Veolia Environnement Adr

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Viulia H1 2025 results conference call with Estelle Grashinov, CEO, and Emmanuel Manning, CFO. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, July 31st, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Estelle Rationale. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining this conference call to present the ODS H1 key figures, and I'm accompanied by Emmanuel Mening, our CFO. I'm on slide four for the key takeaways. First and foremost, our H1-25 results are very strong. with Q2 performance in line with Q1. Those results are perfectly in line as well with our annual objectives and enable us to fully confirm our guidance for the year. In a rather challenging environment, this performance is really a testimony to the strength of our business model of resilience and growth, with a successful combination of stronghold and booster activities and a diversified international portfolio. As you know, the Velia value creation model is fueled by three levers, growth, performance, and capital allocation. Those three levers were again successfully in action in H1, and I will detail each of them in a minute. Regarding capital allocation, I would like to highlight that H1 has been particularly dynamic with 2.2 billion euros of net M&A, invested many in our boosters, while keeping debt under control, of course. This includes the buyout of CDP2 30% stake in water technologies, enabling us to accelerate value creation, as well as nearly 300 million in targeted acquisition in hazardous waste treatment in the US, Brazil, and Japan. Those excellent H1 achievements confirm the relevance of our greener growth priorities, as the challenges related to health, resilience, competitiveness, and sovereignty are all the more crucial and confirms the sustained demand for our services. I'm now on slide 5. Our H1 key figures are once again very strong. Revenue reached €22 billion, up 3.8% excluding average price, which are essentially pass-through for us, as you know. EBITDA increased by a substantial plus 5.5% on a light-for-light basis to €3,367,000,000. fully in line with our 5% to 6% guidance, and shows a margin improvement of 50 basis points, thanks notably to our recurring efficiency gain, complemented by the last energies coming from the sales acquisition more than three years ago. Current EBIT was up plus 8.1% to 1,834,000,000 euros, demonstrating good operating leverage. Current net income reached 762,000,000 euros, up apparently by plus 4.3%, but in reality up by more than 12% if we exclude last year's capital gain from the deficit of Saudi and France. So quite a remarkable performance down to the bottom line. This means we are very confident in our 2025 guidance. Net financial debt remains well under control and leveraged up three times. we are perfectly on our trajectory to less than three times at your end with the usual seasonality. Our solid H1 performance enables us to fully confirm our guidance. Am I on slide six? In these uncertain times, EULIA stands out as a powerful combination of resilience and growth as demonstrated over the last few years. Remember, we managed to increase our results quarter after quarter despite Volatile energy price, difficult macro in Europe, political and geopolitical uncertainty, higher inflation and interest rates, just to mention a few recent shocks. And why is that so? Let me insist on a few elements of our winning formula. One, our diversified geographic footprint, and we make sure we are in the top three in each of our countries. Two, our very local activities with cities and industries rather than governments. Consequently, we are immune to the current trade war and the no forex transaction exposure, only transaction in our accounts. Three, we have protected business models with 70% of raise-renew automatically indexed and solid pricing power for the remaining 30%. We have long-term contracts, 11 years on average, and more than 90% renewals. And 85% of our revenue are quite macro-immune. This is clearly the case of our municipal activities, but also largely of our commercial and mutual activities, even in the waste business, as detailed recently during our waste deep dive. Our customer base is spread out from pharma to hospitals, macro-e to retail, and on all continents. And we are very agile with extra cost cutting when needed. And fourth, finally, our differentiation is reinforced by our ability to combine our different businesses. talking about waste and energy or water and energy, which makes us quite unique to our customers. And as you know, 25% of Veolia's revenue stems from the combination of two or more businesses. And now on slide seven. As you know, our value creation and EPS grows from three pillars, top-line growth, performance, and capital allocation. And I'm going to go through them one by one, as always. to illustrate how they've each contributed to our performance in H1M. I'm starting with growth, and growth on our stronghold activities on slide seven. We've registered very solid revenue growth of those strongholds with plus 3.4% XUD energy price. And this was fueled by our three activities. Let's start with water operations. Revenue increased by 3.6%. It continued to benefit from good indexation, and have achieved successful tariffs for negotiation in Spain, as well as red-case approval in our US-regulated operations, which protects, altogether, our future margins. We also enjoyed good commercial momentum in Europe with a few new contracts in France, for instance. Solid Waste, revenue grew by plus 1.5%, or 2.1%, excluding energy price, despite a sluggish macro. This is thanks to good pricing, and a high renewal above 90%. In particular, we signed into the renewal of our energy from waste contract in the greater Porto area for another 10 years, totaling €178 million backlog, including innovation to enhance the carbonized energy produced. Revenue from districating networks increased by plus 5.1% in energy price, which is faster than last year. thanks in particular to a favorable weather impact, but also to new connections with network extensions. Let's now have a quick look at each of the boosters performance in H1, and I'm