Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the TXT conference call during which, Group CEO Daniele Misani will, present and comment the main KPIs, for the Q1 2026 results, together with some business updates, about, future evolution of the business. I will then take the lead, to provide more, details about the financials, and the call will end with a Q&A section. For such purpose, you can drop your, question in the dedicated, section of the, meeting room. We will just wait a few seconds, and then we will start with, the conference call. I will have the pleasure to introduce, Daniele Misani to this call.
Thank you, Andrea. Welcome to everybody. This is the presentation of financial results of the Q1 that was very strong. As you know, we are implementing a strategy of growth with contribution coming from aggregation of new companies and synergies we create among the companies of the group. This strategy brought good results for the last few years and Q1 is still in this direction. This makes us confident to meet the goals that we have already communicated to the investor and all the stakeholders, the financial stakeholders, related to our industrial plan for the next three years. Looking for the numbers of Q1, there is a strong growth in terms of top line, almost EUR 110 million, with a growth of 18% with respect to the same period of the last year.
The important indication is coming from organic growth, like for like growth, that is +17%, EUR 16 million added in the top line with respect to the same perimeter of the last year. Nevertheless, the investments and the investment made also to sustain the growth, we keep a good EBITDA margin that is almost 14.5% with a total EBITDA consolidated for the Q1 of EUR 16 million, 2026 , with a growth of 18%. Our strategy is sustainable. We grow in top line, but we are focused on the value proposition, projects with good margins, our own Smart Solutions, proprietary software that in order to keep a good EBITDA margin in a sustainable way. Looking to the total numbers, the growth is have contribution coming from all the divisions of the group.
We have this approach very end-to-end from the advisory to our proprietary asset and to the system engineering capability to deliver complex projects. All the division registered a good growth for the Q1. Total growth is 19%. System engineering is 18%. 23%, a strong growth for the advisory part, mainly related to the public sector, 15% in the growth of our proprietary assets, Smart Solutions. Looking to the EBITDA contribution, also in this section, you can see that we have a constant growth from all the division. by keeping the same margin we had also the last year, incrementing, let's say, the investments, both commercial and R&D, in order to be more effective in our value proposition. Software Engineering growing of 18%, strong contribution from Digital Advisory, + 24%, and 15% coming from proprietary solution. For a total EBITDA almost EUR 16 million, 14.5% as a margin.
We continue to invest. As said before, our growth must be sustainable for the long term. The investment made in our proprietary solution is about EUR 6 million. That is a strong growth with respect to the same period of last year that was 24% less. We continue. We believe that the technology and the latest, let's say, technologies available on the market, including AI algorithms and AI technologies, are fundamentals in order to improve the capabilities of our Smart Solutions. For this reason, we are continuing to invest for the existing product lines and also for the new products that we will launch to the market in the next future.
In terms of revenues, so the investment brought growth also in the Smart Solutions part, so our proprietary asset, with a total revenue of EUR 22 million in growth of 15% with the same period of the last year. Internationally, we keep, let's say, the market share. This is because the growth on the domestic market in which we are already leader and we continue to be a reference point for digital innovation is growing. We are growing also internationally. The revenues coming from international business are EUR 16 million. That is 15% of the total business. In terms of debt, our let's say approach, as you know, is a sustainable approach. We invest for new acquisition by financing the acquisition with the cash we generate. Also we have active buyback planning in order to continue to buyback our own shares to be used in future acquisition.
During Q1, we closed the deal with the American company for Flight Profile Optimization, so for Aviation & A erospace & D efense in general. That has an impact of almost EUR 10 million, and EUR 2 million are coming from investment in other startups or minorities that we have in order to increment the footprint and continue to grow. The total net debt adjusted, so without financial investment, is around EUR 100 million. That is a projection below the 2x EBITDA that we expect at the end of the year. We are in perfect line with our guideline. We still have treasury shares. In particular, Q1 was strong in terms of buyback. We acquired more or less EUR 2.5 million in our own shares.
