Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SGS twenty twenty-four Q3 sales update. My name is Ariel Bauer, and I'm in charge of investor relations, communication, and sustainability. I'm here with Géraldine Picaud, our CEO, and Marta Vlatchkova, our CFO. Please note that this call is being recorded and will be available for replay on the SGS website. Throughout today's presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star one on your keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to Géraldine Picaud, CEO of SGS.
Thank you, Ariel, and good morning, everyone. I am very pleased to share our Q3 sales update with you this morning. I am also very excited to speak about the highlights and the sales performance of Q3, and then I will pass over to our CFO, Marta, who will give you more details on the numbers. Let's start with the highlights of our Q3. We have recorded a strong performance this quarter, again, with the sales growing organically by 7.3%. Taking into account the limited negative Forex impact, the total growth of the sales amounts to a good 3.8%.
Beyond the sales numbers, over the past few weeks, we have focused on our sustainability offerings, and I'm excited to share that we are now ready to launch Impact Now, a platform of services and solutions dedicated to help our clients to reach their environmental goals. In parallel, we have also continued to develop and promote our strong leadership on PFAS testing. And now on the M&A side, we have accelerated on bolt-on acquisitions, with four more companies about to join our network. These achievements in sustainability offering and in M&A are key milestones in the execution of our Strategy 27. I will be happy to provide further insights during our capital markets event next month. For now, we are well on track with the plan, and I confirm the outlook for the year. Let's look at Impact Now.
We are launching, in the coming days, the Impact Now offering, which brings together all of SGS's sustainability services under one platform. It's based on four pillars in order to address all of our clients' sustainability ambitions. We propose testing services in the field of climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions measurements, for instance, but also in circularity and nature protection, where we are targeting forever chemicals. Finally, we are also providing a solid offering in insurance, including ESG reports. Let's go to PFAS. Within the sustainability offering, we have developed a strong leadership in PFAS testing. Indeed, we have the most extensive suite of services and accreditations. This is a fast-growing market in which we invest to reinforce further our position and be able to capture the demand of today and tomorrow. As an illustration, we are currently quadrupling our capacity in North America.
After organic growth initiatives, let's now look at external growth through bolt-on acquisitions. Deals are now sourced locally, executed with financial discipline, and dedicated teams make sure that we execute the integration plans and extract the identified synergies. Since January, we have signed nine acquisitions, which represent total annual sales of approximately CHF 70 million. This is about one percentage point of additional growth as of now. This month, we are completing four acquisitions. Let's start with Beta Analytic. Beta Analytic is a leader in hydrocarbon dating and bio-based carbon testing. As an increasing number of products and packaging move from petroleum-based to bio-based materials, carbon testing is a unique solution to validate product claims and prevent greenwashing. This market is growing 20% annually, boosted by increasing regulation. Then ASCO and Express Solutions are both based in Belgium.
They have 36 employees together and are specialized in supply chain services for sensitive products such as pharmaceuticals, chemical samples, and dangerous goods. Finally, AMA Analytical Services, based in Maryland with 21 employees, is a specialist in environmental testing with a focus on asbestos, metals, and microbial analysis. I really take the opportunity to warmly welcome the members of these companies in the SGS family. Let me now give you more detail on our end markets, and let's start with Industries & Environment , which delivered organic sales growth of 7% for Q3. The double-digit growth in environment was fueled by further expansion in PFAS testing, notably in North America, where we are quadrupling our capacity. Our portfolio and capabilities have also been strengthened by the acquisition of AMA and Beta Analytic. We also strong demand in safety-related services in Asia Pac and Latin America.
We had a high single-digit growth in technical supervision and advisory, mainly driven by transportation and energy projects in Latin America. For example, we supported major railway development projects in Mexico. The growth of Industries & Environment was partly offset by the completion of low-margin contracts in non-destructive testing in Asia Pacific and in the Middle East. Let's now move to Natural Resources , which delivered solid organic sales growth of 6.9%. Double-digit growth in laboratory testing was led by increased activity in energy, chemicals, and on-site projects, with notable wins in Australia and Africa. We also experienced a double-digit growth in metallurgical testing. This was driven by Latin America and continued momentum in battery metal testing in North America. Trade and inspection had a solid growth despite the soft start of the new crop season in agriculture.
