Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Veolia First Quarter 2025 Key Figures Conference Call with Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO, and Emmanuelle Menning, CFO. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on May 7th, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining this conference call to present Veolia's Q1 Key Figures, and I'm accompanied by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO. First and foremost, our Q1 2025 results are very strong, and I'm on slide four. This is in spite of a rather challenging environment. They are perfectly in line with our objective and enable us to start 2025 with great confidence and fully confirm our guidance for the year. These results illustrate, once again, the strength of Veolia's winning formula: resilience and growth. As you know, the Veolia value creation model is a combination of three levers: growth, performance and efficiency, and capital allocation. In 2024, which was the first year of our GreenUp plan, we were already very active in terms of capital allocation with EUR 1 million deposit of non-core assets and EUR 0.6 Drillion reinvested, leading to a balance sheet headroom.
In Q1 2025, we decided to accelerate value creation using part of this headroom with the acquisition of a 30% minority stake of CDPQ in our Water Technology business, thus achieving full ownership. This strategic move is fully aligned with GreenUp's strategic program and priorities. Water tech, as you know, being identified as a growth booster and priority for investments, as well as North America. We will be able to deliver EUR 90 million of additional synergies and unlock full potential for innovation and development. This buyout comes at a reasonable price with a 2025 EV/EBITDA multiple of 11 times per synergy. This investment is a strategic and very international activity that allows us to secure future earning growth. I'm now on slide five. Our Q1 key figures are once again very solid.
Sales reached EUR 11.5 Drillion, up 3.9% excluding energy price, which are essentially pass-through for us, as you know. EBITDA increased by a substantial 5.5% on a like-for-like basis to EUR 1 Drillion 695 million, fully in line with our 5%-6% guidance and show a margin improvement of 60 basis points. Current EBIT was up plus 8.4% to EUR 915 million, demonstrating good operating leverage. Net financial debt is well under control and even down year on year to EUR 18.8 Drillion. Our leverage ratio is also down from 2.88 last year to 2.75 this year at the end of the quarter, perfectly in line with our target of the leverage ratio below three times at year-end. Our resilient and growth business model, as well as our solid Q1 performance, enable us to fully confirm our guidance despite macro uncertainties. I'm now on slide six.
Ultimately, Veolia stock is really a combination of resilience and growth, as demonstrated in the last few years, with an edge to increase our results quarter after quarter despite volatile energy price, difficult macro in Europe, political and geopolitical uncertainty, higher inflation, and interest rates. This is thanks to our winning formula based on four key features: enhanced growth first, in particular with our growth booster; second, a worldwide footprint with France only 20% of the group and 38% outside Europe; third, a continued value creation with EPS and ROCE, of course, growing very fast. ROCE has been hit 8.8% post-tax at the end of 2024, which is 320 basis points above our weighted average cost of capital. Finally, Veolia, as a world leader in all of the services, a unique combination of businesses: wastewater and energy.
On slide seven, we remind you of the unique characteristics of Veolia's business model. We have no direct exposure to tariff or very minimal. Since our activities are multi-local, we do not import or export any goods or only insignificant amounts. We are protected against inflation with 70% indexed solid pricing power for the remaining 30%, as we've shown over the last three years. Our activities are very largely not dependent on GDP. This is clearly the case of our municipal activities, but also partially with the com[Foreign language]al and industrial activities, which are very spread over different types of customers from pharma to hospitals, microelectronics to retail, and all that on all continents. In terms of our municipal client base, we enjoy long-term contracts with an 11-year average still remaining and more than a 90% renewal rate. You can see on the slide our largest contract expiry schedule.
Altogether, we estimate that only about 15% of our revenue is exposed to macro, mostly in C&I waste. Last but not least, our resilience lies also in our proven agility and capacity to boost efficiency and cost-cutting when needed. Of course, I will add to that list that we benefit from a diversified geographic footprint on all continents. In terms of political exposure, our contracts are always local contracts. We are never dependent on subsidies or national or federal contracts. Finally, our strength is reinforced by our ability to combine our different businesses, for instance, waste and energy or water and energy, which makes us quite unique to our customers. I'm now on slide eight. As you know, our value creation lies in three pillars: top-line growth, performance, and capital allocation.
I am going to go through them one by one to illustrate Q1 results, starting with growth on slide eight. We registered very solid revenue growth of our strong goal. This is +3.9% resilient energy price, fueled by our three activities. Starting with water operations, revenue increased by +3.3%. We continue to benefit from good indexation and have achieved successful tariff negotiation in Spain, as well as rate cases approval in our U.S.-regulated operations. We also enjoyed good com[Foreign language]al momentum in Europe. Solid waste revenue grew by +3% despite sluggish macro. This is thanks to good pricing, a high renewal rate above 90%, as well as very successful offers. In particular, we signed in Q1 a new high-tech material recovery facility in Canberra, Australia, totaling AUD 850 million over 20 years. District heating and cooling net worth revenue increased by +4.9% excluding energy price.
This is faster than last year, thanks in particular to a favorable weather impact as well as contract extensions. We continue to invest to decarbonize our assets with double-digit IRR and expect to open a new cogeneration facility in Poznań, replacing the coal-fired facility. On slide nine, let's have a quick look at each of the boosters' performance in Q1 2025. Water technologies revenue was stable in Q1. This stability is temporary. This is due to a very high comparison basis in Q1 2024 and to the timing of contract delivery.
In the last few weeks, we signed key contracts in Water Tech, which will fuel revenue growth in the coming quarters, starting with a significant contract we’ve won to provide the technology to supply ultra-blue water in the semiconductor industry in the Midwest in the U.S., followed by 16 years of operation for a total backlog of $550 million, all that using a patented ZeeWeed technology. We were awarded as well a new contract to provide technology to help the San Francisco wastewater treatment plant to produce biogas and re-inject it into the gas grid thanks to our MemGas technology, again patented. In both cases, we are in the priority offers, as showcased in our deep dive on this activity last October.
I'm very pleased as well to see our technologies remove sulfur from offshore oil and gas, that is FPSO, which was again super successful with $170 million additional orders in Q1, notably in Brazil the Emirates. As the SUEZ revenue increased by 5.6%, we are very satisfied with continued strong growth in Europe, us up 5.1% despite the industrial macro, which is a good demonstration of our relative immunity to macro, as I explained earlier. We've delivered continued solid growth in the U.S., up +8.5% with plant shutdowns early in the year and started new operations in Saudi in the Jubail complex. In bioenergy, flexibility and energy efficiency, revenue was up +16.7% excluding energy price and including our new targeted acquisition, fully in line with our GreenUp plan priorities, in particular flexibility asset in Hungary. Organic growth was still +6.1%, which is very good.
