Earnings Call Transcript - RACE Q4 2023

Nicoletta Russo, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, and welcome to everyone who is joining us. Today, we plan to cover the Group's full of 2023 operating results and 2024 guidance, and the duration of the call is expected to be around 60 minutes. Today's call will be hosted by the Group CEO, Mr. Benedetto Vigna; and Group CFO, Mr. Antonio Picca Piccon. All relevant materials are available in the Investors section of the Ferrari corporate website. And at the end of the presentation, we will be available to answer your questions. Before we begin, let me remind you that any forward-looking statements we might make during today's call are subject to the risks and uncertainties mentioned in the Safe Harbor statements included on Page 2 of today's presentation, and the call will be governed by this language. With that said, I'd like to turn the call over to Benedetto.

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Gracias, Nicoletta. And thanks everyone for joining us today. 2023 will be remembered as the year in which we accomplished many achievements and strengthened our brand across each of its three segments: racing, sports cars, and lifestyles. For this, I would like to thank all the women and men of Ferrari for their outstanding work, all our clients for their continuous trust in our brand, and all our partners, suppliers, dealers, and sponsors with whom we have continued to strengthen our relationships. Among the many achievements in 2023, I would like to mention three. The first historic victory at Le Mans. The second is the launch of new models, further enriching our beautiful product offering together with a variety of new client engagement experiences. And last but not least, the new iconic bag and Maranello clutch that stemmed from the cooperation between colleagues in Maranello and those in Milan from our lifestyle department. These achievements are reflected in our record full-year financial results across all metrics. So let's start reviewing together a few key numbers for 2023. Revenues were at approximately EUR6 billion. EBITDA at EUR2.28 billion with a record yearly EBITDA margin of 38.2%. Net profit first in our history well over EUR1 billion threshold with a remarkable net profit margin of 21%. And industrial free cash flow generation of approximately EUR930 million on which about EUR800 million distributed to shareholders between dividends and share buybacks. And now after the numbers, let's deep dive into our racing activities. Winning the 24 hours of Le Mans was an unforgettable day in our history. I was there, and I will never forget that June 11 afternoon because it saw our victorious return to the top class of the World Endurance Championship on the centenary of this legendary 24-hour race. The Ferrari 499P win was a true team effort. Every area of our company worked together to contribute to our hypercar success. And I am really proud of everyone, as we say we are and we act as one Ferrari. In Formula 1, we fought till the very last race. Even though the last season has been a difficult one often short on satisfaction, we know we must continue to work tirelessly to return to the level that our tifosi rightly expect of us, and we look forward to it. The continuous will to progress and strive for excellence in racing and everything we do testify to our effort and our willingness to always push the boundaries of technology and innovation audaciously. And this leads me to the achievements we reached in our sports cars. In 2023, we unveiled five new models out of the 15 models announced at the 2022 Capital Markets Day: three models for the road, Roma Spider, SF90 XX Stradale and SF90 XX Spider. They all raised the bar of technology and design even further to meet and exceed the desires of our clients. And two models for the track. During the Finali Mondiali at the Mugello Circuit last quarter, we unveiled the 296 Challenge and the 499P Modificata, both of which will set new benchmarks in track driving trails for our most passionate racing clients. Consistently and coherently, we follow our strategy of different Ferraris for different moments and different Ferraris for different speed. This year, we continued to engage with our clients with many experiences on the road and on the track. I refer to unique and truly engaging locations, such as the Finali Mondiali, our Cavalcade, our legacy tools, to mention just a few of them. These are all experiences which continue to bond our community even further and evoke a true sense of belonging. These exclusive events enable our clients, tifosi, and enthusiasts to interact with the brand and live experiences together. 