Societe BIC SA

PAR:BB

Earnings Call Transcript 2018-Q3

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Third Quarter 2018 Results of BIC Conference Call. I now hand over to Mrs. Sophie Palliez. Madame, please go ahead.

[Sophie Palliez-Capian]

Thank you. So good morning, and good afternoon for those in Europe. Welcome to Q3 9 Months BIC Results Presentation. This call will be hosted by Gonzalve Bich, Chief Executive Officer; and Jim DiPietro, Chief Financial Officer. We will have a short presentation and then go through the usual Q&A session. Let me hand over to Gonzalve.

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Thank you, Sophie. Good morning, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin with a summary of our third quarter and 9 months 2018 results, then I'll hand it over to Jim to take you through our consolidated results and financial performance. Finally, I'll conclude by going through our Q4 trends and full year outlook.First and foremost, in line with our expectations, we delivered solid results in the third quarter across our 3 categories, as we see encouraging signs from impactful actions and start to get our teams aligned. From a macro perspective, our businesses remain exposed to numerous headwinds, including raw material price increases, transportation strikes in both Brazil and India, import issues in the Middle East and Africa, not to mention this week's upcoming Brazilian elections.In this context, third quarter Stationery net sales grew by 6.8%, with outstanding performance in e-commerce both in the United States and Europe. Back-to-school sellout was good. We gained share in the U.K., the U.S. and Mexico and delivered an excellent performance in France for the 15th consecutive year. Lighters third quarter net sales increased 5.8%, driven by expanded distribution in Mexico and the positive impact of the April price increase in the United States. Our Shaver business grew 4.1% in the third quarter despite overall market softness, as we saw positive impact from new product launches in Europe. In line with our full year objectives, we continue to invest in our operations.Before walking you through our results in more detail, let me share a few things on my mind. As I've mentioned, our trading environment is changing quickly, impacting us across our business. First, our historical mass production model is being challenged by rising input costs, including raw materials. If we want to continue to deliver the highest quality at the lowest unit cost, we must enhance our industrial processes, including purchasing, production and supply chain. Next, we have to be find a way to become the disruptor we were in 1950 when we launched the BIC Cristal; in 1973, when we launched our first pocket lighter; and in 1975, when we invented the one-piece shaver. Third, with e-commerce expanding at a relentless pace, a revolution is underway in our distribution channels. Online players continue to grow quickly, and our historical customers are also having to reinvent their business models. We will therefore adapt our route to market to become a genuine omni-channel specialist.Lastly, consumers are more diverse and sophisticated. The decision journey of today's consumer is complex. Their relationship with brands differs from that of previous generations and is something we must address proactively to maintain our leading consumer brand. This is not only about marketing channels. This is about the essence of our brand.To address these challenges and adapt to this new normal, we have to be more integrated, more innovative, more consumer-centric, and above all, more agile. This is a short-term prerequisite to continue to deliver long-term growth, sustained profitability and healthy cash generation. Decisions have to be made now, not tomorrow, and we have begun to execute. At the end of August, we announced the acquisition of our historical Kenyan partner, inclusive of the manufacturing facility and distribution assets, therefore strengthening our footprint in Africa for a more efficient route to market. Last week, we filed an infringement complaint with the European Commission for lack of surveillance of lighter safety compliance in both France and Germany. Although repeatedly notified by BIC over the last 10 years, these countries have failed to take the appropriate actions that would prevent the marketing of noncompliant lighters to consumers. While this issue has been resolved in many countries around the world, the lack of effective market surveillance in Europe poses a real threat to consumer safety. We've also started to enhance our operational efficiency. In January, we reorganized our operations in Asia to better address our challenges and opportunities in this region. In July, we implemented several effective changes in our U.S. lighter facility. And in early 2019, we'll inaugurate our new Stationery facility in Gujarat in India.To support these decisions, we're making important new hires and appointments in critical positions, and we're actively strengthening our e-commerce capabilities. For the balance of the year, we remain committed to our full year outlook as we continue to invest in growth opportunities and drive operational effectiveness.A few comments now on our third quarter 9 months financial performance. 