Spie Sa Ord

Welcome to the SPI 2026 First Quarter Revenue Presentation. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key 5 on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to Godier Louet, Chairman and CEO, to begin today's conference. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our first quarter revenue call. I'm with Markus Osker, the CEO of SPIE Germany, Switzerland, Austria. Jérôme Vanhoef, our Group CFO, and Alexandre Bonazel, our Head of Investor Relations. As you know, Markus will become Group CEO as of April 30th, and I'm very pleased to welcome him on this call. On the M&A front, SPIE has made a strong start to 2026. underlying trends remain fully intact and are even strengthening as the current geopolitical crisis further highlights the urgent need for Europe to transition to low-carbon electricity. Let me start with safety, which remains a power commitment for the group. Next Tuesday, on April 28th, SPIG will hold its Safety Day 2026. Safety workshops will be organized all across our sites and in all our countries. Safety is a continuous training effort. Our health and safety code and its 10 life-saving rules apply to everyone across all trades and activities. Making sure that every employee returns home safely each day is at the very heart of our commitments. Next, I would like to share a few recent contract examples that reflect our strong position. In Germany, we have been mandated to install five new substations for transmission system operator Tenet, a long-standing client relationship built on sustained trust. The framework agreement runs for around eight years. Implementation is scheduled to begin in summer 2026, with phase commissioning continuing through to the end of 2033. The award of this contract highlights P-Expertise as an implementation partner for complex grid infrastructure projects and demonstrates how this structured approach is helping to accelerate grid expansion and the energy transition. In France, we built on several years of successful collaboration with ALK, a Danish pharmaceutical laboratory, covering both maintenance operations and clean room construction. We completed an electrification project for the plant located in Vendée, in Marne. We replaced gas equipment with electrical solutions, installing heat pumps and new electrical infrastructure, allowing the site to reduce its CO2 emissions by nearly 305 tonnes per year, while also improving its energy performance. This contract illustrates the ability of SPIE's team to combine their skills to offer bespoke multi-technical solutions. whilst supporting both performance and decarbonisation objectives. In the Netherlands, we entered in a new multi-year maintenance contract for Hutchinson Port ECT in the Port of Rotterdam, a site where we have been leveraging our expertise over many years. The contract covers all electrical maintenance activities at the ECT Delta and the Euromax terminals, including inspection and high-grantage servicing of more than 200 cranes, as well as the installation of seven strategically located EV charging hubs to support the energy transition across the port area. With this contract, PMR forces its role as a trusted partner to support the energy transition, valued for its ability to incorporate sustainability requirements into maintenance operations. On the key highlights for the quarter, on slide 8, total revenue grew by 1.7% at ConsumFX, including minus 0.9% in organic growth and 2.7% of M&A contribution. We made an exceptionally strong start to the year on the M&A front with 4 Bolton acquisitions in Q1, representing approximately 667 million euros of required annual revenue, across our core geographies. With a solid balance sheet, continued focus on operational excellence and financial discipline, we reiterate our strong confidence in achieving our 2026 guidance. On the first quarter, organic growth was hampered by a stronger than usual impact from seasonality, which was more than offset by the contribution from acquisitions. Both Germany and Northwestern Europe faced a very demanding cooperation rate, with organic growth of 7.2% and 7.5% respectively in Q1 2025. Central Europe, as well as Germany, were also temporarily impacted by adverse weather conditions during the first week of the year, but will gradually catch up over the coming quarters. During the quarter, the internal transfer of the former ROBO non-German operations from Germany to global services energy and central Europe have no impact at group level. Overall, this performance once again demonstrates the resilience and balance of our multi-local, multi-technical model. In Germany, revenue grew 1.2% year-on-year and organic growth was flat against a high comparison rate of 7.2%. Although activities, in particular high voltage and city networks and grid, were affected by adverse weather conditions at the beginning of the year, but we have secured operational capacity to ensure that we catch up on this over the coming quarters. Beyond the short-term seasonality effect, the underlying momentum in Germany remains very strong, driven by sustained demand for energy efficiency solutions, and solid positioning in fast-growing segments such as data centers, cybersecurity, or cloud and managed solutions. In industry services, our performance was supported by recurring maintenance operations and our pertinent exposure to attractive end markets such as automation, logistics, food, and pharma. The pay-e-car and secure acquisitions completed last year contributed plus to 6% with integration progressing well, and the internal react location of the former robust non-German operations to global services in energy and central Europe at the minus 1.4% impact, with no impact, as you see, at group level. France, on slide 11, France delivered a solid performance in Q1 2026, with 1.9% total growth, of which 0.6% organic, As expected, CD networks and building solutions continue to weigh on overall growth. CD networks remain impacted by the slowdown in mature cyberoptic rollout programs, while building solutions reflect both a degree of macro-related customer caution and our disciplined, selective focus on high-value projects. The other four divisions, technical facility management, industry, ICS, and nuclear services, continue to perform well supported by long-standing client relationships and a diversified sector exposure. In particular, industry benefited from the fast-growing renewable and battery storage markets, where ICS leveraged strong positions in cloud, cybersecurity, digital workplace solutions, data, and AI. Last year, nuclear services performed strongly, driven by high-quality execution of maintenance programs, notably the Grand Carinat. The Artemis acquisition, completed at the end of January 2026, contributed 1.3% to the growth. Northwestern Europe, the total growth was slightly positive at 0.3%, despite a minus 0.9% organic growth, against the demanding comparison rate in Q1 2025 of plus 7.5%. The organic decrease was more than offset by the 1.6% contribution from the 2035 acquisition of Rovitec and Roots & Donkers. In the Netherlands, project-driven activity in building solutions reflected a degree of seasonality, with several larger contracts recently launched and set to contribute more meaningfully as a ramp-up of those coming quarters. ICF delivers strong growth. capitalizing on its transcendent position in data center services and the contribution of recent acquisitions. Industry services remain resilient, driven by energy storage and advanced technologies, despite structural pressure in the petrochemicals. Belgium also had a slow start to the year, against high-compression days, notably in high-voltage services, while the older group continued to show strong momentum. In Central Europe, total growth reached plus 7.5%, while organic growth was minus 8.2%, as adverse weather conditions in the first weeks of the year weighed on outdoor activities such as high voltage, telecommunication, and transport infrastructure. These disruptions were however short-lived, and production is expected to capture progressively over the next quarters. The backlog continues to build up, supported by strong investment dynamics linked to the energy transition. Bolton acquisition contributed to growth by 13.2%, reflecting the sustained M&A activity of last year, and also the internal transfer of former robot operations located in Austria, which contributed to an additional 1.4%. And finally, Global Services Energy, It was down minus 4.4% year-on-year, including minus 4.1% organic. In an already changing backdrop for end-gas activities, operations began to be affected in March by the outbreak of the conflict in Iran, which did lead to the suspension of certain ongoing maintenance contracts in Qatar and in Iraq. In wind activities, momentum remained strong. The business was expanded through the internal transfer of the International Wind Operation, formerly Orbio Wind, from Germany. It brings around 600 new colleagues and approximately 14 million euros of annual revenue. Ordering the offering caused a full life of wind assets and adding maintenance capability for wind turbine generators and blade rink beds. Regarding M&A, as I said earlier, SIG keeps up the year with an outstanding level of M&A activity, announcing full acquisition and adding 667 million annual revenue. In Germany, SIG signed agreements to acquire OFA Industrial Automation Group and SGS. Marcus will go into this. Executed at a high single-digit EBITDA multiple, both acquisitions are expected to be accredited to adjusted EPS, from the first year of consolidation. SPIE also expanded its footprint in Central Europe through two acquisitions, contributing a combined 57 million of annual revenue. Block Group, in the Czech Republic, is a recognized specialist in clean room design, engineering, procurement and construction. Inviso, in Slovakia, is a provider of building security systems and smart technical solutions. All these four acquisitions will be self-financed in line with discipline financial policy and commitment to maintaining a sound leverage profile. This acceleration of our M&A activity reflects the group's continued focus on high-value technical services and its proven ability to execute selective, high-return, long-term productions. And now I will hand over to Marcus for a deep dive into the German acquisition.