2023 has been a year of learning for our lifestyle activities, which have shown positive indicators, among which improved retail performances, successful activation in conjunction with racing and brand events, and record museum visitors. In fact, 740,000 brand lovers visited our museums in Maranello and Modena last year, almost 20% more people than one year ago, confirming the strength of the brand and the passion of our community. Throughout 2023, we have also made relevant progress in our carbon neutrality journey. Indeed, we reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 7% in 2023 and by 16% versus 2021. We built our first prototype engine from recycled aluminum. We also installed solar panels providing an extra 2.4 megawatt peak power compared to last year, and an additional 1 megawatt peak power will become available in the coming months from the Renewable Energy Community, the first-ever energy community in Italy to be backed by an industrial company for the benefit of its local area. This is only one demonstration of the moral obligation we feel to give back to the local community. All of these developments, as well as the record result, have been possible thanks to the passion and dedication of all my colleagues here. And through their achievement in line with the company's strong performance indicators, I’m pleased to announce the yearly competitive award of up to nearly EUR13,500 for our employees. We are also proud to mention the additional four welfare initiatives that we announced last November 13th, a broad-based share ownership plan for our 5,000-plus employees, the extension of health checkups, the parenting support, as well as the addition of 250 new eyes. On top, we have also received equal salary certification on a global level for the first time, a result we can all be proud of. 2023 was characterized by global tensions, geopolitical conflicts, supply chain disruption, and cost inflation. All challenges we have learned a lot from. Our flexibility, our agility, together with the constant support of our clients and partners, allow us to look at 2024 with confidence. Such confidence also derives from the positive momentum that we continue to experience. Notwithstanding the current challenging macroeconomic environment, the vitality of our business is once again confirmed by the order book on current models, which remains strong across all geographies and covers the entire 2025. During last month, I've been visiting several dealerships in Europe, the USA, and different countries in Asia, and I can tell you that the traction of our brand is really strong. You can really sense it when you meet our clients in the dealership and see how they interact with our dealers; you can easily understand their strong attachment to our brand. Our dealerships are a great point of aggregation for our clients, and events organized by our dealers help to boost the spontaneous aggregation of our loyal clients. The residual values remain sound with different dynamics in the region, normalizing from the peaks registered in the post-pandemic period when the lack of new products boosted them. The visibility granted by the order book gives us the confidence to look at the future, but at the same time, we need to always keep four wheels on the ground. A confident community and will to progress have been our and will be our north star during the execution of our business plan. Following an initial phase of our business plan characterized by revenue and profitability expansion, in 2024, we continue to grow our top line while consolidating percentage margins, which we expect to further expand towards the end of the current business plan. The record result of 2023, the exceptional visibility on our order book, and the extraordinary performance of our business allow us to look at the high end of the 2026 target with stronger confidence. But beyond the record numbers, what can you expect in 2024 from us? In racing, our DNA, we will compete at the top in Formula 1 and Endurance. We have recently confirmed the World Endurance Championship team, and in Formula 1, we have reinforced the technical team and expanded the manufacturing area, which is already up and running. During the last weekend, we won the 24 hours of Daytona in the GTD Pro class with our 296 GT3 cars, definitely a great start to the 296 careers. On top, we have just announced that we are expanding our presence in the racing world with the intention of setting records by racing on the sea globally. In sports cars, we will inaugurate the e-building in June, exactly two years after our last Capital Markets Day. We will further enrich the product offering with three new model launches. And we will continue to announce our client experiences, both on track and on the road, not only on brand new cars but also taking care of Ferrari’s pre-owned models with tailored events. In our history, we have crafted about 250 different models of Ferrari, and for us, they are all equally important. They are all our children. In lifestyle, 2024 will be the year of progress with an array of activities designed to build scale while elevating and expanding visibility. Among our priorities, we continue to focus on our carbon neutrality journey, which is further boosted by the ultimate goal to shut down the three generators within the next 18 months. We look ahead at 2024 with energy, agility, and a confident community, but above all, with enthusiasm for the new exciting challenges in front of us. And now, I hand over to Antonio to review the 2023 results and 2024 guidance.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

