Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the emeis's conference call regarding its full year 2025 results. It will be structured in two parts. First, a presentation by emeis's management team represented by Mr. Laurent Guillot, Group CEO, and Mr. Jean-Marc Boursier, Group CFO. Afterwards, there will be a Q&A session during which you can ask oral or written questions. I will now hand over to the management team. Gentlemen, please go ahead.
Well, thank you. Good morning to everyone, and thank you once again for attending this webcast for full year earnings 2025. Before answering to your question with our Deputy CEO and CFO, Jean-Marc Boursier, we'll share with you a few thoughts regarding this year, 2025 and 2026. I will begin my presentation by reviewing some of the group's key characteristics, which many of you already are familiar with. First, I would like to highlight the geographic diversification of our operations, which includes France, Northern Europe, Germany and Netherlands, Central Europe, Austria, Switzerland, and Southern Europe, Spain and Italy. Next, our business diversification, with 2/3 of our revenues generated by nursing homes and the remainder by post-acute care clinics and psychiatric clinics. Finally, our shareholder structure, which is built for the long term around solid and reputable anchor shareholders.
It is also important to know that our group also distinguishes itself through its significant real estate portfolio, which is worth EUR 5.6 billion by the end of 2025. 44% of the beds we operate are owned by the group, a figure that, to my knowledge, is unmatched among groups of comparable size. Our portfolio is also geographically of real estate is well distributed in Europe. As we have previously reported in mid-February, 2025 was a particularly strong year. In 2025, the company delivered strong performance with revenue growth by over 6% on a like-for-like basis, and occupancy improving by nearly two points. Profitability also increased significantly, with EBITDA margin up by 19.2%, reflecting sustainable positive momentum. Cash flow generation improved sharply, with net operating cash flow rising from EUR 15 million in 2024 to EUR 290 million, highlighting a strong operational recovery.
Free cash flow reached EUR 347 million, driven in part by substantial asset disposals. Since mid-2022, total disposals have reached now EUR 2.35 million, exceeding by far initial targets. However, the one that are following us the most closely, this figure is slightly lower than previously reported due to the decision not to proceed with the sale of Swiss nursing homes operations following an internal strategic reassessment. The company also strengthened its financial position by refinancing its entire bank debt by EUR 3.15 billion in new financing, improving visibility and stability. Consequently, the leverage ratio dropped significantly to below 10x, compared to 19.5x the previous year. Looking ahead, the company is confident about its growth prospect starting in 2026, expecting average annual growth of at least 15% between 2024 and 2026, including over 10% growth in 2026.
Medium-term guidance for 2024-2028 is reaffirmed. Our operational performance is driven by improvement in our CSR KPI. In 2025, we continued to enhance all our quality and satisfaction metrics, reaching levels that now place us among the industry leaders. Regarding human resources metrics, please note that employee turnover, while still high, has once again declined significantly this year. We warmly welcome this, since this is a key support for quality in our facility and thus occupancy. Also, a new indicator has been launched this year, the engagement rate of our employees, starting at a relatively high level of 62%, well over global market average. On the climate front, energy consumption has also fallen by nearly 9% year- over- year, which is also a positive for our energy bill. In 2025, indicators relating to the satisfaction of our patients, residents, and their relatives have improved significantly once again.
The resident satisfaction measured in 2025 in the French facilities now stands at 93.4%, up 50 basis points compared to 2024, and more than three points above the comparable level in 2022. Same message when considering the Net Promoter Score, which also measures the satisfaction and loyalty of residents, patients, and their beloved ones. It has also risen sharply, now reaching the score of 41 in 2025, up four points from 2024 and 23 points from 2022. This significant improvement illustrates the successful measures taken in recent years to restore the confidence in the group. As you already know, in France, our facilities are rated by the Haute Autorité de Santé, the French National Authority for Health. In the same way as all other facilities in the sector. These ratings are divided into four groups based on quality assessments. 99% of emeis facilities are on the top two categories.
