Earnings Call Transcript - ONON Q3 2025

Operator, Operator

Good afternoon, and good morning to our investor community. Thank you for joining on the 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. With me today on the call are On's Executive Co-Chairman and Co-Founder, Caspar Coppetti, and CEO and CFO, Martin Hoffman. Before we begin, I will briefly remind everyone that today's call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and beliefs only and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our annual report on Form 20-F for the 2024 fiscal year filed with the SEC on 4th of March 2025 for a detailed explanation of such risks and uncertainties. We will further reference certain non-IFRS financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin. These measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with IFRS accounting standards. Please refer to today's release for a reconciliation to the most comparable IFRS measures. We will begin with Caspar followed by Martin, leading through today's prepared remarks, after which we are looking forward to opening the call to a Q&A session. With that, I'm very happy to turn the call over to Caspar.

Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman

Thank you, and a very warm welcome, everyone, to our third quarter 2025 earnings call. It is great to be back on this call with all of you and to give you an update on On's global success, which is driven by the exceptional heat around the On brand, our product innovation pipeline, and our accelerating profitability. Today, we're thrilled to share another outstanding quarter for On. Our mission to ignite the human spirit through movement is resonating worldwide and across multiple categories. It is powered by an innovation engine that continues to unlock human potential and create champions on the world's biggest stages. This quarter's performance is the direct result of our premium strategy in action, delivering incredibly strong growth and record profitability. Net sales in the quarter approached CHF 800 million, growing 24.9% year-over-year on a reported basis and by 34.5% at constant exchange rates. Through our commitment to premiumness, a commitment that runs from our products through our entire value chain and is driven by our pursuit of operational excellence. We have also delivered exceptionally strong gross profit and adjusted EBITDA margins. Behind the results is a story of global momentum, how constant innovation, community building, and cultural relevance are coming together to elevate the On brand as the benchmark for performance and design in premium sportswear. This success is exceptionally broad-based with significant growth contributions from across our portfolio, in performance and lifestyle footwear and apparel, proving the global appeal of our brand. The spirit of On was everywhere this quarter. From the crowd lining up for the openings of our new stores in Tokyo, Palo Alto, or Zurich to the thousands of people who came to see how LightSpray products are manufactured during the Berlin Marathon. To athletes winning major titles across our entire portfolio of sports from track and field to trail running to triathlon and tennis, On strongly connected with audiences worldwide. Nowhere was this connection and energy felt more strongly than in Asia Pacific, our fastest-growing region. The momentum there is extraordinary, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of triple-digit constant currency growth. In September, Tokyo became our showcase as the city hosted this year's World Athletics Championships. On's new Ginza store is one of the crown jewels in our retail collection, and the world champs provide the perfect opportunity to express On's innovation and ambition. Georgi Bemis, Ditashi Kambucci, and Bella Vitiker claimed On's first-ever track and field gold medals. These successes matter. Consumers are increasingly watching how brands perform in competition, and On is exceptionally well positioned. The On proof point for our advanced footwear technologies came 10 days ago when Helber won the New York City Marathon against a stacked field of Olympic and world champions, breaking the 22-year-old course record by almost 3 minutes. We're incredibly proud that she chose to race in the Cloudboom Strike LightSpray. This win clearly demonstrates that our newest technology is being trusted and adopted by the world's best athletes in the most iconic races. Pictures like these define what we mean by athletes-first versus innovation. Our strategy is clear: technology is proven at the highest level of competition and then refined to deliver the best experience for every type of run. This elite credibility flows directly to our core performance running franchises, Cloudsurfer, Cloudmonster, and Cloudrunner. These are the engines that have won millions of fans and driven our significant sustained growth in the run category. 2025 has been a testament to this strategy. We successfully reenergized the Cloudsurfer franchise, first with the Cloudsurfer 2 in the spray and now with the new Cloudsurfer Max this summer. The commercial momentum is immediate and clear. The newly launched Cloudsurfer Max ranked among the top 5 selling models with key run specialty partners in its very first month. This sets the stage for 2026. We are already seeing a strong order book for the new Cloudrunner 3 and Cloudmonster 3, launching in Q1, while Fall/Winter '26 will see the launch of the new Cloudsomething Max showcasing a significant lead in engineering and foam innovations. And on top of that, our most groundbreaking technology, LightSpray, will help redefine the category and elevate our entire running assortment. In Spring/Summer '26, we will bring this championship level technology to everyday runners for the first time with the LightSpray Cloudmonster Hyper. This is our innovation process in action, continuously and obsessively making the best possible products that push the limits of performance. Of course, On's mission goes far beyond running. We are witnessing a unique moment where performance and innovation are key drivers for fashion and the cultural side. On is uniquely positioned to both drive and benefit from this trend. This quarter, our collaboration with Zalando introduced the Cloudstone Moon lending on design innovation with refined expressive style. In tennis, our partnership with Roger Federer has already connected the sport to a much broader audience. This quarter, we welcomed the music artist Burna Boy to our tennis lifestyle brand, which resonates strongly with the young demographic. These cultural moments are accelerating our connection and traction with young aspirational consumers, cementing On as a global symbol of modern performance and style that resonates deeply with both men and women. To summarize, as ever, On is carving its own path. Our premium strategy is working, and we are executing on our vision with precision and discipline. Our relentless focus on innovation has built a durable multidimensional growth engine, an engine that is built for the long run. Fueled by our accelerated global brand heat and awareness, the foundation for our next chapter of premium growth is stronger than ever. With that, Martin will share more on our strategic and financial highlights in the quarter and our significantly raised outlook for the year.