Thank you, Benedetto, and good morning or afternoon to everyone joining us today. Starting on Page 7, we present the highlights of the results for the entire 2023. As Benedetto just mentioned, 2023 was another record year for our company with all financial metrics once again growing double-digit and with a significant margin expansion of 3 percentage points at the EBIT level and even more at the EBITDA level. Even if our four-year plan from the last Capital Markets Day is rather front-loaded by design, such results went beyond our expectations considering the modest shipment increase and the inflation headwind affecting our input costs, a visible real-life application of the obsession to prioritize value over volume and to control our locations to promote exclusivity. Let's dive into the details to try and shed some light on our path forward. Our strong business performance in 2023 was sustained by three main factors: a rich product mix, further emphasized by a surprisingly strong personalization uptick, coupled with a favorable country mix. These led to revenues up 17%, adjusted EBITDA growing roughly 28.5%, which is EUR500 million, with a very solid margin of 38.2%. Adjusted EBIT was up approximately 32% with a yearly record 27.1% margin. Net profit was EUR1,260 million, leading to an adjusted diluted earnings per share of EUR6.9 from less than EUR5.1 last year. Of particular note was the industrial free cash flow generation, which reached EUR932 million. Moving to Page 8, you can see the details of the full-year shipment. In the year, deliveries increased by less than 450 units after two post-pandemic years of strong double-digit increase. As usual, geographies reflect our choices of volume and product allocation in the different markets. EMEA and the Americas were up versus the prior year, representing more than 70% of our total shipments. The rest of APAC was almost flat at 17% and Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan reduced their share by EUR0.02 of units to 11% in line with our long-term targets for this area, considering its relative use and evident dilution impact on our percentage margins. Shifting to the product: the most significant change in the year was the doubling of the hybrid share to 44% of the total volumes underpinned by the growth of the SF90 and 296 family. The highly anticipated Purosangue ramped up during the second half of the year to finally reach its cruising altitude in 2024. The Roma Spider, which was unveiled in the first quarter, already commenced deliveries in the last quarter of 2023. Special series represented by the 812 Competizione increased compared to one year ago, thanks to the deliveries of the Aperta version, while Daytona SP3 shipments continued according to our plans between 30 and 40 units per quarter. Lastly, in the year, the F8 finally concluded its life cycle with the Portofino also approaching its end. On Page 9, you can see the net revenues bridge posting a robust 17% growth versus the prior year also at constant currency. The increased cars and spare parts was evidently the main contributor, driven by the richer mix, personalization, pricing, and likely higher volume. Price increases during the year were differentiated by product and geography in accordance with the decisions taken in the second half of 2022 to protect our margin from the surge of inflation. Personalizations continued to strengthen, and in the last quarter, we witnessed a consolidation of the trend registered in the first nine months. In 2023, personalizations stood at approximately 19% in proportion to revenues from cars and spare parts, mainly driven by paint, liveries, and use of carbon. Sponsorship, commercial, and brand reflected higher sponsorships, including Formula 1 and World Endurance Championship racing activities, higher Formula 1 commercial revenues, and better rankings achieved in 2022 compared to 2021, as well as the growing contribution from lifestyle activities. Engine revenues declined in line with the reduction of supplies of Maserati, whose contract expired at the end of 2023. Therefore, from the first quarter of 2024 onward, any residual contribution from the sales of engine and spare parts, whether for sport cars or racing, will be reported in the bar named 'others.' Currency had a small negative net impact, mainly reflecting the opposite dynamics of the US dollar, Japanese yen, and Chinese yuan. Moving to Page 10, the change in adjusted EBIT is explained by the following variances: volume positive and reflecting the limited increase in shipments; mix and price also positive and very strong for EUR461 million, thanks to a very favorable product mix sustained by the Daytona SP3, the 812 Competizione, and the SF90 families; and country mix driven by the Americas and Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan despite the small decrease in deliveries in the year and increased contribution from personalization and pricing. Industrial and R&D expenses grew EUR166 million, mainly due to higher depreciation and amortization, cost inflation, and higher Formula 1 expenses. SG&A was negative for EUR43 million, mainly reflecting the continuous development of the company's digital infrastructure and organization. In addition, we kept on adding resources to enhance our brand investment, which encompass all our marketing, lifestyle, and other initiatives designed to enhance brand recognition among clients. Other was positive for EUR81 million, combining higher Formula 1 commercial revenues as well as better ranking in 2022 versus 2021, new sponsorships, higher contribution from lifestyle activities, and certain releases of provisions already discussed during the year. The total net impact of currency was positive for EUR15 million. With the positive net support of these variances, we reached the yearly records of EBITDA and EBIT margins that we commented on. Turning to Page 11, our industrial free cash flow generation was remarkable in the year, reaching EUR932 million, reflecting increased profitability, partially offset by financial charges and taxes, and most of all, capital expenditure for EUR869 million, increasing in line with the pace of development of our product and infrastructure, and a significant increase in working capital, which reflects both the inventory expansion built to protect our delivery plans and the enriched product mix. Net industrial debt at the end of December improved below the EUR100 million mark, reflecting robust industrial free cash flow generation, partially offset by our initiatives to reward shareholders. Dividends and buybacks were worth approximately EUR800 million altogether, implying a distribution of roughly 85% of the industrial free cash flow generation. Finally, let's move to Page 12. Building upon the visibility we enjoyed, we outlined the guidance for 2024 as a further solid step towards our target for the years to come. Let me explain the drivers sustaining 2024 along the growth trajectory that we have designed. On sports cars, product and country mix will be positive, and much more relevant volume once again with an increased contribution from the Daytona SP3 and a constant personalization rate. Commercial revenues from racing in Formula 1 will be affected by the lower ranking achieved in 2023 compared to 2022, despite a higher number of races in the 2024 calendar. Lifestyle activity will continue to increase the support for the top line while investing a larger share of resources to speed up the pace of development. Cost inflation is expected to proceed through the supply chain, and SG&A will increase in line with revenues due to continuing brand investment and digital development. The above will contribute to the further profitability expansion while we expect inflation, brand and infrastructural expenses, as well as increased Formula 1 spending due to the higher budget caps to flatten our percentage margin in line with 2023. The industrial free cash flow generation will be sustained by our profitability, partially offset by capital expenditure of approximately EUR950 million as many projects will enter their advanced stages of development, with a still negative change in working capital mainly due to lower net advances collected from clients and increased tax payments proportional to the growth of our income in 2023. The underlying assumption on the US dollar exchange rate is that it will fluctuate around 1.1, implying a negative FX impact compared to 2023, including hedges. That said, we are already conscious of the stronger business performance recorded so far despite the higher cost inflation. Cash performance has been driven by the product mix, which will remain rich over the business plan, and this has been further enhanced by both the actions on pricing and the exceptional demand for personalization. For sure, we continue to stay focused on pricing and product enrichment, and reassured by the visibility granted by our order book, we affirm the confidence into the high end of our 2026 target as Benedetto just said. I thank you for your attention. And I now turn the call over to Nicoletta.