The total amount of shares, at least evaluated at the share price at end of March, is about EUR 13 million. Today, also because yesterday was a very good day after the results in terms of stock price. Overall, we have almost EUR 15 million in our own shares to be used for future acquisitions. Looking for the industries in which we are, we have these six pillars, competence centers and clusters that are growing according to the, let's say, guidelines we gave during the industrial plan. The Q1 registered also performance stronger than what we planned during the industrial plan itself. Overall is 19%. Also in this case, the good things is our diversification allow us to be more sustainable and reliable, pushing on the markets that are fast-growing but having also good results coming from synergies from the other markets.
Everybody, every industry, every cluster that we have is growing. The particular, let's say, driver of growth is related to the public sector that, we expect to grow in this segment because the backlog that we acquired in the past few years and the projects that are increasing in this area. Aerospace & Defense, that is the other, let's say, main driver for the growth, on the year level is growing at 10%. Q1, generally, is, by, let's say, design. The Q1 is almost slower because at the end of the year, we start with big projects, so the new business will ramp up during the year itself. Still we grow of 10%, and we expect to grow much more in the next nine months. It is in particular, let's say, good to point out the growth and the contribution coming from Telco & G aming and In dustrial.
Specifically, Telco & G aming is growing, in a good way in the Q1 for a big contract we acquired in the gaming industry, for which we are partnering with a big player on the Italian market for the renewal of their own digital infrastructure. This new contract was, let's say, an upsell very strong that contributed in for Q1 for the total growth. For the Industrial, we are starting to consolidate the new business that we launched last year in the H2 of last year related to the monitoring of complex infra and critical infrastructures. This business is completely organic, so comes from investments internally and synergies we create among, let's say, different business lines by providing a software proprietary platforms towards the market of critical infrastructures that brought, let's say, a strong growth all organic in the Q1 .
The overall is EUR 2.5 million, more or less, of revenues coming from this business in the Q1 and is expected to grow in the next months. The other divisions are in line with the plan with an average growth of 10%. Looking to the events that are, let's say, happened after the closure of the Q1 and the evolution of the business, as I said, all the, strategy that is a mix of M&A, so aggregation of companies, and, synergies are doing and are bringing results. In terms of investment, we closed, in March, the investment in a new startup in partnership with the Politecnico di Milano, to build a company that will create a, let's say, set of advanced algorithms in order to monitor critical infrastructures, AI native.
We are investing with the know-how coming from the Politecnico di Milano and the capability as software, let's say, factory that we have internally to build, let's say, additional functionalities to be provided to our customers in this domain. The investment is a startup that was founded in March for which, let's say, TXT will contribute as a financial, let's say, investor and also as, let's say, provider of technology together with, let's say, the partnership with Politecnico di Milano. The goal here is to leverage AI capabilities and our engineering knowledge to capture market opportunity and to grow the business that already started in a good way in terms of monitoring of critical infrastructures. Other investment we did and we closed it was in 1st of April. We acquired FasThink.
That is a Smart Solutions provider with a footprint in the proprietary asset in terms of OT and IoT in general for industry and for complex production systems. They have also inside the company a proprietary solution, hardware and software, related to warehouse management. For us, it's a strategy because synergic with the Industrial division. We had a, let's say, customer base and we had new assets complementary to the assets that we are already to strengthen our position as an end-to-end provider or complex solution for, let's say, the Industrial, overall, market. The company we acquired, registered in 2025, EUR 4.4 million in turnover with a margin around 20%. We expect a continuous growth before synergies accelerated by the synergies we can provide.