Martin Hoffmann, CEO & CFO

Thank you, Caspar. By staying true to our vision and executing this discipline, we are delivering remarkable, consistent success. This is extraordinary to experience. Whether on the road, track, trail, or court, in the gym or in the streets, On has become a true toe-to-head partner in our customers' lives. That connection makes our entire team incredibly proud and grateful. What sets us apart is our premium position. Our vision is and will remain to be the most premium global sportswear brand. Premium is an emotion formed in the minds of our consumers. We earn it by consistently exceeding their expectations in the moments that matter. They know premium when they find it because they see it. This quarter, Tokyo protected our vision. The atmosphere was electric. It was three years since my last visit, and in that time, the team has more than doubled in size and further elevated how we show up in this vital market. What I saw in Japan was the clearest expression yet of On's premium strategy: a brand that feels completely at home in a culture defined by craftsmanship, precision, and design excellence. That harmony is perfectly captured in our new flagship store in Ginza. It opened with record demand, delivering the highest monthly sales across our entire retail set in October. The space embodies what premium means for On: performance elevated through design and delivered with care and consistency. While Japan set the tone, the broader Asia Pacific region demonstrated the sheer scale of what's possible. Across China, Korea, and Southeast Asia, we are connecting with a new generation of younger, deeply design-conscious customers, proving the global appetite for On's premium performance approach. We saw this again in Bangkok, where our first store opened to the highest daily sales of any store opening in our history. The global demand is a direct result of our customer strategy. Our community is growing but also deepening, becoming more diverse, more active, and more connected across all our verticals. While brand awareness is accelerating, the clearest metric of our success is loyalty. Engaged fans are returning at higher rates and, crucially, buying across more categories, embracing the full breadth of our product universe. Our parallel approach is an important driver of this evolution. It's fundamentally reshaping how people view and engage with our brand. It has become a key acquisition channel, attracting a growing share of first-time customers while also building lasting value as apparel shoppers buy more frequently and with bigger baskets. We are also seeing a clear shift towards younger customers in the apparel segment, highlighting a sizable and well-defined long-term opportunity. Importantly, we are not building apparel as an add-on to our footwear business, but as a company within the company. Serving the same communities, but with a unique product offering and customer experience. As a result, apparel is driving incremental high-value growth across all our channels. Operating at this level with such broad-based strength sets an incredible high standard, and it requires flawless execution. This is where our focus on operational excellence and technology is delivering profound results. We are transforming the way we work. We have structurally reduced lead times and enhanced how we plan and run the business with intelligent tools powering our integrated planning. We are building a faster and more agile company that is a stronger partner for suppliers, retailers, and consumers. More and more, AI becomes a core component of how we operate across all areas of the business and engage with our fans. All of this is deeply rooted in our culture of innovation and excellence, and it's the daily passion of our amazing team that makes all of this work, from the cheering zone at the Marathon in New York to the LightSpray innovation lab from case shows to the shop floors of our specialty partners. Their energy is what sets us apart. Thank you so much, team. Our incredible brand momentum and precise execution continued through Q3, delivering another exceptional set of results. We achieved record net sales of CHF 794.4 million, growing 24.9% year-over-year on a reported basis and 34.5% at constant currency. This outstanding top-line growth fueled record