Aeroports De Paris Sa

Everyone, we're very pleased to present you our 2024 results. I am Cécile Combeau, Head of Investor Relations of Groupe ADP. Today with me are Philippe Pascal, Chairman and CEO, Justine Coutard, Deputy CEO, and Antoine Crombé, Deputy CFO. We will start with some prepared remarks from Philippe, Justine and Antoine before the Q&A session. And to ensure that as many of you as possible can talk to the management, we ask you please to ask only one or two questions at a time, and then queue up again if you have follow-up questions. As a reminder, certain information to be discussed during this conference is forward-looking and is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. And for these, I refer you to the disclaimer statement included in our press release and on slide 48 of our presentation. And with that, let me hand it over to our chairman and CEO, Philippe Pascal.

Thank you. Thank you, Cecile. And good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us. I am honored to stand before you today as a newly appointed chairman and CEO of Group EDP. I use to comment on ADP's financial result alongside Augustin Romanet, so first and foremost. I would like to pay tribute to his work and the head of the company for 12 years. He has made great efforts to improve quality of service on our airports. He has turned the group into an international player and positioned it as a leader and pioneer in the environmental transition of the airline industry. His track record speaks for itself, and the results are there for all to see. One more personal note, I would like also to thank him for his confidence and I have been proud to work alongside him on projects that have shaped the company and the industry in France and abroad. It's a privilege to succeed him as chairman and CEO of EDP and to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Groupe EDP has the strength and a solid team to project Ilseft into the future. It's this team of passionate people that makes me so enthusiastic about my new role. And my side this morning and in this new adventure is Justine Coutard, Justine Cotard, from her previous position as Director of Early Airport since 2020. She also previously served as Deputy CFO from 2016 to 2017. Justine, I will let you introduce your new role.

Thank you, Philippe. Good morning. It's a pleasure to speak with you and I'm both honoured and delighted that the Board of Directors appointed me as Deputy CEO of Groupe ADP. I would like first to thank the Board and Philippe for their trust and I look very much forward to working with them and to leading a committed, agile and ambitious team together. The Board entrusted me with the authority of executive officer, mandataire social, under French law, and I will oversee with particular attention the matters of development and engineering of our platforms, real estate, corporate social responsibility and environmental transition of our activities worldwide, as well as relations with all stakeholders, including national and local authorities. Philippe will comment on his vision, our shared vision and ambition for Groupe ADP in a few moments after the financial results presentation and will then be happy to answer your questions during the Q&A. But before that, I'll hand back to Philippe to comment on the 2024 highlights.

Thank you, thank you Justine. Slide 4. Slide 4 shows the key highlights of the year which we will develop in the next slide. Traffic has grown in line with our assumption with group traffic exceeding 2019 levels and Paris traffic showing strong momentum in international traffic. Once again, Group EDP published robust financial results. We have reached or surpassed all of our 2024 targets, allowing the Board to propose a dividend of 3 euros per share.

Now on slide 5, the Parisian airports handled traffic successfully during the Paris game last summer. This was achieved by an unprecedented mobilization of our employees and the airport community, as well as operational preparedness, such as increased automation of border controls, improved queue management, early check-in at the Olympic Village, and support for passengers with reduced mobility. All these initiatives are lasting and will continue to drive operational excellence and travel inclusivity.

On hospitality, on slide 6, 2024 has been a very strong retail performance, with extreme spend-per-packs hitting a new record above 32 euros. I will also highlight the stellar performance of our flagship Terminal 1 International, where overall spend is getting close to 90 euros per passenger. We continue to deploy Xtime model in Paris, notably with the opening of the Xtime exclusive private terminal in CDG, offering the highest possible level of service, attracting and leveraging high-end passengers. In 2024, we have also acquired two companies, Paris X-Time Group and PS, that will allow us to expand X-Time abroad and increase travelers funneling towards offering. Continuing with our international assets, starting with Thierry Airport on slide 7, the growth story continues, with double-digit traffic growth exceeding 11%. In 2024, the company commissioned a new terminal in Almaty Airport and a new X-Time launch there, showcasing a growth model based both on airport operations and on service companies. TIV also continues to work on key capacity projects in Ankara and Antalya. They will be delivered later in 2025 and will support continuing growth going forward. Moving to India, on slide 8, Jema Airport is also a growth story. Traffic rose by nearly double digits and key infrastructures were commissioned this year in Delhi and Hyderabad, increasing capacity. The key highlight this year is the successful restructuring of the holding company. We are now a direct shareholder of a listed company in India and powered towards further growth. The market value of our 45.7% stake in Gemma Airport is now directly visible. Other operational highlights include GMR award to operate directly its duty-free area at Delhi airport from July 25, and tariff increase proposed for Delhi airport, which is now under stakeholders' consultation. These are two key levels to improve cash generation going forward.

