Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Veolia conference call on Q3 2021 results publication with Antoine Frérot, CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff, COO, and Claude Laruelle, CFO. I now hand over to Antoine Frérot. Sir, please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for attending this presentation of Veolia's nine months results. I am with Estelle Brachlianoff, our COO, and Claude Laruelle, our CFO. During this call, I will briefly give you an update on the acquisition of Suez, which we are now very close to finalizing, and we will then present our nine months results, which are, again, record results. We will then answer your questions. I will start with an update on the acquisition of Suez, and I am on Slide 5. Since the signing of our agreement to purchase Suez and sell some of the assets, mostly French ones, to the Meridiam, GIP, and CDC consortium for EUR 10.4 billion, we had three main tasks to complete. The financing of the deal, the antitrust process, and the preparation to integrate Suez employees.
We have progressed very fast over the past three months so as to be ready to close the acquisition of Suez around year-end. Regarding the first task, the financing of the operation, we have launched a EUR 2.5 billion rights issue in mid-September, as we have previously announced. It was closed on October sixth and was a great success. The very high take-up rate, nearly double the targeted amount, clearly showed the support of our existing shareholders and their great confidence in the prospects of the new Veolia. The rights issue was done at a very low discount, enabling us to reduce the number of shares issued. The second target, the EU antitrust filing, has also progressed well. Veolia teams have worked very hard to be in a position to file before the EU in October as planned.
We have filed on October 22nd, and we expect the final clearance of the EU by mid-December, and this final decision will be preceded by an intermediary answer at the end of November. This part of the deal was particularly crucial, and it is the only condition precedent to the closing of the tender offer on Suez. The two other countries where there are some antitrust issues, but of lesser importance, the U.K. and Australia, are also progressing well, and it should all be settled in Q1 2022 at the latest. Once again, they are not on the critical path to finalize the acquisition. The third project, which is to prepare for the integration of the Suez teams, has also progressed very fast. You remember that in late July, I announced the composition of the new executive committee, including four members coming from Suez.
We will announce the new management committee, meaning top 40, top 50, before year-end. As soon as we close the operation, all country managers and support function heads will be appointed. In order to allow for Suez teams to meet Veolia executives, several town hall meetings have been organized, and these meetings have received very positive feedback and have confirmed that the two groups share the same culture, the same values, and the same objectives. As you can see, everything is going well so that we can approach 2022 with full confidence in our ability to execute the merger successfully and become the world champion of ecological transformation. In terms of financial targets, we confirm the target of EUR 500 million of synergies over the next four years and the 40% EPS accretion by 2024.
I know that you are very eager to have all the figures of the combined group and the guidance for 2022, and we will give you all that when we release our full- year 2021 results on March 15, 2022. This is what I wanted to share with you regarding the Suez transaction. Let's now move to the operational and financial performances of Veolia in the nine months, and I am now on Slide 7. I will first focus on the third quarter performance, which shows a strong acceleration of both revenue and EBITDA growth after a very strong first half. 2021 was off to a very good start with a record first half in terms of revenue and revenue growth.
Third quarter revenue is again growing strongly by 5.9% versus 2020 at constant ForEx. This progression is even more remarkable given that the third quarter 2020 already showed a rebound after a second quarter 2020 that was of course affected by the sanitary crisis. Q3 EBITDA grew by a very strong 17.5%, but including an EUR 83 million one-off linked to an exceptional operating financial asset reimbursement in French waste business due to a project completion in the city of Troyes, which we had financed on behalf of our clients. Please note that this one-off is neutral at the EBIT level. Excluding this one-off, EBITDA growth in Q3 remains very strong at +8.2%, and current EBIT grew by 12.5%.
What I find most significant is to compare our 2021 performance with 2019, which was a record year for Veolia and before the sanitary crisis, of course. You remember that our objective in 2021 was to beat these record 2019 results. We were already pretty much ahead at the end of the first half. We clearly confirmed our advance in Q3. Compared to 2019, Q3 revenue grew by 5%, EBITDA by 19%, by 9.8% if we exclude the one-off, and current EBIT progressed by 9.6%. A significant acceleration at the revenue level, but even more at the EBITDA and EBIT level, even compared to the progression which you've seen in H1. These excellent performances are due to several factors.
First, continued and sustained growth in our priority markets, such as, for instance, hazardous waste, and more generally, the rebound of waste volumes, which are now back or nearly back to their pre-crisis level in all our markets. Second, continued strict discipline in terms of pricing. We have pushed through several price increases in many geographies since the beginning of the year in order to protect our margin and sell our service offerings at the right price. Third, recycled material prices have also been very favorable, rising continuously since mid-2020. Very high demand for cardboard, for fast-growing home deliveries, for example, have driven recycled paper prices to very high level. Fourth, efficiency gains have continued to contribute largely to our EBITDA growth.