profitability, with a gross profit margin of 65.7% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 22.6%, reflecting nearly 50% year-over-year adjusted EBITDA growth. Our DTC channel once again delivered exceptional growth while driving superior profitability. Net sales reached CHF 314.7 million, marking an increase of 27.6% year-over-year on a reported basis and 37.5% at constant currency. Our success is driven by strong synergies between our e-commerce and retail ecosystems. Omnichannel customers are more loyal and deliver materially higher lifetime value, validating our seamless premium experience. This experience is brought to life in our flagship stores. A recent highlight for me was the opening of our new Zurich flagship, a celebration of our Swiss heritage in a stunning downtown location. Alongside our new stores, our established fleet continues to excel. We saw standout contributions in Q3 from key locations, including Capstead in Tokyo, Miami, and Champs Élysées in Paris, proving the productivity and longevity of our retail investments. Our brand strength is mirrored in our wholesale channel. Net sales reached CHF 479.6 million, increasing by 23.3% year-over-year on a reported basis and by 32.5% at constant currency. This performance reflects sustained elevated demand from our key account partners. The enthusiasm for our future pipeline is clear. The fall/winter 2026 sell-in has kicked off with ongoing strong momentum. Our building order book for 2026 already reflects our partners' deep confidence in our relentless innovation. Turning to our regional development, in the Americas, net sales reached CHF 436.2 million growing 10.3% year-over-year on a reported basis and by 21% at constant currency. This quarter was a pivotal test of our premium strategy as our U.S. price increases came into effect. The results confirmed our view. Demand remained incredibly strong for our premium offerings, clear validation of our brand's pricing power and the impact of our full-price strategy. This gives us tremendous confidence heading into the holiday season where our premium positioning and unwavering commitment to full-price selling will be a significant competitive advantage. Europe, Middle East, and Africa delivered an outstanding quarter with net sales reaching CHF 213.3 million, up 28.6% year-over-year on a reported basis and 33% at constant currency. Our performance highlights the breadth of the brand's heat in the region. We are seeing exceptional demand in the U.K., which has firmly established itself as one of our largest global markets, with incredible momentum in newer markets like France and Italy, and the sustained reacceleration in growth across the German-speaking region. Asia Pacific continues its phenomenal growth, delivering net sales of CHF 144.9 million, up 94.2% year-over-year on a reported basis and an incredible 109.2% at constant currency. APAC is now approaching 20% of our total sales. What was once a new frontier has become a major engine for the brand. The remarkable demand is broad-based, with continued triple-digit growth in Greater China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, amplifying the success we see in Japan. This increasing regional balance is a core strength, a direct reflection of our global strategy and proof of our ability to drive high-quality growth across all markets. Moving to performance by product, both remain our core engine of growth. Net sales from this category reached CHF 731.3 million, an increase of 21.1% year-over-year on a reported basis and 30.4% at constant currency. This success confirms our expanding role in the lives of our consumers across every part of their day. In performance, the Cloudmonster continues to win new fans, and our latest innovations like the Cloudsurfer Max and Cloudboom Max are off to exceptional starts, driving strong results in key sporting goods and run-specialty distribution. Meanwhile, in lifestyle, the Cloudtilt, Cloud, and the Roger continue to see tremendous demand. This combination of elite performance products and the distinctive edge in the lifestyle segment is what sets On apart. Our apparel category is rapidly establishing itself as a significant stand-alone growth pillar. Net sales reached CHF 50.1 million, an increase of 86.9% year-over-year on a reported basis and an amazing 