Let's now deep dive on slide 10 in our second lever of value creation, which is performance and efficiency. This slide shows our first quarter performance in terms of both. On the left-hand side, you have efficiency, where we achieved EUR 91 million in gains, in line with our annual target of EUR 350 million. Efficiency gains at Veolia are not discretionary, the cost-cutting programs, of which you could question the continuity. They are rather composed of a very operational and diversified series of initiatives in our thousands of plants, from process optimization, energy efficiency, to upselling or digital gains. Digital is a prime example to show how we constantly look for new efficiency levels. Digital gains already represent 15% of our operational efficiency, but we are now moving quickly to GenAI. The new partnership with Mistral AI, a worldwide first, is a good illustration of this.
In terms of cost synergies derived from the SUEZ merger, we've achieved EUR 25 million in Q1 for a cumulative total of EUR 460 million since day one, in line with our objective of EUR 530 million, which, as you know, we raised last February. The third pillar, and I'm on slide 11, is capital allocation. This morning, we announced the acquisition of CDPQ's 30% stake in WTS for EUR 1.5 Drillion, translating into an EBITDA multiple of 11 times post-synergies. This acquisition is fully aligned with the GreenUp strategic plan and with Water Tech as a priority booster. It is indeed a very logical step, which will unlock more value for our shareholders by enabling full integration and enhancing operational performance. We will be able to extract additional verbatim cost synergies of EUR 90 million by 2027. There is more to it.
After merging WTF and VWT, we will, in fact, maximize the operational control of the asset, unlock its full potential for development and innovation, fully control cash flow and capital allocation to pursue our growth trajectory in Water Tech. This strategic move should therefore enhance the value of our Water Tech activities. We fully maintain our balance sheet headroom, and our leverage will remain below three times at year-end, allowing the group to retain strategic flexibility. Finally, this operation will be accretive to our current EPS from 2026 and enhance our ROCE. On slide 12, you see the simplification of the group structure after the merger of VWT and WTF. The removal of minority interest will enhance our control of our Water Tech operations in terms of synergies, but also cash flow and tax optimization.
We will be the sole decision-maker, especially as far as strategic decisions such as capital allocation are concerned. This full integration will enable us to enhance operational performance and to unlock full potential for development and innovation. Slide 13. The transaction is very straightforward. We signed an agreement with CDPQ yesterday to buy 30% stake in WTS for $1.75 Drillion, a cash out secured at EUR 1.5 Drillion, representing an EBITDA multiple of 11 times, including additional synergies of EUR 90 million. A few words on those synergies. They all relate to operating costs impacting EBITDA and are derived from a simplified corporate structure with our Water Tech activities, leading us, for instance, to remove SG&A costs, as we do not need to maintain a governance structure as today, both at WTS and VWT level.
That being said, there are additional financial benefits to take into account that has the potential for tax optimization as well as dividend leakage and cash optimization. What matters here is a very low level of execution risk to deliver these additional operation synergies in light of our deep and intimate knowledge of the asset, as well as our strong track record in extracting synergies, as highlighted by the SUEZ merger. Overall, the transaction will be accretive from 2026 and contribute to group ROCE increase. We will finance this acquisition through our available net cash position at group level. For CDPQ, the divestment after eight years is part of their normal investment process. For us, it is the opportunity to invest in the merging of our two Water Tech subsidiaries does unlock significant value. We expect to close the deal by the end of June.
On slide 14, you will see this acquisition will further strengthen the group position in Water Technologies activities, which is one of our three strategic boosters, as well as enhance our position in North America, which represents half of WTS's business today. You remember from our deep dive last October that the combined VWT and VWTS, as a fully merged and integrated entity, is the world leader in Water Technologies, with combined revenues of EUR 5 Drillion in 2024 and a global footprint, 40% in the U.S., 13% in Asia-Pacific, 13% in Africa and the Middle East, and 8% in Latin America. We serve over 8,000 clients in 44 countries. We hold more than 4,000 patents and have 11 dedicated resource centers.
We are now the only player present on all along the value chain in the complementary four business lines, which are projects, technologies and products, services, and chemicals, allowing us to select the correct go-to-market package depending on country or client type. On top of that, as part of Veolia, our Water Technology segment benefits from combination opportunities with our other businesses and segments, as demonstrated in our PFAS unique offer, for instance. We have set ambitious growth targets for 2027, which, of course, are further enhanced by the acquisition of CDPQ minority stakes. All this for this activity. We aim to grow our Water Tech operation by 6%-10% per year between 2023 and 2027 on average, and increase our EBITDA even further, including the additional synergies I've described. The EBITDA CAGR for the period will be now above 10% per year, with ROCE increasing gradually.
Slide 16 summarizes our three levers of value creation, namely growth, performance, and capital allocation, which is the baseline of our GreenUp plan. A very solid Q1 result. The strategic acquisition of CDPQ's minority stake in WTS, combined with our unique positioning, a combination of resilience and growth, enables me to fully confirm our strategic plan, GreenUp, and associated objectives. They include current net income growth of 10% per year on average over the period, with dividend growing in line with EPS and ROCE above 9% in 2027. As you remember from our yearly presentation a few weeks ago, we decided to launch a share buyback plan from 2025 to 2027, sized to neutralize the impact of the employee shareholding program so that going forward, current EPS will grow in line with current net income growth. In a nutshell, Veolia is all about both resilience and growth.
I now hand over to Emmanuelle, who will detail our Q1 figures.
Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. The results for the first quarter are solid and allow us to be very confident for the rest of the year. We have demonstrated for many quarters now that even in a complex economic environment, Veolia is able to deliver growing results. With EUR 11.5 Drillion in revenue, we experience a good solid growth of 3.9%, excluding energy prices. Taking into account the impact of lower energy prices, revenue was up 1.5%, which is quite ahead of Q1 2024. Thanks to the operating leverage and the good delivery of efficiencies as synergy, we enjoyed a solid organic EBITDA growth of 5.5% at EUR 1,695 million, and a current EBIT growth of 8.4% at EUR 915 million. Net financial debt reached EUR 18.9 Drillion, down compared to last year and lower than expected.
