Good evening. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Rexel fourth quarter sales and full year 2025 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and after the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Guillaume Texier, CEO of Rexel. Please go ahead, sir.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our full year 2025 results presentation. I'm with Laurent Delabarre, our Group CFO, who will take you through the financials and the detailed numbers in a few minutes. And before that, let me briefly set the scene and share the key messages. So 2025 was another year of market outperformance and margin resilience, and this is a particularly remarkable outcome as it was delivered in a mixed environment. It also clearly demonstrates the transformation of Rexel's model that is underway and gathering pace. Beyond the results, an additional element of satisfaction is that behind the scenes, we continue to take initiatives to strengthen the group for the next phase.
Building momentum in high-growth verticals, such as data centers, actively managing the portfolio, and accelerating our transformation through digital, AI, and productivity initiatives, which supports our confidence in our midterm ambition. With that, let's get started. Let me begin with a quick overview of the key highlights of the year. First of all, as I mentioned, our sales and margin performance offers an important proof point that Rexel's transformed business model is working, not only in favorable macro conditions, but also in a more mixed environment. Second, we adapted quickly to a very different environment in Europe and North America. As conditions evolved through the year, we stayed close to our customers, and we accelerated execution progressively, adjusting priorities and protecting performance. Third, as I said, we stepped up self-help actions through our Axelerate 2028 strategic plan.
These initiatives are very operational and concrete, strengthening discipline, improving efficiency, and ensuring we continue to build the foundations for future performance. So overall, resilient results today, rapid adaptation throughout the year, and action plans that support the next steps of our journey to reach our midterm ambition. With that, let's move on and take a look at the year in more detail. Turning to our full year achievements on slide 4, we met or exceeded the guidance we set for the year on all KPIs. First, on top line, we achieved +2.5% same-day sales growth above the initial guidance that we had raised in October. Second, profitability remained very solid. We delivered a current adjusted EBITDA margin of 6%, fully in line with our guidance, again, illustrating the resilience of our margins in a challenging environment.
And third, cash generation was strong. Our free cash flow conversion before interest and tax reached 76%, well above our guidance of above 65%, when excluding the impact of the EUR 124 million French antitrust fine. So overall, we delivered growth, we maintained margin, and generated strong cash, providing a solid base as we move into the next year and execute our priorities. Let me then take a step back on the backdrop. It was not a particularly easy environment. Europe stayed weak, notably in residential. North America was impacted by uncertainty and a delayed recovery in industrial automation, and Asia Pacific remained subdued. The clear area of strength was AI-driven data center investment and favorable pricing in the U.S., supported by trade tariffs. In that context, Rexel did what we set out to do.
We outperformed and gained share across our key markets. We are seeing a real payoff from the work we've been doing over the last several years on sales force excellence, higher digital penetration, and the ramp-up of advanced services. We also leaned into data centers and broadband infrastructure, particularly in the U.S., with dedicated teams and branches, and we further strengthen our position in the telecom space with the Telia acquisition. In addition, we stayed agile on the portfolio with 5 acquisitions and 2 disposals. Overall, tough markets, but strong execution, and we've continued to build momentum in the right growth areas. From a geographical standpoint, the year really comes down to how we manage the two main engines of the group, North America and Europe. In North America, the focus was on managing profitable growth.
We captured the trends in higher growth segments, and at the same time, we managed the tariff situation in a disciplined way. Importantly, we kept tight control of the cost base, delivering growth while operating with a broadly similar FTE level. In Europe, the environment was more muted, with negative volumes and flat pricing, so we moved fast on costs. We rapidly implemented adaptation plans, leading to a workforce reduction of around 4%, about 600 FTEs, in 2025, while keeping a strong focus on margins. Taken together, this is what drove improved margin resilience versus previous cycle downturns. Let me now focus on data centers in North America on slide 7. What began three years ago as a targeted initiative is now achieving scale to become one of our most attractive growth platforms. In the U.S., we are reinforcing our position.
We continue to significantly outperform the market with very strong momentum in Q4 and across the year, and data center already represents a meaningful share of our sales. To support that growth, we expanded our footprint and capabilities close to project sites, adding, for example, around 200,000 sq ft of storage capacity in key locations like Atlanta, Napa, and Reno, with further potential to scale. Our model is simple: local branches and resources backed by national coordination. That allows us to be close to customers on execution, while still bringing the breadth of Rexel, expertise, availability, and consistency across multiple sites. We also broadened our offering into new product categories that matter for data centers builds, and we are continuing to add dedicated resources and expertise to capture this next wave of projects. In Canada, also, we are off to a promising start.
Here, the activity for us is concentrating in the western region. We are active in the gray room offering, from UPS to panels and datacom accessories, and we have a strong backlog that supports continued momentum for 2026. So the key takeaway here is that our scale, logistics capabilities, and technical expertise give us a clear advantage in this segment. We are well positioned with strong momentum ahead of us. And now on slide 8, portfolio management remains a key lever of our strategy. 2025 was another year of active portfolio management, with 4 acquisitions completed and 2 disposals, further sharpening the group's footprint and profitability profile. We've strengthened our footprint through the additions of Warshauer and Schwing in the U.S.
In Canada and Italy, we've expanded into adjacent higher margin businesses with Jacmar and euros of turnover, while completing around EUR 2 billion net of disposals. In total, we've closed 21 acquisitions over that period, including 4 in 2025. And what I would like to stress is the quality and the direction of this M&A. Around 60% is in our core electrical distribution business, around 40% in adjacencies, where we see attractive structural growth and higher value-added opportunities. We have been particularly focused on North America, with 14 acquisitions representing more than 70% of acquired sales, including about EUR 500 million in adjacent. And this is clear value creation.
On average, we see value creation from year two, earlier than initially targeted, and our combined 2025 performance imply roughly 7x EV to EBITDA multiple after synergies, below Rexel valuation multiple. And we also move forward on the other side of the portfolio with two targeted divestments completed in 2025, and these actions reinforce the robustness of our balance sheet and provide flexibility to continue investing in growth. Moving to slide 9, digital is a very, very tangible differentiator for Rexel, and it continues to gain traction. Today, we are a B2B leader in digital, with more than one-third of our sales going through digital channels, and this is not slowing down. Digital penetration has been progressing by between 200 and 300 basis points per year over the last 15 years.
