Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the HOCHTIEF nine months 2025 results conference call. I am Sergeant, the chorus call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and then one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand off to Mike Pinkney. Please go ahead.
Thanks very much, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining this HOCHTIEF nine Months 2025 Results Call. I'm Mike Pinkney, Head of Capital Market Strategy. I'm here with our CEO, Juan Santamaría, and our CFO, Christa Andresky, as well as our Head of IR, Tobias Loskamp, and other colleagues from our senior management team. We're looking forward to taking your questions, but to start with, our CEO is going to run us through the details of another strong set of HOCHTIEF numbers, a guidance increase, and provide you with an update on the group strategy. Juan, all yours.
Thank you, Mike, and thank you, everyone. Welcome to everyone joining us for this results call. HOCHTIEF has achieved an outstanding performance during the first nine months of 2025. The successful implementation of our growth strategy is reflected in the group's strong and sustainable financial performance. We are delivering significant sales growth, rising margins, and a positive evolution of the group's due risks operational profile as the proportion of advanced tech projects continues to increase. Due to our expectations of a Q4 acceleration, we are raising HOCHTIEF's operational net profit guidance for 2025 to EUR 750 million-EUR 780 million versus the EUR 680 million-EUR 730 million previously. The new range implies a year-on-year increase of 20%-25% compared with EUR 625 million in 2024 and versus the previous indication of an increase of up to a 17% year on year.
The higher net profit expectations for the group are driven mainly by the outperformance of Turner, where we now anticipate an operational PVT of EUR 850 million-EUR 900 million in 2025 compared with the previous guidance of EUR 660 million-EUR 750 million. In addition to achieving a strong financial performance during the first nine months of the year, we have made further important advances on this strategic front. We are increasingly harnessing our geographic footprint and engineering know-how on a group-wide basis to access additional growth and value creation opportunities. Before providing you with an update on the strategic front, let me give you an overview of the key numbers. Group sales during the first nine months of the year increased by 24% if exadjusted to EUR 28.1 billion, driven in particular by the group's focus on its strategic growth markets.
HOCHTIEF's operational net profit rose by 19% to EUR 537 million, or plus 26% if ex-adjusted, above the top end of the 2025 guidance range we provided at the start of the year. Nominal net profit stood at EUR 656 million. Operating cash flow last 12 months of EUR 2.1 billion shows a strong performance of EUR 400 million year-on-year refactoring, driven by a sustained high level of cash conversion and supported by firm revenue growth and margin expansion. The first nine months of the year incorporated the characteristic impact of seasonality during the first quarter, but saw a EUR 163 million increase in net operating cash flow year-on-year adjusted for factoring. Adjusting for capital allocation effects, net cash would show a strong EUR 1 billion plus year-on-year increase. The movement in the group's net debt position since December 2024 has been driven by strategic investment decisions and their consolidation effects, as well as seasonal factors.
The new orders level of EUR 36.6 billion represents a significant rise of 19% year-on-year, adjusted for FX effects, with all operating segments reporting increases. New work includes important project wins in our strategic growth markets, such as advanced technology, critical metals, energy, and sustainable infrastructure. On a last 12-month basis, new orders represented 1.2x work done, giving you a sense of the continued growth trajectory. At the end of September 2025, the group's order book stood at EUR 70 billion, up by 12% year-on-year FX adjusted. Now, let's take a brief look at our performance at the second level. Turner delivered an outstanding performance during the first nine months of 2025. Sales increased by 38% year-on-year to EUR 18.8 billion, driven by very strong growth in data centers, as well as high revenues in healthcare and education.
The acquisition of Dornan Engineering, the rapidly growing advanced tech mechanical and electrical business, included in the consolidated figure since January 25, further enhanced growth. Turner delivered a very strong operational PVT, reaching EUR 629 million, an increase of 60%, supported by a further increase in the operational PVT margin to 3.4%, up 50 basis points year-on-year, and driven by Turner's successful advanced tech-focused strategy. Turner's new orders in the period of EUR 23.4 billion showed a very significant increase of 21% year-on-year, with particularly strong growth in data center contracts, as well as increases in areas such as biopharma, aviation, and commercial. As a consequence, the period-end order backlog of EUR 34.3 billion was 20% higher in local currency terms compared to September 2024. Due to Turner's strong growth momentum, we now expect an operational PVT of EUR 850-EUR 925 million, compared with the previous guidance of EUR 660-EUR 750 million.
The new profit range represents a year-on-year increase of between 49% and 58% compared with 2024. Moving on to CIMIC. CIMIC delivered steady performance in the nine-month period. On a comparable basis, sales were stable year-on-year with operational PVT of EUR 351 million, up 3%, or 10% FX adjusted. CIMIC's solid order backlog of EUR 23 billion was up by 3% FX adjusted, with growth across several segments, including data centers, defense, and sustainable mobility, with a 4% increase of new orders in Australia. We expect CIMIC to achieve an operational profit before tax for 2025 in the range of approximately EUR 480-510 million. Let's take a look at our engineering construction activities, which continued their positive momentum during the first nine months of the year. Sales of EUR 1.2 billion increased by 13% year-on-year, and operational PVT grew by 14% to EUR 61 million, both on a comparable basis.
