Okay. Good morning, everybody. Let's begin our presentation starting with our new institutional film. This is the group's new institutional film.
Let's let it roll.
Imagine a journey across our business segments, across the planet, a desire to innovate, no limits, no boundaries. Imagine a group spanning 80 countries. Its people united around shared values. These are the talents building the world of today that is ready for the challenges of tomorrow. Right now I'm working on the Espoo railway project, which we are building 4.5 kilometers of new railroad and also five new bridges, and we are repairing four old bridges.
What I find gratifying in my work is that I can see the quality which we are producing here. It's a really great feeling to see that I have an impact on this environment and society. My name is Artis Dervi, site manager for Colas.
I think sustainability is a choice that we can make every day. And what really gives me a sense of purpose is the possibility that I'm part of that change. For the right hospital redevelopment project, we have been able to deploy our own decarbonization levers, including green electricity, low carbon concrete, high recycled content steel, and many more. All of these solutions helped us move away from our dependence on the traditional grid and reduce our carbon emission by switching to greener and more responsible choices. Tansen Atoy, senior sustainability coordinator, AW Edwards, Australia. Okay.
Line Group, which is an Equinox brand in North America, has a rich history in the healthcare space. We've been in the business for over twenty years in designing, building, and maintaining hospitals across Canada. A recent project that we just completed is the Patient Support tower at SickKids Hospital in Toronto. We're looking at solutions that improve the lives of patients and clinicians within the healthcare space. An example of this is being able to track the journey of a a patient as they enter into the facility all the way to when they leave and taking that data to make sure that we're driving better outcomes.
Daryl De Silva, national director of technology solutions at Pine you Okay. You to
To keep going, to keep dreaming up big ideas together, to make sure that the future remains in our hands, to ensure that caring for others is what drives tomorrow's world, to build, to innovate, to make progress become reality.
There you are. That's our new institutional video showing you a number of the achievements that we did in 2024 and highlighting the value of our employees. So let's move on to the heart of our presentation with the results for 2024. I'll be doing this with Pascal Granger and then with Edouard, Pascal and all the other heads of the business segments. We will happily take your questions.
Let's begin with the highlights and, of course, the key figures for 2024. This year we posted very robust results. We've achieved the targets, the guidance that we gave you last year. Sales are up slightly year on year as expected. Our Copa grew slightly higher than expected.
Two other areas we're happy about. First of all, the level of free cash flow before working capital requirements, which rose 8% year on year. We're also very satisfied about the level of net debt at year end 2024. Despite the fact that in 2024, we purchased acquisitions for over billion, despite that, we have improved our net debt. We're especially happy about the performance of Equans, while Etienne is picking up his pen.
Equans has shown just how successfully it has executed the Perform strategy plan that Jerome told you about in early twenty twenty three. Equans achieved a margin from activities of 3.5%. Its cash conversion rate, that's COPA to cash flow before working capital requirements, was 98%. And Equans also posted a net cash position of over billion. Another important point in this stable world, our backlog is at a record high giving us very good visibility on our future activity.
This backlog has risen 13% over 2023 to establish itself at billion. Given all that, the Board of Directors at its meeting of yesterday has proposed that the shareholders be asked on the April 29 to increase the dividend to per share. Before that, it was at 1.9 last year, which is a 5.3% increase on the share the dividend we proposed last year, which in itself was a increase on 2023. Key figures on Slide five now. Group sales reached billion.
That is growth of approximately 1% over the year. The group's current operating profit from activities reached billion. That is a 5% increase year on year. Net profitable attributable to the group amounted to billion, up slightly over the period. Now Pascal Granger will give you a detailed analysis when he talks about our income statement.
But finally on this slide, group net debt was billion at year end 2024, down from billion the year before. That's a good performance, especially when we bear in mind the amount invested in acquisitions in 2024, which was slightly above billion with the acquisition of La Poste Telecom for almost billion and the Johnson Production Group purchased by TF1 for million. That's a very theoretical position. But had we not made those acquisitions, our debt would have improved by billion. However, we made those acquisitions and we only improved our net debt by billion, which is still a very good performance in itself.
Moving on to Page seven, information on our greenhouse gas emissions in 2024. We totaled 21,000,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024 for a constant scope of consolidation between 2023 and 2024, this slide shows how we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions over the year. It also shows just how much we are on the energy mix in countries, more and more carbon content in certain countries. These figures can vary. The energy mix not being the center of many different countries.
And the first slide, we mentioned that the AI, that's a science based target initiative, has endorsed all six business groups in terms of our decarbonization rights. This was initially approved back in 2022. Bouygues Immuli and Tiafon Telecom approved in 2023 and Equan's had its targets endorsed in 2024. Now this decarbonation trajectory is consistent with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.6% Celsius. Colas, which was the first to have its decarbonization targets endorsed in 2024, has approved its new targets in 2024.
We also have external ratings on our CSO policy. You'll see that we are rated our rating is stable with MSCI and the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP. Our ratings are actually up according to Moody's Analytics, but also according to Sustain Analytics Sustainalytics, I should say. Let's now move on to the review of operations, beginning with Construction. As I said earlier by way of introduction, our backlog in Construction is at a record high, a record level of billion, which gives us visibility for the future of our business.
On this slide in Australia, it's the Torrance to Darlington route. This is a contract that was awarded in 2024 by works. We will carry out a total over €2,000,000,000. They carried out in what we call an alliance mode with a lot more cooperation between the client and the builder, which I think reassures both sides. For reconstruction, the two three way tunnels with an open, an open air motorway section of 10.5 kilometers.
This is aimed at optimizing or to streamline freight transport routes, improving access to Adelaide's central business district. This will be between 2025 and 02/1931. And at the peak, there will be up to 5,500 people working on the site. Let's now take a closer look at the backlog in construction. Beginning with Colas, the backlog is up million over the year, up to billion despite the change in scope of consolidation being able to dispose of our business in Q3 twenty twenty four in Italy.
We sold off Colas Rail in Italy, which actually reduced our backlog by million. Over the year, the roads backlog was up 2%, France up 8%, international operations down fractionally by 1% mainly due to North America. Now the rail backlog is overall up 14% year on year. The order intake in 2024 was billion. That is up in roads, both in France and internationally.
