Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the presentation of Bouygues Nine Months 2026 results. This presentation will be led by Stéphane Stoll, Senior Vice President and CFO of Bouygues Group. Stéphane Stoll is accompanied by Christian Lecoq, CFO of Bouygues Telecom. Following their presentation, they will be answering your questions. Stéphane, I now give you the floor.
Thank you, Frédérique, and good morning, everyone. Before listing our highlights, I would like to point out that obviously the global macroeconomic and geopolitical environment remains very uncertain and highly volatile during these first nine months of the year. The situation in France, in particular, has worsened since this summer. That being said, I am pleased to say that the nine months group results were once again very solid. We are therefore in a position to revise upwards our Group COPA guidance for 2026, with a slight increase now expected. Entering into details, nine months group sales were stable year-on-year at constant exchange rates, including Q3 sales up almost 2% year-on-year at constant exchange rates. Group COPA was up EUR 44 million year-on-year.
Net profit attributable to the group was impacted by the impairment on Bouygues SA's stake in TF1 for EUR 569 million that we disclosed last week. I recall that it has no effect on our cash position or on our investment capacity. At end of September 2026, our net debt continued to show significant improvement versus end of September last year, in keeping with the trend observed since the end of 2025. Last, I would like to stress the continued performance of Equans this quarter. Equans book-to-bill continued to show very good momentum in Q3 with an order intake and a backlog at a record level. COPA and margin from activities continued to improve strongly, with a COPA reaching EUR 739 million, up EUR 174 million year-on-year, and a margin from activities achieving 5.5%, a significant improvement of 1.4 points year-on-year.
These KPIs continue to demonstrate successful execution of the strategic plan of Equans. Sales, for their part, also continued to show progressive recovery as expected, mitigating the soft start to the year. Let's now have a look at our key figures on slide five. Our group sales stood at EUR 41.6 billion, slightly down as published and stable at constant exchange rate as per our guidance. In the first nine months of 2026, the group COPA increased by EUR 44 million compared to the first nine months of 2025 and reached EUR 1 billion 858 million. This increase was mainly led by Equans and to a lesser extent by Bouygues Construction. The net profit attributable to the group was EUR 306 million, down EUR 369 million year-on-year. It includes the recent impairment on Bouygues SA's stake in TF1 that I have already mentioned.
Excluding this one-off item, our profit would sit at EUR 875 million compared to the EUR 675 million last year. I recall that the net profit attributable to the group also includes, for the second year in a row, the income tax surcharge for large companies in France for a total of EUR 44 million this nine months. Last but not least, net debt was EUR 5.6 billion, a renewed improvement of more than EUR 2 billion year- on- year. This is a very good performance. As always, due to the seasonality of our activities, net debt at end of September was higher than at end of December of the previous year and is, of course, expected to improve until year-end. Let's now turn to the review of our construction division operations on slide eight. Let's begin with the backlog.
The key message on this slide is the robustness of our construction division backlog, which reached EUR 32.5 billion at end of September, a record for this period. This performance was primarily driven by our international operations, particularly outside Europe, as you can see on the graph, where backlog increased by 8% year- on- year, notably helped by the very significant data center contract awarded to Bouygues Construction in Australia end of July for around EUR 1.2 billion. Please note also the continued strength of our backlog in France despite the current environment. The level of this backlog demonstrates the resilience of our construction business and the growing diversification of our business internationally. Such a backlog gives us overall good visibility on future activity.
Taking a step backwards over a five-year period, the backlog level at end of September 2026 was up 18% compared to end of September 2022, with all geographies improving over the period. Turning now to slide nine. Our key message here is that the share of backlog to be executed within the next 15 months increased by EUR 1.1 billion year- on- year, driven by Bouygues Construction, and this provides, as already said, overall visibility for near-term revenue generation despite increasing uncertainties. Let's start with Colas, whose backlog reached EUR 13.9 billion, down 2% year- on- year, and stable like-for-like and excluding principal disposals and acquisitions. In road, the backlog was slightly up 2%, driven by international, up 9% year- on- year, while it was down in France, as expected, in relation with the local elections earlier this year. In rail, the backlog was down 7% year- on- year.
This decline being expected and linked to the strong basis of comparison in relation to important contracts awarded last year, notably in Morocco and in the U.K. Our commercial pipeline in rail remains strong. For its part, Bouygues Construction's backlog was up 4% to EUR 18 billion, supported by continued momentum on our order intake, as well as the integration of Vannoy Construction, which we acquired end of June in the U.S. In building, the French backlog was up 4%, and the international backlog was up 37%, including, of course, Vannoy. On civil works, as you know, the award of very large contracts mechanically creates volatility in order intake and backlog from one period to another, and the basis of comparison with end of September 2025 was, in particular, very high. Thus, we are quite confident about Bouygues Construction's activity in the coming months.
