Hello, welcome to the SPIE Half Year 2023 Results Conference Call. Please note that this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen-only. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. I will now hand you over to your host, Mr. Gauthier Louette, Chairman and CEO, and Mr. Jérôme Vanhove, Group CFO, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for attending SPIE's H1 Results Conference Call. We have delivered at SPIE an outstanding performance for the first half of 2023, and it evidences our good positioning for industry decarbonization, e-mobility, building efficiency, and energy transition. It further demonstrates the strength of our model with our distinctive market presence, our established pricing power, the continuous focus on operational excellence, and the unwavering commitment of our employees. Let me start with some examples to highlight what we have been doing this first half. In Germany, on slide 4, we installed two sections of extra high voltage overhead power lines, representing about 25 kilometers in total. We do deal with changing conditions with the Moselle and Eifel valleys. This is an ecologically sensitive environment. The project is technically complex.
We are carrying out the new installation, disassembly, and renovation works for three lines simultaneously. It is necessary to set up extensive temporary circuit routing equipment to ensure that the supply is always secure. This new line will increase the transmission capacity and ensure the security of supply and the grid stability in this region. It is key for the German energy transition, bringing more and more wind or solar electricity to the grid. This is a project done with a client, Amprion, which is a leading electricity transmission system operator in Europe, and we enjoy collaboration and trust with this client since many years. On slide 5, in France, we are supporting Lhyfe, which is a pioneering company in green and renewable hydrogen.
This project pertains to assembly and installation of two electrical shelters, one in Brittany, close to Lorient, and one in Occitanie, close to Toulouse, to decarbonize freight and passenger transport. Each site will be able to produce up to two tons of green, renewable hydrogen per day, with an installed capacity of 5 MW . SPIE Industrie is now one of the key players in France for green hydrogen. This is an energy of the future, essential for decarbonization. Now, on slide 6, in Pau, also in France, we're looking at a six-year energy performance contract with the Communauté d'agglomération de Pau, so the local authority. We are providing a full range of services, such as energy management, centralized technical management, connected object, operational system, and building.
The works will include the renovation of heating and ventilation system, improvement to equipment room, installation of renewable energy production, such as geothermal energy. The aim is to reduce energy consumption by more than 20% by 2028, looking at carbon neutrality by 2040. On slide 7, in Belgium, SPIE was selected to improve energy efficiency at Liege Hospital through the renovation of the entire HVAC and hot water system, also with the installation of a new central combined heat and power plant in a new building. The ambition is to save up to 16% energy and to reduce CO2 emissions by 265 tons a year. Finally, in Germany, thanks to artificial intelligence, we're able to reduce the number of hours of helicopter spent on line inspections.
Artificial intelligence combines multiple data sources, laser scan, photo, video, to identify components and better detect and localize any damages on the line in a much faster way. We have an efficiency increase of 30%, and we are saving roughly 1,300 kg/ hr of helicopter of CO2. Now let's move to the key highlights for the first half. We delivered an outstanding financial performance in H1, with an exceptional level of organic growth, boosted by both volumes and prices, and a significant EBITDA margin increase, even in this inflationary context. We did see a strong diverging, with a structurally negative and solid working capital level. bolt-on acquisition remained at the core of our strategy, and we did achieve two, and we have a very active pipeline.
We saw a gross debt reduction of EUR 200 million and optimization of the group financing conditions with a new finance structure of our debt. On the back of this strong H1, we revised upwards our outlook for 2023, both in terms of organic growth and EBITDA margin. Looking at the key figures on slide 10, total revenue was above EUR 4 billion. We had an exceptional organic growth of 9.8%, and a reported growth at 9.6%, due to the disposal of our UK activities. EBITDA was at EUR 220 million, up 16%, almost twice the growth in revenues, and adjusted net income up 15%. EBITDA margin was up 30 basis points, a very good performance, thanks to our selectivity in taking on contracts and our proven pricing power.
