Welcome to the Bouygues conference call. Please be aware that each of your lines is in listen mode only. At the end of the call, we will open the floor for questions. We will then provide instruction for you to follow if you would like to ask a question. If any participant has difficulty hearing the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad for operator assistance. I would like now to introduce Mr. Pascal Grangé, Deputy CEO and CFO of Bouygues. Thank you.
Good morning to all of you, and thank you for joining us to discuss Bouygues' Q1 2022 results. With me in the room are Christian Lecoq, CFO of Bouygues Telecom, and Armelle Gary, Head of Investor Relations. Following our presentation, we'll be answering your questions. Let's start with Q1 highlights on slide four. Total group sales were up 6% in Q1 2022. The construction and services businesses demonstrated a good level of activity, with the backlog up 4% and sales up 7%, driven by Colas. Bouygues Telecom experienced a good commercial performance both in mobile and in fixed. Last, TF1 sales increased meaningfully. Second, our two M&A projects are well on track, and new milestones were completed. The Equans acquisition received all the required employee representative bodies opinions. This condition precedent being met, the share purchase agreement should be signed soon.
On the 8th of April, TF1 signed the agreement with Altice Media related to the sale of TF6 channel. The completion of the sale is subject to obtaining clearance from the relevant authorities, the French Competition Authority, and ARCOM, and to the effective merger between TF1 and M6. Concerning the proposed merger between TF1 and M6, let me remind you that it is subject to regulatory authorizations. This process involving the French Competition Authority, ADLC, and the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication, ARCOM, is ongoing. The ADLC was notified of the proposed merger on the 17th of February 2022, and their decision is expected in October. Regarding the French Market Authority, AMF, in May, RTL, Bouygues, and TF1 will submit their request for exemptions for the mandatory filing of a proposed public offering. Let's now turn to the group's key figures on slide five.
Before starting, I would like to remind you that like every year, due to the usual seasonality, Q1 earnings are not indicative of H1 and full year results. That being said, group sales of EUR 8.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022 were up 6% year-on-year and up 3% like-for-like on the constant exchange rates. All our business segments delivered growth compared to Q1 2021, except Bouygues Immobilier as forecasted. The growth was particularly strong at Colas and TF1, with a solid contribution from Colas up 19% and up 12% like-for-like on that constant exchange rate, and a good performance at TF1 up 10% and 7% like-for-like under the constant exchange rates.
Current operating loss was EUR 77 million in the first quarter of 2022, a stable level compared to the first quarter of 2021. The operating loss was EUR 93 million, which included a negative EUR 60 million of non-current reserve that is not representative of our business. It is linked to the gain on the disposal of data centers at Bouygues Telecom and to charges related to our two ongoing M&A operations recorded at Bouygues Construction, at TF1, and at the holding level. I would like to add that in the first quarter of 2021, the operating loss was EUR 21 million, including a positive EUR 56 million of non-current results, mainly related to the sale of data centers at Bouygues Telecom. Net loss attributable to the group was EUR 131 million in Q1 2022.
Alstom no longer contributes to our figure, while Q1 2021 included a positive contribution from Alstom of EUR 120 million. Let's now turn to the review of operations. Let's begin with the backlog in the construction and services businesses on slide eight. The overall backlog at end March 2022 was at the high level of EUR 34.6 billion and up 4% year-on-year. It included around EUR 700 million from Destia. The backlog was down 1% at constant exchange rates and excluding the main disposals and acquisitions. The increase in the backlog was driven by Colas, including Destia.
Colas achieved a good commercial performance in road activities in France, the U.S. and Canada, and also the further dynamic trend at Colas Rail, notably with the award of the contract for the first phase of line four of the Cairo Metro in Egypt. Bouygues Construction's order intake was up 8% in Q1 year-over-year, driven by both international markets on the normal course of business. That backlog remained stable in Q1 2022 versus Q4 2021. At Bouygues Immobilier, we noted a significant catch-up in building permit issuances in the residential property market compared to the first three months of 2021. However, we still have a low supply of units available, which is reflected in the reservations on the backlog. Conversely, clients in commercial activities are still in a wait-and-see mode. As a result, Bouygues Immobilier's backlog was down 13% year-over-year.