Finally, at Bouygues Immobilier , backlog was at EUR 0.6 billion at end of September, down 13% year-on-year. As you know, Bouygues Immobilier's backlog is what we are used to call a secured backlog, meaning it includes only reservations when notarized. The decline observed can mainly be explained by different phasing of block sales compared to last year. Let me now turn to commercial activity across our construction businesses. Next slide. Overall, commercial momentum remains solid, particularly in international markets. At Colas, order intake reached EUR 9.5 billion, while road activity was slightly down. Overall, international markets continue to perform well, notably Northern Europe and North America. In France, order intake was down as expected due to the local elections period I already mentioned, while business diversification into environmental engineering activities is continuing.
In rail, the year-on-year expected decline mainly reflects the particularly high comparison basis I mentioned, while underlying demand remains strong. Bouygues Construction, for its part, delivered a very strong commercial performance with an order intake of EUR 7.9 billion. Activity remained at a good level in contracts below EUR 100 million, while Bouygues Construction also secured several large projects in the third quarter, including a major contract for a large hyperscale data center for AirTrunk in Australia, worth around EUR 1.2 billion. As always, order intake can be affected by the timing of major contract award, so year-on-year comparisons should be interpreted with caution. Finally, at Bouygues Immobilier, it is to be noted that market conditions deteriorated sharply and suddenly in September, reflecting weaker consumer confidence and higher interest rates. Despite the achievement of high-quality commercial performance by Bouygues Immobilier, as for the commercial property market, it remains largely at a standstill.
Let's now have a look at sales on slide 11. Sales remain stable year-on-year, driven by international sales up 3% year-on-year, while sales were down 4% in France, with increasingly challenging market conditions in France for Colas and Bouygues Immobilier. This performance was primarily driven by Bouygues Construction, which delivered strong 7% sales growth, supported by both civil works and building activities. Colas experienced a modest decline, reflecting softer road markets, particularly in France, while Bouygues Immobilier was affected by the September downturn in residential property market, accentuated by the high basis of comparison in relation with the disposal of activities in Poland last year and the low number of operations contributing to sales at this point in time. Next slide.
Current operating results from activities of the construction division were a strong EUR 585 million, with COPA margin from activities for both at Colas and Bouygues Construction, while Bouygues Immobilier remained under strong pressure. As I already briefly mentioned, prospects in France are leading Colas France to launch a transformation plan to adapt to the current market condition in France. This plan, including a mutually agreed resignation scheme based exclusively on voluntary participation, will lead Colas to record around EUR 70 million of non-current charges in the fourth quarter. To end with the construction division, let me add a few words regarding the acquisition of the Suit-Kote company by Colas. This acquisition marks another important milestone for Colas in its international development strategy. It strengthens Colas' presence in the northeastern U.S., expands its capabilities across attractive road infrastructure markets, and further consolidates its position in asphalt distribution-related activities.
With approximately $460 million in 2025 sales and 750 employees, Suit-Kote brings a strong regional footprint and complementary expertise that will support Colas' long-term growth ambitions. Following the closing of the transaction a few weeks ago, the U.S. are expected to generate around EUR 2.5 billion in annual revenues for Colas, confirming its role as the company's second-largest market and a key driver for future growth. As for the group, the U.S. should represent from 2027 onwards around EUR 5.5 billion in sales, taking into account the acquisition of Vannoy Construction. Let's now turn to Equans on slide 15. At end of September 2026, Equans' backlog stood at EUR 27.7 billion, a record level, up EUR 1.9 billion year- on- year.
The very good book-to-bill momentum seen in Q2 was confirmed in Q3, with order intake of the first nine months of 2026 at a record level of EUR 15.3 billion. On one hand, order intake on contracts of less than EUR 5 million increased slightly. On the other hand, order intake on larger contracts, over and above EUR 5 million, was a sharp increase on the back of new orders across several specialist segments, such as data centers, solar and storage, and energy systems, as we anticipated. Additional significant order intake is expected during Q4 2026. Please note that part of the order intake of those large contracts above EUR 5 million recorded in 2026 will start to contribute to sales from end of 2027 onwards. Moving to slide 16, Equans sales were down 1% year- on- year at constant exchange rates.
Q3 sales were up 2% year- on- year, in line with the gradual sequential improvement expected within the year and progressively offsetting the soft start to the year. The contribution of net M&A to the sale was around EUR 180 million, this amount taking also into account the disposal of our EV charging concession activities in the Netherlands in May 2026. Regarding profitability, Equans' nine-month COPA margin rose to 5.5%, up 1.4 points year- on- year, demonstrating the continued successful implementation of the PERFORM plan . Last, the cash generation was still strong, with net cash again up EUR 1.3 billion year- on- year, excluding M&A and dividend payments. During the first nine months of 2026, Equans pursued its M&A bolt-on strategy, with 10 acquisitions completed, representing full-year sales of around EUR 350 million. On top of that, Equans signed on October 20th a put option for the acquisition of Jiliti.