Leverage ratio is at a low 2.3 for the first half, down 0.5 compared to June 2022. It does demonstrate our efficient free cash flow model generation. Now on M&A deals, two bolt-on acquisition representing EUR 45 million of full year revenue, with a strong active pipeline and more to come. It is definitely a good first half, and it does support well our guidance upgrade for the full year. On slide 11, looking at the growth per segment, we did enjoy a buoyant organic growth in all segment, leading to a 9.8% at group level. There is a compounded effect of volume and price, with the impact of inflation kicking up in fully compared to H1 2022. Obviously, this is a non-recurring pattern.
In Northwestern Europe, we did have the best organic growth with 13.2%. It fully compensate the exit of the U.K. Oil and gas and nuclear were at 12%, fueled by a very strong oil and gas segment. France, Germany, and Central Europe above the 8% mark. We have a very limited scope effect at -4% at group level. The total growth at constant FX is at 9.4%. We do have the negative scope effect linked to the disposal of our U.K. operation. We have a positive scope effect, mainly to acquisition in Germany and Central Europe, and also to one acquisition in nuclear in France.
Looking at the margins on slide 12, the group level, the EBITDA margin increased by 30 basis points to 5.3%, with improvements in all segments. By far, the most impressive improvement is in Northwestern Europe, up 130 basis points. It is fueled by the Netherlands, with good improvement of margins at Worksphere. The synergies of this acquisition now nearly fully achieved, and the performance initiative in the historical Dutch perimeter, delivering the expected results. We are now well deployed across the whole economic spectrum in the Netherlands, and it helps to deploy all the levels of our business model. In the three other segments, EBITDA margin improved by 10 basis points on the back of good market momentum and operational excellence.
We are satisfied with our margin improvement over this first half, and we are now absolutely confident to keep the same improvement over the full year. On slide 13, in the current context of higher inflation, we wanted to remind you of the key drivers of our EBITDA margin improvement, where pricing power and operational excellence allow for gradual and continuous increase, thanks to the discipline and commitment of our teams on the field. Main operational re- levels are our mission, critical positioning, and the high demand from customers, our excellent execution, and the fact that we're able to price nearly real time with the short cycle of our activities. Slide 14, regarding bolt-on M&A, which, as you know, is a key pillar of our value creation strategy.
During the first half of 2023, and at the beginning of July, we did acquire EUR 44 million of full-year revenue. In Germany with ECS, a technical services provider in information and communication technology, with around 130 employees. In France, with AVM Up, in the strongly growing market of complementary cloud services and added value solutions, with around 50 highly skilled employees. Indeed, we have a very active pipeline of opportunities, and today, more than 10 projects in progress. We are absolutely confident we will announce more deals in the second half. Now moving to our business per segment, slide 15 in France. As I said, a good momentum across all activities and a continued margin increase. A strong organic growth of 8.9% and 10 basis point EBITDA improvement to 5.8%.
France is perfectly delivering on this new model, based on pricing power, quality of execution, and added value, innovative solutions. Building solutions and technical facility management activity remain boosted by growing needs for energy efficiency solutions. This is definitely a very strong and lasting trend. In particular, works for building renovation and energy performance contracts. Such contracts supports our clients in their drive for energy efficiency and decarbonization with a fast payback. City network was supported by a high demand for e-mobility, notably with the installation of charging station. More than 100,000 charging points have now been installed in France, and SPIE has installed nearly 15% of them. We have the good momentum for smart public lighting solution, with lots of LED projects and many innovative monitoring solutions.
In industry services, where we address a wide range of customers and sector, the activity was supported by decarbonization requirements, but also automation and digitalization of processes. Moving to Germany and Central Europe on slide 16, we have a solid performance in Germany and a strong dynamic in Central Europe. Organic growth at 8.4% for the segment, with a 10 basis point, EBITDA improvement. In Germany, as planned, high voltage activities intensified in Q2, thanks to the ramp-up of transmission line project, such as the one presented in this introduction. Technical Facility Management services were supported by dynamic energy retail markets, similar trends that we see in France or in the Netherlands. Information and communication services were boosted, notably by large-scale investment from the government to upgrade the healthcare infrastructure across Germany, and this is a very solid customer base for us.