It is significantly higher than the sector average and even higher than the private sector as a whole. It is a mark of distinction and illustrates emeis leadership in this area. We are also pleased to see that the improvement in all these metrics is reflected positively through extra-financial ratings. Emeis is now ranked above the industry average on nearly all metrics, and is even among the best in class according to S&P and Sustainalytics ratings. There is still more to come. In our view, the steady progress you see in these charts is not over and should continue in the years ahead. The steady improvement in our extra-financial performance in terms of quality of care, patient satisfaction, resident satisfaction, and human resources continues to translate into an annual increase of our occupancy rate.
In 2025, this rate rose by nearly two points across all nursing homes, and since 2021, we have seen an improvement of nearly 7.6 points. It's not over. Mechanically, this growth translates into the revenues that is largely translated into operating margins. Thanks to the work done on quality and capturing a favorable price effect on accommodation and on segmenting our offering, we have been able to boost our revenue growth. By controlling operating expenses, adapting methods and tools, and focusing management efforts on turning around under-performing facilities, we continue to optimize our operating performance. Our revenue growth in 2026 was 6.1% like-for-like on nearly 15% over two years, and at the same time, our EBITDA margin increased far quicker by 58% like-for-like in one year and even 90% in two years. You can trust our midterm targets. It's not over yet.
There is much more to come ahead, as I already said. As we already told you mid-February, we have exceeded our initial guidance for 2025 with like-for-like EBITDA growth of 19%. We are EUR 10 million-EUR 30 million above our initial target. As already said, it's not over. We are happy to share with you the fact that these encouraging achievements lead our figures to grow comfortably in line with our ambition, confirming that we are now in the right path. It's now fair to say that this set of figures is a good milestone on the road to an embedded recovery that confirms our confidence for the years ahead. We can be confident this positive momentum will continue in 2026, with an EBITDA expected to grow at least by a minimum of 10% at constant perimeter.
This means that from the end of 2024 to the end of 2026, we do expect an average growth rate, so CAGR of more than 15% per year at constant perimeter. Although the global environment seems relatively unpredictable these days, especially regarding inflation pressure that could arise from energy price today, we are relatively confident energy expenses are limited in our P&L and very largely hedged. The performance we do expect for 2026, being in line with the high side of our midterm outlook by 2028. The momentum is thus set to continue ahead. I will conclude my introduction before handing over to Jean-Marc with this list of the major issue and challenges we had to address and we addressed in the last years.
It is clear that we have now made significant and positive progress, and that the main achievements are now complete or on the way to be completed. The disposal plan has been largely exceeded, now reaching EUR 2.35 billion. The structure of our balance sheet has been considerably strengthened this year in 2025 and very beginning of 2026. Our debt ratio has already improved dramatically, but there is still more to come ahead. Occupancy rate have risen sharply already, but they should continue to grow significantly in the coming years, and especially in 2026. We are halfway there in terms of operating margin, which have grown over the last 18 months and will continue to do so ahead. On top of that, our company is also supported by a favorable trends in real estate market valuation.
This year is therefore a stepping stone, and the road again is full of promise, and harnessing further value is yet to come ahead. Our focus will now be on continuing this operational improvement trends further ahead, relying on attractivity, quality, and financial results improvements. Jean-Marc Boursier, our Deputy CEO and CFO of the group, will now outline in details the main elements of our performance for 2025.
Thank you, Laurent. Good morning to all. We are pleased to present our 2025 financial results to you today, the key highlight of which we already shared with you on February 17th. I will just be brief on certain topics we have already discussed earlier this year. In my introduction, I will briefly touch on six points. First, our revenue, which continues to be a positive trajectory driven by both occupancy rates and favorable price effects. At group level, performance is particularly strong in the nursing home segment. Second, operating margin is rising sharply. EBITDA is up 19% on a like-for-like basis, and EBITDA is up 58%. This is a result of our very effective control on operating expenses and external rent, and this is not fading out in H2. Third, net profit group share remained negative at EUR -298 million.
However, it increased by EUR 114 million despite higher non-recurring expenses related to exceptional transaction that we carried out in 2025, such as the refinancing of the group and the setup of Isemia Real Estate Vehicle. Fourth, all cash flow indicators are showing a very strong growth. Net operating cash flow improved significantly from EUR 15 million last year to EUR 190 million this year, and free cash flow increased even more, now reaching EUR 347 million versus EUR -298 million a year ago, which represents an improvement by more than EUR 600 million. Fifth point, net debt is decreasing in 2025 and even considerably so when taking into account the Isemia transaction, which has been finalized on 14th of January. The reduction then reaches EUR 1 billion in one year.