We are ahead of our annual objective of EUR 350 million, with EUR 299 million already achieved in the first nine months. Moreover, these excellent results have been achieved despite unfavorable weather in Q3, with a rainy summer driving water volumes down in France. On Page 8, you can see the nine months results. Compared to 2020, revenue grew by close to 10%, EBITDA by 23%, excluding the first quarter one-off, and current EBIT by 69%, and current net income was multiplied by more than five. Once again, it's even more relevant to compare our performance with 2019, which shows how well and quickly we succeeded in erasing the effect of the sanitary crisis on our growth trajectory. As you can see, our performance is outstanding. Revenue grew by 4.7%.
EBITDA was up by 10.2% and +7.3% excluding the one-off, hence another improvement of our EBITDA margin of close to 40 basis points. Current EBIT increased by 9.1%, and current net income grew by 44% to EUR 667 million. It includes the EUR 122 million dividend we received from Suez on our almost 30% stake. If we exclude this dividend, current net income still grew by 16% compared to 2019. These excellent results are extremely satisfactory and allow us to fully confirm our 2021 guidance, which we had raised during the summer. I now hand over to Estelle, who will detail our operational trends. Estelle, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Antoine. Certainly has been a very good Q3 pretty much all across the board, both in terms of revenue and new business wins, as well as cost cutting and margin levels. I'm on Slide 9, and you can see in terms of revenue, we are back to pre-COVID levels or even higher in almost all our activities, with an overall 5% increase compared to 2019. The quarter has been particularly strong in our solid waste activities, boosted by recycled prices as well as by a sustained pricing strategy. Targeting specific geographies or customer segments. Volumes have bounced back, including in C&I, which is now around or above 90% of pre-COVID levels everywhere. Hazardous waste activities have enjoyed another outstanding quarter, with 8% revenue increase this year compared to 2019, without even including any tuck-ins.
Just to mention one example, our state-of-the-art high temperature incinerators in France have generated 17% more revenue this year than in 2019. We have opened new capacities in China as well. As far as our U.S. activities are concerned, we are performing well there, despite being hit by exceptional weather events in January and September. Volumes of water distributed have been slightly behind in Q3, given the very rainy summer we've had in France. Overall, a strong year for our water activities so far. We have seen a good bouncing back of our Industrial services, partially offset by supply chain interruptions hitting some of our customers, typically in the automotive industry. Inflation now. It's a positive news altogether for Veolia, and I thought I should take a few minutes to explain how. I'm on Slide 10.
Starting with our revenue, most of our contracts are indexed. Typically, each year at the anniversary date of our municipal contract, we compute an indexation formula and increase our price accordingly. Although we can have some lag effects, this is quite protective of our P&L. With regard to non-indexed contracts, typically in the C&I waste collection or hazardous waste treatment, we are designing our pricing strategy, which can lead to raising prices at times more than once a year, if relevant in certain geographies. Of course, these have to be combined with a strict control of our cost base, starting with wages increase, which we ensure are not disconnected from contract indexation. Specific and limited exceptions had to be granted in the U.K. given the shortage of drivers following Brexit. Moving to recycled price increases, this is overall good news for Veolia.
In general, we pass through such price increases or decreases to our customers, be they municipalities or private companies. They are usually combined with an incentive or a sharing mechanism. Last but not least, energy prices. Here we have multiple effects that, when combined, lead to an overall slightly positive impact for Veolia when energy prices increase. Starting with our energy activities, both in district heating and building energy services. The vast majority of our energy contracts have either pass-through clauses or tariff increases linked to the prices of energy purchases. Following with our energy purchases, our internal policy is designed to protect our P&L from brutal evolutions of the energy price. Therefore, we hedge our gas, CO2, or coal purchasing. Lastly, with regard to power price, we are a net producer of electricity and have implemented the same hedging policy for our power sales.
Overall, some delay in tariff increase can lead to temporary benefits or price cost squeeze, but this effect vanishes mid-term. Let's not forget as well that high energy and commodity prices over the long- term are a boost to Veolia services as we offer our customers the ability to save energy or scarce resources thanks to our digital tools like Hubgrade or circular economy solutions. I'm moving now to Slide 11. I would say 2020 was a lot about adaptation and recovery. I'm very pleased to see that now in 2021 we are enjoying very good commercial momentum built on strong foundations. I won't mention the full list of contract won this year, as you can see the slide is busy. Let me share my satisfaction by mentioning a few of them where Veolia's differentiation was paramount.
Our know-how in operating energy-from-waste plants with best-in-class performance and availability, as well as electricity generation, has been recognized again with the renewal of our NES contract and the gain of a new plant in Taiwan. We are expanding the boundaries of the concession model as well with a 30-year concession contract to operate the district heating of Tashkent, a massive contract which doesn't use Veolia's balance sheet, and follows our winning bid to operate the water in Miyagi, Japan, earlier in the year. Our proprietary technologies are ahead of the competition as well, and I'm on the Slide 12 now. As confirmed with our salt crystallization process, of which we've sold new units in Louisiana and Australia to help recycle lithium, or our treatment technology for pulp and paper industry effluents, with the win of an important contract with Suzano in Brazil. We are exploring new frontiers as well.