And in rail, this depends on large contracts, which are not at all linear. It depends on major projects. We, in 2024, signed fewer than 2023. Remember, these are projects that span several years. However, I might mention two large contracts we've been awarded, one for the renovation of Cairo Metro Line 1 in Egypt for million and the follow-up of the HS2 catenaries project in The UK.
Colas is now putting in the Catenaries on the HS2, that's the high speed train line. Million for that separate project. Again, on the backlog in construction, moving on to Bouygues Construction, which was up by 3,200,000.0 sorry, €3,200,000,000 year on year. This has been driven by all three sections. Civil Works, up 42%, thanks largely to the project I mentioned earlier.
International Building, so its backlog rose by 6%. Building in France also rose 3% year on year. If you look at the situation at the December '24, at year end '24, the backlog was billion, which is million over the same level at the end of twenty twenty three, which is augurs well for 2025. Reconstruction took in an order orders for €13,300,000,000 sustained by contracts that we call normal course of business, that is contracts of less than million. Total order intake, a very good balance between normal course of business and major projects, 4951% respectively.
This is both in France and outside of France. In Q4, to mention about a few examples, pre construction was awarded a contract in Australia to build the northern tunnel of the Esaero Melbourne line, million for that contract. In Switzerland, to build a campus in Bern, a contract for million. This brings me to Brig Immobilier. Throughout the year, Brig Immobilier, difficult year long.
It's virtually at a standstill in commercial buildings. The downturn in interest rates since 2024
I'm million.
Sales in the construction business reached billion, up 1% driven largely by preconstruction. Colas's sales down dropped very fractionally to 15,900,000.0, almost stable. It would be stable at a constant change of consolidation. Roads are fractionally down. The growth in France was offset by a downturn in international activities.
Colas Rail was up 6% year on year, which is a good reflection of all these alternative infrastructure projects. Reconstructions sales fee was up 6% to billion driven by the strong 16% growth of our international building, but also by growth in Civil Works and a 2% increase
in
building in France By the sales of Brig Immobiti given the very weak level of bookings is down 17% to billion with the sharper decline in Residential Property down 14% year on year and Commercial Property sales close to zero for the period. So what kind of current operating profit from activities is Acuvius? Our copper in Construction was million, down fractionally year on year. This slight decline was due to big immobility because the other two businesses saw their Copa rise. Colas had a COPA of million, up million over the year.
Its margin from activities reached 3.5%. That's up 10 basis points on the year. Remember, in 2023 in Copa or under Copa, we had disposal of land that improved Copa in 2023. Reconstructions Copa is up to €326,000,000 up 45,000,000. Its margin for activities rose 30 basis points to 3.2% over the year.
This is a good illustration of the strategic plan called Green Light. And finally, Bouygues Immobilier has negative COPA. It's a negative million. In 2024, Bouygues Immobilier tightened its structure to adjust it to the size of its shrinking market. It also granted discounts to its customers and booked provisions on certain transactions for the purposes of precaution.
It is now ready to align with any market recovery that will happen. Moving on to Equan. For two years now, Equan has been rolling out its strategic plan called Perform. We presented this at a Capital Markets Day in February of last year, February of '20 '20 '3. This plan has been rolled out very satisfactorily.
Equan's figures are faster and higher than we expected in terms of group sales. Growth is illustrated by sustained demand linked to the energy, industrial and digital transitions. You're really at the very heart of Equan's business. The margin from activities rose 1.2 percentage points to a margin of 3.5% in 2024. This is consistent with our initial expectation but also shows that the Perform plan under Jerome's teams is being rolled out successfully.
We had considered reviewing our pricing. We've been working on pricing, procurement, the debugging of large contracts that were generating losses. We also worked on turning around profit centers that were producing losses and productivity using different working methods. Now over this same period, the net cash generated improved substantially to reach billion at year end 'twenty four. On the right hand slide, on the right hand of the slide, you see the size of this net cash surplus at the end of 'twenty two.
So it has risen since by over billion from million to billion. In the meantime, Equans still paid out dividends for €400,000,000 to its shareholder over two years. So the reality of that rise is actually in excess of 1,300,000,000.0. It's higher again. In this environment, Acorns has remained selective.
So it's not so much the target, it's so much sales growth, it's our margin. Our backlog is up 3% year on year to billion. The margin on orders taken continues to improve. And Equan's sales figure is at billion in 2024, up 2% on the previous year. This is better than we expected given the fact that we'd be more selective about the contracts we take on.
We also sold off a number of activities in the meantime, which will make mechanically generate less sales. But despite that, the good dynamics of sales have produced their results. Roca at million, that's a 3.5% Roca margin, up 60 basis points. Now the conversion of Copa to cash flow before working capital requirements was 98% in 2024. That's a very satisfactory level.
In the upper part of the bracket that we announced, we told you that we were targeting between 80100% conversion rate. Pascal will elaborate on a number of the indicators that we publish just to put into perspective the way we calculate some of these indicators. Anything that isn't completely normalized makes it more difficult to compare. So Pascal will tell you more about that. Equan's outlook for 2025 with Equan's will continue to roll out its strategic plan called Perform, the goal being to continue with the organic growth of its sales to aim at improving its operating margin to close to 4% and to convert between 80100% of its COPA to cash flow before working capital requirements.
As a reminder, our goal is to gradually catch up with the organic growth of sector peers and to achieve by 2027 a margin from activities of 5%. Again, the definition Pascal will tell you more about a little bit later on.
And Bouygues Telecom, it met its targets in 2024. You have the numbers on the slide. The sales attributed to customers was up 5%. EBITDA reached billion and gross capital expenditure, not including frequencies, was billion. A few words about fixed lines, and that is, of course, one of the drivers of growth at Bouygues Telecom.
So a few words about the performance in 2024. Regarding the quality as perceived by an independent body, Bouygues Telecom was number one on Wi Fi, and of course, this is critical at homes for the fourth year running according to NPerf. We became number one for the second year running for fixed lines according to Nperf, and that's about the way the set top boxes are designed. And then Bouygues Telecom made two big announcements at end twenty twenty four. Two defining offers, one is called BIG, B.
