Finance, energy, renovation, through the private sector. We see that this helps, in particular, our subsidiary AXEL'Air. New housing, the curves are improving, because as the months go by, we see more and more housing permits being granted. We hope that we'll see building starts increase over the coming months. I would say the situation is improving in property transactions, which affects, of course, property renovation and renovation of buildings, and construction of buildings. The second quarter of the year was more positive. In particular, in the gardening sector, through our subsidiary Audrey, with its watering pumps, really suffered from a very wet spring like last year. We'll see in the figures that it's been a difficult time for Audrey in this first half year. Another major event was signing the contract for C2AI at the end of the month.
There are other projects we are looking at with the objective of signing the acquisition of the Spanish company Kinedua, with a turnover of €40 million. The idea will be to finalize that deal before the end of October this year. A word about volumes and inflation. You'll see that over a period of five years, the orange diagram shows the increase in price with a positive price effect in 2021, 2022, 2023, and then negative in the last two years. We've seen an improvement at the end of the second quarter this year. That would suggest that we've got a better period ahead for the second part of the year.
We've got a graph here which shows the increase in building permits granted. The figures came out yesterday. There's a confirmation of the increase in the number of permits granted and a slightly lower level as usual for housing starts, where there's obviously a gap between the building permits being granted and housing building actually beginning. Moving on to the figures from Codis, they represent the wholesalers from heating and sanitation systems in France. In spite of the fact that it's still negative, the figures are still negative in terms of turnover in that sector. It's getting closer to the break-even point, which is obviously a good sign. We've got Innoise, our other reference that we use for DIY retail stores. We see on the second, over the last three months, there's a better trend than over the previous years.
Even though June is slightly negative, we see that as a trend, first and second quarters were improved. We've got the PMI index, which we look at to give us an indication of the manufacturing industry in France and Europe. It's still not up to the 50 point, which tells once it gets above the 50 line, that shows us that growth is occurring. Same thing in France and Eurozone. Moving on to the turnover figures, which you've got in the letter to shareholder number 120. For retail, we see a drop of 10.5%. The pro channel, a drop of 4.6% to constant scope. That gives an overall decline to 5.6%. We talk about constant scope because last year we added Alta Metering and Vena Contracta in 2024. They joined us in July and August last year.
I'm going to hand over to Patricia, who's going to make some comments for you about the figures and this situation for the group. Thank you, Guillaume.
[Foreign language]
We can look at the presentation of the operating results.
Net profit.
We've got a drop in turnover at constant scope of 5.6%. The operating income, which is at a higher level, is 12.7% and minus 12.6% at the end of June 2025. There's no other elements which explain this. We're going to move on to the next slide, which gives the detail which helps us to understand. In terms of profitability, we've got turnover down. We've got a margin, which is also down in absolute terms. If you see, that margin has improved from June 2024 to June 2025. That's in pro and retail sectors. This improvement in our margin rate is down to several elements. The first one is the euro-dollar exchange rate. For the first half of 2025, it's better for us. The second reason will be we've signed fixed-cost contracts with transporters for containers coming from Asia. That's allowed us to optimize our transport costs.
This started at the end of last year. We see an advantage in terms of cost reduction in transport over the periods March, April, May.
The increases in prices have been possible for some of our subsidiaries.
[Foreign language]
All these elements allow us to improve the margin rate. If we keep on going down, we've got our charges. As you can see, we've got about 75% of our charges are fixed charges and 25% variable. We'll be able to maintain our operations in terms of optimizing variable costs. Because we've been working on those and reducing them over a period of three or four years, it's difficult to find more savings. We also had reductions in communications costs, which is a sort of variable cost because it's based on our commercial, our sales activity.
[Foreign language]
Some savings in transport allowed us to reduce these variable costs. In terms of fixed costs, our headcount, of course, has increased. We've kept our teams as they were, as Guillaume said, a slight increase in headcount to constant scope of 2%.
[Foreign language]
Obviously, it adds to the headcount cost.
[Foreign language]
For Thermador Groupe and its subsidiaries, this gives a good overview of the current situation.
[Foreign language]
An increase in charges.
We're at 25.3% in charges as a percentage of net turnover, which is up from 23.7% last year.
[Foreign language]
The rate is 11.57% for 2025 as operating profit as a percentage of net turnover. The financial result, we mentioned that at the beginning.
[Foreign language]
We've increased our cash position. In spite of this situation, because interest rates have gone down on the investments that we can make with our available cash, that means that our financial result has slightly down at the end of June 2025.
[Foreign language]
Tax is fairly stable between 2024 and 2025, which gives us a net profit position.
[Foreign language]
Of 8.6% as a percentage of net turnover compared to 9.32% last year. As we see in the next slide, we talk about the profitability of our subsidiaries. We've got this online. You'll see that three of our subsidiaries are losing money. AXEL'Air, firstly...