Sixth and final, as a result, the leverage ratio improved significantly, as said by Laurent, now standing at 9.9 x where it was nearly 20 x a year ago, and this improvement will continue in the coming semester. I will be relatively quick on that slide regarding revenue, as we already commented this element earlier this year. Sales posted substantial organic growth at +6.1%, very similar to the one published in H1, driven by a combination of three factors. First, a positive price effect of +3.3 points. Second, occupancy rate effect +1.8%. Finally, the effect of the ramp-up of facility that we've opened in 2024 and 2025, which brings a further 1% growth. This favorable growth trend can mostly be observed on nursing homes, for which the annual growth is +8.1%, while clinics have been more muted, only up 2.5%.
I will show you in a minute that we have very encouraging signs in that segment also. We can see on the next slide that revenue is growing internationally very strongly, particularly in Northern and Southern Europe, less so in France. In Northern Europe, momentum is particularly strong in Germany, with both a favorable price effect and occupancy rate that continue to grow significantly. In Spain and in the Netherlands, recent openings, which are gaining momentum, are accentuating an already favorable revenue trend. The momentum has been supported by the group improvement in occupancy rates. On average, it rose by 1.8 points to 87.6% versus 85.8% at the end of 2024, continuing the gradual recovery in this aggregate that you can see on this slide for the last three years.
As you can see, the recovery was mainly driven by nursing homes, where the average occupancy rate rose by two points to 87.2%, and even +5 points when considering the comparison between 2023 and 2025. Although solid everywhere, the increase in occupancy rate has been particularly important in Northern Europe and in Central Europe. Although we remain still below our medium-term ambition, we are happy to see that this supportive momentum continues, and I can confirm to you today that the year 2026 has started on the same encouraging path. As you can see on the next slide, the performance on our revenue is flowing nicely to operating margin. Staff costs have been reduced. Staff costs on sales have been reduced, reflecting the measures that we progressively implemented during the last 12 months to optimize the allocation of our human resources.
At the same time, we also benefited from the initial effect of our cost rationalization measures launched in H1, which has led to a reduction in the intensity of other costs, mainly procurement as well. I'm very confident that those two cost components, staff and OpEx, can be further improved in the years to come. As a result, these measures are enabling us to maximize the conversion of revenue growth into operating profitability. In H2 only, EBITDA margin reached 15.8% and EBIT margin 7.4%. When we break down the EBITDA growth, we can see that the main contributor of the growth is France and Northern Europe. That is mostly driven by Germany and the Netherlands. Not only do those two regions account for the largest contribution to EBITDA in millions of euros, but they also have the highest growth rate on a like-for-like basis.
As you can see on this slide, EBITDA growth in Northern Europe was nearly 30% versus 2024, and in France, nearly 15% year-over-year. If we look at H2 versus H1, what can we see? Over the six months period, we can see that this momentum shows no sign of slowing down at all, with a six months increase in EBITDA of 19%, again, comparing H2 versus H1. It is worth noting that this momentum even appears to be gaining strength in France, particularly thanks to nursing homes, whose performance has been significantly improved since mid-2024. The positive dynamic and revenue, therefore, largely flowed into margin. In euro terms, the positive upside in sales of EUR 259 million versus last year was largely transferred into EBITDA, EUR +132 million, and then into EBITDA, EUR +135 million, given efficient rental management.
Another evidence that the operating leverage to the upside is strong and should continue to be supportive again ahead. If I go into a little bit more detail for the rest of the P&L, I would like to highlight a few points. First, to remind you that the growth in EBITDA is partly attributable in 2025 to capital gain from the sale of PropCo asset for nearly EUR 64 million in 2025, compared to EUR 28 million in 2025. This is due to the particularly high volume of PropCo disposals that we have finalized this year. However, you can see also that organic EBITDA growth, even after deducting those capital gains, remain at 15%, which also aligns with the pure operational momentum we expect to see in 2026 and beyond.
