Vinci Stock price
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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👉 More detailed insights
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👉 Clear answers to your questions
Invest better with AI
StocksGuide Unlimited – full access to AI analyses
👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
👉 Clear answers to your questions
Invest better with AI
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👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
👉 Clear answers to your questions
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = €63.02b | Revenue (TTM) = €76.21b
Market Cap = €63.02b | Estimated Revenue = €78.98b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = €85.27b | Revenue (TTM) = €76.21b
Enterprise Value = €85.27b | Forward Revenue = €78.98b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
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Vinci Stock Analysis
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Vinci Events
Past Events
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JUL
30
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about 2 months ago
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APR
14
Shareholder/Analyst Call - Vinci SA
5 months ago
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FEB
6
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
8 months ago
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StocksGuide Free
Vinci — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning to you all. Thanks for joining us for the presentation of VINCI's half yearly results, you'll see -- and I'm sure you've already read that our financial performance is excellent, I would say, even once again excellent. I'm joined today by Thierry Mirville, CFO of VINCI since the 1st of June, Thierry has been the group for over 30 years. He's a pure product made in VINCI, and notably was CFO of VINCI Energy for 12 years, taking an active part in this tremendous success story. He was Head of Treasury Finance and tax of VINCI at the holding for 3 years with Christian Labeyrie. He was schooled in Gotham. So he was CFO of VINCI Construction for 5 years on my side. During which we learned to get to know 1 another work together and we form a tandem that works very well.
I'm also joined this morning by other members of the Executive Committee as well as Gregoire Thibault and his Investor Relations teams will be available to answer all your questions.
Now this first half delivers once again an excellent performance by VINCI driven by the dynamic trajectory of Energy Solutions. This result is quite remarkable in the current context of geopolitical macroeconomic context that you're familiar with that weighed particularly on Concessions traffic. The takeaways over and above Energy Solutions that we'll return to that in this environment, our teams were able to adapt rapidly to control at best the cost. It's a new illustration of the our decentralized organization, agile, responsive, tirelessly focusing in our 3 businesses on a margin increase, cash flow generation of value creation over time. It also reflects the ability of group's companies to pass on inflation.
Furthermore, in this fragmented global environment. Our belief is strengthened that investment requirements in vital infrastructure, notably energy, digitization, mobility, urban development, as said, to intensify mid- and long term, will continue to accelerate, driven by sovereignty issues in various parts of the world. VINCI is ideally positioned to leverages acceleration as witnessed by the very good order intake in record order book that I'll present to you.
Another key takeaway of this half is the group is posting an increase in its revenue and its earnings, free cash flow is positive as of H1. It's not systematic, as you know, owing to the structurally unfavorable seasonality of some of our activities early in the year. At the end of this day, this overall good crop allows us to confirm our 2026 guidance in spite of a more prudent outlook for concessions and led the Board of Directors to approve an interim dividend of EUR 1.10 per share in respect of 2026 as compared to EUR 1.5 per share for FY 2025. Shown here are the key financials of our performance. Thierry will cover those in a moment.
The key figures increased revenue, plus 2% in H1, of which plus 4% in Q2 with continued international expansion of the group strategy implemented with consistency and discipline for 15 years now international represented in H1 2026, 59% of revenue. It's a significant increase more than 2 percentage points more than the H1 2025. Another key number, EBITDA grew plus 4% coming at EUR 6.4 billion an increase in value, absolute value terms and margins plus 48 basis points, and it counts for us more than volume growth, what counts for us is profitable growth. Strong increase in earnings per share, double-digit plus 11%. Free cash flow is already positive, as I said, at EUR 264 million. And order intake, particularly buoyant both for Energy Solutions as well as Construction in France and internationally. All in all, they are up 8%.
All this is a remarkable performance in the current macro and geopolitical climate that reflects the strength of our model based on a diversified geographical footprint and our 3 highly complementary businesses.
Turning now to details by business, starting with Concessions. Revenue growth at plus 1.5% at actual structure, plus 2.7% like-for-like EBITDA margin comes in at 69%. That's an increase of over 150 basis points versus H1 2025 and all Concessions businesses grew their margins this H1. Well done to Nicolas Mora and his teams.
Diving deeper what we can emphasize for VINCI passenger traffic was stable in H1. This performance reflects the good geographic diversification of the network and its resilience in the face of cyclical salsas if the conflict in the Middle East, any consequences on the price of fuel as well as Cyano-Chinese tensions had an impact on some of our airports, London Gatwick, Kansas in Japan, many other airports, notably in Portugal, Edinburgh, Budapest, Belgrade, Dominican Republic, Brazil or Kaveda continue to post good traffic levels.
Against this backdrop, VINCE Airports revenues up over plus 1.8% like-for-like, plus 5.3%. It's EBITDA grew to EUR 1.4 billion. That's a margin up, reaching 62.6%. For VINCI Autoroutes, well, no, a cyclical weakness of traffic, primarily due to the sharp hike of fuel prices in March, to which was added a negative effect of several exceptional heat waves that occurred since the end of May. In this context, whereas light vehicle traffic dropped by 3.7% that of heavy vehicles is up by plus 1.6%. The limited decrease in revenue to minus 0.7%, thanks to this traffic mix and the productivity efforts achieved. VINCI Autoroute's EBITDA is up to EUR 2.4 billion to reach a margin up at 75%.
VINCI Highways that international highways portfolio. We must note the successful integration of our recent developments in Brazil, where we manage a network of 1200 kilometers, strong increases of revenue, EBITDA and EBITDA margin.
Turning now to Energy Solutions. This half confirms its excellent positioning excellent positioning on lastingly promising markets, electricity markets with production, storage and transmission also increased electrification, optimizing industrial processes, enhanced building performance markets linked to AI development, data centers, digital infrastructure services not forgetting defense and sovereignty issues. All in all, Energy Solutions revenue comes in at over EUR 14.5 billion. That's a 7% increased 4% like-for-like. Very strong momentum in Q2 growth, plus 9% -- 10% internationally, plus 6% in France. This growth is accompanied by a further improvement in margins 40 basis points coming in at 7.8%, which clearly positions us once again amongst the most high-performing players in the industry globally. Congratulations to the teams for this very virtuous growth.
So some color you see top right VINCI Energy delivered strong revenue growth in Q2, plus 9% in France and internationally, VINCI Energy continued to roll out M&A policy constantly with discipline, acquiring some dozen companies this half internationally, growing its EBIT margin over 30 basis points at 7.5%.
For COBRA, activity is up in Q2 by 7.5%. This growth is sustained, both in flow business, particularly in Spain, and also in EPC project, the energy asset portfolio long term was strengthened in this half, more in a moment, COBRA margin is up once again plusing 8.4%.
So focus on long-term renewable energy production Cobra through its subsidiary, Zero.e continues its road map. We implemented in the spring of this year, 2 new solar farms in Texas, capacity 280 megawatts, 80% of the power producers sold to Google through its data centers through 10-year PPAs. At the end of the first half, Cobra's portfolio reaches 1.5 gigawatts, including the Texas far and 4 gigawatts in ready-to-build capital invested by Cobra in production of renewable energy reaches EUR 2.6 billion to date.
Furthermore, in electricity transmission long-term area of expertise for Cobra, we won 2 new PPPs, 30 years in Brazil after auctions organized by the Brazilian power authority that 650 km additional power lines, strengthening the portfolio for a construction cost just over EUR 200 million. The power line portfolio is now made up 5 PPPs in Brazil, over 2,500 of line form under construction, 1 in operation, a PPP in Australia, over 200 kilometers of airlines in -- under construction in the storage, production, transmission of electricity. It's an increasingly important long-term portfolio set to grow although more so the opportunities are many in number developing rapidly, notably in Australia, Brazil, the United States. These are markets that our teams are tracking very closely.
Turning now to Construction revenue, it is stabilizing at EUR 15.5 billion in margins, although they're not represented representative in H1, as you know, a stable for VINCI Construction, thanks to a solid Q2 up 2.6%. The revenue for the half is stabilized at EUR 15 billion situations contrasted by segment, geographies, a decrease in activity of major projects that represents deliberately less than 10% of revenue due to the progress of the HS2 line in the U.K. A downturn in France, on the back of the traditional elections and the phasing of some construction projects in other segments, growing activity, good dynamic in Oceania and Central Europe.
In a disrupted environment. VINCI Construction's EBIT margin is stable, well done to the teams of VINCI Construction, brails to the teams of VINCI Immobilier real estate, it depressed property development market grew EBITDA, maintained EBIT margin stable. Thanks to the continuous effort to cut costs in order to stay the course.
Order intake in H1, posting a high level at EUR 34.4 billion. That's an increase of over 8%. The takeaway here order intake, particularly noticeably in our flow business, that make up the bulk of the group's revenue in Energy Solutions and Construction. Noteworthy is the amount of order intake is greater than current activity, both in Energy Solutions and VINCI Construction is that the order book continues to grow.
This slide, just to share with you news in terms of data center construction, several construction and installation contract, multi-technical lots for data centers were won by the group in H1 2026 for a total amount of some EUR 900 million. This is a market in which VINCI has clearly a key role to play, particularly in Europe, notably Spain, France and also in certain Asian geographies. And I can tell you the best is yet to come because we have a number of projects in the pipeline or in advanced negotiations with several GAM, and we don't rule out announcing some good news soon.
On the order book, as I mentioned, it's up plus 8% on a year, plus 10% since the end of December, reaching close on EUR 77 billion. This is a new historic record for the group. It represents, in total, 15 months of activity. It's quality book that offers visibility to view the future with confidence without departing from our policy of selectivity, focusing on margin over volume. We note the share of France is less than 30% out of Germany, close on 20%. The rest of the world, over 50%.
I'll now hand over to Thierry who'll run through the financial performance of the group for the half.
[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. It is indeed a privilege to be presenting VINCI's results to you for the first time as CFO. Thank you, Pierre, for placing your trust in May. And thank you to your Christian, who I believe is listening in for the quality of our discussions over all these years and particularly over the past few months. So it's both an honor and a pleasure as we have once again delivered an excellent set of results.
Now revenue. Following a very strong Q2, first half revenue increased by 2.1% to EUR 35.6 billion. And this was despite a negative currency impact of minus 0.6%, resulting from the strengthening of the euro against our main currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar and the British pound. Changes in scope, 90% of which related to acquisitions outside France contributed plus 1.5% to growth, representing more than EUR 500 million in additional revenue from recent acquisitions. Now these measures in scope related mostly to VINCI Energy's acquisitions, which contributed over EUR 300 million to revenue growth.
Pierre talked about the 12 acquisitions made in the first half of 2026, and we also made 33 acquisitions in 2025, which are having an impact on revenue in '26, but we also need to bear in mind VINCI Constructions acquisitions, which contributed over EUR 200 million to our revenue growth. So mostly Conway. Last year, in Fletcher whose acquisition we recently completed. In concessions, there were both positive and negative scope effects, but the key point is that Entrevias in Brazil, which has been fully consolidated since October 2025, this has offset the reduction in revenue in Cambodia following the expiry in September 2025 of our long-standing concession agreement for Pompe Airport which was replaced by a service contract. This means that organic growth came to plus 1.3% and with a strong second quarter at plus 2.9% organic growth.
Growth was driven by international markets with revenue increasing by nearly plus 5%, including 3.3% organically. And the share of international markets continued to rise, accounting for 59% of our total revenue in the first half compared with 57% a year ago.
Now by business line, as Pierre has already highlighted, growth was driven by the continued strong momentum in Energy Solutions, plus 7% on a reported basis, on a natural basis and plus 4% like-for-like. In Concessions, revenue increased by 1.5%, including growth of plus 2.7%. So the successful integration of the Brazilian motorways and revenue growth at the airports offset the temporary softness in the French motorway business. Conversely, Construction revenue declined slightly by 1%. It is worth noting, however, that the business recorded growth of plus 2% in Q2. Revenue growth came with increases in operating earnings and net income. So profitable growth in other words.
ROPA, which we call EBIT came to nearly EUR 4.4 billion, up 5%. So the operating margin, therefore, increased by 40 basis points to 12.3%. As Pierre explained, our ROPA or EBIT was very strong across all our businesses. Now the other income statement items reveal the following key points. And I will try not to overwhelm you with too many technical details. The combined impact of the various items was broadly stable compared with last year. Now more specifically, we're seeing an increase of just under EUR 15 million in the contribution from equity accounted companies and other operating items. And we're also seeing a charge of minus EUR 40 million under nonrecurring operating items, which does not call any particular comment.
Now EUR 66 million income last year relating to several disposals carried out by the group. Now turning to net financial income and expense. The cost of net financial debt increased from EUR 627 million to EUR 682 million. So that's a EUR 55 million increase. This mostly reflects changes in scope, particularly the impact of developments for VINCI Highways in Brazil. Other financial income and expenses included a favorable change in the value of the ADP shares held on the group's balance sheet. So a positive movement of around EUR 20 million in the first half compared with a negative movement of around EUR 40 million in the first half of '25.
Lastly, the income tax charge increased by around EUR 100 million, and this is a mechanical impact. This is -- this reflects the strong operating performance delivered by our businesses in the first half. I'd like to remind that this amount includes the corporate income tax surcharge applicable to large French companies, which was extended into 2026. And in the first half, this represents a little over EUR 300 million. So a slight increase on H1 '25. And this charge is expected to total slightly more than EUR 400 million for the full year.
Overall, net attributable income increased by nearly 10% in the first half of '26, reaching close to EUR 2.1 billion. Bearing in mind that the strong increase cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the rest of the year. And as we already indicated, this means EPS increased by 11%, reflecting our proactive share buyback policy.
Now net financial debt increased by around EUR 3 billion between the end of December '25 and the end of June '26, that's a typical first half pattern for our businesses. This increase reflects EBITDA of EUR 6.4 billion, up by around EUR 300 million, with the increase driven almost equally by Concessions and Energy Solutions. And this also reflects the change in working capital and current provisions, which is traditionally negative in the first half as a result of the seasonality the Energy Solutions and Construction businesses and resulting in a negative cash flow impact of minus EUR 1.9 billion. Now this movement may appear significant, but it was exactly the same as in the first half of '25.
Therefore, this does not represent a reversal following 7 years of significant and continuous improvement in working capital requirement. Rest assured that we remain highly focused on keeping WCR firmly under control, and this requires cost intertention and reflects the strong cash culture of our group. A culture that prevails among all our managers. Now finance costs increased, as I explained before, as did taxes, I'd like to remind you that -- the corporate income tax surcharge had no cash impact in the first half as it is paid at the end of the calendar year.
Operating investments and investments into Concessions were stable compared with last year at EUR 2.4 billion. So you combine all of these items, you get free cash flow for the period, that's positive at EUR 264 million higher than at the same point last year. Bearing in mind, as the next slide will show that virtually all of which is free cash flow is generated in the second half. Below free cash flow, as you can see, cash outflows relating to acquisitions amounted to mere EUR 400 million in the first half, and this mainly concerned the VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies transactions referred to at the beginning of this presentation.
Lastly, to conclude our review of cash flows. Cash outflows relating to dividends and share buybacks as part of VINCI shareholder return amounted to EUR 3.2 billion, higher than the first half of 2025. This can be broken down between payment of the final 2025 dividend amounting to EUR 2.2 billion and share buybacks amounted to EUR 1 billion.
Overall, consolidated net financial debt stood at EUR 22.4 billion at June 30, 2026, below its level at 30th June 2025, which came to EUR 23.3 billion. This is a very manageable level given the group's strong recurring and sustainable cash generation profile. It represents only 1.6x the group's EBITDA over the last 12 months. Free cash flow generation, as you can see on this slide, generating positive free cash flow in the first half has not been a consistent feature in recent years. This performance, which is better than last year is therefore particularly noteworthy. And as mentioned earlier, VINCI generates its full year free cash flow in the second half and indeed largely at the very end of the year, given the nature and the seasonality of our businesses.
This is a highly distinctive profile, which reflects the importance of year-end cash collections. The entire VINCI organization, both operational and finance teams, therefore, remain fully focused on this critical year-end milestone.
Now our financial position is extremely strong. At VINCI, we have always placed great importance on maintaining a strong liquidity position. That's the price to pay for maintaining our independence and the freedom to implement our capital allocation policy, which we will discuss shortly. Now Christian made this point repeatedly for nearly 30 years, and I am now taking up the mental. What is our goal? Well, we seek to be able to raise substantial amounts of funding very quickly when required so that we can meet our commitments, namely the repayment of debt as it falls due. And also be able to seize acquisition opportunities that are aligned with our strategy.
