Good morning to you all. Thanks for joining us for the presentation of VINCI's half-yearly results. You'll see, and I'm sure you've already read that our financial performance is excellent. I would say even, once again, excellent. I'm joined today by Thierry Mirville, CFO of VINCI since the 1st of June. Thierry's been in the group for over 30 years. He's a pure product made in VINCI, and notably was CFO of VINCI Energies for 12 years, taking an active part in this tremendous success story. He was head of treasury, finance, and tax of VINCI at the holding for three years with Christian Labeyrie. He was schooled in good hands. He was CFO of VINCI Construction for five years on my side, during which we learned to get to know one another, work together, and we form a tandem that works very well.
I'm also joined this morning by other members of the executive committee, as well as Grégoire Thibault, and his investor relations teams will be available to answer all your questions. This first half 2026 delivers, once again, an excellent performance by VINCI, driven by the dynamic trajectory of VINCI Energies. This result is quite remarkable in the current context of geopolitical macroeconomic context that you're familiar with, that weighed particularly on concessions traffic. The takeaways over and above energy solutions that we'll return to, that in this environment, our teams were able to adapt rapidly to control at best. The cost, it's a new illustration of the efficiency of our decentralized organization, agile, responsive, tirelessly focusing in our three businesses on a margin increase, cash flow generation of value creation over time. It also reflects the ability of groups, companies to pass on inflation.
Furthermore, in this fragmented global environment, our belief is strengthened that investment requirements in vital infrastructure, notably energy, digitization, mobility, urban development, are set to intensify mid- and long-term will continue to accelerate, driven by sovereignty issues in various parts of the world. VINCI is ideally positioned to leverage this acceleration, as witnessed by the very good order intake and record order book that I'll present to you. Another key takeaway of this half is the group is posting an increase in its revenue and its earnings. Free cash flow is positive as of H1. It's not systematic, as you know, owing to the structurally unfavorable seasonality of some of our activities early in the year.
At the end of this day, this overall good crop allows us to confirm our 2026 guidance in spite of a more prudent outlook for concessions and led the board of directors to approve an interim dividend of EUR 1.10 per share in respect of 2026 as compared to EUR 1.05 per share for FY 2025. Shown here are the key financials of our performance. Thierry Mirville will cover those in a moment. The key figures, increased revenue +2% in H1, of which +4% in Q2, with continued international expansion of the group, a strategy implemented with consistency and discipline for 15 years now. International represented in H1 2026, 59% of revenue. It's a significant increase, more than 2 percentage points more than the H1 2025.
Another key number, EBITDA growth +4%, coming in at EUR 6.4 billion, an increase in value, absolute value terms and margins, +48 basis points, and it counts for us more than volume growth. What counts for us is profitable growth. Strong increase in earnings per share, double digit +11%. Free cash flow is already positive, as I said, at EUR 264 million. And order intake, particularly buoyant both for energy solutions as well as construction in France and internationally. All in all, they're up 8%. All this is a remarkable performance in the current macro and geopolitical climate that reflects the strength of our model based on a diversified geographical footprint in our three highly complementary businesses. Turning now to details by business, starting with concessions. Revenue growth at +1.5% at actual structure, +2.7% like-for-like. EBITDA margin comes in at 69%.
That's an increase of over 150 basis points versus H1 2025. And all concessions businesses grew their margins this half. Well done to Nicolas Notebaert and his teams. Diving deeper, what we can emphasize, VINCI Airports passenger traffic was stable in H1. This performance reflects the good geographic diversification of the network and its resilience in the face of cyclical shocks, because if the conflict in the Middle East and its consequences on the price of fuel, as well as Sino-U.S. tensions, had an impact on some of our airports, London Gatwick, Kansai in Japan, many other airports, notably in Portugal, Edinburgh, Budapest, Belgrade, Dominican Republic, Brazil, or Cape Verde, continue to post good traffic levels. Against this backdrop, VINCI Airports revenues up over +1.8% like-for-like, +5.3%. Its EBIT grew to EUR 1.4 billion. That's a margin up, reaching 62.6%.
For VINCI Autoroutes, we'll note a cyclical weakness of traffic, primarily due to the sharp hike of fuel prices in March, to which was added the negative effect of several exceptional heat waves that occurred since the end of May. In this context, whereas light vehicle traffic dropped by 3.7%, that of heavy vehicles is up by +1.6%, that limited the decrease in revenue to -0.7%. Thanks to this traffic mix and the productivity efforts achieved, VINCI Autoroutes EBIT goes up to EUR 2.4 billion to reach a margin up at 75.5%. For VINCI Highways, that's our international highways portfolio, we must note the successful integration of our recent developments in Brazil, where we manage a network of 1,200 km, strong increases of revenue, EBITDA and EBITDA margin. Turning now to energy solutions, this half confirms its excellent positioning.
Excellent positioning on lastingly promising markets, electricity markets with production storage and transmission also increased electrification, optimizing industrial processes, enhanced building performance, markets linked to AI development, data centers, digital infrastructure services, not forgetting defense and sovereignty issues. All in all, energy solutions revenue comes in at over EUR 14.5 billion. That's a 7% increase, 4% like-for-likes. Very strong momentum in Q2. Growth +9% in Q2, 10% internationally, +6% in France. This growth is accompanied by a further improvement in margins, 40 basis points coming in at 7.8%, which clearly positions us once again amongst the most high-performing players in the industry globally. Congratulations to the teams for this very virtuous growth. Of some color, you see top right, VINCI Energies delivered strong revenue growth in Q2, +9% in France and internationally.
