Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon, everyone. I'm delighted to welcome you here, and I'd like to thank you for attending this AGM. During this session, we will be commenting on the performances and highlights of the year 2025. There will be themed presentations about data centers and the digital transformation of Nexans, followed by a description of Nexans' climate strategy. We also have on the agenda membership of the board with the renewal of the terms of Laura Bernardelli and Anne Lebel in their capacities as independent directors for a period of four years. We also suggest to appoint two new independent directors, Antonio Cammisecra and Thierry Fournier, for a period of four years. We'll be asking you to vote on a compensation policy in line with the group's strategic objectives.
2025 was a record year with unprecedented performances, thereby establishing Nexans' relevant vision and ambition in continuation of our dividend policy that we've had for the past five years. In light of the stock performance, we suggest a dividend of €2.90 per share as we'll return to that during the session. Now, you probably found when you got here several items illustrating Nexans' essential role in the world's sustainable electrification. We also saw our corporate film highlighting the group's contribution on a daily basis to the energy transition, digitization, infrastructure, security, and the circular economy, as well as our new brand campaign showing that Nexans is not just building cables but actually building connections. You also saw two demo spaces on the group's strategic office. The first booth on our fire safety solutions, showing our fire-safe cables, also as a comparative demonstration of fire propagation.
A second booth on the data centers market, showing Nexans' expertise in critical electric infrastructures that are supporting, of course, digital development and artificial intelligence. I hope you enjoyed that. Now, I declare open the AGM that is both the ordinary and extraordinary parts. To facilitate the vote on resolution and to have a quick display of results, we're using an electronic voting system, a fast and secure system. You got a tablet as you got in, which does include the notice of the meeting, and please return the tablet when you leave the room. The universal registration document may be downloaded on our website. There's one version in French, another one in English. You can also look it up, ask anyone on the staff. Just to protect the environment, we do not systematically print the universal registration document.
This is a public session, so this is being filmed, recorded, and will be broadcast live and afterwards on the web. Unless you object to this, your image might be shown on Nexans' website. We have next to me Anne Lebel, who is the Lead Independent Director, who chairs the Compensation Committee and corporate governance, as well as the Compensation Committee. Julien Hueber, who is the CEO, Vincent Piquet, who is the CFO, and Nino Cusimano who is the Chief Legal Officer and is also in charge of development and the Secretary General of our group. I would like to welcome members of the Board, like to thank them for being here. We also have in the room, members of the Executive Committee, some of whom will join me later on stage for their presentations.
I should also like to greet Mrs. Juliette Decoux-Guillemot from Forvis Mazars and Ms. Amélie Jeudi de Grissac of PricewaterhouseCoopers. They both are auditors. Now, in my capacity as chair of the board, I'd like to put together the bureau, the officers. In line with the legal provisions, we have two members of the AGM with the largest number of votes and who will accept to do this. In view of the attendance sheet, we have two shareholders representing the largest number of votes, are Bpifrance Participations and Invexans Limited. We asked both these shareholders if they would accept to work as vote tellers, and they agreed to do just that. For Bpifrance Participations, we'll have Mrs. Karine Lenglart representing Bpifrance and for Invexans Limited, who also accepted to discharge these duties, it will be Hugo Chevillot. Mr. Hugo Chevillot.
We have the officers, we have the bureau, and of course, our legal officer will be the secretary of this meeting, and he is, of course, our own secretary general. This is the first convening of the AGM, we have the quorum with 76.21%, where we only need 20% of voting shares for the ordinary part of the AGM resolutions one through 16, and plus resolution 22, we need a 25% quorum, 25% of voting shares for the extraordinary part of the AGM. Here, we are looking at resolutions 17 and 21. Therefore, the bureau notes that this joint AGM, with more than the necessary quorum, may address all the items on the agenda, both for the ordinary and the extraordinary part of the AGM. This is how things will go. First, we will, of course, complete legal formalities.
There will be a show introduction video. Julien Hueber, our CEO, will revisit the highlights of 2025. Vincent Piquet will continue with a comment on the financial performance of 2025 and, of course, revenue for Q1 2026. This update will be followed by theme presentations, first on data centers, which is a strategic growth driver for Nexans, and that will be Elena Fedotova, who is with us. Artificial Intelligence for performance, this will be presented by Guillaume Eymery . We'll have a progress report on Nexans' climate strategy and a follow-up on new initiatives. That is just an item on the agenda that doesn't require any votes. This will be presented by Marc Grynberg. On update on governance, we will have candidates to the board, director candidates, and compensation with Anne Lebel.
We'll have the reports of the auditors, and then we'll have questions in the room and people online using the chat system that is being made available, and then you will be able to vote on the resolutions themselves. It should be pointed out that we have not received any requests for additional resolutions or indeed any other item on the agenda, neither have we received any written questions from shareholders. Therefore, I'll now give the floor to the secretary of our AGM. Nino, you have the floor.
Thank you, sir. All the documents required for this AGM were made available to shareholders in keeping with the legislation. You will find the various reports of the board of directors within the universal registration document for 2025, as well as on the company's website.
Let me also tell shareholders that because of new developments in regulations as of July 1st next, the modalities of invitation to Nexans' AGM will be online. Please provide your email address to Société Générale Securities Services. They are in charge of sending the invitations. Oh, well. That's fine. Julien, take it away.
Mr. Chairman of the Board, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, there are words you hear everywhere all over the media, energy transition and electrification. Also, it is not just a single industry, a single market. The whole point is access to electrification. Access to electricity means having a right to get treated in hospital, for a school child to be able to work in a lit classroom, and for anybody to live in dignified conditions.
Yet today, even though it seems obvious, millions of people do not enjoy these rights, and entire nations depend on other countries for their electricity. This is where Nexans steps in, not as a provider, not as a supplier, but as a guarantor of states' energy sovereignty. This is no improvisation. This is a requirement. This is a requirement for excellence in quality, in services, in the provision, the reliability of our services. When an underwater cable connects to nations, we cannot go wrong because we are connecting nations together. This also means that it's a requirement to innovate constantly. We have to provide breakthrough technologies, low carbon technologies, improve productivity. This means we have to invest in human skills, in production capacities, and indeed in our own geographic expansion.
This also requires us to be beyond reproach, both in terms of compliance, in ethics, our E3 model, or indeed our products in terms of the circular economy. Our ambition is worthless unless it is based on integrity. Nexans is not a mere producer or manufacturer of cables. We are a builder. We build bonds between nations. When our underwater cables connect France to Ireland, we have the Celtic Interconnector. It doesn't just carry electricity. We are building trust. These cables help provide independence and energy sovereignty for two countries, France and Ireland. We build resilience for our territories. Every distribution network being built means that we have a catchment area of jobs holding out. It means local industries remain sovereign, it means the region remains alive, we build security for families because our fire-resistant cables mean fires that we can slow down
What makes me really proud is to know the men and women building all this, because at Nexans, 75% of men and women work in factories. Factory is not just a mere detail in our business model, it is at the very heart of our value-creating strategy, and this is where we make a difference, not in meeting rooms, but in workshops, in production lines, indeed in cable laying ships at sea. Our teams are ready. They showed in 2025 what they were capable of doing. We have a performance that leaves no doubt about the skill, the expertise, the commitment of our 28,000 people. Nexans certainly has the wherewithal to achieve its ambitions. We have a sound balance sheet. We have real investment capacities, strategic acquisitions, targeted capital expenditure. We're not announcing dreams. We are performing, we are implementing a strategy.
Let's start in this presentation, the great electrification trends. Redrawing the Map, our Intensify program is industrial excellence as our foundation. The 3 markets which we are bound to win, but also the highlights of 2025, acquisitions, contracts, proofs of execution, and then our ambitions for 2026, profitable growth, our expansion in the U.S., strategic CapEx. At Nexans, every figure you see means something. Every decision responds to a logic that of a builder. We're not content with delivering cables, but strand after strand, we're threading the world's energy freedom. This is our joint ambition. Welcome to this AGM.
The trend towards electrification is gaining ground. We have 4 sectors where growth is being driven.
The demand for electrification, in the energy mix, in France, this accounts for 27% of the mix. By 2040, we expect more than 40% of electrification in the energy mix, this is a global trend. The second driver, the second factor is hypergrowth in a number of markets, especially data centers that are quintessential for electrification. You have gigafactories, critical buildings that will be consuming more and more electrification in the world in which we live with the many crises, not just in the Gulf and in Ukraine, means that states really need to become self-sufficient. That, of course, is future growth for us. Our policy of targeted acquisitions is in line with this trend towards electrification. Our strategy hasn't changed.