Thank you, Gautier, and good morning, everyone. ROFA Industrial Automation Group is a leading player in industrial services in Germany with 430 million euros in revenues in 2025 and a sustained high single-digit margin. ROFA brings leading capabilities in industrial automation, conveyor systems, and intralogistics with more than 1,200 highly qualified employees. This acquisition will enable SPIE to move further up the industrial value chain while adding a resilient, diversified customer base across automotive, food, healthcare, logistics, and pharmaceuticals, providing significant cross-selling opportunities for SPIE. At the bottom of the slide, you can see a selection of well-known Blue Chip customers. And moving over to the acquisition of SGS Industrial Services, SGS will strengthen the group's expertise in electrical and mechanical installation for power facilities and industrial plants. The company generated €180 million of annual revenues in 2025 with an EBIT-R margin slightly north of 10%. SGS employs 800 skilled employees who can be deployed flexibly to meet project-specific requirements. Together with a diversified client base, this broadens SPIE's value chain and creates additional meaningful cross-selling opportunities. ROFA and SGS will significantly reinforce SPIE's industrial services platform, building on the successful integration of ROBU and 24. And as Gautier mentioned earlier, both acquisitions are expected to be a credit to adjusted EPS from the first year of consolidation. The closing of these two acquisitions is expected before the end of June 2026. And with that, I will now hand over to Jérôme. Thank you, Marcus, and good morning, everyone.

