Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Peugeot Invest half-year 2026 results presentation. Your hosts today are Jean-Charles Douin , Chief Executive Officer, and Sébastien Coquard , Deputy Chief Executive Officer. During the presentation, you may submit your question at any time through the webcast platform using the form at the bottom of the webcast page. We will address your question during the Q&A session following the presentation. I will hand over to Jean-Charles Douin . Please, sir, go ahead.
Thank you, Leslie. Good morning, everybody. This is Jean-Charles Douin speaking. Our results for the half year 2026 show a solid net return for my investment strategy. At 8.5%, excluding foreign exchange , it translates into value creation of just below EUR 240 million. On top of this, foreign exchange movements were positive for us this semester and contributed another EUR 50 million of value. As Sébastien will explain later in more detail, this value creation was more than offset by the negative contribution from our stake in Stellantis. These two drivers combined mean that our portfolio is now more diversified than it has been in recent years, with Stellantis representing less than 20% of our gross assets. Finally, we continue to manage our balance sheet with discipline, reducing net debt by EUR 56 million in the first six months and maintaining a comfortable LTV ratio of 7.8%.
On the investment activity front, we have continued a disciplined repositioning of our portfolio, completing EUR 330 million of disposal during the first half of the year. This momentum will continue. The sale of Doctrine was finalized post-closing, and we will receive the final installment of the secondary sale of private equity fund that we announced last year. We have already begun redeploying this process into two new investments, both fully aligned with our investment criteria, one in technology and one in business services. I think that together, these transactions demonstrate our disciplined execution, the strength of our origination capabilities, and our ability to capitalize on attractive market opportunities. I will now pass on to Sébastien, who will present the financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Jean-Charles. Let me begin with an overview of our Net Asset Value and portfolio performance during the first half of the year. As of June 30th, our NAV stood at EUR 144.8 per share, representing a decline of 12.5% over the period. This performance reflects two contrasting trends. Our investment portfolio delivered a strong performance, which was, however, more than offset by the sharp correction in the Stellantis share price. Stellantis share price declined by 48% during the first half. As a result, Stellantis now accounts for only 20% of our GAV, significantly reducing its weight in our portfolio. During the period, Stellantis also unveiled its FaSTLAne 2030 strategic plan, structured around six complementary priorities, which are reminded on the left side of this slide.
The company first half result showed initial signs of improvement with revenue up 10% and its adjusted operating income margin increasing by 140 basis points to 2.1%. Moving now to our investment portfolio. It represents 79% of our gross asset value. It generated a net performance of 8.5% at constant exchange rates during the first half. The value of our direct holdings was broadly stable overall. The decline in Robertet's share price was offset by valuation uplift across some of our private holdings. As some of them were acquired relatively recently, they continue to be valued at their acquisition cost. Our investment funds, by contrast, delivered particularly strong growth, driven mainly by the performance of the Valor Equity funds. When selecting investment fund managers, we identified Valor Equity for its ability to invest early in companies with significant long-term growth potential.
Between 2017 and 2021, we made commitments to three of its funds. These notably invested in SpaceX. Following SpaceX IPO at a significantly higher valuation, the value of our interest in these funds now exceeds EUR 200 million, representing a multiple of approximately 20 times our invested capital in the company. Given the magnitude of the value created, we have hedged this exposure in order to secure these gains. Our other investment portfolio also delivered a strong performance, up 12% over the first half. This was primarily driven by a significant revaluation of Doctrine following the announcement of its sale. Foreign exchange movement had a slightly positive impact during the first half. This followed a very significant negative impact in 2025. Overall, however, the cumulative foreign exchange impact has remained broadly neutral since 2020. At June 30th, the disconnect between intrinsic value and the market price is even higher.
Let us now turn to the main portfolio movements during the first half. I will start with the main disposals. First, we completed the full exit from LISI through a market sale, generating total proceeds of EUR 116 million. Over the nearly 50 years, this investment generated an 11% IRR and close to EUR 400 million of value creation. As a reminder, following our latest strategy update, we decided to make no further investment in real estate and to gradually exit our existing real estate holdings. In line with this decision, we sold our stakes in Immobilière Dassault to the Dassault family, which offered to acquire our interest. After a holding period of approximately 20 years, the transaction generated proceeds of EUR 72 million and an IRR of more than 8%.