As a result, our leverage ratio was 2.75 times below last year and well below our guidance of under three times. Our balance sheet is accordingly very strong, which gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of capital allocation and allows us to easily maintain a leverage below three times after the financing of the acquisition of CDPQ minority interest in WTS. You can also see on the slide the detailed forex impacts, which were positive in Q1. I also remind you that we operate in local currency, meaning that our exposure is linked only to translation and not to transaction impacts. As you saw in previous years, the forex impact at EBITDA level was very much offset down the line, meaning at current net income. Moving to slide 19, you can see the revenue evolution by geographical segments. I will start with Water Technologies.
Revenues were stable in Q1 due to high comparison basis and the timing of project delivery. Q1 2024 was particularly high as we recorded revenue from the delivery of big projects at WTF, for instance, projects for semiconductor industry in Texas at Samsung in Austin, as well as identified one-off link to end-of-contracts. We are very confident for the rest of the year, and you saw this morning our very strong com[Foreign language]al momentum with the signing of new contracts to produce ultra-pure water for a large semiconductor client in the U.S. and to treat water in the energy sector to supply injection water treatment solution for offshore production units in Brazil. In the rest of the world, revenue was up 5%, with all regions performing very well. North America continued to enjoy solid hazardous waste performance and good water activity. hazardous waste revenue was up 8.5% in Q1.
Asia had a solid growth of 4.1% thanks to some recovery in Mainland China. Latin America grew double-digit thanks to good waste volumes and pricing. Rest of Europe revenue was up 5.5%, excluding energy prices. In Central Europe, the impact of lower energy prices in district heating activity was much lower than last EUR -249 million compared EUR -628 million in Q1 2024. Electricity prices are down 9.4% on average, but heat prices are almost stable. In Northern Europe, we registered again solid performance in the U.K., in Belgium, in both energy and waste activities. In Southern Europe, the quarter was excellent and revenue was up double-digit. Finally, France and hazardous waste Europe was flat in Q1 with lower solid waste volumes and indexation, offset by a very strong hazardous waste activity. Now let's take a look at our performance by businesses. I will start with water.
Water revenue was up 2.4%, fueled by the strong oil water operation, up 3.3%, while Water Technology was temporarily stable due to the timing of project delivery and high comparison basis, as mentioned earlier. Water operation benefited from good indexation with continued price increases in Spain, Central Europe, and in the regulated U.S. and Chilean water operation, while indexation was back to zero in France due to lower electricity prices. Volumes were on a very good trend, France +0.5%, Spain +1.2% with the end-of-group situation in Andalusia and Catalonia, and Central and Eastern Europe increases its volume by +3%. Moving to waste, activities grew by 3.7%, a solid pace, although lower than last year due, as expected, to lower indexation. Volumes were resilient, up on average by 1.2% like last year.
Commodity impacts were non-significant and comparable year-on-year with lower electricity prices in Q1, partially offset by increased recycled material prices. The strong oil solid waste revenue was up 3%, driven by tariff increases in all geographies. Regarding volumes and com[Foreign language]al development, Europe was mixed with good volume in Germany, resilient in the U.K., slightly down in France, while volume were strong in the rest of the world. The booster hazardous waste had a very strong quarter in almost all geographies in Europe, +5.1%, as well as in the U.S. revenue were up 8.5% thanks to favorable mix effect and good com[Foreign language]al momentum. Finally, moving on to energy, I am on slide 22. Excluding the energy price impact, growth was faster than last year, up 5.3% thanks to good volumes helped by a colder winter.
Heat prices were on average almost stable compared to last year, and electricity prices lower as expected. Strong activity in energy efficiency, up 6.1% on a like-for-like basis with strong sales momentum in Spain, Belgium, and in the Middle East. As I have just explained, energy revenue is sensitive to energy prices, which were down, as expected, again in Q1, but to a much lesser extent than last year. To illustrate the solid performance of the third quarter, we will go on slide 23. It shows our revenue bridge and explains our organic growth of +3.9%, excluding energy prices, which is stronger at EBITDA level thanks to our operating leverage. forex impact was positive, EUR +42 million, mainly due to the appreciation of the U.S., Polish, British currencies. Scope was negative by EUR -271 million, mainly due to the impact of last year's disposals.
We expect scope impact to turn positive in the second part of the year. The impact of energy and recycled prices were much lower than last year, as expected, -2.2% compared to -5.8% in Q1 2024, and include the impact of lower energy prices, slightly mitigated by the positive effect of recycled prices. The weather effect amounted to EUR +110 million due to a harsher winter at the beginning of the year in Europe. Commerce and volume contribution was comparable to last year, +1.3%, driven by sales momentum and resilient volumes. Finally, price effects were, as expected, lower in 2024 than in 2023 due to lower inflation and continued to 1.5% to top-line growth. On page 24, you have the usual EBITDA bridge detailing our organic growth of 5.5% in line with the annual guidance between 5% and 6%.
Essentially, EBITDA benefited from three sources: organic revenue growth of +3.9%, operational efficiency, and source synergies. The forex impact amounts to EUR 11 million. Scope was EUR -30 million. Weather was favorable by EUR +16 million due to a colder winter in the first quarter 2025. Commerce volume works effect was favorable at EUR +22 million, +1.4% in line with revenue impact. Efficiency gain of EUR 91 million generates +2.3% in additional EBITDA, hence a very good retention rate of 42%. Synergies amount to EUR 25 million, especially thanks to optimization in purchasing and in the Water Technology activities, leading to a cumulated amount of EUR 460 million, perfectly in line with our objective of EUR 530 million by the end of 2025. Going down to current EBIT, this slide illustrates perfectly the operational leverage of our business model.
Current EBIT grew by 8.4% in Q1 to EUR 915 million at a higher pace than EBITDA. Renewal expense of EUR 74 million were comparable to 2024. Amortization and OFA were slightly lower than last year due to perimeter and slightly up at constants and forex. We had slightly lower industrial capital gains, provision orders. GVs were stable. Net financial debt reached EUR 18.9 Drillion at the end of March, lower than expected and down EUR 142 million compared to last year, thanks to strong free cash flow generation and dynamic asset arbitrage launched last year to quickly secure room of maneuver to achieve GreenUp's ambitions. As a result, our leverage ratio was 2.75 times below last year and well below our guidance of under three times. Our balance sheet is therefore very strong. Both rating agencies confirm strong investment grade rating after full-year results.