Thanks to the effective control of rental expenses, EBITDA before IFRS 16 is up EUR 135 million or 58.3% on a like-for-like basis. EBIT is growing strongly by EUR 171 million, now reaching EUR 173 million versus only EUR 2 million last year. This is mainly due to the decline in amortization. Please note also that we have recorded some depreciation, especially in France. This depreciation amounted to EUR 42 million and resulted from a balance sheet cleanup. When breaking down the financial statement to net income, it should be noted that non-recurring expenses rose significantly this year by EUR +86 million. This is a direct consequence of certain exceptional transaction that we finalized in 2025, notably related to the refinancing that we announced on December 18th, and the creation of the Isemia Real Estate Company finalized in January.
New depreciation and non-recurring expenses have limited the improvement in net income group share, which nevertheless rose by a considerable EUR 114 million to EUR -298 million. The net loss per share are therefore being reduced to EUR 1.9 million. Regarding now the cash flow statements, I would like to highlight a few points that contribute to a very strong improvement of all our cash flow aggregates. First, an effective management of maintenance CapEx and IT investment. Please note, however, that these components are expected to go moderately over the next few years to modernize our IT system and to optimize our operational efficiency. Second, an exceptional financial expense of approximately EUR 23 million, corresponding to upfront fees related to the refinancing.
If we exclude these upfront fees, please note that the recurring free cash flow is now turning positive in the second half of the year for EUR 20 million, and this is a very significant milestone, symbolizing the normalization of the group. Third element, development CapEx continued to decline in line with the pipeline progress and given the higher return requirements now needed for new operation launched. Let me be clear, we will continue to be extremely selective in the coming years. Fourth element, the significant contribution from disposal amounting to EUR 602 million in transaction for both OpCo and PropCo that we closed in 2025. As a result, as I said earlier, our free cash flow is now positive and stands at EUR 347 million, representing an improvement of EUR 645 million in one year.
If we include the Isemia transaction that was finalized on January 14th, which brought an additional EUR 703 million of new liquidity, it means that emeis Group was able to reduce its net debt by almost EUR 1 billion in one year. The next slide illustrates the three key drivers behind the improvement in free cash flow. First, the improvement in operating margin, which has already been commented. Second, the sharp acceleration in disposals in 2025 on an unprecedented scale compared to previous years. Please note that EUR 216 million of signed transactions remain to be cashed in today. Finally, sobriety in capital expenditures, particularly for development CapEx, which are now limited to the most promising projects and the shortest payback. Across all cash flow indicators, trends continue to be very favorable.
The next slide illustrates perfectly the continuous improvement in all of our aggregates, which we expect to see continuing in the coming years. All cash flow, as you can see, have now turned positive, and the momentum does not seem to be fading out. As a result of everything we said today with Laurent, emeis financial structure has continued to strengthen significantly this year. Net debt, excluding IFRS 5 and IFRS 16, has decreased by almost EUR 300 million in one year to EUR 4.5 billion. If we consider again the Isemia transaction closed on January 14th, it brings pro forma net debt down by EUR 1 billion since December. Net debt pro forma is thus down to EUR 3.8 billion, a massive decrease booked thanks to the important volume of disposals achieved, but also thanks to operational margin improvement.
As a result of both information that we shared with you today, operational improvement on one hand, and the net debt reduction on the other hand, you can see that the group leverage ratio has significantly been reduced from 23x in H1 2024, to 19.5x at the end of 2024. It now reaches 11.8x and even 9.9x pro forma Isemia. This leverage ratio is already well below the covenant that we have agreed with banks and debt investors for 2026, that is at 12x. An illustration of this embedded improvement is that we forecast with confidence. We anticipate this ratio to fall below 6.5x before the end of 2029. This target being the debt covenant that we have agreed through the refinancing of the group that we've achieved in December. One word about the refinancing.
We have refinanced the whole bank debt of emeis SA, and this has enabled the group to raise EUR 3.15 billion of new debt under favorable condition. I remind you the condition, which is early bird three months + 247 basis points cash or + 363 basis points, including PIK. These new debts, including a new EUR 400 million bond, have fully refinanced the former A, B, C, D financing and have largely enhanced the debt maturity profile of the group, as you can see on this slide. As a consequence, emeis early exited the accelerated safeguard plan on February 20th. We are now comfortable today saying that emeis is now back in a situation that can match our ambition for the future, with our priority now being clearly on pursuing the improvement of our operational performance ahead.
