Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Edenred 2021 half-year results conference call. I will now hand over to Mr. Bertrand Dumazy, Chairman and CEO. Sir, please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being with us to discuss about the 2021 half-year results for Edenred. I propose that we move to page two of the executive summary. What do you need to know about those results? First of all, Edenred has been able to deliver close to 10% like-for-like operating revenue growth versus 2019. It is fair to say that Edenred has much more than recovered the ground lost in H1 2020. In number, versus Q2 2020, we are up almost 31% like-for-like, which means more than 20% growth across all regions. Versus H1 2020, we are up 15.3% like-for-like, meaning double-digit growth across all regions and business lines. More importantly, as compared to H1 2019, we are up 10% like-for-like.
It is to be noted that we have some areas still lagging behind due to the COVID situation, notably employee benefits in Latin America. To make a long story short, Edenred has demonstrated that its growth potential is intact with a relevant offer and a very good sales dynamic. We posted solid financial results in H1 2021, and we maintained our robust financial position. Our total revenue is up 15.2% like-for-like. Our EBITDA is up almost 21% like-for-like at EUR 295 million, driving the EBITDA margin up to 39%, which is an improvement of 230 basis points as reported. We also generated strong cash with double-digit like-for-like FFO growth to EUR 254 million. Our net profit group share posted at EUR 133 million, which is a growth of + 33%.
We have a high level of liquidity and a solid balance sheet with the issuance of a EUR 400 million sustainability-linked seven-year convertible bond. Finally, S&P reaffirmed our strong investment-grade rating in May 2021. Based and I move to page three. Based on these results in H1 2021, based on the fact that we will continue to leverage our platform to generate sustainable and profitable growth, we are able to raise our guidance for 2021. The 2021 outlook for Edenred is a like-for-like EBITDA growth upgraded to a minimum of +9% versus what we previously guided with a minimum of +6%. It means an EBITDA guidance range for the year 2021 between EUR 620 million and EUR 670 million. Now if we go into the details of those results, I propose that we move to page six.
As you notice, H1 2021 operating revenue bounced back 10% higher than the pre-COVID level. What you see in the graph on the left of slide 6 is the pattern of the year 2020 and the pattern of the first half of the year 2021. Remember, we entered after a historical year in 2019. We entered with double-digit growth in January and February 2020. The COVID, Q1 was at +6.6%. The recession due to the COVID, -15%, only one quarter of recession, Edenred moved back to the growth area with 0.9% in Q3, 1.2% in Q4. Stronger growth quarter after quarter, 3.6% in Q1 2021, almost +31% in Q2, leading to an H1 2021 at +15.3% like-for-like.
If we focus on 2021, we had an encouraging start of the year in Q1, even if there were some restrictions in major countries until May. We saw an acceleration of the recovery since the month of May. Why? We had the reopening in Europe in June, so we saw an acceleration at the back end of the quarter. Unfortunately, the situation in Latin America is still distressed and, in fact, very changing from 1 month to another. That's why we think we have a reservoir of growth to come in Latin America, especially on benefits. If we move to page seven, you have the breakdown of our performance per geographies.
What you can see is we generated double-digit like-for-like operating revenue growth versus 2019 everywhere except in Latin America, where the health situation just mentioned before remains challenging. In Europe versus 2019, +11%, versus H1 2020, +15%. Rest of the world, almost +14% versus 2019, +10%, slightly more versus 2020. Latin America versus 2020 H1, +17%, but versus H1 2019, +6%. If we move now to page eight, you have the breakdown per in fact business lines. The first one, employee benefits, representing 61% of our total revenue. You see that, in fact, our performance versus 2019 is +3.3%, but versus 2020, double-digit growth at +13.4%. In fleet and mobility versus 2020, 20% growth, versus 2019, 17% growth. Complementary solutions versus 2020, almost +15% growth, and versus 2019, an impressive 27% growth.
As you can see, Edenred has been able to generate growth in every geography, but also on every product lines, whether versus 2020, but also versus 2019, with a reservoir of growth in benefits, especially in Latin America. What does this mean for the margin? Page nine. As you remember, we are scale business, so as soon as the growth engine is back to the level that we used to have before the COVID crisis, we see an improvement of our EBITDA margin. In H1 2021, we post a 39% EBITDA margin versus H1 2020 at 36.7% and 39.9% in H1 2019. Page 10, yes, Edenred is an agile and scalable platform, and we demonstrated in H1 2021 that our growth potential is intact. As a reminder, Edenred is a platform allowing quick client onboarding as well as fast development of new solution.
This platform of intermediation is very unique because we have a B2B2C go-to-market model. We are solving inefficiencies or pain points in four universes, the eat universe, the move, the care, and the pay, and we operate in 46 different countries with and through a specific purpose wallet enabling public and private regulation and earmarking funds to specific merchant verticals. That's who we are, making the connection between 50 million users and 2 million merchants. This very unique platform that is agile and scalable, so leverageable. What we have been doing is to have a disciplined business execution to fully capture Edenred's growth potential. Page 12, you see the mantra. We are going after scale, we are going after innovation, and we are going after transformation.
If I start with scale, page 13, our job obviously on a daily basis is to capture the full potential from our customer base and product portfolios. Remember, we serve 50 million users around the world through 250 different programs. Job number one is to deliver high-quality service, and you can see that in fact, our indicators are improving quarter after quarter. Our job is also to upsell and cross-sell. Upsell means to unlock the full potential of maximum face value increase. In fact, we are on a positive trend because the face values have increased in many countries. In fact, to face the effect of the COVID crisis, many governments decided to increase the face value. It is the case in Italy, in Romania, in Austria, in Bulgaria, and in Turkey, for example.