on page eight. Those boosters have performed very well, with plus 8.9% growth in H1, including targeted tokens, prioritized, as you know, in Greenup, but would have been still very good organically. As expected, water technologies rebounded significantly in Q2 in terms of revenue and EBITDA, but also from an order book point of view, confirming the strength of our technologies portfolio. As we explained earlier in the year, Q1 apparent stability was due to a very high compression base in 2024 and to the timing of contract delivery. In Q2, revenue increased by plus 5.4% with still a very high comparison value in Q2-24. Bookings amounted to €1.2 billion in Q2 alone, which is up 50%, so 5-0 versus Q1, and reached €2 billion for H1, comparable to last year. And our pipeline, I must say, is very healthy. This with fuel revenue growth in the coming quarters. As the Swiss revenue increased by plus 5.4%, I would like to highlight in particular the continuous strong growth in Europe, plus 5.8% despite the industrial macro, which is a good demonstration of our relative immunity to macro, as explained earlier. We have also delivered solid growth in the U.S., despite planned shutdown of Paul Harper earlier in the year, and we started new operations in Saudi Arabia and the Dubai complex. Only China is still lagging behind in terms of price, but we start to see some rebounding in volume. In bioenergy, revenue was up plus 21.8% ex-energy price, but including our new targeted acquisition. And if I were to go to organic growth, it would still be plus 6.6%, which is very good. Now let's dive into our second level of value creation, which is performance and efficiency. I'm now on slide 9, which shows our first half performance. In terms of our yearly efficiency plan, we've achieved €198 million in gains, in line with our annual target of €350 million. As you know, this is a recurring lever, embedded into our operations, and therefore one we can count on for years to come, not forever. Efficiency gains at Veolia are not discretionary cost-cutting programs of which you could question the continuity. But rather, they come from a diversified series of initiatives in our thousands of plants across the globe. In terms of cost synergies derived from the threat merger, we've achieved 47 million in H1, for a cumulative total of 482 million since day one. This is in line with our objective of 530 by year end, which, as you know, we raised a year ago. I'm now on slide 10. The third pillar of value creation and EPS growth is capital allocation, with a priority to our boosters when using our balance sheet headroom, as per our strategic plan, Green Up. You will see a powerful H1 in that respect, notably in water tech and hazardous waste. I want just to highlight that the EBITDA increase in H1 of 10% in those two boosters gives us confidence that these are good investments to sustain future earnings. In each one, we've been successful in crystallizing 2.2 billion euros of acquisition. First, in water technologies, with CDPQ 30% stake in WTS for 1.5 billion euros. An operation which will be accretive to our current TPS from 26, and rosy enhancing thanks to 90 million euro cost synergies by 27. But there is more to it. A merger of WTS and VGT allows us to gain full operational control of the asset, unlocking its full potential for development and innovation. It has the swathe on top of our continued strong organic growth. We signed five Bolton acquisitions in Q2 for a combined EV of €300 million and good multiples, notably in the US and Japan for those acquisitions. Of course, we maintain our balance with discipline, and our leverage will remain below three times at your end, allowing the group to retain strategic flexibility. I'm on slide 11, and you know this slide, which summarizes our enhanced ambition in water technologies, as detailed in our deep dive last November. We aim to grow our water tech operations by an average of six to 10% per year, from 33 to 27, and increase our EBITDA even further, including the additional synergies derived from the buyout of the CDBQ minority interest, the EBITDA category for the period will now be above 10% per year, with ROCE increasing gradually. Slide 12, and you also know this slide, which summarizes our strong ambition for our has-this-way business, as detailed in our last big dive. This is thanks to supportive megatrends, notably health protection, nature protection, industrial reshoring and regulation, notably on new pollutants, such as PFAS. Our strong asset base and technologies, as well as our leadership position in the world, as well as in Europe and in the US, further reinforced by new assets to be commissioned, as well as stocking acquisition. And as announced during our recent deep dive, we expect top-line to grow mid to high single digits, EBITDA to grow by 10% per year on average, resulting in margin expansion at least 200 BP, where our growth rate should increase by plus 50% by 27 to 9% of the tax. I'm now on slide 13. Our strong H1 results, of course, allow me to fully confirm our guidance for 2025. In particular, I want to stress again the strength of our H1 performance in terms of growth, Our booster delivered plus 8.9% top-line growth. So in terms of organic EBITDA performance and bottom-line delivery. In H2, we are certainly heading towards the same momentum. So we are very confident on our 2025 guidance, which is summarized on this slide. And finally, on slide 14, as a conclusion, I wanted to remind you of our long-term guidance. fueled by our three levels of value creation, namely growth, performance, and capital allocation, which are the backbone of our green-up plan, and fully confirm our 2027 objective. They include current net income growth of 10% on average over the period, with dividend growing in line with current EPS, and ROCE above 9% in 2027. As you remember from our yearly presentation, we decided to launch a share buyback plan from 2025 to 2027, signed to neutralize the impact of the Employee Shareholding Program, so that going forward, current EPS will go in line with current net income growth. In a nutshell, Veolia is all about resilience and growth. And now on over to Emmanuel, who will detail our H1 figures.

Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. The results at the end of June are solid, fully in line with our annual guidance, and allow us to be very confident for the rest of the year. With €22 billion in revenue, we experienced a solid growth of 3.8%. Taking into account the impact of lower energy prices, revenue was up 2%, showing an improvement in the second quarter, at 2.4% versus 1.5% in Q1. and an improvement compared to 2024. Thanks to the operating leverage and the good delivery of efficiencies and synergies, we enjoyed a solid organic EBITDA growth of 5.5% at 3.4 billion euros, and a current EBIT growth of 8.1%. Current net income reached 762 million euros, up apparently by 4.3%, but in reality, up by more than 12%, including last year's 53 million euro financial capital gain. Therefore, the current net income underlying growth is quite strong, and we are very confident about our 9% growth guidance for the full year. Net financial debt reached 20.8 billion euro at the end of June, up from December 24 due to the seasonality of working capital and M&A activities. and showing a leverage ratio of three times in spite of €2.2 billion of net financial acquisitions in H1. We expect the leverage ratio to be below three times at your end and after a full seasonal working capital reversal in the second half of the year. You can also see on the slide the detailed Forex impact, which reversed in Q2. I remind you that we operate in local currency, meaning that our exposure is linked only to translation and not to transaction impact, largely offset at current net income level by financial, tax, and minority. Slides impact was minus 24 million euros at EBITDA level and neutral at current net income level. Moving to slide 17, you can see the revenue evolution by geography. I will start with what the technology is. Revenue were stable in Q1 due to a high comparison basis and the timing of project delivery. As mentioned by Estelle, WaterTech Q2 revenue had a strong rebound, as expected, by 5.4%, with a still very high comparison basis in Q2 2024 and EBITDA increase double digits, leading to a 9% EBITDA growth in H1. Meanwhile, Booking were up 50% in Q2 compared to Q1, and reached 2 billion at the end of June, a level comparable to last year, and we expect significant further signing in H2. In the rest of the world, revenue was up 3.7%, with all regions performing well. Very strong performance in LATAM, plus 10.5% in Africa and the Middle East, up 6.7%. In Asia, very solid waste activity in Hong Kong and water operation in Japan. In China, hazardous waste is progressively recovering, with volume up, but prices still under pressure. In the US, strong regulated water and hazardous waste revenue was up 5.3% in H1. In the rest of the world, it was up 5.6%, excluding energy prices. In Central Europe, revenue increased by 5.7%. Eating activity benefited from a cold winter. while the impact of lower energy prices was much lower than last year. In Northern Europe, we registered a solid activity for waste in the UK and energy services in Belgium. In Southern Europe, the semester was excellent, notably in Spain, and revenue was up by 8.6%. Finally, France and others with Europe was flat in H1, with lower solid waste volumes and indexation and timing of efficiency gain impact. Offset by strong hazardous waste and good water activity, we expect a rebound in H2. Now, let's take a look at our performance by business, and I will start with water. Water revenue was up 3.4%, fueled by the strong gold water operation, while water technology rebounded as expected in Q2, up 5.4%. Water operations benefited from good indexation, with continued price increases in Spain, Central Europe, and in the regulated US and Chilean water operations, while indexation was back to zero in France due to lower electricity prices. Volumes were on a very good trend, for example, plus 2.6% in France. Moving to waste. Waste activities grew by 2.4%, a solid pace, but a bit slower than in Q1 due to the slightly lower indexations and volumes. Revenue from the solid waste from all was up 1.5%, driven by tariff increases in all geographies. In terms of volumes and commercial development, Europe was mixed, with resilient volume in the UK and in Germany, but