Just to inform the market, we already closed the deal with the customer of, let's say, the new acquired company by providing, let's say, existing solution we have in the group. It's a low-hanging in fruit that we closed is we are speaking not of a very big deal. We are speaking about 100,000 cases in new licenses we provide to a customer of FasThink by leveraging the synergies with the rest of the group. This is the most point for us important. The opportunity to create synergies, upsell and cross-sell, and technological synergies in order to be stronger on the market. We paid for this acquisition at closing EUR 4.5 million, and we expect that will generate growth across the 2026 and farther. The other acquisition we completed is, on 4th of May 2026.
We completed, let's say, the deal to aggregate NetMedia Click, a Smart Solutions provider in the MarTech domain that have also a proprietary solution related to performance marketing, very complementary to the company that we have already in the group that is Refine. Together, these two companies became one of the leaders, at least in the domestic market, of performance marketing, let's say, offering. For us, it's strategic also in order to support the internationalization, let's say, scale-up initiative that we launched last year because we create a critical mass in terms of software assets, resources for the operation, and market reach to address more strongly and quicker, let's say, the scale-up towards the international business. NetMedia Click in 2025 had revenues of EUR 4.6 million with an EBITDA margin more or less 20%.
At the closing, we paid EUR 5.5 million in order to acquire the 100% of the shares of the company itself. Also in this case, we expect to generate synergies with the MarTech division of the group in order to be stronger in front of the competitors and the requirements of the market. I want to highlight that these two acquisition plus the investment in the startup with the Politecnico di Milano are strategic and in line with our industrial plan, because we are looking for a very specialized company with already a good customer base and a market presence and with innovative and proprietary technologies that generates immediately good margins and with good EBITDA margin.
we add this, let's say, improvement overall to our group because we are adding companies that are generating, an average EBITDA margin above the average of the entire group. we are speaking here to add with these two companies, EUR 2 million, pro forma with respect to the overall EBITDA of the group and, of course, pre-synergies EUR 2 million and pre-growth. We expect this year the contribution will be better. I let maybe now, I ask Andrea to, before, I already give some flavor about the growth in the different divisions that we have. The main point is that, for us, AI is an elevator, in terms of go-to-market for all the divisions that we have, either service-based division and Smart Solutions, proprietary product. We have different, let's say, opportunities in pipeline in terms of commercial pipeline to extend our footprint of the market.
The results of Q1 are good, but it's the beginning of a year that we see very strong in terms of, let's say, opportunities, in terms of sustainability of the growth in all the divisions that we have. I ask Andrea maybe to go through the financials in order to share more detail about the financial performance. Thank you, Andrea.
Thank you, Daniele. Thank you for this very comprehensive, let's say, overview about results and business updates. Now we go a little bit deeper into the financials, starting from top line and the EBITDA. Top line was broadly discussed by Daniele. We recorded an 18.5% growing Q1 2026 with, let's say, mostly of the contribution coming from organic growth with 17% of growth on a like-for-like, let's say, perimeter.
In terms of direct cost, we have an increase of 14%, slightly lower than the growth of the top line, bringing a positive effect in terms of growth margin, which reached approximately 36% in the Q1 of 2026. Looking at the indirect cost, we have a solid growth of research and development cost. As said before by Daniele, we are still investing in new technologies. We want to push in our Smart Solutions portfolio to keep it above of the competition in terms of innovation. Let's say, this growth of 24% outperformed the growth of revenues and in specific of Smart Solutions. The return on this investment is expected already from the Q2 and for the future years. As a reminder, we fully expense all our R&D into the P&L. We do not capitalize any of our research and development costs.
A very significant growth was recorded into commercial cost. Here we have, includes also, of course, the management cost and the marketing cost. Here we have some very strong campaign and acceleration into investment, both in internal resources with the clustering of the group offering, by industry with, let's say, a new key position and also with, let's say, some accrual of sales commission and bonuses, which are somehow linked also to the very strong performance recorded in the Q1 of the year. Also the marketing investment and the marketing initiatives, let's say, supported the growth reported of 59%. We expect this growth to be slower in the rest of the year. In fact, if we look at the incidence of commercial cost over revenues, there's a significant increase from 6.6% in the Q1 of 2025 to almost 9% in the Q1 of 2026.