What's driving it is a mix of constant improvement in the customer experience, with more tailor-made features, including AI-powered capabilities, plus continuous, data enrichment, and also, frankly, a generational shift in how customers want to buy and interact. The benefits of this long-term effort are very concrete, and I believe this is one also of the explanation of our good set of results recently. Digital increases customer stickiness and share of wallet. It widens the service gap versus smaller competitors, who have increasing difficulties following the pace of the race to more data and more features. And finally, it also improves the efficiency and productivity of our teams, which is critical to our business model. All in all, it's a key engine of differentiation and performance for Rexel.
Beyond the short-term environment, we are accelerating a set of deeper transformation to pave the way for future performance, as shown on slide 10. First, we are boosting sales force productivity through organizational changes and increasing adoption of AI-based tools to help our team spend more time selling and improve the quality of execution. Second, we're optimizing the supply chain through more automation, stronger internal synergies, and AI, improving service levels while taking structural costs out. Third, we are resetting parts of the cost base in lower profitability countries. This is about staying disciplined, adapting the model to the reality of the market, and protecting margins. Fourth, we are leveraging our full offering, expanding in adjacent product categories and services where we can create more value for customers and capture more of their spend.
And finally, we continue to roll out smart pricing programs that leverage data to improve consistency and value capture. Those topics are not all new to Rexel, obviously, as we constantly strive to improve. But 2025 was a year of clear acceleration. First of all, because the business environment pushed us to move faster and sometimes think out of the box, and secondly, because we launched our new strategic plan, Axelerate 2028. And most of those plans we are talking about are multi-year efforts, which means that you will see them progressively delivering benefits to our P&L. Focusing on next slide on AI. AI is another area where we are moving fast, and it's not just... And I'm on slide 11, and it's not just running pilots, but now scaling real use cases into day-to-day operations.
On the left of the slide, you see the main areas where we had identified clear AI opportunities: tools to speed up RFQs, smart automation for order entry, automatic data enrichment, an internal category expert capability.... customer-facing chatbots. And on the right, you see where we are today, not in terms of shiny proof of concept demos, but in terms of real adoption by the teams and real-life industrial life tools. In the U.S., more than 50% of the quoting teams, for example, are already using the new quotation tools. In France, around 25% of email quotes are handled through AI tools. And on order entry, we now have over 65% of U.S. teams and more than 70% of French teams using AI power tools. We're also rolling out internal expert capabilities by category, deploying customer-facing chatbots across additional countries.
So the message here is simple: AI is already improving speed, quality, and productivity, and we are scaling it pragmatically, use case by use case. Slide 12 is about productivity, a major KPI for us. The message here is that over the last five years, we have lifted the baseline of what we are able to deliver in terms of productivity every year. What differentiates this cycle from previous downturns is the speed and depth of our cost adaptation. Through workforce adjustments, productivity initiatives, tighter cost control, we protected margins despite lower volumes, reinforcing the resilience of our operating model. Historically, between 2016 and 2021, our productivity ratio averaged around 0.9%. Over the last few years, it has stepped up, and in 2025, it reached 2.8%.
This new improvement is not coming from one single level. It's a combination of structural initiatives that I just presented, including the ramp-up of digital and the early impact of AI tools, together with rapid cost adaptations in more challenging markets. 2025 was another demonstration of Rexel's resilience at the bottom of the cycle. The key takeaway is that we are not just managing through the cycle, we are structurally improving how efficiently the group operates, which supports margin resilience and future performance. With that, let me now hand over to Laurent, who will take you through the detailed 2025 numbers, and I will then come back for the guidance.
Thank you, Guillaume, and good morning to all of you. Evening. Good evening, sorry. On the slide 14, you can see how momentum improved throughout the year 2024 and 2025, with the quarterly same-day sales growth trend at group level and the regional breakdown. We moved from -4.6 in Q1 2024 to a progressively better trend quarter after quarter, and we closed 2025 with +3.8% in Q4. That's a very clear reflection of better momentum, disciplined execution in the field, and better pricing management. First, selling prices contributed positively in Q4 2025 for 1.7%, improving compared to Q3 2025. And more specifically, non-cable pricing were unchanged in Q4 2025 at 0.9%, with improving trends in North America, mainly offset by China. Selling price on cable improved to +0.8, notably thanks to Europe.
Briefly on geography, that I will highlight in the next two slides, North America remains the main growth engine. Growth accelerated through the year, and it did at +7.9% in Q4 2025. Europe remained difficult, but the trend improved sequentially, and we are back to flat sales evolution in Q4 2025. More specifically for Asia Pacific, accounting for 6% of group revenue, China was up 3.1%, supported by industrial automation project in a better environment, while selling price were just back to flat in Q4 2025. In Australia, sales growth accelerated in the quarter, notably boosted by solar activity, further supported by subsidies on batteries. Lastly, India, which is small, but sales increased by +16.9%, driven by strong growth in our industrial automation activity.
I'll now go into more detail in the next two slides on Europe and North America. So moving to slide 15, Europe remained impacted by a new construction environment and delayed electrification trends. Despite this, Rexel gained market share in its most important countries and delivered a resilient performance. Same-day sales in Europe were flat in Q4, improving from -0.5% in Q3. Volumes were broadly stable despite the political and macro uncertainties, and we also saw a sequential improvement in pricing in Q4 versus Q3, mainly driven by cable. And to put the underlying trend in perspective, our growth excluding solar, which represents about 4% of our sales in Europe, was up +0.5%. By end-market category, residential was flat, excluding solar, with first signs of recovery in a few countries, notably Sweden and the Netherlands.
Non-residential was broadly flat, and we saw slight improvement in industry. Let me highlight the main country dynamics in the quarter. France was up +3%, despite a challenging environment, with world-based market share gains and strong HVAC contribution. Benelux was up +2.6%, driven by electrical distribution activity in the Netherlands and the acceleration of solar growth in Belgium. That was a key offset, deteriorating sequentially on business selectivity in a difficult macro environment. Also, we continue to take market share in Austria. Sweden was flat, with a sequential improvement driven by industrial segment and supported by a smaller drag from solar in Q4 compared to Q3. And finally, U.K., Ireland was down -6.7%.
Ireland remained positive with a favorable industrial market, but the U.K. market stayed tough, with London showing the first sign of our recent investment. So overall, still a soft market, but improving trends through Q4 and continued market share gains in several countries. In this context, productivity initiative helped mitigate the impact of lower activity, and this position well to benefit from any market recovery, particularly as leading indicators in some countries begin to stabilize. On slide 16, we turn to North America, which remains the growth engine in Q4, driven by both volume and pricing, where we saw improvement in non-cable, mainly driven by piping and conduit families. First, same-day sales were up strongly in the quarter, with Canada driven the acceleration of Q3 2025, specifically in data center project, as presented by Guillaume.