If you look back at the years since 2019, we started restructuring, at Nexans in 2021 to 2024, we started simplifying our markets, focusing, of course, on electrification. We disposed of a number of assets. By end 2024, we could start Amplification. Now we're moving into Intensification because, of course, as of January 1st, 2026, we've become pure players in electrification, an incontrovertible player in electrification. So this period and this whole business stands on 4 pillars. First, commercial excellence in 2025. We worked with Nexans' team on defining strategic markets, solar energy, critical buildings, data centers. We understand that these markets displayed a higher growth rate than the rest of the market. These markets do need new technologies and are very much in line with our strategy. The second pillar is industrial excellence. We are industrialists.
We're proud of our plants, and we will improve the competitiveness of our industrial capacity by electrifying everything, so as to be able to seek out markets that require shorter timing, so as to give us an edge on the competition. Then, of course, we have to provide operational excellence in terms of, as I said, timing, agility, accuracy. Then we need to be excellent in terms of M&A, because of course, if we want to expand, we have to acquire new territories, especially the U.S., and that means we have to show excellence not just in acquiring assets, but also in integrating them. So let's look at Nexans' 3 markets. First, Transmission, that is underwater high voltage cables.
We are turned to future technologies, and we're looking at the quality of operations because we have an order book that means that our demand will be secure all the way up to 2028. The transmission people were able to double the size of operations and indeed its industrial capacity since 2023. We grew from EUR 800 million to EUR 1.6 billion. This illustrates our ambition in the field. Still in that business, we have a team of experts, well-recognized industry with a strong reputation and that are always in a position to develop technological innovation. Indeed, there was a world record that we communicated on a couple of months ago, our ability to lay cables more than 3,000 meters deep in the Mediterranean. The second market is the grid, and that is medium voltage. This is a fast-growing area.
For the past couple of years, we've enjoyed hyper-growth both in Europe and the U.S. indeed in other parts of the world. One of the highlights there, we are in a position to work with our customers to have visibility. For instance, in France with Enedis, our strategic client, we have a seven-year contract enabling us to have enough visibility to invest in our factories. Here we're also investing in new technologies with low carbon assets on the green verticals, especially data centers, I'll get back to that. Anyway, that type of hyper-growth ahead of us means that we can invest in production capacities. Looking at Europe between 2025 and 2028, we expect our production capacity to go up 40%. Likewise, in other parts of the world, in particular in Morocco. We just started a plant there.
It will be commissioned as early as next year. The third big market is, of course, the low voltage part, what we call Connect. We're looking at various domestic users, home, the cars. That means more electrification in buildings. Of course, we've been working hard over the past few years, especially 2025, on what we call the fire safety technologies. We've been pushing these products because we believe that these products do provide protection and safety for buildings, for people in general. Within Connect and low voltage, we have, of course, solar energy, and we'll be able to talk about that as well. Still in Connect, we have a strong geographic expansion with external acquisitions. The last three acquisitions at Nexans were to do with the Connect business. We published Electro Cables Inc. in Canada and RCT in Spain.
These are very intensive markets in terms of business, in terms of product value, and we have to be outstanding in terms of operational excellence compared with the competition. We're working both on the low and medium voltage for low carbon, especially aluminum-based products. Let's look at the outlook for 2026, and we were able to start on that since the year has already begun. I beg your pardon, 2025, 2026. 2025, there were two acquisitions, one mid-year in Spain, and that is a company called RCT. The reason we decided to acquire that company had to do with the quality of their industrial capacity, the additional capacity provided by this capacity. We're up 20% on a very dynamic and buoyant market in Spain, plus excellence in terms of data centers and fire safety.
They checked both boxes, and that meant that we had to go for that. Then we had Electro Cables in Canada. There again, that meant additional capacity. We're using that new capacity, but also this was a very much data center-oriented acquisition, means that our industrial capacity can work in with Electro Cables in Canada. This means that we can gain significant market shares, not just in Canada, but in all of North America. In 2025, we won a number of major contracts. I'll just cite two by way of example. A major cable contract with RTE on the offshore wind turbines. We won billions worth of EUR worth of orders in the backlog. Then another contract where we also were able to take a position, and indeed, we're very proud of this.
We got the contract for the Saint-Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland using high voltage cables in lines in the tunnel for the length of 60 km. We also worked on product safety. We are now in a position to retrieve from our platinum customers, we can recover used cables, so we purchases on behalf of electricians. This is called Cable Loop. We recover the cables, and they are then reinjected in our furnaces in Lens. That means we can recycle used copper. We started this in France and we're expanding this to other countries, especially in Spain and Belgium. Another highlight, and that is our E3 model, while expanding the model to all our plants.
The important thing for us at Nexans is to ensure that every single plant should understand what it means to protect the environment, what difference they can make, and Well, you have economic, environment, and engagement. These three Es are being implemented in all our teams, and that's a way of motivating our people. By end 2025, we were able to run the innovation summit in Toronto, and that was our chance to promote technological products, not just for North America, but for Europe as well. Now, in 2026, and that we announced this, we acquired a leading company in the U.S., Republic Wire. This is a beautiful company. This was created in 1982 in the state of Ohio, close to Cincinnati, and they focus on low-voltage cables.
That plant enjoys a good reputation on the U.S. market, and it would be Nexans' largest low-voltage connect company, generating EUR 500 million on a single production site. That acquisition will enable us to develop additional growth on the U.S. market in line with our strategy. We should be able to build a connection between Republic Wire and our known production units in Canada and South America to keep making headways on the U.S. market. What we really liked about this acquisition was, of course, the quality of the industrial capacities, fully automated. It's the latest technology. We also liked their ability to take a position on all U.S. territories with a significant network of salespeople well-anchored in these territories.
Also we were able to find a place for our own products for Nexans and find synergies with Republic's products to find commercial synergies, not just for data centers in the U.S., but also for manufacturing plants or even for the service sector. In the U.S., we're looking for the low voltage, we're looking at EUR 12 billion in revenue. We didn't have a presence there. Now we do have a presence on that large market. Now let's take a look. Let's look forward to the future. There will be new developments. One thing will be, of course, our third transmission ship. We will be launching it in Norway on the 18th of June. This is an outstanding ship, the largest we've ever built, that will carry 13,000 tons of copper. It's heavier than the Eiffel Tower. It will be able to lay four cables simultaneously.
There will be a huge industrial device that will enable us to make a big difference on the transmission market. The second big highlight will be, of course, to support our own industrial sovereignty by modernizing our furnaces in Lens in northern France. That will enable us to turn copper cathodes into copper wires. We're looking at a EUR 90 million capital expenditure item. We'll be able to inject as much as 30% of recycled copper, and this means that we will be able to provide low-carbon copper to our customers. Of course, the other outlook for 2026, I was referring to records. In terms of technology transmissions, we're looking at these cables 3,000 meters deep. We're way ahead of the competition in terms of depth.
In 2026, we also landed contracts at the beginning of this year. The first one is a seven-year agreement with Enedis on the low and medium voltage area. Right now, we are positioning the company in the data center market. I've explained that data centers accounted for less than 1% of our activity two years ago. Today, they account for more than 5% of our sales, and in two years from now, 10%. It's a real shift for Nexans. We are positioning ourselves, we are building expertise, we are developing a marketing offer and production capabilities that will allow us to deal with this major shift in notification data centers. We have also landed a major contract in Italy with a grid operator, and also with TenneT, more than EUR 1 billion for undersea transmission contracts.
All these contracts, all this ambition for growth will only be possible if we keep investing massively into our industrial assets, which is what we do with the construction of a new plant in Morocco, in a town called Safi. It will be a showcase plant for medium voltage. It will help us keep up with the demand in Morocco, but also in Northern Africa. This plant will be launched in 2027. In France, we keep investing into fire safety cables. In the Autun site, we have finished the first phase of EUR 20 million in CapEx. We'll start the second phase of automation very soon. In France, we invest into the Bourg-en-Bresse plant with a fifth C line for MV products following the contract that we were awarded with Enedis.
Last, we also invest more than EUR 90 million in Charleroi in Belgium in our ground high voltage sites following the contract with TenneT. This will enable us to deliver growth until 2028. In conclusion, I can say that all this ambition, all this growth we generate is only possible thanks to the brand awareness, the brand of Nexans on this market, which is why we're very proud to launch this brand awareness campaign that promotes our staff, that promotes the markets where we position ourselves, and also our environmental ambitions. Thank you.
I now ask Vincent Piquet, our Chief Financial Officer, to present the financial results for FY 2025 and the sales for the Q1 2026.
Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for attending this meeting. I'm thrilled to present the 2025 financial results.
As you can see, and following what Julien Hueber has explained, 2025 was a bumper year financially speaking with the growth that the group has demonstrated, +8.3%. We have reached sales of EUR 6.1 billion in standard sales and EUR 7.8 billion in current sales. That's considerable, so at standard and current copper prices. These sales are even stronger in organic sales, +11.6%. This was accretive in terms of profitability. As you can see, we have reached a historic profitability level, EUR 728 million, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.3%, which is very good, and which is higher than the growth in sales. Also support all this comes with a strong cash generation. I'll come back to this in detail.
The ROCE is very good, above 20%, and the balance sheet is very solid as the leverage is at 0.36, which leaves us room for investment and to roll out CapEx. This balance sheet is the result and the consequence of the actions that we took in our portfolio in 2025 with the acquisition of Electro Cables Inc. and Cables RCT, as mentioned by Julien, as well as the announcement of the sale, the dispose of Nexans Autoelectric, which is currently being finalized. Let's get into the detail of all this. Let's take a group level view. You can see here the improvement in our margin, a very strong improvement. There have been adjustments to restate and reflect all changes in portfolio. They are now under IFRS 5 for all discontinued operations.
If we restate all these elements, we can see the very strong growth in the EBITDA and our adjusted EBITDA margin, which has reached almost 12% to EUR 728 million. A very positive free cash flow, which is mainly supported by a number of down payments in transmission. The cash conversion ratio at 47%, which is outstanding, and a ROCE above 20% for the group and at 27% for electrification. We have a very strong foundation, and 2025 has been highly positive financially speaking. Let's get more granular and look at the different elements. First, growth in the top line, as I've said, high growth, organic growth over the year of 8.3%, 11.8% in the Q4. A great end of year indeed. In electrification, the figures are even better with a Q4 at 18% and at 11.6% full year.
This is driven by the very strong performance of Transmission. An activity that we'll be discussing further, which has increased a lot in terms of volume and profitability over the last two years, but also Grid and Connect that made a lot of progress. The EBITDA, we'll be looking at the detail of profitability, but Transmission and Grid are really the drivers of the improvement of our profitability. We have an all-time high margin at 13.3%. Let's look at each segment in detail. High voltage and Transmission. This is an activity that has reached sales of EUR 1.6 billion in 2025. As a reminder, it was almost half of this in 2023.
This activity has strongly grown over the last two years, following the capability-related investments that we made with the ship that will soon be delivered, but also investment in production lines in Norway that will soon be completed also in Belgium. We are clearing a very large backlog. You can see that it has kept growing in 2025 as it reached EUR 7.7 billion after EUR 7.4 billion in 2024. We have good visibility until 2028, 2029. This allows us to optimize further production and the efficiency of our assets, whilst sales teams are working to start and fill up the backlog for 2028. Improving margins is a priority objective for the transmission division. You know that 2022, 2023 was a difficult cycle. 2025 demonstrated our ability to set this right. We reached a 12.3%.
As we've said, the division is now on the right track and is well set to exceed 15% by 2028, which is the objective that we set for the team. Grid now. Glad tidings indeed, outstanding news. We also have growth but also an improvement in the margins, very strong. Grid has become one of the real driving forces of the group's profitability. It's a very promising market, with a lot of capability constraints, which is quite fine for us. It's helping us a great deal. We are constantly on the lookout for capabilities, and financially, teams have delivered a profitability at 16.4%, which is quite high. Clearly, this is the high point. This is thanks to the operational excellence and all the work that is done to cherry-pick the deals that we go for and the activities that we deliver to drive profitability.
The sterling performance of accessories, which is in the grid segment, which is accretive in growth and accretive in margin for grid. Connect now. Low voltage. A solid performance with more diverse regional dynamics. Organic growth was in line with our midterm guidelines. There is growth. Q4 was very intense with some expectations of deliveries. The EBITDA keeps going up massively. We are also working on a number of topics to try and drive profitability, especially topics related to one-off events in Asia-Pacific. On the scope of La Triveneta Cavi, we're in line, but it's quite a big chunk of work for our teams. We have also launched a number of improvement programs for operational excellence to set things right. All this income statement allows me to move on to the balance sheet.
In terms of cash, the change in the net debt is very positive. As you can see, it's summarized on this slide with the FCF free cash flow that is highly positive. A cash flow from operations of EUR 808 million. It's driven by the EBITDA performance, but also the change in WCRs, which was very positive. These are operational aspects. They do show that cash generation is a very important priority in the work of our teams. It's a real focus for them. We managed to finance EUR 483 million in industrial investments, CapEx growth investments. We mentioned those for transmission, but not only, we also have a lot of investments into maintenance and on the rest of the portfolio.
All this cash generation allows us to pay out dividends like the one that is proposed today to pay a number of acquisitions, RCT, to pay for a number of acquisitions rather. In the last bar, EUR 727 million, all discontinued activities that were sold, and Autoelectric. We have a net debt of EUR 266 million and a very positive leverage of 0.36 for 2025. This 2025 performance builds upon and strengthens a balance sheet that was already very solid. Our cash position is more than EUR 1.6 billion, a very strong improvement against 2024.
If you look at all our liquidity, if you take all our credit lines and financings, more than EUR 2.6 billion. If you look at the debt maturities, the timeline, we are quite confident about it. The first maturities will be in 2027 with a loan by the EIB where we do have room for maneuver.
It gives us a very positive position where we can redeploy our capital, very much so, and a credit rating by S&P, which is stable at BB+. An average leverage for the group, which is already investment-grade, even though we are not officially rated as such. This has allowed us to finance the acquisition of Republic Wire. A deal that we have signed, but that has not been closed yet. Julien mentioned all the strategic interests with this deal. I wanted to highlight the financials of that transaction. An enterprise value of EUR 680 million, which allows us to acquire all of the operations. An enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA for 2027 at 7.6, following synergies or up to run rate synergies.
It is in line with our multiple, slightly below, but it is in line, so we did not have to pay too much for this acquisition or to pay too much. It was very important for us. In terms of financing, we will use a combination of debt and cash. This will temporarily increase our leverage above 1.2, but we are confident about our ability to bring it down quickly under one, thanks to the cash generation capabilities of the group and to Republic Wire. That will continue to do its work. We identified EUR 23 million in synergies in the next three years at cruising speed. 50% of these synergies will materialize very soon in the first year with the cross-selling opportunities, low voltage, which is really their core business. We do have complementary products, technology synergies, and industrial synergies.
Financially speaking, this acquisition was done at a good multiple. It does not have any major impact on our leverage, and it's accretive in growth profitability. We are delighted that we should be able to, and it's quite likely to close the deal in the coming days. It allows us to offer you very attractive return. TSR is at 59% over the past three years, based on the EUR 2.9 that is offered, a very high payout ratio, more than 42% and more than 200% over the last six years. As shareholders, you can see the reflection of this financial performance in the dividends that the group is happy to award to you. Let's finish with 2026.
We do confirm again the guidance that we issued at the start of the year with an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 730 - EUR 810 million, and a free cash flow of EUR 210 - EUR 310 million. That's prior to the acquisitions. We were very conservative in the assumptions we made about the Grid Interconnector project. As you can see on the slides, we expect a lighter performance in the first half, but a better performance in the second half. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Vincent. I'd like now to ask Elena, who is a member of the executive committee, to join us. Elena is in charge of business development for Connect large projects and all, and particularly for data center.
Hello, everyone. Hello. I am Elena Fedotova. I'm Chief Business Development Officer for Data Center & Grid & Connect large projects at Nexans.
Today, I'd like to talk about data centers. I have worked in this industry since 2019. I have developed a conviction since then. Data centers are not just a transient cycle. For Nexans, data centers are a real growth driver. I would actually say that they are one of our growth drivers. That's what I would like to show today. We all use mobile phones. Whenever you do a search on your phone, whenever you take a picture of your family, this building that you can see on the picture here steps in. It's a data center. It's an electrical building. As you can see that it uses all between now and 2030, it will use more than 165%, so 165% more in electricity. That's over EUR 3 trillion investments. That's France's annual GDP.
This is a massive market. It will not come as a surprise that this market will double in size by 2030. It is driven by two trends, a technological one, and a trend that is more sovereignty driven. As regards to the technological side of things, what you can always read in the press is that there are lots of stories out there about AI. What the papers don't say today is that 75% of content is in the cloud. That's your YouTube videos, your Netflix video, your emails. This growth is quite solid because even though AI were to, and I emphasize the if here, if the AI demand were to decline, this technological growth of the cloud will continue between now and 2030. There's also sovereignty.
