During the Q&A session, you are able to ask questions by dialing #5 on your telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to Frédérique Delavaud, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the presentation of Bouygues' nine months 2025 results. This presentation will be led by Pascal Grangé, Deputy CEO of the Bouygues Group, Stéphane Stoll, who, as you know, was appointed CFO of the Bouygues Group beginning of August, and Christian Lecoq, CFO of Bouygues Telecom. Following their presentation, they will be answering your questions. Pascal, I'll let you start this call.
Thank you, Frédérique, and good morning, everyone. Before listing our highlights, I would like to recall that, as we have already mentioned since the beginning of the year, the global macroeconomic and geopolitical environment remains very uncertain, notably in France. That being said, I want to highlight that the Group expects for a slight increase in sales year-on-year, excluding exchange rate effects, and a slight increase in COPA year-on-year. These expectations are reflected in the Group's nine months results that are strong. Looking at the main indicators for the nine months, we can see that. First, Group sales were up 0.9% year-on-year, notably driven by the construction businesses. Q3 Group sales were stable year-on-year, given forex had an impact of around -EUR 250 million over the quarter. Second, COPA increase year-on-year was notable in the first nine months 2025. The increase was driven by the construction businesses and Equans.
Third, excluding the exceptional income tax surcharge for large companies in France of EUR 60 million, the net result attributable to the Group was up year-on-year. I remind you that the effects on the net profit attributable to the Group are the French finance law and the Social Security financing law, which was passed during the first quarter of 2025, including mainly the exceptional income tax surcharge for large companies in France, had been estimated at around EUR 100 million for the full year 2025. This is still our evaluation to date. On EUR 80 million already been recorded in the first nine months 2025. Fourth, the Group benefits from a particularly robust financial structure. At end September 2025, our net debt improved versus end September 2024. In September, Standard & Poor's revised our negative to stable the outlook associated with its A- credit rating.
Let's now have a look at our key figures on slide five. Group sales in the first nine months 2025 stood at EUR 41.9 billion, up 0.9% year-on-year. This increase was notably driven by Bouygues Construction, Colas, and Bouygues Telecom, with the contribution of La Poste Telecom. In the first nine months 2025, the Group COPA increased by EUR 95 million year-on-year and reached EUR 1.814 billion. This increase was led by the construction businesses and Equans. TF1 and Bouygues Telecom and COPA being down year-on-year. The net profit attributable to the Group was EUR 675 million. This amount is not comparable to that of the nine months 2024, as it includes the exceptional income tax surcharge for large companies in France, -EUR 60 million. Excluding this surcharge, on a comparable basis, the net profit attributable to the Group would have been up EUR 48 million year-on-year at EUR 735 million.
Last, net debt was EUR 7.6 billion, an improvement of EUR 856 million year-on-year. This is a very good performance, in particular if we consider the amount of net acquisitions made over the year, mainly including Bouygues Telecom's acquisition of La Poste Telecom for almost EUR 1 billion. This is a theoretical vision, of course, but without these acquisitions, our net debt would have been improved by EUR 1.9 billion year-on-year. Let's now turn to the review of operations. On slide eight. Let's begin backlog in the construction businesses. You can see that at end September 2025, the backlog was at a very high level of EUR 32.1 billion, providing good visibility on activity. Looking into details on slide 9, let's start with Colas backlog, which was up EUR 1.4 billion year-on-year at EUR 14.2 billion, with rail backlog up 31% year-on-year.
In roads, the backlog was up 2% year-on-year, of which French and international backlogs were respectively down 3% and up 4% year-on-year. At constant exchange rates, the backlog was up 12% year-on-year. To be noted that the backlog to be executed in the current year and next year was up around EUR 400 million year-on-year. At Bouygues Construction, the backlog stood at EUR 17.2 billion, down EUR 0.7 billion year-on-year, but stable compared to end June 2025. Civil Works was down 14% year-on-year, and in Building, the French backlog was up 12%. The international backlog was up 1%. At constant exchange rates, the backlog was down 3% year-on-year. It is important to notice that EUR 17.2 billion is a very high level of backlog. At end September 2025, the backlog to be executed in the current year and next year was down around EUR 200 million year-on-year.