[Foreign language]
with a drop in the level of loss. That's the situation improving. The fact that we had the heat wave meant that we were able to sell a lot of heat pumps for air conditioning. We'll look at the second half, how things improve for them or not. We'll comment on that at the end of the year, at the end of December. The other subsidiary...
[Foreign language]
Is DPI, which is losing money. It's important to emphasize that in DPI, we've got an amortization of the goodwill cost, which is spread over the years. If there hadn't been this line in the books, they would not be in deficit. Thermacom, another of our subsidiaries involved in new housing.
In spite of some reductions in charges on their side, it's not allowed them to improve the situation. They've got a deficit of 18%.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
You've got the detail, but you'll see that the major subsidiaries, Thermador and Jetly, Historik and Severico, have been able to maintain their level of profitability with Thermador, which is down, but which has gained turnover in May and June. You'll see those performances in the second half of the year. We can also emphasize that SAICO and Sectoriel seem to be reaching levels of profitability, which we consider as good.
On the next slide.
we've got the position concerning our operating profit as a percentage of turnover.
[Foreign language]
11.6%, which is detailed in the profit and loss account, of course. Why 11.6%?
[Foreign language]
That is mostly because of keeping hold of our employees. I've got a question which has come in.
[Foreign language]
I've not understood what Patricia said about fixed-cost contracts on containers from Asia to explain the increase in gross margin. The costs linked to upstream transport are integrated into the prices of our products, and when we've got a good negotiation on those costs, it has a negative impact on the cost price of the product.
[Foreign language]
Okay, back to you, Patricia.
[Foreign language]
That was the question of the 11.6% of profitability. Now we're going to the financial structure, and we'll stay with the financial structure, which is solid because equity represents €284 million.
Which is an increase over 2024.
[Foreign language]
We've got net cash position, which is up stock.
We've got a slight drop in stock, which is about 1%. If we look in terms of the number of months of purchases, we're on 209 days compared to 196 days last year.
[Foreign language]
An increase in the value of our stock, of course.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
We've got timelines which are longer for containers coming from Asia. That means that our subsidiaries have to work quicker and more in advance to be sure to have safety stock. One of our subsidiaries, Severico.
[Foreign language]
Which serves its market and the market of the industry-facing subsidiaries. In 2025...
[Foreign language]
On lower levels, which led to stockouts and therefore problems with service quality, which is not in integration with our normal practice. There were a number of product lines where we kept overstock. That concerns Thermostal, Thermador. Last year, we talked about last year.
[Foreign language]
But now.
We have level of overstock, which we can now estimate at about €2 million.
[Foreign language]
...which...
[Foreign language]
It goes hand -in -hand with Thermador Groupe's positive turnover record. The addition of C2AI has increased stock and cash. In terms of the balance sheet, we've taken account of that situation. Each time we mentioned the impact of C2AI.
[Foreign language]
Next, in terms of net cash position, it's increased compared to June 2024.
[Foreign language]
It's important to remember that we paid dividends in April, at the beginning of April. The loan element, the increase in our loans, a slight increase of €3.4 million, is linked to the...
[Foreign language]
A loan.
..[Foreign language]
Taken out for the acquisition of C2AI of €8.7 million. Of course, we continue to repay our other loans, which are in progress. I'll come back to the cash position.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
It's important to compare to the end of 2024. If you look at this next slide...
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
this graph shows you that...
[Foreign language]
We have April, May, and June. We've been able to set up €62.7 million. By the end of the summer, we had €63.3 million. We've been able to regenerate the €19 million that we spent on dividends by the end of June, which is quite a performance, which includes cash from as million euros.
This cash is invested in short and long-term investments. Going back to cash generation, it's important to see how...
[Foreign language]
We've taken on board all the different operations in the first half. Our working capital requirement, cash flow from operations, 20.8%. We've got WCA, where we consume.
[Foreign language]
Cash for a total of €4.1 million. That's supplier payables, part of that. We've got investment flows, that's CapEx. In terms of investments, we've reduced our forecast for the year. That level of investment over the first half year was €0.9 million, which is very low compared to the initial forecast. We've got an impact. It doesn't necessarily appear in this graph, but...
[Foreign language]
…the impact of C2AI, because we've got a variation of scope linked to them. That means that we.
Paid out cash €8.7 million.
[Foreign language]
...went out, but $1.2 million came in from their own cash position.
[Foreign language]
You see that on our free cash flow.
[Foreign language]
Free cash flow is positive at €15.4 million.
[Foreign language]
Those are the dividends.
[Foreign language]
...plus a new loan of €8.7 million that came in, of course.
[Foreign language]
...and there's also an IFRS accounting impact of €1 million.