Jiliti is a French company generating around EUR 150 million in sales and specializing in the lifecycle management of IT infrastructure, notably data centers, both in France and internationally. Jiliti operates in 17 countries and maintains a global reach through a network of partners. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur end of this year, subject, of course, to the necessary approvals. To end with Equans, on slide seven, let me just add that Equans confirms targeting for 2026 stable sales versus 2025 at constant exchange rate and a cash conversion rate before working capital requirement of between 80% and 100%. As for the margin, Equans raised its COPA margin target for the second time in the year and is now targeting a COPA margin of at least 5.5%.
Let me remind you that our previous guidance earlier this year was a margin from activities of at least 5.2%, compared to an initial target set in February 2023 at 5% in 2027. We are delighted to see performance running so far ahead of the business plan established in 2023, further reinforcing, if there were any need to do so, the strategic rationale of this acquisition for the group. Let me finally remind you that Equans will hold another CMD on February 25th next year. I now give the floor to Christian Lecoq for a detailed presentation of Bouygues Telecom's nine-month key figures.
Thank you, Stéphane, and good morning, everyone. Let's start slide 19. As part of our strategy to better serve households, Bouygues Telecom announced in October two new solutions designed to strengthen customer loyalty and broaden our services. First, through a partnership with the fintech Younited, we launched a Cashback loyalty program that enables customers to save money on their everyday purchases. With around 120 partner brands covering most daily spending categories, households can save up to EUR 250 per year. The program will be available from the 9th of November. Second, in partnership with the insurance company AXA, we introduced a new range of insurance and assistance offers covering areas such as digital life protection, home emergency assistance, and bill protection. Together, these initiatives respond to strong customer expectations for broader services while strengthening long-term customer relationships.
Looking back at the French telecom market over the past year on slide 20, data from ARCEP shows a market environment that remains very challenging in mobile, while growth in the broadband and superfast broadband market remains below inflation. In mobile, the market continued to decline, with sales down year- on- year since Q1 2025. This was driven by ongoing pressure on ABPU, as you can see on the left-hand side of the slide. Mobile ABPU was notably down 4.9% in Q2 2026 year- on- year. In fixed, after strong growth in 2023 and 2024, broadband and superfast broadband sales have increased moderately since Q2 2025, and ABPU has remained broadly stable since end 2025. Looking now at telecom service prices on the next slide, we wanted to remind you that France continues to stand out as one of the most affordable markets.
The French Telecom Federation study, based on September 2025 prices, shows that the combined monthly cost of a triple-play fixed offer on a mobile plan with 50 GB of data stood at around EUR 35 in France, broadly in line with Italy, and significantly below other major European markets. They were far below those in the U.K. and the U.S. Overall, this illustrates the structurally low level of telecom prices in France, both in fixed and mobile, compared with other major markets. Turning to commercial performance on slide 22, Bouygues Telecom continued to deliver a solid commercial performance in fixed during the first nine months of the year. At the end of September, our fixed customer base reached 5.7 million customers, representing an increase of 219,000 customers year to date, including more than 100,000 net adds in the third quarter, our best third quarter performance in nine years.
This momentum was driven by fiber. We have added almost 300,000 FTTH customers since the beginning of the year, bringing our fiber customer base to 5 million. Fiber now represents 88% of our fixed customer base, compared with 85% one year ago. We continue to expand our FTTH coverage while improving connection quality. This was recognized at the WBA Awards, where we were named Best Wi-Fi Network Operator. These results reflect the consistency of our strategy, focused on network quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty, which is translating into low churn. At the same time, fixed ABPU remained solid at EUR 33.1, albeit lower than one year ago. This mainly reflects the end of massive repricing operations and targeting more-for-more campaigns, together with the dilutive effect of our recent fixed offers, which support customer acquisitions.
Overall, total fixed revenue continues to grow year-on-year, demonstrating the balance between customer acquisition and value creation. Let's now turn to slide 23. Despite a mobile market remaining under price pressure, Bouygues Telecom delivered another quarter of robust commercial performance. At the end of September, our mobile plan customer base reached 19 million customers, with 359,000 net adds since the beginning of the year, including 187,000 in the third quarter, our best quarterly performance since Q3 2019. This growth is driven by our household strategy, which continues to sustain customer acquisition while also supporting low churn. We are also successfully progressing with the migration of La Poste Telecom customers on our network, in line with the announced schedule. Pricing conditions remain competitive, particularly for the new customers on the low-end segment. In that context, mobile ARPU stood at EUR 16.8, lower than one year ago.
