Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Ayvens's Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. Today's speaker will be Philippe de Rovira, CEO, and Patrick Sommelet, Deputy CEO and CFO. I now hand over to Mr. Philippe de Rovira. Sir, please go ahead.
Well, thank you. Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. That's a pleasure to be with you for the first time in my position of the CEO of Ayvens, and I will be very pleased to meet you in person in the coming days, weeks, and months. So I'm hosting this call with Patrick Sommelet, and I will first present the highlights of the year, then Patrick will comment on our full year and fourth quarter 2025 detailed financial results. And we will then be happy to take your questions before meeting with you during our road shows. So let's go now directly to slide 5 on the financial, on the key financial performance indicators. Ayvens posted strong financial results in 2025, delivering on its commitments towards shareholders.
Thanks to the group's focus on profitability, margins improved further in 2025 and stood at 565 basis points, up 32 basis points versus 2024. On used car sales, the group navigated smoothly through the normalization of its used cars results. While the gross result per unit stood at EUR 1,675, down EUR 380 versus 2024, the sharp decrease in depreciation adjustments versus 2024 resulted in a higher net result per unit, which stood at EUR 703, up 38% compared to 2024. The group made a significant progress on efficiency, reflecting increased synergies on both revenues and costs. As a result, our underlying cost to income ratio improved substantially, down 7.1 points versus 2024, at 56.1%.
Bottom line, net income group shares stood at EUR 996 million, increasing 45%. That's just EUR 684 million in 2024, corresponding to a ROTE of 12.9%. These strong financial results fuel capital generation, and together with reductions in RWA, thanks to changes in regulation and optimizations, we propose a total distribution for the year amounting to EUR 1.15 billion. This corresponds to a dividend per share of 1.01 EUR versus 0.37 EUR in 2024, and EUR 360 million share buyback already executed last December. In parallel, our capital position remains strong, with a CET1 ratio at 13.2% at the end of 2025. So let's now turn to slide 6 on 2025 key achievements.
Overall, Ayvens delivered on its strategic and financial roadmap, paving the way towards our PowerUP 2026 plan objectives. So let me start with the financial targets. As you just saw, the group delivered a strong set of financials in 2025. On all aspects, they were in line or better than our guidance to the market. Cost to income ratio 56.1, better than guidance. EUR 357 million of synergies, in line with guidance. CTA spent in line with guidance. On gross used car sales, result per unit stood at 1,075 EUR per unit at the high, high end of our guidance. Second, on business activity, we have kept a steady focus on profitability and balance sheet protection throughout 2025, as reflected in the 33 basis points year-on-year improvement in our margins.
We have successfully reshaped our footprint towards more profitable customers. At the same time, we have kept a prudent stance on asset risk, notably on electric vehicles, for which we have closely monitored market dynamics and lowered our residual values accordingly. In parallel, Ayvens remains active in developing this franchise, in particular, onboarding new partners, such as Chery and extending the partnership with BYD. Finally, the group achieved key milestone on the integration of LeasePlan. IT and legal mergers were completed in 17 countries out of the 21 overlapping ones where the group operates. 90% of relocations to single office has been completed across the group. 90% of the fleet is now operating on the targeted IT platform of each country.
And in parallel to the strong delivery on the 2012 strategic roadmap, Ayvens shareholding structure has been reshaped with a sell-down and exit of the ex-LeasePlan shareholders. Free float increased to 45%, driving trading volumes upwards. So let's now turn to slide 7 on fleet, on earning assets. Earning assets stood at EUR 53 billion, decreasing by 1% compared to Q4 2024, but up EUR 400 million versus Q1 2024. Funded fleet, totaling 2.5 million vehicles at end 2025, decreased by 84,000 units versus December 2024, with Q4 2025 showing a slowdown in de-fleeting versus Q3 2025, with a limited reduction of 14,000 units. This is the result of our strategy, as we've primarily focused on profitability, on tight asset risk monitoring rather than growing volumes.
This is notably the case in the UK, where we're structuring our brokered business, in Germany and in Turkey, which still operates in a hyperinflationary economy. Besides these three parameters, Ayvens earning assets increased by 1.1% versus December 2022. In terms of deliveries by powertrain, BEV penetration stood at 32%, and PHEV penetration at 12%, supporting earning asset growth, thanks to the price effect. Let's now move to next slide to conclude on the highlights for 2025. So we recorded in 2025 strong and improving financial results across all lines of the P&L. Revenues grew by 11.3% and reached EUR 3.4 billion. They were supported by a strong increase in both margins on net UCS results.