To cross-sell as well, we leverage our new products and to be able to cross-sell them and increase the client stickiness. A typical example is the Beyond Fuel program, and I will come back to that later on. In terms of scale, page 14, obviously our job is to continue to further penetrate the market through a segmented approach. Yes, our markets are still vastly under-penetrated, and in fact, this penetration can be boosted by post-COVID trends. For example, work from home will drive further Ticket Restaurant penetration because employees need more flexibility at lunchtime. To give you an order of magnitude, more than 250 contracts have been signed by Edenred in the last 12 months with clients who formerly used 100% physical canteens, and they move to the virtual canteen, and they want to move with the leader of the market, which is Edenred.
We are not afraid to partner. We are pleased to announce that we partnered with Gecina, which is the leading owner of office space in Europe. Gecina and ourselves, we work together to make sure that Gecina integrate the seamless and digital ticket restaurant experience in its offer towards its 100,000 customers. Another way to say it, anytime a client is moving to a new Gecina offices what will be proposed to this new client, instead of having a physical canteen, is to have access to a virtual canteen and maybe to do some savings and please more, in fact, their employee base. Our job is also to seize the SME opportunity. By leveraging our external distribution channel, we are pleased by the ramp-up of our Itaú partnership in Brazil, Itaú being the first and the largest, in fact, private bank in Brazil.
We are pleased to share with you that in H1 2021, the level of new SME contracts that we signed is equal to the level we were signing in 2019. On SME contract penetration, we are back, and we are back on steady growth. That's for scale. The second part of the mantra that we call innovation, page 15. Innovation, obviously, to fit new working trends. We are proposing greener and more flexible commuting solutions. Whether, for example, in France with the Ticket Mobilité, or in the U.S. as an example with commuter benefits. Our offer has been enriched by including micro-mobility partners, and you have the list on the bottom left. Thanks to this offer that has evolved, that is more rich of new partners.
In the U.S., we have been able to sign many new clients, iconic ones like Intuit, Harvard, or Asana, but also the leading global e-commerce company. I cannot say the name, which is funny, but I'm sure you will recognize them. Innovation also to support the shift to new ways of working. New ways of working, for example, with what we call the remote working. We developed the Ticket Mobilité, Mobility Ticket. It's a digital account, for example, in France, set to EUR 550, that is combined with an e-commerce platform with more than 4,000 office equipment and consumables references. In fact, as an employer, you can give this amount to employee, and this amount is tax-exempted only if you respect, in fact, the conditions of the program. That's our ways to support the shift to new ways of working, what we call the home office.
The innovation is also used at Edenred, page 16 and 17, for specific purpose programs. We are proud to share with you the example of the digital food aid card for elderly people that we launched in Romania. It was, and it is, a 100% digital solution for 150 beneficiaries. What is very interesting is the average age of the user of this program is 83 years old, and the digital activation rate is above 80%. Even the elder generation is able to use our earmarking funds solution. It's a great news because it is the proof that we have a lot to bring to the society. If digitalization is well done and propose a very seamless user experience, the elder ones with an age that is above 80 are also able to use our solutions.
Page 17, another example is the Benefit Express 2.0 COVID-19 survival pack that we launched in Taiwan. As you know, Taiwan has been confined really for the first time. In fact, many employers want to take care of their employees who are working now from home, and they want to do it in an efficient, safe manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed this contactless multi-brand digital benefit to buy all essentials with, as usual with Edenred, a dedicated online network. We are pleased to announce that we have more than 35,000 users. Among our clients, very iconic clients such as Google, Qualcomm or JNJ in Taiwan.
We are leveraging also our innovation efforts to offer a seamless experience, page 18, where one of the crusades we embarked on is to propose a very seamless experience from A to Z to our users and to our clients. From online sales, ordering and onboarding, to 24/7 self-customer care. You have an example of the innovation that we launched. For example, the second step, the plastic-less format, 0% paper, 0% plastic, all on your mobile. Now it is in five different countries, and more to come. As you may know, we have a flexible and comprehensive offer because more than 1 million restaurants are connected to our platforms. In fact, if you add meal delivery partners, we have more than 100 global and local partners who are connected to the Edenred platform.
One or two last examples of innovation, page 19, the Beyond Fuel program I was talking about in executive summary. We are also leveraging innovation for the Beyond Fuel program to enhance Fleet and Mobility value proposition. Three examples. In Brazil, our new GoHub platform for fleet managers. Now fleet managers can connect, and they have access to all their service related to fleet management. In Europe, the UTA One box to pay tolls. It's now available in 13 different European countries. In H1 2021, we have been able to increase this number by five, moving from eight countries to 13 different countries. The third example is the launch of a dual tag and to pay fuel and tolls in Mexico. Finally, we launched our CO2 offset programs in Latin America. More to come very soon in Europe.
In fact, we are pleased to say that in Mexico, this program has been adopted by 20% of our client base. It's a strong start. Still a lot to go. To finish on innovation and CSI, you know that our job is to scale CSI through a wide payment and service ecosystem. We have a strong value proposition. It's a digital automation platform to save time and costs. It's a cloud-based platform that is available obviously 24/7, including when you work from home. We have been integrating CSI with strong partners. Payment partners, we are dual virtual card issuer with Mastercard and Visa. We are now integrated into management solution and payable solution with Sage. We developed our indirect distribution and commercial partnerships with U.S. banks such as Citi or Bank of the West.