As I said, we expect this, let's say, incidence to get a bit lower in the rest of the year. Looking at the general administrative costs, the growth of approximately 20%, brought G&A costs to EUR 7.5 million with an incidence of 6.9% over revenues, broadly in line with the 6.8% incidence reported in the Q1 of 2025. The EBITDA margin maintained the 14.5% level in 2026 Q1 as was in the Q1 of 2025. It is important to say that the different mix of the fastest growing of Smart Solutions, Software Engineering and Digital Advisory, should have, let's say, a little bit diluted the margin, which instead we were able to keep thanks to synergies and operational efficiency.
Moving to the next slide below the EBITDA, the Group reported the total depreciation and amortization, excluding PPA, at about EUR 3 million, with an overall incidence of 4.3% of revenues. Here the main items is related to IFRS 16. The depreciation related to lease for about EUR 2 million with an incidence of 1.8% on revenues. The remaining items are merely related to depreciation of fixed assets for EUR 0.8 million and depreciation of intangible assets, excluding PPA, for EUR 0.2 million and an aggregate incidence of 1%. The overall growth of depreciation and amortization and write-off, excluding the PPA, is 17%. Slightly lower than the growth of the top line.
PPA instead have a very significant growth because includes all the acquisition completed, up to, let's say, 2025, while in the Q1 of 2025, the allocation of the price on Webgenesys and other main acquisitions of 2024 were not included as the group has a 12-month period in order to reflect PPA effect into the books. The incidence of PPA on revenues increased significantly from 1.1% into Q1 2025 to 1.8% in the Q1 of the current year. In terms of net financial income and charges, with the net results of EUR 2.7 million reported in 2026 Q1, showed a growth of 45% compared to the same period of the previous year. These are the main effects linked to the different financial and structure of and debt structure of the group.
As we will see in the next slide, the group also increased the exposure towards banks in order to sustain the ongoing M&A plan, which is very active in the H1 of 2026. Of course, we have the results from the minorities broadly in line, let's say, compared to the Q1 of the previous year, less than EUR 100,000 of net loss compared to EUR 23,000 of net loss in the same period of the previous year, with earnings before taxes adjusted by PPA, which ends at EUR 10 million in 2026 Q1 versus EUR 8.9 million in the Q1 of the previous year, with a net increase of 12.6%, underperforming, let's say, the 18.3% of the EBITDA margin. This is mainly related to the different financial results.
The net profit adjusted has a similar, rate, as an incidence of 7% on revenues versus the 7.1% from the previous year. In terms of net profit reported, the difference of 80 basis points is to be attributed to the PPA mainly and also to the different financial results. In terms of results from the, net profit attributable to, minority interest, we have EUR 0.4 million in the Q1 of 2026 versus, EUR 0.5 million in the Q1 of 2025. Looking to the next slide, the net debt of the company increased overall by EUR 2.7 million. The increase in the net debt comes from an offset of the very strong, free cash flow generated by the company in the quarter, which was, let's say, above historical data and, above targets thanks to a better, DSO reported in the period and, other effects on the networking capital.
These effects, these very positive effects were offset by the extraordinary investment incurred by the group, in particular EUR 12 million coming from M&A, of which EUR 5 million related to earnouts and EUR 2.4 million related to capital increase into minorities. The repurchase of treasury shares already disclosed by Daniele by EUR 2.6 million and also the payment of interest and financial charges for EUR 2 million. If we look at the net debt by nature, we have cash and cash equivalents for EUR 114 million with an increase of approximately EUR 12 million compared to the previous year. This, it's also reflected in the total bank loans and borrowing that are about EUR 210 million in 2026 end of March versus EUR 197 million end of 2025 with an increase of EUR 13 million.