Operating expenses were down 3.9%, thanks to the ramp-up in the synergies extracted from the LeasePlan acquisition. On net income group share was up 45.7% on diluted earnings per share , stood at 1.11, up 52%, as it also benefits from the reduction in shares outstanding following the EUR 360 million share buyback executed in December. I now hand over to Patrick to take you through the details of the full year on Q4 2025 results.
Thank you, Philippe, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let's turn on slide 10 with a detailed view on the full year strong financial performance. Starting first with the top line. Margins stood at EUR 2.9 billion, up 9.1% on a reported basis versus 2024. This increase is mainly explained by the improvement in underlying margin, which stood at EUR 3 billion versus EUR 2.8 billion in 2024, despite the slight decrease in earning assets over the year. In 2025, margin represented 565 basis points over average earning assets, up 33 versus 2024. They were further supported by a reduction in non-recurring items at -EUR 70 million, compared to -115 in 2024.
On used car sales, the net UCS results reached EUR 411 million, up 29.6% versus 2024. As you can see from the top right-hand graph, the gross UCS results stood at EUR 628 million, a decrease of EUR 280 million versus 2024, which was more than offset by the reduction in the negative impact of depreciation adjustments, which were down EUR 374 million versus 2024. In parallel, operating expenses were down 3.9% and reached EUR 1.83 billion on a reported basis. The decrease is supported by a reduction of 4.9% in the underlying cost base, thanks to the growing synergies and the continued strict monitoring of costs across the organization. Non-recurring items increased by EUR 14 million.
This increase results from a one-off IT impairment of EUR 23 million, on which I will comment further in a few minutes. Bottom line, net income group share grew 45.6% and reached EUR 996 million, leading to a return on tangible equity of 12.9% versus 8.6 in 2024. Let's now turn to slide 11 on our quarterly results, starting with revenues. So on the revenues, our quarterly results shows the same trends as for the full year. Gross operating income, total revenues, reached EUR 830 million, marking a strong increase of 16.5% compared to Q4 2024 reported. This is supported by both higher margins and higher net used car sales results.
Total margins stood at EUR 747 million, up 10.7% versus Q4 2024 on a reported basis. This increase is driven by higher underlying margin at EUR 749 million, compared to 721, and lower non-recurring items, totaling -EUR 2 million versus -EUR 46 million in Q4 2024. As we communicated last quarter, at the end of October, Ayvens reached an agreement with the Lincoln Consortium on the contingent consideration and related matters. The outcome of this agreement had a positive impact in total of EUR 40 million on Ayvens profit before tax in Q4 2025. EUR 47 million were booked in leasing and services margin, which we flag as a non-recurring item. The remaining -7 is booked in other expense line on the income statement.
Net UCS stood at EUR 83 million, showing a significant increase versus EUR 38 million at the same time last year, on which I will elaborate shortly. Let's now turn to the next page on margin. So our action to improve profitability have resulted in higher margins in euro in 2025, despite the deleveraging generated by the reshaping of our footprint and the resulting reduction in earning assets. In Q4 2025, underlying margin reached EUR 749 million, representing 567 basis points, up 26 versus Q4 2024. This was driven by an increase in leasing margin due to lower interest costs, thanks to both lower funding costs outstanding and lower interest costs across all funding sources. Underlying service margin was stable versus Q4 2024, the ramp-up in synergies being offset notably by the reduction in the fleet.
Compared to Q4 2023, total margins were down 26 basis points. As we indicated last quarter, Q3 2025 was a very high point, supported by lower than usual maintenance and tire costs, as well as a few positives linked to ongoing integration and accounting amortization. Negative impact of non-recurring items totaled -EUR 2 million. This was mainly helped by the exceptional revenue of EUR 47 million from Lincoln Consortium, as we already mentioned. On the other hand, negative hyperinflation impact amounted to -EUR 27 million, and we incurred one-off loan breakage costs of -EUR 16 million. These breakage costs are related to proactive termination of loans. The remaining impact from mark-to-market derivatives is benign at -EUR 1 million. Let's now move to the next page on UCS and depreciation adjustments results.
Net UCS results reach EUR 83 million, up 120% versus Q4 2024, which stood at 38. This increase results from a significant lower level of depreciation adjustment at minus 16, compared to minus EUR 162 million in Q4 2024. Excluding these, gross UCS stood at EUR 99 million, which is EUR 100 million lower than Q4 2024, continuing the trend of previous quarters. The normalization of the gross UCS results was very gradual over the first nine months of 2025, but accelerated in the fourth quarter, with gross UCS results per unit at 702 versus 1,010 in Q3 2025, and 1,267 in Q4 2024.