Nicoletta Russo, Head of Investor Relations

We are now ready to open the Q&A session.

John Babcock, Analyst

This is John Babcock actually on the line for John Murphy. Just quickly, you talked about doubling the hybrid share from 2022 to 2023 from 22% of shipments to 44%. Out of curiosity, do hybrids tend to be favorable for mix? And then also, can you talk about what the customer reception has been to hybrid engines and if this is something they're asking for?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Yes, it's true we doubled our share of hybrid. This testifies that we are able in Ferrari to use the technology in a way that is unique. Coming back to the specific question, I would say that two points. Number one, the profile of the customer using this technology is not so much different from the ones using traditional thermal cars. And number two, profit-wise we are within the same ballpark as all the other cars. For us, each car is a business initiative, and all of them have to deliver according to our standards.

John Babcock, Analyst

And then also just given what's going on in the Red Sea. Could you just quickly discuss if this was creating any challenges for Ferrari?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

A challenge at the Red Sea is basically we don't see it at all. We double-checked with our suppliers; there is nothing that is impacting us. So no impact on our production or delivery of cars.

Michael Binetti, Analyst

I guess, first off, Antonio, could you give a little context around the guidance for free cash flow being lower this year? Is there an acceleration in some of the development spending and maybe any delta in the deposits for supercars included in the free cash flow outlook or excluded? And then on personalization, maybe just a little bit on the strategy there going forward after a really good year on personalization last year. Is there an opportunity to take some pricing to help offset some of the cost increases that you're seeing across the business there?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

I will address the second question, and Antonio will provide more details on the first. Yes, personalization is crucial for us as a luxury company, and we need to invest in it as it represents a significant growth area and pricing opportunity. We began reviewing our prices earlier this year, and the adjustments are considerable. We intend to capture the value in this important area. Now, Tony, regarding the free cash flow?

