Bureau Veritas Sa Uns/Adr

Welcome to Bureau Veritas' third quarter 2026 results presentation. For the first part of the conference, the participants will be on listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants will be able to ask questions by dialing pound key 5 on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speakers, Hinda Gharbi, Chief Executive Officer, and Francois Chaba, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Thank you for joining us for Bureau Veritas' third quarter, 2026 revenue update. I am joined today by Francois Chabas, our CFO. This was a busy quarter for us, with a major update to our investors during the Capital Market Day late September. I will come back on that later on in this presentation. Let me now begin with an update on the quarter. Organic growth improved sequentially in the third quarter, We have seen a continued momentum throughout the year. This growth is broad-based across all divisions and geographies, demonstrating the resilience of our business model and the robust mix of product lines growth in our portfolio. Based on our solid year-to-date delivery and growing pipeline, we confirm our 2026 outlook. Our LEAP 28 discipline execution continues. In almost three years, we delivered on our commitments of organic growth and portfolio rotation, delivering mid to high single digit growth, organic growth and rotating 21% of our portfolio. We have now put in place a simpler product line centric operating model, evolving Bureau Veritas into a focused multispecialist company, asserting leadership in certain markets. At our Capital Markets Day in September, we explained how we will amplify execution in 2027 and 2028. We will accelerate acquisitions and will continue to scale our performance and people programs. AI is both a growth catalyst and a transformation lever for Bureau Veritas. Our ambition is to generate 1 billion euros in revenue from AI driven markets and services by 2030. Starting with the revenue performance for the quarter. Revenue reached 1.57 billion, representing total growth of 10.1% At constant currency, total growth was 8%. Organic growth reached 6.2%, continuing the sequential quarterly acceleration of this year from 4.8% in Q1 to 5.9% in Q2. This performance reflects our market-favorable secular trends and the disciplined business delivery across our 10 product lines. The scope effect was positive at 1.8%. Acquisitions contributed 2.7%, reflecting the bolt-on transactions completed over recent quarters that were partly offset by 0.9% impact from disposals. Currency contributed 2.1% mainly due to the strengthening of the dollar against the euro. This follows two quarters of negative year-to-date currency impacts this year. Overall, the quarter demonstrates a progressing growth equation, robust organic delivery, an increasing contribution from acquisitions, and a more favorable currency environment. Francois will come back to the bridge in detail later on. Before that, I will update you on the growth by division and geography. This quarter, all four divisions contributed to organic growth. We operate today with a portfolio of product lines exposed to growing end markets, robust investment cycles, and Broad Geography. This creates a more resilient and decentralized growth profile. Buildings and infrastructure is the strongest contributor with 7.9% organic growth in Q3. Mission critical assets remained one of the main growth engines with growth above 40% supported by data center investments primarily in North America and in other countries in the rest of the world. Product testing and services delivered 7% organic growth Technology grew double-digit, benefiting from AI-enabled device renewals, increasing connectivity, and increasing technology product regulations around the world. Industrials and commodities grew 5.1%. The main drivers are oil and gas capex, metals and minerals, and marine new construction. Metals and minerals grew 14% organically in the quarter as investment into precious and green metals continue as we expand capabilities and reach. Business assurance accelerated organic growth sequentially to 3.2%. Sustainability services remain in high demand with carbon and environmental services delivering particularly strong growth. Growth was also resilient and broadly distributed across our geography. The Americas delivered 8.7% organic growth supported by strong momentum in North America, particularly for mission critical assets and energy and industrial assets. Asia Pacific grew 8.6% driven by strong activity in China and South Asia and solid demand for technology testing services, marine and offshore, and specifically infrastructure services in Australia. Europe delivered 2.6% organic growth. The UK, Italy, and France performed well, supported by regulatory inspections and building safety, demonstrating the resilience of these mature markets. Africa and the Middle East grew 5.6%. The region remains resilient in a fast-changing geopolitical environment that is impacting project planning and inducing delays, like more recently in Saudi Arabia. It is important to mention that our reshaped portfolio and geographical footprint position us well to capture the ongoing investments in the markets we serve. It also gives us a natural hedge against different geopolitical disruptions. I will now hand over to Francois for the financial review.