Let's move on to the revenue bridge, which provides a breakdown of our 1.5% total revenue growth in Q1 2026. Our Bolton MHA activity contributed plus 2.7%, or the equivalent of nearly 65 million euros, This reflects, on the one hand, the contribution from the 2025 acquisitions, mostly notably SD Fiber in Switzerland, Boots & Donkers, and PIK AG. And on the other hand, the two-month contribution from the 2026 acquisition, Artemis in France, following its closing end of January 2026. The minus 0.1% disposal impact reflects the sale of the small non-core elevator service business in the Netherlands, which represented an annual revenue of circa 7 million euros. The former Robur non-German operations, previously reported within SPIE Germany, were internally relocated into two blocks. First, the international wind activities, representing approximately 40 million euros of annual revenue, were transferred to global service energy. Second, the industrial activities based in Austria amounting to around 10 million euros were transferred to Central Europe. This internal relocation is, of course, and as said already, neutral on the total group revenue. Currency effects. had a marginal impact of minus 0.2%, mainly driven by the Euro-US dollar exchange rate and partially mitigated by the appreciation of the Polish Zloty against Euro. Thank you for your attention. I now hand back to Gautier.

Thank you, Jérôme. And moving on to Outlook for 2026. So we do fully confirm the 2026 Outlook. that we shared at the beginning of the year. We expect strong total growth, driven by further organic growth and active Bolton M&A, which will contribute significantly from this year onward. We have no doubt that the EBITDA margin will continue to expand. The proposed dividend payout ratio will remain at 40% of adjusted net income attributable to the Group. Today marks my 44th and last presentation of SP performance. And more than ever, it is a good time to be a European electrical engineer. Following our IGM on April 30th, Marcus will take over as the new CEO of SPIE. We have worked closely together for more than 13 years. I am fully confident that he will lead the group to great successes. I would like to thank you for your continued interest in SPIE and for the quality of our exchanges. Thank you for your attention. And now, Marcus, Jérôme and I Happy to take your questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please press pound key 6. The next question comes from Remy Grenou from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just three on my side. So the first one would be on the impact of weather in Q1. So if you could potentially help us a little bit quantify what was the impact so we can we can try to assess what was the underlying business momentum. And maybe as part of the discussion, it could be helpful to hear a little bit about the organic growth in March and the exit rate, which I guess was probably less impacted by the weather. So that would be the first topic. The second one is on France. It seems to be doing a bit better, so where are we in terms of growth within building solutions? Is it back to kind of a flattish trend or still negative? And on the fiber rollout there, when do you expect the drug to completely disappear? And then the third topic, just taking maybe a step back, I think, Gautier, you made some comments back in 2022 and 2023 that higher oil and gas prices were pushing clients to invest in energy efficiency, electrification, and back then you still were benefiting from that. So given the current context, is it something that you would expect to happen again? And do you have any discussion with clients that would support that view, basically?

Yeah, well, thank you, Rémi. Regarding weather, during the first week of the year, Particularly in Germany and in Central Europe, as you see, in Poland, people told us it will be the worst winter in 10 years or more than 10 years. It also had some impact elsewhere, but to a lesser extent. It's obviously linked with the proportion of the works we do outdoors. Typically, distribution works are impacted, but also when you have areas where seal works contractors get delayed and then we have to come after them, we see they create some post-mortem as well. Well, it's something that you see behind us, and coming to your point, we did see a distinctively stronger march, that's for sure. The important thing is that we were able to save capacity by way of holidays, training. So we managed to save productive man hours for later, which will help us catch up on this delay in the beginning of the year. And that's something that has been done very efficiently in all countries where we operate. Regarding France, There's still a drag from optic fiber, and it's going to be less than last year, but it will further create a drag this year, and it's possible that it will plateau next year. We're not sure yet. Regarding building solutions, we are in negative growth territory, and we are very selective in terms of other intake and this was a case we see last year with an impact on the revenue this year but we are when we are selective it means we target interesting projects a bit more sophisticated with more demanding customers in terms of quality and intricacy of what they do and it means it's a better margin so I think it's an important message for building solutions that we we manage to protect, if not progress our margins further. And I think it's good that you mentioned the trend and clearly the war in the Gulf is a stark reminder of how important it is to move to electricity. As you have seen in France, the government has issued a plan to foster further electrification of the country. We still have a very significant usage of fossil fuels. And it's a trend that we see with all our customers. It's only further reinforced by the current events. But if we look at industry customers moving from gas-fired furnaces to electrical ones, we see a lot of force with regard to heat pumps, etc. So it's a major concern. We see quite a surge now also in electrification of fleet and with an impact on the recharge point network. So it is a very positive trend which will only be reinforced by the current events. And that's something where which will recreate the headwind for SPIE going further.