As a leader of ecological transformation, we have to anticipate and find new solutions each time our customers face new challenges in their journey towards a more circular, decarbonized economy or the treatment of new pollutants. This is particularly obvious with our initiative to recycle lithium-ion electrical car batteries in partnership with Renault and Solvay. The production of biofuel we are exploring with TotalEnergies. The first scale, full-scale water reuse project in France. Move to Slide 13. I would say we are still fully committed to transforming this growth and unique positioning into the bottom line, of course, which remains a priority for us all. Our cost cutting and efficiency program is delivering as planned and is definitely continuing full speed ahead.
We've achieved EUR 299 million in nine months, ahead of our annual target of 250, which was complemented, as you know, with a EUR 100 million COVID specific recovery and adaptation plan. As planned and expected, the split of these efficiency savings among various levels has moved progressively from a large chunk of D&A to now a majority of operational measures, including typically plant yields and digital. Altogether, a very good quarter on all fronts, showing both growth and exceptional margin levels. Just weeks before the merger with Suez, those good results show Veolia can rely on strong foundations.
Thank you, Estelle. I move to Page 14, where you can see our detailed guidance for Veolia standalone for the year 2021. You remember that we had raised these objectives when we released our first half results with an EBITDA target now expected above EUR 4.1 billion, representing growth of more than 12% versus 2020. Revenue will clearly be above 2019 as we forecasted. In terms of balance sheet, we target a net financial debt below EUR 10 billion. In terms of dividend, we intend to recover our pre-crisis dividend policy in 2021. Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, our growth momentum and outstanding results put us in a very solid position as we are about to integrate Suez in the beginning of 2022.
These dynamics will be a great advantage for us to successfully execute the merger and create the world leader in ecological transformation. I now hand over to Claude, who will give you details on our nine-month results. We will answer all your questions. Claude, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Antoine, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. First, I have to say that I am really impressed by what we delivered over the last two months with a clear focus and a lot of hard work from our teams, with a EUR 2.5 billion capital increase and the signing of the EU antitrust. This is really remarkable, and it's exactly the timeline we gave you when we first announced the operation back in August 2020. I'm also very pleased to present the nine-month figures that show outstanding results in Q3 after our very strong Q2 delivery with record profitability and record free cash flow generation.
As you can see on slide 16 for the nine-month figures, revenue grew by 4.7% compared to the same period in 2019 at constant ForEx, which is remarkable, and by 9.4% compared to last year, of course, marked by the lockdowns in Q2 2020. Thanks to a strong operating leverage with amplified cost cutting, waste volume almost back to normal, and increasing recycled prices, EBITDA is above EUR 3 billion at EUR 3.14 billion and grew by 10.2% compared to 2019 at constant ForEx, and by 26.4% compared with last year, with a very strong performance in Q3 in almost all our activities, as Estelle described earlier.
As Antoine told you, Q3 EBITDA includes EUR 83 million positive one-off due to OFAE repayment in our waste activities in France. I confirm that it has no impact at the EBIT level. This EBITDA one-off will be offset in Q4 by CO2 quotas cash payments and IAS 38 new rules of accounting for IT projects. Current EBIT at EUR 1,258 million is up 9.1% compared to 2019 thanks to strong EBITDA growth and good CapEx management. Current net income has reached a record level of EUR 667 million for the nine months and is up 44% compared to 2019.
Thanks to a strong and continuous focus on cash management and lower CapEx spending, our free cash flow generation is at a record high in Q3 at EUR 583 million for the nine months, to which you can add the EUR 122 million dividend that we received from Suez in July, leading to a net financial debt of EUR 13.4 billion at the end of September and not including, of course, the capital increase, with a significant decrease compared to Q2. We'll see later in the presentation that our debt is well under control. Moving to Slide 17. Let's have a look at the Q3 performance by the main geography blocks and focus on the Q3 2021 column.
You can first notice a strong group revenue increase by 5.9% in Q3, keeping in mind that Q3 2020 was the first quarter of a strong recovery last year. If you compare these figures with 2019, you will get 5% in Q3, which is remarkable, and show the dynamism of our activities with the equivalent of two years of growth confirmed in Q3 after Q2. Let's have a look at the different segments. First, France, +3.4% in Q3. Water France experienced lower volumes during the summer that was much colder and rainier than last year, partly compensated by tariff increases and recovery in works associated with our contracts.