I. G, which is for families. You have a discount based on the number of mobile phones mobile devices in the home. And then in new segment, in fixed sites, it's called BNU Pure Fiber for autonomous digital customers do not use the phone or TV, simply want to have a high speed Internet. And also Bouygues Telecom announced at the beginning of the year its new box.
It's the first Wi Fi seven certified box as defined by the Wi Fi Alliance. And of course, that growth goes to strengthen our perception. It's a growth driver for Bouygues Telecom. And if you move on to the next slide, if you look at the growth momentum of Bouygues Telecom, it was a strong performance both in terms of volume and value. Bouygues Telecom gained 615,000 new FTTH customers in 2024, of which 207,000 in Q4.
Customers with an FTTH offer number 2,000,000, they account for 81% of the total base. They used to be only 73% just a year ago. And the total number of customers you have 5,200,000 fixed customers, up 263,000 over 2024 and including 111,000 new customers in Q4. That was the highest growth over a single quarter ever recorded since 2011 goes to illustrate the success of the new BNU PureFibre offer. ABPU, fixed ABPU is steadily growing at it stands at up over one year.
And we are rolling out the fiber over the country. And now we have as many as 38,000,000 marketed premises for FTTH. If you look at mobile performance, even though the market was less dynamic in terms of actual growth, but Convergent is the great strategy of the new business strategy along with the loyalty building. Not including machine to machine, we have an additional 330,000 new customers, not including La Post Telecom, of which 93,000 new customers came in Q4. Still talking about mobile, with the customers acquired in Q4, we have 2,800,000 new customers on Bouygues Telecom's mobile base.
Mobile EVPU, not including La Post Telecom, is down to This is a very competitive market where with low acquisition prices. And if you look at La Post Telecom's own ABPU, it stands at If you look at the key figures for Bouygues Telecom, the sales built to customers in 2024 is up 5% over the year. This performance is driven by the excellent growth of fixed business, up 1% of sales year on year. This has been offset by lower other sales other sales includes handsets, accessories and build to suit. EBITDA after leases stood at million.
It stood at billion, up million, and that includes effects of cost control. We have EBITDA margin standing at 32.7%, and that includes a slight dilutive impact because of the acquisition of La Poste de Lecombe. If you look at Copa over the year, it stood at million. Now of course, you have a rise in EBITDA, but an increase in depreciation and amortization related to capital expenditure over the past few years. To zoom in on La Post Telecom because that's been completed because we the closing was completed at the end of twenty twenty four, but a few reminders of the why we acquired La Post Telecom.
First, it enables Bouygues Telecom to strengthen its position in the mobile business. We have 2,400,000 new customers because coming straight from the La Post Mobile. That company has as many as four sixty employees that are there to train post office employees to sell mobile services. And of course, it has good proximity to the customers, a great network of points of sales, post offices, namely. So this is an area that we were not present in.
Plus presence throughout the country, we have 7,000 post offices, and we can increase EBITDA after this in an area with basically fixed costs. So we can take out all the 2,400,000 customers that are now hosted by the SFR network and ticket them to the Bouygues Telecom networks. And once that is complete, the migration is completed, that will bring an improvement of 140,000,000 in EBITDA once the migration then has been completed. What are the next steps then? For 2025, we will continue taking in the new the employees from La Poste Telecom, so we're talking about four sixty employees.
We'll have a fixed offer in Q4 of twenty twenty five. And so that will be available from post offices. And then we will start the migration of La Post Telecom mobile customers onto Bouygues Telecom's own network will have synergies in terms of procurement, licenses, communication, advertising. And then that will continue in 2026. The migration can start, and we'll be selling the new offers launching the new offers in 2026.
And then 2027, we will complete migration. We expect to have as many as 9090% of all La Post Telecom customers to migrate to our own network from SFR's network to our own network. So what's the outlook for 2025 for Bouygues Telecom? Well, for 2025, first, we are looking at sales built to customers slightly on the increase compared to 2024, like for like not including La Post Telecom, of course. But then you have to add La Post Telecom's own contribution.
EBITDA after leases should be close to that of 2024. The thing with Telecom, we did not well, we didn't suffer from higher energy prices because we decided to have hedging. We had green electricity as early as 2020. And so we had a PPA that enabled us to have electricity rates much lower than what was on the market when the prices went up. So we're covered up to 2024.
That hedge won't will no longer apply. So we'll have higher prices after 2025. The contribution La Postle becomes contribution to EBITDA after leases will be somewhat limited in 2025. But once we have fully migrated, we will fully benefit from that as early as 2028. We look looking at about billion in gross capital expenditure.
That includes, of course, the expenses related to the migration of La Poste customers, and Bouygues Telecom will not exercise its call option that would enable it to acquire 51% stake in the in SDAIF. That is a new Orange FTTH network in moderately dense areas. So we will not be acquiring that. So that looks not for 2026, not including La Poste de Camp. So the numbers for 2026 assume that the budget law that was imposed in 2025, these provisions, the tax provisions will not be renewed in 2026.
I mean, we in 2025, we sorry, 2026, hope springs internal. Gross capital expenditure should stand at about billion, not including frequencies. And free cash flow before WCR should stand at about million not including frequency. Laplace Telecom's contributions to Bouygues Telecom, so acquired it now for four months. We feel that the effects of integration and the development of La Post Telecom will bring the following.
First, La Post Telecom's contribution to EBITDA after leases will be somewhat limited in 2025. It will reach a low point, almost zero in 2026. And then we'll grow gradually back in 2027, the full effect expected to be, as I said, million in 2028 when the migration is completed. In 2026, free cash flow before WCR and not including frequencies will be reduced by two things. First, operating CapEx, which will be needed for the successful migration of La Post Telecom's customers, and that should cost us about million.