However, additional significant contracts are expected by mid-2026, notably internationally, which will support the level of the backlog. In that respect, you probably read this morning that Bouygues Construction will carry out the civil engineering works for two new EPRs at Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station in the U.K. as part of a civil work alliance. The share of Bouygues Construction in this construction is estimated at around EUR 3.3 billion. This is very good news. To be noticed that the scope of work will be carried out through the delivery of a series of work orders, and so Bouygues Construction will book the related orders as they are instructed, starting from fourth quarter. At Bouygues Immobilier, the backlog was at EUR 0.7 billion at end September 2025, down EUR 0.3 billion year-on-year.
The decrease of around EUR 70 million in backlog since June 2025 is mainly due to the consolidation of activities in Poland in July 2025. Moving to slide 10. I will make a few comments on the strong commercial activity in the construction businesses. First, at group level, the order intake in France was at EUR 10.8 billion. In road activities, this order intake was slightly up, with a slight decrease in mainland France, as expected in the pre-local elections year, and it was up internationally, with significant contracts awarded in Q3 in Morocco, in the U.S., and in Canada. In rail, the order intake was up strongly in the first nine months, with also notably a significant contract awarded in the U.K. in Q3.
At construction level, the order intake in the first nine months reached EUR 6.8 billion, driven largely by the contracts of less than EUR 100 million. Several large contracts were awarded in nine months 2025, including notably three contracts for more than EUR 100 million in Q3. Do not forget that year-on-year change in order intake at Bouygues Construction is not representative, given fluctuations in the award of large contracts. As a reminder, nine months 2024 order intake included several major contracts, notably the Torrens to Darlington Highway contract, worth more than EUR 2 billion, creating a particularly strong basis of comparison. As I already mentioned in previous calls, please also note that additional significant contracts are expected by mid-2026. At Bouygues Immobilier, residential reservations stood at EUR 0.9 billion at end September 2025. To be noted, an improvement year-on-year.
Residential units reservations value and stable in volume in a still changing market environment and a decrease in block reservations. Two small positive signs are to be noted: sell-off and consolidation rates improved year-on-year. Last, as we have already said many times, the commercial property market remains at a standstill. Now, let's have a look at sales on slide 11. Sales were up 2% year-on-year and 3% like-for-like at constant exchange rates. First, sales were up 1% year-on-year at EUR 11.9 billion, driven by rail up 12%, this growth being supported notably by Egypt, France, and Germany. Roads were stable, with France up 2%, EMEA up 2%, Asia-Pacific strongly up 19%, and North America down 5%. Colas sales were up 2% year-on-year at constant exchange rates. Second, Bouygues Construction sales were up 4% year-on-year at EUR 7.9 billion, driven by its three segments of activity, all up year-on-year.
Bouygues Construction sales were up 5% year-on-year at constant exchange rates. Last, at Bouygues Immobilier, sales were down 6% year-on-year at EUR 0.9 billion, with residential property down 4% year-on-year, restated for the disposal of activities in Poland. Next slide. Current operating profit from activities of the construction businesses was EUR 591 million, improving EUR 115 million compared to nine months 2024, driven by the three business segments. COPA at Colas was slightly up year-on-year, improving by EUR 11 million, with the margin from activities improving 0.1 points at 2.7%. COPA at Bouygues Construction was strongly up year-on-year, increasing by EUR 45 million and with 0.4 points COPA margin improvement at 3.3%. At Bouygues Immobilier level, COPA was up EUR 59 million year-on-year. It includes some one-off items representing a global amount of EUR 27 million with the disposal of Poland activities in particular.