In Central Europe, the momentum was very strong across all our activities. Our position in Poland and Austria has been strengthened, thanks to the recent acquisitions, which are performing well. Regarding Switzerland, the organic growth was supported by the supply chain delays, which have now been entirely cleared, we are really catching up compared to where we were same time last year. In Northwestern Europe, slide 17, as I said, I'm really pleased with the outstanding performance of this segment, especially with the margin development in the Netherlands. Organic growth was at 13.2%, with a buoyant 130 basis point EBITDA improvement to 5.4%. In the Netherlands, we observe a strong earning growth in all segment, industry services fueled by investment in electrification and digitalization, we're also making our first inroads in the hydrogen installations.
Technical facility management and building solutions activity driven by the strong dynamic of Worksphere. Information and communication services propelled by fire protection, data center, and healthcare projects. The EBITDA margin strong increase was driven by Worksphere integration, full synergy is now delivered, and the performance initiative in the historical perimeter. Together, a very good progress in the Netherlands. In Belgium, organic growth was supported by industry services and building services as well. Regarding oil and gas and nuclear on slide 18, very good momentum in oil and gas, but more constrained in nuclear services. Organic growth at 12% and 10 basis EBITDA improvement to 8.3%. By gas services, we see a strong dynamic on our market. We have a good midterm visibility with multi-year contracts with a high EBITDA margin.
Nuclear services, the welding repair issues have caused disruption on the planning of maintenance activities. It is easing up, not back to normal yet. Midterm, obviously, the French government decision regarding nuclear program give us a good long-term visibility. We are starting to bid on elements of this new program. Now, I will hand over to Jérôme, who will comment on our financial performance in more detail.
Thank you, Gauthier, good morning, everyone. I'm on slide 20, starting with the highlights of our income statements, I'm pleased to come back on H1 key figures. EUR 4.1 billion of revenue, with an exceptional level of organic growth at 9.8%. EUR 220 million of EBITDA, up 16.1%, a significant margin increase, up +30 BPS. EUR 122 million of net adjusted income, up 15.1%. Moving to the revenue bridge, the exceptional 9.8% of organic growth benefited from the strong momentum of our market and our pricing power. The scope effect is negligible at -0.4%, reflecting the positive 2.7% from acquisitions, notably with one additional month of contribution from Worksphere and the first consolidation of general property in Poland.
The -3.2% being mainly driven by the deconsolidation of our UK operation since December 31st, 2022. Current effect is primarily related to the USD/EUR parity, benefiting to our oil and gas services business for the negligible 0.2%. Overall, our revenue was up +9.6% during the first semester. Looking now at the PNL below EBITDA, which is up by 16.1%. Net interest reflecting the cost of our debt, they are up 11.9% to EUR 34.8 million, which is a very limited increase in the context of higher interest rates. This evidences our optimized debt structure, which now includes the ORNANE convertible bond with a yearly coupon at 2%.
Other financial charges of EUR 11.6 million are mainly impacted by the interest cost of pension, now using higher interest rates for actualization, as well as lower FX gain compared to H1 2022. Finally, our retained normative tax rate is down by 2.5 points to 29.2%. This is assuming reduction of the French CVA, or the contribution on added value. Our adjusted net income is up 15.1%. Slide 23. Looking now at the net income, I would like to highlight three points in particular. First, an increase of the other items, including the cost of our long-term incentive performance plans under IFRS 2 treatment. Second, applying the IFRS split accounting method.
