Legrand SA

Good morning, everybody. Franck Lemery, Roland Marc, and I are happy to welcome you to Legrand Q1 2026 conference call and webcast. As you know, this morning we published our press release, financial statements, and the slideshow that we will refer to during the call. After a few opening remarks, we will comment the results into more details. Let me start on page four with the key highlights of the quarter. First, Legrand delivered strong sales growth driven by data centers and acquisitions while maintaining excellent profitability. Second, we announced four very exciting acquisitions since the beginning of the year. Third, we confirmed a full year 2026 targets. Moving to pages six and seven, I will start with an overview of sales. Sales delivered strong growth of plus 18.3% excluding currency effects. comprising organic growth of plus 9.3%, with a strong contribution of data center offerings growing like for like around plus 30%, and growth through acquisitions of plus 8.2%. Based on acquisitions announced and the likely date of consolidation, the overall impact of acquisitions should be close to plus 7% for the full year. The FX effect was minus 5.8% for the quarter. Based on average exchange rates in April 2026, the full-year currency effect would be around minus 2%. On page 7, you will find the key takeaways per geographies on a life-for-life basis. Europe saw sales down minus 2.8% in a building market that remains contrasted. North and Central America delivered a strong plus 25.8% performance, driven by strong success of data center-related offerings in the U.S. Lastly, the rest of the world was down minus 1.8% in the first quarter, despite a very nice growth in India. Sales in the Middle East, which stood only at 1.7% of FY 2025 sales, were not impacted by the geopolitical situation in Q1. These were the main comments I wanted to make on sales. I will now hand over to Franck for more color on the financial performance. Thank you, Benoit.

And good morning, everyone. I will start on page eight with adjusted operating margin. Profitability remained very strong and resilient in Q1 with an adjusted operating margin of 20.7%. Despite inflation already impacting the cost base, this level of profitability reflects our solid execution, our adaptability, and the quality of our recent acquisitions. Of course, we remain fully mobilized to address the global geopolitical environment. Going now to page nine. First, net profit reached 335 million, up plus 14% versus Q1 2025. This increase was driven primarily by higher profit operating, a lower corporate income tax of 26% and the negative evolution of the financial results. Second, free cash flow came to 221 million euros, representing 8.7% of sales and our net debt to EBITDA ratio stood at 2.1 at the end of the quarter. This is it for the key financial topics I wanted to share with you this morning. I'm now handing over back to Benoit.

Thank you, Franck. We can move now to page 11. Confidence in our execution capabilities and our ability to adapt to an uncertain economic environment, we confirm our 2026 targets. With the following for the full year, sales growth excluding currency effects of between plus 10 and plus 15%, comprising organic growth between plus 4 and plus 7%, and growth through acquisitions of between plus 6% and plus 8%. Adjusted operating margin after acquisitions of 20.5% to 21% of sales. The CSR achievement rate of at least 100% for the second year of our 2025-2027 roadmap. On page 13, a reminder of the four acquisitions announced so far in 2026. All the four are in data centers and energy transition, representing combined annual revenue of around 275 million euros. These transactions, done at very reasonable multiples, strengthen our leadership position in buy-in markets and illustrate once again our ability to identify, execute, and integrate acquisitions with discipline. On page 15, Legrand benefits from very strong employee engagement. This is illustrated by the success of our second international employee share ownership plan. Now, a few words on the key topics on the agenda of our incoming general meeting of shareholders, which will take place on May 27 on page 17 and 18. Subject to the proposed renewals approval, the board composition will continue to be among the industry's best practices, with 80% of independent members, 60% of women, and seven nationalities. And as announced previously, the proposed dividend for 2025 is of 2.38 euro per share, up plus 8.2% versus last year, with a 50% payout. To conclude, I would also like to highlight that we will host a Capital Market Day in Singapore on September 29, 2026, to provide a progress update on a strategic roadmap with a particular focus on data centers. We would be very happy to meet you there, and you are all kindly invited. Those were the key topics of this release. I suggest we now switch to Q&A. Thank you.