And then we expect that interest expense, net of tax associated with the acquisition of La Post, should also stand at about million. So all in all, La Poste Telecom's contribution to big telecoms free cash flow before WCA and not including frequencies will be gradual neutral in 2027, full effects in 2028 when about 90% of its mobile customers have joined Bouygues Telecom's own mobile network. Let's move on now to TF1. TF1, as you know, had three objectives for the year 2024. Pursue the growth of the digital business, building on the very promising launch of TF1 plus revenues, advertising revenue was up 39% on TF1 plus and brought together as many as 33,000,000 streamers on average in 2024 every month.
Margins should be close to that of 2023. TF1 delivered margins at about 12.6%, so slightly up one percent one point one percentage point compared to 2023. And for our dividends policy, we expect those to grow over the next few years. And specifically, TF1 on its AGM on seventeen April will suggest a payout of per share, up 9% from compared to 2023. If you look at the ratings and the audiences were strong, 33.5% audience share amongst women 50 in charge of purchases, 30.5% for individuals aged between 25 sorry, at 49.
Revenue was up 3% at billion driven by these two aspects Media and New in Studios. Media was up 2% over the year, thanks to advertising revenue driven by the strong advertising momentum on TF1 plus the digital branch, which was up 39% over one year. And revenue from new in studio was up 5% over the year. If you include JPG's contribution over that year. Now regarding the audience shares, we are trying to bring them to the digital part to in line with new viewers' behavior.
But in spite of the changes that brought meant expenses, Copa was up million to million. The margin was up as well, 0.1 percentage point at 12.6%. We had expenses around the advertising business. It was more dynamic over the nine first months of the year, but we, of course, last year, we sold a brand in Q3 that enabled us to pursue our capital investment in digital in Q4. What's the outlook for 2025?
Again, for TF1, in the advertising revenue, we have limited visibility. Advertising, the advertising market is very much in line of with the GDP growth. We're looking at strong double digit revenue growth in the digital business. Margin should be close to that of 2024. And our dividend policy, again, is looking at growth over the next few years.
And now I give the floor to Pascal Granger, who will give you more detailed presentations of the numbers. Pascal?
Thank you, Olivier. Good morning, everybody. Just a few additional explanations on the statements as of December 31. Beginning with the income statement, I'm not going to dwell on sales and COPA, which have already been explained by Olivier overall and individually by business segment. Now Let me begin by telling you that in the course of 2024, we booked million in amortization of PPA, power purchase agreements, including million for equans, which have been carried out to Big S.
A. The second item, these are the non recurring items. They are not strictly representative of the activity, but they amount to million over the year. The main non recurring items are first of all, Equans, which booked million in non recurring expenses, mainly in connection with the management incentivization plan that we talked about at length during our Capital Markets Day. This covered the whole period 2024 despite the fact that in the previous year it only concerned part of the year.
As a result, the total amount is higher in 2024 than it was in 2023. Second factor, reconstruction booked a non recurring expense of million. This was due to a change in regulations in The United Kingdom concerning its activities, of course. Thirdly, Bouygues Immobilier, as we have said in previous quarters, booked a non recurring expense of million mainly due to the streamlining of its activity. Finally, Bouygues Telecom carried non recurring income at the end of the year, mainly due to the disposal of data centers and mobile sites.
The third factor I'd like to talk to you about is the cost of net debt, which was minus million. It was an expense of million in 2023. So this improvement was due to a number of factors, mainly the increase in net cash and the interest on net cash. But on the debt side, our debts are mainly in the form of bonds at fixed rates. The fourth contributing factor, we're now looking at the bottom of the year income statement with an income expense of million up from million in 2023.
Now this gives us an effective tax rate of 33.4% in 2024, up from million the previous year. The increase in the effective tax rate over 2023 is mainly due to the increase in permanent differences. For this reason, the group's effective rate of taxation in 2024 is higher than the theoretical tax rate in France, which was 25.83% in 2024. '50, the net share of a net loss attributable to non controlling interests was 163,000,000, up from 161,000,000 the previous year. Several reasons for that.
Losses that were expected in Bouygues Telecom's joint ventures, which are also in the investment phase, particularly in fiber, but also the lesser contribution in 2024 of a certain number of co promotions between Brigitte Mobilier, particularly in commercial property, which contributed significantly in 2024, and the lesser contribution of TIBCO Asphalt, which is a joint venture with Colas, alongside Colas in Thailand. The upshot of all this is net profit attributable to the group of billion, up million over the year. The second factor I'd like to talk to you about is the change in net debt in 2024. Now This has already been mentioned by Olivier Hussam. We're on Page 39, by the way.
Net debt at year end was billion, down from billion at year end 'twenty three. This is a million improvement. By comparison with year end 'twenty three, this variation, again, as Olivier said earlier, is all the more remarkable that it was achieved despite the fact that in the course of the year, we made acquisitions net of disposals totaling over billion. So the variation in net debt can be explained by, first of all, acquisitions net of disposal that mainly included the acquisition by Brie Telecom of La Poste Telecom as well as investments in joint ventures by Brie Telecom, the acquisition of JPG by TF1 and the buyback of TF1 shares. Secondly, the variation in share capital and others accounting for million includes bigger buybacks for million mainly for the purposes of cancellation to compensate the exercising of stock options and the liquidity contract.
Thirdly, the dividend payout for million including million for the Bouygues shareholders, the remainder being Chevillians paid out to minority shareholders in TF1 and Bouygues Telecom. And finally, operations which generated surplus cash flow from operations of 2,200,000,000.0. I now propose to look at this excellent performance on page 40. Let's begin with net cash flow. This includes lease obligations.
This amounts to billion, up almost million by comparison with the same figure in 2023. Net operating investments totaled billion more than the previous year, not that the business invested more in the course of the year. However, there were fewer disposals than in 2023. Furthermore, the frequencies that we didn't have last year actually represented an investment of million in 2024. Free cash flow before working capital requirements, including frequencies, thus amounts to billion, an improvement of almost million by comparison with 2023.
Over the year, the variation in working capital requirement was therefore plus million, very similar to the amount we posted in 2023. So this is the second consecutive year where the variation in working capital requirement is very positive, amounting overall in some billion generated over two years, very good performance. Obviously, in 2025, our employees will continue their efforts, the efforts that enabled us to achieve these two excellent performance over the last two years, and the variation in working capital requirements, particularly in contracting, is not something that can be modelized. Let's now look at the group's financial structure on page 41. The group's liquidity situation totals billion at the end of twenty twenty four.