Last, the share of backlog in international markets continued to increase, representing 65% of the backlog at Bouygues Construction and Colas, up 3% year-on-year. Let's now look at the construction activity's key figures on slide nine. The construction and services businesses started the year on a positive note. Sales were up 7% year-on-year and 3% like-for-like at constant exchange rates. It is worth noting the good performance in international markets, where sales were up 11%, thanks to the significant increase at Colas' international sales, which were up 35%, led by the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, as well as the U.S. and Canada. Of note, Destia contributed EUR 109 million to Colas sales in Q1. The increase in international sales also reflects the positive impact of foreign exchange rates.
Current operating loss was EUR 208 million. I would like to highlight three points on current profitability. First, Bouygues Construction's margin improved slightly, 2.8% versus 2.6% in Q1 2021. This was led by Bouygues Energies & Services, whose current operating margin reached 3% in Q1 2022. Second, the current operating result of Bouygues Immobilier reflects the low level of activity, notably in the commercial property market. Q1 2021 included a positive contribution of EUR 45 million in sales, mainly driven by a specific project named Suez. Third, Colas had a current operating loss in line with the usual low activity level in Q1, which was accentuated this year by the impact of foreign exchange rates. You know that our construction and services businesses are committed to foster sustainable development and responsible behavior.
You will find a few examples of those on slide 10. Let me start with Bouygues Construction, a responsible and committed player in sustainable construction, which has been recognized and accredited by the Top Employers Institute, an independent international body, as a Top Employer France for the sixth consecutive year and a Top Employer Europe for the fourth year. Certification was also awarded to its entities in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Poland, and Czech Republic. In Marseille, in Les Fabriques ecodistrict, the Alpha project of Bouygues Immobilier will be entirely designed in low-carbon concrete. There will be low-carbon white concrete on the façade and low-carbon gray concrete for interior walls and infrastructure. Produced from recycled materials, low-carbon concrete reduces the carbon footprint by 30%-70% compared to conventional concrete. The first wall in low-carbon white concrete was completed in Marseille in January 2022.
Finally, also in January 2022, Colas and Saipol signed an agreement to supply Colas' fleet of trucks in France. With 100% renewable bio-based fuel that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 60% compared to diesel fuel and slashes fine particle emissions by up to 80%. The initiative will cut the emission of carbon dioxide by nearly 46,000 tons in a year once the deployment is completed. Turning to slide 12, let's talk briefly about TF1's results, which were released at the end of April. First, TF1 released a good set of results. The sales increase of 10% and 7% like-for-like on a constant exchange rate was driven by both business segments.
First quarter advertising revenues were up 5% year-on-year at EUR 377 million, thanks to the gradual recovery of some business sectors that were still impacted by the pandemic in 2021. Furthermore, Newen Studios revenues continued to expand internationally in the first three months, up 16%, bolstered in particular by the contributions of the studios acquired in Spain and Germany in 2021. Current operating profit showed slight improvement, reaching EUR 60 million in the first quarter. Cost of programs remained under control in the media segment during Q1 2022. However, Newen profitability was affected by a lower contribution of program deliveries in Q1 2022 due to the phasing of program deliveries on the strong basis of comparison related to a catch-up effect in program deliveries in Q1 2021.