This represents decent returns over the investment period, particularly considering the challenging environment faced by the real estate sector following the sharp rise in interest rates. One of the key developments during the first half was the entry into exclusive negotiation for the sale of Doctrine. We invested EUR 18 million in the company in 2023, alongside our partner firm, Summit Partners . Since then, the company has delivered very strong growth and successfully evolved from a France-focused legal research provider into a leading legal AI platform serving civil law jurisdictions across continental Europe. This strong development attracted RELX, a U.K.-listed global information and analytic group, which agreed to acquire the company. This transaction resulted in a significant valuation uplift for us in the first half. The sale was completed in August, generating proceeds of EUR 97 million for Peugeot Invest.
This represents more than five times our original investment in just over three years and is a strong illustration of our ability to create value by investing alongside high-quality partners in companies benefiting from sustainable growth trends.
Thank you. These were all our disposals. In terms of capital deployment, we covered our new investment to back the merger of Totalmobile and Solvares Group at the 2025 results presentation. This EUR 140 million investment closed very early in the year, and the integration for the merger of the two businesses is on track. Mérieux NutriSciences is our most recent investment. We announced it just three days ago. It really follows our investments in healthcare with Novetude, in financial services with BroadStreet Partners, and technology with Totalmobile. Now we have completed the full coverage of all four core sectors with this investment in business services. There are several things we liked about this business. From a sector perspective, food testing and inspection is underpinned by structural growth drivers, tighter regulation, rising consumer demand for traceability, and the emergence of new health risk.
NutriSciences itself is a global leader, both in terms of scale and quality, and is focused on one vertical, the food industry, which we like. It is not just a sleepy leader. These are exciting times for Mérieux NutriSciences. The acquisition of Certified has a strong industrial logic and really changes the scale of the group in North America, which is the largest market in food safety. This investment also demonstrates the strength of our origination capabilities. Through our sector-focused approach, we identified Mérieux NutriSciences as an attractive target more than a year ago. It also highlights our ability to partner with leading families and provide our shareholders with access to high-quality private companies. The investment will be $175 million, and the transaction is expected to close in October, subject to customary regulatory approval.
Thank you, Jean-Charles. Let us go to this secondary transaction. As you may remember, we entered in 2025 into a secondary transaction to sell part of our investment funds portfolio with 35 funds managed by 20 managers. Two-thirds of the proceeds were scheduled to be cashed in in 2026. We received EUR 83 million in H1, and we will receive another EUR 70 million at the end of the year. Excluding the secondary transaction, distribution from our investment funds amounted to EUR 28 million during the first half, while capital call totaled EUR 60 million. We made a new EUR 35 million commitments to the new fund managed by our long-standing partner, Five Arrows. The fund will be invested across both Europe and the United States. Turning to other investments, apart from the Doctrine transaction discussed earlier, the portfolio continued its gradual rotation with 2 additional exits during the period.
The first one was the sale of Capsa, a U.S. healthcare co-investment made alongside Levine Leichtman, who took some time to exit and printed a moderate 7.5% IRR. The second was the redemption of our preferred equity investment in Panera alongside JAB. This investment generated 1.8x multiple on invested capital and an IRR of 52%. To conclude, the first half was once again marked by a high level of activity. The disciplined rotation of our portfolio continued with EUR 330 million of disposals completed during the period. This does not include the EUR 97 million of proceeds from the sale of Doctrine, which were received at the beginning of the second half. We are methodically redeploying the capital across our four priority sectors. This includes the two new direct investments presented by Jean-Charles, as well as new commitments to a carefully selected group of investment funds.
Taking a step back and looking at our activity over the past four years, you can see that we have maintained this consistent and disciplined approach to portfolio rotation year-after-year, with 60% of the assets having been sold. This combination of disciplined portfolio rotation and selective capital deployment remains central to our strategy and to our objective to creating sustainable long-term value. Turning now to our credit profile. Net debt was reduced by EUR 56 million to a low- level of EUR 320 million at June 30th. As a result, the loan-to-value ratio remains stable and contained to 7.8%. Our liquidity position remains strong with EUR 785 million of undrawn credit facilities and EUR 255 million of cash on the balance sheet. This provides ample capacity both to fund our upcoming investments and to repay the EUR 300 million bond maturing in October.