In the January to September 2025 period, engineering and construction secured new orders of EUR 3.9 billion, 21% higher year-on-year, and this strong development supported the further increase in the order backlog, which showed a solid rise of 10% to EUR 12.2 billion. For 2025, we continue to expect an operational profit before tax of EUR 85 million-EUR 95 million from the basis. Next, we have Abertis, which achieved solid operational performance in the first nine months of 2025. Average daily traffic at the toll road company increased by 2% year-on-year, with revenues and EBITDA, on a comparable basis, up 6% and 7% respectively, reflecting a solid underlying business performance. The operational net profit pre-PPA amounted to EUR 543 million, with a year-on-year variation, including adverse tax effects in France. The profit contribution from our 20% stake in Abertis after PPA amounted to EUR 48 million.
Let me now give you an update on HOCHTIEF's strategic development. As a global leader in end-to-end advanced tech infrastructure projects, HOCHTIEF is in a unique position to benefit from multi-year demand for infrastructure investments driven by the megatrends of digitalization, demographics, defense, and deglobalization in demand for energy. HOCHTIEF's strategy is focused on capitalizing on the very attractive opportunities in its strategic growth markets, as well as increasing its share in the value chain by investing equity, applying its O&M capabilities, and enhancing its engineering value proposition to drive margins and at-risk financial profile. Furthermore, the group is combining its global footprint with its local presence and technological know-how to maximize its delivery capability. By leveraging shared digital platforms, procurement networks, and design engineering capabilities across Turner, CIMIC, and HOCHTIEF Europe, the group is delivering global scale with local excellence.
Turning to our strategic growth markets, HOCHTIEF has taken important strides to further strengthen and expand its leading presence. We command a strong competitive position in the digital infrastructure and advanced tech sector. After the exponential surge we have seen over the last two years, growth in the global data center market remains very strongly driven by soaring demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence. Data centers and compute CapEx in 2025 is expected to reach $600 billion, doubling the 2023 level. Industry observers suggest annualized global AI infrastructure spend could reach $3 trillion-$4 trillion by the end of the decade. North America remains the largest data center CapEx market in the world, and we expect it to continue expanding at a 15%-20% annual rate over the next several years.
Turner's strong position with the leading hyperscalers gives us outstanding visibility, with major contracts already identified for 2026 and 2027 driving revenue growth through at least 2028. Europe is entering a period of acceleration. We're seeing opportunities that will convert into new orders in 2026, fueling revenue growth in the following years. Asia-Pacific is poised to be the fastest-growing region. We're seeing a sharp rise in investment driven by the rapid adoption of AI-powered technologies and the continued expansion of digital infrastructure across Southern and Southeast Asia. Across all regions, the story is the same. Demand remains high. Schedules are tightening, and clients are turning to us because we can deliver more complex projects rapidly and at scale. HOCHTIEF has the capacity to address the strong sector demand growth through a global scale and ability to mobilize resources.
This is complemented by our global sourcing capability through SourceBlue and the use of modularization to deliver construction prices more quickly, safely, and with enhanced quality. The group has been awarded several new large-scale data center projects during the period, more than doubling the value of new orders secured in the first nine months of 2025, underscoring the group's leading presence in these strategically critical markets. In July, for example, the artificial intelligence hyperscaler CoreWeave announced its intent to commit more than $6 billion to equip a new state-of-the-art data center in Pennsylvania, purpose-built to power the most cutting-edge AI use cases. The initial 100 megawatt data center, with potential to expand to 300 megawatts, will be delivered by a Turner JV.
Earlier this week, OpenAI Oracle Advantage, as part of the $500 billion start-up program, announced a $15 billion data center complex in Wisconsin, where Turner is one of the selected construction managers. In Asia-Pacific, we have been awarded projects in Malaysia and Singapore, adding to Leighton Asia's expanding portfolio of data center developments in the region, where it is also working on or has completed work in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and India. The group is also advancing in the semiconductors area, as the strong demand for AI and increasing digitalization drive investment levels with double-digit growth expectations going forward. Together with the reshoring trend, this is producing a rapid increase in semiconductor-related opportunities. As part of the strategy to expand the group's presence in the entire AI ecosystem, HOCHTIEF aims to establish a pan-European network of sustainable edge data centers.
In September, we announced the inauguration near Essen of the first JEXER-branded edge data center developed on and operated by HOCHTIEF, a major milestone for the group's data center strategy. The previously created joint venture, JURISON, will operate HOCHTIEF's edge data center network with innovative cloud computing solutions that support digital sovereignty. Another four edge data centers are currently being developed in Germany, with several further sites identified. Furthermore, HOCHTIEF is looking to expand the business into other European countries, including Austria, Switzerland, and the U.K. Energy-related infrastructure is another strategic growth market for HOCHTIEF, with substantially rising demand driven by the global energy and supply security needs. HOCHTIEF is strategically focused on building the infrastructure that underpins a low-carbon future, from electricity generation and storage to transmission and advanced technology.