The group is getting, let's say, more cash in order to be ready to, let's say, pay for the M&A that are planned. Just as a reminder, as of today in the Q2, two acquisitions were already disclosed and closed. There are the possibility to close further M&A. Other, let's say, main items into the net debt position in terms of financial assets, there are financial instruments at their fair value, which are reported, which are quite stable, with the EUR 236 decreased coming from the fair value of such financial instruments. In terms of main liabilities, other than bank loans and borrowing, already commented, we have IFRS 16 liabilities for overall short term and long term EUR 18.5 million with a net increase of EUR 0.4 million.
We have earnouts liabilities for about EUR 16 million with a net increase of EUR 5 million related to acquisition, closed in the Q1 of 2026. Let's say those are the main financial liabilities including the net debt. The difference between the net debt reported of about EUR 119 million as of end of March 2026 versus the adjusted net debt as of the same period for under EUR 1.5 million is related to the financial investment in Banca del Fucino, which is expected to be monetized within the year, at least, let's say, a big portion of it. If we look to the next slide in terms of balance sheet, the consolidated balance sheet of the group showed total fixed assets as of end of March 2026 for EUR 254 million, with an increase of about EUR 10 million compared to year end 2025.
The main category is intangible assets equal to EUR 190 million, as of end of Q1 2026 with a net increase of EUR 9 million. Within intangible assets, the main category is related to Goodwill for a total amount of EUR 141 million as of end of March 2026 with an increase of EUR 11 million compared to the year-end 2025 following the acquisition of the period and the related fair value of the earnouts. The remaining item accounted for within intangible assets are mainly customer relationship intellectual properties coming from M&A, with a net book value of EUR 45 million as of end of March 2026. Tangible fixed assets are equal to EUR 34 million in as of end of March 2026 with a net increase of EUR 0.4 million compared to the year-end 2025.
The main items included, consist of, office and car lease recognized under IFRS 16 for a total of EUR 20 million, one building with a net book value of EUR 4 million, plant and machine with a net book value of EUR 4 million, which are merely related also to the new lab, in which the group invested, between end of 2025 and beginning of 2026, and laptops and other electronic, equipments for a total net book value of EUR 3 million. The other fixed assets, so the last item, the last category of the fixed assets, amounted to EUR 29 million as of March 2025 with a net increase of EUR 0.7 million.
The balance mainly included investment in Banca del Fucino with a fair value of approximately EUR 18 million in line with the previous year, the investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries for EUR 8 million with an increase of EUR 1 million compared to year end 2025, and other minority amounts linked to, for example, security deposits on lease and deferred tax assets. The net working capital of the Group, in the period, reported a net decrease of EUR 2.7 million, which positively contributed to the operating cash generation of the period itself. If we look at the trade receivables with customers, the increase at a lower rate compared to the top line, thanks to the improved DSO and the effect of invoice discounting, while payables with suppliers and work in progress increased at a rate in line with the growth of the business itself.
The other items are related to other short term assets, other short term receivable, which increased by EUR 3 million in the Q1 , mainly for the increase in the deferred expenses account. Tax payable instead increased by EUR 1 million in the Q1 following the recognition of income tax of the period, which more than offset the reduction of the deferred tax liabilities account. The main decrease of the net working capital is related to other payable and short term liabilities, which decreased by EUR 6.7 million. Here the main effects is related to the increase of deferred income, related to unbilled subscription invoice during Q1 for a total of EUR 5 million and for the increase of payable with employees for accrued holidays and salaries related, for example, to the 13-month salary.
in terms of other items, severance and other non-recurrent liabilities are in line with the year end of previous year. Shareholder equity, is the net effect coming from the net results of the period and the effects on treasury shares, while the net financial debt was broadly reported into the, and commented with the previous slide. If we move to the next slide in terms of, shareholding structure, the structure as of end of March 2026 is broadly in line with the year end 2025, with Laser line being the financial vehicle of Enrico Magni accounting for 30% of, the overall its capital.