We recognize a charge of EUR 18.4 million related to the change in fair value and amortization cost of the ORNANE derivative component. We will further come back on that. Considering its non-cash nature, it is obviously restated in the adjusted net income, while the 2% coupon attached to our ORNANE remains obviously included in the interest cost. Finally, I would mention the implied tax adjustment, reflecting the difference between effective and normative taxation level. Slide 24 shows the entire seasonality of our working capital, which remains structurally negative all along the year. As anticipated, we are in a context of high activity level. We see at the end of June 2023, a drift similar in number of days, a drift of similar number of days of revenue than in December 2022.
Excluding the U.K., we see for H1 2023 an increase by five days, while we already had +4 days in December 2022. I would add that the seasonality level of the working cap in H1 remain in the end exactly the same, meaning an increase by 22 days if we compare December to June in 2022 and in 2023. To provide you with some colors on this performance, we observe at the end of June 2023 an increase by four days related to trade receivables and accrued income, mechanically increased due to the high level of activity at exceptional level in this quarter. - 1 day of advances from customers due to some phasing effects attached to some projects.
This being said, we remain highly confident on our ability to maintain the quality of our working cap, again, to fuel our virtuous cash generative model. Slide 25. As usual, our free cash flow is negating during the first half of the year. This is reflecting the seasonality of our working cap once more. Specific points worth to be highlighted, the reduced cash out for taxes in H1, which resulted mainly from some payments being postponed either to the second semester 2023 to come, or even beyond 2023. This is essentially in Germany. Net interest paid in H1 2023 still included the yearly coupon for the Bond 2024, which is now redeemed entirely. Other items in the free cash flow increased mainly as a result of the increased cash out for pension. Notably in Germany.
The acquisitions and disposals represented EUR 19.5 million. This is mainly related to the acquisition of general property and some earn-out payments. Overall, we maintained a strong cash management, resulting in a free cash outflow, which is similar to the one observed in H1 2022. Slide 26. Our leverage ratio reached an all-time low at half year. It was done by 0.5x , at 2.3x , compared to 2.8x at the end of June 2022. Compared to the end of 2022, our leverage ratio increased by only 0.7%. This is the usual re-leverage at half year, which is a good performance compared to previous years, where the leverage was rather up in the range from + 0.9x to 0.1x in the previous half.
Overall, the continuing decrease of our leverage ratio over the years evidences our cash generative model. During the first half, we have optimized our debt profile with, as you know, the issuance of a sustainability-linked ORNANE, due 2028, for a principal amount of EUR 400 million and an attached 2% yearly coupon. This ORNANE allowed for the reimbursement of our Bond 2024 for an amount of EUR 600 million. As Gauthier has mentioned, reducing our gross debt by EUR 200 million in the period. The renewal of our securitization facility for an amount of EUR 300 million unchanged, and a four-year period until mid-2027. Today, the group benefits from a very sound financial structure with no upcoming maturity before 2026.
A very attractive weighted cost of our gross debt of circa 3.1%. 80% of our loan debt being at fixed rate. We have a very strong liquidity, +EUR 1.2 billion, half being cash, half with undrawn revolving credit facility. This sound financial structure is well recognized by S&P and Fitch, as evidenced by our BB+ rating upgrade in January and May, respectively. On slide 28, I wanted to draw your attention on the accounting treatment of the ORNANE under IFRS. As already explained, the financial considerations for the ORNANE are a principal amount of EUR 400 million, with a five years maturity, 2028, and a cash yearly coupon at 2%. This representing an EUR 8 million coupon being paid semi-annually.
In terms of IFRS accounting, this time, we retain the split accounting method, implying in the balance sheet the split of the ORNANE, the EUR 400 million between a debt component, EUR 352 million, and the derivative instrument of circa EUR 48 million, recorded at the insurance at the end of January, both totaling the EUR 400 million. In the income statement, the derivative component will be subject to a fair value assessment at every closing, and the linear amortization cost, both with a non-cash effect, which amounted for this first semester to EUR 14 million and EUR 4 million, respectively, as of June 30th, 2023.