We also benefited from strong continued market share gains and positive contribution in datacom. And second, the U.S. continued to be driven by high growth verticals, particularly data center and broadband infrastructure, which represent more than 55% of the growth in the quarter. We also saw strong activity in solar and EV charging. By end markets, all three markets were positive, with non-residential clearly driving the acceleration and the industrial automation up 8%. Lastly, the backlog remains solid, representing 2.7 months of activity at the end of December. Moving now to the full year picture. I'll start on slide 17 with the bridge of our full year sales, showing how growth was built between scope organic, FX and calendar. We delivered a full year 2025 sales of EUR 19.4 billion, up 0.7% on a reported basis.
Organic performance was the main driver. As we saw, same-day sales growth was +2.5% for the year, with volume contributing +1.2% and pricing adding +0.6 in non-cable and +0.7 in cable. So a solid volume contribution, plus disciplined pricing across both cable and non-cable. M&A also contribute meaningfully. Acquisition added +1.8%, more than offsetting the -0.9% impact from disposals. These positives were partly offset by external factors. First, the FX was a headwind of -2.2%, mainly from weakening of the U.S. dollar and Canadian dollar, as well as a calendar impact of -0.5%. That was a sales bridge for the year, and we'll now move to profitability and margin performance.
In this slide 18, we bridge our adjusted EBITDA margin year on year, and the key message is simple: recovery productivity more than compensates what we call the delta inflation headwind. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased from 5.9% in full year 2024 to 6% in full year 2025. First, portfolio and FX were positive, contributing 11 basis points, while the calendar effect was a drag of -5 basis points. Second, you see the operating leverage slightly negative because due mainly to the new European environment and the under absorption of fixed costs, notably in underperforming countries, mitigated by positive operating leverage in North America. Third, the main headwinds in the year was what we call the delta inflation, which represent the gap between selling price increase and OpEx inflation, a 19 basis point headwinds, in line with our expectation.
Cost inflation was around +2.2 in full year 2025, while selling price increase were up 1.3%. This headwinds was more than offset by the two following actions. First, the gross margin improvement, adding 9 basis points, supported by pricing initiative. And second, our action plan delivered a further 33 basis points, in line with the expectation and already illustrated by Guillaume in the slide dedicated to productivity. Let me remind you that FTE were down 2.3%, while volume contribution to sales were up 0.7% in actual days. That operating discipline is what allow us to protect and slightly expand despite inflationary pressure. Lastly, we are further investing in the business, notably through digital and footprint investment that impact our EBITDA margin by 11 basis points.
On slide 19, we look at the bottom line part of our P&L with a zoom on other income and expense, financial expense, tax rate, and recurring net income. Other income and expense to that EUR 56 million, notably including, minus EUR 41.1 million in restructuring, mainly in Europe, more than last year in order to accelerate adaptation to a tougher environment, notably in U.K. and Germany. EUR 36 million of capital gains on disposal, - EUR 29.7 million in asset impairment in the U.K., -EUR 20 million in others, including integration costs and pension settlement in Canada. Financial expense stood at EUR 214 million, slightly above last year, with a rise in gross debt offsetting the lower cost of debt, now at 4% versus 4.4% last year.
It includes EUR 72 million of interest on lease liabilities and pure financial cost of EUR 142 million. For 2026, we anticipate financial expense of circa EUR 215 million, including less than EUR 70 million of interest on lease liabilities and around EUR 145 million plus of pure financial expense, excluding one-off, and assuming current interest rate continues, conditions remain unchanged. Our income tax rates stood at 30.2% due to the impact of the exceptional tax in France. Going forward, we anticipate the tax rate to be at circa 30% in 2026, taking into consideration the additional tax in France that will apply for the second year. For 2027 onwards, we anticipate then the tax rate to go back to circa 27% in the absence of exceptional tax renewal in France.
As a result, net income increased by 73% and recurring net income stood at EUR 308 million, up 2.4%. Moving to slide 20, we generated robust cash flow before interest and tax, reaching a high level of EUR 938 million, implying a free cash flow conversion rate of 76%, well above last 4 years above average. That's stood at 69%. This is excluding the EUR 124 million fine imposed by French tax authorities and paid, paid in April 2025. The trade working capital as a percentage of the last 12 months of sales increased to 15% versus 14.6% last year, mainly related to the sales growth acceleration in H2 and mainly Q4.
In number of days, embedding the last three months of sales, both inventory and receivable improved and were partially offset by lower payables. Indeed, the DOI and DSO increased, decreased by respectively 1.5 and 1 days, and DPO was down 2 days. Non-trade working capital was an inflow of EUR 24 million or an outflow of EUR 100 million, including the payment of the EUR 124 million fine. CapEx remained disciplined at EUR 136 million, with gross CapEx representing 0.7% of sales, stable versus last year. So overall, we converted earnings into cash at a very strong rate, supported by tight working capital and disciplined investment levels. On slide 21, I want to come back to free cash flow conversion profile over the last 5 years, a key proof point of the quality of our execution.
As you can see, we delivered a record level again, above 70% for the third consecutive year. The 7.6% conversion rate is at the top end of what we have delivered in recent years, and clearly above our full year guidance of above 65% and our midterm ambition. This performance is a result of two very disciplined execution. First, a well-balanced investment approach, with roughly 55% of our CapEx in digital and about 45% in network and supply chain modernization. Second, active working capital management, as we have seen, especially the quality and structure of inventory and receivable. So overall, this strong cash generation build on repeatable levels support our financial flexibility going forward. As shown on slide 24, our capital allocation focused on both acquisition and return to shareholder.
Overall, net debt slightly increased by EUR 147 million, mainly resulting from two factors. First, the EUR 227 million impact from net financial investments, mainly the acquisition of Warshauer, Jacmar, and Tecno Bi, mentioned earlier by Guillaume. Second, the dividend payment related to the 2024 performance for EUR 355 million, corresponding to EUR 1.20 per share. Lastly, we also bought back share for EUR 100 million, in line with our midterm objectives, and since mid-2022, we bought back EUR 400 million and reduced the number of outstanding shares to 296 million. All this leads to net debt close to EUR 2.6 billion, including earn-out for circa EUR 30 million, and the indebtedness ratio stand at 2x, representing a strong achievement.