Q4 2025 gross UCS results was impacted by the increase of the volume of battery electric vehicles sold, whose results per unit remain negative on the old vintages that are being so, that are being sold. These results per unit are stable compared to Q3 2025. In addition, in the backdrop of end-of-year seasonality, result per unit on ICE car declined for some brands and models. These price and volume evolution by powertrain remain consistent with our scenario and overall financial trajectory. Conversely, thanks to the lower depreciation adjustment, net UCS per unit stood at EUR 589, up versus Q3 2025 at EUR 536, and also Q4 2024 at EUR 239. Total volume of cars sold were stable versus Q3 2025, at 141,000 units, and down versus Q4 2024, which was at 158.
This reflects the lower number of new vehicles, which were delivered in 2021 and 2022, in the context of supply chain disruptions at the time. Let's now turn to the slide on operating expenses. Total operating expenses stood at EUR 477 million, broadly stable compared to Q4 2024. Cost to achieve amounted to EUR 34 million, compared to EUR 41 million in Q4 2024. Besides, an impairment charge of EUR 23 million was booked this quarter. It relates to the review of our IT portfolio of assets, which led to the write-off of those assets, which have become obsolete in the context of IT migrations and the rationalization of IT applications across the group. Excluding CTA and this one-off impairment, underlying operating expenses amounts to EUR 420 million, a decrease of -3.1% versus Q4 2024.
This decrease is reflecting the ramp-up in cost synergies, which stood at EUR 41 million versus 13 in Q4 2024, and also continued strict cost monitoring across the organization. Compared to Q3 2025, the underlying cost base increased by EUR 8 million, which is explained by planned investment in commercial initiatives and service quality. Combined with growing margin, the decrease in underlying operating expenses resulted in an underlying cost income at 56.2, decreasing by four percentage points compared to Q4 2024. So let's now turn to the next page with the rest of the income statement. Starting with the cost of risk, which stood at EUR 28 million, representing 21 basis points of average earning assets versus 27 in Q4 2024. This is very stable compared to prior, prior quarters in 2025.
Profit before tax stood at EUR 318 million, which is up 56.2% versus Q4 2024, as a result of higher margin and also net UCS results. The Q4 2025 effective tax rate stood at close to 27%. For the full year, it lands at 29.1%, which is very close to our previous estimate. Ayvens net income Group share reached EUR 232 million in Q4 2025, compared to 116 in Q4 2024. As a result, return on tangible equity on this quarter came in at 12.3%, which is 4.5 percentage points higher than last quarter, Q4 2024.
If we now turn to the next slide on RWA and capital, total RWA at the end of Q4 2025 stood at EUR 53.7 billion, which is a decrease of about EUR 600 million compared to Q3. The decrease mainly comes from the decrease of EUR 400 million, which is resulting from our continuous efforts to optimize RWAs. This quarter, the improvement comes from credit RWA, with alignment of methodologies on potential client segments, as well as data quality corrections. It also comes from a reduction in the group's deposits due to our funding optimization.
This leads to a reduction of EUR 500 million in RWA, and this is partially offset by an increase of EUR 500 million due to the growth in earning assets. This reduction in RWA, together with the capital generation, led to a strong and steady capital build-up throughout 2025, resulting in an increase in our CET1 ratio at 13.2% at the end of the year, versus 12.8 at the end of Q3. I now give the floor back to Philippe to present our outlook for 2026.
Okay, thank you, Patrick. So our strong financial performance in 2025 puts us in a good position for 2026, and I'm pleased to confirm and reiterate our core PowerUP 2026 financial targets. Cost-to-income ratio, excluding UCS and non-recurring items, at circa 52%. Pre-tax gross annual synergies to be delivered at EUR 440 million. CET1 ratio, circa 12%. ROTE in the range of 13%-15%. Payout ratio to remain 50%, in line with the group's distribution policy. On earning assets, the 6% CAGR over 2023-2026 is not being targeted any longer in the context of a strategic shift towards profitability and strict reserve value setting.
For the rest, our scenario continues to be the normalization of used car market, with an increasing share of electric vehicles in the volumes to be sold in 2026. The gross UCS result is estimated to stand in the range between EUR 200 and EUR 600 per unit. Integration will continue, with IT migrations to be executed in some of our core countries, namely Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, and we estimate the associated cost to achieve to be below EUR 30 million in 2026. Now, a few words on our strategic priorities for next year or for this year, 2026. First, the execution of IT migrations in the remaining countries will be a priority in order to fully extract synergies from the LeasePlan acquisition. Second, we will aim at enhancing further our focus on customer satisfaction, on operational excellence.