The solid sales performance was partly offset by the exit from low-margin minerals contract in Latin America. Organic sales growth in Connectivity & Products now, you can see here, it continued to accelerate in Q3. It was supported by sustainability and regulations globally, and it generated a strong organic sales growth of 8.4%. Double-digit growth in Softlines continued to benefit from lower inventory levels and new opportunities in sustainability, driven by increased customer awareness. Connectivity delivered another strong quarter, with high single-digit growth, supported by improvement in WLS and automotive. Hardlines achieved high single-digit growth, with new regulations in food contact materials, notably banning the use of bisphenol, PFAS, and more harmful contaminants, leading to increased demand for testing services. Finally, trade facilitation services remained broadly stable. Let's move to Health & Nutrition , which delivered organic sales growth of 8.2%.
It benefited from strong organic sales growth in food and Cosmetics globally, and early signs of recovery in Health Science . Food delivered another strong set of results in all regions, mainly driven by regulation and increased demand for microbiological analysis, allergen testing, pesticides testing, food authenticity, and nutrition testing. High single-digit growth in Cosmetics, led by increased clinical testing in North America. Health Science returned to mid-single digit growth, driven by early signs of market recovery, which led to strong performance, in particular in drug development in Europe. We are seeing positive trends in Q3 in Health Science on the back of favorable comparables. Lastly, let's review Business Assurance . We experienced double-digit growth in certification, a strong growth in certification, supported by medical devices and digital trust services. There was also a high single-digit growth in sustainability, led by ESG assurance, social audits, and energy certification.
These strong results were partly offset by a slowdown in training and unfavorable comparable in consulting. Now, with that, I will now hand over to Marta, who will present our sales performance. Marta, floor is yours.
Thank you, Géraldine, and a good morning to everyone. In Q3, we continued to deliver strong sales performance in both organic and reported terms. We grew organically by 7.3%, equivalent to CHF 119 million. The scope over the quarter was minimal. The powertrain testing disposal in Q3 last year was largely compensated by the acquisitions of ArcLight in May and Gossamer in August this year. The Swiss franc continued to appreciate against all major currencies, translating into a moderate 3.5% negative impact. This led to Q3 sales of CHF 1.7 billion, up 3.8% compared to prior year. Let's now drill down into our sales growth. In the third quarter, our testing and inspection division grew organically by 7.4%.
Growth in Europe continued to improve and reached 5.4%, benefiting from early signs of recovery in Health Science . Asia Pacific increased by 4.8% organically. China maintained high single-digit growth, supported by strong connectivity in product, food, and Cosmetics. This was partly offset by the end of low profitable contracts in non-destructive testing. North America growth accelerated to 8.8%. We achieved strong double-digit growth in food, environment, and Connectivity & Products as a result of major contract wins, including supporting one of the largest renewable energy projects in the U.S. history. We have also been recently selected to partner with several major consultants and industry groups to provide analytical support for sediment investigations for one of the most high-profile and industrialized stretches of river in the U.S. Latin America expanded organically by 17%, with double-digit growth across all business lines.
Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa grew by 11%, supported by double-digit growth in Industries & Environment . Our Business Assurance division delivered an organic growth of 5.9%, with double-digit growth in certification of management systems and a strong performance in ESG assurance and sustainability audits. These strong results were partly offset by a slowdown in training and weakness in consulting, where the high basis of comparison will continue to impact growth for the rest of the year. Let's now move on the next slide, where we can see the sales evolution by quarter. We started the year with an organic growth of 7.1% and highly unfavorable Forex, leading to a net decline of 2.1%. In Q2, we expanded organically by 8.9%, while Forex eased, leading to 5.1% reported growth.
In Q3, the strong sales performance continued with 7.3% organic growth, corresponding to 3.8% in reported terms. This led to sales of CHF 5 billion for the nine months. Now let's move on to the next slide, presenting the nine-month sales bridge. We achieved strong 7.8% organic growth year to date, translating to CHF 383 million. This was partially offset by the negative scope and currency translation effects, leading to a reported growth of 2.3%. The scope of CHF -21 million reflects the prior year disposals of the automotive asset assessment business and the powertrain testing operations. The acquisitions of Nutrasource in May 2023, ArcLight in May 2024, and Gossamer in August 2024 partially reduced the impact of those disposals.