100.2% at constant currency. This performance was capped by a major operational milestone as we sold over 1 million apparel units in a single quarter for the first time. This success is rooted in a global and multichannel expansion, with a meaningful and balanced increase in apparel share across all channels and regions. Now we will move down the P&L. We delivered an outstanding 65.7% gross profit margin, up 510 basis points year-over-year. This result is materially ahead of our expectations and reflects the power and momentum of our premium brand position. Yet, it is important to understand the components of this result as it also includes some temporary and one-off factors that should not be extrapolated. First, the quarter includes a positive one-time adjustment of approximately 200 basis points. This relates to lower-than-anticipated freight and other costs. Throughout half year 1, we saw these lower costs emerging, partly from successful negotiations and scale benefits, but we prudently continued to accrue at our higher prior levels. Now in Q3, we have confirmed these efficiencies are sustainable and are updating our cost assumptions. This one-time adjustment, therefore, represents the release of those accruals related to the first half of the year. Second, the timing lag between our U.S. price increases and the full impact of additional U.S. tariffs led to a slightly positive margin effect in Q3, which should be considered a temporary benefit. Third, the current devaluation of the U.S. dollar compared to the Swiss franc since early April drives a positive gross profit margin impact of approximately 100 basis points. Crucially, even after accounting for these effects, our underlying gross profit margin is significantly above our communicated long-term target. This is the result of the structural strength of our business and the great work of our team. Our increasing DTC share, our premium positioning, durable operational efficiencies, and economies of scale. These structural effects are expected to be sustained and reflected in our future results. We also delivered an outstanding Q3 adjusted EBITDA margin of 22.6%, up 370 basis points year-over-year, corresponding to an absolute adjusted EBITDA of CHF 179.9 million. SG&A, excluding share-based compensation, was 47.1% of net sales in Q3, up from 46% in the prior year, reflecting a deliberate decision to invest in future growth through marketing and our global retail expansion. Importantly, we are funding these strategic investments largely through our operational efficiencies. Our focus on excellence has structurally improved our distribution cost baseline, which continues to decline as a percentage of net sales. This demonstrates our flexibility to thoughtfully reinvest in high-return areas that fuel our long-term brand growth. While the current FX environment positively impacted our gross profit margin, it negatively impacted SG&A and ultimately, also our adjusted EBITDA margin. Moving to our balance sheet. We continue to demonstrate exceptional capital efficiency. Capital expenditures were CHF 20.5 million or 2.6% of net sales, an improvement of 3% in the prior year. As of the end of Q3, our inventory stood at CHF 380.6 million. As in Q2, inventory volume grew faster than value, ensuring we are fully prepared for Q4 by reflecting our new operational efficiencies. The proof of this new efficiency is in the results. Our cash conversion cycle improved again year-over-year. This disciplined working capital management, combined with our strong operational performance, fueled substantial operating cash flow of CHF 157.3 million in Q3. As a result, our cash balance grew substantially, ending the quarter in an exceptionally strong position at CHF 961.8 million. With that, let's look ahead. The consistent success, our strategic focus, and exceptional execution has delivered throughout the year fuel our confidence to deliver a strong finish to the year. Our brand momentum is undeniable, and the first weeks of Q4 have already shown our strategic gains. Alongside major athlete victories, including Solvay Lopes' Ironman World Championship win in Kona and Jaana becoming the youngest tennis champion at the Swiss indoors since 1989, we have created moments that continue to elevate the brand globally. We launched the Cloud solo, our first-ever