Third, we'll continue to prioritize profitability while preserving the value of our balance sheet by managing asset risk responsibly in an industry that still undergoes a transition to electrification. Going forward, in a competitive and fast-changing environment, we will continue to push on our cars to build a leaner and customer-centric mobility platform, reaffirm our commitments towards value for all our stakeholders. I take this opportunity to announce that we will hold the Capital Markets Day on the 21st of September 2026, to elaborate on our strategic and financial roadmap beyond 2026. Before that, we'll be on the road in the next few weeks, together with Patrick, and I look forward to exchanging with you, shareholders, and investors. This concludes our presentation, and we are now ready to take your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone keypad. To ensure clarity on the line, please make sure you're in a quiet environment and speak with a clear and loud voice when asking your questions. In the interest of time, please limit your questions to two questions only. For any follow-up questions, you can rejoin the queue. The first question is from Jacques-Henri Gaulard, Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, Philippe, welcome. I wish you a long and fruitful tenure, and Patrick, congrats on the promotion, mate. Two questions. First, despite all the distribution, you end up with a quite spectacular CET1 ratio. So I guess the first question is, what are you gonna do with all this money, if we consider that 12% is still adequate CET1 threshold for you? And lastly, because there's been a lot of debate this morning already on the level of used car sales, and Philippe, good luck with that, 'cause you're not—you're the first question on used car sales, probably the first of 2 million by the time you finish your tenure. Even with that level of used car sales per unit, can we consider that a 13%-15% ROTE target in the very long term for the company would still be something you're comfortable with? Thank you.
Okay, well, thank you for the two questions. Well, on the first one, I think in the past year, we say that as a cruising level, 12.5% of around 12.5% of CET1 ratio is something we feel comfortable with. Of course, we can vary a bit up or down compared to this to this level. And I think we've shown in 2025 that we are ready and willing to return excess of capital to the shareholders.
But obviously, we're only February the sixth, so it's very early to talk about the 2026 action on this respect. Well, on the UCS, yeah, obviously, this is not the easiest thing to predict, but I think, while we expect a normalization of the UCS, and we know that, if we had a perfect crystal ball, the UCS should be closer to zero, which, but we never have the perfect crystal ball. But long term, I think what is important is to drive the company focusing on what is fully in our hands.
What is fully in our hands is working on the leasing margin, on the service margin, on the OpEx, and on the remarketing efficiency. I think we have a lot to do on all these factors. After that, the UCS depends also on the valuation of the market. The purpose is to work on these items that are in our hands, and if that's a valuation of the market, we predict as much as we can, with a stance that is an intent to be careful. That's what I want to do for the moment. Especially as electrified cars market is not yet mature.
So, I do think that, on the short term, it's much better to take this stance, and if we take a long-term view, on the long-term view, the BEV will become the new normal, but it will take a while. Which mean that, for the moment, we should be rather careful, and as years go one after the other, we should be, we could be more and more aggressive. So, the purpose of the CMD will, of course, to be, to give a trajectory on, on our financial from the coming, from the coming years, but these are already a few thoughts about this topic.
Thank you.
The next question is from Sharath Kumar, Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. Welcome, Philippe. I have three, please. Firstly, I'm interested in, I hear you when you say that you want to preserve profitability and manage asset risk responsibly, but is there a risk of you being overly conservative on fleet growth? How do you assess your competitors' positioning against Arval, especially after the recent acquisition and significant growth that they have achieved in the last couple of years? Will the conservative 2026 fleet outlook growth be offset by margins being high around current levels?
So that's my first question. Second, a bit longer term perspective. Interested in hearing your views on the potential risks and opportunities presented by autonomous vehicles to your business model. And if I can just sneak in a third, on ROTE guidance. You know, 2025 is already at the low end of your 2026 guidance, and with most cost synergies to come, so what will prevent you from not being at the mid to high end of this range? Is it mainly UCS, that's the main risk? Thank you.
Okay. So maybe let's start by the third question, as it's the quickest answer. I think your assumption is right, the UCS result is always very hard to predict, given the volatility of this market. So we give a range of UCS gross UCS result per car that is between EUR 200 and EUR 600. And obviously there is some consistency with the range that we give in the ROTE range of 13%-15%. On the first question, so the stance that we have on the profitability and the asset risk and the relation to competition. Let's summarize the thinking.
The thinking is, our scale puts us in the first league, and it's clear that Arval combined with Acqion will be in the same league. So that's something that we need to acknowledge. And I don't think that it can be a mid and long-term vision to say that we wouldn't want to grow the fleet. That's the opposite. It's to resume growth at some point in time is something that will be important, but I don't think that's a priority for 2026. The priority for 2026 is customer satisfaction and delivering on the financials, on maintaining this strict stance on the reserve value.