Thank you for your attention, and I will now hand over to Laurent once again to conclude this presentation.
Go ahead. Thank you, Jean-Marc, for this very clear explanation. Before answering the question you may have, I would like to conclude this presentation with the key elements I would like to summarize in six points. First point, the positive trend on top line continues with a strong organic growth of 6.1% and even 8.1% on nursing homes. Improvement on quality and satisfaction metrics largely contributed to this performance. Second, the strong momentum on operating margins up 19% for the EBITDA and 58% for the EBITDA is mostly driven by the outperforming locations of France and Northern Europe. This momentum didn't fade out in H2 and is set to continue ahead in 2026. All cash flow components have largely improved and more is still to come. Third, a EUR 1.5 billion disposal target before end of 2025 is now largely exceeded, with EUR 2.35 billion now achieved or secured.
Now that the disposal plan has been largely exceeded and that the group financial structure has been substantially strengthened, and now emeis's operating performance continue to show a positive trend quarter after quarter. The group intends from now to be particularly selective regarding any further disposal in the coming years. Four, disposals, improvement of operational performance have strengthened our financial structure with a pro forma net debt of around EUR 3.8 billion, decreasing EUR 1 billion and a leverage ratio nearing now 9.9 x versus 15.5 x end of 2024 as Jean-Marc said. While our debt maturing schedule is now largely reinforced. Fifth, real estate valuation may have bottomed out after several years of adjustment, around -25% approximately, raising confidence that the valuation cycle should now be more supportive ahead, along with improvement on operations.
Six and finally, we do confirm our guidance for 2026, for expectations for 2026 to grow at least by 10% at constant parity, which correspond to an average growth rate of 15% for the period 2024-2026. Thank you for your attention, and we are now available with Jean-Marc Boursier to answer the questions you may have.
If you wish to ask a question, please click on the green hand button on the audio player to enter the queue. Once we activate your line, you will see a message to unmute your microphone. Please make sure to do so. You can also submit a written question.
Okay. If there is no question verbally, let's go to the first written question. First one, may we have an update on occupancy rate at the beginning of 2026? The answer is no. We will have the communication in a few weeks from now. I can just give you the overall trend. The trend continues to be the same. Pretty bang in line with what we've experienced in 2025. Continue to be a very good momentum for operation, especially in France and in our nursing homes in France. We have not suffered, and we have taken all the measures in our nursing home. We have not suffered from the flow of that happen at the end of 2025, beginning of 2026. We are pretty much in line with our targets and rates very similar to the trend we experience in 2025.
Can you describe the assets that will be sold at the beginning of 2026, with impact on the balance sheet and on the cash compared to the situation described at the end of 2025? Jean-Marc, you want to comment this one?
Yes. We still have a little bit more than EUR 200 million that will be cashed in in 2026. This mainly relates to PropCo disposal, in Switzerland, in Ireland, in France, value settlement. No transaction in isolation is very significant, but all in all, it amounted to a little bit more than EUR 200 million. Most of that will be cashed in the next six months.
Can we have the number of headcounts at the end of 2025? We take note of that question. It's around 80,000 people. The exact number we will answer to you directly. Can you list and detail the non-recurring items of 2025 and share the elements of the non-recurring elements of 2026? Well, for sure. Jean-Marc will answer in detail to that question. For sure, in 2025, we had some restructuring. We had some costs that were linked to the refinancing that were quite significant also. All that will disappear in 2026. We will come back to a more normal level. A more normal level is probably between around EUR 40 million - EUR 50 million for 2026. For Jean-Marc, for 2025, if you can give more detail.
The non-recurring component in 2025 amounts to EUR 126 million, was abnormally high. Nothing compared to last year, 2024, and nothing to compare to the current year, where you will see these non-recurring elements to be more normalized. It's relatively easy to understand this EUR 126 million. It's almost 50% related to specific projects that we have undertaken in 2025. The two largest that you know about, the refinancing on the group on one hand, and the setup of the real estate vehicle, Isemia, that we have created. 50% of that amount is some depreciation of asset that we have recorded related to some facility that we have decided to close notably in France, Belgium, and Germany, net of the profit on disposal that our sales have generated. 50% project cost, 50% depreciation, but this amount obviously will be much different, much lower in 2026 and going forward.