Now, I'll hand over to who will comment on Equans' results.
Thank you, Pascal. Good morning, everyone. Let's move to slide 14. Equans' backlog at end of September 2025 was stable year-on-year at EUR 25.8 billion. Order nine months of 2025 stood at EUR 13.9 billion, a high level close to the one of September 2024. It is worth noticing that order intake in contracts of less than EUR 5 million was up year-on-year, representing more than two-thirds intake. On the other hand. Order intake in projects of more than EUR 5 million was down year-on-year, reflecting a high basis of comparison in 2024. A wait-and-see stance in some areas of activity, notably in data centers in Europe and on the EV market. In parallel, we continue to observe a gradual improvement in the order intake margin. As for sales, they were down 2% year-on-year in the nine months 2025.
This essentially reflects three main items. First, the continued careful selection of. Second, a proactive exit from non-strategic activities, notably the new business in the U.K. that we mentioned in the previous publications. Third, a temporary slowdown in relation to the wait-and-see stance in data centers and gigafactories I mentioned earlier. First nine months sales were also impacted by a negative exchange effect of -EUR 55 million. This effect concentrated in Q3, sales being impacted by a negative -EUR 66 million over the quarter. As such, Q3 sales down 4.2% year-on-year, while down 2.8% year-on-year at constant exchange rates. Equans' contribution to the group's COPA represented EUR 565 million. A significant increase of EUR 91 million year-on-year, with a 4.1% COPA margin up 0.7 points year-on-year, confirming the continued successful execution of the Perform plan. Let me finally give you some updates on our recent M&A developments.
Equans secured four bolt-on acquisitions in this quarter in Germany, Austria, Italy, and North America, around EUR 180 million of full-year sales. These acquisitions are in line with the strategy shared during the Capital Market Day back in 2023. To end with Equans on slide 15, let me just add that in 2025, Equans will continue its strategic plan and is aiming at achieving a slight decrease in sales versus 2024 at constant exchange rate, given, one, the proactive exit from remaining non-strategic and non-performing activities, and second, the temporary slowdown in some areas of activity. Equans is also aiming at achieving a margin from activities close to 4.3%, up from the 4.2% mentioned end of July. Finally, Equans confirmed it is targeting a cash conversion rate, which is COPA to cash flow before working capital requirement, of between 80% and 100%.
As a reminder, Equans aims to gradually catch up with the organic growth of sector peers and to achieve a margin from activities of 5% in 2025. Now, Christian is going to detail Bouygues Telecom's main figures.
Thank you, Stéphane, and good morning, everyone. Before turning to slide 17 and entering into the nine months and the third quarter performance of Bouygues Telecom, I would like to say a few words about the integration of La Poste Telecom within Bouygues Telecom. It has now been one year since we completed the acquisition of La Poste Telecom. We have already achieved several successful milestones, notably, first, the strengthening of our mobile business thanks to La Poste Telecom's customer base and the vast distribution network of over 6,000 post offices of La Poste Group. Second, the promising launch of the fixed commercial offers La Poste Mobile in September 2025. Since October 2025.
new La Poste Mobile's customers have access to Bouygues Telecom's mobile network and can benefit from end-to-end services such as 5G or RCS. That being said, performance has remained this quarter solid and fixed, as you can see on slide 17. FTTH continued to experience strong growth, with 371,000 new customers during the first nine months, of which 128,000 the third quarter. With a total of 4.6 million customers, FTTH customers represented 85% of our fixed customer base, up from 79% one year ago. This is the result of a wider FTTH, combined with the excellent quality of our network and services. As we have already achieved a very high level of migrations from DSL to FTTH, we will certainly observe a logical slowdown in these migrations in the coming quarters.