The true cost of the ORNANE for SPIE as the issuer of the ORNANE, is limited to its 2% coupon, while the derivative component reflects the future potential dilution for the shareholders, which in case of an ORNANE, remains very limited. This concludes my presentation. Now I hand it over to Gauthier.
Thank you, Jérôme. Moving to ESG on slide 30, we want to make a focus on the group carbon footprint reduction progress towards our 2025 targets. For Scope 1 and 2, we target to reduce emissions by 25% by 2025. To do so, we need to electrify our fleet of vehicles. They represent 90% of SPIE's direct emissions. In H1 2023, the share of electric vehicles ordered rose by 81% to reach 67%, compared to 37% in 2022, and 6% back in 2021. For Scope 3, we aim to reach by 2025 that 67% of the emissions related to our procurement are related to suppliers having set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon footprint.
In H1 2023, we reached 42%, compared to 29% at the end of December 2022, on the back of a proactive approach with suppliers through engagement letters, innovation forum, and performance business reviews. These figures do illustrate the good progress made in order to reach our 2025 targets. Regarding ratings, our commitment to ESG is very well recognized, and SPIE is ranked among the best performers in its industry by very highly recognized rating agencies. The latest new rating obtained by SPIE is our A- rating with CDP. This was for the first year of rating with them. We also want to mention the recent upgrade by Moody's ESG Solutions in May 2023, enabling SPIE to improve its score to 58. Now moving to the outlook for 2023.
As I said, with this outstanding first half results, we feel very comfortable to revise upwards our guidance 2023. We now target an organic growth of at least 6%, possibly towards 7%. In line with our H1 increase, we now anticipate an EBITDA margin up circa 30 basis points. We have continued high focus on bolt-on M&A. As mentioned, 10 active deals in the pipe are being considered right now, and we do hope to announce several deals in H2. The interim cash dividend of EUR 0.20 per share will be paid on September 22nd, and we obviously maintain the dividend policy with a payout of circa 40% of adjusted net income. I thank you for your attention, and now with Jérôme, we'll be pleased to answer your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question or make a contribution on today's call, please press star one now on your phone keypad. To redraw your question, please press star two. The first question comes from the line of Rory McKenzie, calling from UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, it's Rory here. Just two, firstly, on operations, then a follow-up on the finance charges. Firstly, can you just talk about the average pricing contribution you estimate within the organic revenue growth in Q2? Secondly, in terms of your backlog, have you seen any areas where customers are delaying projects or having to rethink projects due to their own cost and budget pressures? You obviously, I'm sure you're aware, but some other companies in the industry, maybe in different geographies to you, have been calling out some delays coming through. Just wondering if you've seen any change in behavior.
Regarding pricing contribution, as you know, Rory, it's always difficult to ascertain. Clearly, as we said, compared to H1 last year, the inflation has now fully kicked in, so it is fully in our price. The fact that we're able to even improve our margin is really a credit to the team, because they did manage to pass on all this inflation to customer. As a proportion between volume and price, as you know, it is a standard answer, it's very difficult for us to ascertain, yeah. Regarding the backlog, and thanks for asking this question because it's an opportunity for us to underline that our backlog is extremely strong and even growing.
We said it was at record level, and we are beating the record every month, really. It is really a very strong trend, and it basically now all sectors of the activity. Today, I would be hard put to give examples of customer delaying decisions. I'm not saying it's not going to happen, but at the moment, we have not seen that at all. Clearly, all projects linked with renewable, with energy efficiencies are really on the move right now. Again, I'm not saying that it's not going to happen, but we see no evidence of that. On the contrary, our backlog has increased even further in volume, but also in margin quality. So it is also to be mentioned.
That's great. Thank you. Just on the finance charge, so the EUR 18.4 million non-cash charge in H1, I guess depending on the share price movement, we should expect another non-cash charge in each interim period ahead. I just wasn't clear on how it actually impacts the lines in your PNL. Do you did you say you include it in your other financial charges line, you strip out of your adjusted net income? I just wasn't clear on that last slide when you said it kind of impacts the net financial result, you adjust for it.