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

I’ll try and explain the three reasons. The first is clerical; we are just paying more taxes. The second one is we are spending more on CapEx, and EUR150 million is what we have in mind for the year. This is just because we have products that are now very close to the launch and a number of products. The third reason is the revenue cycle; this is just timing basically. We collected quite a bit in 2022 and 2023. We are seeing a net reversal and, in addition, some new advances collected in 2024. But the overall impact is modestly negative.

Michael Binetti, Analyst

And I guess, if I could squeeze one more in here, I guess, with the e-building still on track for midyear. But can you tell us what we'll see early on as far as as you guys start to commercialize that? And what are some of the first things we'll see from outside of the company as you guys start to look to commercialize that?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

This morning, Antonio and I were in the building. So we are on track. It'll be up and running starting this June. This will be a place where we will assemble not only electric cars. Electric cars, as you know, will be ready if we are on track for Q4 2025. So also on the electrification journey, we are fully on track with our plan.

Susy Tibaldi, Analyst

I have three, I'll ask one at a time. So first one on the demand: within the luxury sector, we are seeing some softening of demand, but it appears that the higher end exposed to the wealthier cohort is still doing extremely well. And it seems also from your opening remarks that, based on residual values, some feedback from dealers, you're not really seeing anything. But just to double check, is the economic picture at the moment having any impact at all on the Ferrari customer? Is there any comment, any additional color you can provide?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Look, as we said in the call myself and also Antonio, the demand overall, the order book is pretty strong, extending well into 2025. We do not see any negative signals on this topic. We keep doing as planned. Clearly, in our client base, there is not an impact in any kind of way. We had the dealer annual meeting at the end of November, and we have been visiting several dealerships in the USA, in Asia, and different countries in Europe, and there is really strong traction towards our brand.

Susy Tibaldi, Analyst

On the margin guidance for 2024, which basically implies a flattish margin. I wanted to understand if your core spare parts business is also seeing flattish margins, or perhaps that core business is seeing some underlying improvement, but then is offset by the dilution of some of the other segments where you are choosing to invest a little bit more. So it'll be quite interesting to understand the dynamics in your various segments.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

So Susy, I try to explain: product mix, personalization are good, but we expect the cost base below that to impact us and to flatten the margin. Within the cost of goods sold is just the budget cap on the F1 racing activities, which is growing year after year and has been agreed with various teams to index spending to inflation. So year over year, it has an impact on us.

Susy Tibaldi, Analyst

And the last question. For 2024, when we think about the phasing, is it fair to assume that the year is going to be a little bit more front-end loaded, given the mix evolution, or is it going to be quite similar quarter-on-quarter?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

I don't see a significant difference yet. There might be nuances, but no significant changes. Usually, Q4 remains slightly softer, particularly in terms of volume allocations. But as of now, there is nothing to flag.

Stephen Reitman, Analyst

Again, congratulations for the very strong result. Also congratulate you on the quality of the result. We certainly noticed the positive impact from R&D capitalization was considerably lower in 2023 than in 2022 or ’21. So points to a higher quality there as well, I think. A question: you mentioned that the Purosangue has now reached a cruising speed in terms of production. Does that suggest that we are on track to see that reach 20% of the sort of annual sales? Because it looks like in 2023 it was only 100, so that would sort of ramp up. And if you’d comment on what the personalization levels look like. I imagine that people are paying a lot of money in terms of personalizations in order to secure bill slots as well for these in terms of making their orders attractive. And secondly, if you could comment on China. You did mention that you are strategically looking at that market in terms of managing the margin implication on sales in China. But I think there was an expectation that sales were going to maybe increase a little bit in the fourth quarter because they'd be deferred from the third quarter in 2023, but we actually saw quite a big drop in 2020 in the fourth quarter. So I'm just wondering if you could say, are there any issues about the demand in that market as well?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Thank you for your extrapolation; we'll pass it to the team that made it possible. Coming back to the story of Purosangue. In 2023, we shipped a few hundred Purosangue. In 2024, we'll be increasing speed to reach about 20% of the total. So your assumptions, your calculations are pretty in line with our plan. The personalization…

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

But if I may, Benedetto, just to complete on that: I wouldn't focus on 20% of each single year. We said 20% of the yearly sales on average when we communicated around the Capital Markets Day. Mathematically, even if Benedetto is in competition…