Moving to slide 9, I will address sustainability, which is at the core of our 2025 Pioneer Strategic Roadmap. Actions contributing to the achievement of the 2025 Pioneer's objectives are continuing. On the top part of the slide, you can see, for instance, our progresses on green energies projects with geothermy in Paris and solar plants in four airports abroad. as every semester we provide an update of our progresses on the 20 objectives of the roadmap. In addition, our annual Universal Registration Document will contain this year our first extra-financial report in compliance with the new CSRD directive. It will allow all stakeholders to monitor our actions on material, environmental, social, governance and business ethics matters and compare it with other companies. In terms of decarbonisation trajectory, I will highlight that Delhi Airport is the first of our portfolio to reach level 5 of the Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme, which is the highest level of accreditation. Regarding the Parisian platforms, our decarbonisation trajectory was validated by the SBTI last October and the CDP recently included ADPSA in its A-list for climate matters. So we are on the right track and intend to accelerate the group transformation, both in Paris and internationally, decarbonize our activities and that of the sector globally.

So finally, on slide 10, you can see that EDP delivered once again solid results. Both revenue and EBITDA reached record level. As expected, the reported net result is down due to a negative non-catch accounting charge from the operation at GMR level. Excluding such one-off, net result is up 16% to €638 million. Antoine, the floor is yours to give more detail about financial figures.

Thank you, Philippe. Thank you, Justine. I will now dive deeper in the 2024 financial results, starting with slide 12. Traffic evolved in line with our growth expectations. In Paris, it is up 3.7%, reflecting expected trends, including disruptions linked to the ATC system's experimentations in Q1, and a weak start to summer, with some travelers avoiding Paris due to the Olympics. These two impacted the traffic, notably the domestic one, which is in any case experiencing an underlying decline. Yet, international traffic has seen the highest growth, particularly with North America, Africa and Asia. With an increased weekly flight schedule, traffic with China more than doubled in 2024, reaching around 60% of 2019 levels. Weekly flights are capped at an unchanged level, and we expect traffic to stall at around 65-70% in 2025. At the group level, we continue to see strong momentum in the airports operated by TAV and by GMR, showcasing their role of growth relays. Traffic was slightly down, however, at Amman Airport in Jordan, though showing resilience despite its geopolitical context. Slide 13 with retail. Spend-per-packs reached a new record of 32.1 euros, up almost 5%. 2024 saw outstanding Olympic-related advertising and travel retail revenue, continued performance in retail and fashion, despite contrasted trends for each brand, and some headwinds in H2, with the reopening of Terminal 2 AC and the less contributive traffic mix during the Olympics. In 2025, the normalization of advertising and intensification of works in Terminal 2E All-K may wait on SPP growth. However, the solid trends we have recorded in 2024 give us confidence and enable us to raise our expectations. SPP 2025 is now expected 4-6% higher than 2023. Now on slide 14. Revenue reached an all-time high of 6.2 billion euros, up 12% versus last year. In Paris, aviation segment grew 7.5%, driven by traffic and higher tariffs. Retail and services segment is up by more than 9%, helped by record spend per packs we discussed. Real estate saw continued solid growth, up 6%. Looking abroad, TAV Airport was the largest contributor to the group's revenue growth, driven both by its airport assets and its services companies. AIG recorded stable revenue despite traffic being down in Amman. Moving to slide 15, OPEX are up 17% due notably to the inclusion of the new infrastructure tax in France for 131 million euros and the increase in staff costs, notably at TAV airports because of the high inflation in Turkey and the rapid growth of the company leading to recruitments. Regarding expenses linked to the Paris Games, they are as follows. 41 million euros spent in 2024, of which 25 million euros are neutralized at EBITDA level with a reversal of a provision made in 2023. 70 million euros as part of our partnership with the Olympic Committee, which are fully offset by equivalent revenue. The net impact of the Olympics on 2024 EBITDA is hence 16 million euros. All in all, we delivered 2.1 billion euros EBITDA, up 6% against 2023, surpassing our target. Note that the organic EBITDA growth in Paris activities was eaten up by the introduction of the new infrastructure tax in France, as can be seen on the bridge. Hence, EBITDA growth in 2024 is almost entirely attributed to international assets. Slide 16 speaks for itself. Let's move to slide 17 on net result. As highlighted, net result is down in 2024, largely due to the non-cash accounting impact of the GMR merger that we announced in earlier disclosures. Other trends to highlight would be stable DNA with a large impairment reversal at AIG, offsetting all negative effects. an improved financial result due to higher FX gains, gains on cash investments and a positive variation in FCCB valuations, and the increased income tax expense linked to the higher profit before tax, as the infrastructure tax is not deductible. All in all, as per dividend distribution policy, the Board has proposed a dividend of €3 per share to the next AGM. Slide 18 gives a view of the net result excluding one-offs effects. On a comparable basis, excluding notably the accounting charge linked to GMR merger operation, as well as for other one-offs in 2024 and in 2023, net result would be up more than 15% in 2024 to 638 million euros. So this is solid organic growth here at the bottom line. Lastly, I will comment on net debt on slide 19. You can see that leverage remains stable in 2024. Keep in mind that the reported net debt accounts for options on convertible bonds to GMR. Those derivatives' value varies with the bonds' and GMR's market's value, and inflate the group's reported net debt despite bearing no risk of cash outflows for the company. Excluding the value of these derivatives, adjusted net debt stood just above 8 billion euros as of 31st December. With that, let me hand it over to Philippe, who will now comment on our outlook and strategic priorities.