This is fundamentally because I believe that technological improvements on BEV remains very significant. And as you may know, I'm coming from a carmaker, spent 27 years in the car industry. We are not yet a major industry in terms of BEV, and at the beginning, the pace of progress is very steep, very quick, which mean that the reserve values in percentage of listing price are much lower with BEV compared to ICE. But that is an effect that will re-decrease over time. So it makes more sense for the moment to remain careful on the BEV, to focus on fixing the customer satisfaction issues, to prepare the company for next developments, and that, as we see gradually the acceptance-...
of the BEV by final customers growing, that will be the time to accelerate. So that's a kind of a broad scenario that, that I give. Of that, we see, we see that in the daily life, that, for example, when we are in dual supply with some competitors, and in which it's just a battle on RV, because we're already selected and we are in, in your supply. Some others go to the others on BEV. So it's not a problem of the operation excellence of the company, in that case, it's a pure assumption, that is different on the RV on BEV. But I prefer at that stage to be mistaken, being too careful on BEV, rather than and losing, potentially some share than the opposite.
But this is, we say, a 2026 view, and we'll continue to adapt in function of the evolution of the market. And we'll tell you more in the CMD. But should not conclude that even so want to grow, there will be a second step with more growth, and I think it will make sense. Your third question or your second question was about autonomous vehicles. Well, when you see what happens in both China and the U.S., you see that autonomous vehicle, for me, has a clear future for a number of usage.
So, it means that we should pay a lot of attention to work with these players and offer them our services because, well, these cars are autonomous, but they need also the same kind of services that we've been always able to provide and in which it's our core business. So, for me, no doubt about the fact that autonomous vehicle will increase in volumes and will become significant because it answers well some customer needs. And we are seeing now that both American players and Chinese players are entering in Europe. So that's what I could tell on your three questions. Hoping that I answered your questions.
Thank you. Just a follow-up on the first question on margins. So are you confident that given the fleet growth will be relatively lackluster in 2026 as well, so margins, could it be maintained at current levels?
Hmm. Well, as you know, we don't guide on the margin, but if we are consistent with the policy that I've indicated, we should have an evolution that is consistent with what we've seen between 2024, I would say in the last months since 2025, sorry.
Thank you.
The next question is from Geoffroy Michalet, Oddo BHF. Please go ahead.
Thank you and welcome to Ayvens. I have only one question. Would you be able to share with us some hints on your underlying assumptions that brought you to give this UCS guidance in terms of volume, price, mix, and maybe assumptions by motorization, qualitative assumptions indeed? Thank you very much.
Well, let's have in mind that in 2026, we've got cars that were put on the road mainly in 2021 and 2022, and there are different factors that go in different directions. You've got on the ICE cars, it was a period in which production in the auto industry was very low, and that has a tendency to support the prices of the ICE cars, which remain the majority of the volumes. So this goes in a favorable direction. On the other hand, you've got an increasing number of BEV coming back. So to give you an idea, there should be around 20% more BEV coming back in 2026 compared to what we had in 2025.
That's generating headwind in our UCS results as at that time, 2021, 2022, the forecast of the result value were not, let's say, careful enough or not taking enough into account the future improvement of technologies. So that's something that is going clearly in the opposite directions. After that, in terms of a global volume between 2025 and 2026, we don't expect a huge variation of volume of sold cars. That should not be the main driver. In 2026, I don't think that they would. Well, and they can be after that, impacts of the regulation, because it's obvious that when some countries implement some incentives of a new vehicle, it can have an impact.
Well, it's more than it can have, it has an impact on the used car market. So in the crystal ball, you've got things that go in different directions. So globally, we plan for the normalization of UCS. Maybe one important point is to have in mind that. What happened in 2025 at the end was consistent with the price scenario that we had, even if it was not consistent quarter per quarter, there were differences with Q2, Q3 being a both, well, more favorable than the price scenario, and Q4 a bit less favorable. But all in all, the ending point is consistent with the price scenario of the company, which is which is a very important point. And in 2026, so we confirm our pricing scenario and the normalization of the UCS results that we've indicated.
Thank you very much. That's very helpful.
The next question is from Matthew Clark, Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Hi. Could you give us some guidance on the leasing and contract margin or leasing services and contract margin outlook? I mean, it's been very volatile quarter to quarter, even stripping off the EUR 15 million gain you had last quarter, it's come a long way back. And I'm just struggling a bit to understand quite why it's so volatile quarter to quarter, when this is ultimately, you know, a 3- or 4-year business.
So, some help understanding those movements and what we can expect in 2026 would be helpful. And then a second question, just coming back to the surplus capital, and when do you envisage it will be the right stage to take a view on distribution of that surplus? Because obviously if it continues to accrete, it starts to be very material and would imply a harder or more restrictions on distributing just because of the liquidity, et cetera. Thank you.