Thank you very much, and just congratulations on the fantastic job you've done at SPIE over the last few decades. Thank you, Gauthier.

Thank you, Remy. It's always a team effort.

The next question comes from Alexander Peter from Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for the question. I'd also like to send my congratulations to you both here for your excellent stewardship of over the years and great success here. Just a couple of things from me. The first one, I'd just like to come back to France. We had this nice surprise with the return to year-on-year growth. Was there anything outstanding in the first quarter that showed performance or should we now model growth for France at the like-for-life level more confidently in positive territory for the rest of the year. And the second question, just on the recently announced acquisitions, there's quite a lot of them. Can you tell us if they all together will have a positive contribution to group EBITDA margins already this year or next year? Thank you so much.

So with regard to France, there is nothing really outstanding in terms of the peak in a project or something for the start of the year. It is a really normal course of events. We mentioned the parts which have been helping, such as technical necessity, such as nuclear as well, which is a positive trend. The year is still young, so I will not make any guess on the organic growth for the wool year. We see, as I said, a positive trend in some areas, but we see also in other areas, customers with an element of cautiousness. So, you know, you could say how the wool year is going to shape us. And with regard to acquisitions, all together they do create some margin relation. We will have to see when it happens over the year, depending on the exact timing of closing. Specifically, the last year acquisition in Australia, which we plan to to close fully by the middle of the year. This one is dilutive. It's dilutive to group, but it's also dilutive to the oil and gas or the GSE segment. But overall, positive impact.

Great. Thank you very much.

The next question comes from Christophe Chaput from Otto. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. And again, I wish you the best for the coming month and the coming year. The first question is on EBIT margin. So your guidance is obviously an improvement for the full year. But would you say that H1 is going to improve as well because it probably depends in a certain extent on the level of catch-up in Q2 you are going to make regarding the weather conditions? because the high voltage, let's say, could create a kind of negative mix on profitability in H1, I assume. So I just wanted to check that. By the way, regarding the weather conditions, I'm not sure you quantify in terms of million euro the impact on top line regarding the Q1. If you can help us, let's say, in that respect, it could be great. And the last one is regarding the life pipeline of M&A. So, obviously, you sign a lot of deals year-to-date. Usually, the life pipeline represents an amount of sales of 400, 500 million euros. How much it represents, let's say, actually, after, again, the fantastic deal you sign in H1? Thank you so much.

Thank you, Christophe, and thank you for your kind words. With regard to...

What was the underlying business momentum? And maybe as part of the discussion, it could be helpful to hear a little bit about the organic growth in March and the exit rate, which I guess was probably less impacted by the weather. So that would be the first topic. The second one is on France. It seems to be doing a bit better, so where are we in terms of growth within building solutions? Is it back to kind of a flat-ish trend or still negative? And on the fiber rollout there, when do you expect the drag to completely disappear? And then the third topic, just taking maybe a step back, I think, Gautier, you made some comments back in 2022 and 2023 that higher oil and gas prices were pushing clients to invest in energy efficiency, electrification, and back then, SPIE was benefiting from that. So, given the current context, is it something that you would expect to happen again? And do you have any discussion with clients that would support that view, basically?