Thank you Antoine. As you have seen, our financial performance and our solid teams put us in a good position for the future. My ambition is for Group EDP to become a global reference in attractiveness and hospitality, as well as a model in environmental transition for the air travel industry. So, we are going to accelerate in this direction. We aim to create value for all of our stakeholders. I am determined to carry out my duty with a concern for the long term, which is the time horizon over which our activities take shape and create value. ADP is a unique model. We operate the three Paris airports, which are vital strategic infrastructure for France, and we also operate 26 airports worldwide. we are now entering a cycle that is going to be a little more Parisian than in the past. Our economic challenge, the value that needs to be created for the company, is essentially Parisian over the next few years. Reinversing our economic model requires the signature of an economic regulation contract. I will come back to this theme in detail in the next slide. Reinforcing our economic model requires that we accelerate the development of extreme models, both in Paris and internationally. We have laid the foundation and we are going to continue. It is the second item of my strategic focus. This is why securing our international activities is the third building block of the strategic refocusing and intent to deploy to reinforce our business model. Our international development has greatly intensified since 2017 with the takeover of TAV airport and then in 2020 with the acquisition of a stake in Gemma airport. EDP's international strategy is not only about projection our knowledge, but also about ensuring the overall economic balance of our activities. It is a combination of the two and the search for a balance that we built over the long term that explains EDP international expansion. International developments cost many money and first, then it pays off. And I also want to make this free strategic priority a mean to work towards a stronger, more agile corporate culture. This spirit will be at the heart of the management team that Justine and I will be building. Let's now take a look at what I mean when I tell you that we are entering a cycle that is a little bit more Parisian and what I want to do with the launch of a multi-year agreement in Paris. I am now on slide 20. I told you about the ambition I have for the company group EDP and the role I want our company to play and the model of decarbonisation for our sectors. To achieve this, we need to invest. Investing is what is going to mobilise us, EDP and the whole airport community. Together with Justine, we are going to work to strengthen the links between internal and external players and involve them in a collective project. This is why I am launching without delay the preparatory works of a new economic regulation agreement and I intend to submit a first proposal ready for public consultation before the end of the year. In terms of investment plan, the multi-year contract will be based on the public consultation that we have already taken place at Orly with Justine and the one that we will soon launch for CDG Airport. It will also be the instrument of broader mobilization including the first place, our employees. Within this framework, Group EDP will be able to leverage its organic growth and financial discipline to ensure the balanced allocation of its capital, including an unchanged dividend payout policy presenting 60% of net income. We confirm our financial target for 2025. The outlook for 2026 as a year leading up to launch of an economic regulation agreement envisaged for 2024 will be determined as part of our preparation for the public consultation. With that, let's open the line for Q&A. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. And in favour of allowing more people to ask questions, we kindly ask you to limit yourself to one or two questions only. Thank you. We will now take our first question from Christian Nadelku of UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you very much for taking my question, and Philippe and team, congratulations for the appointments. Well deserved. The first one, if I may, on free cash flow 2025, if I start from your slide 19, if I look at the organic free cash flow generation in 2024, and then take into account your EBITDA guidance, your CapEx guidance, and the higher cash tax, it looks to me that the free cash flow in 2025 may be slightly negative or flat. Would you agree with this or am I missing any important cash movements for free cash flow 2025? And my last question is a bit around capex and free cash flow midterm. You have flagged that you're spending less capex in 2025 than initially thought. And you've mentioned, Philippe, in your written remarks and today on the call several times about the intentions to increase investment in infrastructure. So I guess in this context, could you give us a bit of a roadmap of the CapEx trajectory over the next few years and what does it really mean for free cash flow generation midterm? Thank you.