We also want to be able to deal with unforeseen events such as the crisis that have become increasingly frequent in recent years. And lastly, we want to be able to optimize the borrowing terms by choosing the best time to raise funds. At the end of June, we had a net cash position of EUR 11.5 billion as well as an undrawn EUR 6.5 billion committed revolving credit facility at VINCI SA level, maturing in January [ 2027 ]. And this brought our total liquidity to EUR 18 billion. Therefore, we are well equipped to extend the instability and unpredictability of our environment while continuing to grow.
Credit ratings S&P and Moody's continue to demonstrate their confidence in VINCI through their strong credit ratings. And these credit ratings are a major asset for VINCI. It's 1 we must preserve by maintaining a disciplined and consistent approach to financial management and capital allocation. And this enables us to secure financing on attractive terms of the first half ones again demonstrated since the beginning of the year, VINCI and its subsidiaries have successfully raised a total of EUR 1.8 billion in new financing with an average maturity of 8 years and an average cost of 3.2%.
Among these financing transactions, I would highlight the EUR 500 million bond exchangeable into Groupe ADP shares issued in February 2026. The bonds issue to have a 5-year maturity and they carry an annual coupon of only 0.75%. This transaction, there are 4 forms part of VINCI's value creation strategy by optimizing its cost of capital and its cost of debt and actively managing its portfolio of equity interests. These various transactions enabled the group to extend the average maturity of its debt while keeping its average cost at around 4.5%. Thank you for your attention. I will now hand back to Pierre.
Thank you, Thierry, for this very clear presentation, and I now turn to our outlook. As Thierry just indicated, the amount of our financial investments was quite modest. During the first half of 2026. But for all that, VINCI remained active, very active in terms of expansion. I'll illustrate this with a few examples in Portugal, Lisbon first of all, on the new airport project in which we've initiated studies at the request the Portuguese govement since early 2025. I mentioned that regularly. Last week, a new milestone was reached. We submitted the engineering costs and construction report to the Portuguese government, we jointly presented progress on this major project for Lisbon for the country and for its economy.
As you see, this project is proceeding in close conjunction with the Portuguese authorities in the U.K. London Gatwick, we welcome the rolling end of June by the U.K. High Court that confirms the government's decision to approve the Northern Runway project. It's a foundational project for the airport for the U.K., notably in terms of economic fallout. These 2 examples clearly illustrate the significant potential of airports that we operate in addition for our -- to our development potential through M&A in France. Vince was designated preferred concession holder of the new A154-A120 highway route 97K as Western Paris for 35 years.
VINCI Autoroutes will manage the project, fund it and operated VINCI Construction will design and build the signing of the Concession contracts submitted to competent authorities is expected in Q3 2026. In India, VINCI Highways in March, signed and agree with a view to acquire the portfolio of Safeway Concessions made up of 9 highway toll concessions, some 700 kilometers contractual maturities between 2048, 2058. This transaction is subject to the competent authorities for a financial close expected by the end of the year.
In New Zealand, we finalized and made the acquisition of Fletcher Construction will allow us with our other local operations to become a major player in the very dynamic market of infrastructure in that country. In the United States and Brazil, as I mentioned, our long-term energy asset portfolio continue to grow. And lastly, VINCI Energy has accelerated its expansion in digital infrastructure services with recently a takeover bid on the Gem company or for EUR 500 million of revenue in respect of FY '25, digital infrastructures, as you know, constitute a key market for VINCI Energy through its Axians brand. That represents EUR 4 billion in revenue in the construction of digital infrastructure, telecom, data center, fiber cloud, enterprise network, but also deliver services around the digital infrastructure, either business application data applications and workspaces, cybersecurity.
This would consolidate the leadership of VINCI Energy, drive its ambitions and the high growth of digital infrastructure services, ERP solutions, new generation, AI business applications, cloud and data analytics. All these development projects reflect our value creation strategy and ability to afford relations of confidence throughout the world, be it in our long-term or short-term activities.
Turning now to our 2026 guidance. After the excellent financial performance of VINCI H1 notably with the dynamic trajectory of Energy Solutions. VINCI confirms its 2026 guidance. Further growth in revenue, further growth in operating earnings, further growth in net income group share, free cash flow that could reach EUR 6 billion. It is, however, important to note that the geopolitical and macro events, these past few months lead us to generally adjust performance for stable airport traffic and water route traffic down slightly.
And all in all, we confirm the group's guidance. Given the quality of performance achieved in H1 are confident in the outlook of the group. The Board of Directors approved the payment of an interim dividend in respect of FY 2026 EUR 1.10 per share paid of EUR 15 compared to an interim dividend of EUR 1.05 in 2025. Furthermore, in addition to share buybacks in line with the proactive policy expressed at the start of the year that I'll recall the group bought back some 8 million shares in H1 for a total sum of EUR 1 billion in terms of capital allocation. The strategy remains consistent for the shareholder.
Remuneration around the dividend with target payout ratio of 60% of the group's net income and furthermore, share buybacks over the prime goal aimed at offsetting dilution brought about by Newsies created as part of employee share ownership. The group may undertake opportunities to share buybacks depending on its financial regroom after taking into account M&A, the valuation of stock whilst preserving solid financial structure, justifying the maintenance of excellent credit ratings allocated as Thierry record terms of shareholder return. It's precisely what we did in H1.
In terms of expansion, we plan to continue to invest in long-term transport infrastructure, be the airports or auto route through M&A or investing on our existing assets as well as in long-term assets of renewable energy production, storage and electricity transmission, short-term business, the group strategy is to call out in energy solution where the group's demonstrated over the past 20 years. It's now hard to acquire and successfully integrate new companies. Last year, the group remains open to opportunistic acquisitions in the construction sector. In terms of development, it's also the road map rolled out in H1 across our 3 businesses.
Now we've just Thierry and I presented the financial performance of VINCI. This first half, this ability to create value over the long term. We once again demonstrated it rest of course, on a very strong VINCI culture, shared by all that makes VINCI unique on screen, the various ingredients of the -- it's a long-term mindset. It's the quest for all-around performance for us, financial performance and nonfinancial performance in Soprole, they contribute one another all-around performance. It's also a decentralized organization, agile, responsive, multi low particularly relevant in today's world. It's the reliability of its management with shared principles to the [ 4,300 ] business unmatched execution, a focus on cash generation, as Thierry mentioned, and great discipline in capital allocation.
This culture characterizes VINCI across its businesses, geographies. It's a genuine cultural synergy that makes VINCI a rare and precious values only way for us to continue value over the long term, as we've demonstrated this half and as well continue to demonstrate this value creation over the long term. We'll continue to share it with our stakeholders because VINCI's real success is the success you share. Thanks for your attention, and we're now available to answer your questions.
2. Question Answer
Eric Lemarie from CIC. I have a couple of questions, if I may. Number one, the data centers you referenced in the press release, you say that you secured over those, particularly in Europe and Asia. I'd like to know why not in the U.S. market. could you be more active in the data center segment in the U.S. because that's where things are happening apparently.
Second question, all for one, I understand that its recent financial performance isn't ideal. So maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. I'd like to hear your take on that, particularly when it comes to the acquisition of Absolute which is often referenced. ANA, you talked about the new airport in Lisbon. It is my understanding that KICOm was selected for the design aspect of this new airport. I'd like to know why, how come you're not working alone on this?
And a couple more questions, if I may, regarding the productivity gains regarding VINCI Autoroutes whose operating margin has surged. It was my understanding that VINCI Autoroutes was always tightly managed. There's always ways to improve profitability. So what measures have been taken? That's my question.
And 1 last question regarding VINCI Airports, excellent performance, strong organic growth, particularly in Q2, plus 6% in a challenging environment, as you said, so maybe I should do the math myself, but could you please give us an idea of the breakdown between the traffic impact on organic growth and the price effect on VINCI Airports. I understand that the passenger trends are good in Portugal and Mexico, but it comes under pressure in the U.K.
Well, you've covered a lot of ground in your questions. Let me give you a quick answer regarding OF1. The takeover process is underway, so no comments. We'll give you answers once the transaction is successful. We're not at this point at liberty to tell you more.
In terms of data centers, it is true that we are still underrepresented on that front in the U.S. market. Obviously, as a result, we're not ideally positioned to reap the benefits of that market. However, we do have a clear leadership position in Europe. And there have been strong investments in data centers in the U.S. and in the rest of North America, and this is starting to happen in Europe as well, and we are ideally positioned to benefit from that trend in Europe.
Regarding the ANA airport VINCI Autoroutes airports. I'll let Nicolas Sabina Remy give you more specific answers.
In the right sequence. Regarding -- now we're an operator -- we have all of the skills, and we're talking projects that are with several million euros. I mean, the new airport in this band. So of course, we have service providers. We don't have partners. We will continue to sign contracts as builders, for example, as designers. So this policy remains unchanged. And we will sinus builders as well. So we know who the design provider is. They're not a strategic investor at all. They're not an investor, they're not a partner. But in our culture, the work is never over. That's part of our culture.
Now whenever we suffer headwinds such as the war in Iran, and obviously, this has caused a drop in traffic. We have to adapt. So we reduce cost, variable costs. We reduce IT services cost of certain types of multi-technical maintenance costs, and that's what VINCI Autoroutes did right away in a very big way. We did that at the time of COVID across the board in all of our businesses. That's a strong component of our culture, and we will continue to do that so we can keep on meeting our obligations.
Now regarding airports, most of the price hikes don't materialize from January 1. We have to wait until March 1, April 1, and this is true for Gatwick, Everton is been same thing. The effect is more felt in Q2 than in Q1 in terms of pretax. There is a gap. And we have to bear that in mind, that time lag. So this is the shortest answer I can give you in VINCI Airports. VINCI Autoroutes have worked really hard so as to protect our EBITDA margin.
Now as a subscript to Nicola's answer, you may have seen this from 1 crisis to another. And there have been many more crises in recent years. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine every time our consortium teams have behaved in exemplary fashion. And when we compare ourselves to the competition, we find that our teams are extremely responsive and quick to adapt in the face of loss of revenue. And -- as we said before, this is part and parcel of our VINCI culture unrivaled quality of execution. That's how we stand apart from the competition.
If there are no further questions in person. Pierre Sylvain.
Congratulations on your excellent performance. I have a question regarding energies. A strong acceleration in growth in Q2. I'd like to understand the underlying drivers behind that improvement, particularly -- is there a strong impact from digital at this stage? And -- how much would that represent in terms of margin. We're also seeing a significant surge in margin in this half year. So what would be the share of that sale.
Now in Zero.e has significant CapEx invested in it. Could you give us an interim guidance before 2030, considering the size of the assets being built or ready to build at this stage?
And 1 last question, a short-term question. Could you please tell us more regarding the impact of the heat waves on traffic, particularly the latest trends in France, particularly when it comes to motorways in France.
Now 2 technical answers. When it comes to the guidance for Zero.e, please look at note 23. The portfolio has capacity 5 gigawatt at the end '25. EBITDA should exceed EUR 400 million by 2030. It's the same guidance that we shared at the end of 2025, we have not updated it with the 5.6 gigawatts, but that gives you a ballpark figure.
VINCI Energies. Yes. We say this every time. You shouldn't analyze if it was quarter-by-quarter because our year -- rather our business is started throughout the year, started over several years. So just because there's a loss in 1 quarter cannot be extrapolated.
Now we're seeing strong growth, as indicated in our guidance. And all our activities are contributing across the board. All geographies, yes, digital as well, the refurbishment in commercial real estate, energy infrastructure and a number of industry activities. They're all making a contribution, both in terms of growth and in terms of profit margin. I think these features in the appendices, the digital mega trend has a powerful impact on our business, 2025. This is factored into our order book and this accounts for EUR 6 billion in business. We can add to this, everything that goes with it. I mean you've got the data center per se, but there's an entire ecosystem around the data center, for example.
Renewable energies in Texas, that segment ties in directly with the development of data centers in the states -- in the United States. So offtakers of that electric power or data center is Google. So clearly, these markets will undergo accelerated growth, and we are ideally positioned to benefit from that surge in top line, but also we have strong pricing power. We have the ability to deliver products and services in all those geographies where we already operate.
The other question regarding sessions, Nicolas?.
Now let me give you a little bit of color regarding traffic. The heat spells don't affect the entire country at the same time. So the effect is relative in our network. We have the Brown Valley or the French refer. Usually, it's and warmer every year. Even when it's a warmer, those are regions that are used to the heat. So we're not seeing any impact on passenger traffic. There's a macro effect, maybe 1% a dip in case of a heat spot, but that's it. Let me give you a little bit more color regarding the trend. Elasticity fuel prices diminishes over time. We've seen that since the beginning of the crisis. Traffic tends to kick back up. And we know that traffic levels of good in July because people go on vacation and people traveling to France or transiting through France are sustaining those high traffic levels.
Let us start with questions in French over the phone. [Operator Instructions] First question JPMorgan.
I have question regarding the acquisition of Safeway Concessions in India, more specifically the Indian market in general. Clearly, you intend to continue making acquisitions on that market, particularly when it comes to airports and motorways. Those are considered greenfield acquisitions. Now my second question ties in with the first. Your M&A pipeline, what kind of opportunities do you see happening in the future? Or are you currently working on?
And what are you doing to optimize asset rotation in your portfolios? I think you didn't touch upon that some time ago. Lastly, free cash flow. This question is for Thierry Mirville because I put this question, the exact same question to Christian many times. So H1 is encouraging. The guidance stands at EUR 6 billion, which feels a bit conservative. What do you think?
Regarding India, India is a particularly buoyant market because of its strong demographic trend and the Indian economy, which is driven by the strong population growth is a buoyant segment, a buoyant market. So the contractual framework is sound and robust. We are busy finalizing a first major acquisition. It's a brownfield acquisition because the Indian market is, by definition, a brownfield concession market. I'm talking about airport concessions and highway concessions as well. And if this first acquisition succeeds, yes, we will continue to deploy the same policy there. Now our priority right now is to complete this acquisition, we're bearing in mind that we already operate a toll of services in India. So we have that expertise in India. We're used to collecting tolls. We have that business already. So this gives us a good stepping stone for performing and successfully integrating that first acquisition. And the story goes on.
Regarding our M&A pipeline and our asset rotation policy, we're not giving any specific indications, but we are paying close attention to this. There are a number of issues that we've been close attention to, for VINCI Airways, VINCI Airports and VINCI Energies. And of course, we will keep you apprised on the flow as those opportunities actually materialize.
In terms of free cash flow, you're on Thierry. Okay. Well the end of June was is an encouraging milestone, but it's not significant when it comes to your cash flow generation profile. This does strengthen the guidance we issued. However, this does not mean we want to upgrade it. I'd like to remind you that every year, we work hard to improve our WCR and it's getting harder and harder every year. So we still have limited headroom. So our free cash flow performance at the end of June is comforting, but that doesn't mean we will update our guidance.
Next Nicolas Mora, Morgan Stanley.
What about Cobra? Excellent performance by Cobra in terms of margins? Are we finally seeing a ramp-up, a major adc EPC contracts, which have been secured since '23, 2024, and this adds profit margin, and this could mean a future ramp-up over '27 '28. So that's my first question.
But I'd also like to give back to margins for French motorways. Now you're back at peak level, despite a challenging environment, I understand Nicolas answered. But there are other factors that must be considered, particularly provisions for maintenance and the increase in interest rates, which has led to provisions going down. We need to factor in highway traffic trends and airport traffic trends. And we're not seeing an increase in prices in Q2. We're seeing price dips in Portugal, in particular. So what about that? And also, what about Alferon Energies?
Now I'm -- I missed the first part of this call. But if we look at your history, your deals are usually growth-based. And here, it seems as though we're dealing with the company that is exposed to SAP and their top line performance is difficult. They need restructuring. So is that a unique opportunity? Is that a departure, a break's from your usual policy? There's something I'm not getting.
On Cobra, Jose Maria.
In later with the margins in Cobra that has increased from, I don't know, 8% to 8.4% is because we have 2 parts in the company, contracting and long-term assets, contracting must be around 8%, 8.1%. And the increase is mainly because of the Cory contribution that is going -- is beginning now. And in the long term, this is going to increase, this increase in the margin subsidiary. At the same time, we think we can increase a little bit our future margins in contracting. Then it's true that in the next years, the margins at least must be -- increase a little bit from this position.