VINCI Energies continued to roll out its M&A policy constantly with discipline, acquiring some dozen companies this half internationally, growing its EBIT margin over 30 basis points at 7.5%. For COBRA, activity is up in Q2 by 7.5%. This growth is sustained both in flow business, particularly in Spain, and also in EPC project. The energy asset portfolio long-term was strengthened in this half. More in a moment. COBRA margin is up once again, plus 50 basis points, reaching 8.4%. A focus on long-term renewable energy production. COBRA, through its subsidiary Zero.e, continues its roadmap. We implemented in the spring of this year two new solar farms in Texas, capacity 280 MW. 80% of the power produced is sold to Google through its data centers through 10-year PPAs.
At the end of the first half, COBRA's portfolio reaches 1.5 GW, including the Texas farms and 4 GW in ready-to-build capital invested by COBRA in production of renewable energy, reaches EUR 2.6 billion to date. Furthermore, in electricity transmission, a long-term area of expertise for COBRA, we won two new PPPs, 30 years in Brazil after auctions organized by the Brazilian Power Authority. That's 650 additional power lines strengthening the portfolio for a construction cost just over EUR 300 million. The power line portfolio is now made up five PPPs in Brazil, over 2,500 km of line under construction, one in operation, a PPP in Australia over 200 km of power lines under construction in the storage, production, transmission of electricity. It's an increasingly important long-term portfolio set to grow. All the more so that opportunities are many in number, developing rapidly, notably in Australia, Brazil, the U.S.
These are markets that our teams are tracking very closely. Turning now to construction revenue is stabilizing at EUR 15.5 billion in margins, although they're not representative in H1, as you know, are stable for VINCI Construction, thanks to a solid Q2 of 2.6%. The revenue for the half is stabilized at EUR 15 billion. Situations are contrasted by segment geographies, a decrease in activity of major projects that represents deliberately less than 10% of revenue due to the progress of the HS2 line in the U.K. A downturn in France on the back of the traditional elections and the phasing of some construction projects. In other segments, growing activity, good dynamic in Oceania and Central Europe. In a disrupted environment, VINCI Construction's EBIT margin is stable. Well done to the teams of VINCI Construction. Bravo also to the teams of VINCI Immobilier.
Depressed property development market grew EBIT, maintained EBIT margin stable thanks to their continuous effort to cut costs in order to stay the course. Order intake in H1 posting a high level at EUR 34.4 billion. That's an increase of over 8%. The takeaway here is order intake, particularly buoyant, noticeably in our flow business that make up the bulk of the group's revenue in energy solutions and construction. Noteworthy is the amount of order intake is greater than current activity, both in energy solutions and VINCI Construction is that the order book continues to grow. This slide, just to share with you news in terms of data center construction. Several construction and installation contract multi-technical lots for data centers were won by the group in H1 2026 for a total amount of some EUR 900 million.
This is a market in which VINCI has clearly a key role to play, particularly in Europe, notably Spain, France, and also in certain Asian geographies. I can tell you the best is yet to come because we have a number of projects in the pipeline or in advanced negotiations with several GAFAM, and we don't rule out announcing some good news to you soon. On the order book, as I mentioned, it's up +8% on a year, +10% since the end of December, reaching close on EUR 77 billion. This is a new historic record for the group. It represents in total 15 months of activity. It's a quality book that offers visibility to view the future with confidence without departing from our policy of selectivity, focusing on margin over volume.
We note the share of France is at less than 30%, that of Germany close on 20%, the rest of the world over 50%. I'll now hand over to Thierry who will run through the financial performance of group for the half.
Good morning, everyone. It is indeed a privilege to be presenting VINCI's results to you for the first time as CFO. Thank you, Pierre, for placing your trust in me, and thank you to Christian, who I believe is listening in for the quality of our discussions over all these years and particularly over the past few months. It's both an honor and a pleasure as we have once again delivered an excellent set of results. Now, revenue. Following a very strong Q2, first half revenue increased by 2.1% to EUR 35.6 billion. This was despite a negative currency impact of -0.6%, resulting from the strengthening of the euro against our main currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar and the British pound. Changes in scope, 90% of which related to acquisitions outside France contributed the +1.5% to growth, representing more than EUR 500 million in additional revenue from recent acquisitions.
These changes in scope related mostly to VINCI Energies' acquisitions, which contributed over EUR 300 million to revenue growth. Pierre talked about the 12 acquisitions made in the first half of 2026, and we also made 33 acquisitions in 2025, which are having an impact on revenue in 2026. We also need to bear in mind VINCI Construction's acquisitions, which contributed over EUR 200 million to our revenue growth. Mostly Conway last year in Fletcher, whose acquisition we recently completed. In concessions, there were both positive and negative scope effects. The key point is that Entrevias in Brazil, which has been fully consolidated since October 2025, this has offset the reduction in revenue in Cambodia following the expiry in September 2025 of our long-standing concession agreement for Phnom Penh Airport, which was replaced by a service contract.
This means that organic growth came to +1.3%, with a strong second quarter at +2.9% organic growth. Growth was driven by international markets, with revenue increasing by nearly +5%, including 3.3% organically. The share of international markets continued to rise, accounting for 59% of our total revenue in the first half, compared with 57% a year ago. By business line, as Pierre has already highlighted, growth was driven by the continued strong momentum in energy solutions. +7% on a reported basis, on a natural basis, and +4% like for like. In concessions, revenue increased by 1.5%, including growth of +2.7%. The successful integration of the Brazilian motorways and revenue growth at the airports offset the temporary softness in the French motorway business. Conversely, construction revenue declined slightly by 1%.
It is worth noting, however, that the business recorded growth of +2% in Q2. Revenue growth came with increases in operating earnings and net income, so profitable growth, in other words. ROPA, which we call EBIT, came to nearly EUR 4.4 billion, up 5%. The operating margin therefore increased by 40 basis points to 12.3%. As Pierre explained, our ROPA or EBIT was very strong across all our businesses. The other income statement items reveal the following key points, and I will try not to overwhelm you with too many technical details. The combined impact of the various items was broadly stable compared with last year. More specifically, we are seeing an increase of just under EUR 50 million in the contribution from equity account companies and other operating items.