As a result, current operating margin was down 0.5 points to 10.6%. Let's now move to slide 13, which highlights TF1's actions for more sustainable behavior on gender equality. First, I would like to mention EcoFunding. This initiative was not specific to Q1 2022, as it was launched in July 2021, but the first campaign started on 1 January 2022. EcoFunding is the first environmental advertising fund on the market, 100% financed by TF1. Advertising campaigns promoting a sustainable service with the criterion recommended by ADEME, such as, for example, an energy label or repairability index, will trigger a contribution to the EcoFunding program. This fund will be used to produce and distribute awareness campaigns on environmental labels and criteria recommended by ADEME.
Second, in March, TF1 presented the second Expert Alliance session, which brings together women experts from, for example, the health, medical research, justice, police, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurship sectors. The program's goal is to increase the proportion of women experts in news programs on TF1 and LCI. The representation of women experts in TF1 news programs, 1:00 P.M., 8:00 P.M., and during weekend news, was 44% in 2021. To conclude TF1, slide 14, I will be brief as TF1's team already commented on 2022 outlook. At end March, TF1 considers that it was not economically impacted by the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, the development of the conflict could have an impact on the European economy and therefore on its activity. I now leave the floor to Christian Lecoq from Bouygues Telecom finance.
Thank you, Pascal, and good morning, everyone. Starting with slide 16, you can see that commercial performance in mobile was solid in the first quarter. At end March 2022, Bouygues Telecom had 14.9 million mobile plan customers excluding M2M. Commercial activity remained dynamic during the quarter as Bouygues Telecom won 97,000 new customers in Q1. You can see on the right side of that slide that Bouygues Telecom is on track to reach its ambition 2026 target to win 4 million additional mobile customers, excluding M2M, as we already gained 2.7 million customers since the beginning of 2021, including those of BTB. Now, let us turn our attention to our fixed customer base on slide 17. As you can see, we had 4.5 million fixed customers at end March 2022, including net adds of 52,000 over the first quarter.
FTTH continued to experience strong growth with 172,000 net adds during the first quarter. With a total of 2.5 million subscribers, FTTH customers represented 55% of our fixed customer base, compared to 42% one year ago. Having achieved almost one-third of our ambition 2026 target since January 2021, we are also on track to deliver our 2026 goal of 3 million additional FTTH customers. Let's have a look at key figures on slide 18. First, we achieved a good performance both in volume and in value over the past 12 months, leading to a 6% growth in sales billed to customers. Mobile ARPU, now including B2B and restated for roaming impact, was up 0.3 EUR year-on-year at EUR 19.7, and fixed ARPU was up EUR 0.3 year-on-year at EUR 28.6.
This good performance was partially offset by the decrease in incoming sales, leading to 3% increase in sales from services. Indeed, as you know, cell phone services include incoming voice calls and text messages billed to other operators, which by nature do not contribute to EBITDA after leases because of asymmetry in costs. In Q1 2022, incoming sales were down 24% due to a lower incoming traffic and to a decrease in regulated call termination rates. As such, EBITDA after leases, which I repeat is not impacted by the change to incoming sales, grew by 7% in Q1 2022, in line with our annual guidance, and reached EUR 354 million. Consequently, margin improved compared to last year, which is consistent with our goal to progressively increase it. The current operating profit of EUR 87 million was better than in Q1 2021.
Operating profit stood at EUR 92 million and takes into account a non-current income of EUR 5 million, mainly due to the gain on the disposal of data centers. Please note that Q1 2021 non-current income stood at EUR 60 million, also mainly related to the disposal of data centers. Last, you can notice that gross CapEx reached EUR 580 million in Q1 2022, a higher level than in Q1 2021. In order to secure the deployment and the strengthening of our 4G, 5G and fiber networks, and in the context of tight sourcing, we accelerated a portion of our annual gross CapEx program in the first quarter. This has no impact on our 2022 CapEx guidance of EUR 1.5 billion. Investments decreased by EUR 94 million over the period due to lower data center disposals.