It enabled us to finance the acquisition of CDPQ minority interest in WTF with our available cash position while maintaining a leverage below three times afterwards. As a conclusion, we are very confident for the rest of the year, which is based on solid foundation. We fully confirm our ambitious guidance for 2025, including WTF acquisition, continued solid growth of revenue, excluding energy prices, for EBITDA organic growth between +5% and 6%, more than EUR 350 million of efficiency gains, more than EUR 530 million of cumulated synergy at the end of 2024, current net income up 9% at constant forex, leverage ratio below three times. As usual, our dividend will grow in line with our current EPS. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Emmanuelle, and we're now ready to take your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session.
Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touch-tone phone. Should you wish to cancel your request, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift a handset before pressing any keys. Once again, that is star one. Should you wish to ask a question? Your first question is from Alex Roncier from Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Good morning and thanks for the question. I've got three, please. I mean, the first one is on the 30% acquisition from CDPQ. I'm just wondering if you could give us some background and color on why CDPQ was actually willing to sell their 30% stake.
I remember in the past, and it's been something that is discussed heavily with investors over the years, it seems like the structure was a bit at a standstill with perhaps CDPQ expecting a buyout or even a listing of the Water Tech division overall. Any color on the process there would be super interesting. A second one still on M&A. I think, if I'm not mistaken, you still have EUR 1 Drillion net of M&A left in your GreenUp plan, which I suppose you will still use depending on opportunities and be relatively flexible on that. Any area you would focus on specifically? I am saying that because I feel like the energy booster is actually the one performing the best at the moment. You already addressed Water Tech with CDPQ.
Would that make sense to actually increase exposure there, especially given your ambition to become number one across your different segments by 2030 in your different energy verticals? I am wondering that as well, if you are already or expecting to see actually growing order on flexibility and some of the local and backup generation you mentioned you had for hospital and critical infrastructure in the wake of the recent blackout in Spain. Lastly, just one on numbers. I am mindful the guidance is at current forex and that forex actually had a positive impact in Q1, but you also have in your guidance an absolute EBITDA guidance for 2027 of EUR 8 Drillion and more, which arguably would include forex.
Given the recent moving in currency and they are predominantly being euro-denominated, any color you would give us on FX impact expected for the rest of the year at current rate? If any impact, would that mean you'd need to restate at some point the EUR 8 Drillion absolute EBITDA guidance for 2027? Thank you.
T hree q uestions. I will take the first two and then have Emmanuelle answering the third one. I cannot answer on why CDPQ has sold now as opposed to other options. It's after eight years of them having all this participation. It looks like a normal cycle to them. That's what they've said very officially. I can tell you why it's the right moment for Veolia. That I can comment upon.
Right moment because we've very said clearly for a while now that Water Technologies were super important for us and an area where we wanted to invest and reinforce our presence. You may remember the deep dive in the Water Tech business. We invited a few people in Hungary last October. That's one of the key boosters in our GreenUp strategic plan. It is very strategically aligned with what we've prepared the ground for. I must add that in terms of timing, the euro versus dollar makes it so that the acquisition not only is good in terms of multiple, 11 times now compared to the American peers, for instance, is a very reasonable price. Plus the dollar's relative weakness is good in terms of us paying in euros, as you know.
The right time for Veolia altogether, very strategic move for us, and I cannot answer on behalf of CDPQ. In terms of M&A, you're exactly right. We still have room for maneuver for additional M&As going forward to complete the GreenUp strategic plan, as Emmanuelle highlighted. It didn't come by chance. As you know, we've anticipated on the agile last year by selling non-strategic assets. I always said that we had three pillars of value creation: top-line growth, performance, and balance sheet. We've anticipated last year, we've been agile, which gives us room for maneuver, not only to do the CDPQ acquisition today, also CDPQ stake, sorry, into WTS , plus potential other opportunities. Any areas, yes, and we've been very clear in our GreenUp strategic. It boasts all the three boosters. Water tech has the space and the bioenergy flexibility, as well as outside Europe.
I may emphasize again on the fact that this acquisition today not only enhances value in the Water Tech, but as well outside Europe, in particular in the U.S., but elsewhere as well. I think it's an important one. Everything which creates value and is with one of the three boosters will be a good candidate for potential M&A. It has to be both strategic and creating value. Are we done with the Water Tech? Not necessarily. We may have talking ideas going forward. Again, if they create value and are very complementary in our portfolio of technologies, why not? Has the space could be good candidates as well. As you know, we are a leader as well in this industry, creates value, and we're very happy with this business, as well as, again, bioenergy and flexibility. Commenting on the blackout in Spain, you're right.
It makes to the forefront and the headlines of the newspapers, the importance of flexibility as a market, which I understand is quite a technical one, so not necessarily understood by the general public. Of course, it is by you. We are already a big player in Europe, in France, in Northern Europe, in Italy, in Eastern Europe as well. Not yet specifically on this specific area in Spain, but we have quite a good series of activities in energy in Spain. Why not developing the flexibility in addition? That's something, as you can imagine, we have a look at. In terms of the forex, I will say I won't comment on anticipation because two months ago, there was a consensus on EUR 1 equals $1 very soon. Now it's very different. It's moving very fast.
I won't comment on the anticipation of at the end of the year, the anticipation at the end of 2027, it's even more risky. I will confirm the 2027 guidance. With regard to 2025, Emmanuelle?
Yes. [Foreign language], Alexandre. As mentioned earlier, you know that Veolia has absolutely zero transaction exposure. When we operate in a country, all the costs and the revenue are in the same currency so that we have only translation exposure. Three elements mainly which are important to have in mind. The first element on top of local currency, so no transaction impact, is that our guidance at EBITDA level is at constant scope and forex. Finally, as you saw in the former year, the FX impact at EBITDA level was very much offset down the line to current net income. At the end of Q1, you have noticed the impact.
It was positive, EUR +42 million at revenue level and EUR +11 million at EBITDA level. It's true that when you use the exchange rate of the last closing, so March 31st, we expect it would give an EBITDA impact, which is really slightly negative. As mentioned by Estelle, forex, it's difficult to forecast. When you look at the EBITDA 2027, the EUR 8 million, we fully confirm them. It includes organic growth, efficiencies, and M&A, and the purchase of CDPQ minority interest in WTF will contribute around EUR 90 million in synergy.