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Yes, we are not that much focused. No, look, the story of Purosangue personalization, Stephen, clearly the Purosangue offers a lot of degrees of personalization. We see clients looking at the rims, liveries, painting, and the roof. So there are some opportunities over there. Last year, we have been working a lot to strengthen our supply chain for all the personalization that the car is offering to all the client. The second question was about China. Well, for us, I would like to say that there are three words about China: the first is 'young market.' Young market means that the number of cars shipped within this market is not so big. The market is very young, and we have to let it grow at the right speed to avoid, let me say, indigestion. The second, it's a niche market still because if you do the math, we are talking about 1,200 cars, it is written in the chart. We have slightly decreased this year, but we are talking about a decrease in the range of a few tens of units, which since the market is smaller, may look like a few percent decrease. The third point is that we have said from the beginning that we will keep China around 10% because it is not margin accretive. But again, it's important that in each country as our history testifies, we let the attachment to the brand grow at the right speed. Because if you grow too fast, the clients don't get used to what Ferrari is. This is what we have done in other countries, and this is what we intend to do also in China.

Tom Narayan, Analyst

Question on the strong plug-in hybrid performance. Just curious if you could extrapolate that for the eventual BEVs, full electric, you plan to sell. Is there really a translation there to say that consumer demand for the plug-in hybrids could potentially mean that this cohort would be interested in full electrics, or are those buying the plug-in hybrids just across the board similar to your existing portfolio of customers?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Look, we posed ourselves this question many times. We've been talking to our clients through directors and dealers. I don't think there is any extrapolation possible in this respect. I believe that we will have clients that will only take the red car, the ICE. We'll have clients that will take ICE and hybrid as today. We will have clients that will get into our family only because we have electric cars. So I believe that we see very often that the answer is that, you know, I need mobility because I need to go to places not permitted by restrictions. Any combination of these three categories will be possible. I don't think that the hybrid car serves as a predictor. The only lesson learned is that, looking at what happened at the end of 2023, if there is always a way to use the technology in a unique way, the Ferrari way, even clients who were skeptical at the beginning of hybrids turned toward hybrid vehicles. This is the key point. I remember once I had breakfast with a client who was skeptical about the hybrid, and then he tried it and booked the hybrid. That's pretty common, so this confirms that our strategy to keep alive the three colors: the red, the blue, and the green is the right one.

Tom Narayan, Analyst

With everybody really interested in your electrification journey that will happen, just curious if we can expect capital markets events for investors and for ourselves coming up this year potentially or next year?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

This year, for sure not. We are working for next year, but not for sure for this year. Only one point, the electrification journey that is happening has already started for a while. This is important. This is the key message we passed on during the Capital Markets Day two years ago. We are already on the electrification journey for a few years.

Henning Cosman, Analyst

Interesting that you emphasize pricing and personalization so much. I'm not sure I understood you correctly, Benedetto. Did you say you would raise prices in the mid-single-digit percentage range on personalization specifically? If you could just confirm that. And if you would, also…

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Confirm, yes. We will increase the price of personalization exactly as you understood. When it comes to the price of the cars, don't forget that last year, we have been increasing the price. It's also important that we consider that on the other side, there is a client that has been looking at Ferrari, and we have to behave properly when it comes to pricing increases. While, for personalization, Antonio can speak more about the Daytona.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

On personalization, you got me right. Meaning, in 2023, we were almost at 19%, and in 2024 we are assuming we will maintain more or less that rate. Visibility as of now is in that direction. On the last question regarding Daytona, yes, you are correct. We expect to grow from 30, 40 to approximately 60 units per quarter next year.

Monica Bosio, Analyst

The first question is about the EBITDA margin you indicated will remain flat for 2024. I understand this is influenced by the cost of producing more complex products, and I assume labor costs also play a role. Could you provide some insight into how much labor costs affect this flat guidance? My second question concerns lifestyle revenues; you mentioned an anticipated increase in preliminary remarks. Can you clarify the expected growth rate for 2024? Lastly, regarding your advances from the SF90 XX and the Spider, I recall you mentioned in the last call that you would be collecting advances on these cars. Could you share any details about the expected amount and timeline for this throughout the year?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Antonio will take the first and third questions, and then I will reply to your second question.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