We have managers with more than 20%, so 24%, stake, which includes manager, both, part of the, let's say, executive team and also those who enter in the Group following the M&A plan, as the Group used to, as a tendency used to pay, let's say, price partially in cash and partially in treasury shares, which become, let's say, shares owned by management. We have, market. The, floor mark owning 40% and 3% related to Treasury shares, in particularly related to Treasury shares during the Q1 of 2026. The treasury shares amounted to approximately 430,000 shares, representing 3.3% of the issue shares. For comparison, the Treasury shares were 334,000 as of end of year 2025.
The increase share buyback program, in fact, during the Q1, TXT repurchased 95,600 shares at an average price of EUR 27.3 per share for a total investment of approximately EUR 2.6 million. In terms of dividend, for 2026 and based on the 2025 results, achieved by the group, the shareholder meeting resolved the distribution of a dividend of EUR 0.35 per share, calculating on outstanding shares, excluding treasury shares, which will correspond to a payout of approximately EUR 4.5 million. The dividend payment date is May 20. The payout is not reflected into the figures reported in the Q1 of the year. In terms of performance of the TXT stock during the Q1 of 2026, TXT share price reached a high of EUR 31.4 as of March 17, 2026, and the low of EUR 23.85 as of February 16, 2026.
As of end of March 2026, the price per share was EUR 29.6 . We completed the financial overview section of this conference call. We will now go through the Q&A that we have collected during the presentation. We currently have two questions. I will publish. First question coming from Andrea Randone, which I don't see anymore. Maybe I pushed the wrong button. Anyway, the question was asking if we can provide more color about the EUR 500 million of bids on the public sector expected to be awarded by 2026.
Yes. We are speaking, you know, the business for our go public sector division is based mainly on public tenders. In order to acquire the backlog that we are now delivering, also the results of the Q1 are related to tenders we won in the past few years that we are delivering.
it's needed to continue to do, let's say, new bids, new tenders in order to have the continuity of the business for the next few years. In terms of acquisition, we participated in a lot of new tenders because in the first part of the year, there is a new wave of big, digital transformation programs for the central public administration and local public administration, for which we have a goal to acquire at least, let's say, to keep the level of the backlog constant and growing 10% in order to deliver in the next few years the growth. Far there are no public, let's say, information related to the closure of these deals that are expected to be completed in the H1 of the year. Of course, for these tenders, there are also, let's say, possible discussion between who participated.
You know, it's a long term vision. In order to have more, let's say, details about this information, we will publish as soon as we, secure new deals, comprehensive communication of the deals we acquired during the year. So far there are no, let's say, information also price sensitive to share. The point is that we are positioned in a very good way. We expect to collect at least the backlog in order to give continuity to the business of the public sector, let's say, cluster that we have in TXT Group.
Thank you, Daniele. We have additional three questions. One from Andrea Randone from Intermonte, one from Nicolò from Kepler, and the other from Andrea Bonfà from Banca Akros.
I will start from the second one from Andrea Randone who is asking, can you explain as how TXT was able to secure the European Defense Fund project and what are business expectations? How TXT was appointed coordinator of the consortium?
Okay, thank you. We just announced and we just received, let's say, the, confirmation we, get this, let's say, project from the European Defense Fund that is related to a data collection platform for interoperability across different defenses across Europe for which we were a coordinator. Coordinator means that we presented as, let's say, head of this consortium the proposal to the fund and we won also against big players. We achieved this result because on this, let's say, topics of the defense at European level, let's say, fundings and innovation, it's years that we are preparing and positioning ourselves.
We build a strong relationship with big players. In the particular case of the achievement we reached, we decided to participate together with other big players in order to be an alternative also at European level. We managed to win this one against also more big or structured companies. Since the focus is related to innovation in the consortium, there is a lot of partners that are more industrial and producer like Safran or MBDA, for example. We, as a technological provider of digital innovation, are a perfect coordinator of this activity because we will coordinate contribution coming from big players and also from the academic world in order to deliver innovative solutions for the European defense.