In addition to what you said, everything you said kind of partially vanishes anywhere at the net results level. I think it's an important additional point.
Great. [Foreign language], Estelle. [Foreign language], Emmanuelle. Very clear.
Thank you. Your next question is from Arthur Sitbon from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.
Hello. Thanks for taking my question.
One follow-up question on the acquisition so far in the GreenUp plan. I think, to be precise, your initial acquisition budget was between EUR 2 Drillion and EUR 4 Drillion between 2024 and 2027. I was just wondering how much you've done, you've conducted so far, including WTS. I think I get not too far from the EUR 2 Drillion, so the low end of that EUR 2 Drillion-EUR 4 Drillion range. I was wondering if your intention is to stop here. You seem to be running a bit ahead of track here. At the end of the day, what I'm wondering is, do you need to go further? Do you need to do more acquisitions to reach the 10% CAGR net income guidance by 2027, or could you potentially stop here and just rely on what you have today to get there? That's the first question.
The second question is because I think, obviously, there has been some uncertainty on the macro environment, and you seem to say that you've been very resilient so far. I was wondering as well, in the second quarter of the year, since especially the announcements on import tariffs early April, what have you noticed in how the business is performing, and specifically, I think, in industrial water and in waste activities? Thank you very much.
I will start with the global vision of GreenUp going forward, and Emmanuelle will comment a bit further on the figures and then on the macro as well. Globally, today, we've announced major steps in the GreenUp plan with the acquisition of the 30% stake of CDPQ in the Water Tech business. Do we need to do further acquisition? No, we don't. Do we have opportunities? Yes, we have.
Do we have room for maneuver? Yes, we have for an extra EUR 1 Drillion, as we said. It is a little bit more the way I would think about it. Do I intend to stop there and to say, "Yes, that's it. GreenUp is delivered"? No. I am very happy that the acquisition we announced this morning secures some value creation for GreenUp going forward. In that way, you are right. It secures the trajectory. We have plenty of opportunities to create value, and we have the room for maneuver, as we explained, to do that. Maybe on the figures, the EUR 2 Drillion I was mentioning was net of the disposal, right? Emmanuelle, if you could go a bit through those figures.
Yes, with pleasure. [Foreign language], Arthur.
When we design the GreenUp plan and the GreenUp strategy, as mentioned before, to achieve the EUR 8 Drillion target in 2027, we have some M&A. The M&A, what we have communicated so far, was EUR 2 Drillion M&A net. It is acquisition minus disposal. We have been very agile after the launch of GreenUp, achieving already EUR 1 Drillion disposal. You have seen with the EUR 1.5 Drillion acquisition of WTS plus what we have already bought, we are currently around EUR 2 Drillion. So EUR 2 Drillion -EUR 1 Drillion, we still have EUR 1 Drillion room of maneuver or target for GreenUp in M&A. With the acquisition of WTS, it was clearly expected. It was part of GreenUp. I think in terms of timing, it is ideal. It helped us to simplify the group structure and unlock additional value.
In terms of the macro, Emmanuelle will comment on how April looks like, and basically no change in the trend as we've seen in Q1. Tariff, we have very minimal, if non-exposure to tariff, as we are very local in terms of contract, as we said. We are a service company. Both makes us very, very, I guess, resilient in these uncertain tariff times, which I'm very happy, as you can imagine. In terms of macro, altogether, I wanted to comment a bit further on what I said in the call, which is we are very largely immune to macro. We estimate it to 85%. This is not by miracle. Half of our business is municipal, which is, of course, macro immune. Even on the other half, we have around 20% altogether, which is more like retail and hospitals.
It is not municipal as such, but it is still very resilient. For the 30%, which is real industry, if you want, we are super diversified in terms of industries and super diversified in terms of geographies. It helps us to say, "Okay, we have a lot of presence in the pharma and microelectronics," which, as you can imagine, is not in the same mood usually as you would say in other types of more traditional industries. That makes us quite confident, as well as our ability to react that we have demonstrated in the past and our track record. I just wanted to mention two figures we have highlighted, but to emphasize again on them. Hazardous waste, as you know, is a 100% industrial customer base. In the first quarter, we have had a +5.1% revenue hazardous waste in Europe and +8.5% in the U.S.A..
I won't go into circles to say there was not a GDP growth in Europe of 5.1% and in the U.S. about 8.5%. It's a very big proof of the disconnect largely of macro versus various performance. How do you see April on the spring, Emmanuelle?
Thank you, Estelle. Regarding this question on macro and how April is continuing, first element is that we don't see major change compared to the figures that you are seeing for the end of April. The main changes that we are seeing, it's in Water Technology where we are starting to see the rebound, and you may have seen our press release this morning with com[Foreign language]al gain. The second main element where we see a change or it's a continued uptrend, it's regarding the recycled prices, which were, again, up in April, EUR 20 in Copacel and Ozid Index, for instance.
For the rest of the business, it is continuing. What we see, it is continued in other ways, continue to be strong, especially in the U.S., but also no change in volume regarding Europe, where you have seen we were able to have an increase of, for instance, in France, +12%. Volumes in the U.K. and Australia remaining very resilient. Volumes in Germany are strong. We were also happy to see a good performance in Asia, especially in China, +4% with good volume in other ways. No main change continuing on trends.
Maybe one last sentence on macro, on top of everything that Estelle has mentioned regarding our characteristic defining our defensiveness, one element which is interesting, it may be in the bridge where you see that in terms of commerce and volumes, we are fully in line with where we were at the end of Q1 2024, so around 1.3%-1.5%.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Your next question is from Ajay Patel from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.
Good morning. Firstly, thank you for the presentation and for taking my questions. I just really wanted to keep the picture really simple. In the sense that you have a long-term guidance for 2027, 10% growth in net income, which in broad terms is a broadly just over EUR 600 million in net income growth from 2023.
I wanted to understand this acquisition this morning, with this energy included, how many millions of net income are you looking to add as a result of it? Just to understand what the picture for you and current market environment, that guidance of 10% net income growth was based on constant effects, could you help us just understand at the net income level, what is the headwind that effects present? I know you have plenty of levers to offset, and this is a very resilient business, but just to understand that potential add in terms of the acquisition with the synergies included and the potential sort of headwind that the effects presents.
We'll start by the first part of your question and hand over to Emmanuelle for the second part.