The company is embarked on projects such as high-voltage transmission upgrades, regional electricity fortification, and the delivery of firming assets that strengthen the grid. In October, HOCHTIEF secured a major nuclear and civil works framework contract worth up to EUR 685 million as part of the infrastructure delivery partnership at the U.K. Sellafield site. The Alliance-style contract, lasting up to 15 years, involved design, engineering, and delivery of civil infrastructure works in support of nuclear operations and decommissioning in collaboration with Sellafield and its partners. This strategic long-term partnership reinforces HOCHTIEF's unbroken legacy in the nuclear sector since the 1950s as a trusted partner in engineering and construction for some of the world's most critical nuclear programs. HOCHTIEF has several decades of experience designing and building nuclear power plants and facilities across the world for renowned global energy companies like RWE.
We deliver end-to-end services across the nuclear market, and we are well-positioned to support the deployment of best-in-class small modular reactor technologies. As these technologies evolve and emerge, we're leveraging our global project and engineering capabilities for new builds, SMRs, storage, and dismantling in an industry which could see over $500 billion in investments in Europe by 2050. If we turn to renewables, we represent an ever-more important energy source. Battery energy storage systems are becoming a crucial element to balance electricity networks. Global base capacity is expected to rise by 67% in 2025 to 617 gigawatt-hours and to 10-fold by 2035. In Australia, for example, CIMIC's subsidiary UGL was again selected by NEON, a world-leading producer of exclusively renewable energy, and Tesla, a global leader in battery storage and sustainable energy solutions, to construct another battery project of 164 megawatt-year peak.
The battery is NEON's first six-hour-long duration storage asset and will be equipped to support the region's energy reliability and a greater penetration of renewables into the energy mix. Investment in transmission and distribution networks is set to grow strongly in coming years as renewable power supplies an increasing proportion of electricity generation. Overall energy demand is being boosted by the exponential growth in data centers, electric vehicle usage, and other megatrends. The group is strongly positioned in Australia, where CIMIC JV is delivering the 148 km Hume Link West project, which will form the backbone of the power transmission network from South Australia through to Northern Queensland.
In the U.K., HOCHTIEF JV is currently completing a 32-kilometer power supply tunnel for the energy supply of London, as well as a power supply project in Wales, and we are also very well placed in other markets such as Germany, which is seeing substantially higher grid investment. Global demand for critical minerals and natural resources is set to increase significantly as a consequence of the exponential growth of clean energy technologies, digital infrastructure, and defense investments. HOCHTIEF has developed a unique position in critical minerals globally, primarily through SEDSMAN, Integrated Minerals Processing Solutions (NTS), Global Mining Services, and is growing its geographical footprint and scale. During the period, SEDSMAN, which has over 100 critical minerals engineering projects globally, started work on an innovative critical minerals processing project in Queensland for vanadium and other rare earth metals, as well as a five-year gold project contract extension in Western Australia.
Last month, Leighton Asia has secured a three-year extension to an asset integrity contract in Indonesia for critical production assets to extract nickel, a key component in battery technologies and high-performance alloys. Furthermore, we're also carrying out the process, design, and project implementation for a copper zinc plant in Western Australia, a three-year nickel and copper full-service mining project in Ontario, and a four-year contract to deliver underground services at a copper mine in Queensland. HOCHTIEF, through Sedgman, is also expanding its European footprint in critical minerals. We've been working in Germany with Volcan Energy on the EPCM validation of what will be Europe's largest lithium extraction plant. The company's integrated lithium-renewable energy project will allow it to deliver a local source of sustainable lithium for the European EV battery industry, enough for an initial 500,000 electric vehicles per annum.
The awarding of European Union's Strategic Project status under the Critical Raw Materials Act highlights its transformative potential for Europe's clean energy future and lithium independence. SEDSMAN has also won a contract to provide a feasibility study and front-end engineering design work for a major lithium project in France, and we're also currently working on, or have worked on, a number of other lithium projects and studies this year in Portugal, Brazil, Australia, and Canada. Global lithium demand growth is expected to fivefold by the end of the decade, pushing the market into deficit by the 2030s. Our natural resources company, Thiess, has been awarded a contract extension for mining and asset management works at a magnetite mine in Western Australia. The project is a key part of Australia's iron ore export profile, introducing magnetite, a premium product line with lower inherent emissions.
Which supports our ongoing strategy to diversify our commodities portfolio. Investment in defense infrastructure is expected to substantially increase globally. HOCHTIEF sees this sector as strategically attractive due to the synergies with the group's leading position in civil works, its engineering capabilities, and its sector presence in Europe, the U.S., and Australia. Furthermore, and supported by our key security credentials, the visibility afforded by multi-year public investment plans supports the group's long-term strategy of sustainable value creation. We deliver projects for ministries of defense, police agencies, and border authorities across our geographical footprint. At the end of the third quarter, the group had a defense order book of around $2 billion. In September, for example, CIMIC company CBB Constructors began building works for a Royal Australian Air Force base in Queensland and defense infrastructure upgrades in South Australia.