co-created product with LOEWE, and introduced a new capsule collection with SkyHike Farms centered around the Cloud VI. We entered the GCC market with the opening of our first store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just yesterday, and opened our first store in Seoul, securing a beautiful ultra-premium location in the Hyundai Mall. We were thrilled with our performance during Golden Week in China and our global holiday campaign. The gifting movement is off to a great start, confirming our momentum as we head into the end of the year. This is how our vision comes to life: winning in performance, elevating our brand, and showing up in a credible, consistent, and aspirational way to our ever-expanding communities. Therefore, we are raising our 2025 guidance across all nine items. We now expect constant currency net sales to grow by 34% year-over-year, well ahead of our previous guidance of at least 31%. At current spot rates, our constant currency growth guidance implies reported net sales will reach CHF 2.98 billion. Alongside this top-line raise, we now expect a gross profit margin of around 62.5%, a meaningful increase versus our previous guidance of 60.5% to 61%. As outlined before, this new ambition reflects our commitment to full-price sales during the holiday season, sustainable structural efficiencies rooted in our elevating premium positioning, economies of scale, and the current FX, tariffs, and freight cost environment. On adjusted EBITDA, the exceptional gross profit generation allows us to do three things at once: absorb material foreign exchange headwinds on our more Swiss franc-heavy cost base, simultaneously accelerate strategic investments into our brand, technology, and innovation pipeline, and raise our profitability forecast for the year. We now expect an adjusted EBITDA margin of above 18%, a clear step up from our previous guidance of 17% to 17.5%. Looking beyond 2025, the proven impact of our strategic building blocks and clarity of our long-term strategy provide us with the baseline for continued exceptional momentum. This is first supported by the strength of our product pipeline, validated by our existing order book, driving a trajectory well ahead of the targets outlined at our Investor Day in October 2023. As you will recall, we communicated our goal to top net sales by 2026, implying a 26% net sales constant currency growth CAGR over the three years. We are on track to complete the first two full years of our three-year plan with in excess of 33% constant currency growth each year. This sustained and material overachievement gives us the confidence and visibility to update our long-term outlook as we look ahead to the final year of our plan. We now expect a three-year constant currency CAGR from 2023 to 2026 to reach at least 30%. This implies at least 23% growth in 2026. Based on our current outlook for 2025, this isn't just about exceeding targets; it's a testament to the unparalleled momentum of our brand, the strength of our strategy, and the incredible dedication of our entire team. We are not just meeting expectations; we are redefining what's possible in the sportswear market. As we look at our midterm profitability ambition, the significantly higher gross profit margin achievement expected for this year provides us with a strong baseline and increased confidence in our ability to exceed our stated gross profit margin target for 2026 despite the full impact of tariffs next year. Importantly, this allows us to continue to invest meaningfully into the brand, fueling our global momentum by driving even more progress around new technologies and AI. Ultimately, to build an even stronger foundation for continued growth in 2026 and beyond. In line with our established guidance cadence, we will provide a formal guidance update in March when we share our Q4 and full-year results. To summarize, we are thrilled with the continued strength of our brand. We head into the holiday season with high momentum and conviction in our plan, which allows us to look beyond the immediate horizon towards our next phase, where, as we like to say, the sky's the limit. Again, a huge thank you to our teams around the world for their incredible execution and for making all of this possible. And with that, Caspar and I are happy to take your questions.