9 months net sales were up 0.3% on a comparative basis, reaching EUR 1,436.8 million. Normalized IFO margin was 18.4%, down 1.1 points versus prior year, while normalized EPS group share decreased 3.4%, to EUR 4.3.In the third quarter, net sales were up 5.2% on a comparative basis, while Normalized IFO margin was 16.1%, down 1.5 points versus prior year. Our net cash position at the end of September was EUR 144.8 million. Later, Jim will take us through our consolidated figures in more detail.We'll now take a closer look at our 3 categories. Beginning with Stationery, our 9 months net sales increased 2%, and our third quarter net sales increased 6.8% on a comparative basis. Despite a soft market in Europe, 9 months net sales were up low single-digits, with a strong back-to-school sellout. In France, for the 15th consecutive year, BIC gained share, thanks to the launch -- the successful launch of BIC Gel-ocity Illusion Pen. In the U.K., the continued success of the BIC 4-Color enabled us to gain significant share. Stationery performance in Southern Europe was also a highlight, as we expanded distribution and delivered strongly during back-to-school, notably in Spain.In North America, 9 months net sales increased low single-digit. E-commerce performance was a high point, where sales grew 39% versus the same period last year. Growth was propelled by a good back-to-school season, along with ongoing success of the BIC Gel-ocity Quick Dry Pen. In Latin America, our 9 months net sales increased mid-single digits, boosted by solid performance in Mexico. Our ballpen and coloring segments helped us outperform the highly competitive Mexican markets during the back-to-school season.In India, Cello's 9 months domestic sales grew low single digits on a comparative basis. Cello's portfolio streamlining strategy was offset by new product launches in the third quarter, such as the Cello One Pen. Our market share increased in the gel segment, consistent with our strategy to focus on our added-value products.Stationery's 9 months Normalized IFO margin was driven by cost efficiency and lower brand support, which offset increasing raw material costs.Now let's shift to Lighters, where 9 months net sales were flat while the third quarter's net sales were up 5.8%, both on a comparative basis. In Europe, distribution gains in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, drove the low single-digit increase in 9 months net sales. In Western Europe, performance continued to be impacted by the adjustment in route to market, notably with some distributors in France.North America 9 months net sales increased slightly. In the third quarter especially, we benefited from the impacts of the price increase. BIC outperformed a declining[Technical Difficulty]nonrefillable pocket lighter market in the U.S., down 0.3% in value year-to-date ending September, gaining 0.3 points thanks to additional distribution gains.In Latin America, 9 months net sales decreased low single digits. In Brazil, our performance continued to be negatively impacted by the transportation strike in May, in addition to the inventory adjustments by customers. However, in the third quarter, our efforts drove low single-digit growth in Brazil, thanks to strong consumer demand for our products.Mexico performance was solid, fueled by ongoing distribution gains, particularly in the third quarter in convenience stores. Lighters 9 months normalized IFO margin reflected unfavorable fixed-cost absorption as well as an increase in raw materials and brand support.Lastly, in Shavers, 9 months net sales decreased 0.9%, while our third quarter net sales increased 4.1%, both on a comparative basis. In Europe, our 9 months net sales increased low single digits, mainly driven by growth in Eastern Europe. In Russia, specifically, BIC outperformed the one-piece market, thanks to ongoing distribution gains and continued momentum for the BIC Flex 3 Hybrid. Also in Russia, we launched our new product, the BIC Flex 5 Hybrid, during the third quarter. In Western and Southern Europe, the one-piece market declined -- continued to decline, by 2.6% in value year-to-date September. That said, in France, BIC regained market share, thanks to female disposable growth driven by Miss Soleil which performed particularly well during the summer season. In the U.K., BIC also regained market share, thanks to both male and female product lines.North America 9 months net sales were relatively flat, as the U.S. one-piece market declined 4% in value year-to-date September, with continued competitive pressure on price and promotion. As a result, BIC was down 0.8 points due to having fewer promotional displays. Our third quarter net sales increased, thanks to effective changes in brand support strategy and the continued success of our new products: BIC Soleil Balance, BIC Flex 3 Hybrid and BIC Soleil Bella Click. In Latin America, 9 months net sales were stable. In Brazil, BIC outperformed the declining one-piece market, gaining 2.4 points in value on a year-to-date August basis, to reach 21.2% market share in value. This was driven by distribution expansion and product mix, with trade-up to 2 and 3 blades both on male, with BIC Comfort 3 and BIC Flex 3, and on female, with BIC Soleil franchise. In Mexico, the one-piece market grew 5.8% in value, also on a year-to-date August basis, and BIC continued to perform -- outperform the market, gaining 0.3 points in value.Shavers 9 months normalized IFO margin was impacted by lower sales performance and an increase in cost of production, partially offset by lower brand support versus last year.I'll now turn it over to Jim to take you through our consolidated results.