Thank you, thank you very much. Perhaps for the first question, Antoine?

Yes, thank you, Philippe. Thank you for your question regarding the free cash flow generation in 2025. So indeed, in 2024, our free cash flow generation has been impacted by notably the tax situation with the infratax, but also, as you have seen, by the acquisitions we have made, combined with, of course, the normal CAPEX at our platforms. In 2025, you have the CAPEX guidance. On the tax front, the impact of the infrastructure tax will continue. You also have to have in mind, of course, the surplus of corporate income tax that will also impact 2025 cash. But on the other hand, we also have a generation of cash in 25 linked to, of course, the increase in traffic and the increase of the tariff with the tariff that has been approved by the regulator from 1st of April. So with all that in mind, free cash flow generation in 25 should be in a similar range compared to 24. Thank you, Antoine, for the capex level. Justine?

Yes, regarding our mid-term capex magnitude, it's a bit too early to discuss an investment figure as the investment plan has not yet been finalized and we are still working on it. And the global vision we presented in the consultation for Orly and soon for CDG is not a detailed investment plan and includes no precise scheduling of works. So we will have several investment options on how to deploy this work, which still have to be decided. And we will have several environmental authorizations to obtain, which can significantly change the schedule of work. and we have to take feedbacks of the consultations, both in early and in CDG, into account in this investment plan. So as we speak, we are not totally sure that we will do the investments envisaged under this vision, and we will update the market about long-term investment plans in Paris in due course.

Thank you. Another question, please?

Thank you. We will now move on to our next question from Eric Lemary of CIC. The line is open. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I've got two. The first one on the surplus tax to be paid in 2025. Do you believe that ADP will be in a position to partially offset this surplus tax in 2026 through additional tariff increase. And the second question on the international assets you mentioned in your presentation, I would like to know maybe what kind of return actually do you expect from this Indian and Turkish investment? And in terms of When do you expect the first dividends to be paid from these two, I would say, subsidiaries? Thank you.

So thank you for these two questions. The first question about the tax. So you know we have a specific tax implemented last year for the infrastructure tax for aviation and airport. So in this tax, we have a regulated part of the tax and the non-regulated part. In the regulated part, we increase two years. the level of airport charges to offset. And we now finalize this compensation. It's not possible to compensate the non-regulated part of the tax. So for the next year, in the infrastructure tax, we finalize the job to offset the tax. just only one part of the third of the tax, it's not possible to compensate. The second question about dividend from GMR and from TAV. Clearly, we wait dividend for TAV in the next few years, perhaps quickly. And we want to accelerate in this manner also to have dividend from TAV. And from GMR, as you know, we disclose our target, that is, we can have dividend before the end of the decade. And we confirm that. So thank you for this both question.

Just one follow-up on the first one, actually. I was talking about not the infrastructure tax, but more the exceptional income tax surplus that you will pay in 2025 on your net profit before tax.

It's not possible to compensate this income tax. It's not possible to compensate. It's a one-off effect, but it's a huge effect, but with a huge impact in the net result. But it's not possible to compensate globally. It's not in the global economic balance of the regulated scope. In fact, we have a part of income tax in the calculation of the WAC and the ROCE, but it's not a huge, without a huge effect in this manner. So not possible to compensate. That's clear. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Another question, please.

Yes, we'll now move on to our next question from Louis Prieto of Kepler Shiro. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Luis Prieto here. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. I have two, if I may. The first one is the following. In the context of the reiteration of your international ambitions a moment ago, where are the opportunities in the current context of tight brownfield valuations due to this significant amount of liquidity in the infrastructure world? Where do you look and how do you fight against people with a lot of liquidity and much lower IRR requirements? And my second question is more of a detailed question. Regarding working capital, if my numbers are correct, I've seen a degree of erosion in the second half of the year versus the improvement in the second half of last year, of 2023, sorry. Is there anything meaningful behind that that we need to know? Thank you.