Waste shows a continuous remarkable performance in Q3, +16.5% revenue growth with good volume similar to Q2, continuous price increases, and even higher level of recycled prices. We'll see later in the presentation that French Waste performance is indeed very strong. Second, rest of Europe with outstanding growth for the third quarter in a row of +13%, with very strong growth in Central Europe and a good continued growth of our waste activities in Germany. Third, on the Rest of the World segment, we see, which is still contrasted with 7.5% revenue growth. North America is recovering well, +6.1%. LATAM is back to double-digit growth at +12.8%. Africa, Middle East has also grown double-digit with a solid commercial momentum.
Asia progressed by 6.7% with strong growth in most countries and very strong hazardous waste in China. Fourth, Global businesses -5.8% with continued strong hazardous waste revenue + 30% compared to Q3 last year, offset by slightly lower technology and networks activity in Q3 due to high Q3 2020 comparison base for SADE networks and VWT. Overall, very good earnings delivery for the global business in Q3. EBITDA in Q3 is up 17.5% compared to last year. Without the one-off I have mentioned, is up 8.2%, which is remarkable. On Slide 18, you have the usual revenue bridge comparing nine months 2021 with nine months 2020.
Despite the slightly negative effect from ForEx due to weak currency in the Americas, all the other blocks are contributing to the sharp rebound of 9.4%, driven first by volumes +4.3% due to much better Commercial and Industrial waste volumes, despite wave three of COVID in Europe and solid commercial momentum in almost all our geographies. The second main effect, +2.6%, is coming both from energy prices, which have increased a lot this year, and of course from the recycled prices for a total of EUR 489 million. Recycled prices have increased again in Q3 after a very strong Q2 due to the soft shortage of cardboard and higher commodity prices.
Finally, as we have also told you for quite a long time, we have continued to increase our prices, notably in our Waste segment, contributing EUR 280 million in the nine months or +1.5%. Moving to Slide 19, you have more granularity in our waste recovery. Let's focus on the Q3 column, where you can see the strong contribution, first from recycled prices, +6.3% in all geographies, and up 5.7% in Q2 due to continued increase of recycled prices in Q3. Cardboard in France, for example, hit a record of 172 EUR/ton in September. Second, from volume rebound, +3.2% in Q3, despite continued lockdown in Australia. All our main countries are contributing to this, volume rebound.
As an average, with a little bit less C&I, but more Hazardous waste, we are back to 2019 levels. Third, a solid pricing contribution, +3.1% in Q3, with Waste France and Hazardous Waste Europe leading the effort in line with our policy to gradually increase our pricing, especially for C&I collection and treatment. I'm on Slide 20, where you have more details about the EBITDA evolution between nine months 2020 and nine months 2021, with a full operating leverage recovery and recovery profitability of 15.4% coming from very supported business trends and highest level of efficiency. What do we see as main contributors? First, the massive volume recovery impact for EUR 267 million or +10.7%, with strong waste volumes overall and good commercial momentum, as I said this word earlier.
Second, the strong cost-cutting effect of EUR 299 million, resulting from an ambitious cost-cutting plan of EUR 250 million for 2021 that is well advanced and highly contributive. Third, one thing to highlight on the slide is a very positive impact of recycled prices of EUR 75 million, thanks to high commodity prices, and again, high demand for cardboard and paper. You can also notice the favorable impact of the scope effect for EUR 66 million, which is mostly the impact of our recent acquisition in Central Europe and also OD performing very well. Moving to Slide 21. Let's review now our activities by geography, and we start, as usual, by France. Despite a rainy, cold summer, Water France revenue, as you can see, is up 1.7% compared to 2020, with tariff increases of 0.7% and works recovery.
Waste in France experienced a very sharp rebound in Q3, +20.6% compared to last year, and even +10% compared to Q3 2019, even higher than H1, which remains effective. First, the volume less impacted by lockdown measures, overall up +7.3% year- to- date. Second, continuous price increase in C&I collection and treatment. Third, sharp increase of recycled prices, especially in non-ferrous metal and cardboard. EBITDA of France is sharply up, even without the EUR 83 million one-off item in waste, thanks to the resilience of the water activities and the strong rebound in the waste business. Moving to Slide 22. Let's have a look at our activities in the rest of Europe with a strong growth in Q3 in line with H1.
Starting by Central Europe, revenue increased by 23.3% compared to last year, in line with H1, mainly driven by a very strong contribution of our Energy District Heating business, linked with energy price increase and the integration of the assets we bought last year in Prague and Budapest, which continue to perform very well. U.K. revenue increased by 6.3%, showing a solid rebound after a decrease in Q1 and a rebound in Q2 due to much better C&I waste volumes after the end of the lockdown. Thanks to the very solid PFI business model and a record availability of 93.7% and good cost control, U.K. financial performance has recovered very well.
Germany also experienced excellent results, despite lockdown measures at the start of the year, thanks to restructuring and high recycled prices and strong energy business benefiting from cold weather in Q2. EBITDA performance of the rest of Europe is very strong compared to 2020, with a good operating leverage and an outstanding contribution from Central Europe. Moving to Slide 23. We have seen a confirmed recovery in all regions in our Rest of the World segment and a good operating leverage. Let's start by Asia. Revenue grew by 3.5% compared to 2020, coming especially from China.