Julien mentioned earlier on the sovereignty of countries. Data is part of that sovereignty. Today, if a state decides to limit access to data, it also usually decides to invest into digital. It's a second growth driver, and you can also see some figures here on screen. Now, I'd like to discuss again AI data centers. The data centers that host AI are not the same as traditional data centers that we've known so far. Artificial intelligence leads to several technological disruptions, including in terms of electricity. Let me demonstrate this with three points. The 1st disruption or breakthrough is power density. What does that mean? Let me give you a very simple example. 10 years ago, each and every one of us had a phone, a mobile phone, like a Nokia or still Motorola at the time.
This allowed us to make calls or even to send text messages. Today, people have an iPhone. It's more or less the same size, but the iPhone is like having a computer in your pocket, having music, et cetera. What has changed is the density of data that you can squeeze into a given tool, like a telephone. This is what's happening today with data centers. This is what I call the density or the server density that is really changing. What are the consequences? It's quite simple. Going forward, your conventional copper cable will reach its limits at some point, and that's why Nexans is offering today superconducting cable. Something that we've been working on for over 20 years. It's part of our expertise. We are a global leader in superconducting cables. In short, a superconducting cable is a copper cable, but it is liquid nitrogen-cooled.
This is a real business expertise. Second example, direct current, DC. This completely changes the way electrical architectures are designed in data centers, including in terms of cables. Today people talk about solid transformers on the market. You may have heard a lot about this is really what's happening today. It's a real technological disruption for many of us, including for cable makers like Nexans. We do take part in working parties like Shift2DC or even Open Compute. We sit at the same table as Google, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, and other companies to define the standards of tomorrow. One last example, decarbonization. It is becoming a decision-making criterion to choose suppliers. Earlier on, Julien mentioned our foundry in Nexans, which going forward will be able to produce cables, including recycled ones. Let's come back to our traditional business.
How do we stand out as Nexans? Three things. First, our focus, second, our technological edge, third, our commercial positioning. First, let's look at our focus. In 2018, we took a gamble. Nexans decided to focus on electric cables. That means that we threw all our weight. We made a concerted effort to focus on the electric properties of cables. Technological edge or leadership. I mentioned this earlier on. I don't think I need to labor the point, but the main takeaway here is that you build technological leadership in the long term. That means R&D investment, which is what we do, but also the industrialization that Nexans has embarked upon throughout the years. 1 last thing, of course, our commercial positioning. Today, our objective and what we do with our customers is that we are becoming a strategic partner.
That is, we engage our partners early on to discuss the optimization of CapEx and OpEx in relation to cables. One example, like for example, the ergonomics of the cable that you may already have heard about, the installation of cables on building sites. This is really what makes the difference. A few examples, of course, I cannot not share examples with you. The first one in North America. Tim is here with us, but on the North American continent, we landed a major contract with a data center. What really tipped the balance in our favor was our global coverage, but also supply and the reliability of our supply. Second example, in Europe.
Here, we were awarded a project in France, and what played in our favor was our technical expertise. We involved the entire decision, or we worked with all players in the decision-making chain of our end clients. That is a hyperscaler. We worked with an operator, an operator that works with data centers. We worked with an engineering and design firm, with the general contractor, but also with the certification body in order to solve the problem that the customer asked us just to address. StellaNova, it's our global first in low-voltage superconducting cables. It's really a world first. There is no equivalent cable today in the world. It's our demonstrator. I need to specify this. In conclusion, I would like to say that data centers are a growth driver for Nexans. Our ambition is fairly clear. It was announced earlier on by Julien.
We want to double in size this market by 2028. We want to make sure that this becomes a double-digit percentage of our sales between 2028 while protecting our profitability for us and for you in line with the group's objectives. It's a very simple conviction. There's growth on this market, and Nexans is well-positioned to harness it. Thank you.
Thank you, Elena. I'd now like to invite Guillaume, who is a member of the Executive Committee, who is the Chief Strategy and Purchasing Officer. He's going to give us a presentation about artificial intelligence and how we're going to use it at Nexans.
Greetings, everybody. Elena has just mentioned or discussed the infrastructures that hosts AI. What I'd like to talk about the use that a company like Nexans can have of AI. This auditorium is located about 25 km from the Roissy Airport.
As I'm speaking to you, an Airbus A320 is taking off. In the cockpit, both pilots have various flight instruments and a flying system. For them, it's easy. This cockpit looks complex for us, but for them, it's simple. It allows them to safely fly a highly complex system. AI, for an industrial company, is the new cockpit. It's the new flying system. What does that mean for Nexans? For us, AI is a vehicle to generate performance, industrially and commercially. That sounds quite obvious. It's not that obvious to say that it's a performance driver through collaboration because AI, through data, makes it possible to bring different business lines closer to one another, to bring meeting rooms closer to the field, to factories. AI is also a tool for resilience, thanks to prediction, anticipation.
It's also a differentiating tool to better serve our customers and Nexans staff. What does it all mean in practice at Nexans? A simple way of imagining AI is to look at it as having three layers. The first layer, which is what you sometimes buy unknowingly, like Copilot, for example, or Claude or ChatGPT that you may have in your pocket on your smartphone. There's a second layer, what is available off the shelf, what you can buy for your business. You just need to go out there and look for it. For example, the Oncor system that we use today to detect patent infringements and take the required steps. I'd be tempted to say that these first two layers are the layers of curiosity. That is, being inquisitive about a world that is changing, a new world, individually and as a group.
More interesting is the third layer, the layer of imagination. What is this layer of imagination? It's the AI that you or that we will develop specifically for our business to create a sustainable competitive edge. That's what I'd like to talk about today.
You may have heard of the Shift program, started in 2018. This is our own internal transformation program. This provides to the tune of EUR 300 million to the company's EBITDA. What is it exactly? What is Shift? Well, it's all about using data as close to the ground as possible in our plants, in our offices. It's at any key point in the life of a contract. This is there to drive functions to make the right decisions to drive the company properly. What's that got to do with AI, you might ask. Well, it is believed today that a good manager, anybody running their business properly, will use maybe 5% of all available data. Now, with Shift, we moved up to 20%. You go to local databases with our teams.
We go and recover sometimes concealed data to generate performance, both in terms of service provision, free cash flow, EBITDA, additional sales. With SHIFT AI, using data massively, we can use as much as 90% of available data to go faster and also have a greater impact. What does this mean in practice? I'll give you a few examples before we deep dive into this. Reducing complexity, what is this all about? It means, well, for us, knowing what is, say, good or bad cholesterol. In other words, focus our attention to the best clients, best partners, best products, and serve our customers best. SHIFT also means getting the best and real-time price adjustment to get the best prices, adjusting to inflation or the scarcity of resources. Let's move to something else. Inventory. You might ask, why do I talk about inventories?
That's not particularly original, but there's something special about inventories. It has, of course, plays an in role at all levels of the company and all business units. Inventories is about supply chain for industries, for the financial guy or the sales guy trying to serve his customers best. What's the right size of inventory to suit our businesses best? That's what SHIFT AI helps us do. AI on the ground, that is the person actually positioning the pallets at the right space in the storage houses so as to have the best possible flows. Basically, you're creating connections between different parts of the business, between the different units, all the way from the warehouse to the top of the company. Engaging AI is something new, and what is at critical stake is speed. Speed because the world is changing at unprecedented speed.
We have companies investing massively in infrastructure, also in the use of AI. We've got to be fast, we must not work in a disorderly fashion. There are rules. We have to abide by rules. There are also ethical issues because the purpose is not so much to replace our employees with AI. We want to be able to, in fact, have more people and indeed enable them to earn more. Whether you're driving a company or a plant or a workshop, or indeed a single machine, or flying a plane, a good pilot shouldn't be afraid of his or her instruments. A good pilot should be able to learn to use new instruments, how to control them. Our ambition is for each of us to become familiarized with the AI.
Using our knowledge, we can train our people at the right time, at the right place, helping them make the most of AI in their own activities. Thank you.
Thank you, Julien, Vincent, Elena, and Guillaume for this very fascinating presentation. I'll call on Marc Grynberg, who is the Director in charge of climate and environmental issues, as he is the interim Chair of the Strategic and Sustainable Development Committee. He'll tell us all about the climate strategy.
Yes. Thank you, Julien. Good afternoon, everyone. It is my pleasure to give you a progress report on the implementation of our decarbonization roadmap and indeed the work of our committee on monitoring climate challenges and more generally, environmental challenges. Back in 2025, we, of course, looked at our decarbonization roadmap.