Our operating cash flow was positive in H1, despite the absence of any dividend contribution from Stellantis, thanks to a EUR 20 million tax refund, as expected. Concerning the P&L, our net profit group share stood at EUR 135.8 million, up year-on-year despite lower dividend income. It was supported by positive revaluation of private equity funds and a positive Forex impact when this impact was very negative in H1 2025. The AGM voted in favor of maintaining the level of dividend at EUR 3.25 per share, despite the NAV decline and the absence of the dividend from Stellantis this year. Over the last 10 years, the dividend has grown on average at a strong 7% per annum. That concludes this section. Jean-Charles, I will now hand back to you for the conclusion.
Thank you. Let me close with four takeaways from our half-year results. First, we continue to deliver a solid performance for my investment portfolio with an 8.5% net return, translating into EUR 336 million of value creation. Second, our portfolio is more diversified than ever, with Stellantis now representing just 20% of our gross assets. Third, we maintain a strong balance sheet and a conservative 7.8% LTV ratio, providing us with significant capacity to pursue new investments. Finally, we continue to execute our portfolio repositioning with discipline, having invested across all four core sectors over the past 18 months. With this, I will now open to questions.
Thank you. You are now invited to send your question through the webcast platform using the form at the bottom of the page. We will take a short break, and we will be back with you in a few minutes. Thank you.
[Break]
We are back for the Q&A session. Our first question is, do you plan to refinance the maturing EUR 300 million bonds, because otherwise your financing flexibility will decrease?
Thank you for the question. As you have seen on page 26, we have a very strong liquidity, and hence we have the ability to refinance this bond. We will consider at some point maybe a new issuance. As you have seen, the rates have increased significantly at the moment. We believe at the current situation, we have enough liquidity to refinance this bond and to continue, first, to invest and finance the new development, and second, to keep a very high level of liquidity.
Our next question, can you please confirm that excluding SpaceX, the return of the investment fund would only have been EUR 13 million?
Yes, I can confirm this figure.
Third question, will you provide more transparency on the funds as Sofina did recently?
Well, first, we are always very interested in having example and ways to improve the way we communicate on our assets and our strategy. Concerning this specific aspect, we have put on the appendix, for a few quarters and a few publication, more details on our investment funds and co-investment part. On the investment, page 44, you can see what are the main GPs that we are exposed to, and also the splits between geographic and sector exposure to the funds. I guess that should answer a part of your question.
Our next question, are you exposed through the fund to some AI-related stocks?
Well, we have invested in different private equity funds in Europe and in the U.S. Obviously, Valor Equity is a fund that is exposed to growth company in U.S. and in the Silicon Valley, and so the exposure to SpaceX was very attractive. We will see whether in the different portfolio we have other growing exposure. But we are not exposed to the very large other AI companies today.
The next question, wha t will be your stake in percentage in Mérieux NutriSciences?
We are investing $175 million in Mérieux NutriSciences. We are not communicating on the stake, but we will be one of the major minority shareholders of the business. Institut Mérieux will retain control with more than 60% of the business.
What is very important with Mérieux NutriSciences is we will be represented on the governance with a board seat, and that is in line with our stated strategy of being an active minority shareholder.
Our next question. Can you summarize what your financial firepower is pro forma of the Nutrition doctrine and other not-yet-closed deals? What will be your pro rata net cash situation instead of EUR 320 million? What will be your max LTV?
We expect our net debt at the end of the year to be a bit higher than the one we have at the end of June, but to remain at a very decent level. I will not really comment on the LTV because it really depends on what will be the level of the gross asset value. We believe that with this level of LTV and an LTV around the 10% level, it is still a very conservative level, which we are very okay with.
Next question. Is the long-term intention to consider wholly owned operating companies within the group in order to provide a more reliable stream of dividend?