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

Thank you, Gonzalve. I will begin by reviewing the net sales evolution for both the third quarter and the 9 months for 2018. Regarding the third quarter, on an as-reported basis, third quarter net sales were up 1.2% versus last year. On a comparative basis, our net sales were up 5.2%. There was an unfavorable impact of currency fluctuations of 3.9%, mainly due to the changes with the Brazilian real.For the 9 months, net sales totaled EUR 1,436.8 million, down 6.9% as reported and 0.3% on a comparative basis. There was an unfavorable impact of currency fluctuations of 6.3%, which was mainly due to the U.S. dollar and the Brazilian real.On Slide 8, we see the summarized results for 9 months 2018 compared to last year. Gross profit margin was 52.3%, compared to 51.9% in 2017. In the 9 months, normalized IFO margin was EUR 265 million compared to EUR 301.4 million in 2017, with the normalized margin this year at 18.4%, compared to last year at 19.5%.In reviewing the key components of the change of normalized IFO margin versus last year for both the third quarter and 9 months. Starting with the third quarter, we see cost of production was unfavorable by 0.7 points versus last year. As we experienced in the first half, our third quarter cost of production was negatively impacted by raw material costs, absorption and depreciation. As expected, unlike the first half, the third quarter was not fully offset by favorable variances. Brand support was lower by 0.8 points in the third quarter. All brand support investments were lower, due to timing of advertising and brand support campaigns which will be occurring in the fourth quarter of this year. Operating expenses were higher by 1.6 points versus the third quarter of 2017.Looking at the 9 months of 2018, we see cost of production with favorable 0.4 points versus a year ago. This favorable cost of production was despite an increase in raw materials and depreciation. The negative impacts of raw materials, absorption, depreciation became more significant in the third quarter, which had a less favorable offset. Total brand support investments were slightly lower by 0.1 points. We also continued to increase operating expenses as expected, with an increase of 1.6 points versus 9 months of 2017.To conclude, as we expected in the third quarter, cost of production was no longer offset by favorable impacts from manufacturing variances and other costs. We would expect this trend to continue in the fourth quarter of this year.Slide 10 shows the Normalized IFO margin to net income for the 9 months of 2018. Income before tax was EUR 204.3 million compared to EUR 275.9 million last year. Net finance revenue was EUR 8 million in the 9 months 2018. The 9 month 2018 amount was positively impacted in the second quarter by the fair value adjustments of financial assets denominated in U.S. dollar when compared to December of 2017. 9 month 2018 net income group share was EUR 127.6 million, a 31.5% drop as reported, and was EUR 196.3 million, increasing 5.4%, before the sale of goodwill impairment. The effective tax rate was 37.5%, and 28.1% excluding the impact of the sale of goodwill.EPS group share was EUR 2.79 compared to EUR 3.99 last year, down 30.1%. Normalized EPS group share decreased 3.4% to EUR 4.30 compared to EUR 4.45 in the 9 months of 2017. Slide 11, we look at working capital. When comparing September 2018 versus last year, we see the following changes in the main elements of working capital: inventories increased to EUR 460.4 million; trade and other receivables increased to EUR 491.1 million; the trade and other payables were EUR 123.8 million. On a year-to-year comparison, total inventories were up EUR 15 million. This was driven primarily by the Stationery category, with EUR 209.5 million in inventory at the end of September.The net cash position. We can see the evolution from December -- from September versus December of 2017. Net cash from operating activities was EUR 237.5 million, with EUR 284.1 million in operating cash flow. The negative EUR 46.6 million is the change in working capital and other versus the main, driven by accounts receivable and inventory increases, compared to December of 2017. Net cash was also impacted by investments in CapEx, as we invested EUR 82.6 million in the 9 months of this year. The dividend payment was EUR 157.8 million, and we bought back EUR 54 million of shares for the first 9 months of this year. Our net cash position at the end of September was EUR 144.8 million.This ends the review of our third quarter and 9 months consolidated results, and I'll give the floor back to Gonzalve.