Another question. Can you give a little bit more details on the growth in Northern Europe? Well, as a matter of fact, we experience growth in all the geographies we are in Northern Europe. The biggest country in Northern Europe is Germany, and we have a very nice recovery, both in terms of nursing homes with a strong improvement of occupancy rate, but also in clinics. In the Netherlands, most of the activities are in nursing homes. We benefited a lot in 2025 from, I would say, a very strong recovery of one of our two business models. The dynamic in this market continued to be quite strong from the occupancy rate point of view, and we were suffering a little bit in 2024. We have a strong recovery in 2025, and we continue to enjoy that in 2026.
The last market in Belgium, where, as you know, we had to restructure a little bit these activities on the top line. We had a top line that was suffering a little bit in the last two-three years. On the opposite is a good recovery on the bottom line, which is not at the level it should be. Thank you for the call. Another question, sorry. What is the reason why you do not sell the OpCo in Switzerland? We are talking there in terms of nursing homes in Switzerland. What is clear is that the situation now is the following. We had launched in 2024 a lot of potential disposals, both in terms of real estate and in terms of OpCo.
To be sure to be able to reach our target of EUR 1.5 billion disposal, we've sold and we've launched several processes at the same time. Now we are in a very different situation where we have structurally and we say definitely reinforced our financial structure, and we can be more selective in the disposals that we are making. We reassessed the strategic rationale of these disposals. You know what? I think that being diversified in terms of countries in a world where we have uncertainty in terms of regulation and budgets and state budgets, I think is a good thing. We've decided not to sell the nursing homes in Switzerland. Another question, do you expect to hedge a larger share of your debt, Jean-Marc?
Yes. Our strategy is clearly to hedge a significant proportion of our debt. Our debt was launched fully at variable interest rate. For your information, we have already hedged EUR 1 billion out of the EUR 3.15 billion that we launch late in 2025. We are in this process of hedging the debt, and we expect to have a higher proportion of the debt that will be hedged going forward, effectively.
Two questions. What is the target EBITDA margins pre-IFRS of 2029, 2030? We have not given any guidance in the past in that respect. At the same time, we have given a guidance in terms of EBITDA growth over the next years for the 2024-2028 period, with a growth rate of 12%-16% on average over this period, which then give you the opportunity, knowing the rents that we have, give you the opportunity to make your own estimate on EBITDA and EBITDA margin. What is the target returns for the development CapEx, Jean-Marc? Do you want to share with me the question?
Yeah, for development CapEx, we are targeting new facilities with a payback which is lower or at least five years after construction. This is our objective, and that enables us to be very selective going forward. We expect to invest in development CapEx between EUR 100 million and EUR 130 million per annum going forward. That's the order of magnitude, and that would mean probably opening something like 1,000-1,500 new beds per annum. We expect going forward the increase in revenue to come by something like 1% from new bed openings. Our objective in terms of payback is at maximum five years after construction.
Okay. What other countries EBITDA has been weak in H2 versus H1, why? Well, we suffered a lot from the situation we have in Ireland, where given the request in terms of further staffing from the authorities has led us to a significant reduction of the EBITDA performance. We are definitely working on this topic with the management to turn around this country. What has to happen for dividends or buyback to begin? We first have to be positive in terms of net profit for sure. This is definitely something that we are contemplating for the next years. We are not yet in the situation for the time being.
By the way, we need to be also given the financial documentation that we have. We need also at the same time to be below 7.5 x EBITDA in terms of net debt to EBITDA ratio to be allowed to pay dividends. Another question on the board change. How did the board choose Olivier Dussopt? Well, first, we have to say that Guillaume Pépy, that is our President today, has decided not to continue and do something else for the future. The board had to find someone. It's also at the same time a new phase for the company. Olivier's experience in local government and knowledge in nursing homes or healthcare system, both at the local level and his experience also in the government is. It will be a big help for us. It's important, and negotiation with the different governments is always important in our activity.