In terms of the 2027 guidance, you're right, we guided around 10% average over the period of net income growth. This included some potential acquisition, including the EUR 2 Drillion net of disposal of acquisition we've highlighted in a question we had earlier on. It included already some acquisition. We used part of this acquisition room of maneuver, if you want, today. I can confirm the 2027 guidance. There is no further enhancements to it, but it's more a way to secure this guidance, if you want. Hence, securing the growth of our net result and performance over the next few years is what helps the acquisition of the 30% CDPQ that we have highlighted this morning. In terms of 2025, as we said, we confirm our guidance of 2025, including the acquisition of today, despite the forex as it is today. That's the global picture.
In more detail about the net result and forex, Emmanuelle.
Yes, with pleasure. Regarding your question, good morning, Ajay. The transaction that we are launching and on which we are communicated this morning is accretive. It will be accretive for our ROCE. It will be accretive also from 2026. When you look at net result, it takes into account the synergies, cost synergies that we will be able to deliver in an asset from which we have deep and intimate knowledge, so very low level of execution, very low level of risk of execution. You know our track record in terms of synergy delivery. It will take also into account tax optimization, no dividend leakage, as well as the cost of financing, meaning that it will be accretive from 2026, accordingly to the synergy ramp-up.
When you look at the forex impact at net result level, as you have seen in 2023 and in 2024, it is offset. forex is offset at the level of net result. We will have the positive effect contribution of the CDPQ transaction, and we expect a neutral effect of forex.
Altogether, the 10% net income growth on average over the players is with or without good or bad forex in a way. That is irrespective of it. I think that is an important point for today.
Okay. Thank you very much for your answers.
Thank you. Your next question is from Zach Ho from Jefferies. Your line is now open.
Hi, good morning. This is Zach from Jefferies here. Thank you for your presentation. Just two quick follow-ups from me.
Firstly, regarding kind of your credit metric headroom of 3x, I'm just wondering, is there a minimum level that you're looking to maintain relative to your 3x target? Doing some quick math on the additional CDPQ acquisition, I think you get to quite close to the 3x target by June 2025 when you finish executing on the transaction. I'm wondering if this would be a concern at all from a credit or cash flow point of view over the next few quarters, or is this not something that you are bothered or think that this would be a concern at all? The second question would be just a more general one on top-line growth.
Based on your responses, I think from the previous questions, it kind of sounds like your message is that most of Veolia is, or most of Veolia, meaning that the existing business and future kind of booster and stronghold growth is mostly macro immune. My question is, on the booster top-line level at least, how much of it is contracted or highly visible, and how much of it depends on certain factors like waiting on further demand to come to in places like the U.S., etc.? Yeah, any color on the above would be very helpful. Thank you.
Okay. The line is a little bit blurred, so I hope we will answer precisely to your question because it was a little bit difficult to understand. But leverage on the first one, Emmanuelle?
Yes. Good morning.
Regarding the leverage, we fully confirm our leverage ratio, so below three times for the end of the year, including the acquisition of CDPQ minority interest. As you know, we had a very strong, and we have a very strong balance sheet after the disposal of last year, including our strong free cash flow generation. Our expectation and what we fully confirm for the rest of the year, it's strong cash generation. We will have the strong free cash flow generation, and we fully confirm the leverage ratio below three times after the acquisition.
Fully investment-grade. We don't need to have extra bonds or whatever financing. That gives us a lot of comfort, as you can imagine, from this call this morning. I will take your second part of your question.
We estimate altogether that on the business of Veolia, and you're right, there is no major difference between the booster and the stronghold activities altogether. We estimate we are around 85% macro immune. The 15% remaining will be a little bit of the C&I waste, dry waste business typically, which can have a little bit more an effect on the volumes of economy going up or down. I'm asked a lot, how is that so? As we try to explain, this is what I call our winning formula, which is to be on all continents. We don't depend on the economy of one country or another. We are very spread over. We are very spread over various types of industries as well, from pharma to hospital through to more traditional industries. Plus, we are very reactive.
We have proven that with a very good track record over the last few quarters where the macro was not great in Europe typically, and we still have grown our revenue, not only our bODDOm line, but our top line as well quite consistently. The number I mentioned on the highs in Europe at +5% and in the U.S. at +8.5%, where revenue, not even EBITDA, which is always going faster, as you know. You are right. We have a very good winning formula of resilience and growth, which makes us quite uniquely placed in today's world of uncertainty.
That's why when we confirm not only our guidance for 2025, but even for 2027, it's a secured guidance thanks to the acquisition we said, thanks to our foundation, thanks to the strategic choices we make of around 10% growth of net result, whatever the forex, inflation, the macro, the tariff, and everything we've just discussed. I think it's a good, again, strong foundational, secured growth of the results. Just wanted to take an example about the U.S.A. I'm asked a lot about the U.S.A., as you can imagine, over the last few months. We still have a big ambition in the U.S.A. As we said, tariff is not a question for us. We have very local contracts. Why is that so? What supports Veolia's growth? If I take a bit of steps backwards, what supports Veolia's growth is demands of the population.
We're talking here about removing pollutants in drinking water. What's the Water Tech business as well as the health business helps? We're talking here about supporting industries which are strategic, microelectronic, or data center to actually have a license to operate because without water, you just don't have a microelectronic or chips manufacturing plant. You just don't have it. It's a license to operate. It's not a nice-to-have. Pollution or just a license to operate, this is what drives the growth in the U.S. A good example was the PFAS. We've grown EUR 0-EUR 205 million top line, again, in the PFAS removal. I was asked a lot, "Okay, what about the new administration in the U.S.? Is it changing your ambition?" The answer is no. It was demonstrated last week with the new EPA manager, Mr.
Zeldin, confirmed that his intention was not to go slower, but actually to go quicker in the PFAS removal. I think all that is a proof by example of what we said about macro.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question is from Olly Jeffery from Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.
Thanks very much. And good morning. Two questions, please, on the WTS minorities acquisition. The first is, can you please confirm, and I think it would help clarify for everyone to think about in terms of accretion and the PE paid here? When you look at your accounts, the minorities for the WTS global was EUR 19 million in 2024. What was it? What were the minorities just to be the WTS part of the business that you bought so we can have a sense of what the net income looks like?
That would be very helpful. The second question I have is just from the synergy guide you've given. I presume historically, when you come to guiding the synergies, that you would see that as being a fairly conservative estimate and there's potential headroom to that figure depending on how things go, just given how you've guided synergies before in the past. Is that reasonable to assume that that's a relatively conservative guide on the synergy front? Thank you.