We are now back to our revenue level of 2019, with some new sales that are offsetting some depressed client volumes still in hotels and media industries. The last part of our mantra is transformation. As we shared with you previously, we further integrated sustainable development into Edenred performance. You remember that we unveiled our purpose at the 2021 annual general meeting, and our purpose is Enrich connections. For good. We also integrate in the managers' long-term incentive plan, three commitments of our sustainable development plan, one in people, one in planet, one in progress. In terms of ability to get some free shares, 25% of the performance is now linked for the top 350 people of Edenred linked to those sustainable development objectives. In fact, we use them.
Let's say, what is offered on the financial markets. Based on that, we have been able to leverage new sustainability-linked financing instrument with a EUR 400 million convertible bonds that we have been able to raise with a negative yield to maturity of -12 basis points. This, in fact, financial instrument is linked to the ability to achieve by 2025, three sustainability criteria, one in people, one in planet, and one in progress. That's what I wanted to share with you, to explain to you the performance of Edenred in H1 2021. I propose now that we go more into the detailed performance and results. Thanks to Julien Tanguy, the CFO of the group. Julien, we are all yours.
Thank you, Bertrand. Good morning, everyone. I propose we move now to page 23 to review our H1 2021 performance. The first half of 2021 demonstrates a strong recovery despite a challenging health situation. Operating revenue in Q2 is up by 30.6% like-for-like, and almost 28% in reported figures. This very strong performance in Q2 brings our revenue to EUR 736 million in H1, i.e., a growth of 15% in like-for-like and 9% in reported figures. As already mentioned by Bertrand, it is a 10% growth versus 2019 in like-for-like. I propose we analyze the key driver of the strong performance of Edenred through some comments about two main regions, Europe and Latin America. Before moving to this region, I remember you that during this H1, our activity has been impacted by the health situation, but at different level according to the geographies.
The comparison basis in Q2 is favorable. In Q2 2020, we have been impacted by full lockdown in most of the regions where we have operations. Let's move to page 24. In Europe, the 15% growth in H1 is a result of a good sales momentum combined with gradual reopening linked to the health situation. Our revenue is growing by more than 11% compared to 2019. In France, the growth in Q2 is close to an impressive 60%. In 2020, the lockdown did not allow users to spend their benefits. In 2021, thanks to a progressive reopening starting the second half of May, the revenue has been slightly boosted by the catch-up of reimbursement volume accumulating during the first quarter of 2021. This catch-up has started, but is not over yet.
Funds have been accumulated in 2022. On top of that, France delivered solid commercial success, especially on digital ticket restaurant, thanks to our digital leadership. Compared to 2019, we delivered a mid-single digit of new growth. Regarding the rest of Europe, like in France, we delivered a solid recovery impacted by the gradual easing of restrictions in the second half of the quarter. The double-digit growth is a consequence of our capacity to innovate in all our business lines. I share a few examples with you. The digital gift solution in Italy for employee benefits and the Beyond Fuel strategy and a range of services that includes tolls and VAT refunds for fleet and mobility. All in all, the performance is robust across all business lines and market segments, driving double-digit growth versus the H1 2019. Let's move now to America on page 25.
In Latin America, the health situation has been challenging during the last quarter. In this context, we have delivered mid-single digit like-for-like growth versus H1 2019 and a strong growth versus 2020. In Brazil, we have posted an increase of 31% in Q2 thanks to an excellent performance in fleet and mobility, supported with the success of our Beyond Fuel services and especially our maintenance solutions. Our sales performance is also solid. The partnership with Itaú, one of the largest banks in Brazil, on the employee benefit market is continuing its ramp-up in a challenging health situation. In Latin America, we are deploying also our Beyond Fuel strategy across the region, and the deployment is doing well, delivering growth. In Q2, the growth of this region is above 30%, despite the difficult and fast-changing health situation in several countries.
In this uncertain environment, Latin America revenue is up by 17% like-for-like compared to 2020. This is it for the operating revenue. Let's move now to the other revenue, previously named financial revenue. I'm on Page 26. Other revenues stand at EUR 21 million, growing 10% in like-for-like and down by 3.5% in reported figures. In Europe, we have higher level of floats but lower interest rates. Non-Eurozone countries have strongly decreased their interest rates from Q2 2020. It is the case in the U.K., in Czech Republic, and in Romania. In Latin America, the level of float is higher. Our hedging policy compensates the decrease of interest rates in Mexico. In the rest of the world, we have big change in percentage, but low amount in euro. This change is mostly driven by Turkey, where interest rates increased strongly, compensated by negative Forex impact.
To have a global view on our total revenue, I propose we move to page 27. As a conclusion on top line, I remember total revenue is sum of operating revenue and other revenue. In Q2, our total revenue is up by 30% in like-for-like. This growth in Q2 allows us to deliver a 15% growth in H1. It also means a 8.8% growth compared to 2019 in like-for-like. We move now on page 28. Thanks to a strong growth of our revenue, the EBITDA is up by more than 20% like-for-like in H1 2021, and our EBITDA margin stands at 39%, which is an improvement of 183 basis points in like-for-like compared to 2020. The increase of EBITDA at 21% is higher than our revenue increase, + 15%, demonstrating our capacity to leverage our cost structure. EBIT is growing by 25.8%.
The increase of EBIT in amount is the same as increase of EBITDA in amount. Our operating EBIT margin is improving by 273 basis points like-for-like compared to last year. If we move to net profits, the net profit group share is increasing by 33% and stands at EUR 133 million. As we already saw, the EBIT stands at EUR 232 million. Main variations compared to 2020 regarding the net profits are other income and expenses and net financial expenses. Other income and expenses goes from EUR -30 million to EUR _7 million, explained by a lower level of item compared to last year. The net financial expense is improving by EUR 6 million and is a consequence of a one-off event, i.e., valuation at fair market value of our investments in Partech Partners. I propose we move now to the free cash flow.