It's not due to just a higher cost base at all or related to the additional complexity of the production. I mentioned basically three elements. One, cost inflation, which is still there. It includes cost of labor. We have an agreement in place with the trade unions for an increase year-over-year of 4%, which is embedded in this assumption. But even component and, generally speaking, the change that is still embedded in current pricing, the impact of inflation that has gone through the economy in the last 12 months. So that is one element; it's not a complexity. The second one are expenses for brand development, including lifestyle. We are investing to grow the business, and also in our digital infrastructure, we are growing and we need to grow even in that respect, including a significant rejuvenation of what we currently use. The last element, which is impacting both cost of goods sold and R&D expense, is the expenses for Formula 1, since the budget cap, which was originally meant to decrease over time, is actually growing since it has been agreed around the various teams to index spending to inflation. Year-over-year, it's gone negatively.

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

So Monica, for lifestyle, I would define 2023 by three important points. Number one, we improved retail performances because there is more traction towards our collection. Two, we saw success in activation when we have events in conjunction with our racing and brand events. And three, we had record museum visitors, around 750,000, which is a lot. In 2024, I would define it as a year of progress because we have a list of activities aimed at building scale and also expanding the network while elevating our visibility and brand recognition. It's a year where we aim to grow as well. We are in line with what we declared in June 2022 with our target to double the revenues of this activity by 2026.

Monica Bosio, Analyst

If I can add just a follow-up on the country mix. You said that the country mix will keep positive in 2024. I'm just wondering if it will be similar to the one seen in the full year 2023.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

I'd say, as of now, I wouldn't consider the country mix being an additional positive in 2024. It's more or less flattish.

George Galliers, Analyst

Obviously, one of the standouts of 2023 was the very strong price/mix. And we look at your five-year plan, you were targeting around EUR700 million improvement in EBIT from price/mix by 2026. We're only two years into the plan, and you've delivered close to 65% of that target. Obviously, on this call, you've been mentioning new initiatives around personalization and pricing, and there are clearly still several important new launches to come. So is it fair to say there is a decent amount of upside to that original EUR700 million that you flagged back at the CMD? Second question was also relating to something you talked about at the CMD, which was how you were going to leverage partnerships to co-develop best-in-class solutions regarding electrification. I was wondering if you could give us some insights into how those partnerships have evolved. Have there been any unanticipated challenges? And conversely, have there been any areas where your partners have really surprised you positively? If yes, would you be able to provide small examples or snippets?

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

I take the second question. Regarding the first one, I will ask Antonio to refine. So you remember very well, during Capital Markets Day, we clearly said we leverage the partnership for electrification but also for other technologies. Because don't forget that we are making luxury cars, and there is much more than simple characterization. We're doing a lot of innovation also on hybrid cars and on thermal cars. So having said that, we are having a positive surprise on the willingness of the partners to work with us. We have partners in different areas ranging from new generation materials to new generation, let’s say, advanced electronics to advanced displays. We are regularly meeting with them, and they are also satisfied with our collaborations. Antonio, you can elaborate more.

Antonio Picca Piccon, CFO

On strong price/mix, I mean, if we compare with our assumption in the Capital Markets Day, you are correct; we have been doing better. We flagged a number of times this year that personalization, particularly, surprised us in terms of their strength. However, it's fair to say that even the cost base has been much higher than we would have expected. The positive, of course, is the fact that the improvement from personalization and pricing has been such that allowed us to more than offset the impact of inflation. Now if we look forward, is there an opportunity for an upside on personalization? If the trend continued in the way we have seen, potentially, yes, in terms of revenues. Whether this will flow through the P&L will depend on what happens to the cost base, exactly parallel with what happened in 2023.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Due to time constraints and to keep the conference within the hour, we now end the question-and-answer session. I will now hand back to Mr. Benedetto Vigna, CEO, for closing remarks. Thank you.

Benedetto Vigna, CEO

Thank you. Thanks all of you for your time today and also for your questions. The stronger 2023 results are basically a result of our strong brand desirability and also the confidence that we have on this year forward, thanks to the traction that our products have with all our clients. I wish you a good afternoon. And I thank you, together with all the Ferrari team here, for your attention and interest in our brand. Thank you so much.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you, and have a good day.