Chinese activities are up 6.5% at constant ForEx, and our hazardous waste business in this country continues to grow very well, with revenue up 35% compared to last year and up 68% compared to 2019, boosted by the new sites under operation. India as well is growing fast, +48%, with new investments in Hazardous Waste as well coming online. Latin America continues to grow at a strong pace, +15.1%. As we told you, North America refineries are running now at full capacity, and the industry is recovering well. Our North America operations are growing by 3.5%, with continuous strong performance of our municipal activities, water activities as well. Australia, despite good weather conditions, experienced some remaining COVID impact in Q3 and has not yet fully recovered its nominal C&I waste volumes.
Africa, Middle East is performing very well, +10% after a flat 2020, with new winning energy service contracts in the Middle East and solid volumes in Morocco. EBITDA of the segment is sharply up compared to 2020, with a strong contribution from the high margin businesses such as hazardous. On Slide 24, you have the details of our Global business activities showing a very strong rebound. Water Technologies continued to perform very well with revenue up 6.1%, with very good commercial momentum, especially in the Niche business, such as sulfur removal for offshore waste or evapocrystallization with cutting edge technology. SADE network activities are fully recovered at constant scope after the disposal of our telecom activities in November of last year, and is well oriented, +7.3% at constant scope.
Hazardous waste is performing amazingly well in Q3, as Estelle told us, with price increases and better volumes leading again to a record profitability. EBITDA of the segment is also strongly up, in line with increased revenue and efficiency measures. Now let's go down the P&L in the next two slides before we have a look at the cash flow generation. I'm on Slide 25, where you can see how the 26.4% EBITDA increase at the end of Q3 is boosting our current EBIT by 68.7% at EUR 1,268 million. Annual expenses are very stable if you compare to previous years. Depreciation and amortization are stable at constant scope and Forex compared to last year. The increase is mostly coming from the acquisition we made in Central Europe.
You can see the effect of the French waste OFAE repayment offsetting the EUR 83 million EBITDA one-off. It has no impact at EBIT level. On provisions and fair value adjustments, we are benefiting from a few industrial capital gains on asset disposal in Scandinavia and also lower insurance provisions as we had to take a strong provision for insurance over the last two years. Our JVs have performed much better this year than 2020, and the impact, if you compare the numbers with 2019, is mostly coming from the Shenzhen concession disposal. As a result, current EBIT is at a record high level at the end of Q3 and is growing by 9.1% compared to 2019, which is again remarkable. Moving to Slide 26.
Let's have a look at our record current net income of EUR 667 million, +44.4% compared to 2019. The cost of net financial debt is at a record low level at EUR 242 million. We are benefiting, as we told you in Q2, from lower interest rates in many countries, leading to lower cost of euro debt swaps into foreign currencies. As a reminder, we had a EUR 20 million positive one-off in Q2. You can notice the impact of the Suez dividend for EUR 122 million voted on June 30th and paid on July 8th. Our income tax rate is at 25% in line with our expectation for 2021. Let's talk now about the free cash flow generation. I'm on Slide 27.
You have more details about the very strong cash delivery in Q3, almost EUR 1 billion better than last year. After an outstanding free cash flow in H1, we continue to perform very well in Q3 by generating more than EUR 300 million for the sole quarter just on the operating side, thanks to strong EBITDA growth, good CapEx management, especially on maintenance CapEx, and very strict cash discipline in all our countries. The different layers of management continue to focus very well on cash delivery with impressive effects at group level. Looking at the debt level, we can compare September 2021 after our investment in Central Europe with September 2019 before the disposal of TNAI in the U.S., the Heating District in the Boston area.
Thanks to our strong cash management and discounting the EUR 1.4 billion for Suez block acquisition, our net debt is almost EUR 500 million below 2019. EUR 12 billion this year compared to EUR 12.5 billion two years ago, with the group producing more EBITDA. After the sanitary crisis and before merging with Suez, Veolia is leaner and more profitable. I'm on Slide 28, where you can see the details of the debt variation since the beginning of the year with a net CapEx box at EUR 1.355 billion and the working capital variation sharply reduced at EUR 360 million, thanks to our strong collection in most of our geographies. I'm on Slide 29.
After this record high Q3 and its outstanding financial performance, I can fully confirm our strong confidence in the end of 2021 and fully confirm our guidance for the year. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Claude. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now yours, and we are ready with the selling group to answer your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. We have a first question from Xavier Regnard from Bryan, Garnier. Sir, please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning. Xavier Regnard from Bryan, Garnier. Thank you very much for the presentation and congrats for the results. Very solid. Just one question from my side. We've heard US waste managers speaking about labor inflation, shortage of drivers, and constant supply chain constraints. If you also experience this inflationary environment, and there is this price escalation formula tied to an index, which is often based on a look back over the prior year, can we expect your pricing power to accelerate next year to reflect this high cost and potentially drive margin expansion? Thank you.