With an EBITDA increasing by 15.6% in reported figures, our FFO is increasing by 22.7%, demonstrating a strong level of conversion and the capacity to generate cash from our operations. The working capital and float numbers in H1 2021 show the return to normal free cash flow pattern. Our float decreased by EUR 189 million in H1 2021. It had decreased by EUR 256 million on the same period in 2019. The flow decrease also points out the gradual use of prepaid funds accumulated in 2020 and in Q1 2021. Our level of CapEx is slightly below last year at EUR 37 million. At the end of H1, the free cash flow generated since the 1st of January is minus EUR 68 million. Let's move now to our net debt evolution, and I am page 31. The bridge presented on this slide is from June 2020 to June 2021.
The free cash flow generated over the last 12 months stands at EUR 469 million, as we can see on this page. Thanks to this free cash flow, the net debt has decreased since June 2020. At the end of June 2021, our net debt stands at EUR 1.35 billion. With a net debt that has decreased, we have a robust financial position, as we can see on page 32. We have a high level of liquidity and a solid balance sheet. As Bertrand mentioned, we have been able to issue a first sustainability-linked seven year convertible bond of about EUR 400 million in June. It is a zero coupon and negative yield bond with a seven year maturity. At the end of June, our balance sheet is solid. We have EUR 4.9 billion of cash equivalents, restricted cash on our balance sheet.
We have over EUR 1.5 billion of financing options available. We have no financial covenants. Our BBB+ rating has been reaffirmed by Standard & Poor's in May 2021. We have no major reimbursement before 2024. The bond that is due in 2024 is a convertible bond that could be converted into shares. Bertrand, I let you the mic for the end of the presentation.
Okay, thank you, Julien. Based on the detailed financial performance, what does it mean in terms of outlook and guidance for 2021? I propose that we move to page 34. First of all, our growth potential is intact, and now Edenred is well on track to harness it. Remember that we have four trends accelerated by the crisis that are bringing new opportunities for Edenred. First, we are living in a more connected digital and contactless world, so it's good for Edenred. We are living in a more remote working world, and Edenred is developing new and innovative solutions to fit those new needs. We are living in a world seeking for more responsible behavior, and Edenred is a platform for good. Finally, in a corporate world seeking more efficient and secure payments, Edenred is digitalizing B2B payments.
The second element to have in mind is, yes, as usual, Edenred will deliver a disciplined business execution to fully capture our growth potential. We will focus on scale, on innovation, and on transformation. Yes, the growth potential of Edenred is intact, and we have the strong willingness to harness it. If we move to page 35. In fact, in H1 2021, we demonstrated some strong business trends that are leading to a significant outperformance versus 2019. Our operating revenue has been growing at double-digit growth in H1 2021 versus 2019. We still have some recovery potential in France and Latin America, where employee benefits were or are still impacted by COVID-related restrictions. However, there are still some uncertainties regarding the health crisis. You noticed the recently announced restriction related to new variants.
Very humbly, we don't know the exit timing of the health crisis, and so it remains uncertain. Finally, when we look at the macro environment, we see both tailwinds and headwinds. Among the potential tailwinds, inflation that could start increasing a little bit, and maybe the rise of short-term interest. There are also some potential headwinds, such as the GDP growth or the unemployment level. Based on the strong performance of H1, based on the fact that we see significant positive business trends for Edenred, but aware as well on the uncertainties as to the exit timing of the crisis, page 36, we are happy to, in fact, increase our minimum 2021 like-for-like EBITDA growth guidance. We are happy to upgrade it from 6% minimum to 9% minimum. What does it mean in numbers?
It means that our reported EBITDA guidance for 2021 is between EUR 620 million and EUR 670 million. Thank you for your attention to this presentation. Julien and myself, we are now all yours to answer all the questions you may have.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press zero one on your telephone keypad. It's zero one on your telephone keypad. First question is from Mr. Simon LeChipre from Stifel.
Two questions for me, please. First of all, could you give us an update on the backlog of volumes at the end of June? Secondly, on like-for-like growth, could you share with us the exit rate in June and also your expectations for H2 in the context of your EBITDA guidance, please? Thanks.
Hello, Simon. Julien, maybe I let you give the answers on the backlog of the volume. I guess, Simon, you mean the reimbursement volume that did not become reimbursement yet.
Yeah, sure.
Yes. As you know, due to the health situation in the last quarters, some funds have been accumulated by our users and have not been spent yet in our network. As I said during the presentation, the catch-up of the backlog has started, especially in Europe and in France, thanks to the reopening of the restaurants at the end of May. It is only the beginning of this catch-up, meaning that obviously all the funds that have been accumulated during the start of the pandemic is not over. What we see is that what has been accumulated in Q1 has been spent in Q2, especially during the month of June. It means that the amounts that had been accumulated at the end of last year are still to come, and it will probably be spent during the last six months of this year.
This is included in our guidance.
Okay. If I go back to the second question, so to be sure that everybody understand the notion that I just discovered of exit rate, I guess you mean the like-for-like growth in the month of June, i.e., the last month of the quarter. As you know, Simon, we don't communicate on a monthly basis, but what I can share with you is the month of June is in the same line as the second quarter of the year 2021. We are well on track for the second part of the year.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you, sir. Next question is from Mr. Julien Richer from Kepler Cheuvreux. Sir, go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Two questions also from me, please. The first one, in terms of SMEs, you mentioned the fact that new SME signature is in line with pre-COVID level. I guess it includes the partnership with Itaú. Can we have a little bit more color on the Itaú partnership? What is the contribution at this stage? What you expect at cruising speed, and when do you expect cruising speed to be reached? Second question about the health restriction that you mentioned, and especially the COVID passport that has been announced in France and in Italy. What might be the impact on restaurants? Do you think that this might have a negative impact on volume? Given the different kind of client fee that is paid between restaurant and large supermarket, for example, do you think this might be an headwind in the coming months? Thank you.
