Sesa Spa

Good afternoon. This is the Corusco conference operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the SESA full year 2027 consolidated three months results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jacopo Laschetti, head of stakeholders Relations and Sustainability of CESA. Please, go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining CESA Group's first quarter results conference call. On today's call, CESA Group is represented by Alessandro Fabbroni, Group CEO, and myself, Head of Stakeholder Relations and Sustainability. This afternoon, the Board of Directors approved the consolidated financial results Alessandro will begin with an overview of the group's financial performance and key business highlights. I will then provide an update on sustainability, people and stakeholder value creation Before Alessandro concludes with the FY27 outlook and some remarks of our industrial plan. I will now give the floor to Alessandro.

Thank you Jacopo, good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. In a digital market sustained by strong demands for data management and data protection and increasingly driven by AI and automation, We started the full year of 2027 with a solid set of industrial and financial results, delivering high single-digit organic growth in both revenues and profitability at twice the market growth rate. More specifically, the first quarter confirms the effective execution of the new industrial plan 2027-2028 presented last July as we continue to strengthen our market share and to consolidate our role of digital integrator, combining technology, digital platforms and vertical applications with the progressive adoption of AI. For the first quarter ended July 2026, CESA reported consolidated revenue and income for Euro 900 million up 6.5% year-on-year and fully organic. Consolidated ABDA amounted to Euro 65 million, up 7.6% year-on-year, with an ABDA margin achieving 7.23%, slightly improving compared with the same period last year. The group ended the quarter with 6,700 people, up 2.5% year-on-year, and flat compared with April 30, 2016. Reflected our continued focus on skill development, AI adoption and operating efficiency to sustain scalable organic growth. Looking at revenues by business sector, performance was driven by positive contribution for our main growth area. ICT DAS sector reached euro 540 million up 8.1% year-on-year, fully organic and in line with the trend already achieved in FY26, driven by increasing demand for solutions dedicated to data management, data sovereignty and cybersecurity, enabling the adoption of private AI and automation. Green, the AI sector, achieved Euro 127 million, up 14.4% year-on-year, In line with a great double-digit organic growth trend reported in FY26, driven by increasing energy demand, linked to digitalization and in particular by the development of the data center market. Software and system integration sector reported revenues for about 213 million, down 3% year-on-year, reflecting the disposal of selected non-strategic assets completed during FY26, and the ongoing organizational re-engineering process. Based on the current trend, we expect software system integration to return to grow starting from Q2 2027 in line with our industrial plan. And finally, business services sector reached Euro 41 million, up 11% year-on-year, confirming the expected return to double-digit organic growth in FY27. driven by the contribution of multi-year contracts acquired during FY26 and by the increasing focus on digital platforms and vertical applications. Consolidated BDA increased by 7.6% year-on-year to €65 million, with EBDA margin at 7.23%, slightly improving compared with the prior year period. This performance was driven by double-digit profitability growth in ICT VAS sector, green VAS sector and business services, together with the progressive improvement in software system integration operating efficiency. In particular, ICT VAS sector reported EBDA for Euro 25 million, up 11% year-on-year, with an EBDA margin increasing to 4.6%, Green VAS sector achieved EBDA for Euro 7.7 million up 23% year-on-year, with EBDA margin improving to 6.0% from 5.6% in the prior year period. Software and system integration sector recorded EBDA for Euro 23 million down 2.5% year-on-year, while flat year-on-year excluding the impact of FY26 disposal of non-strategic assets and improving in terms of EBITDA margin which grew to 10.8% from 10.7% year-on-year thanks to higher operating efficiency. Business Services sector reported EBITDA for Euro 8.6 million up 18% in a year, with EBITDA margin reaching 21% compared with 19.9% in first quarter 26 and 19% in February 30, 26, confirming the increasing contribution of higher value-added digital platforms and vertical applications. Group adjusted consolidated EBIT reached EUR 50.2 million up 6.2% year-on-year after depreciation amortization for EUR 14 million and provision around EUR 1 million. Reported EBIT amounted to EUR 41.4 million up 7.5% year-on-year after PPA amortization for EUR 8.7 million. Group Adjusted EAT achieved EUR 30.1 million up 7.1% year-on-year supported by Profitability Global in ICT BAS up 12.6%, Green BAS up 20% and Business Services up 11.4%. While software and system integration remain substantially stable, Down 1% year-on-year on a reported basis, but up 1% excluding the impact of FY26 disposal of non-strategic assets. During the quarter, net financial expenses amounted to around €7.5 million, improving by 11% compared with FY26, and in line with the assumptions of our industrial plan, Supporting the quarterly trend in group net profitability. In the first quarter, we also achieved a solid financial position and strong cash generation. Reporting that financial position as of July 26 was equal to €23.4 million of net net, improving by around €40 million compared with July 25, after €120 million of investment over the last 12 months, including euro 20 million in first quarter 27 and after euro 40 million of dividends and share buybacks over the same period. Excluding FRS liabilities, group net financial position was equal to euro 150 million of net cash with a slight improvement year on year. Overall, the first quarter of 2027 confirms our ability to combine organic growth, increase of operating efficiency, Industrial transformation and strong cash flow generation. With this positive first quarter performance, I will now hand over to Jacopo for an overview of our sustainability and stakeholder value creation priority.