It's a very high level of liquidity comprising billion in treasury and billion in loan facilities, medium and long term loan facilities that have not been drawn down. On the right hand chart, you have the scheduling of our debt over time. It's very well balanced. Moving on to Page 42, you see that our gearing improved by two points to 42%. This was thanks to the increase in shareholders' equity combined with the decline in our net debt.
The rating agencies have given the group solid ratings. Standard and Poor's have rated A- with a negative outlook and Moody's have us rated A3 with a stable outlook. Finally, let me conclude this presentation by underlying the fact that our next bond maturities, October 26 and at the December '24, the average maturity of our bond debt was seven point three years for an average effective rate of 2.25%. The graph on the bottom right shows you that by comparison to 2021, the average maturity of our bonds has increased. At the same time, the average effective rate has declined.
So our financial structure is solid, a good illustration of our financial discipline, which means that we can retain our financial independence, our independence to act in all circumstances. That brings you to the end of this presentation of the accounts. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention. Olivier, let me give the call back to you.
Right then. So before we take your questions, the outlook for 2025 for our group, we will know that all in all, the global environment is rather uncertain. Nonetheless, we intend to adapt, and we can show how we can adjust to new conditions and new markets, and we will continue our efforts to improve profitability. For 2025, we're looking at slightly improved both revenue and copper compared to 2024. And you can see at the bottom of the slide that as things stand, the effects of the new budget law, the tax law is expected to cost us about million.
As things stand, that's all we can say. But unfortunately, that's the least we can expect. It could be worse than that. Having said all that, we are ready to take your questions. We have the heads of all the branches and subsidiaries.
That when you do put your questions, you do open your microphone. The first question comes from Nicolas Corcoliso from HSBC. It's all yours. Good morning, everyone. I had a question about the opportunities in investment opportunities in Europe.
I know you were involved in Chernobyl, but could you say something about your take on business in 2025 in The UK and Switzerland that are also significant countries. Regarding risks, what's your analysis of tariffs? I know that you import equipment from The U. S. Can you tell us just how exposed you are to The U.
S? Also a question about telecom. On the need for equity capital in joint ventures in the short run, I believe that you have to pay out €50,000,000 in three years. Are there any other payments expected? Well, on Ukraine, Nicolas, I will disappoint you.
Ukraine is a rather challenging country from an ethical standpoint. So the work we had done on Chernobyl together with Vasi was an international project. But if you are looking at a local deal, it's difficult to stay in line with the provisions of the Sapa Law of 2016. So this is really not our playground. It's not an ethical play.
Regarding the other issues and the markets in The U. K. And Switzerland, my two colleagues, you know all about it. We'll start Mr. Stouer, who will sorry, he didn't have a microphone.
He was going to steal the show. Yes. Sorry, we can't really hear. Yes. So 2024 revenue was above our expectations in The UK, driven both by capital expenditure in solar plants and solar energy in The UK.
We have data centers as well. And decarbonization, there is an entire this huge decarbonization project for public buildings, social housing in Britain, and we've been involved in that. Regarding Switzerland, the market is pretty stable, driven by manufacturing industry, which is doing rather well in Switzerland. And then we'll have with Colas in The UK. Yes, Pascal Bounet from Bouygues Construction first.
In The UK, we have two businesses building. The construction business has suffered over the years. There were a number of disruptions. That market well, the British government new government has announced stimulus programs. Having said that, our business has remained stable.
We expect to get enjoy growth starting next year. Regarding public work, we completed the HS2 line. That project was successfully completed. We are still working on the Hickley Point power plants and we're working on the Seyswell plant. We expect a final closing later this year.
So that's The UK. So the outlook is rather positive, both in the construction business and public works. Last year, we got the low Thames Crossing bid. And indeed, the new government has confirmed that this project will be completed, and so the funds will come in from private partners as well. That's The UK.
Switzerland is an island of stability in Europe. The property market is doing well. Migration is sustained, so we have good performances in Switzerland with a positive outlook. And then Colas in Britain, we're mostly looking at rail. The rail business is doing rather well.
We renewed at the end of last year all or most of the contracts for rail and track maintenance, ballast and such like. And we had the HS2 contract, which we just mentioned, the power lines for the high speed trains. On the road business in Britain, that is a more challenging market. In fact, it is shrinking rather, so we have to hang on. So Britain is an important territory in terms a significant territory in terms of revenue and also in terms of exposure.
We pulled out of the New Deal activities that were driven by equants, but still a number of other businesses are doing well in Britain. Regarding tariffs, Bouygues, overall, I mean, we don't have manufactured products that we send to other products. Basically, manufacturing is done locally. If you look at the situation in The U. S, Colas' revenue stands at about billion.
Air France is worth about billion, upwards of billion and a few million if you include Bouygues Construction's branch there. If in these conditions with increased tariffs, our attitude will be to have in our various contracts to have a direct pass through to our customers when unit costs go up for things purchased outside The U. S. If there is an additional cost that should be passed through to our customers. But that should be part that should be in our contracts now that these clauses should be there now because the way in which tariffs seem to go up and down, disappear and reappear, this is not a very precise sign.
So all we can do is just get ready for any developments and provide for that in the clause of our contracts. Regarding the joint venture is the EsdEF and EsdEFAS, yes, these are joint ventures. We bring in capital as and when needed. This year will provide the same roughly order same order of magnitude as last year. But then in the next few years, it will be less because we've passed the peaks.
And the million that you've mentioned are already included in our financial debt. Well, thank you, Benoit. Any further questions? The following question comes from Nanua Cristini from Morgan Stanley. Take it away.
Yes, good morning, everyone, and thank you for this session. I have three questions, all three on the telecom business. Number one, regarding the targets of Bouygues Telecom for 2026. You said well, you provided quite a bit of information on La Post Telecom. That's a very relevant, but that was not included in the targets you set for 2026.
That's question number one. Number two is about Big Telecom's free cash flow. Again, in your target, you do not include WCR, but can we have more light on WCR between 2025 and 2026? And then finally, could we have an update on consolidation? An update on what's the update you need?