Operator, Operator

First question comes from Paul Lejuez of Citi.

Paul Lejuez, Analyst

Curious if you could talk about the traction that you're seeing in apparel with any detail that you can give about regional acceptance of that product? And curious how it's performing in DTC versus wholesale accounts? And then just within your wholesale doors, you talk about 1% carry apparel? And any opportunity long term that you think? And when you think about the percent of accounts that carry our footwear, what percent ultimately will include apparel?

Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman

Thank you, Paul, for the question. We're very excited about the apparel performance. As you've heard on the call just now, we sold over 1 million items now in Q3 for the first time. And apparel excesses together account for about 8% of our total business. That's a new record, and we're well on track of hopefully getting quickly into the double digits there. So traction is really strong. What drives this is we're really executing on all fronts. So on the distribution side, our own stores play a very important role because we need to be able to showcase the breadth and the beauty of this product. So if you've been to any of our newly opened flagship stores, you'll see that come to life. But we're also doing that, for example, at department stores, wherever we have shop-in-shops, we usually lead with apparel, and it's a great way to tell the brand story. As we break down a bit into which parts of apparel are seeing the most traction, happy to give you a bit of color there: we have an exceptionally strong running, training, and tennis business in apparel. Within running, we clearly see that whenever we do something from the performance side, so we work with our athletes and we bring some of these latest material innovations to broader audiences, that resonates very well. In training, it's all about winning with performance. The sweet spot there for On seems to be where we have light resistance works, so you're at the gym or in a class, and On brings performance innovation that we're rolling out now across the lines; we're also bringing a bit more elevated aesthetic that resonates with our affluent customer. And then, of course, tennis, maybe a category even a bit underestimated, where the tennis look, whether it's actually performance or athlete wear, matters, especially given the Brazilians are crazy about it, all the way to the lifestyle looks, and you've probably seen what we've done with Burna Boy just now, bringing the tennis lifestyle to wider audiences. All these things resonate extremely well. Over time, we will definitely attack additional categories there, bringing more to movement and stuff that can be worn every day, always with the performance and innovation core. We also have a very strong jacket business that is mostly reflected in our outdoor and running collections.

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

Maybe just a point here because I think it's very important for where we are taking our business model. We said it on the call that really the way we look at apparel is as a company within the company, and it follows a slightly different distribution model approach. It will be much more heavily focused on retail, which doesn't mean we are not working with great wholesale partners, as Caspar just said, but retail will play a much stronger role in the physical presence of apparel. And as a result, our apparel business is expected to drive a superior margin profile for the brand. So we are not only adding additional customers, but also additional profitability.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jay Sole of UBS.

Jay Sole, Analyst

Great. My question is just, is the growth was obviously very strong in the quarter. At the same time, the gross margin expanded a lot. And at the same time, your inventory looks very lean. Can you just talk about how you balance driving top-line growth versus protecting margins, your premium position, maintaining that scarcity model, and just delivering an algorithm, I think is right for the brand for the long term, but also in a way that allows the company to grow without having any operational issues?

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

I think this is the result of the amazing work that the team is doing and that we amplified capabilities in the organization across every part. We are really able to manage all three areas that you mentioned in sync. I mean I think on the gross profit margin is just super important to understand that the premium business we are building is the driver behind the gross profit margin. Building a premium business also requires incredible discipline in your inventory management in order to protect the high share of full-price sales. So this is the essence of what we are building. You have already seen the power of that business model coming to life in the last two years with our gross profit margin expanding constantly. This has really been the result of the pricing power, full-price discipline, a DTC-focused channel mix, operational improvements, and economies of scale. And now in the last months, this has really amplified given the power of our strong team in Vietnam working with the factories. We have now really achieved a new level in gross profit margin that we also consider sustainable. I think that's a great place to be, given the environment around tariffs. So we are fully in control of our future. We will digest the tariffs and still be well above our long-term target. At the same time, we can reinvest into the business, invest into the brand, and into technology. We are fully in control on pricing, doing the right things, and also investing in the product. This is the power of the premium position that we are building.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Straton of Morgan Stanley.

Alexandra Straton, Analyst

Thanks so much for all the calls and nice results. Maybe just on the 2026 initial guidance, a 23% rate. Was that a constant currency number? And then can you just elaborate a little bit more on how you kind of get confidence there by region and channel? I'm just curious if any geographies or channels or categories should decelerate more than others or what the kind of composition of how you're arriving there is?