On the Autoroutes, Nicolas, please.
I confirm in our business, notably in Autoroute operations and at the head the changes that we make constantly lead us to optimize operating costs. We've done this for a long time. I mean, on auto routes, there's no major provisions. I mean mentioned IT services is before the end of the concession. We're optimizing a few factors. So a couple of one-offs on the airport side, very limited. But of course, we're not seeking to embellish these numbers. I mean, the margins are by half, they are half yearly. They can't really be compared from 1 half to the next, but versus the previous year and the second half must be on with the second half of the -- because there are differing effect, notably the Autoroutes, margin of H1 is always better than the H2 margin, but that's been the case for many years now. .
And just to complete that, we're convinced at VINCI because We manage our own costs we do what's known as own production on concession assets. We operate our own concession. We're not a fund. We're not just a merely a financial investor. We're an investor, but an industrialist, an operational investor in terms of energy services. We are not a general contractor that subcontracts. There are some amongst our major peers who can be viewed as comparable, the share of activity that we perform ourselves, be it in airport assets or energy services or construction. We perform a large part of what we do. And that gives us a cost inside cost containment ability to have, as I said, unparalleled executional quality and to improve margins through market effects as the others do, but working on our costs and it's a quality that sets us apart from our major peers where they have a different profile or a similar profile and needs to be recognized for what it is.
On all for 1 in addition to what I said because we're in the middle of the takeover. Well, yes, the offer formal offer was submitted to BaFin the day before yesterday. We're used to even if we done -- we regularly take over a number of at the tribunal, and we can restructure turnaround recovery, et cetera. We're working in depth our portfolio each and every year in various deals. Of course, not of this size. So you don't it's something we're used to doing by rolling out our model or tools and our management culture .
We're fully capable of doing that. It's a way of creating value to look at this type of company, not very expensive and things that are already optimized. And then the strategic interest, I can point good fit with our portfolio of activity. It's something we can do. It's a good fit. In Germany, we have teams that can integrate with the Mittelstand cost base recurring flow business, which is precisely what motivates it. We believe that by rolling out our model, where we tend to previous levels of profitability that it makes fully sense and we're prepared.
We wanted to move forward with this deal, which we hope will complete by around Capital Market Day, we presented bolt-ons and some significant deals opportunities. It's a fine opportunity that we're able to seize.
Moving on to questions in English. UBS, please.
On the data center backlog. You mentioned you're in discussions with large hyperscalers. Any reason why we could not see 2 to 3 gigawatt of data center project in your backlog in a couple of years. Secondly, on Energy Systems profit margins midterm. We have -- you flagged the Europe's appetite to build data centers has increased meaningfully over the last months. And this will capture a large labor resource of electricians and specialized labor in an already constrained environment. So is it fair to assume that midterm this will be very favorable for further meaningful margin accretion in energy systems across all verticals.
And the last one, if I may, on contracting, it's on the quality of the Q2 order intake. You had a strong order intake in Q2 in a tough backdrop. Can you make any comments around the margin profile within this Q2 order intake? And is it supportive for further margin improvement in construction? Or is the competitive environment more tougher recently? Or is there any negative mix in there we should be aware of?
On the data centers, as I mentioned, it's too soon to book in our order book deals in which discussions are well .
We'll do it in due course. It's consistent with our discipline. We don't rule out good news to announced you over and above the EUR 900 million order intake in H1 fairly soon, notably in Europe. It's difficult to say much more. But what we can say, the pipeline is broad substantive. We're talking several gigawatts. We'll see in that pipeline. What will be delivered, what will actually come about. But it's clear, as I said earlier, we have all the resources to achieve that.
We're probably 1 of the best placed with the resources available to human resources together and with our ability to recruit to train, to retain personnel on these various topics.
Now yes, it will necessarily have an impact on the top line. It will necessarily have an impact on the margins by how much it's too soon to say, but that is what underpins our guidance for the year. And if we extrapolate the VINCI's trajectory midterm going forward as to the heightened order intake. Our philosophy, our rationale is to favor margin over volume. So our teams have not sacrificed the quality of order intake over the quantity, the quality of the order book is the same, if not better, but -- and it's in that context that our order have increased plus 8%. It's not a race for volume, quite the opposite order intake fuels and order book, which has the same level of quality.
And it's clear that we are on markets where we're a leader in European market. We are the preferred recruiter. We represent an employer brand such that to recruit to train. We have a training centers, and so we can go up scale on many projects. It's the case of all major projects, be it those of Cobra in EPC in Europe or elsewhere, those at VINCI Energy is rolling out or even VINCI Construction. And there, again, it's capability that sets us apart from our peers that drives top line growth and using a fully fledged pricing power where human resources skills become a key factor and set us apart.
Harishankar from Deutsche Bank.
Congrats on the solid H1 results. Two questions from my side, please, if that's okay. First on the what in a acquisition that you did some time back, could you help us understand the outlook there in the light of the F-1263gates being canceled? The put this business in a better or worse position or no change at all?
And secondly, on the acquisitions landscape. Are you seeing targets asking for elevated multiples still? Or are you starting to see that tempering given the higher yield environment? Any regional variations worth highlighting? That would be great.
Some acquisition -- contract who was being canceled. So there's negotiation with the German minister about this cancellation. So it has no impact for us on the business. And anyway, they need frigates. So it's not that frigates will be other ones that will be built. So long term and short term, there's no impact, and maybe will speed up the work because the F126 was complex in the supply chain with Germany, the Netherlands, the diamond and everything. So I think they will try to find an easier solution.
And so of course, it's a very good perspective with the.
Regarding the acquisition multiples, they're always high. There's no reason to go down. And you just need 1 buyer who thinks there's someone else to have a higher multiple, so they are higher expectations, but we remain disciplined and we try to find and to share a pick and to find the right targets that are -- for [indiscernible] are within our strategy.
For the other ones?
Maybe just to add. We don't just value our acquisition targets through a multiple. We value them on the basis of a business plan. We start with the multiple to have an order of magnitude, but behind a big multiple or a small multiple, the other considerations, and we remain highly disciplined in this regard. And our acquisition prices are based on other things other than the multiple, it's easy to communicate on a multiple. We acquire a due diligence on what we consider with our own opinion with the inputs or contributions, the synergies that we can develop with the value that we can ascribe to those targets.
I don't have a team of concept. The question case. Next question Marc Ip Tat Kuen from Citi.
A couple of follow-ups just on the Energy Solutions business. Just first a clarification just on your FY '26 margin outlook. So the margin first half is already above full year '25. And if we look at what you're seeing in the near-term pipeline, what you'll deliver for the remainder of this year, could we potentially see margin improvement on the first half results? Or are you comfortable where they landed essentially at the first half.
And then my second question, on the Zero.e your 2030 target is EUR 400 million EBITDA target, are you able to share with us what you're expecting in terms of technology mix and operational capacity mix that underpins that target, please.
Now we give you our margin targets in our guidance already, but we confirm that our operating income is going to increase, as it did in the first half. Maybe it won't increase as much as in H1, but it will continue to grow. I'm not sure I understand the question regarding technology.
EUR 200 million EBITDA target by 2030 for Zero.e. I just want to know if you have a sense of what technologies or capacity split makes up that EUR 400 million. Obviously, you've announced, for example, you put 2 setoffarms in operation in the first half this year. What other -- what makes up the rest of it out to 2030, please?
Now in terms of Zero.e, you will find most of the assets on this slide. Most of those assets are photovaltic assets. And we haberdized those operations with batteries, depending on what opportunities arise. Now 2% of the 5.6-gigawatt are wind farms, land-based wind farms. And the vast majority of the rest is solar, whether or not hybrid, solar battery solutions.
Next question, Luis Prieto, Kepler.
I had a couple of questions. Apologies if you have already addressed this, and I have missed it. In any case, the first question is, you have become more vocal about data center construction and it's undeniable that you understand very well the development of 1 technological assets. So I was wondering if in an environment in which key competitors like ACS, HOCHTIEF for AV, for example, are increasingly active in the development and operation of data centers. Could this become of interest to you at any point in time. .
And my second question is regarding the quite debate about the Manaslanes pipeline involving peers again, like ACS or Otis CSCC. You have looked to this in the past, but what is your current stance on U.S. managing.
Yes. Linker with the investment in data centers and our constructing them, some facts. You can see that in the backlog is EUR 1.2 billion in the whole VINCI. But it's true that, for example, this month has been awarded with EUR 500 million more. This order intake that is not reflecting there. We have been more than EUR 10 billion that we are in negotiation now. With GAFAs and forms and other investors. We have -- as Pierre has said, we are going to have good news, I think, in the next weeks, months. And at the same time, we are bidding more than EUR 30 billion for the next 6 months, just in Europe and Middle East.
Then, in my opinion, in a bancopinion, is much more secure to be in this industry doing services and construction and electromechanical installations for these investors, the part of the investment when we have much more risk, and we are not experts okay? We are experts in transmission lines. We are experts in generation energy, then we prefer to invest when we know that what is going the megatrend or the glamorous moment. We prefer to be when we are going to do money in any scenario.
Question from Jose Arroyas from Santander.
But there was a question -- that was a question. There was another question we haven't answered yet. Now Managing. There's no such thing as a free lunch. We have an interest in contracts in other countries as well. And this does not mean the same thing for managing contracts. We self-perform. So we need to find specific types of construction works in states that we already know, mostly on the Eastern Coast. Obviously, we're not ruling out any count of technical or financial partnerships. So we do look at the possibility systematically, like I said, just because the there were interesting manage lanes in the past doesn't mean it will happen in the future. The competitive environment will dictate our interest and the level of interest in management.
So with engine construction, we're looking at the situation in the U.S., depending on the type of construction, the top of works that could actually mean a competitive offer on our part, particularly in partnership.
That will be your final question. It's coming from Dario Maglione from BNP Paribas.
I have 3 questions. One on traffic on French highways, specifically the heavy vehicle take which was up 1.6% year-on-year in H1. Why do you think it was so resilient and so much better compared to the light vehicle traffic.
And second question on the data centers. You mentioned the EUR 0.9 billion of intake in H1. What type of work exactly would in be doing? Are we talking about fitting mechanical electrical plumbing inside the data centers or something else?
And last question around contracting. Understanding in Q1 2026, there was some bad weather effect. And then I think also some of your peers reported some catch-up effect in Q2. Is there more catch up respect in Q3 or not.
Nicola, regarding heavy goods traffic, there are 2 different factors. First of all, manufacturing output was positive in Europe, particularly in France and in Spain in the first half. Consumer spending was less buoyant. But when it comes to VINCI Autoroutes their network, 50% of vehicles are international vehicles. And this means we systematically benefit from the from the Spanish economy because they transit through France and they transit through our network. We also have excellent connections with Spain, rather Italy. So strong manufacturing output. And this drives traffic from Spain and Italy into France or through France.
Regarding data centers. On average, this is a ballpark figure. Okay. Over 50% of new investment into the data center is the actual process, the actual server racks. But that's not our core business, okay? It's a procurement insure with players such as NVIDIA. So we provide very value added there. But this accounts for 50% of the entire investment into a data center. Now the remainder has to do with the surrounding equipment. What we call the balance of plant.
Low voltage or high-voltage cards, cooling, heating, fire protection. This accounts for 50% of that smaller 50%. And then you have a very small share of that 50% that has to do with the surrounding environment, everything that's around the data center. Generators connections to the grid. So where do we come in? That smaller 50% in that 50% investment into data centers, which is highly process dependent because there are issues such as obsolescence, things shift very quickly in the data center world. And that is why, as Jose Maria rightly said, we prefer our EPC model. We prefer to focus on the balance of plants and the infrastructure per se.
And we are ready to invest, and we've done that in Texas. We are ready to invest into energy generation facilities, renewable energies in particular. We have that business in Texas and customers include Google. Google is our main customer for data centers. And if we look at how much we invest into photovoltaic technologies for data center, this share of business is starting to be significant. You have that entire economic ecosystem around data centers. Now we try not to focus on whatever is not our core business, particularly since the risk of obsolescence are significantly high.
You had a question regarding contracting. Now our guidance on this front is based on our 2026 guidance. It remains unchanged. We haven't changed our guidance in the past 6 months when it comes to Energy Solutions and Construction. Okay.
And just a follow-up on the second question there. EUR 0.9 billion of intake in data centers. Does that include photovoltaic plants, be it for data centers?
No, there is no any revenue backlog in this EUR 0.9 million that is linked with energy to administrate the data centers. It's pure activity in the construction of the data centers.
There doesn't seem to be any other questions online. In that case, thank you very much for your kind attention. Thank you for this fruitful discussion. Enjoy the summer break, and we'll see you all very soon. Thank you all.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked
[Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Vinci — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
H1: VINCI posted resilient, profitable H1 with Energy Solutions driving growth, record order book and positive free cash flow; guidance confirmed.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- Revenue: €35.6bn (+2.1% YoY; reported, -0.6% currency headwind)
- EBITDA: €6.4bn (+4% YoY; margin up ~48 basis points versus prior H1)
- EBIT (ROPA): ~€4.4bn (+5%; operating margin ~12.3%)
- EPS: +11% YoY (benefit from buybacks)
- Cash & Orders: Free cash flow +€264m (H1); order intake €34.4bn, order book ~€77bn (record)
🎯 What Management Says
- Energy focus: VINCI is scaling Energy Solutions—strong organic growth, disciplined bolt-on M&A and expanding long‑term renewables & transmission assets.
- Margin discipline: Selective bidding and cost control: management prioritizes profitable growth over volume and leverages self‑performance to lift margins.
- Capital policy: Maintain dividend/share buybacks while preserving liquidity and credit ratings to seize M&A.
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- Guidance: 2026 confirmed: further growth in revenue, operating earnings and net income group share; free cash flow target up to ~€6bn for FY2026.
- Risks: Concessions traffic uncertainty (fuel price and heat‑waves), seasonality (WCR consumption in H1) and geopolitical risks could dampen short‑term performance.
❓ Analyst Q&A
- Data centers: Large Europe pipeline (several GW); underrepresented in the U.S.; €900m H1 data‑center intake with multi‑technical EPC/balance‑of‑plant focus.
- Zero.e & renewables: Zero.e capacity expanding (solar + some wind); target EBITDA >€400m by 2030 from ~5–5.6 GW portfolio.
- M&A/targets: Active bolt‑ons (12 deals H1), pursuing Safeway (India) and All‑for‑One (Germany); discipline on multiples and value‑creation focus emphasized.
⚡ Bottom Line
- Takeaway: H1 confirms VINCI’s diversified, cash‑generative model: Energy Solutions is the growth engine, order book is at record levels, cash and liquidity are strong, and management keeps a conservative, margin‑first playbook while pursuing selective M&A and shareholder returns.
Vinci — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Vinci SA
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning. Welcome to Vinci's Annual General Meeting. It's such a pleasure to see you all again year after year again. As you can see, we have a broader stage here as a result of the succession plan last year, you elected Pierre Anjolras as Chief Executive Officer. He was appointed as such as of May 1, 2025. And therefore, it is Pierre Anjolras, who will present the group's performance and outlook alongside Christian Labeyrie, who you know very well. This will be Christian's final AGM. So next year, you will meet his successor to Thierry Mirville. He's with us today.
Christian has been the group's Chief Financial Officer since 1999. And I know that we've changed venues from time to time, but he has stood at this podium 27x for our AGMs. This must be a CAC 40 record and that gives you a sense of the pivotal role that he has played in Vinci's remarkable journey. So I think he deserves a warm round of applause.
We also have Patrick Richard with us, General Counsel for 25 years, a secretary to the Board and to the AGM since 2007. And for him as well, this will be the last of a long series of 20 AGMs. If all goes well, Sophie Deis Beauques, who's also here with us today, will be replacing Patrick in a couple of months. Once again, Patrick, many thanks for your tireless and valuable contribution. All of these transitions are taking place in a natural and carefully considered way. Pierre and I talk constantly. We have a constant focus on continuity. And in just a few moments, you will see that your group remains true to itself. It has the same strategic Vinci, the same way of operating. We call it the Vinci way. And above all, we have the same discipline and commitment to all around performance, combining economic, social and environmental results.