I mean, then not to my knowledge, there's no new plan in terms of well, the way in which you can see the market developing, your position and take part in a future acquisition maybe. We're talking about consolidation of the telecom market. Well, Europe's position in consolidation hasn't changed much, Even after Mr. Best Tiger left, the units at Digicom remained the same. I don't believe we will be able to consolidate the market from four operators to three.
I assume that's what you meant by consolidation. And I maybe wrongly thought that you thought that the departure of one of these operators might address the problem? No, no, no. It was a more general question. I mean, do you would you like to do something?
In view of the competition on the mobile business and a weak take home free cash flow has become quite significant? You might wish to consider I mean, this is a general question. Look, I'll give you a general answer. If you have a cake with four slices, if you cut it in three slices, the slices are bigger. So of course, when you are in a fixed cost business, it's worth it.
But the present competition framework, the French competition authority and the European competition authority, I do not know what the French authority's policy might be with the whether they would accept a consolidation of the market and what would come in return. What just happened in Britain with the agreement with remedies that are behavioral rather than structural. I mean, that's the new doctrine. In Britain, of course, the European Commission is no longer involved. Will that doctrine take over in Europe?
We do not know. Or will they go on as usual as before? In other words, whenever you wish to consolidate from four to three operators and then you are required to recreate a fourth competitor. So you go from four to three and back to four, that's going nowhere. I don't know, I have no idea what Europe's position.
Again, if you have three slices instead of four in a cake, the cake is the slices are bigger, that's for sure. Having said that, Benoit, maybe well, on the outlook for 2026, Fabrique Telecom, Olivier was rather comprehensive in his presentation. I can give you a brief summary, but I believe you were given all the items you needed for your analysis. First, we can confirm what we announced in October. That is the outlook for 2026 not including La Post Telecom.
Early in October, we said that we confirmed free cash flow before WCR at about million for 2026. And this is confirmed again, not including La Post Telecom. Again, what we said in October is that we'd get back to you once the La Post Telecom was when the transaction was completed. And indeed, we gave you an update today regarding free cash flow in 2026. We told you that in 2026, La Post Telecom, as Olivier pointed out, we need to migrate La Post Telecom's mobile customers from SFR's network to Bouygues Telecom's network.
Once that has been completed, when all the migration is completed, only then will we have the full benefit of La Post Telecom both in terms of EBITDA and free cash flow. That will be done by 2028, I mean 90% by 2027, so the full effect in 2028. But before that, there will be a number of integration costs. And the of course, we will have to carry over the financial debt that we had to incur to acquire La Post Telecom. And so we can confirm the WCR not including La Post Telecom at million And Apos Telecom will, of course, weigh down to the word of million in the integration costs and that's the capital expenditure needed to integrate these customers and million for the net debt not including tax, the debt that we incurred for the acquisition of La Post Telecom.
If you all add it up, you will get the actual outlook for Bouygues Telecom for 2026. Well, thank you, Benoit. Is there another question? Yes, a final call. If you wish to put a question online, press 1.
The following question comes from Augustin Sombra from Stifel. Yes, thank you. I have as many as four questions. Number one on Equan's profit margin. If you look at these margins, it looks as though the well, you picked the low hanging fruit and now you were able to improve some of the contracts that had problems with them, what you called your bug killers that you announced at the Capital Markets Day.
So what's the next stage for Equance? What you still need to do to reach your objective of 5% by 2027? What are the remaining initiatives? That was Equance. On Colas in the margins this year, I saw that the top line was down and yet profit margin was up.
So where does that come from? Is it just the rail business? Or is it the case that in the roads business, this may vary from one territory to another? Question number three is about residential property. Have you changed your take since 2023?
The new housing minister in France took a rather welcome position. Her positions was welcomed by players in this industry. Have you since the new government, have you taken a new outlook? And then what's your take on the defense business, both for the construction business and the telecom? Right.
Equance margin, did the Equance people start with the easy part of the work? Jerome, please reassure us. Well, look, the question is fair enough. Every year, we focus on the following year. So that's the first part of my question.
I've been saying this for two years now. So year after year, we look at the task we have to perform to stay on track or at least or even slightly above that. To improve a company's performance, you have the financial performance. But behind this, there is significant management work. You might consider that the last steps are more difficult to climb than the first steps because this is maybe more subtle, but the first steps are not that easy either.
You have to change mindsets in the PERFORM plan. And so the first steps are also a combination of managerial changes, changes in mindset And then in some of the businesses, the steps were pretty high. But in any case, if you look at the PERFORM plan, we still have work to do on bug killing, on turning around profit centers that are running losses. On our procurement trajectory, there is some ways to go because we've been working hard in France. There is still work to do in the rest of Europe.
And we are starting off in North America, U. S. And Canada. And then the last two items, pricing, we've made significant efforts. Nonetheless, there's still some work to do there as well because price adjustments are gradual depending on the business.
And so there are a few areas which we'll need to work on to be as profitable as the competitors. Well, the announcements of Capital Markets Day will be met when we publish our numbers at the end of twenty twenty seven. We are looking at 5%. We have no doubt at all that we'll get there. Regarding improvement of Colas' profit margins, yes, well, on Colas, there is one part of the rail business that has been driving profitability, thanks to the large projects that were taken overseas.
And so but all the other businesses have been working on improving performance, being more selective in the deals, taking high value, high quality projects. But it means that in some cases, revenue was done. In Canada, we didn't decide to cut down on prices to preserve volume, but that is why we've been improving profitability. On the housing on the residential property business before Emmanuel takes the floor, let me just give you an important reminder in just to illustrate what I was saying earlier on. We try to ensure that Dov will bring spring.
Sales were cut last year and institutional investors might buy fewer blocks. The P and N mechanism was not renewed. It's been discontinued. But in spite of it all, Emmanuel, in terms of market shares compared to 2024, Well, in 2024, we were able to make the most of the PDZ low interest rate house loans. So that was extended throughout the territory and there's tax free donations for new housing.