Though Olivier has been chosen by the board unanimously and is proposed to be our President after the next General Assembly. Could you comment on the EUR 42 million impairment you did in full year 2025, Jean-Marc?
Yes. We have decided to be particularly cautious as far as balance sheet management at emeis. We have not recorded impairment. We have recorded depreciation for valued assets, and we will continue to work on balance sheet improvement, and I expect part of this depreciation to be released in the quarters to come. We wanted to be particularly cautious as far as the balance sheet cleanup is concerned.
To what extent are you impacted by the recent increase in financing conditions regarding your financing and the value of our property assets?
Two things. First, it's way too early. We have not had any significant impact at this time. Concerning the financing, as Jean-Marc said, 1/3 of our interest is covered. It's fixed. The rest, well, the reality is that the short-term repo or three months have increased, but not dramatically. This has no material impact for the time being. We need to see how the things will evolve and for sure, as soon as we can, we will continue to hedge this financing cost. Concerning the real estate, it's way too early to have a comment on the valuation.
You remember that compared to the situation we had in 2022, the situation of the valuation is probably at a low point, and looking forward, we expect the real estate market more to be at a trough and at the same time with our profitability improving, to have a progressive revelation of our assets. You want to add something to this, Jean-Marc?
No.
Had there been any increase in lease cost, lease cash payments in H2 2025, Jean-Marc?
Maybe it is worth to reminding you a few things. First of all, we are leasing 56% of our facility, and we are owning 44% of our facility. As Laurent explained in his speech, it is something that is quite unique in the nursing homes and clinic industry. As far as this payment is concerned, we have done, I believe, a good management of external rent because as you have seen in our presentation, external rents have been brought down from EUR 495 million in 2024 to EUR 492 million in 2025. Most of those leases are CPI-based, but we have been able to smartly renegotiate some of them. Lease payment has been kept under extremely good control in 2025.
Recovery in French clinics, what can you say? Well, clearly, we continue to work hard on improving the profitability on the clinics. A lot of the measures are self-help. We do not expect and do not rely on any aid in the French market. We do not rely on anything coming from the government or from the authorities. At the same time, I think we can operationally improve significantly how our clinics are currently working. On that front, there is still a way to go in 2026 and 2027. A good opportunity for us also there. On the market, as you know, it's a very regulated market with a vast majority of our turnover coming from the social security. We continue to expect lower tailwind coming from the financing in France, but we are working around that with our own self-help measures.
Another question, is there a specific ownership rate target for the medium term, please? No. I think we are happy today and in the current environment, to be owner of our assets, of 44% of our beds. I think it's a strong asset that the company has. We had in the past a target, but this target was also linked to the fact that we needed to deleverage the company, reduce the issues concerning the balance sheet, and make disposals. We have done the vast majority of the program and more than what we announced. Now I think we will be very opportunistic, continue to grow and invest, and at the same time divest a little bit, but very selective. We have no specific ownership target. We consider our high ownership target as an asset. Well, yeah. Sorry.
Another question, [Non-English content]. What are emeis ambitions concerning care at home? We have already a care at home activity, not significantly in France, and almost nothing in France, but we are already present in other countries, for example, in Ireland or in the Netherlands. This is a very interesting activity, and we are contemplating the possibility to grow further in care at home activity. While at the same time for sure, the priority operationally for the time being, the priority is to improve dramatically because this is a low-hanging fruits, I would say, to improve our current operations and develop what we are doing in a way to improve dramatically our profitability. Both ways, I would say, this is definitely an opportunity for us that we are developing already in some countries.
In France in particular, as the question is asked in France, we are not very present, and the priority is to focus on turning around our clinics and our nursing homes. Any other question? No, apparently there is no more question. Just to summarize back what we've said already during this call. Strong recovery and stronger in 2025, both in terms of operations and at the same time in terms of strengthening of our balance sheet. Moving forward, we continue to have good trends ahead, both in terms of market with a strong demand, but also in terms of conditions in which we operate. We are very confident concerning our guidance concerning 2026. I think it comes out from what we've said today. The opportunities moving forward in terms of improvement of the profitability and the operation of emeis is very strong.
The future is all ours and there is more to come in terms of improvement, EBITDA improvement, and the solidity of the company. Thank you for listening to us, and have a good day.