At the moment, we are not considering wholly owned businesses. We don't want to be a control shareholder. Our strategic positioning is really one of partnership. We want to partner with families, with funds, with sovereign funds, et cetera. I think that's really where we focus. But to me, this is not at odds with the need for a dividend. You can also target cash-generative businesses that pay dividends, and we have a few of those in the portfolio. Rothschild would be an example of that. You can also get access to this dividend stream as a minority shareholder.
We have a set of question regarding Stellantis, starting with, given the 47% drop in Stellantis share price and its share of GAV shrinking to 20%, how do you view the early execution of CEO Antonio Filosa FaSTLAne 2030 recovering plan?
Clearly, the financial performance of the Stellantis stock is disappointing. What we would note is the results of the first semester of Stellantis show some early roots and some positivity. As Sébastien showed, sales are up by 10%. The margin is also up a few hundred basis points. The plan presented by Antonio Filosa is relatively recent, and I think it's important to give time for the company to go through its recovery. As one of the main shareholders of Stellantis, we are fully supportive and fully aligned with the management team in its efforts.
What is your long-term strategic outlook on the historic automotive portfolio?
I'm not sure how to understand the question. In terms of outlook, in terms of financial performance, as I just described, I think at the moment, we are fully engaged through the board, with the management team, and focused on the recovery of the business, and I think that's the most important. Clearly, there are headwinds in the industry, both in Europe and North America, but we are going through this and focused on the execution of the plan.
The share price continues to trade at a steep discount to NAV of over 60%. Are you considering opportunistic share buyback programs to help bridge this gap given your strong liquidity position?
Thanks. So yes, look, share buyback is definitely part of the toolbox. The reason we have been relatively shy at looking at share buybacks in the past is because we think that the relatively small free float of Peugeot Invest is one of the reason of the discount. We do not want to increase, or we do not want to narrow, I guess, the free float through share buyback. Therefore, when we want to give cash back to the shareholders, I think the favored option for us to do that has been through dividend, and most likely we will continue to do so through dividends rather than share buyback.
The share price continues to be dragged down by the performance of your auto assets. Have you had the opportunity to think about how to decouple Peugeot Invest performance from that?
Yeah, thanks. Look, we have had that question in the past, I guess. As we have said in the past, I think we need to look at all the options on the table. But, at this stage, there is no project to do a decoupling or anything else. Look, any project will need to be considered carefully with both our majority and minority shareholders, but also ensure that it does not put Peugeot Invest itself in a negative position through any tax or legal consequences.
The exposure to Stellantis may be one explanation to the discount. Despite it being down to 20%, what level of Stellantis as a percentage of GAV would you view as more appropriate?
I don't think we have a specific number in mind for the share of Stellantis. I think what we need to achieve is to ensure that we have a portfolio of investments that continue to accrue positively, and that therefore, we maintain this balance between the two. Look, for Stellantis, clearly, it's not an ordinary investment. It's the historic investment of the business. For us, that's the way we treat it. We treat it as a legacy investment that we continue to focus on and go through the recovery of the business.
Could you please explain why SG&A have increased sharply in first half 2026 compared with H1 2025?
Yeah. There may be two reasons. The first one is a change of provisioning. In this first half, we took provision on the potential variable compensation of the teams. Before, it was only done at end of the year. So it's not an increase of cost, it's just a change of provisioning in the first half. The second part is part of the project of reorganization, reorganizing the way we own our different assets and especially the private equity funds. We had exceptional costs to move those assets in the new entities.
Will Peugeot Invest be looking to allocate to new fund managers or asset managers in H2 2026 or 2027? If so, for which asset classes, sectors, or strategies?
Thank you. Yes, we continue to be looking for opportunities to deploy our capital. As we said many times, we have a solid balance sheet, and I think we have significant investment capacities. These opportunities will include investment funds. To be clear, we are not looking to change our strategy. In the last part of 2026 and 2027, we will remain focused on one asset class, which is the equity asset class. We invest in public equity, private equity, and private equity funds, and that is what we will continue to do. In terms of sectors, we will continue to invest in our four core sectors. As a reminder, these are business services, healthcare, technology, and financial services. The way we look at funds is really to make it a self-financing activity.
We are managing very carefully the liquidity of our private equity fund portfolio, and that is what we will continue to do for the rest of the year and for 2027.
This concludes our Q&A session. Thank you everyone for joining today, and have a great day.