More specifically, we started a new initiative proposing to consider ways of decarbonizing high-emission activities that are the most challenging. We're looking at metallurgy, shipbuilding. Of course, this is a complex business, but we will be investigating various options, and once we make our choices, we'll let you know more. We've also reinforced our board's competence in terms of climate and sustainable development. Indeed, in 2025, we looked at the circular economy. More specifically, all members of the committee were given training on copper recycling. This is particularly relevant for Nexans in terms of strategy because metal recycling enables us not just to secure our own supply in raw materials that are becoming scarcer and scarcer, but also it enables us to expand our offer of low-carbon products, and that then again make a difference compared to the competition.
Still as part of the circular economy, we've been monitoring our project in Lens. We are looking at a significant capacity in precisely copper recycling with a view to providing low carbon products. Another thing we've been considering in 2025 is the integration of our new acquisitions, new businesses inside Nexans' scope of activity. From day one, when we acquire business, we need to include climate aspects as well and make sure that new acquisition also follows our own decarbonization trajectory. Earlier, back a few years ago, we announced our climate objectives. We're looking at reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions to the tune of 46% by 2030 compared to the baseline, which was 2019. Regarding Scope 3 emissions, by 2030, we're looking at a 30% reduction compared to 2019. Where do we stand?
By end 2025, our Scope 1 and 2 emissions were already down 49%, we're ahead of schedule. There were intermediate steps, we overshot that. Looking forward to 2030, regarding the energy efficiency of our industrial activities, we were able to reduce Scope 1 emissions for Scope 2. That is emissions included in the power and electricity we purchase. We were able to decarbonize the electricity we purchase and reduce the share of fossil fuel in the electricity we use by building our own solar panels, for instance. For Scope 3 emissions, we were able to bring emissions down 40% by end 2025. There again, we are well on track to achieve our ambitions by 2030.
One decisive factor in achieving that performance was extending our offer of low-carbon products, and that, of course, will have a direct effect on the Scope 3 emissions. Also, we were able to continue decarbonizing our own transportation systems. The commitments regarding 2026 are in line with those of previous years. We're implementing our decarbonization roadmap, but we will also be focusing on those activities more difficult to decarbonize, that is, ships and metallurgy. We're approaching this in a very pragmatic way. We'll try and find the best and most effective way of achieving our objectives in terms of decarbonization. We need to identify those solutions that enable us to bring emissions down fastest, cheapest, with least capital expenditure. There has to be some trade-off in the various options before us.
Regarding upskilling our board, we've been continuing with our training programs, and there will be a program to do with Scope 3 emissions. Why Scope 3, you might ask? Well, that's a sort of complicated concept. We sometimes believe that Scope 3 is the other guy's problem and sort of makes sense because, of course, Scope 3 is basically the Scopes 1 and 2 of our suppliers and our customers. We do want to work with customers and suppliers to reduce their emissions, and so therefore, reducing what amounts to our own Scope 3 emissions. Our Scope 3 emissions are quite significant when it comes to the use of the products that we sell or the services we provide, and so we'll be looking at that more carefully in 2026.
There's another thing I forgot to mention, by the way, regarding our achievements for 2025, if I can maybe go back to the previous slide. On paper, it looks as though we are ahead of schedule regarding our ambitions for 2030. Having said that, you shouldn't extrapolate from that, at least not in a linear fashion, for a very simple reason. When we defined our ambitions for 2030, that included growth objectives, both organic and inorganic growth, external growth, we have to include all that in our objectives. The last item is that we have been recognized by third parties for our performances, our commitments for the environment, our climate objectives, because we've achieved outstanding scores, in particular the Carbon Disclosure Project or EcoVadis and Sustainalytics. We were at least as good as the previous years, and in some cases, we actually did even better.
It is important for us to be able to confirm our own ratings and to have our own internal rating confirmed by third parties from the outside, and it is, of course, extremely motivating for our teams to see that, to be recognized in such a fashion. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Marc. Now I will call on Anne Lebel, who is the Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee, and indeed, the Compensation Committee, to tell us about the compensation policies and the resolutions that have been devised by her committee.
Yes, good afternoon. Dear shareholders. The work we've been doing at our committee for corporate governance and compensation. I'll introduce all this transparently with a view to highlighting sustainable value and openness.
The board that we have is perfectly in line with the AFEP-MEDEF in its most recent version. We have 13 directors, including independent directors, with a balanced diversity in terms of gender, nationality, experience, and skills. Composition of the board reflects the fact that we want to have a highly demanding and committed board, especially as regards matters of electrification, innovation, finance, governance, and sustainable development. Right now, we propose to renew the terms of two independent directors, Laura Bernardelli and myself. That comes under resolutions four and five . We have the appointment of new independent directors, Antonio Cammisecra and Thierry Fournier, under resolutions six and seven . These two appointments follow the departure of the three directors representing Invexans, Andrónico Luksic Craig, José Francisco Pérez Mackenna, and Oscar Hasbún Martínez. We'll have a higher ratio of independent directors, up to 80%.
We have a new employee representative, Riku Soininen, who joined us in February. Soininen, I beg your pardon. 2025 was a very intensive year. In 2025, there were as many as 12 meetings of the Board and 36 committee meetings. Specifically, we looked at the succession plan for the CEO. You have our new CEO, of course. We also looked at the conditions of his predecessor's departure and the compensation package for the CEO, and we'll go into the details of that later on. Renewals and appointments are in line with the continuity plan for the Board of Directors. We propose to renew the term of Laura Bernardelli for four years. She now chairs the Audit and Risk Committee. She has been since 2022. If you confirm this renewal, then she will keep going in that capacity. My own term as a director for four years.
If you do vote me in, this will mean that I will continue with the same mission. We have two independent directors for the four-year period. Antonio Cammisecra, he is the CEO of ContourGlobal. He has been since 2024. Before that, he worked for Enel for more than 20 years. He participated in the development of Enel Green Power to make it a giant in renewable energies, and he worked in Enel Grids from 2020 to 2023. He has wide expertise on electrification and the power industry at large. He joined our board as a non-voting member in March 2026. Thierry Fournier is head of Roquette, has been since 2025, and before that, he was managing director of Saint-Gobain. He will provide his own significant industrial expertise, and he joined your board as, again, a non-voting director in March 2026.
Now let's take a look at a few videos introducing these two candidates and indeed our new employee representative.
I'm Antonio Cammisecra, Italian. I am a mechanical engineer with a master's degree in business administration. I spent most of my career in power generation and in electricity distribution, working for more than 25 years in this industry. I had the privilege to see the entire sector working both in generation and distribution. Now leading ContourGlobal as a CEO, I am living the energy transition within this company, which is living a journey of transformation from a predominantly fossil generator to a truly renewable company. I would really like to join the board of directors in Nexans because I think what is happening in the energy transition globally, it's made of new technology for generating more sustainable electricity, but also connecting more and more consumers and suppliers at the global level. This implies big investments in interconnections, in submarine cables, in stronger distribution companies.
Nexans is really sitting at the junction of many trends with the right technologies. I think as a board member, I can add my wealth of experience, both in generation and in distribution, that I have accumulated in more than 25 years working in the international markets, in the Americas, in Europe, and also in emerging markets. I don't think it's so common to have an experience both on the generation and distribution side. I think also being a still active CEO in the same space, I think I can support the challenges of Nexans in a positive way.
Bonjour.[Non-English]
Hello, I'm Riku Soininen, a father of two, and I live in Hyvinkää, Finland. In my free time, ice hockey is a big part of my life. Professionally, I started 19 years ago on the factory floor as an operator. Since then, I've grown within Reka Cables, taking on different roles from production to staff representation, and now in procurement. I've also served on the board of Reka Cables and on a pension fund board for 10 years. What really drives me to join the board is the opportunity to bring a perspective grounded in reality. I come from operations. I know how decisions play out on the ground, and I believe that's essential when shaping the company's direction. Nexans is evolving fast. It's an exciting time to be involved and to contribute to something that truly matters so we can build a clear understanding of the group.
I want to actively contribute and challenge when needed to the delivery of the strategy. What I bring to the board is a strong hands-on perspective. I actively contribute, ask the right questions, and stay focused on what creates value. I understand how decisions impact performance, but also people. I also bring deep industry experience and the ability to connect strategy with operational reality. It also helps me bring a balanced and practical view to discussions. My goal is to support the board and help the company make the right decisions for the future.