Please also note that the target of 40 million FTTH premises marketed has been reached more than one year ahead of schedule, which is also a very good achievement. You can also see that we had a total of 5.3 million fixed customers at end September 2025. This represents an increase of 184,000 customers in the nine months, of which 79,000 in the third quarter. This good momentum is driven by both, first, B.iG and B&YOU Pure Fibre offers, with customer satisfaction improving and churn lowering, and second, as I have already mentioned, the promising launch of the fixed commercial offers of La Poste Telecom in September 2025. The momentum we made also good on value, with fixed ARPU up EUR 0.2 year-on-year at EUR 33.4 per client and per month.
As you can see on slide 18, the commercial performance was good in mobile in a mature and still competitive market. We observed ongoing positive effects of B.iG on customer satisfaction and churn and continued growth of converged households per household. At end September 2025, Bouygues Telecom had 18.5 million mobile plan customers, including M2M, thanks to 231,000 new customers in the first nine months, of which 125,000 in the third quarter. Mobile ARPU, including La Poste Telecom, was stable versus Q2 2025 at EUR 70.3 per client and per month. It reflects continued low pricing for new customers in the low-end segment and the derivative effect of La Poste Telecom as expected. Let's have a look at the key figures on slide 19. As a reminder, La Poste Telecom has been consolidated in Bouygues Telecom's financial statements since 1st November 2024.
That being said, we achieved 5% growth in sales billed to customers year-on-year, broadly stable excluding La Poste Telecom. Total sales were up 4% year-on-year, with 3% growth in other sales. EBITDA after leases was stable year-on-year at EUR 1.505 billion. This stability is explained by an increase in sales billed to customers and ongoing efforts to control costs, compensated by, second, higher energy costs due to the end of very favorable hedging conditions between 2020 and 2024. The current operating profit from activities was down EUR 94 million at EUR 509 million, reflecting the increase in D&A in line with our CapEx trajectory and, of course, the higher energy costs I already mentioned. Last, you can notice that gross CapEx was EUR 1.036 billion in nine months 2025, and remind you that the CapEx are non-linear over the year.
Moving to slide 20, let me remind you Bouygues Telecom's 2025 targets. First, sales billed to customers, including La Poste Telecom, would be higher than in 2024. Second, sales billed to customers, like to like, excluding La Poste Telecom, are expected to be close to the level of 2024. The figure would be either slightly higher or slightly lower, depending on the duration and intensity of competitive pressure currently. Third, EBITDA after leases will be broadly stable compared to 2024. In 2025, Bouygues Telecom will no longer benefit from the very favorable low-hedged energy prices arranged in 2020 and 2021. La Poste's contribution to EBITDA after leases will be limited in 2025, with the full effect expected from 2028. Last, gross capital expenditures, excluding frequencies, is expected at around EUR 1.5 billion. Expenditure related to the migration of La Poste Telecom mobile customers.
Pascal, I now let you share a few words on TF1.
Thank you, Christian. Turning to slide 22, let's talk briefly about TF1's results, which were released on the 30th. First, the TF1 Group reinforced its audience leadership. Among them, the total audience share among women under 50 who are purchasing decision-makers was at 33.8%, up 0.8%. The total audience share among individuals aged 25 to 49 was at 30.7%, up 0.7 points. Second, in the nine months 2025, totals were stable year-on-year. Media sales decreased by 1% year-on-year, with advertising revenues down 2%, and the continued strong gross momentum for TF1+, up 41% year-on-year. Studio TF1 posted revenues up 11% year-on-year, including a EUR 25 million contribution from JPG. Third, COPA amounted to EUR 191 million, slightly down EUR 7 million, and COPA margin was at 11.9% in nine months 2025, down 0.5 points year-on-year.