Good. Okay. Well, on the first point, well, again, we don't guide on margins, but, we had anticipated in Q3 that the service margin would be lower in Q4. That was anticipated and announced to the market. But I will ask Patrick to give you a more
Yes, hello, Matthew. Hello, so indeed, we said in Q3 that all the lights were green and margins in Q3, so it should be no real surprise that it comes a bit down 25 basis points in Q4. And again, as we have discussed many times, we don't guide, because there is this volatility on a quarter-over-quarter basis. This is the annual rate number. Again, it's not reflecting a stable yearly number. So specifically, to answer a bit more in detail on your question, between Q3 and Q4, we had higher than usual repair, maintenance, and tire costs in Q4, which were driven mostly by a harsher winter, starting early in the season and leading to costs for tires and replacing those tires. So this is playing a role on the decrease in service margin.
Okay. As to your second question, I would say there is no precise timeline. I mean, we are very early in February. For the moment, I'm much more focused on a few topics, well, that are organizational change of organization that we announced this morning with the departure of John Saffrett and a change. And I will, I can elaborate on that if it is of interest to you. With an idea with the organization to improve or to simplify the organization and have a faster decision and also a leaner organization.
And that, we focus on both execution on 2026, on the different priorities that I've mentioned, with a renewed focus on customer satisfaction, after a period in which the company was more centered on itself. We really need it to be more centered on the customer, the market, the competitors. And the second big priority is to build the strategic plan. So we've launched the work streams that will make the detailed work 2 weeks ago already. And that's our priorities. After that, well, as we said earlier, we've shown in 2025 that the excess of capital can be returned to shareholders, and it makes sense. But we will see month after month how the situation is evolving, and in function of the evolution, we will give a communication to the market.
Thank you.
The next question is from Nicolas O'Sullivan, UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Nicolas O'Sullivan from UBS. Thank you for taking my question. The first one will be on, again, on, a follow-up on the leasing and service margins. I just wanted to confirm if you still see that the range of 550 to 580 basis points leasing contract service margin is still correct? And secondly, do you think that the print you delivered today in Q4, if we strip out the RMT effect, is it the right way to see the business in 2026, as you implement those synergies?
That would be my first question, and the second question would be on actually those synergies. Actually, you used to communicate, or actually disclose in the slides in Q3 and previous quarters on the growth synergies you delivered each quarter, and that's not the case. I just wonder why that changed, and also what specifically led you to add EUR 13 million in CTAs for 2026? Thank you.
Well, so on the first one, the range that you mentioned in terms of margins make sense. I think it's consistent with the evolution of the business. And the second question, to be frank, in terms of what was communicated before, in detail, I'm not sure to have understood exactly the question. What is clear is the accumulated CTA that we have on the three-year basis of the plan are consistent with what we had announced. There is a slight timing effect, in the sense that some CTA, or the CTA this year is at the low part of the range, and some is postponed probably to 2025 or 2026, but we've accumulated at the end of 2026, that is fully consistent with what was previously announced. Patrick, if you want to elaborate or
Yes, I think you are looking for the disclosure on synergy. They're on page 6, footnote number 3, where you can find the detail on a full year on the quarterly basis, and we will keep on updating the market with those detailed number, which are important. Indeed, a bit less CTA spent so far, so some residual CTA in 2026.
Okay, understood. And I mean, basically the timing effect, so I guess in terms of CTA, the timing slight delay, is that related to what you said on customer satisfaction? And also, if I can follow up actually on cost, underlying expenses quarter-on-quarter are up 2%, so is that also related to the whole discussion on client satisfaction efforts?
No, I would not link that directly to the customer satisfaction. I mean, for me, the question of customer satisfaction is more about a rigor in execution, about a number of processes that we need to improve, and about the managerial focus that has to be increased at all level of the company. As I tell you, well, I had various experiences of big mergers, and I say, it's history shows that in big mergers it's pretty difficult to keep the same focus on the customers in the external world. Naturally, people have a more focus on what happens internally in the company, because all the time is taken by legal mergers, process mergers, IT mergers, HR contracts mergers, et cetera, et cetera. So, no, I would not link this CTA to customer satisfaction, more to the cadence of the migration of IT of the different countries.
Okay, understood. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Delphine Lee, JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you for taking my questions. I just have one actually, because a lot has been, you've given quite a bit of color. But, I mean, just going back to used car sales, I mean, what are you seeing right now in terms of, you know, dynamics? Because, I guess, it feels like there has been some stabilization. So I'm just wondering, kind of like, you know, how we should think about, you know, the outlook. Thank you.