Hello, Julien. Thank you for your two questions. The first one, as to the SMEs. Yes, the Itaú partnership is part of our SME penetration effort, and it's what we announced when we signed the partnership two years ago. Where do we stand? As I said, 18 months ago, I was not happy about the results of this partnership in the sense that we were not as far with the plan we all committed to on both parts. Both parts worked hard to make it happen. It's not an easy task, in fact, to train the salespeople, to incentivize the salespeople, and to get some experience at the sales level from Itaú, because our programs are not that easy to sell. They are very technical, and they need an initial investment that is significant.
Now that it has been done, and now that the two parts really want this partnership to work, we see an improvement month after month. By the way, that's something I look at very carefully at every monthly business review that we do with every operating company of the group. What I can say is now in 2021, the results we got for the first six months of the year are in line with the plan. Having said that, it will take time to get a significant, strong contribution at group level because it's a machine that is doing well, but it's a machine that is deployed only in Brazil versus only in Brazil and for Ticket Restaurant.
To make a long story short, very encouraging SME results, very encouraging ramp-up of the Itaú partnership, and I think we will be, let's say, at our speed rate of full potential, 12 to 18 months from now.
Okay.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Sorry. Next question is from Mr. Paul Sullivan from Barclays. Sir, go ahead.
No, sorry. I'm sorry. That's why Julien was somehow mute. There was a second question as to the health restrictions. What might be the impact of the health restriction that we see arising everywhere around the world? Yes, we see some sanitary pass that are put in place here and there. The truth is we don't see the impact yet in our numbers because there is a lot of talk, but in terms of implementation, we are not there yet. What could be the impact? We don't know yet. It's part of our guidance. What we think is, once again, as it happened for the last 18 months, if for whatever reasons, the sanitary passes will create some time to go to the restaurant, i.e., I don't go to the restaurant and I prefer to wait.
What we observed for the last 18 months when restaurants were closed, we saw an accumulation of voucher. It means that the revenue is not lost, the revenue is just delayed, okay? The other thing we saw as well, and it was one of your question, we didn't see any major change in merchant mix. To make a long story short, as of today, we don't see the impact of the idea of putting in place the sanitary passes. If it happens, we think it's going to be milder than what we saw with the confinement. Following the same pattern, i.e., there will be an accumulation of voucher. The revenue is not lost, the revenue is simply delayed. We don't expect any significant change in the merchant mix.
Okay, thank you.
Remember that the people got adapted to the situation. We saw some evolution of behaviors. Thanks to our strong partnerships with meal delivery platform, we have more than 100 meal delivery platform partners now that are connected to Edenred. There are some alternative to have access, in fact, to the menus of the restaurant. That's why we didn't see any major change in merchant mix.
Thank you.
Thank you, Julien.
Next question is from Mr. Paul Sullivan from Barclays. Sir, please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Just a few from me. Firstly, just to follow up on the second half growth. On balance, Bertrand, do you expect an acceleration on the two year growth rate that you saw in the second quarter? Sort of in a bit more detail, can you sustain the momentum in fleet and then accelerate in benefits? That's the sort of the crux of it. Secondly, could you just talk a little bit more about the moving parts within complementary? The social programs presumably sort of rolled off a little bit in the second quarter were a bit of a drag. Can you put some numbers behind the uplift in corporate payments? Also, can you talk about the sort of the market positioning there?
Finally, your ambitions as you move from products towards a fully fledged benefits platform, could you just talk about what your sort of ambition is there? Just aligned to that, do you think we'll need to see more investment or M&A to deliver on that potential upside? Thank you.
Paul, thank you for your 3 questions, and I guess I need 60 minutes to answer to all of them.
Sorry.
No. The truth is there is a lot of passion on our side behind. If I take them one by one, and I do it in duo with Julien. I start, Julien.
Yeah
Any things you would like to add. First thing is the second part of the year, as I said, we see many positive things based on the results of H1, and we have one big uncertainty, which is the acceleration of the variant. The truth is when we look at the variant, we all know that it's going to happen, i.e., the propagation is going to be very fast, the level of infection is going to be very high. The thing that we don't know is the severity of the cases. It's going to be a balance between the quantity times the severity. We don't know yet how it's going to be played.
That's why we came with a range, knowing that the EUR 620 million of EBITDA is in fact something we are comfortable to do, whatever the situation, unless there is a nuclear explosion. What do I expect in the second part of the year? One of your question was benefits versus fleet. I think the trend you saw in benefits will continue. We could be hurt a little bit by the evolution of the variant, but we don't know the severity. If things are going better in Latin America, knowing that we didn't perform as good as we would like based on all the restrictions you saw in many major countries, and for us, especially Mexico and Brazil. Benefits, it could be slightly less, it could be more, depending on the evolution of the variant.
To be observed precisely is the situation in Latin America, where we are not yet at our full potential. In terms of fleet, when we look at the momentum we have on our Beyond Fuel program, as of today, we don't see any reason why we will not sustain a solid double-digit growth in the second part of the year. Even if the basis of comparison, obviously, is going to be much more favorable in H2, because in Q2, Fleet and Mobility, Q2 2020 has been badly hurt. The fundamentals of our Beyond Fuel program, the competitiveness of our energy cards that we are bringing to the market, we don't see any reason why the good fundamentals will not continue. Do I see an acceleration in H2 versus H1? Based on the uncertainty we have with the variants, it's too early to say.