Thank you. Estelle will answer your question, sir.
Thank you for your question. I guess you know two parts of our business, the Index and the Non-Index. I said the vast majority of our contracts are indexed. You are right, you know, since inflation is going up throughout the year, we expect the indexation formula next year to reflect back on the inflation of this year and therefore be positive. And you know, it'll be on the upper side next year compared to this year. Yes, we should have a push on the indexation formula next year very certainly. There is a bit of lag effect, but that's exactly the description you made is exactly right.
In terms of the Non-Indexed contract, which is, you know, reduced, as I said, and particularly is the case for, say, waste contracts, pricing power is more constant, so it is as it goes. We've already increased prices this year, as you can see on the slide. Let me check which one it is, the slide about waste pricing increase on Page 19. You see that, you know, we've increased the price by 3% for the quarter and more than 5% for the first nine months of this year, and we intend to go on exactly like that, the same type of pace for the next few quarters. Basically, yes, the price and the indexation should go up in the next few months, just following what we've seen this year.
Okay. It could potentially drive your margin higher, right?
I guess in terms of the margins, you know, we have some element of yes, it should help a little bit with the margin. You know, inflation is usually good news for Veolia, as long as we maintain, which is of course our intention, our cost base under strict control. It's exactly what we've seen this part of the year, and we intend to maintain in the next, you know, months and quarters ahead of us.
Okay, perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question from Nicolas Buteau from Alpha Value. Sir, please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. I have a question regarding France, because I would say starting from two to four years, a material part of your concession contract will be renewed and renegotiated. I'm wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on what the competition should be given that Suez will be much smaller and Veolia mechanically much higher and much stronger. Do you think it will change the game? What is more generally your view regarding the competitive environment and mid- to long-term outlook for France? Many thanks.
Don't worry, the new Suez, which will be a EUR 7 billion company, will be between the three main player in the water business in the world. Meaning that with all the competencies they already have in France, they will be the same strong competitor in the French business and also elsewhere. We will have exactly the same level of competition we had in the past in France, especially because all the forces of the actual Suez will stay with the new Suez, and they know very well their business, of course, and they will be the strong competitor they already are.
Okay. Many thanks.
Thank you. Next question from Tancrede Fulop from Morningstar. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three. The first one is on the contribution of commerce and volumes to the EBITDA. It seems that it was negative in the third quarter. If you could explain to us why. Maybe it's mostly linked to the lower water volumes in France. This is my first question. The second one, your full- year EBITDA target now seems very conservative. If you could explain why you maintain it. The last question regarding Hazardous waste. You highlighted the very strong performance, and it would be interesting to know if it is running in line or above your 2023 revenue target of EUR 4 billion for hazardous waste. Thank you.
Thank you. Claude, can you please answer the questions?
The contribution of commercial and volume, you're comparing, if I understand well, the bridge of EBITDA with the bridge of EBITDA in Q2.
Yes.
I don't have. Okay. So what we can tell you about the contribution of the different segments, yes, you have the impact of the rainy season in France because Water France volumes are - 2% year- to- date. We don't expect such a good summer, but the strong performance, Water France continues to perform well in terms of, because they are doing some cost savings in terms of EBITDA delivery. We will look maybe a little bit more in detail to go further into this answer.
Shall I add? Yes. To Claude's answer because you commented on the volume of water, which is not predictive of the future. It's just the fact of the rainy summer. In terms of volume of waste is a plus all across the board, pretty much in all geographies in Q3. We've been seeing a bouncing back in volumes, you know, in C&I as well as, you know, in other stuff. As you can see on Slide 19, because the volumes and activity level is up by 3% in the third quarter, like it was up in the quarters before as well. It's a continuous growth in volume and not only in price in waste.
Claude, about our guidance.
In terms of guidance, as you know, and as Antoine tells you all the time, we don't raise the guidance usually every year with every quarter. We raise the guidance exceptionally in Q2, after the very strong Q2 delivery and a very good start to the year. Again, we are telling you that we will deliver above EUR 4.1 billion. As we told you, we are very confident to have this very strong contribution of Q4. We have a very strong confidence that we will have a good Q4 and have a strong delivery.
As we don't raise the guidance every quarter, you understand that Q4 delivery will be good, and at the end of the year, we will show you good EBITDA numbers.
Perhaps some comments about the one-off we have on Q3 on EBITDA level.
We have the Q3, which is EUR 83 million. You understand that this Q3 will be offset in Q4 by the CO2 quotas cash payment and also a slight impact on IFRIC accounting rules. Overall, we expect Q4 to be strong in terms of volumes and prices.