We are also seeing a charge of -EUR 40 million under non-recurring operating items, which does not call for any particular comment. EUR 66 million income last year relating to several disposals carried out by the group. Turning to net financial income and expense. The cost of net financial debt increased from EUR 627 million to EUR 682 million. That is a EUR 55 million increase. This mostly reflects changes in scope, particularly the impact of developments for VINCI Highways in Brazil. Other financial income and expenses included a favorable change in the value of the ADP shares held on the group's balance sheet. So a positive movement of around EUR 20 million in the first half, compared with a negative movement of around EUR 40 million in the first half of 2025.
Lastly, the income tax charge increased by around EUR 100 million, and this is a mechanical impact. This reflects a strong operating performance delivered by our businesses in the first half. I would like to remind you that this amount includes the corporate income tax surcharge applicable to large French companies, which was extended into 2026. In the first half, this represents a little over EUR 300 million. So a slight increase on H1 2025. This charge is expected to total slightly more than EUR 400 million for the full year. Overall, net attributable income increased by nearly 10% in the first half of 2026, reaching close to EUR 2.1 billion. Bearing in mind that the strong increase cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the rest of the year. As Pierre already indicated, this means EPS increased by 11%, reflecting our proactive share buyback policy.
Net financial debt increased by around EUR 3 billion between the end of December 2025 and the end of June 2026. That's a typical first half pattern for our businesses. This increase reflects EBITDA of EUR 6.4 billion, up by around EUR 300 million, with the increase driven almost equally by concessions and energy solutions. This also reflects the change in working capital and current provisions, which is traditionally negative in the first half as a result of the seasonality of the energy solutions and construction businesses, and resulting in a negative cash flow impact of -EUR 1.9 billion. This movement may appear significant, but it was exactly the same as in the first half of 2025. Therefore, this does not represent a reversal following seven years of significant and continuous improvement in working capital requirement.
Rest assured that we remain highly focused on keeping WCR firmly under control. This requires constant attention and reflects the strong cash culture of our group, a culture that prevails among all our managers. Finance cost increased, as I explained before, as did taxes. I'd like to remind you that the corporate income tax surcharge had no cash impact in the first half as it is paid at the end of the calendar year. Operating investments and investments into concessions were stable compared with last year at EUR 2.4 billion. When you combine all of these items, you get free cash flow for the period that's positive at EUR 264 million, higher than at the same point last year. Bearing in mind, as the next slide will show, that virtually all of VINCI's free cash flow is generated in the second half.
Below free cash flow, as you can see, cash outflows relating to acquisitions amounted to a mere EUR 400 million in the first half, and these mainly concerned the VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies transactions referred to at the beginning of this presentation. Lastly, to conclude our review of cash flows, cash outflows relating to dividends and share buybacks as part of VINCI's shareholder return amounted to EUR 3.2 billion, higher than the first half of 2025. This can be broken down between payment of the final 2025 dividend amounting to EUR 2.2 billion and share buybacks amounting to EUR 1 billion. Overall, consolidated net financial debt stood at EUR 22.4 billion at June 30th, 2026, below its level at June 30th, 2025, which came to EUR 23.3 billion. This is a very manageable level given the group's strong recurring and sustainable cash generation profile.
It represents only 1.6x the group's EBITDA over the last 12 months. Free cash flow generation, as you can see on this slide, generating positive free cash flow in the first half has not been a consistent feature in recent years. This performance, which is better than last year's, is therefore particularly noteworthy. As mentioned earlier, VINCI generates its full year free cash flow in the second half, and indeed largely at the very end of the year, given the nature and the seasonality of our businesses. This is a highly distinctive profile, which reflects the importance of year-end cash collections. The entire VINCI organization, both operational and finance teams, therefore, remain fully focused on this critical year-end milestone. Our financial position is extremely strong. At VINCI, we have always placed great importance on maintaining a strong liquidity position.
That's the price to pay for maintaining our independence and the freedom to implement our capital allocation policy, which Pierre will discuss shortly. Christian made this point repeatedly for nearly 30 years, and I am now taking up the mantle. Well, what is our goal? We seek to be able to raise substantial amounts of funding very quickly when required so that we can meet our commitments, namely the repayment of debt as it falls due, and also be able to seize acquisition opportunities that are aligned with our strategy. We also want to be able to deal with unforeseen events, such as the crises that have become increasingly frequent in recent years. Lastly, we want to be able to optimize our borrowing terms by choosing the best time to raise funds.
At the end of June, we had a net cash position of EUR 11.5 billion, as well as an undrawn EUR 6.5 billion committed revolving credit facility at VINCI SA level maturing in January 2031, and this brought our total liquidity to EUR 18 billion. Therefore, we are well equipped to withstand the instability and unpredictability of our environment while continuing to grow. Credit ratings. S&P and Moody's continue to demonstrate their confidence in VINCI through their strong credit ratings, and these credit ratings are a major asset for VINCI. It's one we must preserve by maintaining a disciplined and consistent approach to financial management and capital allocation. This enables us to secure financing on attractive terms as the first half once again demonstrated.
Since the beginning of the year, VINCI and its subsidiaries have successfully raised a total of EUR 1.8 billion in new financing with an average maturity of eight years and an average cost of 3.2%. Among these financing transactions, I would highlight the EUR 500 million bond exchangeable into Groupe ADP shares issued in February 2026. The bonds issued have a five-year maturity, and they carry an annual coupon of only 0.75%. This transaction therefore forms part of VINCI's value creation strategy by optimizing its cost of capital and its cost of debt, actively managing its portfolio of equity interests. These various transactions enabled the group to extend the average maturity of its debt while keeping its average cost at around 4.5%. Thank you for your attention. I will now hand back to Pierre.