So thank you for your question. So about the first question and the M&A policy, in fact, we try to implement a policy. It's a permanent policy to have a selective approach. It's in line with the last years, but we are very selective in this manner. We want to secure the contribution, so to secure the dividend of TAV and GMR. So if the development is compatible with this policy, obviously we continue to develop the group if we have a relative and favourable impact through the international development. If we have to expect an impact in this trajectory, in fact, we will be very cautious in this manner to manage our firepower. For the second question.

So your second question is regarding variation in the working capital between H1 and H2, correct? Yes. um i i think the variation is relatively minimal i don't think there is anything major but can you maybe please detail your questions uh i'm not sure i have captured what you were trying to uh to address no i was wondering if there's any uh because what i see here if i look at the uh uh sorry the second half of the year there was a um

a deterioration of 86 in H1 of 2024, and that deterioration increases in full year to 139. And the trend was the opposite last year. There was a deterioration of 106 in 2023, and then the second half of 23, there was an improvement that led to a more contained working capital deterioration. So there was a very different behavior in H2 of this, sorry, 24 versus 23. I just wanted to know if there's anything... meaningful behind it or it's negligible usual behavior.

Thank you for this question. We will come back with details and we can have a specific call for that just to understand clearly what we want to have as information. Thank you.

Thank you. And we will now move on to our next question from Martin Ojo of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Thank you so much. I've got a couple of questions on your ambition to have an economic regulation agreement. What is a reasonable timeframe? Would you be satisfied if you can negotiate it within one year, two years, or could it take even longer? And also, With regards to the economic regulation agreement, is it a negotiation mostly with the French regulator, ART, or there is an important role also for the government to play in this discussion? Are there any other important stakeholders, obviously airlines, I guess, but are there any other stakeholders that we need to be aware of? Thank you.

thank you for this question about the key project that is a new economic regression agreement that we want to do it's to um to to have a formal proposal and the end of this year and after that we have a process a formal process with all the stakeholders specifically uh and the shareholders specifically for stakeholders for all the airlines. But first of all, you have to give some element and a specific consultation for that. We have also to have a formal process with the French state, including the French regulator. At the end of the day, it's an agreement between the airport, EDP, and the French state. But to sign, we need a formal approval of the French regulator. So globally, this negotiation is for one year. So we don't expect a specific signature and the agreement before the beginning of 2027. So, globally, what we want to do is we want to have a large consultation with all the stakeholders, including the local authority, including the parliament, including the unions, and all our clients, passengers, but also airlines. And with this large consultation, we try to have a global and a common industrial project And after, when we stabilize this international project, industrial project, excuse me, we have to negotiate the economic balance. But if we have a good move in the industrial project, we can reach and have a global agreement. Thank you.

Thank you. And I'll take our next question from Graham Hunt of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks very much for the questions and congratulations on the appointment. Just two from me. Firstly, can I come back to the 2025 CAPEX guidance? I mean, you've consistently undershot what you've guided to on CAPEX in the last two years. I'm just trying to understand this up to 1.4. Is there something that's different about 2025 that means you can now step up the capex spend and we should see that meaningful move up? Or is this a conservative level that you're setting again? And then second question on just your priority to deliver contribution from the international asset sector. Could you speak to what you can tangibly do to accelerate the timelines there? Or is it just a case of waiting for them to pay dividends, which I can't believe is true? But just trying to understand, that's a priority for you. What are the steps that you can take to realize those financial contributions from your international assets? Thank you.

So first question about CAPEX.

Yeah, so your question, if I understand correctly, is regarding how conservative our 2025 CAPEX guidance is. If you look at 2024, you have to bear in mind that there is two elements to it. There is ADP in Paris on one side and there is the group. We have for the... for ADP in 2024 delivered quite well our CAPEX program. As you know, we are in a curve of increase on an annual basis of our CAPEX needs with a recovery post-COVID and the launch of a new cycle of CAPEX. Year on year, we increase the capex number, but we also deliver better compared to the expectation. And that's for Paris, and that will also be the focus for 2025 with a strong mobilization of... everyone to deliver the amount. On the group aspect, there is notably for TAV, a large part of the CAPEX which was done, which is now behind us, the key CAPEX triggers which were Almaty new terminal, as well as Antalya new terminal are now behind us, so it gives also a better confidence in our ability to deliver the capex amount on the international front.