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Thank you, Jim. As mentioned in my introduction and based on our current trading environment assumptions, our 2018 outlook remained unchanged.Looking at our forecast for the fourth quarter, we expect net sales to continue to recover across our 3 categories. In Stationery, we expect continued growth in e-commerce in both Europe and in the U.S., supported by a strong holiday season. In India, the launch of the new Cello One Pen should continue to drive volume increases in the sub INR 10 segment. Lighter growth in the fourth quarter will be driven by developing markets, notably Latin America, with continued distribution gains in convenience stores in Mexico. We also expect a good performance in Eastern Europe as we expand distribution.Turning to Shavers. In Europe, we should benefit from positive impacts of recent product launches such as BIC Flex 5 Hybrid in Russia and in the Nordics, as well as BIC Flex 5 in Italy and Iberia. We will also continue to expand distribution in Russia. In the U.S., performance will be driven from pipe fill of 2019 new products such as BIC Flex 2 Hybrid and Soleil Click 5. Finally, in Latin America, we should continue to see growth in both Mexico and Brazil, thanks to targeted promotion and increasing volumes.Looking at our margin profile going forward, as Jim already mentioned, our gross profit and margins will continue to be impacted by higher raw material costs and depreciation.Moving forward, our teams continue to engage effectively with customers and consumers to deliver our short-term goals in line with our long-term vision.This ends our third quarter 2018 results review. With that, we'd be happy to take your questions.

[Sophie Palliez-Capian]

Any questions?

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We have our first question coming from Nicolas Langlet.

[Nicolas Langlet, Research Analyst]

I've got 4 questions, please. The first one on Lighters. Of the 5.8% like-for-like in Q3, can you give us the split between volume and price mix? And just on price, have you planned any price increase already for next year not of in the U.S.? The second question, still on Lighters, looking at the margin in Q3, how it comes that the margin deteriorated so much in Q3 versus H1 despite improving sales trend and the full benefit of the price increase? And how should we look at the margin in Q4 for the Lighters division? Third question, on the brand support -- so, you had this 80 basis points benefit in Q3 and, so first, which division benefited from this reduction? And secondly, you mentioned the timing impact. Does it mean that the 80 basis points benefit will fully reverse in Q4? And last question, on the CapEx. Your guidance until now was EUR 150 million for the full year. You were at EUR 83 million for the 9 months. Is the EUR 150 million still valid for the full year?

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

So Nicolas, on Lighters, the volumes, we'll give out in February. So we'll look at the full volumes at the end of that year. To your point, the price increase of earlier first, second quarter of this year obviously has had an impact on sales growth as well as the margin for the 9 months of 2018. 2019 price increase obviously, it's a bit early to get into '19 discussions. So again, we'll address that as we move into 2019. Regarding the margin for Lighter, third quarter, as you say, we're down 5 points versus a year ago. Margin; gross profit is roughly half of that decrease, and what we've seen in the third quarter is, again, the continuation of raw material, depreciation and, especially, absorption. What we've seen is the -- obviously, with the impact of sales throughout the year, the production volumes have come down in the factories, leading to the absorption, and the greater impact of that has impacted the P&L in the third quarter. So again, half of what you see at the normalized IFO level's coming out of GP. The other half is coming out of operating expenses, which is consistent with what we see at the group level, since a lot of that has been impacting all 3 categories. So the impact of OpEx that we've talked about at the group level is consistent across the categories. And then lastly, brand support, while at the group level were favorable -- were lower investments in the third quarter, Lighter had an increase of investments in the third quarter. So again, to get the total margin change, half of it was GP, from raw materials absorption and depreciation, and the other half is coming out of OpEx and brand support. Regarding the fourth quarter for Lighter, we would see again the continuation on materials absorption and depreciation and then also the OpEx. Now again, those points are consistent across the group as well. So again, for Lighter, we would see the same dynamic or a similar dynamic in the fourth quarter as we have seen in the third quarter. Brand support at the group level, as we've seen, more favorable in the third quarter. And as we said during the presentation, we would expect a lot of that to be shifted to fourth quarter, based on the timing of the advertising and brand support campaigns. So right now, what we've experienced as a lower investment in brand support in the third quarter is forecasted to be invested in the fourth quarter. And then lastly, CapEx. Again, we've invested a little over EUR 80 million for 9 months. The guidance for the year was EUR 150 million. If you look at last year's run rate, which was mid-50s, EUR 53 million, if it's somewhere between last year's and the forecasted rate, we should end up between low 140s and 150 depending on what the final plans are for this year.

[Nicolas Langlet, Research Analyst]

And what of the big CapEx investment you are making in 2018?

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

In 2018?

[Nicolas Langlet, Research Analyst]

Yes.

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

2018 was a continuation of some of the investments we had mentioned and discussed over the last couple of years and coming into the year: capacity, still some expansion and the continuation of a new facility in India, and then also some of the expansion and new products related when we talk about Shaver and other categories. So nothing new, from what we've been discussing from the investments of CapEx over the last 3 years.