Okay. So when we think about the dynamics of the UCS, we have to split per energy, because for terrain, I mean, it's these are different dynamics. I would say the BEV prices continue to decline, but I would say as expected, and it's logical, and I think it will continue at that, and that's what is embedded in our price scenarios when we set the renewal values. After that, on the ICE market, when we take what happened in Q4 versus Q3, we have not seen very significant price move, except in Italy, in which there was a decrease in the ICE prices.
But once again, it was something that we were expecting in terms of global scenario for IC. On the PHEV, so the plug-in hybrids, we've got a decline that is relatively similar to overall, if I take the main markets, compared to what we got in BEV, and that also is consistent with our pricing scenario. So, well, forward looking, I would say, IC, I think, should continue to be quite robust, and BEV and PHEV should continue to decline.
That, when you think about Q4, there is always an element of seasonality between Q4 and Q3. One of the reason is, the car makers tend to push a lot on the end of the year on destocking their used cars. I was doing that in my former life. And that has an effect on the pricing on the market, because they want to have a balance sheet that is the best possible in terms of stock. So we always see that every year.
This year it was maybe a bit more pronounced than some other years due also to the fact that in some markets, like, in the Netherlands, the modification of benefit in kind regulation in the 1st of January 2026 pushed some defeats, and some higher return, and that pushed that put some pressure on the local markets. That's what I can tell you at that stage.
Great, thank you for the color. And then the other thing is, just on the earnings asset, I mean, I understand your comment around fleet volumes, but, Just what, what should we expect, sort of like going forward? It looks like you, I mean, you don't want to guide too much, but like, any progression we should have, like in, 2026, 2027? Thank you.
Well, for 2026, I will answer; after that, for 2027, I think we will answer later on. But for 2026, what we plan is a fleet in volume that will be flattish because, yeah, flattish basically, which means, given the per unit pricing evolution, in particular due to the mix of BEV, a lower single digit growth for the NEA.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from Owen Patterson, Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Just a couple kind of broader ones. The first one on fleet growth. I know you've kind of spoken about prioritizing profitability and risk in 2026. That's well understood, but just kind of more broadly, you know, what's the kind of opportunity in the market backdrop there if you did want to get a bit more aggressive? Would it be fairly receptive? And if you could give a bit of kind of color by geography as well, and maybe inside, outside of Europe. I mean, I know most of the business is focused on Europe.
So that's the first one, and then the second one, again, just kind of a bit more long term, I'm just wondering if there's any trends that you want to flag in the services business? You know, you've, I guess you've been operating a fairly large portion of your fleet being electric vehicles for a few years. Do you see any kind of structural differences in the maintenance spend in general? Is maintenance costs kind of higher inflation? Are you still facing kind of, yeah, fairly costly maintenance spend there? Just basically any changes, I suppose, into the way that the services business is run.
Well, well, thanks for the two questions. On this, I will start with the second one. On well, electrifications can mean different things between BEV and PHEV. On the PHEV, the car is more complex, and in fact, what the numbers show is that the level of maintenance to build on, in fact, it's more than a traditional ICE. That's coming from my group slide, I would say. On the BEV, it's obvious that some operations that exist on the ICE cars will not exist, and that we can see that as a challenge.
But I think there are also opportunities to have other services more specific to the BEV car that we need to implement in the coming years. That's got the point. And the other part is efficiency of procurement of the components of the cost of service margins have to be improved. So that will be something we will also work in the strategic plan, because this need to be addressed. We cannot just stay there and say, "Well, the mix of BEV/ICE moves, and it's intolerable." So, that's something that is a clear point of attention, and that we need to work on in the coming months.
I think it's a question of geographies on one side. It's a question also of segments in which we want to operate. If we talk about geographies, you know, at the moment, if we want to have a present stance, it makes more sense to push on Italy, Spain, for example, rather than to, rather than in the UK. In that respect, the restructuring of the UK activity, I think, makes sense, because the return on the tangible equity that we can get in that country for the moment is not as high as one would like.
And in Italy and Spain, with a percentage of BEV that is quite lower margins that are quite good. It's a place where we, I think, would make sense to push more. And that you can think about the segments and of markets, and obviously moving to smaller fleets is something that is a direction that makes sense for us. Our bigger strength is on the biggest fleets, and we are one of the very few, or not to say the two players, to be able to address all kind of customers, but we've got opportunities on the smallest market segment, on the small, smaller fleet segments.
Okay, great. Thank you.
The next question is from Reginald Watson, ING. Please go ahead.
Morning, all. So the depreciation adjustment from gross to net UCS result was quite a lot lower in Q4 versus Q3. I'm just wondering if you could explain the reason for that, please. And also, given the EUR 83 million disclosed stock of unused depreciation adjustment, how you expect that to unfold over the course of 2026? And then my second question is just on the sort of 2026 volume, flattish, is that flattish to the upside of zero or flattish to the downside of zero? Thank you.