Thank you, Thierry, for this very clear presentation. I now turn to our outlook. As Thierry's just indicated, the amount of our financial investments was quite modest during the first half of 2026. For all that, VINCI remained active, very active in terms of expansion. I'll illustrate this with a few examples. In Portugal, Lisbon, first of all, on the new airport project in which we've initiated studies at the request of the Portuguese government since early 2025. I mention that regularly. Last week, a new milestone was reached. We submitted the engineering costs and construction report to the Portuguese government. We jointly presented progress on this major project for Lisbon, for the country, and for its economy. As you see, this project is proceeding in close conjunction with the Portuguese authorities.
In the U.K., London Gatwick, we welcome the ruling end of June by the U.K. High Court that confirms the government's decision to approve the northern runway project. It's a foundational project for the airport, for the U.K., notably in terms of economic fallout. These two example clearly illustrate the significant potential of airports that we operate in addition to our development potential through M&A. In France, VINCI was designated preferred concession holder of the new A154/A120 highway route, 97 km western Paris for 35 years. VINCI Autoroutes will manage the project, fund it, and operate it. VINCI Construction will design and build. The signing of the concession contract submitted to competent authorities is expected in Q3 2026.
In India, VINCI Highways in March signed an agree with Macquarie to acquire the portfolio of Safeway Concessions made up of nine highway toll concessions, some 700 km, contractual maturities between 2048-2058. This transaction is subject to the competent authorities for a financial close expected by the end of the year. New Zealand, we finalized in May the acquisition of Fletcher Construction will allow us with our other local operations to become a major player in the very dynamic market of infrastructure in that country. In the U.S. and Brazil, as I mentioned, our long-term energy asset portfolio continued to grow. Lastly, VINCI Energies has accelerate its expansion in the digital infrastructure services with recently a takeover bid on the German company, All for One, for EUR 500 million of revenue in respect of FY 2025.
Digital infrastructures, as you know, constitute a key market for VINCI Energies through its Axians brand that represents EUR 4 billion in revenue in 2025. The construction of digital infrastructure, telecom, data center, fiber, cloud, enterprise network, but also deliver services around these digital infrastructure, either business application, data applications, workspaces, cybersecurity. This would consolidate the leadership of VINCI Energies, drive its ambitions and the high growth of digital infrastructure services, ERP solutions, new generation AI business applications, cloud, and data analytics. All these development projects reflect our value creation strategy and ability to forge relations of confidence throughout the world, be it in our long-term or short-term activities. Turning now to our 2026 guidance. After the excellent financial performance of VINCI in H1, notably with the dynamic trajectory of energy solutions, VINCI confirms its 2026 guidance.
Further growth in revenue, further growth in operating earnings, furthering growth in net income group share, free cash flow that could reach EUR 6 billion. It is, however, important to note that the geopolitical and macro events these past few months lead us to generally adjust performance for stable airport traffic and autoroutes traffic down slightly. All in all, we confirm the group's guidance. Given the quality of performance achieved in H1, we are confident in the outlook of the group. The board of directors approved the payment of an interim dividend in respect of FY 2026, EUR 1.10 per share paid EUR 15 compared to an interim dividend of EUR 1.05 in 2025.
In addition to share buybacks in line with the proactive policy expressed at the start of the year that I'll recall, the group bought back some 8 million shares in H1 for a total sum of EUR 1 billion. In terms of capital allocation, the strategy remains consistent for the shareholder remuneration around the dividend, with a target payout ratio of 60% of the group's net income, and share buybacks over the prime goal aimed at offsetting dilution brought about by new shares created as part of employee share ownership. The group may undertake opportunistic share buybacks depending on its financial wriggle room after taking into account M&A, the valuation of the stock, whilst preserving a solid financial structure justifying the maintenance of excellent credit ratings allocated, as Thierry recalled. In terms of shareholder return, it's precisely what we did in H1.
In terms of expansion, we plan to continue to invest in long-term transport infrastructure, be they airports or autoroutes through M&A or investing in our existing assets, as well as in long-term assets of renewable energy production, storage, and electricity transmission. Short-term business group strategy is to continue all out in energy solution, where the group's demonstrated over the past 20 years its know-how to acquire and successfully integrate new companies. Last year, the group remains open to opportunistic acquisitions in the construction sector. In terms of development, it's also the roadmap rolled out in H1 across our three businesses. We've just, Thierry and I, presented the financial performance of VINCI this first half. This ability to create value over long term, we once again demonstrated it rests, of course, on a very strong VINCI culture, shared by all, that makes VINCI unique.
On screen are the various ingredients. It's a long-term mindset. It's the quest for all-round performance for us, so financial performance and non-financial performance inseparable. They contribute one another. All-round performance. It's also a decentralized organization, agile, responsive, multi-local, particularly relevant in today's world. It's the reliability of its management with shared principles to the 4,300 business. Unmatched execution, a focus on cash generation, as Thierry mentioned, and great discipline in capital allocation. This culture characterizes VINCI across its businesses, geographies. It's a genuine cultural synergy that makes VINCI a rare and precious value. It's the only way for us to continue value over the long term as we demonstrated this half and as we'll continue to demonstrate this value creation over the long term. We'll continue to share it with our stakeholders because at VINCI's real success is the success you share.
Thanks for your attention, and we're now available to answer your questions.