You're absolutely correct. On the lion's share of the EUR 18.4 million is directly derived from the evolution of the share price. That's clearly the share value, the fair value assessment of the derivative component. A smaller part of it is related to the linear amortization of the entry booking value for the derivative. This one would be stable over time. Where do we treat that? Clearly on a specific line item, as it is purely non-cash, rather depending on external element like the evolution of the share price. Therefore, as you rightly pointed out, it is clearly restated from our adjusted net income, therefore having no impact or consequence on the dividend distribution policy, for instance.
Got it. Just to follow up, sorry, on slide 22, what's the EUR 11.6 million other financial charges then?
We are here in the adjusted and the bridge from operating adjusted net income and EBITDA. You have in there the interest cost for the pension, basically, as well as the cost for the cost for guarantees and securities being given to clients, the bonds.
Perfect. That's very helpful. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of David Cerdan, calling from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I have a few questions for you. First one is to come back on your operating performance in H1. You have made some significant progress in North West Europe. Do you think that you have reached do you see some upside on this margin for the future? Regarding the other region where you were up + 10 basis points, do you think that you are now at a certain plateau in term of profitability for the other regions? My last question is regarding your guidance for the organic growth of at least 6%. This implies something like around 2%-3% in H2. Is it very cautious, or can you explain why you only expect at least 6%?
Regarding margin progress, our ambition is to continue. We are never satisfied with the level of margin, specifically for the Netherlands, we have made a lot of progress with the reasons I've mentioned in the call. We see that there is more to come. Generally, at SPIE level, as I mentioned, the backlog is high on volume, but also better on margin. We see no reason why our margins should not continue to progress in the future. When I'm saying the future, it is, you see, year-on-year.
Regarding the guidance, well, as you know, it is not easy to forecast very accurately our organic growth. There's a lot of components and project saving, et cetera, do play a part. We tend to err on the cautious side, you know, as a tradition at SPIE as well. That's what we are seeing right now. As I said, it is at least six and possibly towards seven. That's the best we can say at the moment.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Next question comes from the line of Oscar Val, calling from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, Jérôme and Gauthier. I have, I guess two questions. The first one on Germany, you've talked about high voltage ramping up in Q2, but organic is still at around 4%. Is there a case that Germany, and specifically transmission, can improve in the second half? Are there still ramps up for further contracts? That's the first question. The second question is on working capital levels. At H1, it was kind of five days lower. What's the current thinking on the full year? Should we expect a similar amount of working gap capital days left in the full year? Thank you.
Well, with regard to Germany, yes, high voltage is ramping up, and we looking at a high level of activity for the second half. Not only, we have also other activities like city networks, you know, which are kind of accelerating. We do expect a stronger organic growth in the second half of the year. Regarding working cap, Jérôme?
Yes, regarding the working cap, as stated earlier, the relative drift, we have observed, at the end of June is absolutely similar to the one observed in December, meaning absolutely no deterioration in this first half. As to consider our view, towards the end of the year, it's a bit, a bit early to state any precise figure there. Very clearly, you know, we do not anticipate any deterioration or whatsoever.
Considering where we are, and if you look back last year, how it looked like our cash flow from operations in light of the performance of the working cap at the end of the year, with the drift of circa four days, we managed to generate circa 100% of cash conversion last year. It remains a target for us this year. No further deterioration being assumed.
Thank you. That's very clear.
The next question comes from the line of Eric Leonori, calling from CIC. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thank you. My question, I guess, two actually. First, I was wondering, more generally, with the new growth profile of SPIE, clearly stronger than in the past, do you observe any changes in operating leverage of your business? Or is this still the same compared to the past? In other words, do you see, yeah, more leverage in the future because more growth? This is basically my first question. Second question, regarding M&A, do you observe any change in the ecosystem, in your target in term of, I don't know, prices, or size of acquisition or type of companies? Thank you.