down in France, notably in landfills. Activity was still progressing in the rest of the world, notably in Latin America and in Hong Kong. Commodity impacts were non-significant and comparable year on year, with lower electricity prices in H1, partially offset by the increase of recycled prices. The hazardous waste booster had a very strong semester in all our geographies, in Europe as well as in the US, thanks to a favorable mixed effect and good commercial momentum. Finally, moving on to energy, I am on slide 20. As you know, energy revenue is sensitive to energy prices, which were down as expected in H1, but to a much lesser extent than last year. Excluding the energy price impact, growth was faster, up 5.5%, thanks to good volumes, health by all the winter. E-prices were on average almost stable compared to last year, and electricity prices were down as expected. Strong activity and energy efficiencies, up 6.6%, with strong sale momentum in Belgium, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. The revenue breach on slide 21 explained the driver of our growth in H1. Scope was negative and reached minus 334 million euros, mainly due to the impact of flasher disposals. Forex impact reversed in Q2 due to notably the decrease versus the euro and the Argentinian peso. the Australian and Europe doula, as well as Brazil in real, the impact was minus 196 million euros for the first half. The impact of energy prices was, as expected, much lower than last year, at minus 395 million euros. The weather effects amount to plus 169 million euros due to a colder winter at the beginning of the year in Europe. The contribution of commercial volumes were comparable to last year, plus 1.4%, driven by sales momentum and resilient volumes. Finally, price effects were as expected lower than in 2024 due to lower inflation and contribute plus 1.4% to top-line growth. On page 22, you have the EBITDA bridge detailing our organic growth of 5.5%. In line, with the annual guidance between 5% and 6%. Scope amount to minus 53 million euros. Forex EBITDA impact was minus 24 million euros, but its impact was very much offset down the line for EBIT, only minus 13 million euros, and neutral accurate net income. Weather was favorable by plus 31 million euros, Commerce volumes worked effect was positive at plus 1.4% in line with revenue impact. Efficiency gain generated plus 2.3% in additional EBITDA, hence a very good retention rate of 39%. And finally, synergies amounted to 47 million euros, leading to a cumulated amount of 482 million euros, perfectly in line with our annual objective of cumulative €530 million by the end of 2025. Going down to Current EBIT, this slide illustrates perfectly the operational leverage of our business model. Current EBIT grew by 8.1% in H1 to €1.8 billion at a faster pace than EBITDA. Renewal expenses of €157 million were comparable to 24%. Amortization and OFA were slightly lower than last year due to perimeter. Industrial capital gains, provisions and other were stable and are expected to decrease at URAN with fair value adjustments and full impact of IFRS2 charges. Joint ventures were comparable to last year. The cost of debt was stable at minus €330 million as well as cost of financing at 3.79%. Other financial charges decreased by 26 million euros due to variation in forex impact. It was partially offset by a decrease of 57 million euros net financial capital gains, which included the SAD disposal last year. The current tax rate was flat at 26.2%. Finally, minority interest came to minus 246 million euros, a small increase linked to higher results in Spain and Central Europe. Current net income, therefore, reached 762 million euros, up by 4.6%, but by 12.5% if we restate last year's financial capital gains. Therefore, we are very confident about our 9% growth guidance on the full year. I am on slide 25. Net income group share amounted to 657 million euros, which is stable versus last year, as non-current item increased by 25 million euros. due to a charge associated with the end of a long-lasting litigation in Lithuania for minus 35. Restructuring expenses were stable, excluding sad capital gain last year. Net income group share increased by close to 10%. Net capex amounted to €1.7 billion, which