[Nicolas Langlet, Research Analyst]

Okay. And if I could just add one on the price increase on Lighters. So this year, you had the price increase in the U.S., and did you pass any price increase in Latin America?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Nicolas, good afternoon. It's Gonzalve. As we've talked about on a number of occasions, we take price where and when possible. I think we all follow the Latin American economic situation closely enough to know that there's been some ups and some downs, and it remains a highly competitive market. And I think the teams are doing a good job of managing price when they possibly can.

[Nicolas Langlet, Research Analyst]

Okay. So you passed price increase in Latin America?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Like I said, we manage it on an ongoing basis, country by country, market by market, channel by channel. I'm not going to go into the specifics.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Marie-Line Fort.

[Marie-Line Fort]

I've got a question for Stationery division. Could you tell us what is the bulk of new products in your sales? And also for all the divisions of the group, if there is any phasing effects that we should be aware of for Q4, particularly for Stationery, but also for the divisions?

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

Could you repeat your second question? I'm sorry.

[Sophie Palliez-Capian]

Marie-Line, we didn't understood very well your second question.

[Marie-Line Fort]

Just would like to know if there is some phasing effects in Q4 that we should be aware, like from delivery impacts that we could have faced on previous year on Q4?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Thank you for your question. From new product perspective, 4% on the 9 months. With regards to phasing, I think there's puts and takes all the time across quarter dates, but there's nothing that we want to call out to you and there's nothing that's on Jim or our mind. The teams remain focused on making sure that: a, back-to-school was strong. And like I said, we gained market share in some very important markets as we continued to deliver, and the gel products segment is a good growth sector for us. It's something I'm quite excited about, but we don't see any major phasings going.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Guillaume Delmas.

[Guillaume Gerard Vincent Delmas, Director]

A couple of questions for me, please. The first one on Latin America, because we saw a substantial acceleration in Q3. Just wondering what is sustainable and what was helped by one-offs in the quarter. Mexico distribution gains, should we continue to see some nice contribution from this? Similarly for Brazil, to what extent the truck drivers’ strike in Q2 had a reversal effect in the third quarter? And also Argentina, whether you got some nice help from pricing in that country. And then my second question, it's -- I was very interested in the comments you made, Gonzalve, about a sense of urgency that you described in adapting the company to make it more integrated and agile. So my question on this would be, are you happy with the current pace of changes? Or are your comments actually signaling a more drastic changes ahead and maybe a need to accelerate this transformational agenda?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Thank you for your questions, Guillaume. So in Latin America, the team has done a really good job, and thank you for highlighting the high points of my comments on the different aspects of that. I'm going to take them in reverse order. In Argentina, we are taking price increases where and when possible, and where and when adapted to consumer consumption patterns. Argentina has been, and remains, a volatile situation, but our teams in place that have been there for years manage that and will look into 2019. Brazil, the teams remain focused on making sure the customers across the country have as much inventory as they need to never be out of stock and to satisfy consumers at the key times like the upcoming back-to-school in the first quarter of in 2019. In Mexico, the team's done an excellent job over the last years, especially this year, but in the last years, gaining distribution in all 3 categories. Specifically, as noted, in Lighter, but they've done a really good job building our distribution over the last years. We've been there for decades. To your second question, I would say to you that, on my mind, it's 2 things: you talk about pace; I also talk about endurance. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, and as we build the agility, the scalability, the processes that you were referring to, the teams take their time, build plans and execute against them.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Marion Boucheron.

[Marion Boucheron, Financial Analyst]

Three questions for me, please. One, in Shavers, so in the U.S. -- I wonder if you could just give us more flavor on the differences you had between sell-in and sellout in Q3, because the charts, we see an accelerated drop in terms of market share, and on the other end, you point to a positive impact on sell-in thanks to brand support, so maybe more color on this. And then just wanted to dig in further the brand support phasing and what we should look for in Q4. You plan to step it up, and so overall, in full year, we should have a negative impact of margin on brand support? Or that wouldn't be the case?

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

Yes. Let me address the brand support question for the fourth quarter. As I mentioned earlier to Nicolas' question, what we had seen in the third quarter was lower investments, and a lot of that is related to the phasing on the calendars and the campaign on advertising and brand support activity. And that will be -- right now, is forecasted to occur in the fourth quarter. So that should be pretty much what we ended up investing less in the third quarter would be, and is expected to then be invested in the fourth quarter.

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

With regards to your question about market share. The brand support continues to support our on-shelf presence. As I've said in the past, it's all about "BIC seen, BIC sold," and we need to make sure that the pegs are full of BIC products all year, but also at the key times, and...