[Foreign language]
...and that had an impact on...
...assets and liabilities for the year.
[Foreign language]
Working capital.
[Foreign language]
To constant scope.
[Foreign language]
We've got 43.6% operating working capital as a proportion of net turnover.
[Foreign language]
Our customer payables remain strong at the end of June, but it's linked to the business that we've done recently. A lot of business between May and June is why we've got a high level of customer payables.
[Foreign language]
Those remain more or less standard. You've got the supply debt, which is €66 million, about €65 million at the end of, at the end of June 2024. Just as a reminder, in terms of capital expenditure, we said that we would be spending €9.3 million this year. We've revised that amount and we've revised that down to 6.6%, €6.6 million, sorry, euros of CapEx, of which two points We had an extension project for Sferaco in that, in connection with an extension to the automatization of their logistics system. This project has been set back a little bit. We've also got another number of subsidiaries who are looking at their investments and who are being cautious about that. 2.4% of those €6.6 million were for real estate. I'm going to pass now over to our growth, 10-year growth target.
Just to remind you about our growth target objectives, which we announced in 2019, ambitious objectives at the time. We thought that 7% per year would be reasonable. We maintain this objective over the long -term, given, of course, that we're in a period which is slightly more difficult, a real challenge for us.
[Foreign language]
So, this.
This strategy is we look at every two years, every two years. That's something we'll be doing with the directors of the subsidiaries next time, but also with the administrators, because there'll be challenges, the financial people, because they will challenge it on our budgets.
[Foreign language]
2026, sorry. Yeah, not 2016. I just said 2016. I meant 2026. That's next year. Next is the performance of the stock. Thank you to our shareholders who have remained faithful to us. We've got a long-term performance. Long-term performance is really good, 11.2% a year.
[Foreign language]
A few words about outlook, the different elements of our outlook. In terms of new housing, we keep a close eye on developments in the new housing permits being allocated and the building starts. I think we are in a more dynamic, a more positive dynamic compared to before and a few years of decline.
We'll be starting up again at the end of September. The public authorities have got a lot of major delays on the files pending. They've stopped any new applications until September 30. Between now and the end of the year, there are approximately 60,000 in progress. From the end of September, there will be just 3,000 applications allowed. The public authorities are looking to.
Choices.
Slightly less expensive single unit, what they call single unit replacements. For example, Thermador Groupe would be present for heat pumps and solar water heaters. The water cycle, we assure that's a positive market for the years ahead.
Extremely disappointing results for Jetly on water harvesting.
This year. No natural awareness raising in that area because of the high rainfall in the spring. The heat waves we've had have shown that we're going to have to look at those subjects in our country in the years ahead. The price of drinking water is definitely going to go up, and we've got products to deal with that. For example, water meters, which we find at Sferaco, but also Alta Metering, the company who joined us last year.
industry.
Has a positive outlook still, not because the European industry is developing very quickly, but we've got a number of companies that are involved and are gaining market share in the industrial sector.
With increasing expertise and more and more product ranges. The geopolitical situation... There's a question from Edouard.
One more situation in terms of Asia, come back to normal.
[Foreign language]
We'll get back to a state of normalization of the group stocks. The answer is that we don't know, unfortunately. These conflicts that are ongoing don't look like ending very soon. It's obviously a very dramatic situation in the Gaza Strip, and the transport situation is accordingly very difficult. Talking about containers from Asia, I'd remind you that two-thirds of our products come from Europe.
Negligible dependence on products from Asia.
Internationally, a positive situation, especially the end part of this first half of the year for SAICO. This first half of the year for SAICO in France and in Europe, in the Middle Eastern Europe.
Not such good results for Sodeco.
But a high level activity .
[Foreign language]
For our subsidiary Rousseau, which is part of the company Audrey, which is facing a very, very challenging and a real cutthroat market for their products. Sodeco has remained stable. In terms of price impact, we think this trend will continue as we get nearer to the break-even position by the end of the year, probably. I've made a lot of mistakes about this last year, so I'm very careful this year to make any big projections. At the end of the first quarter, first half year, sorry, we've got a -1.5% price effect.
[Foreign language]
Staff, we're currently working in reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, this is something that's really difficult to control.
We're working hard to improve that because people are obviously distressed by this, and the people that are working are tired by working, replacing the others. It's a real challenge, not just for Thermador Groupe, but throughout France. We really need to keep our employees in good health. They were always there.
And of course, as I said, have to do the work of those who aren't there.
Look at the past to imagine what might happen in the future. This negative period with negative growth through 2024.
In terms of organic growth, we seem to be getting near again to the break-even position. That curve, which fell pretty low in the first quarter of 2024, we're getting close to zero, and hopefully our prospects will be more towards positive organic growth in the near future. We're now, that's the end of our presentation.
