Announced in July 2018 and closed in December 2018, the acquisition of GAES, the largest ever undertaken by Amplifon, enabled us to strengthen our global leadership, which now makes up 11% of the retail hearing care market worldwide. With a value of around 530 million euros, this deal allowed us to become the undisputed leader in the attractive Spanish market, to consolidate our presence in Portugal and to enter the Latin American market. 

2019 was the first year of the GAES integration and we completed its initial and most complex phase faster and with better results than initially expected. Indeed, GAES’s growth in 2019, both in terms revenues and profitability, was above initial expectations also due to the synergies achieved in the top end of the range previously disclosed.

The Amplifon Product Experience, consisting of the Amplifon product line and our multichannel ecosystem, redefines the experience throughout the entire customer journey. Launched with great success in Italy in May 2018, it made up 90% of our total sales on the private and paid-up market at the end of 2018, while the App attained 15% of penetration on compatible Amplifon devices.

In light of the excellent results in Italy, we anticipated the roll-out in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the US and Australia to 2019. Technological innovation and hearing aid usage data collection will allow us to provide even more personalized services with high added value, with the aim of offering tailored experiences for every single customer.

Today is not yet possible to assess the impact that the Covid-19 epidemic will have in the current year. However, we expect a short-term negative impact on the demand in the hearing care retail market, also due to the containment and restrictive measures adopted or being adopted by the various Governments. We also confirm that we are already implementing operational and economic-financial actions and measures aimed at mitigating the impact of this scenario in the short term.

We expect this impact to be temporary and gradually offset as the situation will normalize, both for the non-discretionary nature of the product offered and for the fundamentals of the market in which we operate, which remain unchanged and supported by the secular trends of ageing of population and increase in penetration.

Finally, we expect to over-perform the market leveraging its customer-centric strategy and strong competitive advantages derived from its absolute leadership position, unique brand portfolio, high geographic diversification, strong financial profile and proven and agile execution capabilities, as demonstrated in past years.