Legrand SA

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Legrand's 2026 Half-Year Results Conference Call. For your information, this conference is being recorded. All participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, there will be a question-and-answer session. At this time, I'd like to hand the call over to CEO, Mr. Benoît Coquart, and CFO, Mr. Franck Lemery. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. Franck, Ronan, and myself are happy to welcome you to Legrand H1 2026 conference call and webcast. This morning, as usual, we published our press release, financial statements, and the slideshow that we will refer to during the call. After a few opening remarks, we'll comment on the results in more detail. Let me start on page four with the key highlights of the quarter. First, Legrand delivered another period of record sales growth together with continued excellent profitability. Second, we are continuing to implement our 2030 strategic roadmap with determination. Third, we are raising our full year 2026 targets. Moving to pages six and seven, I will start with an overview of sales. Self-delivered strong growth of plus 17.4% in H1 2026, excluding currency effects, comprising first, an organic growth of plus 9.8%, driven by data centers and energy transition-related offerings. Second, growth from acquisitions with a positive scope effect of plus 6.9%. Based on acquisitions announced and the likely dates of consolidation, the overall impact of acquisitions would be around plus 8% for the full year. The exchange rate effect was minus 3.7% in H1. Based on average exchange rates in June 2026, the full year currency effect would be around minus 1.5%. On page 7, you will find the key takeaways by geographies on a life-or-life basis. Europe sells down minus 2.4% in a building market that remains as expected contrasted. North and Central America increased sharply by plus 24.2% driven by strong success of data center and energy transition solutions in the US. Lastly, the rest of the world grew by plus 2.3% in the first half with significant growth in India and several other Asian countries, while activity in China remained soft. Despite the geopolitical situation, sales in the Middle East grew in each one. These were the main comments I wanted to make on sales. I will now hand over to Franck for more color on our financial performance.

Thank you, Benoît. And good morning to all of you. I will start on page 8 with adjusted operating profit. Profitability, despite inflationary pressure, remained very strong in H1 2026, with an adjusted operating margin of 20.8%. This is a high level, reflecting strong execution and adaptability, notably effective pricing and cost productivity, as well as the quality of our recent acquisitions. Going now to page 9, regarding value creation, First, net profit reached 698 million euros, up plus 11.2% versus H1 2025. This increase was driven primarily by higher operating profit, a slightly lower corporate income tax of 27.5%, and the negative evolution of the financial results. Second, free cash flow came to 488 million euros, represented 9% of sales. This is it for the key financial topics. I'm now handing over back to Benoît. Thank you, Franck.