[Operator]

Next question comes from Charles-Louis Scotti.

[Charles-Louis Scotti]

Three questions, please. The first one have your Q3 percents been driven by restocking effect from retailers after 2 relatively weak quarters? The second question is on raw materials. Can you remind us what are the key raw materials you rely on? And how these raw materials has behaved in Q3? And should we expect raw material headwinds to persist in 2019? And the last question is on the working capital spend. Can you give us a little bit more color on that? What is planned, this negative -- plus EUR 250 million working capital impact at the end of September?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Good afternoon. Thank you for your question. On the first one, as we said during our H1 results, we had negative effects from transportation strikes and different geographies with inventory adjustments from customers. I can't tell you that there was a restocking, but like I said, customers -- our teams remain focused to ensure that all our customers in all geographies have the adequate levels of inventory to serve both the business and consumer demand.

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

So on the raw material question, if you look at the products, it is really 2 main types, being plastics and metals, albeit different plastics and different metals for the 3 categories. The increase of raw materials is again very much in the forecast we had from the beginning of the year and the guidance we've given earlier, in February 2018. So it was something that was seen, forecasted and is materializing. I think we're seeing it not just with us, but in different markets and different industries as well. So we would anticipate this not only being 2018, but we would see this continuing as we move into 2019. Some of that increase in materials actually, I think, answers -- well, partially answers the next question on working capital because as those costs increase, then obviously the cost of the inventory is going to be a bit higher. So we see the higher impact of inventory, based on the costs of production. We will also see, as we went through in the presentation, at the end of September, Stationery being a bit higher, as the production in the factories increased as we get ready for the end of this year, but also beginning of next year back-to-school in different regions. So again, the Stationery increase of production in the third quarter, coupled with the cost of inventory, has led to the increase of inventory at the end of September versus a year ago, which is probably a more fairer comparison, September to September.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Christophe Chaput.

[Christophe Chaput, Analyst]

Two questions from me. The first one is on the Shavers market in Europe. So it seems that, since May, the market has deteriorated, because it was minus 1.1% at the end of May, and now, at the end of September, it was minus 2.6%. So what are the reasons why the market dropped? Is it price or volume? And do you see a shift in the competitive landscape? Or is it more aggressive? Could you help us to understand that? And the last question is concerning your guidance, if I may. The spread is quite wide, between 1% and 3%. So what is the uncertainties for you regarding the Q4 to now, let's say, the guidance for the full year?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

So thank you for your question. So, Shaver in Europe: in France, we had minus 3.1 -- the market declined 3.1% in value and 6.5% in volume on a year-to-date September basis. BIC grew 0.1 points in value and 0.8 points in volume. So that's on an aggregate European level. Our performance, if I take a step back, in France, we're regaining market share on the disposable market, thanks to female disposable growth driven by BIC Miss Soleil, that performed particularly well in the summer -- so from June to September, like I said. In the U.K., we're regaining market share on the disposable market thanks to the different ranges of products both in male and in female, and relisting at some important customers. Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine I've talked about in this quarter and in quarters past, continues to do an excellent job on distribution, and we're outperforming the Wet Shave one-piece market, gaining 0.9 points in value on a year-to-date August basis, thanks to distribution gains and continued momentum from our BIC Flex 3 range. We've also had positive impact from launches of BIC Flex 5 in Italy and Spain and BIC Flex 5 Hybrid in the Nordics. So all those together is a bit of a negative story from a market perspective but a positive story for BIC gaining share, growth of distribution and solid launch of new products.

[Christophe Chaput, Analyst]

Okay, but there is no promotion in the sector from your peers, let's say?

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

There's no "promotion"? Or "promotions?"

[Christophe Chaput, Analyst]

Promotion, sale, discount.

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

I think the Shaver, in general, global level is a highly competitive environment. There's promotion at different trade channels in different countries and different customers all the time. Of course, during the key summer season, you can imagine it's a very competitive marketplace. But BIC performed well and drove sales and share gain. On your question to the guidance, like I said a number of times in my opening and conclusion, we remain committed to our full year outlook as communicated.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

[Sophie Palliez-Capian]

Okay. Okay, so if there's no more questions, time to thank you. As always, the Investor Relations team will remain for any follow-up questions. And, short reminder, our full year results will be released on the 13th of February next year. Thank you.

[James DiPietro, CFO & Executive VP]

Thank you.

[Gonzalve Bich, CEO & Director]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.