Looking at slide 19, just a few words on some of our sustainable initiatives and innovation announced or launched in Q1 2022 in order to better satisfy the requirements of our customers. Among them, we launched Répar'Action Express, which is an itinerant mobile repair service open to everyone. We also introduced Source, the first responsible and inclusive mobile plan. Source is a no commitment plan that promotes digital sobriety, EUR 10 for 10 GB. Source offers customers the unique possibility of converting their unused gigabytes into financial support for associations, thanks to our partner, Lilo. We also integrated a sustainable development approach into the new version of the Bbox 4K TV decoder. For example, it is now 95% made from recycled plastic, halogen-free plastic parts, 10% lighter, and with this texture, we're designing to reduce scratches and to extend the box lifespan and promote its reuse.
Last, we were the first operator to announce Wi-Fi 6E in France. The launch occurred on 25th of April and is part of strategy to always offer the best Wi-Fi to our customers. Let me remind you that Bouygues Telecom was number one in Wi-Fi performance in France, according to the nPerf survey published in March 2020. Turning to slide 20, I simply remind you of our unchanged target for the full year. Now, Pascal, I give you the floor back.
Thank you, Christian. I would like to briefly comment on the financial statements on slide 22. We have already discussed first quarter revenues and current operating results at the beginning of this call. Other operating income and expenses were negative at EUR 60 million in the first quarter. This amount includes non-current income of EUR 5 million at Bouygues Telecom, as Christian already explained, on non-current charges of EUR 5 million at Bouygues Construction, EUR 3 million at TF1, and EUR 13 million at Bouygues SA level. These non-current charges are all related to the two ongoing M&A projects. As a reminder, in Q1 2021, the other operating income and expenses were positive at EUR 56 million.
This amount included a non-current income of EUR 60 million at Bouygues Telecom, mainly related to the sale of data centers and non-current charges of EUR 4 million at Bouygues Immobilier related to some adaptation measures. Concerning the share of net profit of joint ventures on associates level, I'm just reminding you that while we included a contribution from Alstom in Q1 2021, Alstom no longer contributes to our figures. We will now turn our attention to the group financial structure. Moving to slide 23, net debt was EUR 2.1 billion at the end of March 2022. The usual seasonal impacts mainly explain the change in net debt between end December 2021 and end March 2022. Compared to end March last year, net debt was down EUR 532 million, a significant reduction, and net gearing decreased by 6 points from 22% to 16%.
As such, the group still relies on a particularly strong financial position. Aside from the change in operations, end March 2022 net debt position was positively affected by the interest rate swap mark-to-market that I will explain to you on the next slide. Finally, please note that credit agency ratings have been remained unchanged. Let's now turn to slide 24 to describe the net debt evolution between end December 2021 and end March 2022. You can observe that the net debt increased by almost EUR 1.2 billion since the end of last year. This change is mostly explained by the following three items. First, an outflow of EUR 1.5 billion from operation, up EUR 365 million year-on-year that I will explain on the next slide. Second, an outflow of EUR 63 million linked to share buybacks.
Third, the positive impact of EUR 400 million of swap mark-to-market related to future bond issuances. Let me provide a more detailed explanation on the swap effects. Considering the Bouygues SA bond refinancing due in 2023 and the bank loan refinancing through bond issuance for the Equans acquisition, Bouygues decided to hedge against interest rate fluctuations through interest rate swaps. Those interest rate swaps were contracted in July 2021, and mainly between November 2021 and January 2022 after the Equans sale option signing. Their mark-to-market valuation as of 31st of March 2022 was EUR 439 million compared to EUR 39 million at end December 2021. This value was recognized as an asset in the balance sheet within financial instruments hedging of debt, with shareholders' equity as a counterpart.