It includes a cost of program of EUR 662 million. The slight decrease versus the nine months 2024 was due notably to the base effect related to the Euro 2024 football tournament. Please also note that there was a capital gain of EUR 17 million in relation with the disposal of My Little Paris and PlayTwo recorded in Q3 2025. As a reminder, in Q3 2024, there had been a capital gain of EUR 27 million in relation to the disposal of the Ushuaia brand licence. Turning to slide 23, I will end by saying that the TF1 Group confirmed the following targets: strong digital revenue growth in digital. On the dividend side, aiming for a growing dividend policy in the coming years. After observing that domestic instability adversely impacted the market in October, first indications are also below expectations in November. Visibility until year-end.
As such, TF1 has adjusted its 2025 guidance for margin from activities to a level between 10.5% and 11.5%. Previously, TF1 Group was targeting a broadly stable margin from activities compared to 2024, which was 12.6%. Stéphane, I know, going to comment on the group's key financial figures.
Start with the P&L on slide 25. We have already discussed nine months sales and current operating profit from activities at the beginning of this call. I will thus focus on the bottom part of the P&L this morning. First, PPE was -EUR 77 million. Includes mainly EUR 35 million recorded at Bouygues SA level in relation to Equans and EUR 26 million recorded at Bouygues Telecom level. Second, other operating income and expenses, which do not reflect operational activity, were negative at -EUR 151 million end of September 2025.
This amount is largely due to, on the one hand, non-current charges in relation to the Equans management incentive plan, which represented EUR 66 million, an amount split between Equans and Bouygues SA. On the other hand, some provision recorded at Bouygues Construction and Colas, respectively, in relation to a change in regulation in the U.K. and to recent developments relating to an international project at Colas Rye dating back to 2011. Third, financial result, which comprised cost of net debt, interest expense on lease obligation, and other financial income and expenses to that -EUR 305 million, an amount close but a bit higher than to that of the nine months of 2024. Fourth, a tax charge was recorded for EUR 443 million, higher than last year, in relation to higher operational results.
This amount excludes the EUR 71 million of exceptional income tax charge for large companies in France. Fifth, the effect of the tax charge on the net result attributable to the group was -EUR 60 million, leading this result to reach EUR 675 million, down EUR 12 million versus last year. Excluding this tax charge, the net result attributable to the group has been up EUR 48 million last year, as already mentioned by Pascal. Let's now turn to slide 26 to describe the net debt evolution between end of December 2024 and end of September 2025. As you can see, net debt increased by around EUR 1.6 million since the end of 2024. This negative change is quite usual and related to the seasonality of our activities.
The good news is that the magnitude of the increase in the net debt is significantly lower than that of last year, which was around EUR 2.2 billion. This increase includes, first, acquisitions net of disposals totaling -EUR 118 million achieved at Colas, Equans, Bouygues Immobilier, TF1, as well as investment in joint ventures at Bouygues Telecom and purchase of TF1 shares. Second, capital transactions and other for EUR 155 million, including largely exercise of stock option. Third, dividends for a total of EUR 864 million, including EUR 755 million for Bouygues shareholder, the remaining part being almost entirely paid to Bouygues Telecom and TF1 minority shareholders. And last, - EUR 725 million from operations that I will comment on the next slide. Turning to the change in net debt for the first nine months of 2025 on this slide 27.
You can observe that it breaks down as follows. On the one hand, net cash flow, including lease expense, stood at EUR 2.7 billion, an improvement of EUR 162 million compared to the first nine months of. On the other hand, net CapEx was EUR 1.5 billion, a slightly lower amount compared to the first nine months of 2024. As such, our free cash flow before working capital requirements was EUR 1.2 billion, an amount higher versus last year. On the chart, the change in working capital requirements and other stood at -EUR 1.9 billion, a usual negative change at this period of the year. I will now turn our attention to the group financial structure on slide 28.