It's strategic for us because it puts us on a different plane with respect to the past because here we are a protagonist of this kind of, let's say, initiative. For us it's strategic in terms of business, let's say, impact. The overall funding is almost EUR 30 million in three years for which our share is 20%. This, let's say, achievement is not the only one, with the fund or other funds related to defense innovation investments. It's just a part of a total that is much more bigger. We are speaking about a total of EUR 10 million in fundings and new projects we acquired.
Also for this we will have during the next period better communication also through, not only financial channels of the initiatives in terms of content of what, which contribution we will provide for the innovation of the digital infrastructure of defense at European level.
Thank you, Daniele. I will go through the next question from Nicolò Marchetti from Kepler. The question is, you flagged additional extraordinary transactions expected by end of Q2. Could you give us a sense of the typical size and verticals being targeted? There are, it's longer. Do you want to answer first this one or do you want me to read the entire question, Daniele?
No, if you publish it, I can see.
I publish and then sometimes they disappear. If I publish, then the risk is that I don't see it anymore. I will try to publish as soon as.
This first question, we have in line an additional acquisition. We will not address too much, let's say, the details because we are working on it. Let's say strategically we are acquiring a company that will be in line with the offering that we have according to our strategy to strengthen the competencies and proprietary assets and strengthen the position in the cluster that we already have. In particular, this company has different business units that is covering at least two or three of our business lines. It will be a sort of addition in order to strengthen more than one. The focus is more to the Industrial side, banking and finance as a cluster. Let's say the size will be bigger than the two acquisitions that we did in the Q1.
I gave a riddle, more or less. Let's say, since it's still ongoing, we have good probability to close it. As you know, until you sign is not done. Since we don't disclose too much about the new operation, it's an opportunity that will be disclosed as soon as completed.
Thank you so much, Daniele. The second question continues with another question and another topic. With Brent and jet fuel prices having moved meaningfully higher year to date, route optimization solutions become more economically compelling for airlines on a payback basis. Are you seeing this translate into a tangible step up in commercial activities for the FPO SmartRoutes offering, both in terms of inbound interest from new airlines and in pricing power on renewals?
Could you share how the sales pipeline has evolved over the past few months and whether you expect this fuel-driven tailwind to accelerate contract signing in the remaining of 2026?
For sure, all the pressure related to a fuel price is a driver for growth for this business line. Strategically we decided also to accelerate the acquisition of SmartRoutes in order to be a stronger player in this field. in terms of, let's say, immediate growth, of course, already FPO, our optimization solution, to the market, it's something that takes time in order to go because it's not something that reduces fuel by just pressing a button, but it's a software that is running in the cockpit of an aircraft, connected with the control tower.
With a strong implication related to security of the data, that data privacy and usage of professional operators like pilots that are regulated. They will start to use the tool as soon as they have the proper training and the certification in order to use it. The impact, of course, accelerates the trials from customers or the selection of this kind of tool with respect to other many initiatives that are in fuel optimization. The impact in terms of revenue stream is on a longer term. What we are experiencing now is an increase and is an upsell to the current customer base.
Just as an example, American Airlines that is already adopting the solution asked us for an extension of licenses in order to adopt the solution of other fleets and other models of aircraft that they have already in the fleet. There is an upsell potential with the immediate, let's say, return on our profit and loss. There is, let's say, more long-term return that we expect to have starting from the next year because the number of trials with customers is increased in the last period because the interest is much more. Of course, the fact that it's not a solution immediate to save fuel, but it's more a sustainable long-term solution for the airlines has this effect on the revenue stream and the adoption of the technology itself.