We are comfortable to confirm our guidance we have at the end of the H1. About Hazardous, your last question, you see that we progress a lot. After nine months, for example, in terms of turnover of our Hazardous business, the growth between 2021 and 2019 is more than 16%, and well split between all geographies, meaning between Europe, for example, and outside Europe. We are, and we will be, on the trajectory to reach our goal of EUR 4 billion in 2024, despite the crisis. We are comfortable with this goal we have. You know that we still have some plans under construction in Asia, in North America, and we will continue to grow quickly in this business. We confirm the EUR 4 billion target.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question from Emmanuel Turpin from Société Générale. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning, all. Two questions on my side. First of all, to focus on the growth in waste volumes in Q3. Very good at 3.2% year-on-year. Could you give us a bit more color in terms of how it looks on the different components of waste, landfill, waste-to-energy, maybe on sorting and recycling? Any effect of scope in this good volume growth? That was my first question. On the second one, to some extent linked to the first one is about your comments on the supply chain disruptions. You did mention it had some effects in some of your services. I was wondering if you could give us more color on how these global supply chain disruptions affected your business.
Didn't look like it was such a negative effect, but a bit more color would be appreciated in terms of Q3, but also what's your anticipation for coming quarters as you discuss this with your many different clients? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Emmanuel. Estelle will answer your questions.
Thank you, Emmanuel. In terms of volume of waste, you're right, you know, we've seen an increase of 3.2% in the third quarter compared to the year before. The answer is pretty much all across the board in all geographies and all type of businesses. There is no scope effect to answer your question. It's more even the opposite way around. We sold a depot here and there. You know, it's really, I would say, organic growth of volumes and in all geographies. We've seen a bouncing back in Germany, a bouncing back in the U.K., a bouncing back in France in terms of volumes. I guess the only nuance, it would be a bit of lockdown a few weeks in Australia.
Apart from that, really it's all across the board. It's all across the type of businesses we have in waste. Obviously, Hazardous waste has seen a plus in volumes. We've seen C&I bouncing back a lot, which, as you know, is a big indicator of the economy and GDP. That's something we track super, you know, like, I would say not week-on-week, but month-on-month. You know, we've seen a good bouncing back on C&I as well. I guess apart from a few here and there, landfillings, which were a little bit lagging behind here and there, you know, it's really across the board, a plus in waste volumes.
In terms of supply chain disruption, basically, we haven't seen any supply chain disruption of our own supply chain. So we've been able to maintain pretty much, you know, everything we wanted to deliver, be it on CapEx delivery or on our purchasing. I guess supply chain disruption is something we've seen for our customer on the opposite, as in typically automotive industry, as you know, has been hit by the shortage of chips coming from a part of Asia. So some of our customers in the automotive industry have closed their plant or reduced their production compared to their anticipation because of supply chain disruption.
Therefore, it's why this business of, you know, serving the automotive industry was lagging a little bit behind in Veolia, but, you know, we haven't been hit ourselves.
Thank you, Estelle. Another question?
Thank you. Next question from Philippe Ourpatian from Oddo BHF. Sir, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning to all of you. I have two questions. The first one is concerning the different lag you mentioned. It was a good view and issue to re-mention how inflation was impacting Veolia. Could we have a kind of, let's say, a gross figure concerning the lag you are already embarking at the end of the nine months, or the estimation on 2021, what could happen and be offset in 2022? It could be a global figure or somewhere split it between the main two, which are waste and energy services. That's the first question. Mainly for energy services concerning, as you can imagine, the heating business in Eastern Europe. That's the first question.
The second question is, could you just make some comments about the inquiry launched by the Suez Trade Union with the Parquet National Financier, just to give us your view and what could be, let's say, the under bracket potential impact on the company and on the merger? Many thanks.
Philippe, Claude will answer the first question. I will just some comment the second one. It is more a question of journalist than the financial analyst, as you can see. I understand your question given the context. I want to take time to answer it in a complete way. There is no impact on Veolia about this case. I will answer in a complete way probably in the next call we will have at 10:30 A.M. with the journalists. I propose you connect yourself on the call to have this complete answer. Claude, please, about the financial balance.
Yes. Estelle explained that due to the tariff mechanism, especially on heat business in Central Europe, which is the biggest one, they are taking into account previous years' cost in order to forecast and to fix the next tariff. Philippe, you have to keep in mind that we have a hedging policy, and the hedging policy is not only on electricity, it's also on fuel that we are using for those contracts. As we have a gradual impact on energy prices and also heat, we have also gradual impact on our side based on our CO2 quotas and also the fuel we purchase. In terms of lagging effect, it's very limited, and it has no material effect for 2021.
Thank you, Claude. Next question?
Yes. Next question from Andrew Fisher from Berenberg. Sir, please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thanks, sir. Thanks for the presentation. Just one quick question on the margin sharing that you talked about on secondary raw material prices. I'm just wondering, is this the same across all of the main secondary raw materials that you process, or is it specific to the fact that it's paper and cardboard that's particularly strong at the moment? And then just also, should we take the EUR 75 million EBITDA increase against the EUR 360 million revenue increase as a rule of thumb as to how we should sort of think about this margin sharing going forward, or is there some sort of threshold that comes into play before the margin sharing takes hold for you, please?