These contracts continue the long-standing partnership between the groups and the Australian Department of Defense and support the objectives of the country's defense strategy review. Australia plans AUD 765 billion in defense spending over the next decade, increasing by AUD 70 billion in the upcoming years. In the U.S., a FlatironDragados Joint Venture is leading the construction of the dry dock at Pearl Harbor, a project that is part of the U.S. Navy Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, which is modernizing government-owned and operated public shipyards. Furthermore, Turner's Offutt Air Force Base Flood Recovery Program in Nebraska is progressing strongly. In Europe, major multi-year defense investment plans, including in Germany, present substantial opportunities in defense-related capital works and potentially via the PV model.
In October, for example, the German defense minister announced plans to quickly construct 270 new barracks for the Armed Forces starting in 2027, based on a modular construction concept, in order to accommodate a significantly growing active force in reserve. HOCHTIEF's more mature core infrastructure business remains a solid foundation underpinning the group's growth strategy. Turner was again named ENR's top US general contractor, holding a leading position across 13 segments, including healthcare, aviation, and data centers. During the quarter, Turner began work on the 46-story 343 Madison Avenue Tower in New York and was selected, alongside Graham Hunt, to deliver the $2.4 billion Cleveland Browns Stadium. Other major projects for the group include the Metropolitan Museum of Art expansion and aviation upgrades at L. A and Memphis airports, underscoring a continued leadership in high-complexity, sustainable projects.
The group has been a global leader in transport infrastructure and sustainable mobility for several decades. The outlook for the sector is very positive due to several infrastructure stimulus packages in key geographies. In Germany, for instance, the EUR 500 billion infrastructure fund approved by the Bundestag Parliament this year will see its first full-year deployment in 2026, when federal investments are budgeted to rise to a record level of EUR 127 billion, a steep increase compared to the around $75 billion level in 2024. Furthermore, the current coalition has provided visibility for this record investment level to be sustainable over the coming years.
HOCHTIEF is well-positioned to benefit due to the scalability of its business model and its core expertise in bridges, tunnels, and rail, as illustrated by the $170 million rail infrastructure contract win to modernize a section for Deutsche Bahn as part of the integrated plan to upgrade the country's rail network. The HOCHTIEF joint venture was also recently awarded a major contract for the construction of the second main line of the S-Bahn rail network in Munich. Overall, during the last three years, our order book for German projects has almost doubled to EUR 5.2 billion, and we expect it to continue to rise. Let me turn now briefly to capital allocation, where shareholder remuneration continues to be a key priority for HOCHTIEF. We regularly assess strategic M&A opportunities with our capital deployment focused on growth markets such as digital infrastructure, energy transition assets, and concessions.
HOCHTIEF's solid balance sheet, strong cash flow generation, and increasing revenue profile support the group's strategic expansion in these high-return areas. Earlier this year, HOCHTIEF closed the approximately $400 million strategic acquisition of Dornan, marking a major milestone, which will enable the group to accelerate Turner's European expansion strategy. The start of the year also saw the completion of the FlatironDragados transaction, creating the second-largest civil engineering and construction player in North America, with an unparalleled track record in the delivery of large infrastructure projects. HOCHTIEF holds a 38.2% equity consolidated stake in the new business. In October, a EUR 400 million capital injection was approved for Abertis, with HOCHTIEF subscribing its $80 million contribution to support the growth of the international toll road operator.
In addition to M&A, we also continue to develop and invest equity in greenfield infrastructure projects in strategic growth areas, where we see significant value creation opportunities. In Australia, for example, we're further leveraging the group's capability and leadership position in data centers after the acquisition last year of a site to develop a facility with a 200 megawatt capacity. CIMIC also is investing in and developing renewable assets, transmission lines, grid-enabling infrastructure, and battery energy storage systems. In Europe, we're investing in a network of edge data centers, as I mentioned earlier, and we continue investing in other core infrastructure via PPs. Another increasingly important pillar of the group's strategy is the adoption of AI at scale across the group, which is allowing us to enhance the value we offer for our clients, whilst also improving productivity and safety.
Focused on optimizing our core tech platforms and systems, as well as supporting our talent management, AI, and digital systems that are transforming how we work. For example, autonomous drones and AI-powered image analysis now enhance site safety and planning. Digital tracking platforms streamline workflows and provide real-time transparency into progress and resources. Custom GPTs are simplifying daily operations, while our production control system standardizes delivery and reduces operational stress. The group's focus on environmental, social, and governance priorities remains on track. On this front, it is notable that HOCHTIEF was awarded prime status for its ESG performance and achievements by ISS, the international ESG consultant and rating agency. Let me wrap up. The HOCHTIEF numbers published today show an outstanding performance, with a 19% increase in operational net profit to EUR 538 million backed by strong cash conversion.
New orders have strongly increased, up 19% ex-adjusted to over $36 billion, with a period-end order book of $70 billion, which is 12% higher year on year, and with over 85% of this backlog lower risk in nature. HOCHTIEF's growth trajectory is a consequence of our strategy to first reinforce and expand our presence in key growth markets such as digital and advanced tech, energy, defense, and critical minerals, which will provide long-term cash flow visibility for the group. Two, harness our geographic footprint and engineering know-how group-wide. Third, further leverage our company's deepest pointers. We will continue to deliver on our strategy under a clean but solid balance sheet and the risk order book.
