doing to comply with net-zero targets. Are you going to be talking about that in the future?

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Yes. We certainly are. To be honest, I'm no expert on ESG, and the stuff we've been doing up to now is all very, very -- it's obvious stuff, removing plastics and things like that. But we are looking at that, how we reach net zero. And really, this -- the guy Kevin Laughton who's just joined us, he's only been with us for 4 weeks. We've been busy obviously preparing for -- to go out on our finals haven't had a chance to go and see him, but he is going to help us put in place all the things that we need to do and make our sort of ESG much more comprehensive. And that's something he will help us with.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Okay. Thank you. Well, that has brought the end of the questions. I think we're nearly at the sort of 45 minutes that were expected for this evening's event. So if there aren't any more questions, I want to thank everybody for attending this evening. If you do think of anything after the event, please don't hesitate to get in contact with me. My name is Tim Metcalfe. You'll find my contact details at the bottom of all the company's announcements. If you've got any questions, e-mail, call and we'll endeavor to get those answered. So thank you very much for attending this evening. And thank you very much, Sam, Eoin and Neil for the presentation. And [indiscernible]

[Samuel Bazini, executive]

Thank you very much.

[Neil Rodol, executive]

Thank you.

[Tim Metcalfe, executive]

Thank you.