In short, we continue to invest in value-creating growth while maintaining healthy balance sheet and a consistent return to shareholder. Let's turn now on slide 23 to the breakdown of our main debt maturity and liquidity. 2025 was a very active year in terms of refinancing. In addition to all operations presented in H1, the second half was also intense, and we further extended our debt maturity profile. As a reminder, we have first issued a new EUR 100 million Schuldschein in July with a 2029 maturity. Second, issued EUR 400 million senior notes with a 4% coupon maturing in 2030. So they extended two securitization program for more than EUR 800 million from 2025 to 2028. And finally, we increased our senior credit agreement by EUR 200 million to EUR 900 million and extended it to 2031.
So overall, we have a well-balanced funding structure, extending maturities and comfortable liquidity, and we can stay focused on executing the strategy. As always, we are evaluating market opportunities in this volatile debt market environment. Moving to the next slide, we summarize our shareholder returns through the dividend. For the year, the board will propose a dividend of EUR 1.20 per share, maintaining our strong track record. This imply a payout ratio of 52%, which is at the high end of our guidance and reflect our confidence in the resilience of the business model and in our cash generation. Subject to the General Assembly approval in April 22, 2026, the dividend will be payable in cash on May 13.
So overall, we remain fully committed to a disciplined capital allocation policy, combining value creation growth investments and an attractive return to shareholders. Let me hand back to Guillaume before we move on to your question.
Thank you, Laurent, and let me now turn to our outlook for 2026, and let me go to slide 26. It's a busy slide, but it illustrates also well the way we see the short-term future. Many moving parts, a good level of uncertainty, but probably overall, more encouraging trends than the opposite. Starting with North America, prospects are clearer, and we continue to expect further growth. Of course, there are still macro uncertainties, including around tariffs, and we see less traction in some electrification solutions. But structurally, the key growth engines remain in place. We expect continued progression in data centers, and we are also seeing more positive signals in industrial automation, supported by reshoring and the one digital door. In Europe, the environment is still challenging. Construction remains near the trough and confidence is not yet back.
That said, we see more and more encouraging early indicators, and we do expect improving trends, especially in the back part of the year. The comparison base becomes easier for electrification. The lower interest rate environment is starting to improve, and, as I said, we see leading indicators in residential improving. In Germany, finally, the infrastructure plan could begin to materialize later in the year. On pricing and inflation, we still expect OpEx inflation to remain slightly higher than selling price increases. At the same time, we should benefit from the carryover of 2025 pricing in the U.S. We may also see additional price increases reflecting the recent rise in copper and silver, but it is a little bit too early to tell with certainty. Finally, self-help remains a very important part of the equation.
We will benefit from the carryover of actions already launched, and we have also new initiatives to implement in 2026. So overall, North America should remain solid and supportive, Europe should gradually improve, and in all cases, we stay focused on execution and self-help to deliver in an uncertain environment. Which brings us to our full year 2026 guidance on slide 27. On the top line, we expect same-day sales growth of 3%-5%. On profitability, we guide for a current Aadjusted EBITDA margin of around 6.2%. At this stage, we still expect a slightly negative inflation gap, with cost inflation running ahead of selling price increases, although improving compared to 2025. And that will be offset by a clear set of cost and productivity initiatives, including the continued rollout of digital and AI tools.
In addition, copper price rose sharply recently. Of course, as a distributor, we will pass the price increases from suppliers. We don't know yet how much price increase will be passed by those suppliers, and we believe that the situation may vary by country, by suppliers, leading to progressive price increases. We prefer to be cautious, as it is very early, in the year, which means that we took the equivalent in terms of copper of an $11,000 per ton price of copper to design this guidance, and we will adjust during the year, depending on the evolution of the situation. And finally, on cash, we are guiding for free cash flow conversion now above 65%, reflecting our disciplined CapEx policy and continued focus on working capital.
So overall, our 2026 guidance reflects continued growth, resilient margins through self-help, and strong cash generation in a global environment that remains marked by a little bit of uncertainty. Turning to slide 28, before we conclude, I think it's worth taking a step back to consider how Rexel's ongoing transformation has taken root over time and is still ramping up. Building on foundations laid in 2010 to 2019, particularly when it comes to digital penetration, we have been broadening and accelerating our transformation since 2020 to more dimensions of our operating model. We have raised the bar on operational excellence with more standardization, automation, discipline, and execution. We have also made portfolio management much more active, using bolt-on M&A and selective disposals to improve the quality of the group.
In parallel, we have scaled advanced services and focused more on the markets where we see structural acceleration, electrification, energy efficiency, and of course, data centers and datacom. And now we are entering a new phase where AI-boosted tools are becoming a real game changer in customer experience and productivity level, not a concept. What matters is that these levels reinforce each other. Stronger digital, better operations, a sharper portfolio, more value-added services, and higher productivity. So when we talk about Axelerate 2028 and our medium-term ambitions, it's a continuation and acceleration of a transformation that has been underway for years... The Axelerate 2028 plan is now fully underway, and as I said at the beginning of the presentation, 2025 was a very busy year in number of new initiatives launched.
This gives us great confidence in our ability to deliver on our midterm ambitions, even in a less supportive market environment. I am now on slide 29. Since 2024, when we issued our midterm guidance at our Capital Markets Day, what has first changed is the market backdrop. The macro cycle recovery has been delayed. We faced a delta inflation headwind in 2024 and 2025, and electrification market in Europe has been a little bit more muted than expected. But on the other hand, several factors are moved in the right direction, with some of them, many of them, being in our control. First, we are leaning even more into high growth verticals, especially data centers. Second, the adoption of GenAI is accelerating faster than we initially anticipated, and this will prove clearly beneficial to our business model.
Third, we have reinforced our focus on cost initiatives and productivity across the group. And finally, pricing is more supportive in 2025 and 2026, with higher selling price increases coming from U.S. tariffs, pricing programs and potential impact from copper. So when you put all of that together, there are pluses and minuses, but the combination of that allows us to confirm our medium-term objectives. There's growth of 5%-8%, including 2-3 from acquisition, an adjusted EBITDA margin above 7% and cash conversion of 65%. In other words, the market is certainly not giving us a free ride, but the strategy and the sales rep levels are stronger, and this is why we are confident in our midterm ambition.