is stable compared to last year, despite having increased gross capex from €2,028 million to €258 million. million euros, notably in our booster activities. Net free cash flow amount to minus 451 million euros due to working capital seasonal variation of minus 1.17 billion euros, which will be reversed at your end, coming from finitification cash out, scope entries with negative working capital position in H1, and the effect of accelerated repayment of quota fees in water fronts. In Q2 standalone, working capital variation was almost neutral at minus 24 million euros, leading to a net positive free cash flow of plus 455 million euros. We fully confirm a leverage ratio below three times at your hands. As you can see on slide 27, net financial debt is well under control, reached 20.8 billion euros at the end of June versus 17.8 at the end of 2024. This increase of 3 billion is due to usual working capital seasonality and dividend payments, net financial investment of minus 2.2 billion euros, which includes the purchase of CDPQ 32 cents shake in WTS, partially offset by cash flow from operations. In spite of significant M&A activity, leverage was at 3.01 times and will decrease to below 3 times at your end, with a seasonal reversal of working capital variation and strong free cash flow generation expected in H2. In H1, we have successfully issued new bonds, which attracted market interest and was done with very good market conditions. We anticipate partially the 1.35 billion euro hybrid bond 26 maturity by issuing a 500 million euro hybrid bond in May, We also issued in June 1.5 billion euros in two tranches of 7 and 12 years at respectively 3.32% and 3.79%. We have also repaid 836 million euros bonds during the first half and the next maturity of 500 million euros is in September. Our balance sheet, therefore, remains very strong. Both rating agencies confirm strong investment grade ratings in H1 2025. Before concluding, I remind you on this slide of our share buyback program, which has been launched to offset the division of the employee shareholding program, and our upcoming investor events. Our strong H1 results allow me to fully confirm our guidance for 2025. I wanted to underline again the strength of our H1 performance in terms of growth at revenue, EBITDA, and underlying current net income. H2 is on track for the same momentum so that we fully confirm our ambitious guidance for 2025. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Emmanuel. And so you've understood a very good set of results with Q2 and Q1 very much in line. So no slowing down and actually a very good commercial self-dynamic, you know, if I think of Brazil, Porto, Béziers, or even the plus 50% in the water tech of the book. And I must say the summer starts well with a good July. I will let you the floor to questions now.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you do wish to ask an audio question, please press the star 1 on your telephone keypad. And if you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing star 2 to cancel. Once again, please press the star 1 to register for a question. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. And your first question comes from the line of Arthur Sitben with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Hello. Thank you for the presentation, and thank you for taking my questions. I have two. The first one is on the organic growth profile. Q2, well, H1 was at 5.5% at EBITDA level, exactly in line with what was achieved in Q1. I was wondering if we should be aware of any seasonality, any particularly easy or tough comps in the second half that could make you deviate from that trajectory or if so far it looks like it should be pretty much in line with that level. And the second question is actually on your targets for 2027. Consensus is broadly in line on 2027 recurring net income with what's implied by your constant FX 10% growth target. I was wondering if you are comfortable with that, so at 1,960,000,000. If you are comfortable with that, given the unfavorable FX recently, should the actual current net income in 2027 be lower than what's implied by your target, or the FX impact should be relatively small at net income level, all in all. Thank you very much.