The negative currency translation effect of 5.1% continues to be driven by the appreciation of the Swiss franc against all major currencies compared to the same period of last year. With that, I hand it back to you, Géraldine.
Thank you, Marta. Let's now go to the outlook. So to conclude this presentation, I would like to confirm again our 2024 guidance: mid- to high single-digit organic growth, a full M&A program relaunched, improvement on the reported adjusted operating income margin on sales, and a strong free cash flow generation. We are fully on track to deliver and to achieve our targets, and we are confident that we are doing the right moves to deliver Strategy 27. Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope to see many of you in a couple of weeks at our capital markets event. Marta and I are now ready to take your questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question or make a comment may press star and one on the virtual keypad or on their touchtone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered a queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Please limit yourself to two questions. The first question comes from the line of Daniel Bürki from Zürcher Kantonalbank. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Good morning. I would have two questions. First, on profitability, how do you see the moving parts developing? Obviously, currencies, mix effect, and as well, the restructuring program. That's the first one. And the second, regarding China. It's quite astonishing you have high single digit growth there despite a very tough macro environment. If you could elaborate a little bit on the Chinese market, please.
Sure. Good morning, Daniel. Thank you for the questions. So look, on the profitability, you're right, there are several moving parts. We do see the Forex having a negative impact on the margin, but I would say as usual. The mix effect will be flat to slightly positive. And then we will have operational efficiencies, and we will have as well the value plan fully, I mean, in full execution mode, obviously. And that will give you more colors when it comes to our capital market events in two weeks now. So be a bit patient on that. With regards to China, you're totally right. China has done a fantastic performance.
They have really done well, well to increase their service profile for the domestic market requirements. And that's something they're really progressing very well. You've seen them maintain a high single digit growth, so we are very, very happy about the strong performance of China.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question, please.
The next question is from Sylvia Barker from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hi, morning. A couple of questions, please. Firstly, on your consulting business, can you just remind us of the magnitude of that? And, just maybe go through again why the comp's so high, I guess the restructuring you've been doing in that business, and how long will this year-on-year impact persist for? And then second, on the health business, clearly that was one negative impact on the margin. Can you maybe talk a little bit about how you think about the operating leverage into that health business as the growth is now recovering? Thank you.
All right. Thank you, and good morning. Look, the consulting business represents an average, I would say, around 10% of the total Business Assurance sales, and to give you a bit of an idea, but still a very important business. We have had some headwinds throughout the year with notably some deals that were a bit postponed and pushed into next year but we had a one-off with the management changes that really have meant that we've seen reduced projects and reduced conversion from analysis, if you will, to engagement this year.
But the important point is that this will change next year, as we have built a new team, and we have a new sales structure already in place, and we are already sitting on quite a very strong pipeline for 2025 . So I think the important message is to look forward. This will be also quite a credit to our margin as we go to 2025 . So we will regain what we've lost and do even better as we go to 2025 . Then on the Health Science , I think. You know, it's what's your second question? The increased sales in Health & Nutrition effectively is a good thing.
It's a good thing for our growth, it's a good thing for our margins as well, as you can imagine, and I would say that we see that continuing now as we go into Q4 in 2025, so it's really fueled, if you will, by a lot of drug development in Europe, and that is accelerating, and you'll see that in the numbers already in Q3.
Thank you.
Welcome. Next question, please.
The next question is from Arthur Truslove from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, everybody. A couple from me, please. Firstly, if you think about the wireless business within Connectivity & Products , my understanding is that's just come back to growth. Should we expect to see operational leverage there? And, you know, is that potentially a positive driver for margins? Second question, w hat are you seeing, or what do you think you're going to see in terms of the kind of soft lines and hard lines element within the fourth quarter? You know, obviously there's been some discussion about how comps get tougher in the fourth quarter in those kind of lines of work.
So I was just wondering, you know, if you could talk about trends that you're seeing now and possibly exit rates as well. And then, I guess finally, how are you getting on in terms of people, you know, leaving the business under the restructuring plan? Is that all going to plan? And in what circumstances could we see more than the CHF 9 million of savings seen in Q2, in Q3 and/or Q4? Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Arthur, and good morning to you. So look, yes, you're right, we see early signs of recovery as it comes to wireless, and that's a good thing for our connectivity business. And we continue to always expect incremental margin improvement, because this is effectively also volume business of, you know, most of CNP is also driven by volumes as far as our growth is concerned. So it's a good early signs. And the recovery has started as we speak about wireless. You mentioned Softlines and the Hardlines, and here we had a very good organic growth, a strong double-digit growth in Softlines, high single-digit growth in Hardlines as far as Q3.
