BIC is Transforming for Growth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                         

BIC IS TRANSFORMING FOR GROWTH

Five actions to improve short-term resilience
and accelerate long-term growth

Clichy -20 May 2020 -  Today, BIC announces five actions to improve short-term resilience in the context of the COVID-19 crisis and strengthen its “BIC 2022 - Invent the Future” transformation plan to accelerate long-term growth.

Launched in February 2019, “BIC 2022 – Invent the Future” aims to enhance BIC’s agility and effectiveness and consolidate the Group’s leading positions in its three categories. The plan is on track, and several initiatives have already been implemented to achieve our operational targets.

These five actions aim to drive Net Sales performance, and mitigate the impact of the current crisis on cash generation for the balance of the year:

1. Managing OPEX by investing at the right levels and in the right places:
   • In 2020, the negative impact of Net Sales decrease on Normalized Income From Operations margin will be partially offset by 15 to 20 million euros OPEX savings.
2. Protecting Cash Flow by managing CAPEX and reducing inventory levels:
   • We expect 2020 inventories to decrease by approximately 15 to 30 million euros vs. the end of 2019, the coming Back-to-School season will be determinant in achieving this goal.
   • 2020 CAPEX will be reduced to around 80 million euros vs. 114 million euros in 2019.
   • Net Cash Position remains healthy at 127.6 million euros on May 10^th  before payment of the 2019 dividend.
3. Launching Innovation with a focus on consumer centricity, sustainable products, and commercial partnerships:
   • Several new product introductions are scheduled, including the new multipurpose pocket lighter BIC EZ-Reach in the US in the second half of the year, and our refillable BIC Cristal with a metal barrel at the end of the year.
4. Scaling Operations by reducing complexity and driving process efficiency and speed:
   • “BIC 2022 – Invent the Future” plan will be strengthened with additional savings from procurement efficiencies, leading to a total of 50 million euros in annualized savings by the end of 2022.
5. Driving Growth by leveraging new commercial capabilities and reinforcing existing businesses through targeted external Growth, while upskilling our people:
   • As governments begin to ease confinement, we will seize the opportunity of the upcoming back-to-school period to enhance Stationery sales in partnership with key retailers, in stores and online
   • We will implement targeted price increases in the US pocket lighters in H2
   • Our objective is to grow e-commerce Net Sales by approximately 20% in 2020.

“BIC has a strong business model and a sound balance sheet. While this pandemic creates unprecedented challenges for the business, it also offers opportunities to accelerate our transformation into a more agile and consumer-centric company, and we expect to emerge stronger from this crisis. Increasing focus on these five actions in support of our long-term strategic pillars will enable us to meet those challenges head-on and put us in a position of strength when the economy recovers.” said Gonzalve Bich, BIC’s Chief Executive Officer.