Just to summarize, before we have a guidance on average for three years, we have now a guidance for one year, and due to the performance in 23 and 24, we give you some clarification for 25, but we are in our industrial strategy, no change. clearly, in terms of dividend. And TAV and GMR. Globally for us, we have in our business plan clearly a good contribution for TAV and GMR. It's the reason why we developed the group in the international activities, just to have a strong contribution. What we say is that for TAV, but also for GMR, we have to manage and to find a good balance between CAPEX program development with deleveraging and, at the end of the day, dividend. So, clearly, our target is to continue to deliver GMR and to finalize to deliver TAV. And after that, we have some project, huge project, in terms of CAPEX with TAV, but we have to finalize. We deliver, we commission... in infrastructure in 24, we have to commission the infrastructure in Ankara, in Antalya in 25, and after that, with delivering TAV, with the finalization of works in TAV, we can have dividends, included part of international development and acquisition, if it's manageable. For GMR, we want to continue to deliver and to deliver the infrastructure in Delhi and Hyderabad. We have a strong growth in terms of traffic in Delhi, but we need some capex and to continue to accompany the strategy of Air India, the strategy of Indigo, that is very, very important for the group and for GMR. And we have also to continue to deliverage. That is a key element for us, for the EDP shareholder in GMR. But also, with all this balance, it's possible to have dividends before the end of the decade and continue, if it's possible, the development through GMR. So, and for EDP Mother Company, clearly in my three pillars, we have a specific pillar in terms of X-Time, X-Time strategy, with the expansion in Paris, but also in the international world. But it's not... a huge amount in terms of investment, but it's a very important investment because it's very relative. So if you have a very relative investment in international development through X-Time, and if we can continue to develop the group through TAV and GMR, we can continue the story, but At the same moment, we can assume the robustness of the financial trajectory of the group. That is why I say when I speak about the international development. So thank you for that. Do we have another question?

Yes, we do. We will now move on to our next question from Dario Melione of BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Hello, good morning. Philippe, one question for you. I would assume that you will continue on the path of your predecessor in terms of overall strategy for the business. Compared to Mr. Roumanet, where do you think you will be most different, if any? The second question on the spent passenger, could you give us a bit more detail for the works in 2025 to assess the impact and then essentially look ahead to 2026 at a normalized level for spent passengers. Thank you.

So thank you for your two questions. The first question about the strategy of Augustin Romanet and the continuity of this strategy. What is key to understand is the fact that you have some cycle in our airport industry. I am very, very comfortable with the strategy of Augustin Romani. It's a great strategy. We continue to improve the quality of service in Paris. We develop the group for international activities that is vital for the global balance of the group. And we create and develop the extreme strategy for the retail. We have also a very comfortable pillar in terms of real estate, but also in terms of IT. So, We are very comfortable with this strategy. But remember that before COVID, we have a strong growth in terms of aeronautical activities. Specifically in Paris, we have an increase in terms of traffic for around 2% and 2.5% each year. So a global and a growth strategy. After we have the strong impact due to the COVID and the recovery of the COVID. This recovery is finalized probably last year, not in 25, but in 26. After that, we have to find a new model. It's not a new strategy. we have to adapt our strategy to this new context. That is the decarbonisation, that is the capacity to develop Paris due to all the demand of our main clients, specifically Air France, and we have also to accelerate in terms of maintenance. In our CAPEX plan, we have a huge amount in terms of maintenance because we have a huge impact in Paris-Orly, but also in Paris-CDG, with the fact that We have all terminals and we have to refurbish. So globally, my job is not to change the strategy. I am very comfortable with the strategy because before, with Augustin Romanet, I was the CFO and the head of strategy. So no issue with that, but an adaptation for the new cycle and the new context. Thank you for the second question.

On spend per pack, so the headwinds of 2025, you have three main headwinds to keep in mind. The first one is Terminal 2 AC, which reopened in the second half of 2024. And so that will have a full year impact in 2025. You will see that in the first semester. Second main headwind, it's the works in Terminal 2E, Hall K. These works have started already in 2024, but they will intensify now in 2025. We are now at the core of these works. With these works, we are not fully closing the shops, but we are relocating some of them to smaller areas. So that has a dilutive impact, and we are now at the core of this work. of these works. And the third headwind is the impact of the Olympics, which was positive on certain segments in 2024, notably on advertising, also in essential travel retail. And so that is, of course, something that you will not see again in 2025. But all these headwinds, we are very confident that we'll be able to offset it. We see continued growth in luxury and retail. Of course, contrasting depending on the brands, but overall very positive. And hence, we are quite confident with the updated guidance that we have given to you, which is a 4% to 6% growth of SPP compared to 2023.