That is also obviously producing a good operating leverage, because again, it's mainly composed of volumes when it's about CNP and Softlines and Hardlines. So that's all good. We see that continuing as we go into Q4. That is not something we don't have, as we speak, a tough comp when it comes to these two activities, so we do see continuing to grow. You mentioned the savings. Yes, we did CHF 9 million savings as it comes to Q2. We will give you exactly where we stand when we go to the capital market event, but as I said, we are fully on track when it comes to our restructuring plan. Next question, please.
The next question is from Annelies Vermeulen, from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, Géraldine and Marta. Two questions, please. So, I just wanted to come back on the moving parts of Business Assurance . I appreciate you've got tough comps in consulting, but as that's only, as you say, 10 or 20% of the division, I think you also had those tough comps in the first half. So given the ESG tailwinds in this segment and that parts are growing double digits, I'm slightly surprised that the growth has moderated as much as it has in the third quarter. You touched on a stronger pipeline going into next year, so in 2025, can we assume that the Business Assurance re-accelerates to one of the higher growth parts of the business? Any comments there, please? And then secondly, you've done quite a few deals this year.
You mentioned the M&A pipeline remains very strong. When we think about financing those deals, is it safe to say that you are considering offering the dividend in scrip again in February, to allow you to capitalize on those deals? Thank you.
Thank you, Annelies. Good morning. Look, again, the consulting part of our business is, you know, is accounting for only 10% of the total Business Assurance business. And that's just to repeat that. It's a project based business, and when I say we've seen postponements of projects, that has impacted us. I think it's fair to say the comparison base is stronger when it comes to Q3 and Q4 than Q1 and Q2. Much stronger, okay? Then we had this change, a complete change of leadership and organization that started in 2023 and impacted the business. But again, the important thing is that we have the strong pipeline. Here, we're not talking about sustainability consulting.
This consulting part I'm referring to is the Maine Pointe business that was acquired in 2021 or 2022. And it's a business that's mainly serving the private equity on, you know, procurement and it's a kind of procurement control tower. So you do have effectively some business that is recurring, but it is mainly project driven. And a lot of project post-COVID, you know, bounced back, and then you know, it was affected when we had this management change. Now, the good thing is that there's a new management in place, there is a practice leadership in place, and we do see a very strong pipeline.
I will give you more color on the capital market event on this topic as well, and and we will discuss that deeper. But yes, we do see 2025 accelerating again and recovering on the traditional level of Business Assurance that you are used to. So that is, you know, something we have to go through for Q3, Q4, probably Q1, and then we're gonna get back to the to the proper level of BA, which is a strong and fast-growing and good margin division. So, you know, we're gonna fully recover as we come to 2025 , definitely. Then you mentioned about financing the deals. You know, we're talking here about bolt-ons. I have presented the high level, the capital allocation when we introduced Strategy 27 back in January.
It's too early to talk about scrip or dividend at this stage. We will give more color on the capital markets event, and obviously, in due course, give the detailed capital allocation. But yes, we will continue to grow, and yes, we will have the firepower to finance all our deals.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question, please.
The next question is from Alan Wells from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Géraldine. Good morning, Marta. Three for me, please. Firstly, just, I noticed in INE and Natural Resources , there's some comments around exiting and ending some low margin contracts. I mean, is there anything to read into that in terms of how you guys are thinking about kind of contract portfolio rationalization as a way to support the margin? That's my first question. Secondly, in Health & Nutrition , there's good recovery there. You call out some recovery in pharma in Europe. Obviously, this is in slight contrast to one of your peers from earlier in the week that slightly disappointed in its pharma business. I just wondered if you can add a bit of color there. Is this growth recovery more market wide?
Are there some company-specific issues in there that you're benefiting from, or is it just some market share gain? And then finally, just on PFAS, which you call out, could you just help us understand the size of PFAS in the business? I appreciate you probably don't want to give absolute revenue numbers, but any way to kind of quantify PFAS and where you see that going, and then maybe anything you can kind of expand on your leadership claims there, because I think, you know, anyone that's exposed to that within the testing space tends to suggest that they're a leader or that they have leading capabilities. But I wonder if you could kind of rubber stamp where SGS is in terms of its leadership position. Thank you.