Good morning. Eric Lemarié from CIC. I have a couple of questions, if I may. Number one, the data centers you referenced in the press release, you say that you secured orders, particularly in Europe and Asia. I'd like to know why not in the U.S. market. Could you be more active in the data center segment in the U.S.? Because that's where things are happening, apparently. Second question. All for One. I understand that its recent financial performance isn't ideal, so maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. I'd like to hear your take on that, particularly when it comes to the acquisition of Absolute, which is often referenced. ANA. A-N-A. You talked about the new airport in Lisbon. It is my understanding that AECOM was selected for the design aspect of this new airport. I'd like to know why. How come you're not working alone on this?
A couple more questions, if I may, regarding the productivity gains regarding VINCI Autoroutes, whose operating margin has surged. It was my understanding that VINCI Autoroutes was always tightly managed. There's always ways to improve profitability. What measures have been taken? That's my question. One last question regarding VINCI Airports. Excellent performance, strong organic growth, particularly in Q2, +6% in a challenging environment, as you said. Maybe I should do the math myself, but could you please give us an idea of the breakdown between the traffic impact on organic growth and the price effect on VINCI Airports? I understand that passenger trends are good in Portugal and Mexico, but comes under pressure in the U.K.
Wow, you've covered a lot of ground in your questions.
Let me give you a quick answer regarding All for One. The takeover process is underway, no comments. We'll give you answers once that transaction is successful. We're not at this point at liberty to tell you more. In terms of data centers, it is true that we are still underrepresented on that front in the U.S. market. Obviously, as a result, we're not ideally positioned to reap the benefits of that market. However, we do have a clear leadership position in Europe, and there have been strong investments in data centers in the U.S. and in the rest of North America, and this is starting to happen in Europe as well, and we are ideally positioned to benefit from that trend in Europe. Regarding the ANA Airport, VINCI Autoroutes, and VINCI Airports, I'll let Nicolas Notebaert give you more specific answers.
In the right sequence. Regarding ANA. We're an operator. We have all of the skills. We're talking projects that are worth several million EUR. The new airport in Lisbon. Of course, we have service providers. We don't have partners. We will continue to sign contracts as builders, for example, as designers. This policy remains unchanged. We will sign as builders as well. We know who the design provider is. They're not a strategic investor at all. They're not an investor, they're not a partner. In our culture, the work is never over. That's part of our culture. Whenever we suffer headwinds, such as the war in Ukraine, obviously this has caused a drop in traffic, we have to adapt. We reduce costs, labor costs, variable costs.
We reduce IT services costs of certain types of multi-technical maintenance costs. That's what VINCI Autoroutes did right away and in a very big way. We did that at the time of COVID across the board in all of our businesses. That's a strong component to our culture. We will continue to do that so we can keep on meeting our obligations. Regarding airports, most of the price hikes don't materialize from January 1st. We have to wait until March 1st, April 1st. This is true for Gatwick, [Everdome]. Lisbon, same thing. The effect is more felt in Q2 than in Q1 in terms of price hikes. There is a gap. We have to bear that in mind, that time lag.
This is the shortest answer I can give you. VINCI Airports and VINCI Autoroutes have worked really hard so as to protect our EBITDA margin.
As a subscript to Nicolas' answer, you may have seen this from one crisis to another. There have been many more crises in recent years. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine. Every time, our concessions teams have behaved in exemplary fashion. When we compare ourselves to the competition, we find that our teams are extremely responsive and quick to adapt in the face of loss of revenue. As we said before, this is part and parcel of our VINCI culture. Unrivaled quality of execution. That's how we stand apart from the competition.
Pierre Rousseau, Barclays.
Thank you for taking my question. Congratulations on your excellent performance.
I have a question regarding VINCI Energies. A strong acceleration in growth in Q2. I'd like to understand the underlying drivers behind that improvement, particularly, is there a strong impact from digital at this stage? How much would that represent in terms of margin? We're also seeing a significant surge in margin in this half-year. What would be the share of that, of sale? Zero.e has significant CapEx invested in it. Could you give us an interim guidance before 2030, considering the size of the assets being built or ready to build at this stage? One last question, a short-term question. Could you please tell us more regarding the impact of the heat waves on traffic, particularly the latest trends in France, particularly when it comes to motorways in France? Thank you.
Two technical answers. When it comes to the guidance for Zero.e, Thierry, please look at note 23.
The portfolio has capacity of 5 GW at the end of 2025. EBITDA should exceed EUR 400 million by 2030. It's the same guidance that we issued at the end of 2025. We have not updated it with the 5.6 GW, but that gives you a ballpark figure.
VINCI Energies. Arnaud?
Yes. Good morning. We say this every time. You shouldn't analyze the figures quarter by quarter, because our year, or rather our business, is staggered throughout the year, staggered over several years. Just because there's a loss in one quarter, it cannot be extrapolated. We're seeing strong growth as indicated in our guidance, and all our activities are contributing across the board. All geographies, yes. Digital as well, the refurbishment in commercial real estate, energy infrastructure, and a number of industry activities.
They're all making a contribution, both in terms of growth and in terms of profit margin. I think this feature is in the appendices. The digital mega trend has a powerful impact on our business, 2025. This is factored into order book, and this accounts for EUR 6 billion in business. We can add to this everything that goes with it. You've got the data center per se, but there's an entire ecosystem around that data center. For example, our renewable energies in Texas. That segment ties in directly with the development of data centers in that state, in the U.S. Off-takers of that electric power, all data centers, chief among which, Google. Clearly, these markets will undergo accelerated growth, and we are ideally positioned to benefit from that surge in top line, but also, we have strong pricing power.
We have the ability to deliver products and services in all those geographies where we already operate.
The other question regarding concessions. Nicolas?
Let me give you a little bit of color regarding traffic. The heat spells don't affect the entire country at the same time, so the effect is relative in our network. We have the Rhône Valley or the French Riviera. Usually, it's warmer and warmer every year. Even when it's warm or warmer, those are regions that are used to that heat, so we're not seeing any impact on passenger traffic. There's a micro effect, maybe 1% dip, in case of a heat spell, but that's it. Let me give you a little bit more color regarding the trend. Elasticity of fuel prices diminishes over time. We've seen that since the beginning of the crisis.