Thank you.
Estelle, perhaps.
Yes, thank you. I guess, you know, two questions in one. In terms of does it concern all the materials, the answer is basically yes, with, I would say, an exception in some contracts in plastic, where we on purpose decorrelate totally from virgin, and we are paid basically a transformation fee, if you want. So in terms of all the other materials, yes, it's kind of shared across the board. You have to have into mind that, you know, basically in terms of recyclate, we sell half of it roughly is paper and cardboard, hence the big effect of the paper and cardboard price, which is basically double that of last year, as we speak today.
In terms of sharing mechanism, you know, the rule of thumb you have, which is basically 20%, ends up in the EBITDA or the bottom line is a good one. Of course, you have pluses and minuses, and it's a mixture of our contracts, but the rule of thumb will be exactly the right one.
Great. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Next question from Juan Camilo Rodriguez from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you, and good morning for taking our questions. I have three on my side. First, coming back to the inflation linked contracts. Can we expect most of the upward tick in inflation to be passed on through tariffs for 2022, or we could see some spread over 2022/2023 period? That's the first one. The second one is on energy prices, especially coming back to the sensitivity to power's CO2 price as your signaling is neutral for 2021. Can you please give us more color what is your hedging in terms of prices and netting for 2022 and 2023? That's the second one.
The second and the third is on the new Suez agreement, now that the discussions with the antitrust authorities have officially started, if there are additional remedies requested from the EU or the U.K., could there be an evolution on the agreed terms for new Suez to account for additional assets? Where do you see the earn-out likelihood as we've seen after the Suez's strong nine-month performance? Thanks.
Thank you, Juan. Estelle will take the two first question. I will answer the last one.
I guess the first one basically the lag effect will come into place and progressively into 2022, but at the end of 2022, I guess the extreme majority of it will have been transferred through tariff. Basically no impact to anticipate in 2023. It's six months to a year, basically lag effect, no more than that. In terms of hedging policy, our hedging is basically over three years, which means, you know, now we've purchased, of course, 100% for this year, 2021. We already have purchased 75% of all, you know, CO2 and gas and all the rest of it for 2022, and 25% for 2023.
That's the way we hedge and protect our P&L from big variations, as I explained in my presentation.
About the last question, Juan. You know that we already addressed the main task in terms of antitrust in Europe, when we decided to leave to the new Suez, the entire French Water business and the solid Waste business. For the EU, the antitrust issues are much smaller. You probably hear about the Industrial Water business. You should know that for Veolia, this Industrial Water business in the EU is a very small one, around EUR 60 million. It is the same size for Suez. Even if there's some overlap, the remedies we will propose will be a very small amount in terms of turnover, and it will be the same for the rest of the issues.
In U.K. and Australia, as we forecasted from the beginning that we will have also some small remedies. Globally, the remedies should stay small compared to the size of the deal. It will be say small or marginal compared to the EUR 10 billion turnover we want for from this deal.
Thank you. Next question from Miken Savala from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good morning, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. It's just one on the antitrust, especially on the timeline. You said we should expect preliminary feedback by the end of November and then a final communication on Phase 1 by mid-December. If the European Commission has any concerns on the deal, presumably small, what would be your ability to address those between those two communications, so between the end of November and mid-December? Would you, for example, have the chance to propose new remedies or address their feedback to some degree, or would that have to wait if anything to Phase 2? Thank you.
Estelle, please.
Yes. The system works as if, you know, we file our file, which we've done on the 22nd of October as Antoine mentioned. Then we have a few weeks of discussion with EU. As you can imagine, we've been having those discussions for the last 9 months, pretty much. We've done a very long pre-filing. We know, of course, all the question, and we've discussed at length with the EU about that, so we don't anticipate big surprise at all. The date of the end of November is precisely here for us to put remedies on the table. You know, it's not now or never moment, you know.
We have a few processes which will go on until, you know, the end of November to finalize a remedies package, typically on, you know, industrial water, as Antoine mentioned. That's exactly the next few weeks we have to finalize this package. Then, of course, the decision will be made in the next two weeks following this remedies package being put on the table.
It is the reason why that we think we will get a clearance at mid-December because the remedies, which will be not very big, small size, we will be in a position to satisfy the commission.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you. There is no more question by phone. Mr. Frérot, for the conclusion.
Yes. Thank you very much for being here during this presentation of our results. You certainly understood that that's why I will say new record results after the record year of 2019. We are very comfortable with our guidance and we are in a very good position to integrate or to merge with Suez from the beginning of the next year to build a splendid company. The next meeting we will have together will be for the full year results. We will also give you at that time the figures for the new company or the first figures. It will be March 15th. Thank you very much and have a good day.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes the conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.