Okay. So, two interesting questions. In terms of... H1 versus H2, you could expect really a similar type of pace in H1 and H2 in terms of EBITDA and pretty much all the rest. You know, that's explained in a way on our bridge of EBITDA. You know, growth, as I said, as in top line growth, you know, we're very happy that it should go on on good pace in H2. In terms of efficiency and synergies, efficiency is really a recurring one. Synergies of the stress merger could go down a little bit, but on the reverse. As you know, we've acquired on the 1st of July the 30% stake of CDBQ, so we will have a starting of the 90 altogether million of synergies of this acquisition starting in H2. And in terms of, so I guess it gives you a color that we don't expect anything very significantly different in H2 compared to H1 in terms of progression. In terms of the 2027, I can confirm the consensus, I can confirm our guidance for 2027. And regarding Forex, you alluded to it in your question. You know, like Forex, as Emmanuel said, is a translation, not transaction for us. And if you go, of course, you have a Forex impact when you go to revenue and EBITDA in, again, transaction, not transaction. But if you go down to net results, you have almost divided by five effect. So it's one, five up. one down to the net results. So, we can confirm, therefore, what we said this morning. You know our guidance .

Yes, maybe just one second on that one. Thank you for the question. Regarding maybe the second question you had regarding the 2027 target, fully confident, fully confirmed. The growth, as you know, will come half of it from organic growth. So organic growth and the second part, it can be organic, it can be M&A, of course, and the second part will come from efficiency with a very strong track record. You have, of course, in mind the fact that we will have the additional synergies coming from the combination in water tech that have been achieved, and the closing was at the end of June. Regarding the forex as mentioned by Esther, we have... an effect down the line which is very much offset. You have seen the effect at the end of H1, 24 million at EBITDA level, 13 million at EBIT level, and neutral and net result level. So we see that down the line we have an effect in net income which is neutralized, and as you see our guidance, it has content for us. So fully confirmed and on a very good pace.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Ollie Jeffery with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. The first question I have is on volumes and commerce growth in EBITDA that was around I think it was a 1.4% in H1. I know you've had a tough comp in the WaterTech business because of the fast growth in H1 of 24. So can you talk about how you think you see that volume and commerce growth evolving in H2? I presume we should expect to see that pick up as the comp in H2 24 should be easier to beat for WaterTech. Is that the right way of thinking about it? And then the second question is just... obviously you've had a good result here at the bottom line. Could you just explain a bit which drivers do you think in the business are making you kind of track ahead of where you might envisage bottom line growth at the start of the year? So what's gone better in H1 than you initially envisaged to put this kind of strong bottom line growth result out? Thank you very much.