Yeah, well, thank you, Rémi. Regarding weather during the first week of the year, particularly in Germany and in Central Europe. In Poland, people told us it's the worst winter in 10 years or more than 10 years. It also had some impact elsewhere, but to a lesser extent. It's obviously linked with the proportion of the works we do outdoors. Typically, I would say distribution works are impacted, but also when you have areas where seal works contractors get delayed and then we have to come after them, we see they create some postponement as well. Well, it's something that you see behind us, and coming to your point, we did see a distinctively stronger March, that's for sure. The important thing is that we were able to save capacity by way of holidays, training, so we managed to save productive man hours for later, which will help us catch up on this delay in the beginning of the year. That's something that has been done very efficiently in all countries where we operate. Regarding France, There's still a drag from optic fiber and it's going to be less than last year but it will further create a drag this year and it's possible that it will plateau next year, we're not sure yet. Regarding building solutions, we are in negative growth territory and we are very selective in terms of uh order intake and this was the case we see last year which with an impact on the revenue this year but we are we are when we are selective it means we target interesting projects a bit a bit more sophisticated with more demanding customers in terms of quality and intricacy what they do and it means it's a better margin so i think the important message for building solutions that we we manage to protect, if not progress our margins further. And I think it's good that you mentioned the trend and clearly the war in the Gulf is a stark reminder of how important it is to move to electricity. As you have seen in France, the government has issued a plan to foster further electrification of the country and we still have a very significant usage of fossil fuels and it's a trend that we see with all our customers so it's only further reinforced by the current events but if we look at industry customers moving from gas, fire, the furnaces to electrical ones, we see a lot of force with regard to heat pumps, etc. So it's a major concern. We see quite a surge now also in electrification of fleet and so with an impact on the recharge point network. So it is a very positive trend which will only be reinforced by the current events and that's something where which will really create a headwind for SPIE going further.

Thank you very much, and just congratulations on the fantastic job you've done at SPIE over the last few decades. Thank you, Gauthier.

Thank you, Rémi. It's always a team effort.

The next question comes from Alexander Peter from Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking a question. I'd also like to send my congratulations to you, Gautier, for your excellent stewardship of SPI over the years. Great success here. Just a couple of things from me. The first one, I'd just like to come back to France. We had this nice surprise with the return to year-on-year growth. Was there anything outstanding in the first quarter that drove this outperformance, or should we now model growth for France at the like-for-like level more confidently in positive territory for the rest of the year. And the second question, just on the recently announced acquisitions, there's quite a lot of them. Can you tell us if they all together will have a positive contribution to group EBITDA margins this year or next year? Thank you so much.

So with regard to France, there is nothing really outstanding in terms of a peak in a project or something for the start of the year. It is a really normal course of events. We mentioned the parts which have been helping, such as technical facilities, such as nuclear as well, which sees a positive trend. Well, the year is still young, so I will not make any guess on the organic growth for the wool year. We see, as I said, positive trends in some areas, but we see also in other areas customers with an element of cautiousness. So, nearly to say how the wool year is going to shape. And with regard to acquisitions, all together they do create some margin relation. We will have to see when it happens over the year, depending on the exact timing of closing. Specifically, the last year acquisition in Australia, Worldly Power Services, which we plan to to close fully by the middle of the year. This one is dilutive. It's dilutive to group, but it's also dilutive to the oil and gas or the GSE segment. But overall, positive impact.

Great. Thank you very much.

The next question comes from Christophe Chaput from Otto. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. And again, I wish you the best for the coming month and the coming year. The first question is on EBIT margin. So your guidance is obviously an improvement for the full year, but would you say that H1 is going to improve as well because it probably depends in a certain extent on the level of catch-up in Q2 you are going to make regarding the weather condition? because the high voltage, let's say, could create a kind of negative mix on profitability in H1, I assume. So I just wanted to check that. By the way, regarding the weather condition, I'm not sure you quantify in terms of million euro the impact on top line regarding the Q1. If you can help us, let's say, in that respect, it could be great. And the last one is regarding the life pipeline of M&A. So, obviously, you signed a lot of deals year-to-date. Usually, the life pipeline represents an amount of sales of 400, 500 million euros. How much it represents, let's say, actually, after, again, the fantastic deal you signed in H1? Thank you so much.

Thank you, Christophe, and thank you for your kind words. With regard to... EBITDA margin, even with these impairments we had on the first quarter, we were not worried about margin progression over the year. And as you have seen in the past, it tends to be fairly continuous over the year. So we do not expect H1 to be affected H1 margin. to be affected by the slower start to the year, and they're definitely not. Yeah, I didn't quantify weather conditions because it's not easy to do, but again, I think the main thing is to see this ability to catch up over the rest of the year thanks to the capacity saved, and that's really something we're very confident about. And maybe for the pipeline of acquisitions, Jérôme, you'll say a word?

Yeah, definitely a strong start to the year, as you noticed, Christophe, but not making our pipeline empty, not at all. It does not pertain only to what we could do for the rest of the year 2026. We also have in the pipeline some very interesting targets that might generate concrete realizations for 2027 and beyond. Again, we still benefit from the heavily fragmented nature of our markets constituting all along the year new opportunities to come.

Thank you so much.

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Alan Wells from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Just two quick ones from me, please.