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

Thanks for the question, Alex. Yes, it's a constant currency number. So also the 30% that we gave as a CAGR at constant currency. It's important and we had it in the script already to always be clear on what our strategic aspiration is, which is to become the most premium global sportswear brand. The first focus of what we are building is to increase our addressable market. About 75% of the people in our markets don't know about On. So increasing brand awareness is a key first step. But we are not using a shot-gun approach to do this; instead, we are extremely conscious about the different communities and customer groups we are targeting. Take Burna Boy and Zalando; they speak to a Gen Z customer. Helene builds credibility with all kinds of runners. This strategy is to set ourselves apart from everyone else in the industry. Ultimately, our products give our fans an identity that is really rooted in the innovation and the design we are bringing to the product. So we are bringing fans into our shoes and into the apparel that have not used sneakers or performance-inspired apparel before. And all of this will drive strong growth in each of our regions because this strategy will work in each of our regions.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of John Kernan of TD Cowen.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

This is Krista Zuber on for John. Just one on gross margin. You raised the fiscal '25 gross margin expectation, which kind of implies a modest expansion for Q4 against your toughest year-ago compare. Can you walk us through the various tailwinds and headwinds that support the outlook into Q4? And separately, I think in the release, you mentioned favorable product costing benefits in Q3 and what the long-term outlook for that line item is?

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

Yes. As I just said, I think it's super important to understand that a big part of the upside we have seen in Q3 or the strong margin we have seen is really based on the power of the business model we have built, and we consider this to be long term. If we look into Q4, I think there is still upside in the margin. We put some prudence in here. As we move into next year, that sustained uplift will still be there. On top of that, we are benefiting from the current FX environment and freight environment, which will drive additional margin into the gross profit. But the important piece is that we have taken a big step above our target communicated, and that includes our pricing power and our operational improvements.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Sam Poser of William Trading.

Samuel Poser, Analyst

Real quick. You said at a conference that you might tone down the U.S. growth. How much of what's going on right now is sort of with the really strong growth in APAC and EMEA? How should we think about the U.S.? And how much is that sort of more controlled growth reflected in the gross margin and the outlook for the gross margin?

Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman

Thank you, Sam. That's a very thoughtful question. Look, executing a premium strategy takes a lot of discipline. The comment we've made repeatedly also on these calls is that we're not chasing growth by adding especially wholesale doors that don't make sense. We're also not chasing growth by discounting. I can give you a bit of color around the U.S. We're very happy to see that the price increases we've done now in July of this year have been very well received, and we see continued demand growth, implying that our affluent consumers are not price sensitive. I think that's a very important fact as a lot of people seem to be concerned about the tariff impact. Our global brand tracker for the U.S. shows that it's one of the regions where we've seen the most awareness and are gaining with relevance, especially with high-income teens and affluent demographics, combined with a high relevance in running. Q3 saw fewer seasonal sales this year, and we're heading into this holiday season with a full-price strategy. We have no discounts coming up against the backdrop of a competitive environment. We are staying true to the discipline that the premium strategy demands.

Samuel Poser, Analyst

Then when we think about your initial look at '26 and the raise of the three-year plan, would that sort of mean on an FX-neutral basis ongoing double-digit growth in the U.S., but significantly higher growth in Asia and EMEA?

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

It includes strong growth across all the different regions. As I just said, many of the things we are building will amplify the opportunity that we have as a brand, the reach we have as a brand in all the different regions. Our assumption includes the continued strong growth of the U.S. and is based on the continued strong growth of Europe and Asia Pacific. Just take apparel, for example; this is a global story. Apparel is just as underpenetrated in the U.S. as it is in Asia Pacific and will see massive growth opportunities in every region. We will expand our retail in all regions while maintaining the philosophy Caspar mentioned on expanding wholesale.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Wendy Liu of JPMorgan.