The fundamentals are there, i.e., under-penetrated market, very good commercial dynamism, innovation that is spot on. The combination of that are the fundamentals and the good engines that will continue in H2. You talk about the moving parts, for example, social programs that we developed in COVID time. We gave you the example of Romania and the example of Taiwan. The truth is, on those ones, we don't know. If the COVID becomes strong due to the variants, it could have an impact on benefits. The good news is we demonstrated that we are able to leverage very quickly our digital platform. Some of the programs will stop. Some new programs will appear. We don't know.
The only thing we know is in every country, because we are made of local companies, in every local country, we will do everything we can to leverage the opportunities that will appear based on the situation we are in. For example, one month ago, I was completely unable to talk to you about Taiwan because Taiwan was not reconfined. Taiwan was one of the top countries where the COVID was so weak, and so many things have changed. The agility of Edenred helped because we are able to leverage the platforms that we have been developing for the last years. Yes, there are some moving parts. It's part of the guidance between EUR 620 and EUR 670. What we lose on one hand, we are able to compensate on the other hand. Your third question was about our ambition as to the benefits platform.
Yes, we love all the markets we are in, and we love the benefits market. We are the number one in the world, and all the investments and efforts we have been doing in the past are paying off. They are paying off because when you look at our resilience versus the major players around the world, you will see that in bad times, such as in 2020, we have been much more resilient than our competitors. When the time of the rebound comes, what you see in H1 2021 is we've rebound, in fact, faster and higher than the competitors. It's due to all the investments and our commercial dynamism in every country. Do we want to continue to invest? The answer is yes. Do we want to do some M&A to consolidate when it's faster, when it's cheaper via consolidation and via acquisition?
The answer is yes. Are we strong enough in terms of balance sheets to make some acquisition? The answer is yes. We are stronger today than we were, in fact, at the presentation of our results in March 2021. Yes, in benefits, we will continue to invest, whether via organic growth or via some acquisition. Yes, we will continue to monitor closely our CapEx, but we are here to prepare for the future because we are absolutely convinced that our growth potential is intact. Let me remind everybody that, in fact, in 2020, we took the courageous decision to continue to invest, and our level of CapEx has increased by 6%.
In 2020, even in dark times, we were convinced by the future of growth of Edenred, and by having continued investing, probably now we get the benefits of this sustained investment by rebounding faster and higher than our competitors. One of your sub-questions, and then I will stop is as to corporate payments. Yes, we believe in the market potential of corporate payment in the U.S. We believe more now than before the crisis, because the crisis revealed in the U.S. the absolute need to move from cash and check to digital payments. We built and we increased infrastructure in 2020. We have more partners of distribution and integration, and we see, in fact, the level of sales that are close to the level we had in 2019, even if, unfortunately, the media market and the travel market is not yet at the level of 2019.
The recovery of the American economy is very dynamic, more dynamic in B2C than in B2B. And in B2B, unfortunately, not as dynamic as we would like it to be in media and hospitality. But thanks to the new sales, we are able to compensate the trends we see in hospitality and media. To make a long story short, at CSI, we will see some strong double-digit growth in 2021.
Very comprehensive. Thank you very much.
Thank you, bro.
Thank you, sir. Next question is from Mr. Rahul Chopra from HSBC. Sir, please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Yes, couple of questions from my side. In terms of Latin America and France, can you give a sense that where are we related to 29 within the employment benefit category, please? That's the first question. Secondly, in terms of digital penetration versus your SMEs versus large customer, given the work from home and digital option, could you just give a sense of how that penetration has moved for SMEs customers in general? Thank you so much.
Hello, Rahul. Thank you for your questions. The connection for your first question was not excellent. You talked about Latin America and France in benefits. There was a cut. Would you be kind enough to repeat your question?
Yes, please. Basically, yeah, that's what I was saying. Related to 2019 levels, where are we between the benefits in France and Latin America? I think you said about the wider geography, but within the specific segments, if you can give, please.
First of all, what we said is, in Latin America, when you look at the COVID-19 situation in the two major countries that are, in fact, the two engines in Latin America, which are Brazil and Mexico, what you can see is from one week to another, you can move from an orange confinement to a green free zone and then back to a red confinement. Things are changing on a weekly basis. First thing. The second thing is this week and last week, the situation was getting better in Brazil, but the situation was getting worse in Mexico. We are in a situation of acceleration and deceleration depending on the level of confinement and de-confinement. It is done in a normative band that has been poor in Latin America.
As you know, Brazil is one of the worst performing country in terms of level of vaccination and high level of contamination. The economic recovery will happen in Brazil, but we are not there yet where we would like to be. The level of unemployment is still very high. The GDP growth will go better if I listen to the macroeconomists, but will not be a good year in 2021. To make a long story short, when you look at the performance of benefits in 2021 versus 2020, the double-digit growth numbers are very encouraging. If you compare them to 2019, the growth we have demonstrates that we are not yet at our growth potential. The growth should be higher, and Latin America is the main contributor to that. For us, it's a reservoir of growth.
We are very committed to go after this reservoir of growth as soon as we face better sanitary conditions. To a lesser extent, the situation in France can be better than where we are today, even if where we are today is very encouraging versus 2020. As previously said, and based on the question of, in fact, of Simon, we know that we have some backlog, i.e., business volume that has not been yet transformed into reimbursement volume. We know that the situation is also a reservoir of growth for France. Your second question as to the mix due to the COVID situation. In fact, the COVID situation did not change our willingness to further increase the penetration of our solutions. For a long time, those solutions were only for large companies because they were not easy to handle, because they were not digital solutions.