You can see the group maintained a very high level of liquidity at EUR 14.4 billion, which comprised EUR 3.1 billion in cash and equivalents and EUR 11.3 billion in undrawn medium and long-term credit facilities. Both shareholders' equity and net debt improved significantly versus end of September 2024. As a result, net gearing reached 53% at end of September 2025, an improvement compared to 61% at end of September 2024. You can see from the chart on the right-hand side that the debt maturity schedule is well spread over time. I remind you that our next bond redemption is in October 2026. Last, I want to highlight that the group benefits from strong credit ratings. At Standard & Poor's, our rating is A-, and the outlook associated with this rating has been revised in September from negative to stable. At Moody's, our rating is A3 with a stable outlook.
Pascal, I am giving you back the floor for the conclusion.
Indeed, I will end this presentation on slide 30 by saying that in a very uncertain global environment, the group's six business segments continue to prove their ability to keep pace with developments in their respective markets. They also pursue their efforts to improve profitability. At the group level, we are targeting a slight increase in current operating profit from activities versus 2024. Second, we specify that group's 2025 sales are expected to be slightly up versus 2024 at constant exchange rates. Given fluctuations in currencies, notably those related to the U.S. dollar, group sales as published are now expected to be close to the level of 2024. I remind you that previously the Bouygues Group was targeting for 2025 a slight increase in sales and in current operating profit from activities versus 2024.
Last, the effects on the net profit attributable to the group of the French finance law and the social security financing law, first quarter of 2025, remain estimated to date at around EUR 100 million for 2025. We have finished our presentation, and we thank you for your attention. We are now with Stéphane and Christian. Ready to answer your questions. Operator, please open the floor for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial #5 on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial #6. The next question comes from Carlos Caburrasi from Kepler Chevreux. Please go ahead.
Hi everyone. Thanks for the presentation. I want to give my question. Just a quick one from my side. You're again upgrading Equans' 2025 margin target, but your 2027 view remains unchanged.
I was wondering if there's anything here that we're missing or if it's likely that by 2027, the margin will be above 5%. If you allow me, hypothetically, what do you see Equans' margin by 2030? Is 6%, 7% a reasonable assumption? Thank you.
Nothing changed since our last publication. We are indeed very pleased that Equans is moving now to 4.3% this year. We confirm that our target for now for 2027 margin remains at 5% as per guidance dating back from capital market in 2023. We are confident that we will be able to achieve this 5% margin. For now, we don't want to communicate anything else.
As to your question to the 2030 margin at Equans, let me simply state, as we already stated in the last publication, that we see no reason why Equans would not be capable of achieving margins which are close or similar to the one that's our aim mid-long term. That's what I can answer to your two questions.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you.
The next question comes from Mathieu Robilliard from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you for the presentation. I had a few questions. First, if I may ask, I mean, you made an offer along with other players for Altice assets. Yes, the offer was refused. You didn't change your bid. I just wanted to check if you could confirm you're still in discussion with Altice at the moment. The second one was on taxes.
You flagged the impact of the change in the corporate tax in 2025. There's now discussions in the French Parliament that 2026 would be about the same. Obviously, this has not been finalized, and a lot of things can still change. In principle, if the current proposal was to be passed, does it mean that the corporate tax that you pay in 2026 would be similar to the impact you saw in 2025, about EUR 100 million? Lastly, on telecoms, I had a question about the ARPU. Christian, you mentioned that the ARPU, including La Poste, is flat quarter on quarter. I was wondering, if we look at ARPU excluding La Poste, what was the trend in Q3 compared to Q2? Is it getting a bit worse? Is it stabilizing? Obviously, it's a very competitive environment, but any color in terms of the more recent trends would be great.
Thank you.
First, I will answer to the question related to taxes. In fact, if the current law was to be passed this year, we will have an additional impact this year related to the fact that this additional tax is based on the level of tax you have this year. We will have a new charge of around approximately EUR 40 million-EUR 50 million this year. Next, we have the remaining part. Overall, it will be a bit lower because the rate is a bit lower overall, and the second part of this additional tax will be paid in 2026.
On the Altice situation, as you rightly mentioned, and as you know, we submitted a joint offer on October 14th. As you know, this offer was promptly rejected by Altice on the next day. For now, to be honest, we are not in discussion.