As indicated earlier, we're raising HOCHTIEF's operational net profit guidance for 2025 to EUR 750 million-EUR 780 million, implying a year-on-year increase of 20%-25% versus the previous indication of an increase of up to 17% year on year. Thanks, everyone, for listening, and happy now to take questions.
We're ready for questions, operator. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their telephone. You will return to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questioners on the phone are requested to stay in the loudspeaker mode while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time.
We have the first question coming from Louis Prieto from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. One second. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good afternoon. Juan and the rest of the team. I have three questions. By the way, thanks for taking the questions. I have three questions. The first one is you have raised the guidance for Q4 for the full year on an accelerated rate of growth for Turner in Q4 that I would assume should continue to next year and potentially much longer. Could you help us quantify Turner's actual earnings potential in the medium-long term? You talked about all the opportunities, and that's extremely useful. Can you quantify over the longer term? In this context, what do you think is the right multiple to use for the valuation of Turner?
The second question is that I would expect you to cover this in next week's Investor Day, but let me squeeze in this cheeky question now. How should Turner benefit from ACS's data center development activities? Should I assume that everything will be built by Turner for ACS? The final question, and even cheekier than the previous one, is would it make any sense now that things are going pretty well and the momentum has accelerated, would it make any sense to list Turner in the US market as an independent company? Thank you.
Thank you so much, Luis. Let me start with the first one. Yes, we have increased guidance. Turner is overperforming. Certainly, they are increasing margins. They achieved 3.4% in the first nine-month period. We expect Q4 to get to around 3.7%. Basically.
The 3.5% margin average that we announced for 2026, it's happening in 2025, and we expect further growth in 2026. Again, we expect further growth in 2026, in 2027. I mean, as much as we have visibility, we see growth in both revenues and margins. Also, and I link to your second question, they will get the benefit on top of this of the ACS data center platform. In general, that is very positive. Turner is helping significantly the development in data centers of the rest of the company, like Dornan, FlatironDragados, HOCHTIEF, CIMIC. Turner is contributing to that, not just through knowledge and supply chain, but also client relationships. That also is going to help. Now, giving a guidance of how much is hard right now, and probably I shouldn't. Are we talking about double digits? For sure. Right now, how much.
I do not dare to provide a guidance. I prefer to follow the right milestones at the right time to be providing guidance. Certainly, we are optimistic about Turner performance, and that will continue. There is no doubt. Looking at the market and the visibility we have right now at Turner. Listing Turner in the US, at this stage, I mean, we are not. I mean, we are considering all options. We do not have a plan, but we are not rejecting any possibility. Not much I can say to this point.
Thanks a lot.
The next question comes from Marcin Borchtak from BOFA. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good afternoon. Thank you for the presentation. Firstly, regarding your, let's say, strategic update, you mentioned that you are open to strategic M&A and bolt-on M&A. Is there actually something new in that message? Are you more actively looking for opportunities?
That would be my first question. Second, can you indicate what percentage of the backlog of that EUR 68, I believe, or EUR 69 billion, that is actually in data centers? And do you have data center exposure and anything meaningful as well outside of the US in terms of backlog? And maybe my question number three, in terms of cash flow. I think Q4 last year was pretty strong, right? Should we expect a repeat? Should we expect a similar performance in terms of cash flow in Q4, or was it a bit exceptional, Q4 last year? Thanks.
Thank you, Marcin. Let me start with M&A. No, it's not a new message. It's not a change in strategy. Let me go again through, I mean, the same strategy when it comes to capital allocation and M&A for the last three years, right? Two types of investments.
The first one is everything that is infrastructure. Greenfield, especially, and brownfield, specifically in Abertis, that give us sustainable EBITDAs and dividends, right? That's where we put anything that is a PP, a managed lane in North America. That's where we put our data centers or specific industrial opportunities at DOC, right? Nothing changes. This is the, call it, development infrastructure, what we've been doing for the last 50 years. The second one is the bolt-on acquisitions, right? When you look at all what we've been doing in the critical minerals space this year, and I provided a lot of examples, right? All of that has been possible because of the acquisition of Prudentia, Minsol, Novapro, Pipar, MinTrax, all that. And we've been announcing a lot of different acquisitions, very small in nature, but very, very relevant in terms of knowledge, right?
All of that is what allows us to be going through all these projects with lithium, rare earth, vanadium, nickel, gold, copper, mineral sands. And some of these projects are becoming epistemic opportunities. One example that we believe could become an epistemic opportunity is the Volcan project in Germany, where we've been working three years on the engineering, and now it could potentially become a big EPCM, right? At the end of the day, that's the end game. When you look at critical minerals, we have more than 100 projects of engineering developed by us as we speak that could potentially turn into EPCMs or not, right? This is why it's so important, these bolt-on acquisitions. This is an example in critical minerals, but in data centers, Dornan was another example. Potentially, we will need to continue seeing other opportunities.