Now, we will look at the compensation policies and packages. Starting with the year 2025, we start with resolution number eight. We propose a partial waiver of presence condition on ongoing performance shares to acknowledging CEO's exceptional performance and significant value creation since 2018. EBITDA grew 276%, market value up to 422%, from EUR 1.05 billion -EUR 5.5 billion at end 2025. We don't accelerate the acquisition of performance shares and those that were not acquired are lost for good, including those that were supposed to be acquired in 2025. We're looking at 31,794 shares, so that's 34% of the initial allotment that could remain. These shares, of course, remain subject to performance conditions as set out by the board of directors. Resolutions 10, 11, and 12 are to do with the compensation of corporate officers ex post facto.
These items for 2025 are detailed in the universal registration document. Starting with resolution number nine, that is the compensation of directors and that you are supposed to vote on. During the 2025 AGM, there was a maximum aggregate amount of EUR 820,000 for dedicated missions for the independent lead directors and the Climate Director. In 2025, there was intensive activity, 36 committee meetings, the total amount of 2025 was capped at the authorized amount, it was a total of EUR 820,000, 100% of the maximum aggregate amount. On compensation for the year 2025, the Chairman of the Board, this is voted on under resolution number 10, in line with the resolution of last year. The compensation package stood at EUR 320,000 for that year. No other compensation or indeed, any kind of benefits in kind.
We move on to resolution number 11, and that is the compensation for 2025, Mr. Christopher Guérin, who was CEO until October 12th, 2025. This is worked out on a pro-rata basis and in line with the compensation policies for corporate officers as approved in 2025. By the AGM, the fixed compensation stood at EUR 743,148. The variable compensation also worked out on a pro-rata basis, stood at EUR 898,287. That is 80.6% of the maximum or 121% of the fixed compensation, reflecting the group's outstanding performance in the year 2025. As part of his departure at the behest of the board and in line with AFEP-MEDEF rules, Christopher Guérin received a severance compensation capped at two years of actual compensation, since the limits were reached. To protect the groups, Mr. Guérin is subject to a non-competition clause that is valid until June 2027.
Other items of compensation are listed there. You have such item as pension and other benefits in kind. Now looking at resolution number 12, that is the 2025 compensation for Julien Hueber, who became CEO in the 13th October 2025. This is also worked out on a pro-rata basis and in line with the compensation policies for corporate officers as adopted by the AGM in 2025. The fixed compensation stood at €57,000 for the full year, so €163,360 on a pro-rata basis. The board worked that out based on the CEO's new profile and skills, and also in line with market practices for the variable part of the compensation. In 2025, there again, this was in line with the compensation policy for corporate officers. The variable part, the target was 100% of the fixed compensation. You could have as much as 110% if there's an over-performance.
65% of the bonus is based on financial criteria, 35% on individual criteria that were predefined by the board. The variable compensation for 2025 stood at EUR 207,400, 84.7% of the maximum part, 126% of the fixed compensation. In line with the compensation policies, 2,500 shares, 64% of the fixed compensation, were allocated under his term, and this comes along with 1,000 shares that were granted in his capacity as managing director for Europe. On the right-hand side, you have other items, severance, non-competition, pension, and other benefits in kind. Now the compensation for 2026. This is forward-looking for directors and the chair. We're looking at all these items. You will find a comprehensive presentation in the universal registration document. The compensation policy for 2026 for directors and the chairman of the board are subject to the votes under resolutions 13 and 14.
For directors, we're looking at resolution number 14. What we propose to do is to keep the same policy in 2026, i.e. we have mostly a variable compensation with attendance and effectiveness criteria for directors. We will not change the maximum aggregate amount, which still stands at EUR 820,000. Regarding the Chairman of the Board, this is reviewed on a pluriannual basis. It remains the same for 2026. We're looking at EUR 320,000 for fixed and compensation and no other compensation for the year 2026. Now, compensation of the CEO, that's resolution number 15. You have three principles. You have competitive compensation in line with market practices and reflecting the CEO's experience. Balanced compensation with an equivalent weighting. You have short-term and long-term variable items and compensation consistent with the group's policy.
We want to make sure that the CEO should have skin in the game and an incentive to achieve the group's long-term ambitions. This is for you to vote on. We're looking at a compensation policy, a compensation package, the fixed part of which is EUR 750,000. The annual variable compensation is 100% of the fixed compensation, so that can reach 150%. No change between collective and financial criteria, which account for 125%. Accounting for 65%, sorry, and the other objectives, the non-financial accounting for 35%. The long-term variable compensation cannot be more than 150% of the fixed compensation. You have their performance shares worked out over a three-year period, 40% on an economic criteria, looking at EBITDA-adjusted margin and free cash flow.
You have other external factors looking at total shareholder return compared to a benchmark basket and Euronext rating. You have nine ESG objectives added to that. The other compensation items are also listed here. They are unchanged, and they include such things as end of termination, non-competition, and other benefits in kind. Finally, the last two resolutions are free shares and performance shares for the year 2027. That's resolution 18 on free performance shares for the CEO and the group senior managers. Resolution 19 is on free shares without performance requirements, and these are for high-potential employees, key experts, and managers. For resolution number 18, the performance shares are allocated based on three performance conditions: financial criteria, economic criteria, and ESG criteria. Of course, these are the same criteria as applied to the CEO.
The vesting period is three years, in line with performance conditions. Again, perfectly consistent with market practices. The performance shares for the CEO cannot be more than 12% of the aggregate, the total number of shares. In 2026, this was 3.9% of the total number of shares. This, we suggest a maximum of 330,000 shares. The amount being unchanged. For resolution 19, the free shares for key experts and outstanding employees, these have a three-year vesting period with a maximum of 50,000 shares. That amount remains unchanged. We're looking at 0.1% of the company's stock capital. These were the resolutions regarding governance and compensation. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you. I'd like now the statutory auditors to present to the general meeting the summary of their reports, and I hand over to Ms. Amélie Jeudi de Grissac of PwC, who will be representing the statutory auditors to present their reports to the meeting.
Thank you, Chair. Dear shareholders, good afternoon. On behalf of statutory auditors, Forvis Mazars and PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit, I'm thrilled to report to you on the independent task you entrusted with us. For this financial year, we issued seven reports to your attention. One on consolidated statements, which is to be found on pages 403 to 406 of the universal registration document. A report on the annual statements on pages 425 to 427. A special report on related party agreements on pages 335 and 336. A report on the certification of sustainability information, pages 222 to 225. Last, three reports on capital operations.
As is customary in this meeting, I suggest I now summarize the key elements of these reports. Let me first start with our report on the group's consolidated financial statements that were drafted according to IFRS standards as adopted by the European Union. Our work on consolidated statements are meant to give you the reasonable assurance that there is no material misstatement. Our audit approach was adapted to the specificities of your group. This approach and the findings of our work were shared with the financial department in the course of regular exchanges. We also reported in our work to the audit statements and audit committee, and to the Board of Directors. Our report on consolidated statements includes three key audit matters: the recognition of goods and services contracts, mainly for the power transmission activity, litigation, disputes and antitrust investigations, and the measurement of goodwill.
Following this work, we issued an unqualified approval and certification of the consolidated statements. Second report on the corporate financial statements of Nexans prepared and were according to French accounting standards. We have two key audit matters, the valuation of shares in subsidiaries and affiliates, and antitrust investigations and disputes. We have issued an unqualified certification of the statements. We have issued a technical observation, in connection with the application, since the 1st of January 2025, of the new regulation of the Autorité des Normes Comptables and the modernization of accounting statements. Our third report pertains to related party agreements. We haven't been informed of any related party agreements entered into in 2025. Our report also addresses agreements entered into and approved in the previous financial years that were implemented in 2025. Our fourth report pertains to the certification of sustainability information.
Our limited assurance report pertains to compliance with ESRS standards and the European regulation. On the processes implemented by the company to identify information to be reported, but also to the information included in the sustainability statement. Last, as regards the compliance of information in terms of taxonomy. Based on the work carried out, we haven't identified any oversight, any inconsistency, or any lack of compliance with ESRS and European regulations. Last, as regards the extraordinary part of your general meeting, we issued three reports that relate to resolutions 17, 18, and 19 that grant authority for operations that may have a consequence on the share capital of your company. These reports do not include any specific observations or comments, we shall issue supplementary reports if appropriate when these authorities are issued to your board.
Chair, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Amélie Jeudi de Grissac. Thank you, dear auditor. Right, I suggest we now open the question answer session, the Q&A. We shall answer questions in the room and those asked online, live on the internet. If you are in the room, I invite you to ask your questions within the microphone provided, and I'd like to remind you that only shareholders may speak. Moreover, we'll only address questions relating to the agenda of today's general meeting. Please make sure you introduce yourself before you ask your question. Who would like to start? The first question, maybe? Sir. Someone has to start, right?