In a way, the fact that we now rely more and more on our own efforts, on what is in our hands than on the market, is an element of security that is good news for the future. So let me close this presentation with four key messages before we open the call for Q&A. First, 2025 was another clear demonstration of Rexel's resilience through the bottom of the cycle, proof that our transform model is working. Second, the momentum we saw in Q4 in both Europe and North America, and that we continue to see in January, has carried into early 2026, which gives us a very good starting point. Third, with the launch of Axelerate 2028, we are accelerating transformational change across the group, from productivity and cost efficiency to digital and AI adoption, to unlock our next phase of performance.
Despite slightly less market support, we are keeping a high level of ambition, and we remain fully committed to reaching our midterm guidance. Finally, I'd like to finish by saying our teams have once again shown remarkable commitment and agility in 2025, and I would like to thank our employees, customers, and partners for their continued trust. Thank you for your time and attention. Now, Laurent and I are happy to take your questions.
Thank you. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. First question is from Daniela Costa, Goldman Sachs.
Hi, good afternoon. I have two questions, if possible. I'll ask them one at a time. The first one is regarding the free cash flow. As you mentioned on the presentation, you, you've beaten your targets on free cash flow for a few years there. You're once again guiding for around 65% on the conversion. Can you talk why you don't upgrade that target? And what would drive you back down to a weaker cash conversion than what you have had, for example, this year, excluding the charge? That's number one, and then I'll ask the other one.
Okay, thank you very much, Daniela. And thank you, first of all, to recognize the important effort that we make to optimize free cash flow and to deliver good performance. Now, you know, we have upgraded, in reality, the free cash flow guidance. You, you have probably noticed that, but we went to around 65 and then to above 65, which is the guidance that we are giving. So it, it's progressing. Now, on, on this one, we prefer to be cautious because, as you know, the free cash flow delivery depends very much, on the shape of the last part of the year. In a year of acceleration, which we experienced, in Q4 2025, that's always a little bit favorable to free cash flow and to the opposite, and we have seen that during COVID, for example.
In a year of deceleration, the free cash flow in terms of transformation is always a little bit more challenged because of working capital at the end of the year. So there are many things in the free cash flow delivery that we master. Inventory, number of days throughout the years, in average, is something that we control well. CapEx is something we control very well. But when it comes to payable and receivables, because of this uncertainty, we prefer to be cautious. But you're right, over the last three years, we have systematically delivered more than 70%, and in the last two years, more than 75%. I mean, I don't know, Laurent, if you want to add anything to that.
Maybe on the CapEx side, we had years of more important logistic investment in the past, where we were below this 70%. That's why I think, yeah, the above 65 is a reasonable target.
But, you know, if the question is, does it hide anything in terms of additional expenses or additional CapEx that you would have in mind? No, not really. I mean, we feel that 2026 is going to be the same kind of profile in terms of CapEx as 2025.... So no, no, no particular, I don't know if it was your question, but I, I'm answering it.
Mm-hmm. Okay, thank you. Then just on these AI productivity benefits that you've talked about, I was wondering if when you planned your targets in 2024, was this what you were already foreseeing would happen in 2025, or should we look at these sort of productivity improvements as over and above what you were expecting back then? And once the market comes, what should be the incremental upside to margin from these extra initiatives that or extra productivity that you find if this is extra?
So directionally, I think you're absolutely right. This was not completely in our minds, not to this extent, when we did our initial midterm guidance in 2024. So the benefits of that, which is double-digit in terms of productivity, will come on top and over that. We had productivity targets, but clearly, artificial GenAI, GenAI potentialities, are probably adding a layer to those productivity targets. But to the opposite, as we showed on our slide 29, there are a few things which are probably temporary. I mean, when we are talking about delayed cycle recovery, that's probably something which you're right, in the long term, is going to come back, and the same thing about delta inflation headwind.
But so at some point it will come over on the board. So if you're talking about the absolute potential of Rexel, mid-cycle potential of Rexel, maybe that's going to be an additional benefit to what we guided to in 2024. But I'm very focused on what we call midterm, which was 3-5 years. And in this time frame, I think this may be something which will help us offset potential macro delays. That's what we are saying.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Next question is from Akash Gupta, JP Morgan.
Yes. Hi, Guillaume. Hi, Laurent. I have two as well. My first one is on copper prices dynamics, because when I look at movement in copper price in Q4, we had roughly 20% increase in U.S., we had 9% in on LME. And when I look at your copper price in Q4 of 0.8%, that looks a bit lower than implied by changes in copper prices. So maybe if you can talk about why it is not yet reflected in your growth rates. And then when it comes to the outlook, and thanks for specifying that your guidance is on $11,000 per copper.
If we assume that the current level of 13,000 stay for rest of the year, is it fair to assume that we need to add probably 200 basis points annualized to your growth rates? Thank you.
Laurent.
Yeah, first, I mean, the copper is not as mechanical as you see. What we get in the past is that a $500 increase in copper would drive around 0.4% of top line growth. But with this sharp increase in copper recently and in the current environment, and there are also FX components into that, what we see today is that the suppliers, there are a lagging effect to pass through the copper improvements into the cable price increase. And we turn also our inventory in two months, so there is also this lag.
That's why, at the end, it will gradually come into our performance into 2026, and that the effect in Q4 is slightly lower than what you were calculating.
Yeah, the wild card is really very much what the manufacturers, what the cable manufacturers, and also what the other materials manufacturers, which include copper, are going to do with that. And in the faraway past, I understand that it was very automatic. It's been a little bit less the case in the recent past because of strong variations. And so we'll see, we'll see what happens there. And as far as, as far as if things were completely automatic, what would it mean in terms of top line? I think your ballpark calculation is probably approximately right, maybe slightly high, because Laurent said that it's a 5-to-4 ratio, but you know, we are not that precise anyway, so yeah.
Thank you. My follow-up is on the growth guidance. At midpoint, you are guiding 4% organic same-day growth. Can you break it down into what sort of volume assumptions you have assumed in that calculation? And when we look at the margin drop-through, is the margin drop-through of additional one percentage point growth from volume versus price, is there any difference on the drop-through on margins? Like, let's say if we have 1% higher growth from volume, would that have any different drop-through than 1% higher pricing? Thank you.
Yes. I mean, Laurent, do you want to answer on that? I mean, first, I will answer the easy part of the question, which is that the assumption is half, half. Now, Laurent, for the more difficult part, which is drop-through on volume versus drop-through on price, et cetera.
No, but mechanically, the drop-through on price is a bit higher because you have less variable costs. You have just the commission of the salespeople and some bonuses, whereas the drop-through on volume will include transportation costs and other costs, inventory costs... but then it's yeah, the drop-through on price is a bit higher.