It was supported in the third quarter by seasonal effect from roaming versus the second quarter. Let's now have a look at the key figures on slide 24, which are in line with our full-year outlook. Sales billed to customers were up 1% year-on-year at nearly EUR 4.9 billion. This performance reflects the continued strength of our fixed business, which offset the decline in mobile. EBITDA after Leases was stable at EUR 1.5 billion, supported by our ongoing cost control initiatives, despite rising network costs, particularly on FTTH links. Current operating profit from activities reached EUR 459 million. As anticipated, this was lower than last year, mainly reflecting the continued increase in depreciation and amortization linked to the significant investment made over recent years. Moving to slide 25, Bouygues Telecom's 2026 targets are confirmed. First, sales billed to customers and EBITDA after Leases close to 2025 levels.
These figures will show modest growth versus 2023, excluding La Poste Telecom. Second, gross CapEx close to EUR 1.3 billion, excluding frequencies, confirming a decline after the CapEx peak observed over the past five years. Finally, free cash flow before working capital requirement of around EUR 600 million, excluding the impact of La Poste Telecom and before the impact of the income tax surcharge for large companies in France. Including these elements, it could be around EUR 500 million. Now, Stéphane, I give you back the floor.
Thank you, Christian. Turning to slide 27, let's talk briefly about TF1's results, which were released on October 29. First, TF1 Group maintained its audience leadership among both women under 50 who are purchasing decision-makers and individuals aged 25 to 49. While audiences were slightly lower year-on-year over the nine-month period, audience leadership strengthened significantly in August and September following the World Cup. TF1+ continued to gain momentum, with average monthly streamers reaching 42 million over the first nine months compared to 36 million a year earlier. September was the platform's second-best month ever at 43.5 million streamers. This strong performance was notably supported by the successful launch of the partnership with Netflix. Since its launch, almost 50% of Netflix subscribers in France have watched at least one TF1+ program, while hours viewed on TF1+ increased by 25% year-on-year in the first quarter.
Finally, LCI recorded the strongest year-on-year growth among news channels across its three main target audiences. Turning to slide 28, TF1's financial performance continued to be impacted by the weakness of the linear advertising market. Sales were down 9% year-on-year at constant exchange rates. In media, revenue declined by 8% like-for-like, reflecting a 9% decrease in advertising revenue. At the same time, TF1+ continued to accelerate, delivering 20.5% year-on-year growth in the third quarter and benefiting from the promising start of the partnership with Netflix. Meanwhile, Studio TF1 posted a sales growth of 3% year-on-year. As expected, current operating profit from activities was lower year-on-year. Margin from activities stood at 7.6%, down 4% points compared to the first nine months of 2025, in line with our guidance.
As a reminder, the prior year period had benefited from a EUR 17 million capital gain related to the disposal of My Little Paris and Play Two in Q3 2025. Turning to slide 29, in the context of continued limited visibility and persistent pressure on the linear advertising market, TF1 Group confirms all of its objectives for 2026. The group continues to target strong double-digit growth in digital revenue and aims to pursue a growing dividend policy in the coming years. In addition, TF1 continues to expect a mid-to-high single-digit margin from activities before capital gains in 2026, subject to the evolution of the linear advertising market. I will now turn our attention to the financial statements on slide 31, starting with the P&L. We've already discussed nine-month sales and current operating profit from activities at the beginning of this call.
There is one significant change to report this year, as other operating income and expenses, which do not reflect operational activity, include the non-cash impairment of Bouygues SA's stake in TF1 disclosed last week, leading to operating profit and net profitable attributable to the group to be down year-on-year. I recall that this impairment has no effect whatsoever on cash position or investment capacity. As regards the dividend, the impairment does not result in any cash outflow and does not undermine the group's policy of paying a dividend. Two other items deserve to be highlighted. The cost of net debt improved year-on-year, reflecting the strength of our cash position and the lower absolute level of tax, despite the increased level of our operating results, resulting in a lower effective tax rate.
Let's now turn to slide 32 to describe the net debt evolution between end of December 2025 and end of September 2026. As you can see, net debt increased by around EUR 1.4 billion since the end of 2025. Such a change, I remind you that it's usual and is related to the seasonality of our activities. It's also to be noted that the magnitude of this increase is lower for the period than in 2025, which was also lower for the period than 2024, highlighting strong efforts to improve the financial structure of the group across our businesses. This increase includes acquisition net of disposal totaling EUR 291 million, including acquisitions at Colas, Bouygues Construction, and Equans. It is to be noted that the Suit-Kote transaction will be recorded in Q4 numbers.