Now we're never going to rest on our laurels, but we do owe our success, first and foremost, to our nearly 300,000 colleagues across 300 business units. And we owe our success as well to the strength and cohesion of the Executive Committee, one that Pierre has significantly reshaped in recent months, and his members are all with us today. And finally, we owe our success to the quality of our corporate governance. The members of your Board of Directors are present today include Annette Messemer, our new Lead Director. Let us also welcome Carlos Aguilar, Yannick Assouad, Benoit Bazin, Karla Bertocco Trindade, Caroline Grégoire Sainte, Claude Laruelle, Marie-Christine Lombard, René Medori, Roberto Migliardi, Frédéric Nougarède, Alain Saïd as well as Maria Victoria Zingoni.
After 12 years of service on the Board, Marie-Christine will be stepping down at the end of this AGM. And I would like to thank her warmly for her commitment. She has made an outstanding contribution to your group. Roberto Migliardi is the Board member representing employees, and he will also be stepping down at the end of this AGM. And I would like to thank him as well for his valuable contribution to the group. He will be replaced by Nelson Martino Galego, a new representative appointed by the group's European Works Council when the EWC last met. So he's a new Board member starting today. Thank you, Nelson.
I suggest we formally open the meeting. This combined shareholders' meeting is being held on first notice. All required legal notices relating to the convening of shareholders have been duly published within the applicable time frames. The financial statements, reports and all the documents required to be made available to shareholders have been provided in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. These documents are available in a huge trunk that Patrick slips around at every AGM. So the documents are available here on the table. I would ask you to take formal note of this. We will now proceed with the appointment of the members of the bureau, verify that a quorum is present and review the agenda for today's AGM.
Regarding the appointment of the members of the bureau, I will act as Chair of the bureau. As for the scrutineers, I note that among the shareholders present or represented, Frédéric Nougarède, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Castor Employee Fund, and Frédéric Rosamond representing Amundi are among those holding the largest number of voting rights. And I would therefore ask whether they are willing to act as scrutineers.
I propose that Patrick Richard act as Secretary of the meeting. With regard to the quorum, I would like to note that VINCI share capital currently consists of 582,257,305 shares. From this total, we must deduct the shares held by VINCI itself, namely 28,718,953 shares in order to determine the number of shares carrying voting rights. I would also remind you that the company's bylaws do not provide for double voting rights. The number of shares held by shareholders present, represented or having voted by proxy is 503 million. Therefore, the quorum is 70.72%, which is a new record for our group. So this is an excellent quorum, and we're happy with it. This exceeds the thresholds of 20% and 25% required for ordinary and extraordinary general meetings held on first notice. The meeting is, therefore, duly constituted and may validly deliberate.
Let me also remind you that resolutions under the ordinary part are adopted by a simple majority, while others under the extraordinary part require a 2/3 majority. The agenda for this meeting is already known to you. It has been published and appears on Page 5 of the Notice of Meeting. It is also displayed on the screen. So I will not read it out in full. Finally, I would inform you that the company has not received any requests to add draft resolutions or new items to the agenda and that the Social and Economic Committee has not exercised its statutory right to submit draft resolutions.
I suggest lastly, that we do not read the full Board of Directors' report. It's available in the 2025 URD, which is available. If you don't have it yet, it's available in the lobby of Salle Pleyel. You can also find it on the company's website. So how shall we proceed? Well, as usual. In a few seconds, I will hand over to Pierre Anjolras, and he will walk you through the key highlights and overall performance of 2025. And then Christian Labeyrie will present the financial performance of each division and of the group as a whole. Then Pierre Anjolras will return to outline the outlook for 2026. And this will be followed by presentations on the work of the Board's committees. We will then hear from our statutory auditors, and these presentations will be followed by a Q&A session. And finally, we will vote on the resolutions.
Pierre, over to you.
Thank you, Xavier. Good morning, everyone. I too would like to welcome you to the 2026 Annual General Meeting. Let's watch a quick video on the highlights from the past 12 months.
[Presentation]
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, we're extremely proud of this video. It shows exactly who we are. We are a world leader in infrastructure, but we are much more than that. We are a company that takes the long view. And that's what underpins our all around performance. And these principles are at the very heart of our group's culture. For over 20 years, we have held a clear conviction. Social, environmental and economic performance are inseparable. And what's more, each one strengthens the others. In the short term, [indiscernible] for growth, and over the long term, they are what makes us resilient.
Let me talk to you, first and foremost, about our social performance. We have a project-driven culture. We have several hundred thousand projects delivered every year. And our project-driven culture puts people firmly at the center of everything we do across 4,300 companies. Our greatest asset is quite simply our people. We have a decentralized organization, which is built on the following principles: autonomy, accountability, trust and boldness. And this decentralized organization is designed to empower individual initiative while fostering strong collaboration across the group.
When it comes to people and social performance, our #1 priority is safety. Ensuring the protection of our employees and everyone working alongside them every single day on every project. Across our 4,300 companies, we have built a genuine safety culture. It is this culture that enables us to outperform most of our industry in this area through extensive training, 3.5 million hours every year, we work collectively across the network, and we apply rigorous disciplined methods.
Our ambition is clear, 0 accidents, and we are making real progress more than 75% of VINCI companies, so over 3,000 VINCI companies recorded no lost time accidents in 2025. With the full support of the Board, I have made safety a top strategic priority. And together with the Executive Committee, we have launched a renewed group-wide mobilization to go even further. When it comes to people and social performance, VINCI is a major player in recruitment and workforce inclusion. Your group employs close to 300,000 people worldwide. Each year, we bring on nearly 85,000 new employees in long-term roles, including 10,000 young people starting their careers and close to 30% of newly recruited managers are women. In France alone, last year, VINCI also supported 6,500 middle school students from priority urban and rural areas through work experience programs, introducing them to the group's professions.
Each year, 8,500 young people take part in work study programs within the group and 4,000 individuals were recruited through dedicated inclusion pathways. VINCI recruits. VINCI integrates. You see this at scale, but always with a strong local footprint in every region, working hand-in-hand with local partners, deeply rooted in the communities we serve. To support people and social performance, the group invests heavily in training and upscaling to strengthen employability across its workforce. In 2025, more than 230,000 employees, around 80% of our workforce received training, averaging 24 training hours per person.
In France alone, that's twice the national average across all sectors. To support this, the group relies on a network of more than 100 internal training centers as well as open access e-learning platforms. In 2025, over 730,000 courses were completed online. Beyond social performance or even societal performance and more broadly, we actively encourage our employees' civic engagement. And we do this through our network of 15 foundations in France and internationally. Our core mission is to support community initiatives that strengthen social cohesion at the local level. And together, they represent an annual budget of over EUR 7 million.
Finally, when it comes to people and social performance, VINCI has for nearly 30 years, pursued an ambitious employee share ownership policy, bringing as many employees as possible into the group's success. By the end of 2025, more than 176,000 employees and former employees in France and internationally collectively held 11.3% of the share capital, making them VINCI's largest shareholder. Now these 2 figures, 176,000 employee shareholders and EUR 8 billion in capital held placed your group among the top 3 companies in the CAC 40 for employee share ownership. It's a real strength. It's also a powerful driver of alignment and long-term stability.
Let me now turn to your group's environmental performance in 2025. While people are a fundamental condition for success in a group like yours, environmental performance is both a responsible response to the climate emergency and a powerful driver of growth. As shareholders, in 2021, you expressed your support for our environmental transition plan built around 3 key priorities: fighting climate change, optimizing resources through the circular economy and protecting natural environments. Across each of these priorities, VINCI has a dual ambition to significantly reduce the footprint of its own operations and to support its clients, suppliers and partners in reducing their own footprint. The first pillar of our environmental performance is climate action. Starting with our own operations. We have committed to an ambitious decarbonization pathway for all direct emissions aligned with the Paris Agreement and validated by the SBTi, the science-based targets initiative.
At the halfway point in 2025, the group is fully on track with its commitments as shown by this carbon trajectory. We'll still have a further 20% reduction to achieve by 2030. In this respect, I would like to highlight the remarkable ambition of VINCI Airports. It already operates 6 net zero airports today, making it a global leader in a sector where decarbonization remains a major challenge, and we intend to keep pushing forward. We have just covered the first pillar, climate, which is shown in blue on the left, so I won't go back over it. And the second pillar of our environmental strategy is resource optimization through circular economy approach illustrated in the purple column in the center. So in practical terms, this means producing recycled materials through VINCI Construction's recycling platforms and reusing those materials, particularly on VINCI Autoroutes projects.
The third pillar is preserving natural environments, shown in green on the right. And the group applies the avoid, reduce, offset approach and has rolled out biodiversity action plans across all its business lines. For example, our concessions businesses are actively working to eliminate the use of plant protection products. And VINCI Immobilier is focusing on urban regeneration, redeveloping existing sites rather than building on new land. Beyond reducing the impact of our own operations, and this is even more significant, VINCI supports its clients with solutions that help them reduce the footprint of their own activities. And this is a powerful growth driver for the group because VINCI's purpose is to contribute to transforming living environments to sustainable mobility and to the energy transition. In that respect, as you can see, around half of the group's activity is recognized under the European taxonomy as contributing to the environmental transition.
Let me give you a few examples, moving from left to right and top to bottom. This includes our low-carbon energy infrastructure activities in power generation, renewables and nuclear and of course, in electricity transmission and distribution networks. It also includes low-carbon mobility infrastructure, rail networks, so main lines, high-speed rail, urban transport, trams and metro lines, soft mobility infrastructure such as cycle paps and pedestrian areas and not forgetting electric mobility infrastructure along roads and motorways. It also covers water infrastructure, treatment plants and networks for both drinking water and wastewater as well as retention basins. And finally, a wide range of urban infrastructure, building refurbishment and energy efficiency solutions for housing, offices and industrial sites.
Across all these areas, the group is scaling up the most promising environmental solutions. Among the flagship initiatives, I would highlight Charge as a Drive. It's a dynamic charging system for heavy goods vehicles led by VINCI Autoroute. And within VINCI Construction, the Granulat + program and the Ogêo offering, both promoting material recycling and also the use of low-carbon concrete under the Exegy standard as well as the energy efficiency solutions developed by VINCI Energies and Cobra. Our social and environmental performance are, therefore, the concrete expression of our commitment to serving society and local communities to promoting more responsible practices and to better managing our resources and our risks. These are the foundations of our long-term development, and they underpin our economic performance. That economic performance is what I'd like to turn to now, and I will then invite Christian Labeyrie to take you through the group's 2025 financial performance in more detail.
So what stands out from 2025 is a truly strong economic performance by VINCI, fully in line with previous years despite a macroeconomic and geopolitical environment fraught with much uncertainty. The key highlights include solid revenue growth, combined with higher operating income across all our business lines. And that's what really matters to us. More than volume growth, our focus is on profitable growth. Net income also increased by 1% despite a very significant rise in taxation in France in 2025. Excluding the additional corporate tax, it is up 10%. Free cash flow reached a new all-time high at EUR 7 billion, and that's something Christian will come back to in more detail.
This strong performance demonstrates the relevance of the group's decentralized multi-local organization. It is also a reflection of your group's unique culture. As you know, VINCI as a global leader in infrastructure operates in around 100 countries, but our 12 core countries accounted for 84% of total revenue in 2025. Those are markets where we have long-standing positions. Our top 6 include France, the U.K., Germany. Germany will become our leading international market in 2026, not forgetting Spain, the U.S. and Canada. Overall, revenue generated outside France is now approaching 60% of the total. And you may have noted that 56% of our net income is generated outside France.
We have been pursuing this international expansion strategy consistently for the past 15 years, and we will continue to do so. Let me share a few highlights by business line, starting with Concessions. For VINCI Airports, the key takeaway is strong momentum. Revenue reached EUR 4.8 billion, up 6%. This was driven by solid traffic growth. In total, the network of VINCI Airports handled 334 million passengers in 2025, up 5% compared with last year. Customer demand remains strong even as the post-COVID rebound effect gradually fades. So mobility demand is clearly a fundamental need. We also saw particularly strong growth in recently acquired airports, OMA in Mexico, Edinburgh and Budapest. This strong passenger traffic performance also reflects our ability, thanks to our unique global airport network, our ability to support airlines in opening new routes. We launched 400 new routes this year alone.
This strong collective performance further reinforces VINCI Airport's position and its unique portfolio of assets as the world's leading private airport operator. Starting with VINCI Autoroute, where revenue rose by more than 2% to EUR 6.7 billion. traffic increased by close to 1%. Beyond these solid figures, it's worth highlighting that we have reestablished a constructive and balanced dialogue with the French government. As illustrated by the Escota investment program, which is designed to ensure infrastructure quality through to the end of the concession in 2032. This program was approved by the government early last year. We have also signed a new multiyear plan with Cofiroute. I will come back to that shortly.
Turning to VINCI Highways, that is our international portfolio for motorways, which generated close to EUR 550 million in revenue. So traffic trends are also positive across our European and North American assets. Brazil, in particular, was a key highlight for VINCI Highways in 2025. In Brazil, we now operate close to 1,200 kilometers of motorways in this dynamic country, making it our largest motorway network outside France. And to give you a sense of scale, a network slightly longer than Cofiroutes. So within Concessions, as we've just seen, we are the world's leading private airport operator. And we're now also the world's leading private motorway operator with 8,200 kilometers currently and soon close to 9,000 kilometers once the acquisition in India is included, but I'll come back to that later.
Let's now move on to Energy Services, namely VINCI Energies and Cobra. This business remains highly dynamic, driven in particular by the energy transition and the digital transformation. Revenue came in at close to EUR 30 billion. This confirms your group as a global leader in energy services, and that represents growth of 8%. Growth was driven primarily by international markets, which accounted for more than 70% of total revenue. Let's take a closer look at Germany. For Energy Services, we're talking EUR 5 billion in revenue in 2025. So Germany is now the leading international market for energy services. Activity is expected to continue growing in the coming years, thanks to a large number of electrification projects across the country and VINCI Energy's recent acquisitions in Germany.
On the M&A front, VINCI Energies continued its strong momentum, completing 33 acquisitions in 2025, more than 1 every 2 weeks. These acquisitions, mainly international, represent around EUR 700 million in additional full year revenue. In Energy Services, core business activities, meaning smaller scale projects carried out with repeat customers, which account for 88% of Energy Services revenue remained strong, both in France and internationally with growth of 6%. In major projects, Cobra's area of excellence, activity rose sharply, up 24%, driven in particular by the construction in Germany of offshore electricity conversion platforms for the North Sea. Again, in Germany, the development of an LNG regasification terminal, high-voltage transmission lines in Brazil and the launch of a major public-private partnership for electricity transmission in Australia, all of which are strategic projects for the energy sovereignty of these regions around the world.
Overall, 2025 once again confirms the strong positioning of our Energy Services business in highly dynamic markets, driven in particular by the energy transition, digital transformation and increasingly by defense and sovereignty considerations. In construction, revenue increased slightly, reaching just over EUR 33 billion. Let me take this opportunity to highlight something that's not widespread among the competition, something that sets us apart from many of our peers. The vast majority of VINCI Construction's revenue comes from smaller scale projects carried out for repeat customers, what we call our core business activities. Large projects by contrast, are deliberately kept to around 10% of our activity this year. Market conditions for VINCI Construction vary depending on the segment. Core business activities remained at a solid level, supported by strong performance in road, rail and hydraulic works as well as building refurbishment projects.
Specialist activities at Soulétange-Fressinet also held up well, particularly in the nuclear sector, while large projects declined, reflecting the phasing of progress on certain major infrastructure projects. In property development in France, market conditions remain challenging, as you all know. Against this backdrop, VINCI Immobilier teams have shown strong resilience in navigating these headwinds as reflected in the return to positive results in 2025. Let me say a few words about order intake. It remained at a high level in 2025, totaling EUR 63 billion. What really stands out is that order intake in our core business activities make up the bulk of revenue in Energy Services and Construction. They remain well oriented with growth of 3%. Another key point is that order intake remained overall above revenue levels, particularly in Energy Services, but also in Construction. This simply means that our backlog continues to grow.
I will now hand over to Christian Labeyrie, who will walk you through the group's financial performance for 2025 in more detail.
Thank you, Pierre. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. So for the 27th time, I'm going to present the main figures, the main financials of the year for VINCI, not the 99 figures, but those are 2025, and Pierre has already outlined them.
Let's start with revenue close on EUR 75 billion. That's an increase at constant currency. That's how we need to reason given currency volatility of increase over 5%, very good performance in the economic context of the year 2025 that reflects, in particular, the strong dynamism of Energy Services, whose revenue is now close to EUR 30 billion. That's 8% growth versus 2024. Concessions are also on a good trend, up 5% with revenue topping EUR 12 billion. As to construction posting more moderate growth of 1%, the consequence of our selective policy in terms of order intake, which is key to protect our margins on very competitive markets.