Thank you, Antoine. Do we have another question, please?

We'll now take our next question from Nicola Mora of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi, Philippe and Tim. Just coming back on the CapEx, but trying to look at the big picture. I mean, the CapEx needs to come with decent returns. So you talk a lot about more CapEx, but you're not talking a lot about what's coming on the other side. Have you had any hint from the regulator that you're finally going to be paid fairly for the CapEx? I mean, we've seen again in 24, you had 4% return. on the regulated framework. I mean, your WAC is most likely above five. So any progress there? And let's be honest, if you put your CapEx into perspective, as was said before, you've been undershooting quite a lot for the past few years. CapEx is always delayed. We're struggling a little bit to buy into the very, very steep CapEx rise that you're promising us. Can you shed a bit of light on where you need to invest, considering your maintenance level and your maintenance spending is already two to three times higher relative versus guys like Frankfurt or six to eight times higher than Aena? So can you shed a bit of light on where you need to put all that CapEx into the infrastructure? Thank you.

So thank you very much for your question. So first of all, in fact, if we have to accelerate for a new industrial plan, we probably need some more capex. That is key for us. It's to have a good remuneration through this capex. It's a huge part. It's a regulated capex. So we have to obtain a good economic regulation agreement. In this good regulation agreement, mechanically we have to increase the aeronautical fees, mechanically. The question is the level of this increase and the capacity to reach and to have a very good remuneration through the regulated WAC. That is key.

Regarding the composition of this amount of capex, in the upcoming years we are facing a lot of mandatory capex maintenance and heavy maintenance as well as regulatory capex such as security or safety and other usual investments. The aging of our platforms is the main reason why we have to invest more in the upcoming years. And for example, Terminal 2F, which is part of the Air France Hub, was commissioned in 1998, and so it will be subject to major maintenance work by 2028. And we are seeing an overall average of 600 million euros per year for mandatory CAPEX, but with higher numbers in 2026, 2027, 2028, due to this aging effect I mentioned. And this aging effect is both affecting CDG and Orly. So we are facing a huge need of CAPEX for the upcoming years.

Thank you, Nicolas.

Yeah, if I may come back to this, so there are 600 million mandatory capex, but your bill, I mean, your bill at ADPSA is what, going to be a billion next year? You're not really doing any expansion work? That should be enough.

For the moment, we need some time to give you some color about the industrial plan. It's a global balance. We can manage and try to have a good scheme in terms of capex increase. We have also to assume the capacity to realize the investment. That is very important to have in mind. It's the fact that we stopped the construction of the new Terminal 4. And for that, we want to develop our platform in another manner. And for that, we have a specific strategy that we have to disclose in detail and to have a huge consultation with all our partners. stakeholders the first strategy is to try to optimize the current infrastructure to welcome more passengers without a huge level of capex just adaptation but not a huge level of capex the second element after that after the optimization it's to strive to just to expand the current terminal with a specific building that we can have for example between the railway station and the terminal Through our term modality we can increase the number of passengers with high quality in terms of service and a good contribution for the passengers through our retail shops. For that we need some capex but it's not a huge change. The third step is more important because we have to develop a new infrastructure. What we will try to do, and we have to clarify this strategy before to give you some figures, is to have new satellites, just airside zone, new satellites in CDG, to expand the current building in Orly to have more satellites. to increase the contact rate, for quality of service, but also to welcome international traffic, that is more dynamic traffic. With this new satellite, it's difficult to operate just a new satellite. So we have to try to have a global vision of the airport, and for that, we have to develop the people mover between all the satellites. The satellite, it's manageable. We can build for 7 or 10 million passenger capacity without a huge, huge amount. When you try to develop the people mover, we need some huge capex. It's a highway with a railway station also. So for that, we have to manage the time that we have to develop as a step to develop this new people mover. give you some time, and we come back with a global vision through the concertation of CDG, but without figures, as Justine said. And at the end of the day, the global vision of our new proposal for the Economic Regulation Agreement. Thank you, Nicolas.