I'm an individual shareholder. I have two short questions. You buy copper. Don't you think that you might be accused of hoarding or concealment? A lot of material is being stolen at the moment. We have a dividend of EUR 3. That's very nice. That's all very nice. The share is in the region of EUR 150. Profitability is acceptable. My question, why isn't it possible for us to reinvest our dividend into shares?
I will first answer your question about copper. Obviously, we buy copper for our factories to be able to manufacture cables. We sustained some thefts in the past. We took all necessary steps to be able to track and trace every lorry that transports our copper, uncovered or bare or raw copper that is then sent to our cable plants. As regards the amount of copper we use in one year and considering the amount stolen during these thefts, we consider that this is very limited indeed. As regards the copper that we buy back, we buy spent cables. It's not raw copper.
These are spent or used cables. We have introduced a weighing system at each of our customers, our platinum customers. They handle the traceability and the amount of copper using weights. They make the measurements. This system today is certified, and we cooperate with our customers. The origin. This copper comes from electricians that refurbish buildings and flats. Rather than disposing of these cables or going to foundries, they would rather reuse it or have it reused and reinjected, so to speak, into a recycling loop. That's why they approach Nexans. Mr. Mouton.
I suppose your question is to know whether cable thieves could resell these cables to us, people who steal cables on railroads. Mr. Hueber.
The people who resell these cables are regular customers who are in our databases, in our platinum database. Mr. Mouton,
That's a legitimate question as we are going to go to scale with the Lens plant. We are going to have a growing need of recyclable copper. Far it had been a moderate size plant. Mr. Hueber.
We have already gone to scale, we work with companies. You have copper telecom cables, LAN cables. We buy them directly from companies like Orange that collect used cables. It's really part of the official circuit or loop. As regards to dividends, that's a very good question. Mr. Mouton.
That's a very good question. We had first discussions. At that time, the share price was rather in the vicinity of EUR 120, not at the current price, because these discussions usually take place at the start of the year. We want to make sure that this dividend can go up every year, which is what we have delivered in the last five years. We try to pay out about 2.5%-3% of the share price. Clearly, with €2.9 this year, we are below that figure. We'll have to reflect on this next year.
It will depend on the share price. We want to have a payout policy that is predictable and sustainable for us and for our shareholders. It's all very important to us. Now, as regards the second part of your question, you said that maybe these dividends could be paid in securities, right? Okay. We asked this question ourselves a few years back. We looked at it, but we found no simple solution for a company our size. We gave up the idea.
I have to say that I discussed this with the secretary general at the time because I thought it would be a very good idea to give this option to our shareholders, receiving the securities rather than cash. I don't know if you'd like to add something, Mr. Cusimano.
Yes, we did look into that solution. We did discuss this at the time. We ruled it out because it was difficult. There was a lot of paperwork involved. It made it very difficult. It was unworkable at the time. We did think of it. Question off mic, I'm afraid. Mr. Mouton.
Right. Let's be clear here. We would like to do it, only if the paperwork, the formalities remain reasonable. At the time when we discussed this with other listed companies, some of which actually had switched to that system and then reverted to the previous one. We discussed this at the time. It was three years ago, I suppose we'll look into it again.
Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
Thank you for your question, sir.
Any other questions? Over there.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mouton. I'm an individual shareholder. I have several questions. When you buy companies, and I gathered that it has not been entirely finalized for Republic Wire, which of your competitors could also take over companies? I have another question about your competitors, Nexans' competitors. About the SHIFT, does it help the sovereignty of France or other states? One last question. I saw that there were stories about the departure of Mr. Guérin and Mr. Hueber in 2025. Could you give a small detail?
There have been a lot of changes in the management team. A lot of changes indeed. Mr. Hueber,
I'll answer the first question. When we took over Republic, you need to know that we were the only ones to negotiate with that company. We know the American cable manufacturing market very well. Not that long ago, with our cable wire factory, we would supply all of these manufacturers, so we know that company very well, the quality of their managers. We were the only ones to negotiate with them. There were no competitors. As for your second question, who are our competitors overall? Well, the cable making sector is fairly fragmented. There are only two companies that are global, that have a footprint across several continents. Nexans is one of them. The rest of our competitors are more regional or domestic competitors.
At regional-domestic level, you're looking more at private or family-owned companies. That's so much for the competition landscape. We have a footprint across all markets, and this allows us to pool our industrial footprint with the different factories. It allows us to use production capabilities on the most interesting markets. About the ship. Right. First, let's inaugurate the ship. It will really be handed over to us on the 8th of June. This ship is much more effective than the previous ones. 13,500 in tonnage in terms of cable, though the previous one was 10,000, so it's much more. We can store more miles of cable. We can pay off more distance, which is quite important because we supply sites the world over. We can pay off more in just one passage or crossing, so to speak.
In terms of CO2, that means we emit less emissions. We have engines also that help us save energy. It's more powerful, faster, and it transports more cable. Mr. Jean Mouton.
Yes, and it's not so much additional capability, but it can replace other ships. Mr. Julien Hueber.
Right. Today, thanks to our order intakes, we have a visibility on our workload in our transmission factories until 2028. Today, our factories are already running at 100% of their capacity. Now that we are getting this new ship, it will allow us to stop renting a ship, a ship that we're currently renting. That means we will have our own fleet. We'll stop renting. Jean Mouton.
Right. You referred to the different departures. First, for the record, Mr. Julien Hueber and Mr. Christopher Guérin left the company several months, one after the other. It's just a coincidence.
As regards Chris Guérin, he did amazing work for this company. It's absolutely unquestionable. When we launched the simplification program with him over the last four to five years, more specifically between 2021 and 2024, this has clearly helped the company to make a leap forward. Thanks to Chris' qualities in terms of marketing sales, where he has made a huge contribution to the company. When we announced the program during the Capital Market Day, the amplification program, we called it Amplify. We soon realized that what was important to us was to be able to better operate the assets that we already had, specifically industrial ones.
By discussing with the rest of the board and Chris, we concluded that despite the fact that Chris had done some really good work so far, the question was whether we had the right profile for the following four to five years, given the industrial dimension of all this and also the need to build a company with a real operational dimension. We have been looking at succession plans for the CEO since 2022. We have always done this in full transparency with the serving CEO. We realized that we had to prepare ourselves for this issue of operational excellence. As you know, Julien has been in the company for a very long time. He spent 15 years in Asia, in China and Korea, therefore knows inside out the most effective cable manufacturers the world over, specifically their industrial equipment.
We tried to think of what would be best for the company. Therefore, we decided to change CEOs, and let's be clear, Chris did amazing work until then. Any other questions? Sir?
Hello, Olivier Cafar, I'm an individual shareholder. You have mentioned the new ship that will soon be delivered. You said that you would stop renting a ship. Does it mean that it will cost less in terms of operations, or will it be the equivalent to today's rental?
Right. It would change the type of cost as we're going to move from rental costs to amortization. This asset, besides, is more modern, more recent, more effective. Clearly, it's much more positive. Also, as Julien said, there's the capacity or the ability to send out these ships in the North Sea, for example, and avoid storms.
It will help us generate more value than with a rented ship. Any other questions? Do we have any questions on the Internet? We don't. Seems to be a question. We have a question on the Internet. How can you explain the drop in Nexans' share price relative to Italian competitor, Prysmian?
Well, we do like to benchmark ourselves with our competitors. We are working on several things right now. The first thing is that our Italian competitor has a very strong exposure on the American market compared with us. You know that in the electrification industry, exposure to the U.S. market attracts more investors. We are correcting this. We have just announced the acquisition of Republic Wire in the United States. As you have seen, it had an immediate positive impact on the share price. Second, we need to do some work in-house on our transmission market.
You have seen the profitability of transmission, which is in the region of 12%-13%, where our competitors are rather in the region of 17%-18% in profitability. We're working on it, and we're quite confident. We believe that in the next two years, we should be able to drive up this profitability. We will be on a par with our competitors. Another aspect, it's the Great Sea Interconnector project that we were awarded a few years back, which is pending. It's the undersea connection between Cyprus and Greece. There were a lot of stories about it in the press. Of course, this project is pending. It's ground to a halt. It's quite a lot, EUR 2.5 billion in our order intake, and obviously does have a substantial impact on our share price. These are the three main priorities. We work on the U.S.