Traffic tends to kick back up, and we know that traffic levels are good in July because people go on vacation, and people traveling to France or transiting through France are sustaining those high traffic levels.
Thank you. Let us start with questions in French over the phone.
Thank you. Please press star one to ask a question. First question, Elodie Rall, JP Morgan. Go ahead, ma'am.
Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you for your presentation. I have a question regarding the acquisition of Safeway Concessions in India, more specifically, the Indian market in general. Clearly, you intend to continue making acquisitions on that market, particularly when it comes to airports and motorways. Those are considered greenfield acquisitions. My second question ties in with the first. Your M&A pipeline, what kind of opportunities do you see happening in future, or are you currently working on?
What are you doing to optimize asset rotation in your portfolios? I think you did touch upon that some time ago. Lastly, free cash flow. This question is for Thierry Mirville, because I put this question, the exact same question, to Christian many times. H1 is encouraging. The guidance stands at EUR 6 billion, which feels a bit conservative. What do you think?
Regarding India is a particularly buoyant market because of its strong demographic trend and the Indian economy, which is driven by the strong population growth, is a buoyant segment, a buoyant market. The contractual framework is sound and robust. We are busy finalizing a first major acquisition. It is a brownfield acquisition because the Indian market is, by definition, a brownfield concession market. I am talking about airport concessions and highway concessions as well.
If this first acquisition succeeds, yes, we will continue to deploy the same policy there. Our priority right now is to complete this acquisition. We will consolidate it. Bearing in mind that we already operate toll services in India. So we have that expertise in India. We are used to collecting tolls. We have that business already. This gives us a good stepping stone for performing and successfully integrating that first acquisition. The story goes on. Regarding our M&A pipeline and our asset rotation policy, we are not giving any specific indications, but we are paying close attention to this. There are a number of issues that we are paying close attention to for VINCI Highways, VINCI Airports, and VINCI Energies. Of course, we will keep you apprised on the fly as those opportunities actually materialize. In terms of free cash flow, you are on, Thierry. Okay.
The end of June is an encouraging milestone, but it is not significant when it comes to our cash flow generation profile. This does strengthen the guidance we issued. However, this does not mean we want to upgrade it. I would like to remind you that every year, we work hard to improve our WCR, and it is getting harder and harder every year. So we still have limited headroom. Our free cash flow performance at the end of June is comforting, but that does not mean we will upgrade our guidance. Thank you very much.
Next question. Nicolas Mora, Morgan Stanley.
Good morning, gentlemen. What about COBRA? Excellent performance by COBRA in terms of margins. Are we finally seeing a ramp-up in major EPC contracts, which have been secured since 2023, 2024, and this adds profit margin, and this could mean a future ramp-up over 2027, 2028?
That is my first question. I would also like to get back to margins for French airports and French motorways. Now, you are back at peak level. Despite a challenging environment, I understand Nicolas' answer. But there are other factors that must be considered, particularly provisions for maintenance and the increase in interest rates, which has led to provisions going down. We need to factor in highway traffic trends and airport traffic trends, and we are not seeing an increase in prices in Q2.
We are seeing price dips in Portugal in particular. So what about that? Also, what about All for One in VINCI Energies? I missed the first part of this call, but if we look at your history, your deals are usually growth-based. And here, it seems as though we are dealing with a company that is exposed to SAP, and their top-line performance is difficult. They need restructuring. Is that a unique opportunity? Is that a departure, a break from your usual policy? There is something I am not getting.
On COBRA, José María.
Related with the margins in COBRA, that has increased from 8% to 8.4%, is because we have two parts of the company, contracting and long-term assets. Contracting must be around 8%, 8.1%, and the increase is mainly because the [SCE-EU] contribution that is beginning now. In the long term, this is going to increase, this increase in the margins of [SCE-EU]. At the same time, we think we can increase a little bit our future margins in contracting. It is true that in the next years, the margins, at least, must be increased a little bit from this position.
On the autoroutes, Nicolas, please.
Hi, Nicolas. I confirm in our business, notably in VINCI Autoroutes operations and at the head, the changes that we make constantly lead us to optimize operating costs. We've done this for a long time. On VINCI Autoroutes, there's no major provisions. I mentioned IT services, where we arrive at a few years before the end of the concession. We're optimizing a few factors. There are a couple of one-offs on the airport side, very limited. Of course, we're not seeking to embellish these numbers. The margins are by half. They're half-yearly. They can't really be compared from one half to the next, versus the previous year, and the second half must be compared with the second half of the, because they're a differing effect, notably in VINCI Autoroutes. The margin of H1 is always better than the H2 margin, that's been the case for many years now.
Just to complete that, we're convinced at VINCI because we manage our own costs. We do what's known as own production on concession assets. We operate our own concession. We're not a fund. We're not just merely a financial investor. We're an investor, an industrialist, an operational investor in terms of energy services. We're not a general contractor that subcontracts. There are some amongst our major peers who can be viewed as comparables.
The share of activity that we perform ourselves, be it in VINCI Airports assets or VINCI Energies services or VINCI Construction, we perform a large part of what we do, that gives us a cost insight, cost containment ability to have, as I said, unparalleled executional quality and to improve margin through market effects as the others do, working on our costs, it's a quality that sets us apart from our major peers, where they have a different profile or a similar profile and needs to be recognized for what it is. On All for One Group, in addition to what I said, because we're in the middle of the takeover, Arnaud, the formal offer was submitted to BaFin the day before yesterday. We regularly take over a number of committees at the tribunal, we can restructure, turnaround, recovery, et cetera.