Capital transactions and others for minus EUR 10 million, including exercise of stock option, treasury, share buyback, and at a lesser extent, the change in liquidity contract. Dividends for EUR 938 million, the major part being for Bouygues shareholder and the remaining part being almost entirely paid to Bouygues Telecom and TF1 minority shareholders. Last, minus EUR 150 million from operations. A strong improvement compared to last year. I will comment on this aggregate in the next slide. Thus turning to the breakdown of operation for the first nine months of 2026 on this slide 33, you can observe that net cash flow, including lease liabilities, stood at EUR 2.6 billion, comparable to last year. Net CapEx was EUR 1.3 billion, a lower amount compared to the first nine months of 2025. This increase is notably explained by lower net CapEx at Bouygues Telecom level, as planned.
Consequently, free cash flow before working capital requirement was EUR 1.3 billion, an amount slightly higher versus last year. Change in working capital requirements stood at minus EUR 1.7 billion, a usual negative change at this period of the year and similar to last year. Finally, forex effects and other adjustments stood at plus EUR 241 million. The change versus last year includes notably positive effect from forex for around EUR 240 million, and from change in the fair value of our financial instruments for around EUR 120 million in relation with the hedging position taken at Bouygues SA and Bouygues Telecom, as we always do to cover our interest rate risks. I will now turn our attention to the group financial structure on slide 34.
The group maintained a very high level of liquidity at EUR 16.9 billion, much higher than the EUR 14.4 billion at end of September 2025. It comprised EUR 5.3 billion in cash and equivalents and EUR 11.5 billion in undrawn medium and long-term credit facilities with no covenants. Net debt was EUR 5.6 billion at end of September, as I already mentioned, confirming a strong improvement of EUR 2 billion year-on-year, as already observed during the last three quarters. As a consequence, net gearing was 39% at end of September, a significant improvement compared to 53% at end of September 2025, even taking into account the impact on equity of the impairment of the Bouygues stakes in TF1. You can see from the chart on the right that debt maturity schedule is well spread over time.
The bond maturing in October 2026 was redeemed and not refinanced so far. The refinancing of our 2027, 2028, and 2029 bond maturities will be executed subsequently and as part of our long-term funding strategy. With this in mind, we began implementing interest rate hedges from beginning 2026. Considering this, I would say that the group benefits from a particularly strong financial position and that our credit ratings remain strong. I will now conclude on slide 36. Let me repeat that the group operates in promising markets. The diversity of our group's business segments enables us to grow over the long term and demonstrate sustained resilience. The highly uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, the group will remain agile in adapting to developments in its market. For 2026, the group confirms it is aiming for stable sales at constant exchange rate.
As for COPA, we now expect it to be slightly up year-on-year, given the advance we have at end of the nine months. The improvement in Equans COPA and, to a lesser extent, in Bouygues Construction COPA, will more than offset the expected decline in TF1 COPA due to the anticipated tension in the linear TV advertising market. In with Bouygues Telecom COPA, due to the expected increase in depreciation and amortization, and last, in with the Bouygues Immobilier COPA, due to challenging conditions in the real estate market. Last, the group remains very vigilant regarding changes in the global economic environment, and particularly the increasing uncertainty in France. Thank you for your attention. Operator, please open the floor for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six. The next question comes from Oba Agboola from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking the time today, and thank you for the presentation. I had two questions. The first just on the mobile or just the telecoms business specifically. So there's been recent reports that SFR, Orange, and yourselves have announced price increases of various kinds. Obviously, in this presentation, you've highlighted that prices in the mobile and fixed market in France remain low. So why now? What gave you the confidence to kind of announce these inflation-linked changes, and what do you make of kind of wider price moves in the market? So that's the first question. Then the second question is on mobile ARPU specifically. You highlight that it continues to be weak in France, but if you look at front book pricing trends, we have seen a steady improvement over the last year or so.
How much of the continued ARPU pressure on mobile is a result of genuinely low prices or the B.iG kind of family discount strategy that has been very successful?
Thank you for your questions. About your first one, I think that especially SFR made some repricing on their existing clients, so on the back book. At the same time, you know that front book pricing remain very, very low. I do not know if we have made some increase on the front book, at the front book level, but we did not make a big, I would say, price increase on our back book, on our existing clients. Our strategy is more to implement indexation linked to inflation based on a reference, so our back book pricing can move up or down depending on this reference. As we show you in the presentation, I remind you that entry prices in the mobile in France remain very, very low and below average bill. Regarding your second question, in fact, you are right.
We can see quite a stabilization on front book pricing, but still at a very low level. Front book pricing at very far below back book pricing. Each time we have a client churning and we are acquiring a new client, this have a dilutive effect on our ARPU. That is why our strategy is to focus mainly on churn to avoid as many as possible this effect. Today, it still has a negative effect on ARPU.