Not only in the engineering space. On the MIC and LA capabilities that is also needed for some of these balance of plans, you look that we have been also making some progress. Like Donatia and MinTrax was one example, but you've seen other. We're not talking about very big opportunities. We're not talking about anything crazy, but it's very, very strategic. Little things can provide big multipliers for us. If you analyze individually every bolt-on acquisition that we've been doing in the last three years, you take a look at them individually, we have multiplied from two to three times EBITDA almost each one of them, right? This is key. Now, asking about backlog data centers. It's $12 billion Turner in the U.S., $2 billion out of the U.S., more around CIMIC, mainly a little bit in Europe.
We are going to see, first in the U.S., we will continue to grow. I do not dare to say for how much, but significantly. We expect a lot of growth in Europe and in Asia-Pacific, right? We do not see the limit to the data center strategy, as much as visibility we have in front of us. When it comes to the cash flow, I mean, we are quite comfortable with the full year 2025. We expect strong delivery on cash conversion and the fourth quarter cash flow providing the characteristic strong seasonal performance. We are very, yeah, we are very comfortable in that sense. We're not expecting anything different.
The next question comes from Dario Maglione from BNP . Please go ahead.
Hi, everyone, and congratulations for the great momentum.
First question, actually, you mentioned the order backlog in data centers for nine months. Could you actually repeat that number and confirm whether it is USD or euros? Second question, kind of related, what was the order intake in data centers, Turner in Q3? And maybe last question. I think medium term, so 2026, 2027, still remains quite impressive, the growth in data centers that Turner is achieving. Do you see any shortage in skills and labor or any other bottleneck that we should consider that could limit the growth rate in the medium term? Thanks.
Quick question, Dario. Can you repeat the second question? I did not get it.
Hi, yes. The order intake for data centers in Turner in Q3? Okay. Let me start with the first one.
I think that you were asking, I mean, the figures that I gave before are in EUR, the 12 billion and the 2 billion in EUR, okay? We get into the order intake in Q3. I do not have it in front of me. Let me see if we have it. If not, I will send it to you, right? I mean, certainly, I think that it was more than doubling what we had, but we can provide that figure exactly to you. Now, any short-term skills or bottleneck? We are not seeing that at the moment. At the end of the day, the key for a lot of what we do is, first, our, I mean, availability. I mean, there are a few things that I believe give us an opportunity or gives Turner or gives us globally an opportunity, right?
At the end of the day, the potential constraints in any market, it's always availability of skilled labor, the availability of material equipment, and the speed to market, right? These are typically the three things that could jeopardize the growth of any sector. Why we believe that we are very uniquely positioned to navigate those three, right? Let's start with the first one, right? Availability of skilled labor. The beauty of our 150 years managing civil works and general building is that's exactly our specialty. That doesn't say that it's easy to get people, but certainly, that's one of our biggest advantages, right?
A lot of the big projects we're getting, let me give you the example of Louisiana, but also the latest one awarded as part of the Stargate program in Wisconsin, or the one in Ohio, or some of the big projects we're doing in Australia, is because we have the ability to provide lots of people in a very short period of time in remote locations, right? That is as important as having the engineering knowledge and as important as having the supply chain. This is very important. The other thing that is key is what we've been doing with SourceBlue on the global sourcing expertise, which has a lot of different components. The first one is hundreds of dedicated supply chain experts that are always stabilizing and accelerating the supply chains, but also access to manufacturing or specific components to make sure that they are.
I mean, that they are delivered on time. At any given time and do not rely on international global supply chains. Also, a big part of what is coming is not just supply chain engineering and mobilization. It is the ability to start modularizing and manufacturing off-site a lot of these things. That is where we are putting a lot of strategy globally, right? Not just in the U.S., but we are, I mean, I will advance at some stage what we are doing in that sense, but that is also allowing to build more, faster, and attract more revenues and larger margins. That is an important part of the strategy. Most of those workshops are being reconverted. It is not new workshops. We have those workshops. They used to be for precursor facilities. They used to be for girders. They used to be for rings in tunnels.
Now we're going to be using them for advanced technology. Building manufacturing, whether it's data centers or semiconductor fabs, or we're talking about battery fabs, defense barracks. I mean, there's a lot of different things that we can apply those, and we are putting a lot of effort into that sense. Overall, I would say that we are in a good position. I think that I did answer the three questions.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Filipe Leite from CaixaBank BPI. Please go ahead.
Hi, hello, everyone. I have two questions, if I may. First one, if you can give us an update on the sales process of the transportation division of UGL in Australia and when do you expect to have it completed?
Second question on CIMIC and because sales and EBITDA dropping in this quarter, how do you see CIMIC business evolving in the next quarter and during next year? Thank you.
Okay. Starting with UGL transaction. That continues evolving, I think, in a good way. Nothing we can announce at this stage, but we're comfortable the way it's going. CIMIC, how do we see that evolving? Let me talk a little bit about CIMIC. When you look at CIMIC growth, if you just look at the reported PBT, FX adjusted CIMIC would have grown 20%. If you do not look at the FX comparison, then it is about 12%. Now, if you look at the comparable, which is the one we should look at, FX adjusted growth would have gone from 3% to 10%, right? This is.