A deferred tax liability was also recognized as a counterpart of shareholders' equity in order to take into account the associated taxes that will be paid upon exercise of each swap. The swaps mark to market, and therefore its effect on net debt, changes over time depending on euro interest rate fluctuation on financial markets. Once the underlying financing is in place, Bouygues SA will cash in the fair value of the swaps and pay the associated taxes. Please note that on the eleventh of May, the fair value of these swaps amounted to around EUR 780 million. Turning to the breakdown of operations for the first quarter 2022 on slide 25, you can observe, first, net cash flow including lease expenses remained stable compared to last year. It was driven by Bouygues Telecom and TF1, but offset by Colas and Bouygues Immobilier.
Second, net CapEx was up EUR 231 million, largely due to higher gross CapEx and lower disposals at Bouygues Telecom level. As you know, the phasing of CapEx is not linear over the course of the year. Third, you can see on the chart that working capital requirement related to operating activities and other increased by EUR 128 million compared to the same period of last year. I would like to remind you that the management of working capital related to operations by sub-business segments was remarkable both in 2020 and 2021, leading to a cumulative improvement of around EUR 700 million. Therefore, we started 2022 with an optimized working capital requirement with an increase in activity at the beginning of 2022. This incremental change in the working capital requirement is typical, notably for a soft quarter.
Let's now conclude this presentation on slide 27. As a reminder, the 2022 group outlook is the following. In 2022, the group is expecting a further increase in sales and current operating profit versus 2021. After SBTi endorsement of Colas greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in 2021, the other business segments are now aiming to receive SBTi endorsements of their decarbonization plans. The group remains very vigilant regarding the indirect consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This outlook is subject to no further major deterioration of the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation. This concludes our presentation. Thank you for your attention. Operator, please open the floor for questions.
Thank you for that. Now, we're going to open the floor for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad now. Questions will be taken in order in which they are received, so please limit your questions, but everyone will have the opportunity to participate. If at any time you would like to remove yourself from the questioning queue, please press star two. The first question comes from the lines of Nicolas Cote-Colisson. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thank you. Two questions, please. The first one is on the construction and especially on the macro environment. It's maybe early stage, but have you noticed some delays in the decision-making on the client side? What are you seeing? Maybe if you can provide some color on a per business or per region, that would be appreciated. My second question is on telecoms. If you could give us some more color on the market share dynamics in fixed broadband. I was wondering if you are gaining shares in a specific area, and how is it working on the more rural side of France. Thank you.
Concerning your first question, to date, we don't have any significant movement regarding the delays. The decision making process still ongoing. We don't have any important delay for any award or things like that. As far as delays concerning deliveries, we are still in a good situation. No important delay concerning our projects or deliveries for our projects.
Yes. Hi, Nicolas. About your question on telecommunications. You know, we are increasing our number of clients in the rural area mainly for two reasons. The first one is that our FTTH footprint is higher and higher due to the development of FTTH network in this part of France. Second point, we are increasing our market share in this part of France also. Today our market share is around at half our average level, I would say. Our goal is to continue to increase this market share thanks to the development of our technical footprint and thanks to the development of our commercial footprint.
Great. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Mathieu Robilliard, calling from Barclays. Matthieu, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. I have two questions please. First, on construction, on energy and services, I may have missed that during the presentation, but if you could give a little bit more granularity as to how that business progressed, and notably on the margin, but I don't know if you can share any number. Then, with regards to mobile, we see that service revenues have slowed. You made it quite clear that it's due to lower incoming calls, traffic and MTR cuts. But that's not something we've seen when one of your competitor reported.
Maybe if you could give a little bit more granularity in terms of the build output trajectory compared to previous quarters, to get a sense that you know growth is still there and solid. Thank you.
I will answer on the telecommunication part of this question. First point, I remind you that we report ABPU, average bill per customer, and so this ABPU does not include any incoming revenue. The trajectory of ABPU will remain the same, despite any change in incoming revenue. What we saw in Q1 about incoming revenue is two things. First, as expected, lower mobile termination rate than last year, first point. Second point, a higher decline in traffic than we expected at the beginning of the year. This is quite limited, and that didn't change our guidance for service revenue for the full year.