Thank you, Alan, and good morning. We're going to start with maybe let's start with your PFAS questions. On PFAS, look, we have here a competitive advantage in the sense we have the broadest scope of testing and accreditation when it comes to PFAS testing. We are really having the most extensive suite of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances testing services, and this for all industries, whether it's textile, environment, CMP, I mean, all the end markets that we're working and we are servicing. Whether it's for consumer products, electronics, food, environment, we have the tailored solutions to meet the specific needs of each sector. You know, we're sometimes talking about pricing, and I'm talking about value for pricing when I'm talking to the management of the company.
So really getting, you know, in the price, all the dedicated, the tailor-made, the customized services with the best, you know, turnaround service. And we continue to grow, and our PFAS growth is at, you know, as we speak, more than, far more than, than 20%. So that's a fantastic business that we continue to grow. You've asked the size of it. We don't give that precise number. I would just tell you that the environmental part of INE, in which PFAS stands, is 20% of all INE division. So that's, and PFAS is inside this environmental part. You mentioned then the Health & Nutrition , and I think you're right.
I mean, Health Science end market, it's strategic end market for us, and we continue to focus on expanding our capabilities, obviously in the geographies where it makes sense, but we've seen a recovery in Cosmetics, that in North America and in Europe. We do think that, you know, the pharma, pure pharma recovery is in the early stages, and we're monitoring that, but we do see really some signs of recovery and really positive signs, as I said, in Europe, so again, you know, we are focusing in QA, QC, quality assurance, quality control, product testing, large molecules. We'll give you more detail on the capital market at the capital markets event.
You talked also, you had a question on INE and the low-margin contract. It's true, and each time you're exiting a low-margin contract, it basically you know help to improve our margins, and that is supporting. Nonetheless, the size of these low-margin contracts always has an impact when you look at sales on a quarterly basis, right? On a quarter, these sales can have an impact on the growth rate, and it does. I mean, if we had not done this exit, we would have had a stronger organic growth for Q3, but it's a strategic decision to focus on high growth. I think it's important to have a high quality growth.
You know, it's one thing to show very high organic growth, but important to me is that we show a healthy and very profitable organic growth. So it was a strategic decision to focus on high growth and higher margin business contracts. And that's important to, you know, to allocate the resources. We were talking about capital allocation just with your colleague. I think it's important to allocate it where we have the best returns. Next question, please.
The next question is from Himanshu Agarwal from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Himanshu from Bank of America. Good morning, Géraldine, and Marta. Thank you for taking my questions. I think continuing with the previous question, can you quantify the impact of these projects that you finished or exited during Q3? And also, if there are any projects that are expected to end during Q4? Just trying to understand what could be the impact in Q4, and also if you have any new projects during Q4 to offset these. That's the first question. And secondly, as you focus on pricing, in an environment when inflation is rolling over, I believe those must be very difficult conversations with your clients. I would just be interested in hearing how your customers are responding to this. Are you seeing any changes in the order win rate or customer retention?
Lastly, if you can please indicate the price versus volume contribution in Q3?
Okay, look, we'll start with the last question, and I will hand over Marta on the price and volume, and I'll take the first two ones.
Yeah. Hi, Himanshu. Regarding price and volume, we are roughly at the same split as communicated already during H1, fifty-fifty. We remain strong both in volume and pricing.
On the pricing, which was your second question, we don't see any impact on the ordering rate. Let's be clear. As long as you can, you know, justify your pricing with additional services, this is what I call the value for pricing, which we do have, then there is no impact on the volume or on the ordering rate. And we of course take care of that. We have really an open engagement with all our clients on our justification for price increase, and we really develop sales excellence here. There is a strong focus on sales in SGS.
You wanted to know what impact had these exit of this low margin contracts in INE, and we say when you look at Q3, it is, I would say a little bit more than 0.5%, and we expect the same thing on Q4. But, yes, we will definitely work on offsetting this by much more profitable contracts and new businesses. And we will have it.
Thank you.
Under digital trust, cyber, sustainability, this is also a high margin business, Himanshu.