VINCI Group's expansion rests not just on the organic growth of its activities, driven by the market trends, but also M&A. And in 2025, about half of the revenue growth comes from the acquisition of new companies. That represents EUR 1.8 billion additional activity on the year. I would cite the main one. FM Conway in the United Kingdom Public Works company, well established in the London area, strengthening VINCI Construction's presence on that market. Several companies in North American roadworks and specialty business lines of VINCI Construction zone where the group plans to accelerate its expansion going forward. About 30 acquisitions, VINCI Energy, essentially international, 3 in the German Mittelstand, as Pierre said, Germany with the U.K. is the leading VINCI group market internationally in Brazil, a new highway concession between Belo Horizonte and Brasília.
These acquisitions enable VINCI to densify its local presence, enrich its skills and create value by implementing synergies across its various subsidiaries. Revenue growth is virtuous, goes hand-in-hand with ROPA growth that is operating profit from ordinary activities. Operating profit comes in at EUR 9.6 billion, up 6% over 2024. That's growth higher than the revenue growth, an improvement in the operating margin standing at 12.8%, plus 25 basis points over '24. As these bar charts show, our 3 business lines contributed to the growth in EBIT that of concessions up close to EUR 250 million. Energy Services up EUR 220 million with a revenue margin of 7.6%, up 20 basis points versus 2024.
Construction EBIT is up by EUR 110 million, and margin on revenue, 4.1%, up 30 basis points over 2024. The pie chart on the right shows the breakdown by business line. Concessions account for just over 60% of the total. Energy Services, almost 25%; Construction, 15%. Now the share of concessions in the total remains very significant. Those of the other business lines have grown over the past few years, notably the share of energy services. The strategic choices made by the group a long time ago account for this rebalancing, leading to a lesser dependence of VINCI in the past on French autoroute Concessions.
Turning now to cash flows. Pierre indicated 2025 was outstanding for free cash flow generation. It's a crucially important metric, very closely followed by financial analysts and investors because it measures the resources generated by the group during the year to fund its investments, its expansion through the acquisition of new companies and of course, to finance the dividend paid to shareholders and share buybacks with a free cash flow in 2025 of EUR 7 billion. This is a new record. It's a record consequent of the EBITDA growth, which reached EUR 13.5 billion, up over 6% versus 2024. If you could just -- this EBITDA growth, forgive me for that, offset the increase in financial expenses, an increase in taxes, including the increase of corporate tax in France, which came in at close to EUR 450 million in France.
Same time, CapEx for the year were maintained at a high level, EUR 4.9 billion, of which close on EUR 1.5 billion mobility, infrastructure, airports and autoroutes, about EUR 1 billion in power infrastructure. We need to stress improved working capital of EUR 2.5 billion, reflecting the continuing efforts of the group's operations to improve billings and collection of receivables, notably at VINCI Construction. Past 3 years since 2023, it's over EUR 6 billion additional cash thus generated, thanks to working capital and better operating cash management.
New developments on financial investments of the year, net of disposals, they stood at EUR 1.8 billion concerned primarily acquisitions by VINCI Construction mentioned previously by VINCI Energy and also additional price paid to ACS in respect to the Cobra acquisition integration in our accounts of Brazilian highway concessions disposals. They accounted for about EUR 300 million, essentially Cobra and VINCI Concessions. These disposals are part of regular portfolio reviews that are regularly conducted by VINCI so as to optimize return on equity and make the presentation of our activities clearer.
Lastly, amounts devoted to return to shareholders and capital movements amounted to EUR 4.7 billion, EUR 2.7 billion dividend paid to shareholders, EUR 800 million paid to the minority shareholders, certain subsidiaries, Gatwick Airport in London, Edinburgh, EUR 1.2 billion in respect of share buybacks, net of share capital increases undertaken as part of the share ownership plan. The share ownership of maximum number of people in France abroad is a key component of the group's performance culture taken in these flows. Net debt is down by EUR 1.3 billion on the year, coming in at EUR 19.1 billion December 31, '25. That's 1.4x EBITDA, which is a very modest leverage in respect of our recurring cash flows, not only the long-term highway concessions, but also energy services and construction from strong flow business as we call it.
So if we put things in perspective, VINCI will have generated over the past 10 years, EUR 48 billion in cash flow, an amount very much higher than profits over the period, EUR 35 billion in spite of disruptive exogenous events that we experienced COVID in 2020 or war in Ukraine. These bar charts shows that increments have been reached over the years and for 3 years now, the annual cash flow topped EUR 6 billion. This demonstrates the power and resilience of VINCI's business model that, as Pierre said, rests on decentralized organization made up of thousands of business units, 4,300 led by autonomous teams on the ground sharing the same values. Also the relevance of the group's positioning on buoyant markets and its rigorous management. This ability to generate steady and significant cash flow is a great asset to follow our strategic road map and prepare the future as illustrated by developments by the group in the airport sector, autoroutes in France, highway abroad through acquisition of Cobra and recent developments and power transmission infrastructure.
So clearly, we have the means of our ambition whilst ensuring return to shareholders in the form of dividend and share buyback. Just to conclude, I'd like to recall the fundamentals of our financial policy. Firstly, it's important to constantly preserve a significant amount of liquidity to meet contingencies, a many number to seize M&A opportunities when they arise as we did in 2021 with Cobra that was finalized December 31 last year, decided the best time to raise funds on the financial markets so as to optimize our borrowing conditions. Liquidity is a price of our independence in the context of financial markets increasingly volatile, not to mention stressful situations as we saw in March 2020 with COVID or February 2022 with war in Ukraine. In '25, we have cash on the balance sheet, EUR 15.5 billion with a credit facility, EUR 6.5 billion. from our bank.
Secondly, we must, at all costs, preserve the excellent credit ratings awarded by S&P's and Moody's over 10 years ago, even further back because these ratings have been confirmed constantly in A- and A3, respectively, with stable outlook in both cases. Bond markets are the prime source of funding for VINCI, Essentially, the euro bond market accounts for 60% of the group's gross debt. Stability of credit rating is key to preserve the confidence of lend and optimize our lending borrowing conditions over time. At the end of 2025, the average maturity was 5.5 years, which means every year, we must reimburse loans maturing and issue new loans. In 2025, we reimbursed EUR 4.2 billion and issued new loans for EUR 5.7 billion.
Now the group for this, of course, has the possibility of issuing the various signatures that of VINCI S.A., of course, but those of our autoroute Concession companies, ASF, Cofiroute and some of our infrastructure offer good long-term visibility such as airports, London Gateway, Edinburgh, the idea being to position ourselves the debt as close as possible to the generated cash flow. Since the beginning of the year, we reimbursed about EUR 800 million and issued just over EUR 1.3 billion in new loans with a convertible ADP bond, EUR 500 million at a very low rate of EUR 0.75 per annum. These transactions were achieved very opportunistically before the start of military operations in the Middle East in terms of rate management. Our rule of prudence consists of setting the rates on the bulk of our debt for amount that corresponds to available cash.
The group's treasury is placed on short maturities at variable rates, the Euribor 3 months. So the impact of changing interest rates upwards or downwards on the variable cost of debt is offset in reverse by the remuneration on treasury investments. On average, the group's debt stood at EUR 33 billion, EUR 17 billion at fixed rate, EUR 16 billion at variable. The average cost of the debt stood at 4.37% in 2025 as compared to 5% in 2024.
Thank you for your attention. Back to Pierre for the outlook in 2026.
So the outlook for your group reflect its value creation strategy in its long-term as well as short-term business.
Let's start with the long-term structure mobility in this area. VINCI has agreed, defined major deals, strengthening the visibility of these contracts and offering promising growth prospects in airports. First of all, let me stress the importance of the growth of airports operated by VINCI, especially supplemented through external growth in this complex world. One of the big strengths is to establish relations based on trust throughout the world. And through this constructive dialogue, several major agreements were signed these past few months in London, London Gatwick in September '25, we obtained the approval of the Northern runway, which is a defining project for the airport as well as for the whole country. In Lisbon, our teams initiated in 2025, the request of the authorities, studies to develop a new airport at Alcochete close to Lisbon.
In Mexico, our subsidiary, OMA signed at the end of last year, a new economic regulation contract of 5 years, defining the investments over the period as well as associated tariff increases. I'd like to mention the beginning of the works launched by VINCI Airports in close conjunction with VINCI Construction Energy on the new terminal of the Santo Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic. All the vital infrastructure are kept alive and adapting, and these are as many opportunities to create additional value by VINCI across the airports.
In autoroutes, now several major agreements were announced early this year. In France, VINCI Autoroutes concluded a new rider to the concession of COFIROUTE to finance shared mobility and land planning projects and to receive e-vehicles. In terms of mobility, 100% of VINCI Autoroutes are equipped with charging stations, making it the best equipped auto route network with over 50 every 100 kilometers and the number of charging stations on the network is set to double. Still in the highways, but in India, VINCI Highways announced just over 2 weeks ago, having signed an agreement to acquire a portfolio of 9 highways, representing about 700 kilometers in India of a highway portfolio of this quality is rare opportunity in a high-growth market, and this acquisition is part and parcel of VINCI's long-term investment strategy in mobility infrastructure.
A big bravo to Nicolas Notebaert, the Concessions head and to his teams. In terms of energy infrastructure for long term, the group at the end of 2025 has a total capacity of renewable energy of 5 gigawatts, 1.2 already in operation and 4 gigawatts in ready-to-build mode. To date, EUR 2.3 billion has been invested in this portfolio. This selective investment policy is focused on a limited number of geographies to which Spain, Brazil, United States, also Australia. And we plan to strengthen the value of these assets by combining them with battery projects. On the basis of the current portfolio, we're banking on activity EBITDA of close on EUR 400 million by 2030. For them, VINCI benefits from long-term know-how to implement major turnkey projects of construction and maintenance of high-voltage power lines.
VINCI is currently in charge of 4 public-private partnerships for over 2,000 kilometers of power lines in Brazil and Australia. It's the beginnings of an asset portfolio in the field of power transmission infrastructure activities, opportunities, a many number in Brazil, developing in Australia and set to expand significantly in the United States, notably. More generally, all our business lines are nurtured by the megatrends that are underway throughout the world. Shown here is the exposure of your group to a selection of 6 major trends that we consider to be very dynamic, both short and long term. In power infrastructure, your group generates over EUR 10 billion annual revenue with an order book of EUR 20 billion. VINCI is clearly a world leader in this field, not the leader, that is the #1 power provider, particularly in Europe where we have no fossil fuels for reasons of obvious energy sovereignty. We must develop energy production, renewables and nuclear power and also develop the transmission and distribution grids and networks.
For the other major trends in the rail sector, VINCI's revenue is EUR 6 billion, order book of EUR 10 billion; defense and sovereignty, EUR 2 billion in revenue, EUR 3 billion order intake, water infrastructure, EUR 3 billion with an equivalent order book. Digital infrastructure revenue at EUR 7 billion, order book at EUR 6 billion, in the health care sector, EUR 2 billion in revenue with equivalent order book. All these vital infrastructure are already reflected in the VINCI figures. And when we add them up, they represent alone half the revenue and 2/3 of the order book of energy services and construction businesses, and this proportion is, of course, set to grow. If we return to the end '25, the order books continued to grow, reaching an all-time high EUR 70 billion. That's over a year of activity, offering visibility to view the future with confidence without departing from our selectivity policy that favors margin over volume. You see that France's share in the order book is 29%; Germany, 20%; Rest of the world, 51%.
Shown on screen, the outlook for the year as presented in February. At this stage, of course, it's too early to assess and quantify the reliably the impact on your group of the crisis in the Middle East. We know not the magnitude or the duration of the crisis is resolved rapidly. We hope that will be the case. Its impact will be limited, be that as it may, over the medium and long this crisis, like all crisis will accelerate change. will strengthen for obvious sovereignty reasons. The need for a further acceleration in the energy transition, a further acceleration in electrification, and that is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful growth driver of your group.
In terms of capital allocation, strategy remained constant. shareholder return through a dividend, a payout ratio trending to 60% of net income. That's the goal down the road and share buybacks in terms of development, we plan to continue to investment long-term infrastructure Concessions, airports, highways and renewable power generation assets, storage and electricity transmission in our short-term businesses. The group strategy is to accelerate energy services where VINCI has demonstrated its know-how to acquire, integrate new companies, big or small.
And lastly, the group remains open to opportunistic acquisitions in the construction sector. I've just presented the social environmental economic performance of VINCI in 2025 and the outlook. Through this, we have capacity to create value long term that's outstanding, and it rests, of course, on a very VINCI culture shared by all the VINCI way that makes VINCI unique. This culture is based on the long-term perspective and of course, the search for all-round performance, financial and nonfinancial performance are inseparable and nurture one another. The group culture is one of decentralized organization, agile, reactive, multi-local, particularly relevant in today's world.
VINCI culture is the reliability of its management with shared principles across its 4,300 business units. It's a matchless execution, quality and great discipline in capital allocation. This culture characterizes your group across its business lines, across its countries across its world-class assets. This culture is a strength of your group, makes it perform over long term because it creates robustness, consistency, resilience, and this culture has allowed us to weather the latest crisis, Ukraine, COVID, subprimes and will allow us to confront the current crisis without losing our course by remaining agile, solid and capable of bouncing back. This cultural synergy, the shared values make VINCI make your group a rare and an invaluable asset. It is, I'm convinced the only way of continuing to create value over the long term.
Thank you for your attention and for your loyalty. And back now to Chairman, Xavier Huillard.
Thank you, Pierre. Thank you, Christian. Very briefly on the basis of this fine fiscal year 2025, you'll be asked to approve a dividend of EUR 5 per share, of which EUR 1.05 paid as interim dividend at the end of 2025, which leads to a balance of EUR 3.95, which will be paid out on the 23rd of April. I'd now like to open the governance section, asking the chairs of the committees to summarize their work. Firstly, Annette Messemer, who's our Lead Director, who also chairs the Committee for Nominations and Governance. Over to you, Annette.
For the first time and walk you through the work carried out by the Nominations and Governance Committee in 2025. I was appointed by the Board of Directors as Lead Director and Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee on April 17, 2025, taking over from Yannick Assouad, who had held these roles for over 6 years. I am stepping into this role at a pivotal moment in the group's governance as Xavier Huillard handed over executive leadership to Pierre on May 1. The transition is going smoothly, and it is our shared responsibility to ensure VINCI continues to benefit from the highest standards of governance.
As Yannick Assouad mentioned to you last year, the Nominations and Governance Committee was deeply involved in the early stages of the decision-making processes and helped identify the right person to take on the role of CEO. The committee also made sure the Board remains well balanced in terms of expertise and fully effective, notably through the addition of 2 new female directors whose appointments you approved at last year's AGM. As of today's general meeting, the governance of your group is structured as shown on the screen. First, the Board of Directors, which I'll come back to in a moment, a governance framework built around a non-Executive Chairman of the Board, a Chief Executive Officer and an independent Lead Director. And of course, 4 committees responsible, respectively, for audit, strategy and CSR, nominations and governance and compensation.
Each Board member sits on at least one of these committees. The Board currently has 15 members, including 2 employee directors and 1 representative of employee shareholders. That number will move down to 14 as Marie-Christine Lombard, who served on the Board for 12 years and will no longer meet the formal independence criteria will be stepping down at the end of this AGM. What stands out is the strong gender balance, the fact that 1/3 of the directors are non-French nationals and a high level of independence, exactly what you would expect for a group without a controlling shareholder. The Board met 8 times in 2025 with full attendance at every meeting.
And to give you a real sense of the directors' commitment, they also attended over 95% of the 9 meetings of the Strategy and CSR Committee which Benoit Bazin, will speak about shortly. And that makes a total of 17 meetings, not even counting the sessions of the other 3 committees for those who sit on them. In addition, in 2025, the Board spent 2 full days on site visits, first to the major Euralpin tunnel project between Lyon and Turin, where several business units are actively involved and also to Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, which is operated by VINCI Airports. The Nominations and Governance Committee is made up of 6 Board members, Yannick Assouad and Marie-Christine Lombard, along with Benoit Bazin, Claude Laruelle, Frédéric Nougarède, who represents employee shareholders and myself. The committee met 4 times with perfect attendance throughout the year.