Regarding the growth, there's an element of operating leverage. For instance, we mentioned specifically oil and gas in the past, where we have fairly expensive local basis, and clearly, the volume helps a lot to cover this local overhead. There's clearly a pattern there. More generally, in the role of the business, it does help a bit, but, you know, the more you have invoices, or the more you need people to deal with them. There's a limited effect of this volume effect, but there is one...
I think what is more significant at the moment is really the pricing power and the fact that our services are in high demand, resources are, good resources are not easy to find. The customers are very much aware of that. Really, we can take advantage of that and be very disciplined and demanding on prices. As I said, it is evident in the quality of the margin in our backlog, yeah. Maybe just to add also on this side, that the competitors, probably some of them a bit later than we, but altogether, they start to understand that as well. We do see a better behavior also on the market.
Finally, it's all good to have good margin intake, but it is also very important to deliver on this orders in the way they have been priced, then it goes down operationa l excellence, and I think our teams have been doing a great job in this regard. Regarding M&A, well, the depending on the countries, depending on the sectors, you do see some variations in the multiples, but altogether, A, we remain very disciplined, and B, there's no inflation as such. We're looking at various targets at the moment in various geographies of various sizes.
With our balance sheet, obviously, we're able to look at a target a bit bigger than the average bolt-on, huh? We mentioned in the past that the sweet spot would be to find another work share, huh? That's clearly a thing we're looking at. We have a lot of projects going on right now, and again, at a good level of discipline on price.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, another reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now. The next question comes from the line of Augustin Cendre, calling from Stifel. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I've got three, if I may. The first one is on the labor market. Could you please elaborate on how you see it evolve and what the costs are at the moment, and how it's impacting your margins? From what we can see, it appears that the, what we could call the organic margin expansion, has slowed a bit between 2022 and 2023. Could you please elaborate on that? On my second question, could you please detail what your exposure is to residential market? Apologies if that has been asked before. And also, which countries do you have exposure to residential market in?
And finally, just coming back to your working capital evolution, I believe during your presentation you mentioned some specific effects, - 1 day advances, due to phasing effects. Did you mention any other specific effects that I might have missed, if you don't mind repeating, please?
Regarding labor, you know, obviously we, as I say, good labor is scarce at the moment. We need to work a lot on that. But we still manage to attract people, huh? We first work a lot on apprenticeship, and we have about 5% an employee with a very good conversion rate, and which tends to increase. Moving from, depending on the areas, we have between 60% and 90% conversion rate, so apprentices joining us at the end of the training, huh? We work a lot on competition, and it works very well.
I mean, we have roughly 50% of the people we hire, are attracted by competition, which is a very secure way of hiring people. Then altogether, we are working on many initiatives to be a top employer of choice, a great workplace, et cetera. Really making sure that we attract people. That's end, so that's in finding people. With regard to cost, we are again, disciplined, and we have many collective labor agreements in most countries where we operate, like IG Metall in Germany, or the CLA we have with small industry in the Netherlands. In France, where we have negotiations which have been done in an orderly manner.
Altogether, we contain the inflation of labor, even more importantly, we pass it on to the customer. Labor is a big focus, and that's why we have many initiatives on this regard. Again, in terms of cost, there's nothing that cannot be passed on to the customer, we are in a decent place there, yeah. Regarding residential, we are very, as our exposure to residential is close to zero, not zero. We have a few areas where we're doing that in fairly specific niche market, I could name maybe two branches in France who do that, and that's about it. In other countries, we don't do any. Residential market, not an issue at all for us.
Regarding working capital, yes, we have an adverse effect from reduced cash advances from customers. It was one day for this. The other major elements, which are more significant than this first one, is due to the high level of activity, obviously, increased accrued income, as well as increased trade receivables. For the first one, is +3 days, for the later one, +1 day. These are the major drivers to this stable drift, I would say, of the working capital as of the end of June, while at the same time, our trade payables typically remained absolutely unchanged at ISO number of days of revenue.