M. Liu, Analyst

Congrats on the excellent quarter. I have two questions. One is in APAC, very impressive triple-digit growth. You mentioned super digit growth in Greater China, South Korea. I was wondering if you could share how much of that comes from space versus same-store sales growth or like-for-like growth? And then secondly, just a quick clarification question. I think you had your raised guidance, which implies mid-20s growth in Q4. We know the tough comps here, but just wanted to track what are the considerations behind this outlook, which still looks pretty conservative? What are you seeing in the regional market since October?

Unknown Executive, Unknown Title

Okay. I think in Asia Pacific, we talk about very different markets. Japan is a market where we have a strong presence with our wholesale partners. We are very carefully expanding additional retail stores, such as the one in Ginza. This is a playbook of growing brand awareness and being where the customer shops. If we are looking at most of the other regions, including China, we see massive same-store growth. At the same time, we are extremely disciplined in opening additional stores. The global number of 20 to 25 stores includes China and reflects a cautious approach to building the brand credibly and ensuring performance credibility. The demand for premium sportswear is incredibly high. We could easily sell more products, but we see this as a multi-year journey. Regarding our Q4 outlook, we want to align ourselves with our brand objective of connecting about the right gear for the season. Our holiday season is about shopping for gifts but is not a moment for us to drive sales through discounts. Our commitment to full-price sales is, first and foremost, a long-term brand building strategy. As for Q4, we had a strong start into October and November, alongside the recent success of our apparel on platforms like Tmall, achieving incredible momentum. We expect that the U.S. region will perform in line or even slightly accelerate growth compared to what we had seen in Q3.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Aubrey Tianello of BNP Paribas.

Aubrey Tianello, Analyst

I wanted to ask about profitability. Your EBITDA margin guidance for this year puts you a year ahead of schedule versus your 2026 target. How should we be thinking about the progression of EBITDA margin longer term now that you're surpassing some of these targets, especially, Martin, with your comment that there's structural improvement on the distribution expense line?

Martin Hoffmann, CEO & CFO

Yes. It's always important to recall the philosophy that we have when it comes to managing our business around profitability. So for us, it's first and foremost about investing into the business and investing into long-term growth, which means investing into brand building, capabilities, the team, technology. And at the same time, drive additional profitability year-by-year. We keep on doing this unless there is a moment where we exceed expectations, and we can't invest into the business in a meaningful way. That’s a bit of what we've seen now in Q3, where sales came in much stronger than expected and drove together with a strong gross profit margin. Our philosophy of approaching profitable growth has stayed the same. We will approach next year very much with the same mindset. So how can we invest into the brand, and how can we accelerate some of the trends we are having that will continue to drive growth well beyond 2026? Given the stronger gross profit, solid sales outlook, and improved distribution line, we can drive profitability beyond the outlook provided three years ago. This is the mindset we'll adopt heading into '26, and we'll give a precise outlook in March.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Rick Patel of Raymond James.

Rakesh Patel, Analyst

You touched on the opportunity with the younger consumer. Can you expand on that? Like what do you define as a young consumer? And how big is that business today? Can you unpack your go-to-market strategy to acquire these consumers as we think about categories and geographies?

Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman

Yes. We entered the space with running, and the running category is typically a bit older. At the same time, we entered the running category with an entry prevention technology, which also made it older. Over the last six to seven years, we have gained a lot of traction with younger consumers. Collaborating with generational talent like Zalando has, of course, helped a lot. Recently, we started a collaboration with Burna Boy to appeal more to male teens. If you walk through affluent high schools in the U.S., you’ll see the cool kids wearing On, which is a relatively new phenomenon. That’s not something we're chasing, but it’s very inspiring to connect with this younger target group. Additionally, we have launched a kids line that is doing phenomenally well, and it’s hard to keep it in stock. For the young children, it’s the parents buying the product. We are leveraging that appeal, but we also have a kids line for young teens, where we are seeing very strong results.

Operator, Operator

And that concludes our question-and-answer session for today and also the conclusion of our session. Thank you so much for attending today's call. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.