As far as your question concerning energy and services, in terms of turnover, the turnover of Bouygues Energies & Services has slightly increased during the first quarter compared to first quarter last year, let's say approximately 3%. The margin has also increased from 2.2% first quarter of 2021 to 3% this quarter. That doesn't mean that it will increase the same extent during the whole year, but we are in line with our plan to increase gradually margin for Bouygues Energies & Services. Mind you that we aim to obtain a mid-term period 5%. Our target is 5%.
Great. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Jakob Bluestone from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. I had two questions, please. Firstly, just coming back to the telecom service revenues. As you mentioned, you didn't change the guidance. I was just hoping you could maybe explain why you didn't, given this change in termination rates, which presumably will impact later quarters, but also change in incoming traffic. Are you basically saying that you think it's just a sort of a Q1 thing and it won't recur in the later quarters? So there's just a bit of volatility. To just sort of help us understand a little bit, you know, why you see this as something that won't continue to be a drag in incoming quarters.
Then just maybe just secondly, can you maybe give a little bit of an update on just what you're thinking is around the various inflationary pressures, again, particularly on your telecoms business, specifically on energy for this year, maybe next year, and labor. Thank you.
About termination revenue, yes, you're right. The MTR output that we had at the beginning of the year will have an impact for the full year, but it was already included in our guidance. Regarding incoming traffic, we expect that the decrease we had in Q1 will not be the same during the next quarters. That's why we decided to not change our guidance, which I repeat is near 5% in terms of increase of service revenue for the full year. We will see what the next quarters will be. For the moment, we do not change the guidance.
I also remind you that, anyway, incoming revenue does not have any impact on our EBITDA. To give you some figures, the change in MTR and traffic, the impact on Q1 EBITDA was minus EUR 1 million. You see, it's very near zero. No impact on EBITDA coming from either MTR cut or traffic incoming traffic change. About energy costs. Energy costs represent around 2% of our total OpEx, and we have secured the price of our energy costs until the end of 2024.
We are at a very low level compared to the current level of energy costs, because we set up the price near EUR 50 per megawatt hour, compared to current price, which I think is around EUR 100 or EUR 150 per megawatt hour. We are at a fixed price in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
On labor, do you see any inflationary pressures there?
On labor, no big pressure for the moment. For Bouygues Telecom, a big part of our employees are, I will say, CSP+. I don't know the English word for that.
Managers.
Managers. They are less impacted by the inflation for basic, I will say, basic purchases. It's not the same things as other business probably for Bouygues Telecom.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Nawar Cristini calling from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I have two questions, please. Firstly, on telecoms, in terms of the pricing environment, it would be interesting to discuss how your NPS scores have been evolving recently. Whether you feel that it can give you a good platform to push pricing queries which are potentially higher than what you had in your initial plans, given the current inflationary environment. I had also a question about FTTH and impacts from inflation. Actually, it could be interesting to have your view on the topic, both as a user of services on the telecom side, in terms of FTTH installations.
As a contractor, given that I believe you are also rolling out or are involved in FTTH deployment as a contractor as well. We hear from some operators that FTTH rollout prices are fixed for a certain period. It will be interesting to hear as a contractor for how long these FTTH contracts in general are fixed in terms of prices. Then on the part of Bouygues Telecom, it will be interesting to understand the inflation risk in terms of FTTH installments, because you are less involved in the deployments of course, but more in terms of connections and installments, it's a large part of your CapEx. How hedged are these FTTH installments against inflation?
To summarize, I appreciate it's a long question, but just to try to understand the inflation impact on FTTH contracts generally, both as a contractor, how these contracts are hedged against inflation, and also on Bouygues Telecom on the installation side, how hedged are these installations against inflation? Hope it makes sense. Thank you.