Right. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Christophe Chaput, calling from ODDO. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. Just a quick one for me. Usually, you give some metrics regarding the net debt to EBITDA at the year-end. I know that the visibility is probably, let's say, lower in H2, but is it possible to have your view at the end of 2023, even a kind of range, let's say, on net debt to EBITDA? It would be very useful. Thank you.
It used to be, Christophe. It used to be a period where target was clearly the deleveraging, and Gauthier, my predecessor, pointed out some very clear objective in that respect at the end of the year. This target has now been achieved two years ago, I remind. It was to be below two. It was 1.8 x at the end of 2021, 1.6x at the end of 2022, and I think we said that regarding, well, financial policy, we were aiming at staying below that level. Now, this will heavily depend, going forward, on our volume of acquisitions. Gauthier pointed out some rich pipeline and possibly larger bolt-on. That's what we do usually, something like a Worksphere, for instance.
Depending on our ability to successfully complete that type of acquisition, obviously, the leverage ratio, net debt to EBITDA that you mentioned, could evolve. Again, with and bearing in mind, our very strong discipline on financial, I think below two is where we will stay.
Okay. Thank you very much.
There are no further questions. As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now. There are no further questions. One more, actually, from David Green, calling from Boldhave n. Please go ahead.
Good morning, gentlemen. A couple of quick questions. One is on Worksphere, which is obviously having a positive contribution to margins in Northwest Europe. It would be helpful just to get a feel for how far through that process we are in terms of more synergies to come through. The second question was regarding oil and gas. Very strong top line there. Would be helpful to get some color on what's driving that. You mentioned in the slide specifically a high level of margin, but with scope to increase these further, would be again helpful to get some color on that. Should we be thinking you can get back to sort of the prior EBITDA margins of around 10% in that division?
So regarding Worksphere, the cost synergies are nearly now completely achieved, huh? We have been mentioning around EUR 9 million, well, it's quasi done, let's say, huh? We're focusing on the commercial synergies and sort of trying to achieve cross-selling, and it's working. This is now another, the part we're looking at, and it obviously also contributes to the good organic growth we see in the Netherlands, huh? Altogether, I can only remind the Workshare deal is really extremely positive, and we are very pleased with this deal. The integration has been done in a outstanding manner, and the customer base is of extraordinary quality.
We really have got a good momentum for this acquisition and have a very good backlog and perspective. Regarding oil and gas, the top line drive is really linked to two things. First, we with the current oil price and the efforts done by the oil companies. Well, now they're able to generate cash at a much lower oil price. In the past year, they have not been spending that much on maintaining their assets. They were on the low side. Clearly there's more, there's more to be done now.
The trend is rather to exploit as best as they can, the existing fields, as opposed to developing new fields, and which are, A, difficult, and B, controversial. Clearly, we benefit from this trend, and so increased spend on brownfield, and this is our sweet spot, as you know. This is true in all the geographies where we operate. This is the first effect. The second effect of our growth is linked to the fact that we did gain market share, and specifically by obtaining this large contract for TotalEnergies in Denmark, and to maintain the former Maersk field in Denmark. This contract has now started, it is now fully in full production, so contributing to the growth.
I mentioned the operating leverage in oil and gas. Clearly, our ambition, and I will not give too precise guidance today, but our ambition is clearly to move the margins up in oil and gas. We have not forgotten where we were in the past, huh, so it's still fresh in our memories.
Right. Many thanks.
There are no further questions. I will hand you back to your host to conclude today's conference.
Well, thank you very much for attending this conference. As I said, we are in a good shape at SPIE at the moment, and good first half of the year, and solid balance sheet. Good opportunities for acquisitions and outstanding backlog. Very confident for the second half of the year and beyond. As I always said, it is a very good time to be an electrical engineer. Thanks a lot. Have a good day.
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