Thank you, Linda. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me take you through the revenue bridge and the financial dynamics For this quarter Q3 ends the first nine months of the year 26. So starting with the Q3 revenue breach, revenue increased from 1.42 billion in the third quarter of 25 to 1.57 billion in the current quarter, representing the reported growth of more than 10%. The main contributor was organic growth at 6.2. As a reminder, it's an acceleration. Q1 was at 4.8, Q2 5.9. So this is, as a consequence, the third consecutive quarter of gross acceleration, and it confirms the stronger momentum across the companies. Scope 1.8, acquisition added 2.7%. It reflects many of the transactions completed over the recent quarter, while the disposal for more BNI activity in China reduced growth by roughly 0.9%. The positive contribution is particularly visible in building infrastructure following the integration of Lotusworks from August onwards in our numbers. Currency added 2.1%, mainly due to the strengthening of the dollar and PEC currencies against the euro. As a result, total growth at constant currency over the quarter reached 8%. On a nine-month basis, next page, group revenue reached 4.5 billion, at 4.9% on reported basis and 6.1% at constant currency. Organic growth is at 5.7%, reflecting the continuous strength of our three largest divisions, together with improving performance for business assurance. Overall, Scope contributed 0.9% over the first nine months, including increasing contribution, as mentioned, from acquisition, offsetting the impact of activities diversity over the last five months. On a nine-month basis, currency remained slightly negative at minus 1.2%. However, you may remember that the currency impact in Q1 and Q2 were rather different. You know, minus 5.3 in Q1, close to zero or neutral in Q2. Now moving to positive in Q3 at 2.1. We started, I think I mentioned it in July, we started to have positive effect from June onwards. It does continue, as we've just explained, driven mainly by strengthening of various currencies against the euro. If you now deep dive on the main divisions we have, I would like to highlight a few elements on that page as far as Q3 is concerned, which is on the left-hand side. First, a strong acceleration on BNI. As you see, a combination of organic growth, 7.9%, and Scope at 4.2. Here again, we have the impact of Lotus Warp starting to kick in in numbers, which means after nine months, on the right, you're going to see that this division is the first one to deliver double-digit growth of constant currency. It's an echo of what Hinda mentioned in the Capital Market Day at the beginning of September. Second element of highlights, the three other divisions are accelerating the organic growth sequentially, so it's not only at group level. as well at division level. As a reminder, industry and community grew 3.3% in H1. It's now 5% in H3. Business assurance grew 2% in H1. It's now slightly above 3. And product testing and services grew 5.6% in H1. It's now 7%. So overall, the organic growth is accelerated in a relatively spread manner across the division. A quick summary or focus on the scope point of view. Since the start of the plan, Veritas has rotated approximately 21% of its portfolio. 24 acquisitions representing more than $400 million of annual revenue and four divestments and exits, around $800 million. So it's active portfolio management in motion. Capital has been redeployed towards higher growth and more scalable activities. and moving forward, as mentioned, we expect the net M&A contribution, being M&A native from divestment, to increase as the bulk of our divestment program is behind us. I close this financial review with a quick snapshot on a balance sheet item. Buenas is in a very strong financial position, as you know, and we have acted proactively to refinance our debt Ahead of the recent increase in interest rate volatility. It's been timely, as you may consider. In early days of September, we had a placement of 700 million A3 rated bonds, which is due in 2034 with a 4.1% coupon. Transaction has been covered twice and attracted obviously strong investor demand. Perhaps to keep in mind, and that's what is depicted on the right, it refinances the September 26 and January 27 maturities, and as a consequence, we don't have any maturity until 2031, point one. Point two, all of our debt is at fixed rates, so no risk on that front. And to close on this, the net financial debt of the company at the end of September was probably unchanged compared to what it was at the end of June. I now hand back to Colinda for the portfolio business highlight.