You're welcome. I think that the first part of your question was on mobile commercial performance. Q1 2022 was quite calm, quite soft and quiet with very low level of promotions. So no big deal. We have been able to continue to increase our ARPU. We are very happy with our performance in Q1, so no big news. We are very happy with the fact that the commercial situation is more and more stabilized compared to a few years ago. On FTTH, first, as you said about rollout of FTTH infrastructures, I remind you that we are not rolling out any FTTH infrastructures.
We are in a rental position through two JVs we put in place called SDAIF and SDFAST. These JVs are buying the tranches of 5% to access to the infrastructures to other operators like mainly Orange or SFR from the XpFibre or from public initiative networks. We are not impacted by any inflation on the cost to roll out FTTH infrastructures. About FTTH connections, you're right, it is a point, but today we do not have any impact due to inflation. The cost to how would say to connect a subscriber is around EUR 200 per subscriber. But we are reimbursed when our client is joining.
We are reimbursed by a certain amount of this cost. The impact first is quite limited on our P&L. The second point is that the percentage of wages in this EUR 200 is around, I would say, one third. The impact of inflation on wages will be quite limited if there is any in the future. Today it is not the case.
Thank you. Just on, I appreciate effectively on the Bouygues Telecom side, there are no deployments. The question was specifically on inflation. Do you have a bit more on the, I think it's more Bouygues Energies & Services, who's involved in this type of project. Do you have any color to add about how these contracts are structured in terms of pricing? What are the aspects or not?
Inflation is concerned in the construction businesses. Globally, we have hundreds of thousand contracts, and they are different. It's quite difficult to have a very global view on that. What I can say in a nutshell is that first, we have two three different mechanism in order to mitigate this kind of risk. It could be inflation, it could also other risks. First of all, we can transfer to our customer, to our client, the inflation risk. We have many contracts with some indexation formulas. Or we have also contracts which are cost plus fee structure. That's the first mechanism.
The, uh-
We know perfectly that these mechanism are never perfect, but they mitigate at least in a certain extent the risk. The second mechanism we have is a mechanism where we transfer the risk to the supply chain. You know that for some contracts we have long-term contracts with our supplier or we contract at the beginning of works with suppliers or subcontractors at a fixed price. We still have a mitigation mechanism there. Thirdly in all our sites we have some contingencies provisions for unpredictable events. It could include obviously increase in prices. All these mechanism are not perfect. It's very difficult to forecast what could be the different scenarios in the future.
To date, we have no important impact in the net result of Bouygues Energies & Services and Bouygues Construction and other activities of construction. At the end, we still have, for if the price increase is very important, we claim, we negotiate with our customers, and we also ask for claims in certain circumstances. To date, at the end of March, no important impact in our results. For the future, we are monitoring these things very closely. We start, we don't accept, we try.
We try to limit firm price contracts and we monitor that very closely.
Fantastic. Thank you very much. It's very valuable to have a view on both sides, so thank you very much for that.
Thank you.
We currently have no questions coming through. As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now. The next question comes from the line of Virginie Rousseau calling from ODDO.
Yes. Hi. I have an additional questions regarding Bouygues Immobilier, please. You mentioned that volume of building permit is higher in Q1. Could you update us a bit on the environment and explain why this volume is higher? Is environment better globally in France? Is it linked to a region specifically? Do you gain market share, or is it global? Thanks a lot.
No, we are increasing because the basis of comparison was fairly low. The basis of comparison was very low because as you remember, in the Immobilier business in France, there is a very specific period just before local elections. Just before local elections, public authorities are quite reluctant to authorize, to provide building permits. After them, we had a period, you know that the local elections had been delayed due to COVID. After COVID, we had a quite significant number of new teams at the local authority level, and they had to decide what projects they want in their municipalities.
We had to adapt our project to their requirements, so it takes quite a long time to go there. The current level is more normal than it was previously. It's really basis of comparison issue.
Okay. Thank you.
This is quite global in France.