What should we... First question.
What should we expect in terms of CapEx for next year, given what's happened this year? I think Severico, it'll be in spending next year. I think we've got the Severico project, which is another one, which concerns Detail able in Alsace. That's one of the major projects, which will be...
[Foreign language]
I think that next year, our CapEx investment in 2026 will be above €10 million.
[Foreign language]
There's an optimization.
[Foreign language]
Groupe’s organic growth in the coming years.
To sell one of our buildings, which never happens normally. We've got a building that's been unoccupied in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.
[Foreign language]
That will bring in some cash for CapEx investment that will compensate for.
The extension to Sferaco and also...
The project for Destri Labo.
I've got two questions.
[Foreign language]
From our Anglo-Saxon friends.
Which concerns.
The loss of DPI.
[Foreign language]
Concerning the loss of DPI.
It's not an impairment.
[Foreign language]
It's a depreciation, an amortization, because we allocated the acquisition price.
[Foreign language]
And there was €13.9 million. We amortize that goodwill over a period. Each year...
[Foreign language]
We take €1.4 million out of the accounts of the Destri Labo.
[Foreign language]
Accounts. Had this amortization not existed, then they would be positive.
That concerns.
[Foreign language]
It's not impairment.
[Foreign language]
We've done some impairment tests. We did it with DPI as well. We...
[Foreign language]
Actually book any impairments for them.
[Foreign language]
Another question.
[Foreign language]
What are the.
[Foreign language]
The main drivers?
[Foreign language]
Behind the increase in our costs.
[Foreign language]
There are two elements.
[Foreign language]
Increase.
[Foreign language]
in our teams also .
[Foreign language]
And increase in fixed salaries .
[Foreign language]
Between 1% and 2%. Of course, that affects our costs. That's the first thing, personnel costs. Then, the number of costs that we weren't able to...
[Foreign language]
To affect, which are, of course, our fixed costs, which could be substantial. Transport, we did gain a little bit from transport, but not as much as last year. We did have slight increases in transport costs at the beginning of the year. We weren't able to...
[Foreign language]
Work on those costs to reduce them.
[Foreign language]
And then other costs would be...
[Foreign language]
Communications, publicity, advertising, which we reduced.
[Foreign language]
The wage bill is what affects these costs the most. This is a strategic decision, of course, to maintain our headcount and even increase it a little bit.
We are looking forward to a recovery in the market. I think all the stakeholders are satisfied to see that we'll be able to jump on those opportunities as they emerge in the months ahead. We believe in that.
Okay, we've got a question about the risk with MaPrimeRénov'.
[Foreign language]
So, the.
[Foreign language]
The further the scheme goes down, the less the risk is because I think we've come to the lowest level.
[Foreign language]
I think we should see it as an opportunity as it opens up again.
[Foreign language]
As you know, the public authorities are looking to save money. You can't expect them to... You can't expect us to go back to the fantastic years, the opulent years after COVID.
It certainly will stabilize.
I think that's fine for us. It will be easier for our teams to cope with if it's a more stable market.
[Foreign language]
In terms of purchase acquisition projects.
[Foreign language]
Edward askes about possible.
[Foreign language]
After the Kyllynox purchase. We've got a number of irons in the fire, which could complement our activities. For the moment, we're mostly interested in growth abroad. On this subject, we have not, to date, any identified target or moved forward with any identified target.
[Foreign language]
Not, at least not sufficiently advanced to talk about it here. Targets are rather rare. They're companies which are often family companies, which work on niche products and could be of interest for us and could be interested in joining us because of a change of management or a change of generation.
[Foreign language]
Kinedua and C2AI...
[Foreign language]
Was finalized with C2AI.
[Foreign language]
These are obviously in Spain for Kinedua. The negotiation phase...
[Foreign language]
Moving towards an agreement protocol is longer. There is a language element there, which takes as long as to negotiate these deals when they're in foreign languages. In August in Spain, nothing much happens. In France, too.
[Foreign language]
We lose three weeks.
[Foreign language]
So...
[Foreign language]
Do you have any more questions? I can't see any more on the French webinar. None on the English one either. No.
[Foreign language]
We're not going to...
[Foreign language]
...take up Thermador Groupe's bandwidth.
[Foreign language]
If you have any questions, of course, you can send them to us.
You can contact us by the end of the week.
before the end of the week, before the holidays. Please don't hesitate to contact us.
[Foreign language]
If some questions come to you after the end of this.
Webinar.
[Foreign language]
So which are waiting for the report of the auditors. Once we've had the auditors' report, they'll be online. That'll start with the...
[Foreign language]
the half-yearly report in French very quickly tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Thank you to all of you and have an excellent evening. Thank you and enjoy your evening.