That will have less effect than low interest loans in the countryside. And we are expecting the PNNL mechanism to be somehow reconstituted. It was very beneficial, but because we cannot tell for sure, we're looking rather at stay but a stable outlook for next year. For the defense industry, we're working on decarbonization of the British military. There's a company called Vivo working on that and also working in the Navy.
Yes, indeed, that's not consolidated. All the support work in Britain, the decarbonization of army barracks and military bases, we're working on that. We're working on military facilities in Northern Europe, especially in Belgium. That will mean more volume for the military business. We provide support work.
We're working also in defense electronics. I can't tell you much more. And then I cannot give you figures, but we're fortunate enough to be involved in issues related to atomic weapons. And again, there is significant demand there, but we're not saying more.
One final point. We have we work for the three armies in France. In 2024, we were selected for a general project that we were selected for following two more major countries called Kapopay Unique, again between million and million in each case. So we have consistent work. We also work in a number of naval bases or air force bases.
We also work on projects abroad with the British Ministry of Defense. We're currently on the upstream part of a particular project. As for defense infrastructure, let's call it that. In other words, how you get a tank or a plane moving, particularly in the last two or three years, these investments have been ramped up in a number of European countries. So we're taking an active part in air bases in Finland, Poland, France, Belgium, even in The U.
S, where we have worked on a number of very large air bases. This is part of our core business and a part that's developing very rapidly. Next question is from Shaymah Affair, Odube. Good morning. Thank you for your presentation.
How do you see the order intake from local government in France? In 2025, the backlog, Colas' backlog, Colas works mainly with local and regional government in France, that's the bulk of Colas' clientele. The backlog, as I told you, is up on 2024, which is quite logical insofar as we are in the build up to elections. So we expect it to improve in 2025. If I look at our activities in construction as a whole, between projects that may be postponed, but there are also projects that in terms of energy renovation in public buildings, these are new projects, which means that backlog in building in France is also up.
So overall, our level of business is good. There are no particular red flags anywhere in the equans. Even if France can be deemed sluggish, our construction business on the whole in France is improved well, it did improve in 'twenty four or 'twenty three, and we expect it to improve again in 'twenty five. Next question from Eric Ravari from CIC. Yes, good morning, everybody.
Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions, Brig Immobilier and Brig Telecom. Concerning Bouygues Immobilier, given the restructuring streamlining that you've implemented, can we expect Copa to breakeven in 2025? And Bouygues Telecom, we saw that certain figures were down in 2024. Were you expecting this to continue in 2025?
Could you say a few words about competition in the mobile sector early twenty twenty five. Let's begin with Benoit. We will let Emmanuel answer your question on real estate. Oh, no, he's ready. Okay, off you go straight away.
Well, we talked about the difficulties in property and the residential market, particularly with a number of important pillars here. One of them is confidence. And as you know, there are a lot of uncertainties in the international market. The other one is interest rates. We have some difficulty understanding what way interest rates are heading.
Certainly, buyers of residential property struggle with that. But as for the restructuring of BMOPG, this streamlining has borne fruit. We've saved about million, which we expect will bring us back to breakeven very soon, and we should be close to that by the end of the year. In Real Estate, in Residential, we need confidence. People have to be confident about the postponements rocketed because people didn't know what way the market was heading.
When you don't know, it's very difficult to get involved in a purchase that will involve you over fifteen, twenty, twenty five years. So confidence is an essential component. We need lower interest rates, of course, but you have to be confident about the future before buying a home. Very clearly, at this juncture, the future is all very rosy, so people have noted, but we're all committing to the future. I'm only joking.
Benoit, in the mobile business, we are talking about a market that is now mature. In fact, it was overheated back in 2024. It's been more than mature and was highly competitive. But the growth of the mobile market in France, the growth in the number of plans in France has slowed considerably in 'twenty three and further again in 'twenty four. And yet, there's a fierce competition on prices, in particular in 'twenty four.
Acquisition prices remain very low. This is why we said early last year that we could foresee tension in the market and probably be a drop in the ABPU in mobile. We expect that to continue in the next few quarters. This is why in 2024, we devised a new strategy. The initial outcomes were explained here today.
This strategy is based on fixed lines, which has become a driver of growth, in network boxes, our experience with our customer base, also based on a family type approach. We're now talking about revenue per household. This is the type of thing we're looking at, not individuals or whatever. But the strategy is also based on anchoring customer loyalty. This is fixed and mobile.
So we're endeavoring to reduce the churn. That's the strategy. That's what we're doing. You'll have seen the initial sales figures. Now we'll see over the quarters to come how that pans out.
Thank you. Next question. We're now going to take questions from the conference in English.
Thank you. We will now take the question from Carlos Cabarrasse of Kepler. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, everyone. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my questions. I have two. First, on Equinix, you continue to deliver. And I say that to achieve your twenty five and twenty seven targets, you have to expand your margins by 50 basis points per annum.
Do you think that should be the norm be in 2027 or you would expect a normalization towards the low to mid 5%? And second, on the dividend side, historically, we've seen flat dividends per share for at least a couple of years before increasing. But can we assume now that the new norm will be this $0.1 increase per annum going forward? Thank you.
In the Equants performance, as explained or so I should say the Equance targets as we've explained them for 2027. What I can say is that we are very confident. We have no doubts whatsoever about the fact that we will achieve our targets in 2027. When I turn to my peers and look at their results, I am convinced that it's possible to do even better. So over and beyond the 5%, after 5% is 6%.
So we'll see when we achieve that and when we can aim that at higher margins. Jean? Well, first of all, as you said, there is a comparison with our peers and the methods used may vary from one operator to other, which can create a variance of 1% to 1.2% or 3% in terms of results in the case of SPE and VASI. But if we adjust for that, their profitability is already above the 6% mark. So depending on the method of calculation you use, we've announced a profitability margin or profitability goal of 5%.
We're well on target. But it may be that at some point in time, we will want to adjust that. But after '27, there's the 2028, there's time. This is an annual appointment, so we will update it next year. We're not going to keep updating or upgrading by 0.5 or 50 basis points every year.
We are not there are people ahead of us. There are people paving the way and makes it easier for us to upgrade our results. Next question. Oh, the dividend. Sorry, sorry, the dividend.