I will take the second question, leave Emmanuelle for the first one. The global picture on the first one is it's accretive at net income and ROCE level. That's the short version. Of course, Emmanuelle will elaborate a little bit with in 2027, it creates value, isn't it?
Yes. Hello, Olly. Good morning. Absolutely right. With this transaction, what we fully confirm, it's accretive.
It will be accretive starting 2026 because due to the timing of the operation, of course, you will have and the ramp-up of synergy. This year, we expect around EUR 15 million synergies. Next year, around EUR 35 million and then EUR 39 million. With this ramp-up, this year, it will be very slightly dilutive, but the amount is not significant. We fully confirm the increase of our net income around 9%. Starting in 2026 and in 2027 and onward, it will be relative at EPS level and at ROCE level. Taking into account several elements, of course, the cost synergies, but also the tax optimization, the removal of minority interest, having positive impact on all our financial indicators.
I just would like to add that we've had a question earlier on the guidance 2027. We commented and confirmed that secured a 10% CAGR net result.
We also said that we'll be above 9% ROCE by 2027 or in 2027. Just want to confirm that again that we haven't highlighted yet. In terms of the synergies, I was smiling on the conservativeness of the synergies. It's the best estimate we have today. What I can say is we have an intimate knowledge of the target. Therefore, it's a very detailed plan. I wouldn't qualify it as conservative. I would qualify it as more like secured. It's our best estimate today, but I don't see a risk of execution on achieving these targets, as we've demonstrated as well in the delivering of the stress synergy.
Thank you. Just as a follow-up, could I take the EUR 19 million in the accounts and the minorities for WTS as being representative for the business that you bought or not because that's the global figure and is not representative?
I guess the EUR 19 million figure is not, I mean, the net result today of our dual ETS activity is not optimized. That is what I have tried to say in the call, as in above, if you want, or in addition to the 90 million synergies, which are more EBITDA. We have a lot of work on tax optimization in addition, for instance, and all the rest of it, which makes us so that there will be value creation as well from EBITDA in addition to net results. I am trying to be clear on that one. Hope I am clear.
Okay. No, that is thank you. Yeah, no, that makes more sense. You have got more benefit coming through below the line. All right. Thank you very much.
Yes, exactly. Exactly. In addition to the EUR 90 million.
I mean, just to make sure everybody understands, we had to run two different separate structures in parallel. Of course, we were coordinating a lot of things. In terms of cash flow, in terms of tax, of course, in terms of the business rebrand, we had still to run two separate structures. As you can imagine, in addition to costs that we can take away, there is a lot of optimization, which we will start now.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question is from Philippe Ourpatian from ODDO BHF. Your line is now open.
Yes. Good morning. I have some additional questions concerning CDPQ, as you can imagine. The first one is just to well understand the figure you have given in terms of sequential contribution. Could you just elaborate a bit on the nature of this operational synergy impacting the EBITDA?
That's the first question because, as you say, you were running two companies, but the one you have had 70%, you were also well-knowing. Are these synergies coming from the merger of the two entities, or there is some at the EBITDA level first, some additional things to do you couldn't do before because of the structure of WTS? That's the first question. The second one is concerning tax because we are discussing about tax optimization. You have had previously some tax carry forward in the U.S. If I'm not wrong, those ones were terminating somewhere in 2025. Are you going to optimize the remaining you have had for 2025 because of this deal? Means you will be able to more optimize something starting 2025, or are you also benefiting from some additional delays due to this deal?
Is there any remaining tax carry forward beyond 2025 on the U.S. perimeter? I do suppose that it's mainly the U.S. one and not impacting the French one. The third question is concerning U.S. business globally, but mainly, I would say, the Water Tech U.S. global business. The Trump administration has made a quite significant turnaround concerning oil and gas, means mainly pushing this activity and renewable is suffering, as everyone noticed. Are you starting to see some positive impact from this reversal of going more to oil in terms of industrial water business and Water Tech, for example, for your mobile treatment units, which are based on refineries and so on? The last one is concerning China. You mentioned in the press release a rebound of China.
Just to be clear, are we discussing a rebound in terms of profitability, which is linked to, I would say, the efficiency plan you started, implemented some years ago in order to optimize the return? Or are you also feeling some macro trend positive reversal, which are on top of your efficiencies, I would say, are fueling your growth? Because between end of Q4 and Q5, 2025, we have a quite strong, I would say, turnaround of China's activity you mentioned. Many thanks.
Okay. In terms of the tax, Emmanuelle?
Yes. [Foreign language], Philippe. You're absolutely right. The acquisition of the 30%, it's not only a strategic move, which is fully in line with GreenUp, and it was fully consistent.
W, it's a great asset, and we will be able to generate synergies after a fantastic track record with the merger with SUEZ and in an environment where we have deep and intimate knowledge securing the execution. On top of that, we'll have, as I mentioned, also tax optimization potential. You're absolutely right. It will be mainly in France, as we will be able to put in the tax group, to have a tax integration of the European entities. You know that in France, we have tax carry forward, which are above EUR 150 million available forever. In the U.S., we have more than EUR 300 million tax carry forward available, but only until the end of 2026. The impact on that one will be more limited.
On the U.S. business, we have half of the Water Tech business, which is 40% altogether, and half of the WTS, which sit in the U.S.. as you know, we have as well a very big presence in the U.S., in hazardous waste, as well as in water activities, reg and non-reg. It is a varied set of business. What I can say is, as Emmanuelle mentioned earlier on, we have hazardous waste is the best proxy of how industry is doing in the U.S. because it is 100% industrial. We have seen a +8.5% revenue growth in Q1 and a very good April. I cannot comment specifically on oil and gas, the Drill Baby Drill effect, if you want, versus what we see so far is more down to the pharma as well as microelectronics.
On the Water Tech part of the business in the U.S., we've announced this morning very major contracts. One was in the U.S., in the microelectronic business, water pure water and Water Tech. I would say so far, we see what drives the growth in the U.S. would be more that than the effect of oil and gas. We have such a varied exposure to the very top of industries that it's difficult to comment for me a lot further. In terms of China, it's not only a profitability rebound, it's a revenue rebound as well. I think we have had a +4%. First 4% in Q1. It's really more Veolia rather than China altogether. Again, difficult for me to comment on is China's economy rebouncing or not. What we can say is the revenue has bounced back, which we are very happy about.