We are hopeful that we are capable of entering into discussions with Altice in the coming weeks, since we believe that this EUR 17 billion offer that we submitted to be quite attractive for at least two major reasons. It offers a valuation of significantly more than EUR 21 billion for Altice, taking into account the valuation of the assets which are not part of our proposal, such as XP Fibre. It thus represents a significant premium compared to the value estimated by brokers. As you know, some EUR 17 billion price synergies lead to an attractive equity value for Altice shareholders. We also believe it is an attractive offer because it provides a global solution for most of Altice France assets. I believe it represents a credible alternative to a piecemeal sale that could move very lengthy and highly uncertain.
We are not in discussion for now, but we are still hopeful that we will be capable of entering such discussion in the near future.
Regarding mobile GPU for Bouygues Telecom, excluding La Poste Telecom, was at 18.4, so plus EUR 0.1 compared to Q2 2025. You can find all the figures at the end of the presentation. It is in the annex of the website. I just remind you that usually in Q3, GPU is better or higher because of roaming impact. We have positive roaming impact in Q3.
The next question comes from Rohit Modi from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hello, my pleasure, and thank you for taking my questions. I've got two basically. Firstly, on your guidance, full year guidance. I understand the revenue guidance, flat revenue guidance would imply a decline, kind of decline in revenue in Q4.
Your COPA guidance, slight increase, still leaves some room for a decline or upside. I mean, if you can directionally guide us how we should see COPA, whether it's declining, flat, or continue to increase in 4Q, that would be great. Second question is, again, sorry, on consolidation. Just trying to understand what happens in a no-deal scenario. How do you see, are there any assets that can still go ahead and buy from SFR without having the consortium going for a joint bid? How do you see the market if there is a no-deal? Is that getting worse from here? Or you see the same kind of conditions? Thank you.
Okay.
On your first question regarding the full year guidance, what we can simply say for the Q4 2025 COPA, of course, this quarter is not, as you know, so it is a requirement, so it is difficult to answer. I remind you that Q4 2024 COPA was EUR 816 million, and Q4 2025 COPA would probably be in the same order of magnitude as this Q4 2024.
Please, I remind you that, in fact, there is no— We have some exchange rate effects, but these exchange rate effects do not affect our profitability, in fact, because, in fact, we are very local. Our expenses are in the same currency as our revenues. There is no forex significant impact, I mean.
On the consolidation and the no-deal scenario, this is still a possibility. What will change? The market will remain as it is today with four competitors.
We believe that Bouygues Telecom will be capable of delivering its and continue to deliver its current and delivering results in line with this strategy. Nothing more specific to comment, I believe, on this specific topic.
Thank you. Will there be any other effect that in case there is no group deal, you can still buy from SFR that SFR will be willing to sell?
For now, consortium stands. Our offer was confirmed. We are hopeful that we will be still capable of entering into construction discussion with Altice in the coming weeks. We believe this deal to be of interest for all stakeholders. We are hopeful that we will be able, at some point in time, to convince Altice to change its mind.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial #5 on your telephone keypad.
The next question comes from Mollie Witcombe from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Just a couple of questions from me, please. Firstly, I'm just wondering how you're thinking about group capital allocation and shareholder remuneration in the context of the French offer. How long do you wait before looking to pursue potential other options in other businesses? Are you still looking at potential M&A options in other businesses, even as this is kind of ticking along in the background? My second question is just on Equans' top-line trends. You have talked about the connection to the slowdown in data centers, etc. I'm just wondering. Do you feel that this is more industry-wide? Is there a kind of reason why Equans in particular is seeing this trend, and how you're thinking about it going into next year?
Should we expect this to continue into kind of H1 and beyond, or how should we think about this in the midterm? Thank you.