Thank you. And we'll now move on to our next question from Augustine Senre of CIFO. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. I've got two, if I may. The first one is on your traffic guidance for Paris in 2025. You guide for 2.5% to 4% increase, which is unchanged versus the previous guidance. But I was just looking at the ATC system implementation impact of 1 million in 2024. And when we adjust for it, it looks like you expect a growth of 1.5% to 3%. in 2025, which to me looks like a return to normal and would, in my view, maybe not account for any rebound for Asia-Pacific. So my question is, are you assuming a return to normal of traffic growth? And if not, how do you see this being broken down by geography? Do you assume any further improvements from Asia-Pacific, any further recovery also from from LATAM and Middle East? So how do you see it balanced by region? And my second question is on the evolution of your operational expenses. Could you give us a scale of your increase in wages, external contracts, and specifically energy for 2025? Thank you.

Thank you. Antoine, for the first question? So regarding the first question on our traffic guidance, we are, in a nutshell, still very confident with the guidance that we provided. On the impact of fourth flight that you mentioned, you have to keep in mind that there is still an impact also in 2025, in January figures that we have published recently. And so if we neutralize actually both the impact of 24 for-flight and 25 implementation of for-flight, the underlying growth of traffic is around 3%. So that gives you a range which is indeed in line with our guidance. Just to give you some color, we think that it will continue to develop in a similar manner over the next months. In terms of geographies, that's the second part of your first question, it's difficult to call it a return to normal because the reality is that the traffic mix has changed completely compared to a pre-COVID situation. And so there will not be any return to normal, meaning a return to 2019 situation when it comes to domestic traffic, which is structurally declining. On the other hand, we do believe that the international traffic evolution, very positive that we have seen in the last few years, will continue. We see North America, Africa, and, of course, Asia also increasing in 25. With the specific aspect of China that we have mentioned during the presentation, because of the caps in terms of number of flight schedule, we do not expect China traffic level to grow in 25. But we are still hopeful that at some point this cap will be raised and that traffic will increase maybe in 2026, 2027. Regarding the second question on staff cost and energy cost, I continue. So when it comes to overall OPEX, keep in mind that there are two aspects to it, ADP and the international aspect. So I guess your question was on ADP side. So on ADP SA Paris platform, The staff cost has increased in 2024 by 14 million euros with a mix of new recruitments made around 200 FTEs as well as the impact of wages increase at the beginning of the year. In 2025, you will see also both effects with recruitments continuing, because we are in this new phase that Philippe and Justine have mentioned. We do need to recruit still some people in certain segments of our activities, so these recruitments will continue. And we have also announced very recently an agreement with the unions regarding wage increase, so that will also wait on the staff cost in 2025. Regarding energy, we have secured almost entirely our energy for 2025, both through the national scheme of AREN and also by hedging with suppliers for the rest of the of the our energy needs and so that we have secured with a lesser cost than 24 and so we should see a slight decrease of our energy cost in 2025 compared to 2024. thank you thank you antoine another question last yeah

We'll now take our last question from José Manuel Arroyos of Santander. Please go ahead. José, please check your audio if it's on mute, please.

Yes, good morning. Congratulations, Philippe and Justine, on the appointment. I wanted to ask you three questions about the plans to expand the international footprint The first question is, are you talking about investments directly by ADP or will the investments be channeled through PAB and or GMR? And the second unrelated question, I wanted to ask you if you could confirm ADP's interest in the Egyptian privatizations. And if that is the case, why would ADP invest directly in Egypt and not TIB? And lastly, I wanted to ask you if you are looking at listed companies or non-listed companies. That would be my three questions. Thank you.

So thank you for your question. So our first priority is to invest through TAV and GMR, not directly through TAV, except for X time strategy. That is very, very important for us to develop around the world, but also in Paris. That is the first point. The second point, in fact, if you have a very good opportunity or strategic opportunity that we can finalize globally our footprint through EDP, we study this element and we can have, if it's not without a strong impact in our financial strategy if it's not an issue. That is globally our plan. For a specific question about further development, we don't for the moment have to disclose anything and to have a specific position for any specific project. Thank you.

All right. I think it will be now time to close this presentation if we have no more questions. So thank you, everybody, to have logged on to our presentation, to our conference. So the next quarterly publication will be on the 24th of April. And by then, we will be looking forward to meet you We will attend some conferences and do some roadshows. And of course, we are with Elliot at your disposal to answer your question, if you have any. So feel free to reach out. Thank you very much, everybody, and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. Bye. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thank you.