Okay, thank you. If I may just ask a follow-up on the price volume, you mentioned fifty-fifty in Q3, which translates to around 3.5% pricing in Q3. And if I remember right, during first half, fifty-fifty again, but that implied Q2 was two-thirds pricing, which implied around 6% pricing. So I think the pricing contribution has sequentially deteriorated, and I thought you were trying to improve pricing, so the pricing contribution, in my opinion, should have been higher. If you can just help me understand that, please.
Yeah, Himanshu, but keep in mind that we have easing of inflation. Therefore, the piece of pricing, which is related to passing on inflation, is at the lower magnitude compared to the high inflation H1.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. Next question, please.
The next question is from Pablo Cuadrado, from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Just two quick one. First one is on the Forex. You know, Marta, you can probably help us to understand, using the current rates, what should we probably expect in terms of revenue impact from Forex, just looking to Q4, the last quarter of the year? And the second question, it will be on the M&A. I'm pretty sure that we are going to find out more during the capital market day, but you have a certain presentation that clearly you have advanced on bolt-on deals so far this year. You mentioned as well about, you know, good pipeline. But I was wondering whether you can talk a little bit on medium type of deals or large deals.
I mean, clearly, everything that you have done has been quite small, if you like. It is really difficult to go ahead? How is the situation of the market on that front?
Okay. I will take the second question, and then I'll let Marta respond on the Forex.
So, the M&A, we have a strong bolt-on pipeline. You're totally right, Pablo. Remember, it is still a very fragmented industry. There's a lot still of bolt-ons, of mom-and-pop labs, that we have to consolidate. It's easy to integrate. It's boosting the operating leverage. It's all good, and we have to do that. Yes, we will always consider medium or large deals, but you know, we have to pay the right price, and often these bigger deals, they are owned by private equity, and we want to basically buy cheap and sell high, if we were to sell though it's not the case today.
But we want to really buy in the right multiples and get the returns, double-digit return on invested capital, after at least, before or after, at or before five years of the acquisition. So, it is important we look at, you know, the metrics before we do a deal, and we'll be disciplined. But we will look at every deal, whatever the size. Be assured of that. And effectively, we'll give you more color at the capital market events. Marta?
Thank you, Géraldine, and Pablo, thank you for your question. Regarding what we should expect from Forex development in Q4, we usually don't guide on Forex because it is, by definition, very unpredictable. Nevertheless, if we had to simulate with what we see currently as of now, in terms of Forex exchange rates, we will be looking for Q4 at a similar Forex impact on sales.
All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Next question, please.
The next question is from Suhasini Varanasi from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Just a couple for me, please. It's good to see your investments in PFAS and the quadrupling of the capacity there. Just wanted to check if that is mainly focused on the U.S. market at this point in time? And second one, on the M&A, the investments in carbon fourteen testing, environmental testing, they all sound very exciting. But just curious about the M&A and the supply chain services. Feels more like a logistics business, so how does it fit into the testing, inspection, and certification activities, please?
Yes, thank you, Suhasini. What was your last question about the supply chain business? Is it about ASCO and Express that we bought? And what was the question there?
Yeah, just the two deals that were done in the logistics space, ASCO and Express Solutions. So just wanted to understand the strategic rationale there. Thank you.
Okay. Well, it complements our footprint in Belgium quite well, and we have a lot of synergies when it comes to the handling of such goods, and it's also a market where you can have a good pricing and good margins. So this is important. We do, you know, we do target the niche where we can make a difference. I think you mentioned also Beta, which is a fantastic market. It's a market growing 20%, at least. So it's very accretive on our growth. It's gonna be accretive on our margins, so that's a deal that I really like, and it is a very strong fit with the SGS network.
When it comes to the PFAS, I would say, look, it's. Yes, it is for a good third, like 35%, North America, but you have also a good third, another third in Europe, and, I would say you can, you know, have a little bit in Asia. But the majority, actually, you know, you get, like, 35-40% in North America, a good 33% in Europe, and the rest in APAC. So it's overall, we're having this capability, because depending on each market, each regulations, PFAS is a topic.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome, Suhasini. I think that with this, we are stopping the. We have done our Q&A call. So I am very happy now to conclude this call, and I would like to thank our teams around the world for their energy and their hard work throughout the first nine months of the year, and their dedication and collaboration at what drives us forward. I would also like to thank you all for joining our call today, and I look forward to seeing you at our Capital Markets event on the nineteenth and twentieth of November. Thank you.