Pascal. The question on the dividend. Well, today's good news is that we have increased the dividend by We also increased it last year. So I can't call that the new normal. What is the group's dividend strategy?
Well, we increase the dividend and we are confident or very confident that we can maintain that in the future. We've, let's say, risen a step. Next year, we'll see. But I'm not going to give you guidance saying that the dividend will increase by every year. It's not going to be a systematic increase every year, no.
Clear. Thank you.
Thank you. And we'll now take our next question from Akhil Duthani of JPMorgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I've got two, please, if I can. The first is on the fiber JVs. You mentioned you won't be exercising the SDIF option this year.
Could you just talk us through your thought process there? What's going to drive you to decide as and when you remind us when are the key exercise dates and if there's any sort of high level financials you can provide as well, that would be interesting. And the second one is, going back to SFR. Given the debt restructuring we've now seen at SFR, leverage still remains on the higher side. If they were to consider selling pieces of the business as they look to continue deleveraging, Could you talk us through whether assets like that could be of interest, I guess, specifically, if it's specific brands or infrastructure?
What are the sorts of things that could potentially be of interest to Bouygues? Thank you.
While Benoit is preparing about SD Fast, we'll tell you how we produce to cut up a coverage, SDF and tell you what we're interested in. I think that's what you're asking me. Well, that is pure science fiction, I'm afraid, so I can't answer that. What I can tell you because I saw this back in 2016 is that if there were to be a consolidation in the market reducing the number of players from four to three and if the kind of antitrust authorities were to authorize that, if that would be the case, what we saw back in 2016 is that only works if all four players agree about cutting up with the one that we have decided to chop up. So this is from experience.
So this is something that has to be done together collectively in full compliance with antitrust law. So I have no way of knowing how to answer that question. So what about the options on SDIF? I think we've answered the second question. Okay.
We could tick that box. Okay. The build up in the capital of our joint ventures. Well, we've told you more or less what we intend to do this year. Every year, we have a window of opportunity in which to decide how we position ourselves.
Next window will be next year. This year, we decided not to take up the option. Next year, we'll see. And we review all the components and all the aspects of the deal every year. If one day we were to integrate this, if we were to, let's say, take the option to 51%, that would generate million to increase our EBITDA by million, but our debt would increase by million. That's the dilemma. Next question.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Rohit Modi of Citi.
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Most of them have been answered. Just two follow-up. One, on the fixed business.
You have seen bit of a slowdown in the service revenue growth from the fixed business. If you can give us what are you seeing in terms of market and how should we look at the growth in 2025 whether it should be fading from here? Secondly, on the post date impact, you mentioned 90% migration completed in 2027, but overall impact being neutral. So if you can just guide us what are the mitigating factors in terms of whatever benefit you're getting and what is mitigating from that? Thank you.
Okay.
Beginning with the fixed market and the possible slowdown, there is no slowdown in the fixed market that we can see, Benoit? On the contrary, we've told this is our best quarter since 2011, which isn't exactly what we call a slowdown on the contrary. We would call that accelerated growth. Yes, the Brit telecoms performance has accelerated. If you look at the RCEP, the regulators figure for fixed market growth, okay, the growth has slowed slightly, but it's still growing.
During the COVID years, the growth was especially high. We are now back to market growth that is not that high as high as it was before. It's not exactly what we call weak growth either. So in the fixed market, there's a lot of upside potential in terms of equipment. A lot of homes aren't fully equipped.
A lot of holiday homes aren't fully equipped either. So our fixed market expects growth and good growth. In this market, Big Telecom's performance is itself accelerating, thanks to the assets we have, thanks to the quality that we've built up over the years in our boxes, our SAV. These are all producing results. We also have new categories of offering since late last year.
In PureFibre, we've opened up whole new segments in which we are alone, which of course generates performance for Bouygues Telecom. Thank you, Benoit. Next question? Nicolas Mourad from Morgan Stanley, you have the floor. Which generates income over the years.
Secondly, on EQANs, margins seem to be well headed. You talked about upside in the medium term. In terms of organic growth, can we expect good organic growth in 2025? Has the cleanup in The U. K.
Been completed? What about data centers? Or is the macro environment still sluggish? Okay. Working capital requirement, I'm going to ask Pascal to take that question.
WCOR as we call it. You are the he called you Philippe, but this is the current Pascal Grande. Okay. On working capital requirements, while the techniques aren't new at reconstruction for years and years now, we've been telling you that our WCR is good because all our people are focusing on it at all stages of the process in generating working capital. First of all, we negotiate contracts in which the payment clauses are positive because over and beyond the amount of treasury they generate, not a lot last year, by the way.
But it's a way of controlling risk, and that's extremely important from that point of view. So it begins with the negotiation of our contract. Secondly, you have to bill on time. It's just said and done, but every day counts. So that's important to get the bills out.
Then there's a whole process of supporting our clients to be sure that they pay us in the fullness of time and not several days later. And particularly with, let's say, more fragile clients, it's important to have structures that make sure that we are paid on time. We've been doing this for quite some time at reconstruction. In our other businesses, we support our clients in the same way. But in the other businesses, there's room for improvement we identified at the time of acquiring Equans.
But at Colas, too, there's upside potential that we've identified over the last two years. This is theoretical. But in contracting, this is not a model. We can't say that because we had a good year last year that we will do a very good year in 2025. All our people are highly motivated every week, every quarter.
They are all geared towards improving that figure. But I think we can still improve a little more on the medium to long term as well where we lie at the end of the year, which is what I say at every single analyst meeting since I've been CFO quite some time now, this is not something you can modelize. So we can't give you any guidance. In the slide on our sales growth, we said continued organic growth. That's what we said.
Is that not enough? Continued organic growth? He has the mic. He'd like to say a few words. Okay.
I'd just like to say, Jerome was talking about this earlier on. We're still working on our top priority. It's not growth, it's improved margins. When and if we can do the two at the same time as we did in the last two years, then we're obviously very happy about it. But there's no question of jeopardizing our margins to boost organic growth.
Thank you, Pascal. I believe that was the last question. And unless there's another question from the room, in which case all that remains for me is to thank you for being here and to wish you a very good day.