Okay. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Mathieu Robilliard from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thank you for the presentation. I had two questions. The first one was about your opening statement. As you flagged, we all know that the macroeconomic and political situation in France is difficult, and I think you said it would or it has impacted already some of your trends. Maybe if you could give us some color in terms of where you see the most potential impact in terms of division, and is that something, just to be clear, that already impacted the Q3 numbers, or will it impact Q4 in your view, and that is in your guidance, and then potentially to 2027?
And then the second question was about the deal with SFR. Obviously, there has been lots of noise around the negotiations between, or the discussions rather, between SFR and the CSE. And I was wondering if you still felt that you were on track for SPA signing by the end of the year, and the antitrust process is proceeding as expected. Also in terms of the financing of the deal, I think you have a bridge, and you were thinking about advancing it through a bond issuance, or that at least at the Bouygues Telecom level. But given the current environment for interest rates, would you ever consider to issue that at the Bouygues Group? Thank you very much.
Good morning, Mathieu. To answer your first question, let me take a step backward. As you know, our group relies for more than 80% of its sales and a significant portion of its profitability on Colas, Equans, and Bouygues Construction. As you may have seen, our order intake and backlog remain very strong, notably also because those three businesses have grown internationally. Having said that, we expected revenues to be softer in France for Colas this year, that was anticipated and is translating into the number that we disclosed today. The three maybe more French businesses within the group are, as you know, Bouygues Telecom, Bouygues Immobilier, TF1. Regarding Bouygues Telecom, it has a limited exposure on the market conditions, overall market conditions, due to the fact that telecom has become a primary need for households and consumers.
I would say that the two businesses which have been more impacted and are impacted by the French market conditions are TF1, due to, and you have seen that over and above the structural move from linear to digital, the linear advertising sales have been very problematic this year, with a decrease of more than 10%. This already impacts our result, and we do not foresee any significant positive change in the coming months. As for Bouygues Immobilier, Bouygues Immobilier is indeed encountering a deteriorating market condition in September, with household confidence being lower and rising interest rates. Having said that, TF1 and Bouygues Immobilier represent a smaller portion of our revenues. Overall, we are not worried about 2026, hence the fact that we confirmed our guidance on sales and increased the COPA. For 2027, we remain prudent.
But having said that, we have strong backlogs, which gives us visibility for revenues for next year.
Thank you.
For the second question, the process is moving forward as planned. As you may have seen, applications by the employee representatives of SFR and SFR Distribution were rejected last week, I believe, opening way to signing. There are still a number of applications ongoing, and we are continually engaging with the employee representatives because for us, social dialogue is a critical priority in this project. Antitrust process is also proceeding as expected. We are still indeed targeting to move to signing sometime in the coming weeks or months. As for the financing of the deal, indeed, we have secured the financing of the deal in the short term with a bridge financing, which is fully secured and syndicated. We will, of course, move to refinance this bridge financing once it is signed and closed.
And we will certainly, the plan for now is to probably refinance it through bond. through bonds. This is still ahead of us for now. There is no plan. Maybe I think you refer to the fact whether it would be Bouygues Telecom or Bouygues. The plan is and still is that Bouygues Telecom be the one company financing this deal.
Sorry, just because I missed. So you confirm that in principle, it is Bouygues Telecom that would be issuing the-
Yes, definitely.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
You are welcome.
The next question comes from Abhilash Mohapatra from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have got a couple on Equans, please. Firstly, you mentioned in your opening remarks potential for a large new contract to come through in Q4. I was wondering if you could give us some additional details there, please. Secondly, just on Equans and the data centers opportunity, would be keen to your thoughts there. How do you see this evolving? Have there been any changes that you have picked up recently in terms of what you are seeing out there in terms of data center construction appetite? Any nuances in how you see that in Europe versus U.S.? That would be very helpful. Thank you.
Okay. To start with the first question, indeed, we refer to the fact that we expect the order intake momentum to remain strong, and thus the book-to-bill dynamic to remain strong in Q4. As you may understand, we will not report in details on that. We will come back to you in our next disclosure early next year. Having said that, we indeed expect some further larger contracts throughout our divisions, but of course, focusing also on our specialist segments, data centers being one of it, solar and storage, energy systems, and also some other segments and geographies, including certainly North America.
So, maybe also to build on that, as I have already something I've already mentioned in previous calls, the beauty of the Equans model is to be highly diversified, meaning that we are not relying on one single specific market, but we have a number of specialties which support our business and growth. And again, certainly data center has a role to play, but solar and storage, energy systems, nuclear, and others. So, on the data center business in itself, indeed, we mentioned that we had last year a form of pause of our data center business in 2025 in Europe, and we were confident that this was a pause and only a pause. 2026 demonstrated that indeed there's now again some significant momentum on the data center industry in Europe.