Relevant because it's true that you cannot compare with the growth of Turner or the growth that we're expecting potentially for 2026 in Germany, right? That we are doubling working hand, and that's going to continue to increase. We are seeing in CIMIC two offsetting market trends. The first one is, and that explains part of this slow growth. One is the transportation infrastructure in Australia that is coming off. Number one. Number two, we are not pursuing a lot of the projects because we are focusing on lower-risk priority opportunities. You see that in the slower growth when it comes to civil and transport, and you see that in the unwinding of our networking capital in Australia. Coming 100% from that, right? Like Dornan is performing, increasing growth, income of new orders. Cash flow, same thing UGL, Thiess.
SEDSMAN, but CBB is consuming a lot for all the reasons that I explained. On the other side, the big increase that is going to be bringing the region will come from Leighton Asia and will come from UGL, and it's not at peak, right? I mean, Leighton Asia sales have increased 66%. So we're comparing with the same level of Turner. The only thing is that the volume is still low. We are expecting that to grow. And UGL that is working a lot of the energy projects, that there has been some delay, but I believe that that will come back. Overall, I would say that the big next thing in terms of growth could potentially be Germany, but I do think that Australia is next. Now, I'm comfortable that this will start happening soon. Again, we are making sure we are making sure that we.
Risk the balance sheet.
Next, we have a follow-up question coming from Dario Maglione from BNP. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thanks for taking a follow-up. Actually, two, if I may. First one is on margin for the data centers. How do they differ compared to a typical margin on non-residential construction in the US? Very ballpark figure will be helpful to understand the opportunity for margin expansion at Turner. Second question regarding Germany, you mentioned a doubling working end. What do you think is this coming? I mean, do you already see a positive impact from the German infrastructure fund, or do you think that will come later on top of the growth in the market? Thanks.
Thank you, Dario. Let's start with data centers. I mean, unfortunately, it's very difficult for us to give specific margins on projects and sectors.
Basically because it could jeopardize a lot of our day-to-day commercial activity, right? It also changes a lot. It's not the same. Every sector or even data centers, it depends a lot on the risk profile of the project. It depends on the relationship with the client. Some clients, they give you permanent orders for their expansion to secure their time to market, and there's a relationship. Typically, I mean, there's a trust relationship with lower margins because it fits you with a lot of work. In other cases, there's a unique one-off opportunity which probably is considered in a different way. Prices are different, complexities, etc. Overall, what I can say, and putting aside data centers, but in general.
That a big part of the increase of Turner's margin is being the delivery of high-tech projects. That's a change. That's what has gone from. The type of margins that Turner had a few years ago with the ones we have right now. Have gone from. In the extreme 1 point something or even. 2 something. Three years ago to where we are right now of finishing the year of 3.7 and growing next year, right? All of that is the composition. Now, if you look at Turner right now. Backlog, 32% of. 3.2, sorry, 32% of the backlog is data centers. With another 4%. In biopharma and another 5% in our high-tech. We're still. Low. In the most advanced technology projects. That's going to continue changing, right? That percentage will continue growing. SourceBlue, as a supplier of services that has high margins, will continue growing.
All of that is what is driving the overall margin of Turner. When it comes to Germany, the EUR 500 billion infrastructure fund will see the first full-year deployment in 2026. The federal investment is budgeted to rise to a record level of EUR 127 billion, and that compares with the EUR 75 billion level in 2024. All of that is going to be driven mainly on rail through Deutsche Bahn, on highways through Autobahn, and defense, right? Transport infrastructure is a major contributor or will be getting a lot of these investments. The coalition government has recently reinforced the willingness to accelerate transport infrastructure spending by creating an extra EUR 3 billion funding on top of what I already mentioned, right? There is a strong pipeline of opportunities, and I do think that that will start getting reflected.
In the HOCHTIEF P&L in the coming years, right? Now, also in that budget for 2026, there's significant spending by NATO. That is also, I mean, as I said before, going through defense, but potentially other non-defense projects. Anyway, we'll be looking at that. Germany, I mean, I believe, I'm optimistic, and especially through HOCHTIEF infrastructure, that we'll see the effects of all what I just mentioned through its books very, very soon.
Okay. Thank you.
Next question comes from Nicholas Mora from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Just a couple. Starting with maybe with the guidance upgrade. I think at the midpoint, you're increasing your operating net income by around EUR 60 million, 6-0. You've basically upgraded Turner's guidance by EUR 120 million. I was just wondering where the delta, the EUR 60 million, have gone.
It seems there's been quite a lot of rise in overhead costs. Is that down to new projects or, especially in the data center space? So that's question number one. Question number two. Outside of advanced tech in the US at Turner, how do you see the rest of the, let's say, more plain vanilla market going? I mean, you've booked a few large tower projects, more in sports and leisure. I mean, what's doing well? What's struggling? Interested to get a little bit more color on the non-tech side of the business. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks to you, Nicholas. Let me start with Turner guidance versus the overall guidance. I mean, I'm sure you realize, but the Turner guidance is an operational PBT guidance from which taxes need to be deducted.