But that's not exactly the way we calculate our bridge, you know? I mean, we look at the drop-through on volume, and, you know, if we look at, if we try to do a back-of-the-envelope math, if we look at 2025 to 2026, we look at, let's say, 2% volume, we say, the drop-through on this volume is approximately 20 bps, so that's beneficial. Then you have additional action plans. But on the other hand, as I mentioned in my comments, we also think, that our inflation, which should be around, inflation of our cost, I mean, which should be around, 2.5%, is going to be higher than the inflation that we assume, in our gross margin and in our products.
The price content of the gross margin, which is going to be around 2. So those two blocks should offset more or less each other, and that's the reason why at the end of the day... And, you know, the drop-through on price is included in this calculation, in this second calculation, between inflation of gross margin and inflation of cost. So that's the reason why, at the end of the day, we are guiding for around 20 basis points of improvement.
And to be-
Thank you
... specific on the bridge 2024 to 2025 that I presented, to the point of Guillaume on the operating leverage, so the drop-through is on volume only. The pricing part is in the delta inflation back up.
Yeah, that's the way we do it. So, yeah.
Thank you.
Next question is from William Mackie, Kepler Cheuvreux.
Oh, good evening. Thank you for taking the question.
We're surprised, Will.
Sorry, yes. A couple, actually, maybe looking at the bridge again, you know, last year, well, in 2024, you made great progress with your action plans in dropping out cost. In 2025, I think you've called it out as 33 basis points. Could you put some color or financial color around the expectations for how the action plans in 2026 should play out, certainly partly contingent on the market development?
Laurent, do you want to take this one?
Yeah, it was quite heavier, and you have seen it in the restructuring cost that we have factored in in 2025. For 2026, we expect to have a bit less restructuring cost, more in the EUR 20 million range. So meaning that we will have, at the end, a bit less benefit in terms of cost saving. We have additional initiative, plus the carryover of the initiatives that we implement in the second half. The carryover is a bit less than 10 basis points, and we'll have additional action next year, but we are in a year which we will grow on the top line, so the productivity will more come from the volume than by the reduction of cost.
I mean, the answer is approximately half of what we had last year.
Yeah.
We did a lot of the heavy lifting last year, and I think we have now lean infrastructure ready for growth. But still around 10 bps-15 bps of cost savings. 15 bps.
Thank you. The follow-up would be related to the portfolio or the capital allocation more broadly. You know, two times net debt after a very positive year of free cash generation. And you know, you've made great progress over four years with the portfolio development on acquisitions and disposals. But at this sort of level of leverage and with the portfolio today, is there much that could leave after Finland? And you know, what is the sort of target opportunity looking like?
Look, I mean, I will not answer your question, but I will give you a very general and worthy answer, which is that everything is under review all the time. Whenever we are in a situation where we think that we can improve a country or a business to our goals, even if we have to invest, even if it takes some time, we do it.
But in some cases, and it was the case, in most of the divestments that we have made, in Spain, in New Zealand, in Norway, and in Finland, there are situations where we feel that, either, we will not get to it because of the competitive situation, of the country or the business, or that there is a very attractive offer on the table from somebody wanting to buy the business. And then, you know, we are very pragmatic in terms of value creation, but our preference is to improve organically what we have, in general. So which means that, no, we don't have immediate plans of selling something, but that everything is reviewed every year based on those criteria. One, are we able-- do we have a credible plan to, the Rexel goals, to contribute to the Rexel midterm goals?
Two, is there a super attractive value creation offer on the table? So, you know, that's what we do. But at this stage, we have nothing in preparation in the next few months.
On the buy side, how do you see the sort of valuation range and range of opportunities?
On the buy side, we will continue to be active in terms of acquisitions. We have a pipeline which is healthy all day, so you may see a little bit of that. We are talking small and mid-sized acquisitions. We are taking the same focus as we had in the previous years, which is mostly in North America and mostly focused on the most value-added parts of the business, if we can, which are services, et cetera. But not neglecting the potential to do a synergistic consolidation acquisition. So I think you will see acquisitions in 2025, in 2026.
If I had to bet, but it's always difficult to bet before the acquisitions are done, I would say that you're going to see slightly more than what we have done in 2025.
... Thank you very much.
In terms of multiple environments, look, I mean, the multiple environment is relatively rich. I mean, there is competition out there when it comes to acquisitions. But as you have seen over the last few years, and I think this is in the slides that Laurent mentioned or in the slide that I commented, in terms of acquisitions, because we are able usually to add a sizable amount of synergies, we were able, and that's not a forward-looking, but that's a backward-looking calculation. We were able to deliver an average multiple, which is around 7x, which compared to our current multiple, which fortunately in the same time has increased also to 10x, is a good value creation.
So we will continue to be disciplined on that, to make sure that we continue to build this track record.
Good evening. Thanks.
Thanks. Thanks, Will.
Next question is from George Featherstone, Barclays.
Hi, yeah, good, good evening, everyone. I just wanted to come back to the price versus cost dynamic that you've flagged. I mean, it sounds like demand is getting better, but you're still flagging this headwind for 2026. So I just wondered what the main reason is that you're unable to sort of match the cost inflation with prices, or is this simply just a timing thing? That'd be the first question, please.
No, I mean, let me be clear. When we are talking about that, we are not talking the price versus cost inflation. That's not exactly what we mean. On one hand, we have the price increases from our suppliers, and usually, we are very good because it's our core business, passing through those price increases to the market. Here, the pass-through is extremely good or, if not perfect. But that being said, we cannot, if there is a price increase of 4% by A, by supplier A, we cannot say to the market that the price increase is going to be 6%. We do not have this ability because those price increases are usually well known in the industry. Now, so that's one thing.
This is a price effect that we get mostly by decisions of our suppliers about how they are going to go to the market. And now there is a second part, which is completely separated, which is our own cost equation. In our SG&A, two-thirds of our two-thirds of our costs are salaries. The rest is occupation costs with leases, et cetera. And that we also try to optimize, but we are also bound by different arrays of constraints, which are basically the average salary increase in the given country. We always try to optimize, but that's a little bit what it is.
And what we are saying, for example, for next year, is that we think that our OpEx inflation, salaries, rents, et cetera, transportation costs, is going to increase around 2.5%, and that as far as we see today, based on what we hear from our suppliers, but it's the early beginning of the year, and it may change. We think that the price increases, which is the price component of the gross margin, is going to be around 2%. So to be clear, what we are saying is certainly not that we are not able to pass the price to the market, which is what I heard a little bit in your sentence.