Now that we fully digitize all our programs, it's much more convenient from a client perspective and from a user perspective. We know that the markets are vastly under-penetrated, and we know also that part of the under-penetration is coming from the SMEs. That's why it was a reservoir of growth for us before the crisis. We have been able to grow the number of contracts during the crisis, but the growth was not as good as it was before the crisis. That's why we are very happy to be back to the new client level signature we had back to 2019. We also go after large clients because there are new working trends, so Beyond Fuel. If you think about the fleet management solutions, it's for fleet managers who have hundreds of vehicles to manage.
When we develop maintenance, obviously it is for fleet that have a significant size. When we talk about the virtual canteen, the move from a physical canteen to a digital canteen, when we partner with Gecina, so far is mainly for large clients. To make a long story short, thanks to the digitalization and the agility of Edenred and the decentralization of Edenred and the willingness to segment, we are able to go after small, medium, and large clients, and we are able to customize our offers and our go-to market.
That's all. Thank you so much. Thanks.
Thank you, sir. Next question is from Mr. Geoffrey d'Halluin from Bank of America. Sir, go ahead.
Yes, good morning, everyone. Three questions from my side, please. The first one is just related to the EBITDA targets for the full year. If we take the low point of the guidance, which is the EUR 620 million, it implies about flattish EBITDA growth in the first half of the year, given it was up about 20%+ in the first half on the like-for-like basis. Just wanted to know if we need to have in mind any investment or any headwinds you need to add in the second half or any headwinds which could explain this kind of slowdown compared to the first half, or this is very much driven by the uncertainties regarding the health crisis. The second question is, would you mind to quickly get back to inflation? You said it's going to be a tailwind.
Could you just remind us what's your sensitivity to the fuel price, please? Do you see any opportunities to increase the face value of the tickets if inflation is going up? Thirdly, just follow up on the backlog. I guess at the end of December last year, you said it's about EUR 300 million-EUR 400 million. Is it the kind of numbers we need to have in mind for this year, given you said Q1 backlog has been used in Q2? Thank you.
Thank you, Geoffrey, for your question. I'll answer the first one, and I will let Julien answer the second and the third one. Your first question as to the EBITDA target, EUR 620. Any other headwinds than the COVID variant impact? The answer is no. The EUR 620 is the rock bottom, and it's a minimum. The major driver that lead us to this minimum is a major COVID variant crisis. Don't expect anything else to justify that level.
Regarding the two last question, first about inflation and starting with the sensitivity to fuel price. Well, first, you know that 9% of our revenue are sensitive to fuel price. We have reduced our exposition to a fuel price by 20% between 2019 and 2020. This is the first thing.
Secondly, you know that what is important for us is the retail fuel price, meaning the price that is paid at pump by our users. The variation of the retail fuel price are not the same as the one that we can see on the oil market. Yes, fuel price has been a tailwind during the first part of the year, due to the comparison basis of 2020. If we look at the inflation, I think that we have two things to keep in mind. The first one is the impact of the inflation on the interest rates, because with inflation, we can expect to see the interest rates going up.
The inflation will have an impact on our activity and our financial results, but it's not 100% immediate because, as you've seen during the last months, the level of long-term interest rates went up, then they went down, and we have most of our cash, which is invested in short-term interest, meaning that the level of the short-term interest rates will change once the long-term interest rates will go up. It will take time to see the impact on our financial revenue. You mentioned the face value. Yes, with inflation, we can see two things on the face value. The first one is that some of our clients are not at 100% of the face value they can offer to their employees. With inflation, we can see some increase in face value coming from the employers to please their employee.
The second thing is that some governments can decide to increase the level of tax break for face value. One more time, it will take time before we see this kind of decision. Obviously with inflation, it can happen. Your last question about backlog. Yes, you're right. We had between EUR 300 million and EUR 400 million that have been accumulated at the end of last year. As we said when we published the Q1 results, this amount has increased during the first quarter by about EUR 100 million. As I said, around what has been accumulated in Q1 has been spent in Q2. We still have, let's say, EUR 300 million in our balance sheet that will be spent in the coming months. As I already said, it is included in our guidance.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Geoffrey.
Thank you, sir. Next question is from Mr. Andre Julia from Deutsche Bank. Sir, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Three, if I may. First one is about Latin America, where I think that you're still suffering in this region. I just wanted to ask you, what are the kind of leverage you are expecting to have in the next few months to have an improvement in all your different segments, and especially employee benefits? Second one is, could you remind us the balance you could have between benefits and social programs? Because we see that in H1, Complementary Solutions have been driving growth, where you are still relatively low in gross in employee benefits. Do you really expect to have a balance between these two segments? The last question was about external growth.
Could you remind us what is your firepower for external growth, and do you still focus on corporate payments, or are you considering any opportunity that could come? Especially in America, where probably valuation could be more attractive at the moment. Thanks.
Thank you, Andre. Latin America, first of all, make no mistake, all of us, we have been growing at 17% in H1 2020. Not bad. What we are saying is versus 2019, we are growing at +6%. We are talking of +6% versus 2019 on a continent that is still very badly hurt by the COVID. I just want to make sure that you don't leave the meeting with some negativity. Here, we are talking of relative performance. I should say it differently. It has been a blast in Europe with 13% growth versus 2020 and 11% growth in 2019, which is the proof of our double-digit growth potential is intact in Europe, and we are able to harness it. At the same time, in Latin America, that is much more badly hit, in H1 2021, we are able to grow at 6%.