At the end, the difference between, in addition to what I just said, there's the FX impacts from CIMIC Asia-Pacific and Australia region, which obviously comes to play. We had an increase in Turner offset by some FX impact, but we had a deterioration in some of the other business from an FX perspective. There's other consolidation. There's around EUR 20 million just from CIMIC Flatiron that you have to take into account just from an FX perspective. We have provided an overall assessment, right? At the end, guidance are guidances, so we always need to be careful with what we say. Now, when we get into the other, what else besides data centers? Let me give some figures specifically for the US market. I think you're referring to the US market. If not, let me know.
Yes, the data center market in the last nine months has grown. The order book, 111%. That is like EUR 14.2 billion. New orders have grown 141%. If you go to biopharma, and yes, we were talking about lower figures, but new orders in biopharma have reached a 400% increase and an order backlog of 234%. Now, we are talking about much lower figures, but that shows that there is a big increase and it is going to continue ramping up. The other areas where we are seeing growth in the U.S. is the commercial market, so 12% order book increase. The aviation market with 17% in the order book or 28% in new orders. Sports have increased by 25%. Hotels, plus 21% in order book. What are we seeing going down? The battery market, we continue seeing that absolutely stopped, right?
I think that is minus 58. This is a timing fact. Eventually, the battery fabs and the battery projects, and I'm talking about battery fabs, will need to come back, right? It's a matter there were a lot of investments in EV vehicles. Demand is not there. All of that is driving. All of that supply demand have to adjust before all of that continues. If you add all the future plans of all the EV vehicle producers, there's significant spend. The question is that it will continue delaying until demand supply stabilizes. We get to semiconductor market. That has stopped significant or slowed down. We are waiting. We're waiting on five projects. We're waiting on five projects for the clients to get financing. There's geopolitical discussions around it, and obviously, there's funding allocation. We're waiting. Manufacturing is more or less.
Stable, more or less. Healthcare, not the biopharma part, but the hospital, we're seeing it at least in the first nine months going down by 18%. First time that we see that going down. Probably that will change. Education. Our new orders were minus 4%. I mean, not a big number, but went down minus 4%. Public justice market, a little bit down, minus 18% on the order book. Yeah, that's more or less one by one.
The next question comes from Alvaro Lenz from Alantra Equities. Please go ahead.
Can you hear me all right? Hello?
Yes, we can.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you all right.
Yeah. Thanks. Thank you for taking the question. Just one, I was just thinking on you mentioned the scalability and flexibility.
I think there's some concerns from investors that there's right now a big investment cycle especially in data centers. I know that right now it seems quite rosy and should continue to increase over the coming years. I just wanted to know how flexible is your workforce to change activity. Imagine if in the future the investment in data centers also are downturned, can it be shifted to other sectors, or is the capabilities you have very sector-specific to data centers? I wanted to know how scalable and flexible are you both on the way up as you're demonstrating now, as on the potential way down in the data center space in the future. Thank you.
First of all, thank you so much, Alvaro. Let me answer the question in three different ways, right? The first one, a very straight answer.
We do have flexibility. At the end of the day, the same flexibility that we've shown moving people from certain projects into other projects, it will work in the other way, right? A lot of our people right now working in data centers, we are getting from other sectors and other fields. That's one of the reasons. There are multiple reasons why we put together the ACS University, but one of the reasons is it has a very well-structured plan of training people from different jurisdictions, different companies, different parts of the world, from one sector to different sectors. We have accelerated training programs for people.
If you are going to jump into a semiconductor fab, or you're going to jump into a big data center, or you're going to jump into a battery, into nuclear, we have special programs that will move people around with special visas, with a lot of investments. This was one of the few reasons why we put the university, right? The university has a lot of different angles, right? Now, let's talk about the investment cycle. I'm going to give my personal reflection on the cycle because, yes, we're talking about trillions, and every day, people say, "It's going to be more trillions or less trillions or 20% more, 20% less, 50% more, 50% less." For us, 10% of infinite is infinite. 20% of infinite is infinite, right?
I mean, they are talking about so many trillions that it doesn't matter for how much you divide that. It's still trillions. Especially because the bottleneck is not the demand. It's the supply of projects. You can argue all the different things that are going to contribute to demand, and there's a lot of literature writing about the demand, right? What's going to influence the demand? There's nothing talking about the restriction on the supply. That's where the bottleneck is. No matter what figure you take from the demand, the problem is the supply. How you are going to build all those projects. That's where, in my opinion, the few engineering construction companies that are positioned in building a lot of the large programs, I mean, that's where we can provide value, and that's where we can provide our input.
That is why, I mean, I'm not going to repeat myself, all the things we are doing to try to be flexible and to try to move things, but certainly we have a lot to say and to help. In other words, as much as we have visibility of the next years, I do not see any reduction in the growth, right? Again, no matter what worst-case scenario you get, it is still trillions. I mean, how you build all of that, I do not know, right? If that happened for whatever reason, because there was, I do not know, something, a black swan somewhere, we would show the same flexibility that we have been addressing up to now.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to the company for any closing remarks.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone again for following us, for, I mean, following our figures, our strategy. I look forward to seeing all of you very soon. Anyway, Mike, do you want to add anything?
No. Thanks to everyone. If you need to follow up on any detailed questions, obviously, just contact us here at the Investor Relations Department. Thanks.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing CorusCall, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.