In 2025, the committee oversaw the Board's triennial evaluation, working with an independent external consultant who gathered feedback from all directors and reported back to the Board last December. The outcome showed a broadly shared satisfaction with both the Board's composition and how it operates. And it helped build a clear consensus around the key priorities ahead, namely ensuring a successful leadership transition and confirming the group's strategy for the years to come. The committee also worked on the future evolution of the Board's composition and together with the Compensation Committee contributed to the evaluation of executive management.
Turning now to the Board's composition. You are being asked to renew the terms of office of 3 directors. Xavier Huillard, with the Board intending to reappoint him as Chairman should he be reelected as a director. Claude Laruelle, an Independent Director for what would be his second term and René Medori, also an independent director for what would be his third term. You are also being asked to ratify the co-option of Frédéric Nougarède as a director. He was appointed by the Board in 2025 following Dominique Muller's resignation. Mr. Nougarède represents employee shareholders. And his appointment was put forward by the Supervisory Board of the group's main employee investment fund, in line with the company's bylaws.
Lastly, as the terms of the employee directors come into an end, the Group Works Council and the European Works Council have respectively confirmed the renewal of Alain Saïd's mandate and the appointment of Nelson Galego, who will replace Roberto Migliardi.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you. Annette, I'm now going to ask Benoit Bazin, Chair of the Strategy and CSR Committee to please join us on stage.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning. It is now my turn to present the work of the committee I have chaired for the past 4 years, VINCI Strategy and CSR Committee. The committee has 6 permanent members. However, as I often point out, what truly sets it apart is its openness. Every Board member can attend its meetings and take part in the discussions with full voting rights. And this makes it a particularly rich forum for discussion and debate. The attendance rates in 2025 are a clear reflection of this, 98.2% for permanent members and 95.3% across all Board members. These figures demonstrate the strong level of engagement and commitment from Board members in the committee's work.
In 2025, the committee met 9 times, just as in 2024, reflecting both a sustained pace of activity and the importance of its role within VINCI. The committee reviews a wide range of topics that are key to the group strategy. Its main responsibilities include acquisitions and disposals above EUR 100 million as well as policies relating to corporate social responsibility. On the first front, strategic acquisitions. The committee issued opinions on around 15 projects during 2025 and early 2026. Some of these projects have already been completed. Pierre Anjolras talked to us about the motorway acquisition in India. Also in 2025, the committee carried out its semiannual review of renewable energy investments made by Cobra IS in 2025, highlighting its ongoing focus on infrastructure projects that are shaping the energy transition.
For each of these projects, we ensure not only that the investment is strategically sound and aligned with the group's direction, but also that social, ethical and environmental aspects are systematically reviewed. In 2025, as part of its second mission, CSR policies, the committee placed the manifesto at the very heart of its work. As you know, the manifesto is the cornerstone of VINCI's CSR strategy and applies across all business lines. It is structured around 8 key commitments covering in particular, social aspects such as health and safety at work, respect for human rights, diversity and inclusion, equal opportunities, vocational training and long-term employability as well as employee share ownership, strong vigilance in business ethics, including anticorruption measures and compliance with competition rules, societal aspects such as civic engagement, both at the group level and among employees as well as environmental commitments which were covered earlier.
The committee has, therefore, ensured that each of the manifesto commitments is effectively translated into both strategic projects and the implementation of CSR policies. And this ongoing and in-depth work confirms the central role of CSR in the group's responsible governance. Each time through discussions with teams from across the group, we have been able to confirm that the CSR approach is genuinely implemented on the ground, embedded locally across business lines and adapted to the specific context of each country, and that is what makes it effective. And naturally, the committee will continue this work in 2026.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Benoit. Now let's hear from the Chairperson of the Remuneration Committee, Marie-Christine Lombard.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, as Chair of VINCI's Compensation Committee, it is my responsibility to walk you through the work we've carried out. But before I do that, this will be my final time addressing you in this role. As my term as director comes to an end at the close of this meeting, 12 years is a long time. Thank you to the shareholders for their trust. Thank you, Xavier Huillard. Thank you to the entire leadership team for our constructive collaboration. Many thanks to my fellow Board members.
In 2025, the Compensation Committee is made up of 4 directors, one of whom represents employees. The lineup changed in 2025 with 2 directors stepping down after the AGM and 2 new members, Alain Saïd and Maria Zingoni joining the committee. The committee met 3 times in 2025 with full attendance every time. As you know, the committee's role is to prepare the Board's decisions on executive compensation as well as on the group's employee share ownership schemes. In 2025, the committee determined the variable compensation of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for 2024, which you approved in April 2025. It put forward compensation policies for both the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer. You approved these at the 2025 AGM, and we will be asking you to confirm them again today. The committee also recommended the implementation of performance share plans for the group's executives and employees.
At the start of this year, the committee also submitted the following proposals to the Board, setting the variable compensation for executive corporate officers for 2025 and revising how Board members' compensation is determined. You will be asked to vote on both of these matters today. Let me start with the compensation policy for your Board of Directors. And this is covered by the 8th and 10th resolutions with full details on Page 38 of the meeting notice. The Board is mainly proposing to increase the fixed annual fee for directors from EUR 26,500 to EUR 30,000, as well as the fee per meeting from EUR 3,500 to EUR 4,000 for Board and Audit Committee meetings and from EUR 1,500 to EUR 2,000 for meetings of the other committees.
Also, you are being asked to raise the overall cap on Board compensation, which has not been reviewed since 2019. The idea is to give the Board greater flexibility in organizing its work, keeping in mind that this is a ceiling, not a target level of spending. It's not a natural spending. Now the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board set out in Resolution #11, the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board provides for a fixed annual remuneration of EUR 900,000. There are no changes compared to the policy approved in 2025. I'd also like to remind you that the Chairman of the Board will not receive any attendance fees, short-term variable pay or long-term remuneration. However, a company car will be provided.
The compensation policy for the CEO, Pierre Anjolras for 2026 is the same as what you approved in 2025. And you'll find the full details on Page 39 of the meeting notice. On an annual basis, it includes a fixed component of EUR 1.3 million, a short-term variable component kept at 1.5x the fixed salary with the final amount depending on a range of performance criteria as shown on the screen. A provisional grant of performance shares subject to both continued employment and performance conditions with a value at grant that cannot exceed the maximum short-term variable compensation. And finally, a defined contribution pension plan funded through an annual contribution equal to 12% of the short-term variable compensation.
Now the compensation awarded to Xavier Huillard for fiscal 2025 is set out in Resolution #14. As detailed on Page 44 of the Notice of Meeting, this compensation has 2 components. First, the compensation for his role as Chairman and CEO over the 4-month period from January to April 2025. And this included both a fixed and a variable component calculated using the same criteria as for the CEO. On the chart to the left, you can see what this would have amounted to over a full year as well as the actual total after pro rata adjustment. So the remuneration comes to EUR 1,112,795. Second, the compensation for his role as Chairman of the Board from May through December 2025 amounts to EUR 600,000 after pro rata adjustment.
Let me now turn to the compensation awarded to Pierre Anjolras for fiscal 2025. So that's Resolution 15. This relates to his role as CEO since May 1, 2025. In line with the approved policy, it includes the following components: a fixed component of EUR 1.3 million on a full year basis or EUR 866,667 after pro rata adjustment, a variable component that would have reached 1,910,987 over a full year. Given the strong performance, this represents 98% of the target. After pro rata adjustment, the amount comes to EUR 1,273,991. A conditional grant of 22,000 VINCI shares subject to performance conditions with a value of EUR 2,229,040 at the time of grant. And a pension contribution equal to 12% of the short-term compensation amounting to EUR 257,130 before tax. The chart shows both the theoretical maximum for this compensation over a full year and the actual total after pro rata adjustment.
Now the employee share ownership system. As every year, the Board is asking you to approve the 17th and 18th resolutions. These are designed to allow employees, both in France and internationally across 42 countries in 2025 to subscribe to reserved capital increases with a discount of up to 5% within an overall limit of 1.5% of the share capital. They can also benefit from a company contribution up to EUR 3,500 in France and up to 80 bonus shares internationally. In France, the shares are locked in for 5 years. Internationally, the bonus shares are subject to a 3-year vesting condition based on continued employment. As of December 31, 2025, employees and former employees more than 176,000 people collectively held 11.3% of the company's share capital through employee investment funds. And as we said before, this is a real performance driver for the group.
Finally, for the sake of completeness, please note that based on the authorization you granted last year, the Board has decided to implement a performance share plan for 4,827 senior managers and employees in 2025. The goal is to help the group continue to attract, retain and motivate its key talent. These shares representing 0.45% of the share capital will be delivered to beneficiaries in 2028, subject to meeting performance criteria, the same as those applied to the CEO and of course, continued employment within the group. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Marie-Christine. And the last committee head, Rene Medori, Head of the Audit Committee, will now take the floor.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. I'm now going to present to you the work of the Audit Committee in 2025. The Audit Committee is comprised of 4 members, 2 men and 2 women. It met 5 times in 2025 with an attendance rate of 100%. Your financial CFO, Christian Labeyrie, his colleagues as well as the statutory auditors took part actively in all our meetings. The committee also auditioned Head of Legal, Head of the Environment, Head of Tax, Head of Insurance as well as the Head of the Group IT system.
During the course of 2025, the Audit Committee organized its work according to 4 major focus areas. The first is the monitoring of the group's financial information, the review of the half yearly consolidated financial statement as well as annual financial statements and review of liquidity management, the group's debt highlighted its good financial management, the optimization of its resources. The committee was thus informed of financial transactions as they unfolded throughout the year, notably new debt issuances totaling EUR 3.5 billion during the course of the year. The tax transparency report for 2025 by the group was reviewed by the committee prior to its publication.
Second focus area for the committee's work was reviewing the efficiency of risk management. IT risk monitoring, cyber risks, risk mapping at group level as well as the report by the Risk Committee of the holding company were presented to us. Group Head of Legal set out developments regarding major litigation underway and the Head of Insurance presented the insurance policy and programs in place to cover the risks of the various business lines. Third focus area of the committee reviewed the internal control systems. The committee was able to assess the good functioning of the central fraud prevention scheme with an alert system open to all the group's employees. A presentation of the internal control, annual report of business lines and divisions was delivered by Head of Internal Audit.
Fourth focus area covers legal control of annual and consolidated financial statements, discussions with statutory auditors and review of the conclusions of their work highlighted the compliance with legal and regulatory obligation regarding financial and nonfinancial accounting information as required by law, the committee reviewed the declaration of independence of the statutory auditors and was informed of the fees paid to them. In conclusion, your committee would like to emphasize the quality of financial management, financial information and the processes of your group.
Thank you, Rene. We now move to the next section, which pertains to the work of our statutory auditors who will deliver a summary of what is set out in detail in the universal registration document. Mr. Laruelle will speak on behalf of the group of statutory auditors.
Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, on behalf of the group of statutory auditors of your company, Ernst & Young Audit and PricewaterhouseCoopers audit, I'm pleased to report on our assignment. As you can see on screen, we issued many reports that we've combined for this presentation in 6 parts by nature. They indeed comprise a report on the group's consolidated financial statement, a report on the VINCI parent company financial statements, special report on regulated agreements as well as 4 supplementary reports issued on the use of delegations of authority granted to your Board during earlier shareholders' meeting, 3 reports on delegations or authorization to be granted to your Board during this AGM to carry out transactions involving the share capital. lastly, a report on the certification of sustainability information.
In accordance with the practice, I won't give you a detailed run-through of these reports, but give you a summary by emphasizing the conclusions. I'll start, first of all, a report on the group's consolidated financial statements as well as the annual financials. Our work is aimed at giving you an insurance that they comprise no significant misstatement. In order to do that, we're involved in the prime entities of the group in France and abroad, our approach is adapted to VINCI's organization. It's activities and our assessment of risks pertaining to each business line of the group. Our detailed conclusions were presented to the Audit Committee, the 4th of February last year and a summary of these to the Board on February 5. During our work on the group's consolidated financials, we focus particularly on the 3 key audit matters as follows: Firstly, the impairment test and recoverable amount of your group's assets.
Secondly, the recognition of long-term construction of service contracts; and lastly, provisions for litigation and other contingencies. These 3 audit matters are described in greater detail in the consolidated financial. We confirm that we've reviewed the modalities adopted by management. We certify consolidated financial statements give a true and fair view of the results of its financial position assets at the end of the period. Turning now to the annual financial statements. Our main assessment focused on assessing the equity agreements and to ensure that the financial statements give a true and fair view. Regarding the special report on related agreements. We've not been informed of any new agreement entered into. Turning now to 3 reports to resolutions proposed under the Extraordinary General Meeting. You can see them on the screen.
Firstly, our report on the authorization to reduce the share capital through the cancellation of VINCI shares held in treasury. That's the 15th or 2 reports on the 17th and 18th report. concerning capital increases for employees and VINCI Group employees as part of their savings plan. We have no observations to make on the details of the transactions proposed. If need be, we will issue supplementary report when said transactions are undertaken. Lastly, your company published sustainability information under the CSRD. It's the second year of application of that directive and Ernst & Young audit issued a report aimed at giving limited assurance on the consistency of the information with ESRS without observation. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the group of auditors, I thank you for your attention.
Thank you, statutory auditors. We now come to the Q&A section. As regards written questions, we have received some from several shareholders. The Board that met just prior to this AGM approved the answers to said questions. You can, therefore, find these questions and the answers given on the company website. As for questions on the floor, if you have a question, ask one of the persons with the panel, and I shall attempt in the 30 minutes available even if we're running slightly late to entertain as many questions as possible. Start with questions #7 right at the back of the hall. We tend to forget those people.
I'm an individual shareholder. First of all, thank you to these very clear presentations and outstanding results. My question, the flare-up in the Middle East, is it going to have an impact or likely to have an impact on the group's activities.
I'll let Pierre answer your question, which is, of course, of prime importance. I'd just like to recall that your group has routes that go back to the early 19th century. So you can, of course, imagine the number of crises indeed wars that we've we weathered, we will, of course, confront them by adapting. There's no problem on that front. But if we want to go into detail, Pierre could perhaps tell you a bit more.
Indeed, this crisis is a major one and the situation is involving day by day in a very unpredictable way as we all know, the situation will follow. Just to tell you that VINCI has no activity in the 2 most heavily affected by this water with Iran and Lebanon. When we look at the group's activities across the Middle East, well, concerns activity works. We don't have any concession activities. Energy services or construction and activity last year represented EUR 400 million for VINCI. That's about 0.5% of the total group's activity where not a all exposed. Situation is the following. Since the start of the crisis, operations have continued with the exception of Bahrain, where for a fortnight now, a number of operations have been suspended. So as we speak, the direct impact on the group's operations remain very limited.
Second thing I'd like to share with you is that our foremost priority is not the continued activity, but is to ensure the safety of our people. There are about 1,750 of our people there if we add relatives. That's about 2,500 people. We've been in constant touch and outreach to the team. We set up a crisis in conjunction with the competent authorities, notably the French Foreign Affairs Ministry and we apply a policy that is monitored day by day in accordance with the instructions is to maintain the teams there, save the employees who wish to return with their families, and that's the case where there are slightly more critical situations, either family or health related.
For example, beyond that, as I said during the outlook section, it's far too soon in a crisis whose intensity or duration remain unknown. It's difficult to precisely quantify their impact on VINCI activities. We'll see that over the coming weeks and months, if need be. But I would repeat that this crisis will be a further acceleration of the energy transition and electrification, which is a powerful growth driver for all the group's activities, be it the investment of long-term activities or for energy services or construction. That's what I can tell you at this stage.
Thank you. Let's move now to the next question.
Chairman, I'd like to know how VINCI is factoring in artificial intelligence.
Well, as you know, we are, first and foremost, a group with a strong culture given the number of technicians and engineers. What of that actual fact. It excites us greatly. We're very inquisitive, very curious, and we welcome such a minor or indeed major revolution with a great deal of energy. It's far more an opportunity than a threat. Second thing I would add is for reasons of very humanist culture presented earlier, our conviction is that AI must strive to augment human beings rather than replace them. Pierre?
Yes. Just to follow up on that. I view AI from 2 angles. First angle is AI for VINCI serving an improved performance. And in this regard, we're doing it the VINCI way, which is from the ground up, from the 4,300 companies and its projects, really bottom-up rather than a top-down approach based on use cases. So it's up to each of the 4,300 companies in VINCI and divisions to unite them to devise the use cases that could improve our performance. And we set up a team on our innovation and forward-looking platform of Leonard. They are specialist data scientists who, in conjunction with teams in the fields will assess the feasibility of their project, their technical financial feasibility and then develop those projects.