For us, for sure, Flight Profile Optimization is, let's say, the smart solution offering that we have in portfolio, fast growing and with more profitability. Of course, we are also in the middle of a period in which the market request, demand is increasing. We are investing in it. We are deploying additional also functionalities to our platform because it's a fuel optimization, but strategically it's a broader adoption by the airlines itself because it becomes a communication device to exchange real-time information across the fleet of a company airline company. For us, strategically it's a part that is growing fast and we want to continue to invest in order to capture the opportunity that we will come in the next period.
Thank you, Daniele. We have one last question for now from Andrea Bonfà from Banca Akros who is asking, can you provide more details on the growth building block for the next nine months? You already anticipated an organic growth rate around 10% or that of your business plan, but more details would help.
Andrea Bonfà wants too much secret that we will keep in our house. In general, you see, the Q1 is already above the guidance we gave as a group. First of all, because we are, let's say, we present data that are sustainable. We deliver on promises. We promise what we can reach. Of course, we are pushing in order to exceed the expectation and the declared one.
Of course, starting with the Q1 so strong, the expectation and the guidance for the next nine months will improve with respect to the 10% guidance we gave at the beginning of the year. We are planning to do an update of our industrial plan after one year and a half. We are planning to do that immediately before summer or just after the summer break that will give more details about the contribution of growth of the different business lines. With respect to the Q1 for which we have a strong contribution coming from also the growth of Telco & G aming for the new contract with the gaming player that we have acquired during the Q1.
We don't expect that this segment will continue to grow, stronger for the next half of the year, the contract is at least nine months to one year. The contribution will last for all the years. We expect a stronger growth for the Aerospace & D efense. As I said before, Q1 is a season in which there is a seasonality of the business itself because, let's say, a lot of Smart Solutions business and also the projects in terms of service delivery, in general increase in the Q4 of the year, in the last quarter of the year. We had a ramp-up, very strong. The performances of Q4 for this industry were stronger. We started from a plafond already high. The Q1 is more, let's say, a starting of the new activity coming.
During the year we expect more, let's say, growth, very strong as I declared also in the past meetings. Last year, Aerospace & D efense growth of a 20% overall. We expect similar growth for this year for the Aerospace & D efense. The Q1 is 10% means that next quarter will be stronger than 20% in order to have the average 20% of all the year. We have opportunity and risks, of course. Some areas are more under pressure like the Telco business. Some areas have opportunities that are not yet reflected in numbers, specifically the initiative related to the digital payments domain for which we have a good commercial pipeline, but deals must be closed in order to have results in our profit and loss.
We have the international scale-up of the MarTech business that is less than expected when we design our industrial plan, specifically because first, let's say, a startup at international level was in Dubai. Dubai in this period is frozen because of all the activities in the Middle East. We think that the stronger domains that will grow and will continue to grow will compensate possible risks that we have in either area. The average of 10% growth of Q1 of the industrial plan is already exceeded in the Q1. We expect to continue to grow at a better rate with respect to what we declared in the industrial plan. Of course, as I said, as soon as we will present the revision of the industrial plan, more details will be provided.
Thank you so much, Daniele. I think we didn't get any further questions. We can maybe close the call. For any other question or information that the market might require, of course, I remain available for follow-ups.
I would like to thank you, everybody. As, let's say, you noticed probably yesterday after the publication of the results, also the market was well impressed about the sustainability of our business. We renewed also the board. We have, let's say, a strong commitment from the management team in order to continue to implement and to execute our strategy in terms of further acquisition and, let's say, enabling synergies among companies in order to capture opportunities and become more and more a player well recognized on the market and deliver value for the large customer that needs a company like us to support, let's say, the innovation by putting new technologies in the core processes in their core business.
We will continue on this in order to meet and exceed the results that we communicated to all of you. Thank you very much. I have an update after the results of the six months in which we will give more detail about the business, what you asked. Thank you very much. Thank you, Andrea, for your contribution.
Thank you. Thank you, Daniele. Thank you, everyone.
See you.
See you next time.
Bye-bye.
Bye.