So I guess I would start on Emmanuel, you know, maybe on the bottom elements. So in terms of volume and commerce, If you look at our bridge, Q2 was at 1.6% where Q1 was at 1.3%. So it's even slightly higher in Q2 than Q1. We are very happy, again, with the fact that we have a plus 5.4% in Q2. In water tech, that's revenue, and if you look at all the books, plus 50%, or 2 billion altogether, which is not yet translated into your revenue. So you're right, you know, we should expect a very good Q2 in water tech in particular. I wanted to highlight another one, which has the swathe, and has the swathe in Europe. Why do I pick this one? Because Europe has not been exactly great in terms of... macroeconomical for industry. And nevertheless, you know, we've enjoyed this 5.8% growth in just has this weight in Europe for the H1. This is exactly what we've tried to explain in our deep dive on waste. You know, like we are largely disconnected to macro. So again, volumes, commerce, order book, all that is in either inline or not slowing down. If not, you know, picking up. So really very confident in that respect. Emmanuelle, on the second question?

Yes. Hello. So your question was on, if I'm not mistaken, on the trend of net results in the bottom line, strong net result delivery at the end of H1. As you have seen, strong net delivery in terms of current net income. It grew by 12.4%, including last year's capital gain, including the side disposal, and we will maintain the same pace in H2, fully confirming our 9% growth. If you are looking line by line, starting with EBITDA, so you see 5.5% EBITDA growth, 8% EBIT growth, and 12%, 12.4% at net results. In Q2, we have been helped, of course, by very strong momentum in water technologies, strong rebound. Our order book did plus 50%, and he's 5% to 6% higher than last year. Second was, of course, the performance in water, very good volumes in water at the end of June, so plus 2.6% for France, but it was also very well-oriented in Central Europe and in Spain. What we like also with Estelle is that the momentum in July is also very positive because it is continuing. The water activities are doing good and we see also on the waste activity a good momentum in solid waste and in hazardous waste. And then finally on your question regarding line by line on net results, cost of financial debt was very well under control. No significant change and tax rate at 26% as expected.

Thank you very much.

And your next question comes from the line of . Please go ahead.

Good morning and thank you for taking my questions. Also, two issues to discuss. Please, first on France, maybe two aspects. I would like to split it into two. First, when we look at the French municipal water, there is zero tariff indexation in 2025. So I just wonder, what does it do to your margins, meaning zero tariff indexation and probably costs increased? Does it mean that margins in Water France are actually shrinking in 2025 versus 2024? And consequently, also given different price indices developments, what do you think will happen to tariffs in France in 2026? And the second part on the French is actually on municipal waste with minus 4.8% revenues year on year. Maybe if you can elaborate a little bit on this one, meaning is it kind of a new trend or is it only a temporary decrease? in revenues in waste France. So that's France. And the second aspect on your 9% net income guidance, because right now you are talking about 12.5% net income increase in first half, excluding the capital gain from last year. So just to make it clear, 9% includes the capital gain or it excludes the capital gain? Because the capital gain in from the first half 24 is around three percentage points to the net income increase. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your two questions. So on France, in a way you have three elements of France. France water, France dry waste, and France and the rest of Europe, hazardous waste. So to start with the last one, I already commented on it, a plus 5.8% on hazardous waste in France and Europe, despite the sluggish macro, so super happy about that. In terms of France water, you have in a way three different effects. One, you're right, indexation was pretty much flat, so pretty much no indexation. We anticipated that. This is really an automatic indexation rather than a tariff one, if you want. And, you know, we've done cost cutting and the efficiency program exactly on that front. So don't anticipate a shrinking in the margin. We are used to that, and we protect our margin in that respect. I must say another element is volume, and we had a quite good June and July, as Emmanuelle just mentioned. So don't anticipate any negative in the shrinking of the margin. We are protecting the margin in France water. In terms of France waste, as in dry waste, so not hazardous waste, You're right in terms of revenue being slightly negative. I wanted to comment on the fact that it was not the case in our other part of the business in waste. So UK, Germany, Latam enjoyed a growth in revenue. Coming back to France waste, you have a various effects. First effect on the energy price because we sell energy that we produce from our recyclable waste. So that's an automatic effect. But again, we are able to protect our margin. Then you had a little bit of volume decline linked with a bit of macro. But again, what's important for me is to protect our margin, and we have. So I would encourage you to have a look if you want more detail on the waste activities altogether. and how we are able to be protecting our margin to have a look at our deep dive on the waste, where we've demonstrated over the years that we can protect our margin. I must say that even volume-wise, H2 should be better in France waste, as we see in July. So I'm expecting a very much better H2 than H1, even on that specific one. On net income, Of course, our guidance does include the specific 50 million euro comparison in 2024, so it includes everything, but maybe, Emmanuelle, you would elaborate on that.