Such projects develop with the Leonard project, there are about 100 set up over the past 5, 6 years. When we number all the projects, at least those that we number group-wide that are developed within the various business lines, there are probably about 300, 400. You have a few examples in the film. There was one on the best airport operations. There's another in the field of energy on the detailed plan for establishing electrical systems in a building or industry or to use data every time. Our teams at Soletanche Freyssinet, work on soil, how they can leverage the data to improve the work to be done on the same site.
Second point is that VINCI also bring solutions for AI and AI, which is a growth driver for digital infrastructure and digital infrastructure and the megatrends. That's about 10% of VINCI's revenue. And of course, it's all about working, designing, developing, building data centers and all the fiber optic networks and servers that irrigate various facilities, either in the home offices or in this hall and both at VINCI, VINCI Energy at Cobra, it's a huge amount of repeat business of designing service provision, increasing amount of cybersecurity assistance to IT in businesses and all that without -- not to mention what it generates in terms of power generation, a number of PV fields that we're developing the prime destination of this electricity clients that operate data centers. So AI is an opportunity for VINCI to develop and boost our own performance, an opportunity to develop VINCI's activities in all the digital and electrification infrastructure.
Now let's move over to the other side. Placard #4.
My name is [ Bianca Hawk ]. I'm a retired aerospace engineer and a long-standing individual shareholder. In your introduction, you recall that since the last AGM, several changes have been made to the lineup of the Executive Committee. Could you please shed light over those changes and also to shed light over the goals of the new team.
Well, it is simply the sign that this group is a living organism, and it changes all the time, and that's a good sign. Pierre?
Yes, changes have been made to the Executive Committee over the past year. It's been my primary focus putting together my team. So more specifically, we've tried to strengthen the presence of Concessions, Sabine Granger, Managing Director of VINCI Autoroute and CEO for Concessions. Rémi Maumon also has joined the committee. He's the Managing Director for VINCI Airports working with Nicolas. Also, I wanted to increase the visibility of ethics. Céline Acharian has been appointed as Ethics and Behavior Director.
Why is it important? Well, it is important because our group is highly decentralized. On the HR front, Ludovic Demierre has been appointed as Head of HR. And as we said -- as Xavier said in the introduction, a number of changes have been made to a long-standing succession plans. Christophe Ferrer replaced Christophe Pelissié du Rausas as Head of Development. Sophie Deis-Beauquesne is now Head of Legal Affairs with Patrick Richard has been promoted as General Counsel. And Thierry Mirville has been appointed as Deputy CEO and CFO. And in the coming months, he will be replacing Christian Labeyrie as CFO.
Over and beyond what Xavier said, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warmest thanks and congratulations to Christian Labeyrie as well as Patrick Richard.
Congratulations, and thank you. Throughout your career, you have shown tremendous commitment to the group. And this shows that we hire from within. We appoint committee members from within. And this really shows our sustainable approach when it comes to career pathways. And also Christian and Patrick's longevity is a perfect example of that. And now we have 5 women on board, including 5 operational positions, Virginie Leroy, Sabine Granger and over and beyond Sophie Deis-Beauquesne, and Ms. Acharian, we have a new female Head of the Environment.
Now, #2, please.
Hello, everyone. I don't need to introduce myself.
My name is [ Jean-Christophe Lefebvre-Moulin ]. I'm an individual shareholder today. Before I ask my questions, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to...
We did not turn off your microphone on purpose, I promise. Mr. Huillard.
The sound is back. My warmest thanks to Christian for all these years of collaboration. I have a couple of questions regarding Germany. Regarding VINCI Energy and also the recent acquisition in India. Regarding the acquisition in India, could you please give some color regarding the duration of the concession contract, tariffs and also potential revenue? Regarding VINCI Energy, and this includes Cobra and VINCI Energy's activities per se, margin has improved by 20 bps. There has to be a cap ceiling somewhere. Can we expect margin to grow further in 2026? And regarding Germany, and that's the country that you touched upon at the beginning of the AGM. Metrics keep going down for the first time in 3 years in itself, it's quite a performance. So what is the outlook for 2026?
The unwinding is -- has yet to materialize. So well, we just signed the agreement, but we have yet to fully finalize it. So at this juncture, it is too early to give you a detailed answer. If we do provide an answer, we will provide it at the end of the year, which is when we expect to close the transaction. Regarding VINCI Energies and the progress thereof, and this is true of all works businesses, VINCI Construction and Cobra, VINCI Immobilier. I do have a take on this, and I do share it with the heads of the different divisions. It's a bit like sports. Any world champion can beat their own record. We don't know when it will happen. We don't know by how much, but the goal is continuous improvement.
What is our best performance indicator in terms of operations, in terms of finance? That's the percentage of margin from operation. And as I said before, that's what we focus on. So yes, our margin will continue to increase. I can't tell you to what extent or when that will happen, but it will continue to increase because we want to maintain our leadership in our various business lines, and we have what it takes to make it happen. Regarding Germany, clearly, Germany is an economic stronghold in France or rather in Europe and for VINCI. And as I said before, it is our third leading market business-wise. VINCI Energies has made a number of acquisitions and has also developed major projects in electrification. So Germany is bound to overtake France I'm not saying that the U.K. is declining. The U.K. is still growing, but Germany is growing faster.
In Germany, there are a number of positive aspects, including 2 recovery plans, which have been announced by the Chancellor were announced last year in defense and in infrastructure. And we're starting to see the effects, maybe not for defense yet. but in infrastructure, and there are a number of long-term trends that do impact our energy and services business. Electrification. Germany has undertaken its own transition towards renewable energy sources, including offshore wind. And this means a lot of work for us. And I'm including Cobra's conversion platforms and all the electricity transmission networks because you need to rebuild the entire network that brings the energy all the way from Northern Europe to the south of Spain. And the second major trend at work in Germany is fueling are services to industry. The entire German economy is faced with changes, transitions in energy, but also market changes across the world.
So the German Mittelstand is reengineering its industrial process. And so we are ideally placed to help. And this is what underpins VINCI's activity, particularly services business in Germany and infrastructure. Also a quick reminder, in Germany, we are the leading PPP motorway operator. We're not planning any other such motorway PPP. We're not planning on responding to any tenders. But if this did happen, we would be ideally placed. Thank you.
Placard #1, please.
Individual shareholder, congratulations for these good results and outlook for the future. I read on the net information about the toll on the highways and that there's an action underway, 30% of toll serving to pay dividends seem to me to be rather high. I'd like to hire more enlightened view than my owners shareholders, the likelihood of success or what we should think about legal proceedings underway.
Thank you. I'll ask perhaps Nicolas Notebaert to answer that question.
Well, this type of action is rather unusual. There was one in 2015 by Corinne Lepage, where it didn't lead anywhere than this lawyer asking EUR 36 per person to defend them EUR 700 for corporates limited possibility of success. The idea was to get wide media coverage to have some people to support, and we're not too worried about the outcome of those proceedings.
Moving to another question at the back of the hall.
I'm from the investment publication. I represent 373 readers. You've given their power of attorney to the publication. My first question would be to ask you to explain about the expected decrease of free cash flow of EUR 7 billion to EUR 8 billion expected this year. I think there were a bit of one-off last year, some payments, accelerated client payments.
Second question, the lead director referred to the Lyon-Turin tunnel directors visited the work site. Could you give us some details on that work site, some figures and the time line and the construction costs and the tolls down the road.
Let's start with the cash flow, Christian?
Well, cash flow, it's the first time that we're risking ourselves to give a projection or forecast for the current year. It's very risky because part of the cash flow is generated towards the end of the establish the parallel with a toy company. A large part of our revenue and cash in happens at the end of the year. It's very difficult to estimate them accurately. Over the past 3 years, we've improved our working cap by EUR 6 billion, EUR 2 billion per year, EUR 2.5 billion. We can't extrapolate indefinitely a structural improvement at EUR 2.5 billion.
Let's on the side of caution. That's why we announced a target of EUR 6 billion cash flow for '26. It may be a bit more slightly less. Let's me cautious on trending working cap. Another factor that plays is in investment CapEx. We're growing CapEx in a number of areas in our airport concessions, notably several CapEx programs underway at VINCI Airports and energy services, power infrastructure at Cobra, we have significant investment plans that impacts free cash flow, even if they'll generate free cash flow in the out years, but it weighs on the current year's free cash flow. For all those reasons, it was risky to announce EUR 6 billion wouldn't have been reasonable to promise much more. It depends on which the pace at which these CapEx will this year, we'll be able to have cash in and billings that are as efficient as possible.
On the Trans-European Lyon-Turin tunnel, in fact, it's one of the most foundational projects underway in Europe comparable to what's happening in Paris with the Greater Paris, EUR 40 billion comparable to HST in the U.K. And this worksite that we don't see because by definition, it's underground, say, a few emergence when we go through the valley is one of the most significant for construction and civil engineering and electromechanical equipment. and it's foundational for exchange between France and Italy. Contrary to what I was given to understanding your question, it's not a concession. [indiscernible] So we're only involved as a construction company. It's an contracting authority. For us, the client, we're working on a work site that's just ended and one that's beginning. The one that's just ended our ventilation and access tunnels, the Avrie vent just next to Modane that is deploying major drilling vertical chimneys in fragmented rock. And then the second worksite that's just got underway is that of the tunnels that was carved up into 3 sections.
The first cross-border between Modane and Italy, a fully Italian segment, the one where we are, which is between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Modane, about 15 kilometers. We're in charge of digging the tunnels in the rock with 3 tunnel boring machines, one currently in operation. That's the one we visited with the Board, and this works as was well defined by the contracting authority. It's a very narrow valley, not many storage areas. The question is what do we do with all the materials excavated during the tunnel boring process. There was a plant built at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. We can see from the highway to saw all the materials to recycle as much as possible in line with our plan to optimize materials to aggregates for the concrete that will be used to build the tunnel. And that's the first in France and indeed Europe, making this site quite fascinating if you're interested in engineering.
Unfortunately, it's not too visible. Maybe we could think about how making a bit more visible in images maybe in next year's film. But when we're fortunate to be able to go to -- it's difficult to be able to host visitors for safety reasons. It's a very impressive site that is calling upon the skills of VINCI Construction in tunneling, tunnel boring and geotechnical engineering.
Thank you. Another question.
I have a brief question on performance shares, Pages 401, 402. What was presented in the slides about 0.45% of the share capital goes to performance shares. If we look at the 2022 plan that was distributed in April 25, there's about 1.9 million shares issued to 3,600 people. That's about 500 shares EUR 135 per share. That's about EUR 70,000. Could you perhaps post AGM, put on your website the number -- average number of shares per beneficial. We want to find the median as the decile, the first and the ninth decile, I'd be interesting to see how these performance shares distributed.
Every year, there's about 0.45 or 0.3% of the share capital that's given to about 4,000 managers to know what the split men, women of these -- who can receive these performance shares. My second question concerns the 6. You tell us the net zero in terms of emissions. What resources have you used to get there?
Now let me tell you a little bit more about performance shares. Maybe that's the hallmark of the VINCI Group. But I believe it is one of the drivers behind our excellent trajectory over the past 20, 25 years. Regarding our executives, and we have quite a few. Long-term incentives in the form of performance shares account for a much bigger share of the overall remuneration than in other groups because the base wages and the short-term variable pay are more in line with the average on the lower side. And this means that our people are here to stay. We are better able to retain our talent. It's part of our corporate culture. Now I've already given you a lot of information. How far should we go? Well, one thing is sure, and Pierre has shown that this year.
The performance shares proposed to our female executive is growing faster than the share paid out to our managers. Likewise, we are increasing the share given to our national managers as opposed to international managers. That is how the system was designed. And we are taking into account 2 major trends, having more women and having more international representatives in our workforce. The performance shares proposed to our female executive is growing faster than the share paid out to our managers. Likewise, we are increasing the share given to our national managers as opposed to international managers. That is how the system was designed. And we are taking into account 2 major trends, having more women and having more international representatives in our workforce. Nicolas?
Yes, we decided to spearhead decarbonization across the world. We're electrifying heating systems and HVAC in airports. We use LEDs, and we use green sources of energy. In particular, we install solar PV panels in most of our airports. And this leaves less than 10% in terms of additional reduction, and we also have offsetting programs. Now our airport in Brazil is the #1 of its kind in the South American continent.
Now #7. We're coming full circle. I started with Placard 7. I'm ending with Placard 7. Short question, short answer.
Alright Placard 4 then.
I'm a shareholder. I have 2 quick questions. You said that France has no fossil fuel resources, but I do believe we manage a lot of water, which is a key global resource. Over the next few years, I expect the AGM will continue focusing on water, which is a key resource. The problem is the rise in sea levels, which is flooding the coastlines and EDF is factoring that in. and setting up natural energy storage systems to stay ahead of the curve. Also, you talked about what's been happening since February 28. A lot of countries are being devastated, Lebanon in particular.
Can VINCI take part in the rebuilding effort and maybe Spark an international initiative to rebuild Lebanon?
Now in terms of water, I talked about our water infrastructure. This activity represents EUR 3 billion in revenue, which is quite a lot. We are aware that this is a buoyant trend. You talked about drinking water, wastewater, storage basins. And also, it's important to adapt in the face of climate change. Climate change means we need to focus on carbonization to address the problem at the source. We also need to adapt to the consequences of climate change. And this means a lot of new solutions must be found in terms of water networks and dikes. We're extremely involved in those aspects. This is true for both construction and energy services because we need to provide instrumentation, equipment. And this is a long-standing business for the group. It's also a very buoyant business.
And the second question had to do with Lebanon. I'm sure you understand that most of our works business or civil engineering business is done locally by local business units that have deep ties to the community. When we don't have that local presence, it's difficult to become well established because we don't own the affiliates yet. However, we are able to provide input to complex major projects, projects that require very specific sets of skills, for example, specialist civil engineering. So it is against this backdrop that we can consider intervening in countries such as Lebanon or Ukraine when the time comes. Usually, energy services and construction projects such as these are done at the local level. There's a local fabric of companies. We're not here to replace them. But if we can provide the specific expertise that can make a difference, then we will.
Thank you very much. This concludes our Q&A session. Thank you for attending, and thank you for your interesting and relevant question. We're now going to vote on the resolutions. But before we do that, I'd like to share with you the final quorum. The number of shares held by shareholders currently comes to [ 553,538,352 shares ] which means a quorum of 70.78% of the shares with voting rights.
Your Board of Directors has decided to submit 20 resolutions for your approval, 15 within the remit of the Ordinary General Meeting and 5 within that of the Extraordinary General Meeting. We will now begin the voting process. You have each been given a voting device. It's very easy to use and instructions will be shown on the screen.
In order to vote on the AGM's resolution, a tablet has been given to you. It is strictly personal and can only be used at this AGM. When you hear the announcement, the voting window will automatically display on your tablet even if the tablet is in sleep mode. In order to vote, well, it's quite simple. Just press on the corresponding button: green to vote in favor, red to vote against, amber to abstain, and press okay to validate your choice before the vote closes.
Once your vote has been approved, you can no longer change it. Thank you very much for returning your tablet as you exit this room. Quite simple, really. We're using the same voting devices as last year. For each resolution, we'll give you the signal. I will say, please vote. And then when the window closes, I will say, time's up.
And Patrick Richard will now briefly present each resolution before we proceed to the voting resolution.
Resolution 1, approval of the 2025 consolidated financial statements. For fiscal 2025, net income attributable to owners of the parent comes to EUR 4.903 billion. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
Resolution #2, approval of the 2025 parent company financial statements and net income, EUR 1.845 billion. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
Resolution #3, appropriation of the company's net income. Now the proposed dividend, EUR 5 per share. An interim dividend was already paid out in October 2025. So the final dividend will come to EUR 3.95 per share, ex-date April 21, 2026. And the final dividend payment date, 23rd of April 2026. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
Resolution #4, renewal of Xavier Huillard's term of office as Director for a 4-year period. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried. Thank you very much.
Resolution #5, renewal of Claude Laruelle's term of office as Director for a 4-year period. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried. Congratulations, Claude.
Resolution #6, renewal of Rene Medori's term of office as Director for a 4-year period.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried. Congratulations, Rene.
Resolution #7, ratification of the co-option of Frederic Nougarede as Director presenting employee shareholders for a term that will expire at the end of the AGM called to approve the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2026. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried. Congratulations.