But more than, you know, this particular equation sometimes is very favorable, when there is a strong inflation in the industry because, for example, of shortages. And in this case, the salaries continue to increase with general inflation and, the price of products is increasing by 5%. It happened to us in the past. And sometimes in other years, the price increases passed by the suppliers are a little bit more shy because they want to protect their market shares. And in this case, we have to work on our self-help action plans, productivity, et cetera, to offset that. That's a little bit the way it works and the way we, we try to explain it. I hope I was clear.
No, no, that's perfect. That makes total sense. Thank you. Then maybe just a question on the backlog in the U.S. I just wondered how much of this is data center versus projects in other end markets, and just whether you can comment at all on how that backlog has evolved, sort of data center versus non-data center, if it is split like that.
Look, you're asking a question to which I was not prepared, unfortunately. I think, I don't know. I don't know in the backlog how much is data centers, how much is the rest. What I know is that overall, the backlog remains at the North American level very stable, higher than the historical average, with maybe Canada increasing a little bit, which may be the effects of data centers, and U.S. being a little bit lower than Q3, but very incrementally. Now, what I can tell qualitatively is that on data centers, we have a good degree of confidence that we will continue to deliver a good growth rate.
When I say good growth rate, you saw that our data center growth was more than 50% for the year and more than that in Q4. We think that you know we can safely say that our data center growth next year is going to be at least north of 20%.
Okay. That, that's super helpful, Guillaume. Thank you very much.
Next question is from Andre Kukhnin, UBS.
... Yes, good evening. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I'll just go one at a time. Firstly, on pricing, just to clarify, what you said. If we talk about non-cable pricing specifically, and then kind of low voltage and automation products, we've seen evidence of price increase letters being sent to customers by major suppliers in China. But your comments suggest that this hasn't happened in Europe, European countries or in the U.S. Is that the case?
Can you repeat your last sentence, our comments?
Yeah, we've seen those press that kind of publish letters to customers announcing price increases by major international and local vendors in the voltage and industrial automation in China. And from your comments, it sounds like this hasn't happened in, you know, France, Germany, Netherlands, U.K., or the U.S. So I just wondered if that's the case, if I've got the right reading of that.
I mean, first of all, we think that we're going to see price increases during the year. We talk to suppliers, and we feel that they are willing to increase price. Now what we don't know is the extent of that and by how much it's going to be proportional to the copper evolution when it comes to cable, et cetera. So that's what we are saying. We're not saying that suppliers are not going to increase price. And as we said, we have a hypothesis of a price increase for next year, which is around which is around 2%. Now what I would say also is that the dynamics between the Chinese market and the other markets is totally different in terms of price.
Price, especially when it comes to, I mean, China, especially when it comes to industrial automation, has experienced a price war, around, during the last two years, which is calming down, in, in the second part of, of 2025. And it's not a surprise that the suppliers would want to catch up and to, and to increase price. So, no, I, I want to be clear. If my comments were read as, we don't see suppliers wanting to increase price, it's not what I wanted to say. We think that there are going to be price increases, very clearly. We have evidence. I don't know if the letters were sent, but we have evidence of suppliers telling us that they will increase the price, very clearly. Now, the uncertainty is really about the quantum.
Got it. Got it. Thank you. And then the other question I had is, along the lines of a couple of the sort of questions on the delta, inflation or the, inflation gap. I'm just trying to think about, a macro sort of external scenario where you could have your margins expanding, like, really meaningfully by, say, 30, 50 basis points in a year. What would you need to see for that to happen? Does it just need faster growth than 3-5, for that to take place?
Look, I mean, that's very easy. If you look the guidance for next year, we are guiding for 20 basis points of drop-through improvement on volume on a reasonable year, which is a 2% growth year. I think a 2% growth year is a reasonable average year. So that's one thing. And we are guiding also to, as I said, 15 basis points of cost savings improvement. So that's already 35 basis points. If you are in a balanced situation, which is going to happen on a given cycle, between those two inflation figures. So you know, right there, on a year like 2026, you're delivering 30... I mean, it's not done.
I mean, we have to deliver it, but you're delivering 35 basis points of improvement. If you have a little bit more growth, which is not crazy to think of when you think about all the prospects of data centers, electrification, et cetera, and the recovery in Europe, if you have a little bit more growth, you're going to easily get to 50. So I think it's not crazy to imagine a scenario like that, because what I should say is that when I look at the 15 basis points of cost savings, I am quite confident that this is something which is sustainable on a yearly basis. You have seen our figures about productivity evolution. We are quite proud of what we have done in terms of setting the bar higher in terms of productivity.
When we come to cost savings, productivity is a good proxy of what we are doing, and we will continue to do that. AI is a potential help in that. So, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's a good question because when you look at the 20 basis points improvement between 2025 and 2026, you may think, okay, 7% is far away. But in reality, when we look at the prospects of a recovery in Europe, the prospects of having a normalization of this effect of differential between our cost inflation and the rest, we are quite confident. And when we look also at the acceleration of our action plans, we are quite confident about that.
That's really helpful. Thank you. If I may, just a very quick one on... You mentioned solar, and, EV charging, sort of pre-buy in the U.S., I think, is what the comment implied ahead of, some regulation change. Is that something we need to-- Could you quantify that?
Mostly on solar. I mean, overall, solar, if I look at the solar business—the solar business in the U.S., it grew by 4.2% in Q4 2025, which is the first time that we had—I mean, no, I mean, I think it's at a group level. It grew by 4.2%, which is the first time in many quarters that it grew, and that's because of this U.S. effect. Now, in the U.S., the situation is that there is, there is, on one hand, some of the federal subsidies which are going to disappear at some point during the year.
So there is a little bit of people trying to qualify the project, and it will be going to continue to go on for commercial projects during the year. There is the fact also that there is also a lot of regulations which happen at state level, and a bulk of our business is done in California, which means that, on the other hand, I think California wants to try to offset that and to push solar. So, we'll see where it goes, but at the end of the day, we got good figures in solar in Q4 2025, and positive figures.
Now, that being said, you know that solar today, in our mix of businesses, represents approximately 3%, 3.5%, of our total sales. A few years ago, it used to be at 6% when there was a boom in Europe. We continue to see, we will continue to see growth in the future. Is it going to come back to 6%? I don't think so. Not, not anytime soon, but, but that's a little bit the situation.