We're working in depth our portfolio each and every year in various deals. Not of this size, so you don't see it. It's something we're used to doing by rolling out our model, our tools, and our management culture. We're fully capable of doing that. It's a way of creating value to look at this type of company, not very expensive and things that are already optimized. The strategic interest, second point, it's a good fit with our portfolio of activity. It's something we can do. It's a good fit. In Germany, we have teams that can integrate with the Mittelstand customer base, a recurring flow business, which is precisely what motivates it. We believe that by rolling out our model, we'll return to previous levels of profitability. It makes full sense, and we're prepared.
We wanted to move forward with this deal, which we hope will complete by October. Remember the capital market day that we presented bolt-ons and some significant deals, opportunities. It's a fine opportunity that we're able to seize.
UBS, please.
Hi. Thank you very much for taking my question. On the data center backlog, you mentioned you are in discussions with large hyperscalers. Any reason why we could not see two to three gigawatts of data center project in your backlog in a couple of years? Secondly, on energy systems profit margins midterm, you flagged that Europe's appetite to build data centers has increased meaningfully over the last months, and this will capture a large labor resource of electricians and specialized labor in an already constrained environment. Is it fair to assume that midterm, this will be very favorable for further meaningful margin accretion in energy systems across all verticals? The last one, if I may, on contracting, it's on the quality of the Q2 order intake. You had a strong order intake in Q2 in a tough backdrop.
Can you make any comments around the margin profile within this Q2 order intake, is it supportive for further margin improvement in construction? Is the competitive environment tougher recently, is there any negative mix in there we should be aware of? Thank you.
On the data centers, as I mentioned, it's too soon to book in our order book deals in which discussions are well involved. We'll do it in due course. It's consistent with our discipline, we don't rule out good news to announce you over and above the EUR 900 million order intake in H1 fairly soon, notably in Europe. It is difficult to say much more, what we can say, the pipeline is broad, substantive. We're talking several gigawatts. We'll see in that pipeline what will be delivered, what will actually come about. It's clear, as I said earlier, we have all the resources to achieve that. We're probably one of the best placed with the resources available to us, human resources, to get there, with our ability to recruit, to train, to retain personnel on these various topics.
Yes, it will necessarily have an impact on the top line. It will necessarily have an impact on the margins. By how much, it's too soon to say, but that is what underpins our guidance for the year, and if we extrapolate VINCI's trajectory midterm going forward. As to the heightened order intake, our philosophy, our rationale is to favor margin over volume. Our teams have not sacrificed quality of order intake over the quantity. The quality of the order book is the same, if not better. It's in that context that our order intake have increased +8%. It's not a race for volume, quite the opposite. Order intake fuels an order book which has the same level of quality. It's clear that we are on markets where we're leader. In European market, we are the preferred recruiter.
We represent an employer brand such that to recruit, to train, we have 100 training centers, we can go upscale on many projects. It's the case of all major projects, be it those of COBRA in EPC in Europe or elsewhere, those that VINCI Energies is rolling out or even VINCI Construction. There again, it's a capability that sets us apart from our peers that drives top-line growth and using fully-fledged pricing power where human resources skills become a key factor and set us apart.
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Hi, Harishankar from Deutsche Bank, please.
Good morning, everyone, and congrats on the solid H1 results. Two questions from my side, please, if that's okay. First, on the Wärtsilä acquisition that you did some time back. Could you help us understand the outlook there in the light of the F126 frigates being canceled? Does that put this business in a better or worse position or no change at all? Secondly, on the acquisitions landscape, are you seeing targets asking for elevated multiples still, or are you starting to see that tempering given the higher yields environment? Any regional variations worth highlighting, that would be great. Thank you.
SAM acquisition. Arnaud.
Our contract was being canceled, so there's negotiation with the German minister about this cancellation. It has no impact for us on the business. Anyway, they need frigates, so it's not that frigates, but it will be other ones that will be built. Long term and short term, there's no impact, and maybe it will speed up the work because the F126 was complex in the supply chain with Germany, the Netherlands, the Dom and everything. I think they will try to find an easier solution. For us, it's very good perspective with Wärtsilä. Regarding the acquisition multiples, they're always high. There's no reason to go down. You just need one buyer who thinks there's someone else to have higher multiples, so they're higher expectations.
We remain disciplined, we try to cherry-pick and to find the right targets that are for VINCI Energies that are within our strategy for the other ones.
Maybe just to add, we don't just value our acquisition targets through a multiple. We value them on the basis of a business plan. We start with the multiple to have an order of magnitude, behind a big multiple or a small multiple, there may lie other considerations, we remain highly disciplined in this regard. Our acquisition prices are based on other things other than the multiple. It's easy to communicate on a multiple. We acquire in a due diligence on what we consider with our own opinion, with the inputs, the contributions, the synergies that we can develop with the target, the value that we can ascribe to those targets.
Thank you.
[Non-English content] . Next question. Marc Van't Sant from Citi.
Hi. It's Marc from Citi. Thanks for taking my question. I've got a couple of follow-ups here just on the energy solutions business. Firstly, a clarification just on your FY 2026 margin outlook. The margin first half already above full year 2025. If we look at what you're seeing in the near-term pipeline, what you'll deliver for the remainder of this year, could we potentially see margin improvement on the first half results, or are you comfortable where they landed essentially at the first half. My second question, just on the Zero.e, your 2030 target, that EUR 400 million EBITDA target, are you able to share with us what you're expecting in terms of technology mix and operational capacity mix that underpins that target, please? Thank you.
We gave you our margin targets in our guidance already, we confirm that our operating income is going to increase as it did in the first half. Maybe it won't increase as much as in H1, it will continue to grow. I'm not sure I understand the question regarding technology.