We are also quite happy about the way our data center business in the U.S. is developing since last year. Of course, we look at this market, looking at opportunities, but also some risks. This is a very, very buoyant market. Huge numbers of investments and capacity is disclosed by the major players. Let's see how this develops. For now, on the one hand, we have a highly diversified business model for Equans. I mentioned in previous calls that the data center business is representing more or less EUR 1 billion of revenues for Equans, so some 5% more or less of our business. So, this illustrates the fact that we have a diversified model. Data center is an interesting business for us. We have been active in this business for 20 years. We consider to be specialists of that business.
Even if the market slows down a bit due to maybe lacking financing resources or some slowdown in line, there's still a huge volume of work to be done. For now, we have in our backlog secured a number of big projects which gives us visibility on our revenues in this market for the years to come. Even if the market slows down, there's so much over-demand comparing to industrial capacity that we do not feel this to be a major issue for now today.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
The next question comes from Mollie Witcombe from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Firstly, just perhaps on TF1, obviously you've mentioned that the linear advertising trends are not so fantastic. Make consolidation a more attractive prospect. Are you discussing the possibility of revisiting potentially the deal with M6? Is this something that you might look to explore in the future? Just a bit of detail on that would be great. Secondly, maybe on telco, you mentioned that mobile remains tough. I understand that Orange launched some kind of budget lower-end deals with Carrefour. Just wondering if you're seeing any impact from that in the market. Thirdly, perhaps on civil works. I think we've had a third or fourth quarter now of quite a lot of pressure due to the comparative in the prior year in civil works. How should we expect that to evolve going forward?
As that laps, should we expect growth to continue to decline, or how are you expecting that to trend? Just a little bit more color on the civil business would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Okay. On your first question concerning TF1 and the rationale for consolidation with M6, just to start, in the current regulatory environment, this will not happen. This cannot happen until 2028. For now, it's not a short-term topic per se. I think we already mentioned in previous calls that should this opportunity come back, we would take a serious look at it, because we believe that part of the rationale that we foresaw back in 2021 still applies in terms of reaching significant and interesting synergies. Of course, the market conditions have significantly changed, so things are not what they were in 2021. Over and above the regulatory context, we still need to see whether the competition authorities will consider this in a different way should this opportunity crystallize again. For now, nothing to report in the short term.
On your second question, maybe I let Christian answer.
Okay. Regarding the offers that Carrefour launched with Orange, we did not see any impact on our sales. I remind you that we already have this kind of purpose, especially with Auchan Mobile, Cdiscount Mobile, or La Poste Telecom. For the moment, no impact.
As for your third question concerning civil works, as you know, this business at Bouygues Construction relies on huge contracts, the like of Torrens to Darlington, which was a more than EUR 2 billion contract for the group. There are seasonality and order intake is fluctuating massively from one period to another. We are not concerned by the fact that for now, sales have been, order intake has been down from one quarter to another, because the commercial pipeline remains strong. I remind you maybe also that we still have a strong backlog in absolute value, spelling visibility for revenues in the short-term, medium-term. We mentioned in our presentation that our backlog at Bouygues Construction division and the coverage of our revenues in the coming 15 months is higher by EUR 1.1 billion, and that notably has to do with the Bouygues Construction.
Building, but civils represents also a significant amount in absolute value. Let me please also remind you that we have a very, very prudent way to account for backlog and order intake, especially when it comes to larger civil work contracts. Notably, our backlog, and just let me take an example with the Sizewell nuclear power plant. This project will represent certainly more than EUR 3 billion revenues for the group in today's value. For now, we have only recorded in our backlog a portion of that, because we only record what the order intakes which are confirmed with all CPs being validated with the client, and the client gives us orders step by step on that particular contract. We have also mentioned the Lower Thames Crossing, which is one of the larger order intake that we recorded this year.
Of course, we recorded only the one part of that project, which could spend further activity. All in all, we are not concerned today by this drop in sales in order intake for the past few quarter. No, we are confident on the level of revenue for 2027, in particular for civil works activity.
Very good. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Eric Ravary from CIC CIB. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Three from my side. First one on Equans. The EBIT margin improved very strongly in Q3 by 106 basis points, so it is a significant acceleration. Is there any exceptional item there? Could you give some details about the explanations of this acceleration of the performance in Q3? Is there any country performing particularly well or any specialty or one of the levers of the improvement plan that is giving a good surprise? Second question is on Bouygues Telecom. Christian, you mentioned here decrease the ARPU for fixed in Q3. What should we expect the trend to last over the next quarters? Third question is on Colas. You announced the staff cut in France. What could you quantify the size of the cut? How many employees are you expecting to leave as part of the plan?
Thank you.