We are very much aligned with the management and the board. We really want to grow and to harness Republic Wire as a platform to grow in the U.S. market. We'll make corrections there. We're also working with political authorities. We are trying to work on the GSI project, so the Great Sea Interconnector project between Greece and Cyprus.
Thank you very much, Julien. Sir? For the Saint-Gotthard, you're just going to lay the pipe, so what would you?
No. We are cable producers. We will not be operating the tunnel per se. It's a beautiful project because we're talking about 60 km worth of high voltage cable. The entire tunnel infrastructure is being revised. The piping will be laid underground. Rather than having towers or pylons going through mountains, the fact that the high voltage lines being underground is, well, more aesthetic and also energy saving. We won't be charging tolls or anything. Well, just like the Channel Tunnel, where you have a cable laid on the ground. The difference is that the cable in the Channel Tunnel is on top of the tunnel, whereas this will be underground. Well, they are revamping the tunnel and re-electrifying it as well. They're killing two stones in one bird. It will certainly improve efficiency.
Sir, yes, I had a question about your purchase of copper, your plant in Lens with a new furnace that recycles copper. You're looking at, say, maybe 20% or 30% of the European market. The rest is new copper that you purchase. What is your position vis-à-vis the rest of the world? In the U.S. with Republic Wire, will you be using also recycling copper there like we do in Europe? If you want to duplicate the operation, do the same in America as you have in Lens, will the markets be different? In Europe, we are well ahead in terms of recycling. Could you create more value in the U.S. because if they are lagging behind in terms of recycling, you could bring added value with that. Not just efficiency gains, but also become more profitable. They're two questions within one.
The sourcing of copper cathodes comes from Chile. CODELCO is the supply there. There's also Peru, Australia, and some sources in Africa as well. These are the main supply sources for copper cathodes. We want to secure our supply. We have a five-year rolling contract, so we're always five years ahead of the game. The fact that we also throw in recycled copper means that we can even buffer up that supply of copper, because we already announced two or three years ago, and we still believe that at some point there will be pressure. I'm not talking about shortages, but still pressure on the copper market and pressure has begun. In fact, a year ago, we're looking at anywhere between $7,000-$8,000 a ton. Now we're looking at $13,000 per ton of copper. Some banks are looking at $15,000, $20,000 per ton of copper.
The fact that we can recycle certainly helps. Plus, for our customers, it's a sign of security. Because of our size, because of the significant amount of recycled amount, we can be pretty confident about the supply, especially for our platinum customers. Regarding the U.S., we have a blast furnace in Montreal, Canada. We do not recycle copper there. We may do so in the future, but the main thing is we have to look at the customer's appetite for recycled copper and therefore with the matching price. Europe is very mature on the environmental side. Some customers, indeed ourselves, have been looking for low carbon coppers, whereas in America you haven't got the same sort of market maturity. If we're in a position to provide recycled metal copper or aluminum, we will do just that, because that's part of our E3 policy.
Something about copper versus aluminum. Yes, to keep it simple, the low voltage, we're looking at copper, mid voltage, aluminum. On aluminum, we are pioneers in as much as we have been pushing recycled aluminum cables and also recycled polymer cables. In other words, we are in a position for mid voltage. We sell cables in Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden. These cables are looking at 50% less CO2 than the standard cable. We really are pioneers in this respect. Our customers, such the likes of E.ON or even Enedis, they're very much keen to get low carbon copper as well. What we propose is to extend such low carbon products to other customers in Europe and indeed in other territories as well. Yes, sir.
Bernard Lemaire. I'm an individual shareholder, unless I'm much mistaken, there used to be a club of individual shareholders. Is it still around?
It's a good question. Would you believe we discussed this with Angéline? She's the director representing employees on the board. Yes, you're right. We should breathe more life into that club of individual shareholders. There was such a club, a very much active club back in 2012, I believe. I believe that was more than 10 years ago, but you're right. Yeah. Right. Any other questions? If such is not the case, we can bring this Q&A to a close. We have resolutions. Yes, we have 76.4% of shares represented. We have a quorum, and now Nino will tell us about the voting procedure. A few words about that. You should have received a voting tablet as you got in. On the screen, you will find the terms of the resolutions to vote.
You'll have 12 seconds to vote for, against, or abstain, and then you have to press Okay to confirm. Each resolution will display the number of votes. Should your tablet not work properly, we have people in the room who will help you. We'll show you a little video telling you how to use the device. You were provided with this tablet
Elle est strictement personnelle et sert uniquement lors de cette assemblée.[Non-English Content]
It is for personal use only and for this AGM only.
À l'annonce du vote d'une résolution, la fenêtre de vote s'affiche automatiquement sur votre tablette, même si celle-ci est en veille.[Non-English Content]
When voting on a resolution, you have the screen displaying the resolution and the voting options.
Pour voter l'une de ces options, appuyez sur le bouton correspondant à votre choix.[Non-English Content]
You press the key.
Pour, abstention ou contre.
You wish to
Appuyez sur OK pour valider votre choix avant la clôture du vote.[Non-English Content]
You have to click OK to confirm your decision. Once you've pressed OK, that's it. You can't change your vote.
[Foreign language]Merci de bien vouloir restituer votre tablette en sortant de la salle.[ Foreign language]
Please return the tablet after you leave the auditorium.
Right then. Well, the time has come for us to vote on the resolutions. You will find them in the documents you received beforehand. We will not read them word for word. You have 15 resolutions for the ordinary AGM. The resolution number one is to approve the statements for 2025 and giving the approval to the board. You have to vote now. Right, voting is closed. Resolution one was adopted. We move on to resolution number two. We're looking at the consolidated financial statements and the board's report thereof. Please vote now. No more voting. Resolution adopted. We move on to resolution number three, that is allocation of income for 2025 and setting of the dividend. Please vote now. Voting is closed, resolution number three is carried.
We move on to resolution number four, and here we're looking at the renewal of Laura Bernardelli's term as a director. Please vote now. Time's up. Resolution number four is adopted. Congratulations to Laura. Resolution number five is renewal of Anne Lebel's term as a director. Please vote now. Time's up. Resolution number five is adopted. Congratulations to Anne Lebel. We move on to resolution number six, and that's the appointment of Antonio Cammisecra as director. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. We move on to resolution number seven. Appointment of Mr. Thierry Fournier as director. Please vote now. Time's up. The resolution is adopted. We move on to number eight. Here we are looking at the approval of removal of the attendance requirement attached to the shares allocated under performance share plans to Christopher Guérin. Please vote now. Time's up.
Resolution number eight was adopted. We move on to number nine, approval of the information relating to the compensation items paid during the fiscal year to corporate officers. Please vote now. Time's up. Resolution number nine was adopted. We move on to number 10. Approval of the items of compensation for the year 2025 paid to Jean Mouton, Chairman of the Board. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. Number 11 now, approval of the items of compensation paid for 2025 to Christopher Guérin, CEO until 12 October 2025. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. We move on to resolution number 12, approval of the items of compensation paid for 2025 to Julien Hueber, CEO since October 13th, 2025. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. Number 13, approval of the compensation policy of the members of the board for the fiscal year 2026. Please vote now.
Time's up. Adopted. We move on to resolution number 14, approval of the compensation policy of the chairman of the board for the year 2026. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. Number 15 now, approval of the compensation policy of the chief executive officer for the year 2026. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. Number 16, authorization to be granted to the board for the purpose of carrying transactions involving company shares. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. We move on to the five resolutions that come under the extraordinary AGM. Number 17, authorization to be granted to the board of directors for the purpose of reducing the company's share capital by cancellation of its own shares. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted.
We move on to number 18, authorization to be granted to the board for the purpose of granting in 2027 free performance shares to employees and corporate officers of the group to the tune of 330,000 shares for 18 months. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. We move on to number 19, authorization to be granted to the board for the purpose of granting free non-performance shares to employees or to some of them, maximum amount 50,000 shares starting in January 1st, 2027 for 12 months. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted. Number 20, that's an amendment of Article 12bis of the company's bylaws to be in line with the Women on Board Directive regarding gender balance on the board. Please vote now. Time's up. That was adopted.
We move on to number 21, amendment of Article 19, Paragraph two of the company's bylaws to raise the statutory age of the chairman of the board from 72 - 75. Please vote now. Time's up. That was adopted. Now we have number 22. That's for the ordinary AGM, powers to carry out formalities. Please vote now. Time's up. Adopted.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Nino. Well, we have exhausted the agenda, so the meeting stands adjourned. I would like to thank you for attending the meeting, both here in the auditorium and online. We'll see you next year. Bye-bye.