I will answer your first question. In fact, you have seen that our financial structure is very strong. The idea of maintaining a very strong financial structure is to be able to all our business lines. We have obviously this important project of consolidation of the telecom market in France. In the meantime, we are studying and we are working on some M&A for the other business lines. There is no relationship of these different of the development of all business lines is independent of what we do on SFR. We have some either in construction, in Equans, in Colas. No issue in that respect.
As you know, we communicated on a significant acquisition that we are pursuing in the U.S. for Colas.
As I mentioned, we have secured Q3 quarter at Equans for bolt-on acquisitions in Germany, Austria, Italy, and the U.S., confirming the strategy of bolt-on acquisition that we presented back in 2023. On trends, we certainly believe that the temporary slowdown that I mentioned on the data centers in Europe and EV battery gigafactories is definitely industry-wide, specific to Equans. Having said that, we still believe that fundamentally, the markets on which Equans operates are strong and will provide interesting development opportunities. We do not expect any further significant slowdown for now. We believe that Equans is on a continued path. We mentioned and we confirmed that we expect Equans to get close to its peers in terms also of organic growth. The plan, and we are not worried at all for next year. Equans' markets are resilient.
We are at the heart of three long-lasting transitions: energy transition, industry transition, digital transition, and that will not change.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Eric Ravary from CIC. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Two for my side. First one is on Bouygues Construction, on the very strong COPA figure in Q3. Could you give us any comment on this performance? Is it linked to one specific project? And second question is on Equans. Could you give us the share of data centers and gigafactories in the order intake in 2024 to assess the decrease of the role of the order intake in 2025? Thank you.
First, I will answer on Bouygues Construction.
In fact, our aim for Bouygues, there is a Bouygues Construction cycle in projects, which are huge projects, and the profitability could vary from one year to the other. There is no very specific item this year explaining the improvement of the profitability. We have a strategic plan in order to have Bouygues Construction raising profitability to 3-3.5. We are in that range, and this is due to that strategic plan. No very specific reason. It's a good performance for Bouygues Construction. For Equans,
On the gigafactories, as you know, just to answer your, I don't have precise numbers. Available, but just gigafactories in Europe. With the failure of Northvolt last year, the market is at a halt, so we do not have any significant order intake this year on this specific market, which explains the slowdown that we mentioned.
On the data center business, what we can say in general numbers is that the order of magnitude of our revenues in this business will be this year around EUR 800 million, and it is down more or less EUR 150 million year to year. Having said that, we believe we see a very positive trend this time in terms of order intake in data centers in the US. While the market is slow in Europe, this may change in the coming months, but it is quite strong in the U.S., and we were able to secure first projects in the U.S. and in Canada, and this will spell strong revenues next year in this business in the U.S. Overall, we are not concerned by the trends, midterm trends, especially in data center, whether in Europe or in the U.S.
Of course, gigafactories, this probably will remain a slow market next year.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
The next question comes from Stephane Beyazian from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you. I was wondering if you have set yourself a deadline for getting to an agreement on the Altice bid or basically talks could resume whenever, could be in one month, in three months, or in six months. A second question, I was also wondering how important infrastructure assets of SFR are in your offer. According to the press, Altice is considering to sell some of its infrastructure assets, and I was wondering if such a sale would make a deal easier or more difficult in the future. Thank you.
Regarding your second question, we share with SFR two kinds of networks.
The first one is a mobile network in millions, I understood what I read in the press that this mobile network is not concerned by the willingness of SFR to sell some part of its network. The second kind of network is the fiber network, half of the vertical area on the horizontal part of the network. It is quite a small network, and it is not a problem for us if this network belongs to someone else. So no problem for me.
On the timeline, for now, we do not have any specific timeline in mind, and it is whenever it will happen, indeed.
[Foreign language]
That is very clear. Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you for joining us today. We will be announcing full year 2025 results on 26th of February 2026. Should you have any questions, please contact our investor relations team. Contact for the press release on our website. Thank you.