So for the first question on Equans, there is no significant one-off exceptional item reflected in the Q3 performance of Equans. This reflects operational performance overall. This performance translates into basically the bulk part, major part of our geographies and across our specialist segments. There is again no country or business segment which explains some form of over-performance. I think, no, we see here, when it comes to what explains this performance, it is just the translation and the crystallization of all what we have been putting in place since 2023 in terms of Perform plan. So having to do with selectivity and improving order intake margin period after period, disposing or closing underperforming business centers, being even more disciplined in terms of managing our project. This all translates into this remarkable performance, which, to be honest, is a very good news for the group.
I would not say it is a surprise because it is a trend which has been ongoing since 2023. So no exceptional item to report on that. For Bouygues Telecom, I turn to Christian.
Yes, thank you. Just to remind you, in Q3 2026, our fixed ABPU was negatively impacted by three items. The first one is the end of massive repricing operations and no more campaigns. We made some operations at the end of last year. We are not doing that this year. You may know that our tariffs are now indexed to inflation based on a reference. So we can see a low increase on tariffs due to that on back book, but not a big move. Second impact, the recent fixed offers that we launched, especially one year ago with La Poste Telecom, helped to support our volume performance, but have a dilutive impact on our ABPU. Third, as our churn level is lower than before, we have lower contract termination fees, which also reduce the ABPU compared to last year.
We expect to have this trend to continue, especially for Q4 towards 2026.
Thank you. On Colas, your staff cut in France.
On Colas, the transform plan, we mentioned the fact that we launched it in October and got the formal approval from DRIEETS in the course of October. It is a plan which focuses on Colas France. We will book its cost in Q4 for some EUR 70 million of non-current charges. From that number, you can gather that it would have an impact of some, more or less, order of magnitude of 500 job positions.
Okay. Does it mean that you-
It is on a voluntary basis. In good English, it is a Rupture Conventionnelle Collective , so it is on a voluntary basis, and we will see how this develops in the next weeks and months.
Does it mean that you expect the French market to be more difficult for a certain period of time?
You know, Colas France, some more or less 60% of its revenues stem from local authorities, and we indeed foresee that local authorities' budgets and investment budgets will be under pressure in the coming months and throughout 2027 due to the current French situation. We indeed have, and we anticipate, a further drop in revenues at Colas France, hence this adaptation, this adjustment plan. Having said that, for Colas France, I think I mentioned that Colas is actively pursuing diversification, both organically and through M&As, and this is taking momentum. We can consider that diversification activities represent today more or less EUR 1 billion of sales at Colas France, so some 20% and growing.
Overall for the Colas Group in itself, Colas is continuing to grow internationally. Simply take the example of the recent acquisition with Suit-Kote in the U.S., which should help us compensate softer markets in France.
Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Nick Lyall from Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, everybody. Could I ask two questions on Equans, please? Just to come back to the Q3 strength in margins, please. The other income is up about EUR 100 million for Equans versus last year, and provisions are down about EUR 70 million. So I take your point that there's no one-offs in there, but could you just explain why this is a lot of the improvement in the COPA margin coming in companies, and maybe what goes into that? And then secondly, on the revenue for Equans, it now seems to be flat, possibly even rising. Do you feel as if you're at the point now where the order book has strong enough margins, you don't need to be selective, and you could see Equans revenue rising from here? Thanks very much.
Okay. If I start with the second question, I think selectivity remains at the core of what we want to do at Equans. So, there's no intention to be less selective in the coming weeks or months. I think growth will come more from what we've seen in the book-to-bill dynamic, and the fact that Equans is further developing organically and through M&A its business, especially on specialist segments, where we see room for growth. I've mentioned data centers, I've mentioned solar and storage, energy systems, nuclear. So, we are hopeful that growth will rather come from a bolt-on M&A strategy with this taking momentum on the one hand, and organic growth from our business in especially segments where we see room for growth. And that's what we believe translates from the book to bill and order intake momentum. So that's for the second question.
For the first question, I already had that discussion in previous calls. I think margins in the construction business has to do with when it comes to projects which are loss-making, which sometimes happen even at companies like Equans, we provide for those losses in advance, and we take provision. Once those projects progress, we of course see some EBIT coming from provision release, but that's normal course of business in this kind of construction and project business. Nothing to report, and please do not believe that this has to do with the fact that we are releasing provision to do results. This is, for the most part of it, the pure crystallization of accounting practices in this business. The good performance of Equans is definitely due to the fact that operations are running well, and that selectivity and Perform plan is delivering its results.
Understood. Thanks very much.
You're welcome.
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to Stéphane Stoll for any closing comments.
Thank you for joining us today and taking the time to stay with us this morning. We will be announcing our 2026 results on February 25th at 7:30 A.M. CET as usual. Please note that we will have two events on that day. We will present FY results at 8:30 A.M. CET, and on the back of that, the Equans Capital Markets Day will start at 10:30 A.M. CET, and we hope to see you there. In the meantime, should you have any questions, please contact our investor relations team. Their contact information is on the press release and on our website. Have a lovely day. Bye-bye.