Because we believe and we demonstrate that our growth potential is intact, we say that Latin America is a reservoir of growth, especially in benefits. What can we leverage in the next few months? First of all, we have a very good dynamic in terms of Fleet and Mobility and on the Beyond Fuel program that is based on service contracts, and so it doesn't stop from day one. The accumulation of the commercial success will continue to benefit us the second part of the year and after that, in fact, because we continue to innovate. That's why we shared with you the dual tag in Mexico or, in fact, the GoHub solution in Brazil. We can count on that. The second thing is, as I said, in Brazil, in terms of sanitary condition, it seems that things are getting better.
My only comment is there is more positive to come in Latin America. The last thing is, as I shared with you, is the Itaú partnership is improving month after month. All those engines will continue to deliver a good level of growth. Once again, 17% in H1 2020, well, versus H1 2020. Your second question was the balance between benefits and social programs. Once again, make no mistake. Complementary Solutions represent 13% of our total revenue. First thing. The second thing is in complementary solutions, we have CSI, so Corporate Payment Services. CSI will drive good growth in H2, because once again, we have a very good solution, and we are waiting a little bit for the media and hospitality to go back to the level of 2019.
Up to now, we have been able to compensate with new programs. We have incentive and rewards. That will continue. Why? Because in a more remote working world, more and more employees are using incentive and reward program to increase the loyalty of their employees. We have a trend based on the remote working that will continue and on which we are well-positioned to serve well. One thing is the public social programs. What I've been saying is it's cherry on the cake in the sense that we will go after every new opportunity, and when it stops, it stops. For example, in the U.K., you remember that in Q1, we had the Department for Education program. As you know, the program has stopped in Q2.
If you look at the performance of Q2 for the group versus, in fact, 2020, but also versus 2019, the performance is at 10% growth. To make a long story short, yes, the fact that Edenred is in 46 different countries, the fact that we are managing 250 different programs, and the fact that we have technological assets that we can leverage to face any new situation and try to get a benefit from that. Yes, I'm absolutely convinced that due to this diversity and agility, we are able to compensate, and we do it on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, semestrially, yearly basis, thanks to the diversity of our programs. Your third question was about external growth, maybe Julien has to the dry powder.
Yes. Dry powder, as Bertrand mentioned during the presentation, is about EUR 1.5 billion, and it has improved since the beginning of this year thanks to our strong cash generation. In terms of M&A, we stay focused on that, and we won't miss any opportunity. When we look at our strategy with our different business lines, we are still there to consolidate the market on the employee benefits. We are ready to build up new services on our fleet and mobility platform, as we did during the last two or three years. We have the Corporate Payment in the U.S., where we know that the market will consolidate. We have a strong asset with CSI. The level of activity is back to 2019, and we know that we will have some opportunity to consolidate, whether a client portfolio or some small companies doing this kind of business.
We are still focused on M&A, and we will take any opportunity, keeping our stringent financial discipline.
Okay. Thank you, Andre.
Thank you, sir. Last question is from Mr. Mourad Lahmidi from Exane. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning and thanks for taking my question. I have two. The first one is on the fleet and mobility business. The +40% like-for-like growth in Q2, how much came from the increase in fuel prices? Then the second question is about take-up rate, especially in Latin America, how take-up rate are trending in the two main countries, Brazil and Mexico. Thank you.
Okay. I will answer your second question, and maybe I'll leave the first one to Julien. Globally, if you look at the take-up rate, and we are not great fan of communicating on that during the semester, because due to the dynamic we have on our installed base, the true situation of the take-up rate is much more precise at the end of the year. Having said that, globally, our take-up rate are doing well on average around the world. Having said that, if you look at Latin America, the take-up rate for now has been a little bit under pressure on benefits. That's why we said it's a reservoir of growth. Why? Because the economic situation is not the best. We have some kind of pressure on the take-up rate. You remember, Mourad, we have been through this cycle many times.
I prove that the Latin American markets are very reactive markets in the sense that a huge pressure on the commercial conditions when times are tough. On that, our decision has always been the same. We want to keep our clients. They are our assets, and we want to keep them and to please them and to give them reasons to pay more in the future based on additional services and the innovation we bring to the table. Due to the macroeconomic concerns in Brazil, we have some pressure on the take-up rate. We have been through that in the past, and we are very confident that as soon as the macroeconomic condition will get better, coupled with the innovation that we bring to the market on employee benefits, we see an improvement in the near future.
Globally, which is another beauty of Edenred, thanks to the 45 different countries and thanks to the 250 different programs, and thanks to our sales dynamism and innovation level, globally for the group, when you look at the take-up rate, things are well oriented.
For just the sensitivity to the fuel price. Yes. We have sensitivity to fuel price. As I said previously, 9% of Edenred revenue is sensitive to fuel price in 2021. We know that the fuel price has increased in 2021 compared to 2020. If we look at what it represents at group level, it's around 1% of our growth in H1. Out of 15% of growth, it's 3% in Q2 to be compared to a 31% of growth. It's about 25% of the growth of fleet and mobility. 25% of 31% of growth.
Great. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you. Maybe it's time for me to conclude. Thanks for your attention to Edenred. We have been pleased to deliver close to 10% like-for-like operating revenue growth versus 2019 in H1 2020. We have been pleased to post double-digit growth across all regions and all business lines. We have been pleased to demonstrate that, in fact, the growth potential of Edenred is intact. Thanks to a relevant offer and a good sales dynamic, we have been pleased to demonstrate that we are able to harness that potential. Even if there are some uncertainties on the propagation and severity of the variant, we are pleased to improve by 50% our minimum like-for-like growth for 2021 from 6% to 9%, with a full year 2021 EBITDA guidance of between EUR 620 million and EUR 670 million.
Thanks a lot for your attention. Hope to see you soon and talk to you soon. Bye-bye.