Great. Thank you very much for your time.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Next question is from Aron Ceccarelli, Bank of America.
Hello. Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two, please. The first one is on Europe. The presentation you called out market share gains in a challenging market in France, but also in Austria. I was wondering if you can expand a little bit about how you think about the sustainability of this market share gains as we enter 2026, please.
Yeah. Look, I mean, first of all, I'm always quite cautious about market share gains. Now, what I feel comfortable with is that those gains were not acquired by price. And you have seen that. I mean, we've been able to be quite disciplined in terms of margin overall, at group level. But I can tell you that in France and in Austria, we didn't buy market share. We gained market share through better service and competition, through better value added that we bring to our customers.
You have to understand that, our B2B customers, they are obviously focused on the price of the product, but they are very interested in the value that we can add and in the value that they can lose if the distributor is not providing the right level of expertise, service, et cetera. So, because of that, I'm quite encouraged. I mean, I'm quite encouraged by the fact that it's going to be durable. Is it going to last forever? Certainly not. Certainly not. We have good competitors. They will do their homework, and at some point in the midterm, they will rebalance things, probably.
But right now, I think we are, we are on a momentum, which is going to last for a few more quarters, I hope. And I have a good degree of confidence because of the way we have gained market share.
Got it. My second question is on your opening remarks. You mentioned several times good momentum in industrial automation in different countries. Could you perhaps expand a little bit on this topic and how you see industrial automation at the moment for you?
Look, I mean, first of all, I should give you an exposure where we are big in industrial automation. We are big in industrial automation in the U.S., in Canada, a little bit in Europe, in China, and in India. And I can also give you figures. Our industrial automation business, you know, in Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, in the U.S., which is the most important country, was -4%, 1%, 3%, 8%. So we saw a clear acceleration during the year of industrial automation, which is due to the fact that, you know, when you look at the recent publications, the ISM is now for the first time, significantly above 50, which is a good sign.
You have the clear effect starting to kick in of the tariffs, which is triggering reshoring. We flagged, you know, since the beginning, the fact that at some point it would happen. When I look at the prospects of the industrial automation suppliers, they seem to be quite encouraging also. So at the end of the day, what is happening is not a surprise, and because we are big in industrial automation in the U.S., we benefit from that.
Thank you.
When it comes to other countries, when it comes to other countries, I think we commented a little bit on China and, on the price effect in the second part of the year. Now, that being said, in terms of volume, it continues to be relatively, subdued, let's put it this way. India is good, but it's small. And in Europe, the topic is, the overall, industrial investment, which is not great. The level of confidence in many countries in Europe, including in Germany and in France, which are two big countries where we have industrial automation, is not, is not yet mid-cycle, to say the least. So, there is potential in there.
... If I may get a clarification on pricing. So, am I correct saying you mentioned 2% is coming from the suppliers, so the cable one, and then the remaining is going to be flat? Is that the guidance for the year?
No, we said 2% overall, average, including, including copper, including suppliers, including, including all suppliers. No, no, no. We think that there is going to be price in almost all categories. It's going to depend once again, on the specific category, supplier/country situation, but we think there's going to be price a little bit everywhere. Yeah.
Understood. Thank you very much.
Last question is from Eric Lemarié, CIC Market Solutions.
Yes. Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. I've got two. The first one, you mentioned at the last strategy update, you said roughly that 10% of the data centers market is addressable by distributors. Is it still the case today, or is it now more than 10%? And my second question, regarding the so-called acceleration businesses you presented at the last Capital Markets Day. Could you tell us the growth generated by these businesses in 2025 and maybe the weight in the sales from acceleration businesses?
Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't remember saying 10% of the market of data centers was addressable by distribution, and if I said it, it was more order of magnitude. I don't think that I had in mind precise studies saying that. What I can tell you is that, first of all, the proportion of data centers in our business is growing. When you look at North America, when you look at the U.S., I think it's North America, we are now at 7% of our business, which is data centers. So it's starting to be sizable. I mean, a few quarters ago, we were talking about 3%, we are now at 7%.
The second thing, I would say is that the range of products that we supply to the data centers industry is expanding. You know, we started with... It may be particular to Rexel. Some other competitors may be more advanced than us, but I think we're catching up fast. We started with cable, and now we get a little bit more into more advanced things, let's switch gear, et cetera. Now, we are staying in the gray part of the data centers. I don't think it's going to be easy for us to enter into the white part of the data center, which is very much going direct or through specialized players.
But, you know, we are expanding the proportion that we were able to address, and we're expanding that quarter after quarter, which, I mean, first of all, the opportunity is growing fast, and our ability to grab a bigger part of this opportunity is also progressing. I think on the acceleration businesses, I can give you the figure for Q4 because I have it under my eyes. I don't have the full year. Maybe I'll find it back for the next opportunity.
Basically, the total business accelerators, including solar, HVAC, EV, industrial automation, datacom, utilities, is representing in Q4 30% of our mix, and is growing at 3.9%, which is very slightly above the overall growth of the group in Q4 2025, which was 3.8%. So, the fact is that data centers are not included in that. The datacom part is included in that, but data centers, because we try to be consistent with what we had given you in 2024, is not included in that. If I was to add data centers, obviously we would add 3% at group level, and we would add a 3%, which grew in Q4 at north of 50%.
So it would improve a little bit the accelerating part of it. And I think that's the beauty also of those acceleration businesses. There are years where things are accelerating in solar, and then the next year it's going to be less good in solar, but it's going to be good in data centers, et cetera. And the good thing is, because there is not one trend, but five or 10 trends supporting the acceleration of our business, we're always going to see the benefit of that. I hope I gave sufficient answer, even if I didn't find the full year result.
All right. Thank you very much. Can I ask a follow-up one?
Sure.
Yes. Could you mention that your range of product are expanding for data centers, but could you tell us whether Rexel will be well placed in your view for the future deployment of 800 VDC solution within data centers? Is it something that you will be able to?
Can I come back to you later on that? Because I don't have the answer to that. I need to, I need to talk with my teams.
Thank you.
Okay? Thank you.
Mr. Texier, there are no more questions registered at this time.
Look, I mean, thank you very much for your questions and your interest in Rexel. As you can tell, we had solid results in 2025. We are proud of those results, and we think that we're entering 2026 with good momentum, both on the market side and also on our internal momentum side, so, you know, confidence in the future. We'll talk to you for the Q1 sales in April. Thank you very much, and have a good evening. Bye-bye.