In terms of the synergies, sorry, there is a question earlier on which I have not answered yet on the synergies of the WTS acquisition. What are they composed of? You are exactly right. We already have delivered with the two separate structures already some efficiencies and synergies, which are included in our performance until now. The additional EUR 90 million, because it is an additional, will be basically twofold. A big chunk of it will be just G&A, as in two different structures. You can just merge them. We are talking here about real estate. We are talking here about IT. We are talking here about structure altogether because we had to have the two separately. An additional element is more like operational type of efficiencies because we can do directly a lot of things in terms of purchasing, where we had to keep until now two different boxes, if you want, separate.
We can merge them and go and have extra efficiencies in terms of typically purchasing, to give you an idea. A big chunk is more G&A type. Not the majority, though. It is a little bit more than half.
Many thanks. Very clear.
Thank you. Your next question is from Alex Roncier from Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Hi, thank you. Just one, actually, not one follow-up, but one extra question, if I may, just regarding your shareholder structure. You've had, obviously, two big announcements earlier this year, and I think Criteria CASA has already announced that they've finalized the acquisition of their 5% stake. I was wondering if you had any new information regarding the stake BB was building, which was up to 3.5% as well, which seems to be taking a little bit longer than the Criteria CASA build-up.
Any call that there would be super helpful. Thank you.
I can't remember the dates exactly, but both have already built their stake now for a few weeks. CASA is at 5%, and BPI is already at 3.5%, and they have been for a while. I can't remember the exact date. But they've built their stake. Yes, they have.
Okay. Very good. Th ank you.
You're right there. I'm very happy to welcome those long-term shareholders in the group in our shareholder base, which they said very clearly support fully the value creation model, the resilient and growth we've just described, and the GreenUp strategic plan. They clearly said that the reason why they invested was exactly those two.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question is from Olly Jeffery from Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.
Can I please clarify with the 11 times EV post-synergies 25, then that full EUR 90 million?
Sorry, it was cut. If you could repeat because you were cut for a few seconds. Yes. The 11 times you want us to comment, but.
The 11 times multiple full EUR 90 million of synergies. Just EUR 15 million. See the pre-synergies EBITDA multiple being for the transaction, please.
Emmanuelle?
Yes. To answer your question, we'll, of course, liaise with you after the call to give you the full detail of the calculation. Have in mind that for the calculation, we are taking into account the EBITDA 2025 and the full year and the full effect of the EUR 90 million cost synergies. In the calculation, you have to take into account also the debt of the entity. The full detail will be sent to you.
Of course, this compares super favorably with the typical multiple U.S. peers, which I won't give you the full list, but you have them. They are more between 15 and 20 times. It crystallizes a lot of value for us.
Just on this topic, you spoke about the EUR 90 million of cost synergies at the EBITDA level and further benefits below EBITDA, which boost net income from bringing the minorities in. Can you put a figure on what you see that additional boost below EBITDA being from combining the minorities?
Yes, Emmanuel.
To complete maybe the answer that I've given before, you're right. We'll have additional positive impact below the EBITDA line. The main one will be tax optimization.
As mentioned, on the French or the European tax integration group, we'll have a positive contribution of EUR 10 million for the U.S., who will see because we have until 2026 to implement it. You will have, of course, the removal of the minority interest, which is going to be taken into account. With this acquisition, you have full security on the synergy delivery. You have additional benefit at net result level. You have absolutely no risk of execution regarding synergies. It is financed without any bridge loan, without any friction, thanks to our strong balance sheet after the disposal that we did last year. A fully secured operation in an environment that we know deeply and intimately.
Thank you. Your next question is from Jenny Ping from Citi. Your line is now open.
Thank you very much. Two questions, please.
Firstly, with regards to the transaction, obviously, you paid 11 times for an asset, which is being absorbed into a company where it trades at six to seven times EBITDA. Is there views and thoughts emerging on how Veolia could make some of this value that you have at the group more visible, i.e., maybe on the completion of the merger of the two Water Tech businesses, spin out a minority and listing it, or something of that effect to show the value of the core business that sits within Veolia? That is the first question.
Then secondly, when we look at the EBITDA growth, the 5%-6% in the medium term, are you able to give us a sense of what is the underlying organic growth of the business, exiting out all of the M&A that's coming through, but also synergies has historically been a big part of that driver? When we look at the underlying business growth, is it fair to say it's low single digit? Thank you.
Two different questions. On the first question, I would see it quite differently. I think the transaction today highlights precisely the value within the Veolia stock and the potential for growing our value further, as we explained with the various different multiples. It enhanced not only the Water Tech business value, but the value of Veolia altogether. I will highlight again the word combination.
When we talk about PFAS, we're talking about Water Tech hazardous waste. When we talk about the SEDIF contract, we talk about an order book hazardous waste—sorry, in Water Tech, which was helped by a municipal water type of contract. A lot of things are intertwined within Veolia. I would argue that today's transaction highlights the value potential creation for Veolia even further than we've seen so far. In terms of the 5%-6%, I would suggest you refer to the bridge because we give exactly the detail quarter after quarter of exactly your question, Jenny, on what comes from the top-line growth, what comes from the efficiency and synergies, and what comes from M&A. We have all the details quarter after quarter for 2024, for 2025 so far, and so on and so forth.
Altogether, if you think of value creation as in EPS value creation, you have a big chunk which comes from top-line, a big chunk which comes from efficiency and synergies, and a big chunk which comes from M&A, like what we've announced this morning. Depending on the quarter, I wouldn't say it's a third, a third, a third because, of course, you have different quarters. You would think of the three as really three important levers. I wouldn't mention only one of those.
Those are the three which help us to be able to confirm the 10% CAGR of net result, irrespective of all the different elements of the environment, the macro, the forex, or whatever, as we've discussed this morning in detail, as well as the ROCE above 9%, which is well beyond our work, which at the end of 2024, you remember, stood at 5.6%. We are creating value, and we intend to go on exactly in the right direction. Of course, all that with being with a lever under three times.
Thank you very much.
It looks like we do not have any other questions, so we will end now. You have understood that we are very happy not only about the quarterly results.
We are very confident for the rest of the year and very happy about the value-creative transaction we've announced this morning, which is very strategic and value-creative. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now ended. Thank you all for joining. You may all disconnect your lines.