That's on the EUR 400 million EBIT target by 2030 for Zero.e. I just want to know if you have a sense of what technologies or capacity split makes up that EUR 400 million. Obviously, you've announced, for example, you put two solar farms in operation in the first half of this year. What makes up the rest of it out to 2030, please?
In terms of Zero.e, you will find most of the assets on the slide. Most of those assets are photovoltaic assets. We hybridize those operations with batteries depending on what opportunities arise. 2% of the 5.6 GW are wind farms, land-based wind farms, and the vast majority of the rest is solar, whether or not hybrid solar battery solutions.
Next question, Luis Prieto, Kepler.
I had a couple of questions. Apologies if you have already addressed this and I have missed it. In any case, the first question is, you have become more vocal about data center construction, and it's undeniable that you understand very well the development of certain technological assets. I was wondering if, in an environment in which key competitors like ACS, HOCHTIEF, Ferrovial, for example, are increasingly active in the development and operation of data centers, could this become of interest to you at any point in time? My second question is regarding the quite heated debate about the managed lanes pipeline involving peers, again, like ACS, Ferrovial, Cintra, FCC. You have looked into this in the past, what is your current stance on U.S. managed lanes? Thank you.
You want to take the floor, José María?
Yes. Linked with the investment in data centers and, or constructing them, some facts. You can see that in the backlog is EUR 1.2 billion in the whole VINCI. It's true that, for example, COBRA, in this month, has been awarded with EUR 500 million more. This order intake that is not reflecting there. We have bid more than EUR 10 billion that we are in negotiation now, with the GovFrance and GovFrance and other investors. We have, as Pierre have said, we are going to have good news, I think, in the next months. At the same time, we are bidding more than EUR 30 billion for the next six months just in Europe and Middle East.
In my opinion, in VINCI opinion, it's much more secure to be in this industry doing services and construction and electromechanical installations for these investors than be part of the investment when we have much more risk and we are not experts. Okay? We are experts in transmission lines, we are experts in generation energy. We prefer to invest when we know that what is going the mega trend or the glamorous moment. We prefer to be when we are going to do money in any scenario.
Thank you.
There was another question we haven't answered yet. Now, managing. There is no such thing as a free lunch. We have interesting contracts in other countries as well, and this does not mean the same thing for managing contracts. We self-perform, so we need to find specific types of construction works in states that we already know, mostly on the Eastern coast. Obviously, we are not ruling out any kind of technical or financial partnerships. We do look at the possibilities systematically, but like I said, just because there were interesting managed lanes in the past, doesn't mean it will happen in the future. The competitive environment will dictate our interest and the level of interest in managed lanes. With VINCI Construction, we are looking at the situation in the U.S., depending on the type of construction, the type of works.
That could actually mean a competitive offer on our part, particularly in partnership.
Next question. It will be your final question. It is coming from Dario Maglione from BNP Paribas.
I have three questions. One on traffic on French highways, specifically the heavy vehicle traffic, which was up 1.6% year-over-year in H1. Why do you think it was so resilient and so much better compared to the light vehicle traffic? Second question on the data centers. You mentioned the EUR 0.9 billion of intake in H1. What type of work exactly would VINCI be doing? Are we talking about fitting mechanical, electrical, plumbing inside the data centers or something else? Last question around contracting. My understanding in Q1 2026, there was some bad weather effect. I think also some of your peers reported some catch-up effect in Q2. Is there more catch-up to expect in Q3 or not? Thanks.
Nicolas.
Dario, regarding heavy goods traffic, there are two different factors. First of all, manufacturing output was positive in Europe, particularly in France and in Spain in the first half. Consumer spending was less buoyant. When it comes to VINCI Autoroutes and their network, 50% of vehicles are international vehicles. This means we systematically benefit from the Spanish economy, because they transit through France, and they transit through our network. We also have excellent connections with Spain, or rather Italy. Strong manufacturing output, and this drives traffic from Spain and Italy into France or through France. Regarding data centers, on average, this is a ballpark figure, okay? Over 50% of investment into the data center is the actual process, the actual server racks. That's not our core business. Okay? It's a procurement issue with players such as NVIDIA. We provide very value-added there.
This accounts for 50% of the entire investment into a data center. The remainder has to do with the surrounding equipment. What we call the balance of plant. Low voltage or high voltage currents, HVAC, cooling, heating, fire protection. This accounts for 50% of that smaller 50%. Then you have a very small share of that 50% that has to do with the surrounding environment, everything that's around the data center. Generators, connections to the grid. Where do we come in? That smaller 50% of that 50% investment into data centers, which is highly process-dependent, because there are issues such as obsolescence. Things shift very quickly in the data center world. That is why, as José María rightly said, we prefer our EPC model. We prefer to focus on the balance of plants and the infrastructure per se.
We are ready to invest, and we've done that in Texas. We are ready to invest into energy generation facilities, renewable energies in particular. We have that business in Texas, and customers include Google. Google is our main customer for data centers. If we look at how much we invest into photovoltaic technologies for data center, this share of business is starting to be significant. You have that entire economic ecosystem around data centers. We try not to focus on whatever's not our core business, particularly since the risks of obsolescence are significantly high.
You had a question regarding contracting. Our guidance on this front is based on our 2026 guidance. It remains unchanged. We haven't changed our guidance in the past six months when it comes to energy solutions and construction.
Okay, thanks. Just follow up on the second question, the EUR 0.9 billion of intake in data centers. Does that include photovoltaic plants built for data centers?
No, there is no revenue or backlog in this EUR 0.9 billion that is linked with energy to administrate these data centers. It's pure activity in the construction of the data centers.
Oh, brilliant. Thank you very much.
There doesn't seem to be any other questions online. In that case, thank you very much for your kind attention. Thank you for this fruitful discussion. Enjoy the summer break, and we'll see you all very soon. Thank you all.