The next question comes from the line of Nicolas Mora calling from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. I'll just focus quickly on contracting. First on construction, can you give us a little bit of color, especially on the order intake? Because you haven't booked any large projects, so maybe you can talk about the pipeline you have. The underlying kind of run-of-the-mill contracts and order intake has been quite good. Where do you see the strength coming? Is it public money? Is it, say, sticky private money? Number one. Number two, on Colas, I mean, do you still feel comfortable with your kind of global guidance on revenue increase for the year?
I mean, Q1 obviously is seasonally a weak quarter, but performance was very strong. Does it give you confidence you can pretty easily, especially at the top-line level, grow close to double digits for the year? Last one on Colas again, just from the order intake, I mean, what's driving the strength in order intake and revenue. What's driving the strength in North America? Is there a bit of weather impact or is it just public money flowing through? Finally the underlying basically activity level picking up, plus a bit of trading most likely linked to the bitumen price. That would be all.
Okay. Starting with new construction. On the sales side, we have been quite strong in energy and services during the first quarter, and stable in building and civil works. In Q1 2022, the level of order intakes is higher than Q1. Let's say that a quarter is not necessarily very relevant for Bouygues Construction activities in particular. No, the backlog, the pipeline is correct. Obviously, some projects could be more difficult to close probably in the tourism sector, but not significant at the construction level. No.
We don't see, to date, the movement saying that decision will be delayed and so on. It could occur because as budget will increase, probably some customers will have the question how they finance the extra cost of their project. But to date, it's not significant. For Colas, obviously we had an increase which is related to the perimeter effect, and you know that we have acquired, end of last year, Destia in Finland. You see this has an impact. For North America, you are right. Probably there is an inflation impact. And there is probably a demand which is strong.
You know that they have an important stimulus plan, and for instance, in the U.S., certainly it starts to impact our figures. Now, we don't guide for the year at Colas level, so I won't give any figure today. Let's say that the situation is we are confident, but the situation is still quite uncertain, generally speaking. We have to be vigilant. Did I answer all your questions?
Yes, very good. Just on the margins, so we're trending towards the 4%. Still confident we should be kind of in the middle of the 3.3%-4% by the end of the year. There's no points of extra vigilance or a bit worried about inflation or the business is well hedged as it has been historically.
We have some hedging mechanism, but we don't know if these mechanism are 100% efficient. We ask to still be prudent. We don't guide for this year at Bouygues, at Colas level. Probably it will be impacted on certain items. Let's say energy, let's say bitumen and so on. We have these mitigation mechanism. To date, there is no reason to imagine something different that we have guided at Bouygues level, I mean, at Bouygues level. We don't give any specific guidance for any activity for this year, which is in a certain extent quite uncertain.
You know that scenarios from different organizations concerning inflation, for instance, or global growth in the economy are very different from one to the other. We have to be agile. That's all I can say. We are vigilant in order to be that agile.
Okay, thank you. If I may, a last one on Equans. Is there room to be a bit more specific on the actual closing of the deal? Are we still talking? I mean, there's no real mention of new dates, but you know, can you specify the second half kind of timing now?
There are two steps. There are two steps for Equans. First, we have to go to signing, and then we have to go to closing. We think that we will sign very soon because there is no specific reason not to sign today. Prior to closing, we need to have some authorization. You know that we need to have some foreign investment authorization from the U.K., U.S., and this authorization has been obtained, and we have some clearance from antitrust authorities. Certain have been obtained, but we still have some to obtain. For instance, the European clearance. As you know, it's not so easy to predict how long it will take.
As there is no major issue, we are still expecting to close during summer.
Okay, perfect. Thank you very much.
Mr. Grangé, there are no more questions at this time.
No more questions. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for joining us today. We will be announcing our first half 2022 sales and earnings sooner than previous year on 2nd August 2022. Should you have any questions, please contact our investor relations team. Their contact information is on the press release on our website. Thank you for your attention.
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