Hello, architect. Thank you for your question. You're absolutely right. The capital gain was fully taken into account in our 9% guidance. It was spotted last year and well discussed with you and the other analysts. And when we have defined the guidance and the budget, it will all in, including capital gain.

And as we explained earlier, including Forex as well. So it's all in. Thank you.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Zachary. Zachary, please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for the time. Yeah, I have two questions on my end. Firstly, on M&A. Yeah, so I see press reports that EDF is looking to sell their French district heating and cooling business, which I assume is a stronghold type business for you. Can I confirm?

Sorry, the line was a little bit blurred, so we barely could hear you. See if you could repeat because... Okay, yeah.

Can you hear me now?

Yeah, I think we can, but, you know, if you can slow down a little bit because, you know, since the line is a bit blurred, it's a bit difficult, but please go on.

Okay, I will try. Yeah, so I see press reports that EDF is looking to sell their French district and heating and cooling business. Can I just confirm that this is not the type of transaction that you're looking for? And on that note, are there any particular booster areas that you will be interested in using the remaining green up headroom for? And my second question would be regarding the U.S. business. I'll be interested to know what you are currently seeing on the ground regarding big increases that I think would incorporate the cost of CFAS treatment. Are you seeing any pushbacks from regulators regarding bill affordability or are you really only seeing support from these regulators?

Next. Okay, good. Two questions. So on M&A, I'm used to not commenting on potential something one day. So I haven't seen that there is any specificity apart from press articles, and I won't comment on press articles. In terms of priorities of the OIA, value creation and boosters investment, as you've seen in our green-up, this is where we have a priority of our investments, like we've demonstrated in H1. In terms of PFAS, the short answer is we don't see any pushback, neither from potential tariff increase associated with the PFAS treatment, nor from regulators. If I detail that a bit more, in terms of regulators or sanitary authorities, because that's what we're talking about, it was more than confirmed in Europe and even in the US. The PFAS regulation, I remind you, the PFAS regulation started in the U.S. during Trump 1 administration, and it was confirmed by the recent administration and EPA, so no pushback there. It's more how do we act, what type of pace, what type of threshold, but it's not an if, it's how. That's everything that's been discussed about. In terms of costs, I remind you that drinking water is already something like $1. out of a thousand compared to buying a bottle of water. And at times it's even of a better quality. So it's not a question of cost. And altogether in all the country we operate, the typical average bill for a family would be 1% of the family, you know, like... Average income and the family spend. So honestly, nothing here in terms of pushback. I guess it's quite the country. We see a ramping up of not only measurement but then solution. We've sold a few very interesting contracts to treat PFAS in France. we are going on with ramping up our revenues in PFAS treatment in the US and in Australia in the same way. So it's really quite the reverse, you know. I said we would have an objective of one billion revenue by the end of the decade. I'm very confident we should achieve this target.

All right. Very helpful. Thank you.

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Estelle Brachanoff for closing remarks.

So thanks very much for today. We're very happy about this very strong set of results for confirming our guidance for the year and for the Green Act 2027. And as I said earlier on, very good in all the books, as well as a good start of the summer in July. And I will let you have a nice summer season. See you in early September for some of you for roadshows, or in Poznan, Poland, on the 25th of November, if you want to hear about decarbonization and if you're heating. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.