Okay, so on the first question, I'm going to ask Patrick to answer to give you the details.
Yes, good, good morning. As you may remember, in Q3 2025 we booked an additional prospective depreciation or depreciation adjustment of EUR 48 million in relation to the UK fleet, given the price evolution we were contemplating towards 2025 on the, in the country, especially on used car. As you know, UK is a, is a difficult country, well open to competition and, external international competition when it comes to, tariffs.
It's not as protected, and we have therefore a very significant level of, price pressure in this country. So this is the main part which impacts, the level, which is lower in Q4 than in Q3. Then as referring to the second part of your question, we give as in as each quarter in the appendices, the way those and the rhythm, those EUR 83 million of remaining adjustments in depreciation will take place and be accounted for in actual results for 2026 and 2027.
Okay. On your first or second question, I remember well, flattish is well, the best thing I can say now. And frankly, in terms of priorities, I don't think that for Ayvens, this is the key point to say if flattish will be above zero or just below zero. I don't think it's what matters more for us in 2026. I think, what matters more is execute well on the last IT migration that we got in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK side. Second, fix the processes and improve customer satisfaction in the countries that have been disturbed by the previous IT migrations to be able to have solid basis for future growth.
Because it doesn't make sense to push more on growth if your processes are not fixed, and if it's to make your customer unhappy. So, I cannot give 10 priorities to the people. I prefer to give a limited number of priorities so that they can execute on them. But this is a short-term vision, and we will, and it's not intention to to shrink the the company, obviously, but that's for for the short term.
Okay, thank you. I think, I think that's clear. I mean, it just seem, coming back to your point, that it's not your intention to shrink the company. Obviously, this is a balance sheet business, and shareholders would like to see the balance sheet growing profitably. But it feels like 2026 then remains a transition year still, based on the priorities you've outlined before. Is that a fair assessment?
Yeah, in terms of 2026, that growth is not the priority of 2026.
Okay, that's clear. I look forward to seeing the CMD at the end of the year and finding out what the priorities are for the following years. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question is from Mourad Lahmidi, Exane BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. So, three from me, please. The first one is on the cost income. So you are ahead of your target for 2025, but you maintain the 52% for 2026. So, how comfortable are you with the 50%, 52%, given that you are ahead of that target? The second point is on your funding costs. So if you look at your latest round of financing, they are much better compared to what prevailed two years ago. So is there a scenario where you will benefit from a windfall tailwind from those lower cost of fundings as you renew the contract? And finally, I have a question on the general pricing environment. How do you feel the competition right now? Is pricing more conducive, or is competition more fierce than, let's say, a year ago? Thank you.
Okay. Well, on the cost-to-income ratio, that's fair to say that, we're better than what we had guided for 25, which is obviously good news. 52% is an important number, so, we've confirmed that, and it will not be the end of the story, because, we're in an industry in which we cannot stop to improve. And, it's important to this mindset of the guidance, as the Japanese say, of permanent improvement. So it's an important milestone, and that is not the end of the story. So anyway, we ask all the teams to think about the next steps, and not only in terms of numbers, obviously, but in terms of concrete actions, to be able to deliver the further improvements.
On the funding costs, well, that's you're perfectly right, that the last news were good in terms of funding costs. And obviously, as you well know, it progressively goes into the margins. It's not overnight, but that o I, when you talk about windfall I don't think we can say that you will have a big windfall in 2026, because this is something that is coming up progressively into the margins. But feel free to elaborate on that, if you want. On the pricing environment compared to one year ago? I wouldn't say that it has changed very significantly.
We can see that a number of competitors are following us in terms of RV moves, so we tend to be the first to move, and that a lot of people are looking at what we are doing. And so we've got a number of markets in which people follow us, in particular on decreasing the RVs on BEV to be consistent with the evolution that we project for the price of these cars in the future. So I would not talk about a very significant move compared to one year ago in terms of the pricing environment. Patrick, if you want to elaborate on this one topic more, why not?
Thank you. On the funding cost, it's true that we have had better, better price level. We have also been able to optimize the volumes during the year, which translates into lower funding cost in Europe. Obviously, after having merged the entity in some countries, we have been better, and it's part of the impact of some non-recurring items in Q4, as you have seen in the disclosure, to lower some source of financing, which will help future years.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. It's 11:03 A.M. I think we need to be respectful of time, so I will thank you all for your attention and for your questions. And as always, we, our investor relation team is available to answer any further questions you might have. And once again, I repeat that I will reiterate that it will be a great pleasure to meet you in person in the coming days, weeks, and or months. So thanks a lot to all of you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's Ayvens conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.