Resolution #8, the termination of the overall annual amount of remuneration awarded to members of the Board of Directors. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
Resolution #9, renewal of the delegation of authority to the Board of Directors in view of the purchase by the company of its own shares. Maximum number of shares that may be purchased, 10% of the share capital; maximum purchase price EUR 160 per share; maximum amount of authorized purchases, EUR 5 billion; duration, 18 months. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
Resolution #10 approval of the remuneration policy for members of the Board of Directors as described in the [ URD ] for 2025 at Page 150. Please vote.
[Voting]
Time's up. Resolution carried.
11th resolution, approval of the remuneration policy applicable to the Chairman of the Board of Directors described in the URD Page 150. Vote is open.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is passed.
12th resolution, approval of the remuneration policy applicable to the Chief Executive Officer set out in the URD Page 151. Please vote now.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is adopted.
13th resolution is the approval of the report on remuneration set out in the URD Page 154 and following. Please vote.
[Voting]
Voting over. Resolution is passed.
14th resolution, approval of the remuneration paid in 2025 -- in respect of 2025 to Xavier Huillard, Chairman for the period -- CEO 30th of April 2025 and then Chairman of the Board from May 1 to December 31, 2025. All items are to be found in Pages 159 of the URD. Please vote now.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is passed.
15th resolution, approval of the remuneration paid in 2025 or due in respect to 2025 to Pierre Anjolras, Chief Executive Officer from May 1 to December 31, 2025. These items are set out in URD Page 161. Please vote.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is carried.
Turning now to the Extraordinary General Meeting. 16th resolution, renewal of the authorization to reduce the share capital through cancellation of Vinci shares held in treasury within a limit of 10% of the share capital and to reduce the capital said authorizations for 26 months. Please vote.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is passed.
17th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board for 26 months to carry out share capital increases reserved for employees of the company executive officers within a limit of 1.5% of the share capital at discount doesn't exceed 5%. Voting open.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is adopted.
18th resolution, delegation of authority to your Board for 18 months to carry out capital increases reserved for a category of beneficiaries to offer the employees of certain foreign subsidiaries within a limit of 1.5% of the share capital, 1.5% being common to the 17th, 18th resolution. Please vote.
[Voting]
Vote over. Resolution is adopted.
And 19th resolution, your Board asks you to approve amendments to the Articles of Association so as to delete certain obsolete provisions and update the wording thereof. Please vote now.
[Voting]
No more voting. Resolution is adopted.
Lastly 20th resolution, power to carry out legal formalities after this meeting.
Voting open.
[Voting]
Voting over. Resolution is adopted. Ladies and gentlemen, that brings to an end the agenda of our AGM. Thank you for your patience. As you leave, you will receive in exchange for your tablet, a supported gift. These bags from former safety jackets worn by our workers on work site as well as recycled nautical canvas manufactured by an inclusive company, [ LiloCawa ] based in the Loire Valley.
This effort represented over 2 months of work for seamstress that required 65 square meters of recycled materials, saved 250,000 liters of water. Thank you for your attendance. Thank you for your attention and for your questions. It's your trust that honors us, but above all, stimulate. See next year.
Thank you.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Vinci — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Vinci SA
Vinci — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Vinci SA
📊 Key Message
- Revenue: ~EUR 75B in 2025, with margin expansion across divisions.
- Free cash flow: Record EUR 7B, supported by robust working capital management.
- Order book: All‑time high around EUR 70B, backing long‑term visibility.
- Governance: Smooth leadership transition and strong, decentralized governance framework.
🎯 Strategic Highlights
- Concessions: VINCI Airports at 334M passengers, ~400 new routes; VINCI Autoroutes revenue EUR 6.7B; international expansion on track.
- Energy Services: ~EUR 30B revenue; Germany emerging as international hub; Cobra growth driven by offshore and transmission projects.
- Capital allocation: Backed by disciplined M&A, share buybacks and a payout policy targeting around 60% of net income.
🧭 New Information
- India: Agreement to acquire a 700 km motorway portfolio across 9 highways (expansion into India).
- Renewables: About 5 GW of renewable capacity (1.2 GW in operation, 4 GW ready to build).
- Digital & people: Leonard AI platform active on ~100 projects; 176,000 employee shareholders holding 11.3% of share capital.
❓ Analyst Q&A
- Geopolitics: Middle East crisis has limited near‑term impact; safety of employees prioritized.
- AI strategy: Leonard enables bottom‑up, project‑level AI use cases to boost performance.
- Margins & Germany: Expect ongoing margin expansion; Germany positioned as a growth engine for energy services and concessions.
⚡ Bottom Line
VINCI’s AGM underscored a diversified, cash‑generative model with a record free cash flow and an all‑time high order book, guided by disciplined capital allocation and a clear leadership transition. For 2026, the group targets around EUR 6B in free cash flow, with macro risks kept in perspective as it remains invested in airports, highways, energy services and renewables.
Vinci — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Thanks for joining us for the presentation of Vinci's full year results. So you'll see -- you will have noticed that our performance is once again outstanding. Today, I'm joined by the members of the executive committee, several changes of late, the appointment of Thierry Mirville, Deputy CEO, who follow-on from Christian during the course of the year. We're also with the Investor Relations team, who you know well and will be available to answer your questions.
So first of all, on this first photograph, we're heading for the Bay of Biscay where VINCI Energies, Cobra and VINCI Construction are working together on the new electricity interconnection project between France and Spain, the INELFE project set to be completed by 2028. It's the largest DC interconnector line between France and Spain, the 400,000 submarine cable with 2 conversion plants. It's a fine example in Europe and elsewhere, future exponential investments in power grids.
Electrical infrastructure, we, first of all, think of production infrastructure, nuclear power as well as renewable power and equally essential infrastructures, which are the power, transmission and distribution grids that require as much investment, if not. And these electrical infrastructure projects are key components of the energy transition, but to a growing extent of energy security and sovereignty; a powerful driver, possibly the most powerful driver for Vinci's business developments.
Other photographs now in the Concessions business on the left, London Gatwick airport managed by VINCI Airports, a major milestone reached last autumn with the final approval by the U.K. government of the transformation plan of the Northern Runway to allow for dual use with the main runway. This will increase the airport's capacity by 20 million passengers at the turn of the decade, increasing it to 80 million. Through this decision, the British Airways pragmatic implementing the key role of air traffic in the country's economic development as well as its capital.
On the right, in Brazil, Entrevias highway, 600 kilometers crossing the state of Paulo. We own 55% of Entrevias now fully consolidated in early March 2025. We resumed operations on the highway of BR-040, 600 kilometers long and the Belo Horizonte Brazil route, managing over 1,200 km of highway. It's our largest highway network outside France and Brazil to give you an order of magnitude, 1,200 kilometers, slightly longer than the Cofiroute network that we manage in France.
Energy Solutions now on the left, a fine shot of the Cadiz yard from the North Sea in Germany of the offshore wind plant BorWin5, 900 megawatts for TenneT, the second such platform installed successfully by Cobra. It's a feat of engineering, not always easy to implement Cobra teaming up with Siemens Energy constitute an unparalleled tandem in the world. Cobra has 8 other contracts in its order book for a cumulative capacity of 14 gigawatts gives us visibility on the activity and profitability through to the next decade.
These offshore converter platforms are strategic also for Germany's energy transition and sovereignty and more broadly, that of Europe, as was reminded recently last week in Hamburg, a joint declaration of 10 European countries that want to make the North Sea the largest hub of offshore wind, targeting 300 gigawatts by 2050 back to Germany, the second largest VINCI market internationally and will become a leading international market this year through acquisitions by VINCI Energies in that country. And growth opportunities in infrastructure.
VINCI Energies isn't just expanding in Germany. On the right, EnergoBit, that's a company acquired by VINCI Energies at the end of last year in Romania. This acquisition fits fully with our plan to strengthen our leadership in electrical infrastructure.
For Construction, on the left, this is Auckland, the City Rail Link, the first underground rail link of the economic capital country. Work began in 2019. This design build project will be delivered in 2026 by VINCI Construction. It's a powerful lever for social integration and also sustainable development as a rail infrastructure for Auckland. Staying in New Zealand, let me remind you that VINCI Construction announced a fortnight ago that it signed an agreement with a view to acquiring Fletcher Construction with an annual revenue of over EUR 600 million.
Next ahead. Construction, this acquisition will allow VINCI Construction to strengthen its position on the very dynamic infrastructure market in New Zealand and to increase the group's annual revenue to about EUR 1.5 billion in that country. We can say that as rugby fans, we've always converted our tries in that country, both in VINCI Energies and VINCI Construction, and we hope that will continue for the current highway PPP project being looked at by the teams of VINCI Concessions and VINCI Construction.
Right back to France, heading for Nantes, shown here is the construction of the new University Hospital Center by VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies. This worksite is the largest hospital construction project in Europe. VINCI Construction is deploying ultra-low carbon concrete and this worksite illustrates one of the many hospital work sites currently being executed by the group. There are some dozen such projects at VINCI Construction France, Monaco, another 10 in the U.K. and 6 in Poland.
VINCI Energies, many technical work packages in hospitals and not forgetting all the contracts in the health care sector for the pharma industry. So both these projects are fine illustrations of vital infrastructure with mega trends, the environmental transition with rail or health generating countless opportunities for VINCI Construction worldwide. And I'll return to that in greater detail when I discuss the group's exposure to major mega trends.
Moving to the results proper. The takeaway of 2025 for VINCI, as I said, outstanding performance in line with previous years, outstanding performance in spite of the macroeconomic and global geopolitical context that you know of the highlights. Next slide, revenue growth driven by Concessions and Energy Solutions. Revenue growth with an increase in EBITDA and operating income across all our businesses. That's what counts for us more than volume growth. What counts for us is profitable growth, net income is up and that in spite of a very significant increase in taxation in France in 2025.
Free cash flow reaches another all-time high at EUR 7 billion. We'll return to that in due course. For 2026, we're banking on a further increase of activity and the group's results. And lastly, the Board proposed a dividend in respect of FY 2025 EUR 5 per share. That's an increase in excess of 5% over 2024. This outstanding performance indicates that the group's decentralized and multi-local organization of the group has demonstrated its relevance once again, it reflects the group's culture, unique culture, more about that later.
On this slide, the main financial indicators. Christian will return to that in detail. At constant taxation, the net income group share would have grown 10% at EUR 5.4 billion and free cash would have reached EUR 7.4 billion.
On this slide, you see that our share of revenue international outside France is close to 60% proportion increases year-over-year. It's not that revenue in France is declining on the concrete activity in the country has grown 2%. It's international that's growing faster. You see also that at 5 countries accounted for total revenue, France, U.K., Germany, of course, which tomorrow, as I said, well, our leading international market as well as Spain and the United States. You will have noted that our net income is achieved over 50% outside France.
This internationalization strategy, we've been rolling it out consistently for some 15 years now, and we'll continue to do so.
Some key figures by business in Concessions. Revenue growth is 5% plus 4% like-for-like EBITDA margin comes in at 66.9%, up 10 basis points (sic) [ 14 basis points ] over 2024, driven by solid tariff increases, both in airports as well as highways, both in France and international, driven by the successful integration of our recent developments; well done to our teams led by Nicolas. Concessions accounted 60% of the group's EBITDA this year.
In greater detail for VINCI Airports, the momentum is sustained. VINCI Airport passenger traffic continued to grow across almost all 14 countries of the network. That's down to several factors, increased capacity of low-cost carriers, the development of long-haul routes in several airports and more generally stemming from customer demand that remains robust. Even if the post-COVID rebound is dwindling, the demand for mobility is a vital need. In total, 334 million passengers used our airports, an increase of 5% over last year, in particular remarkable progress achieved in Japan, notably a consequence of the Universal Fair in Osaka last year and recently acquired airports, Budapest, Edinburgh, the OMA airports in Mexico, Cabo Verde. All this demonstrates the discipline with which M&A is undertaken, our serious analysis as well as the momentum that we can in part to the new airport.
This dynamism of passenger traffic in VINCI Airports is due to our own capacity, thanks to the network effect, our unique network of airports to offer new routes, offer new routes to airlines, 400 in 2025, and I can't resist the pleasure of just an invitation to travel to mention a few, Porto Montreal, Gatwick, Bangkok, Edinburgh, Boston, Budapest, Nantes and from Mexico, Monterey, Paris.
Once again, we have collectively demonstrate that this portfolio of unique airport assets achieved many operational, technical and commercial successes throughout 2025. Autoroutes, highways in France, VINCI Autoroutes traffic posted a growth of close to 1%. VINCI Highways EBITDA continues to grow, whilst remain penalized by the tax on transportation infrastructure since 2024. We continue to challenge that before the courts. But we've renewed constructive and calmer engagement with the state as illustrated by the ESCOTA works program to ensure the good maintenance of the structure between now and the end of the Concession contract in 2032. That program was approved by the government early 2025. We just owned a new planning contract for Cofiroute with more about that later.
For VINCI Highways in Denver, united States. We're doing what we said we wouldn't, faster than expected. A year ahead of time, we put in place the toll modulation system with tariffs vary depending on the time of day. That has a positive upside on revenues. In Brazil, we reviewed resumed operations of the Via Cristais and we now fully consolidate the Entrevias accounts in the group accounts. As you know, we are the leading private airport manager worldwide and handful where the leading private highway manager in the world with 8,200 kilometers of network gives us great pride and it's a fine responsibility.
Energy Solutions remaining very dynamic, revenue of Energy Solutions at VINCI. Okay, let's round it off, let's say, EUR 30 billion. That's an increase of some 8% at actual structure, plus 6% like-for-like. Strong momentum in Q4. This revenue is driven by international business that represents over 60% of the revenue. This growth is accompanied by further progress in margins over 20 basis points at 7.6% positions as once again and without challenge, one of the most efficient players of the industry globally. Well done to VINCI Energies and Cobra.
Energy Solutions represent almost 1/4 of our EBIT. This year confirms the excellent positioning of Energy Solutions, rate dynamic markets driven by the energy transition, the digital transformation as well as by defense and sovereignty issues. In greater detail, you can see top right that the 4 areas of activity of VINCI Energies that represent an unparalleled range of expertise. We're all posting revenue growth. You can see that VINCI Energies continues its crop in terms of external growth with about 30 a year. That's one acquisition every fortnight. Internationally, VINCI Energies revenue is up 8%, notably in Germany, the leading market, the Netherlands and also in Belgium, and in France, growth comes in at 3.4%, that's way above GDP growth.
Turning to COBRA. Flow business activities remain well oriented, particularly in key markets such as Spain, Portugal and Brazil. Overall, this segment grew by nearly 5%. In large EPC projects, which happens to be Cobra's area of excellence, the strong increase in activity, plus 24% was driven by the construction in Germany of offshore electrical converter platforms for the North Sea. And also in Germany, the development of LNG regasification terminal. In Brazil, high-voltage power transmission line. And of course, we talked about that very much in July, the launch of the major PPP project in Australia. These are all strategic projects that contribute to the energy sovereignty of the regions concerned.
In the Construction business revenue increased slightly. As you know, selectivity is our guiding principle in this business. And the lower revenue observed on a like-for-like basis is evidence that this selectivity policy is effectively being implemented. However, our teams successfully improved profitability by nearly 30 basis points compared with last year. So once again, excellent work the VINCI Construction and VINCI Immobilier teams.
At VINCI Construction, revenue increased by 1.1% to EUR 32.1 billion despite a significantly negative ForEx impact, minus 1.5%. Market conditions vary across regions and business segments. Activity in major projects declined reflecting the phasing of progress on a number of large infrastructure projects, core flow business activities remained at a solid level, both internationally and in France, where activity increased, thanks to sustained demand for road, rail and hydraulic works as well as building refurbishment projects. Specialty activities at [ Soletanche Freyssinet ] also remained at a good level, particularly in the nuclear sector.
Let me also remind you, you can see the pie chart on the screen that the vast majority in Construction revenue is generated from smaller scale projects delivered for recurring local customers, what we call our core flow business activities. And that is unusual among our top competitors. In other words, the share of major projects in our overall activity is deliberately limited representing around 10%. In the property development sector, in France, market conditions remain extremely challenging. VINCI Immobilier's teams are demonstrating our ability to stay the course despite headwinds as illustrated by the return to positive earnings in 2025.
Order intake reached a high level in 2025, EUR 63 billion. Our key takeaways include flow business activities, which account for the vast majority of growth revenue in Energy Services Solutions and Construction, that remains well oriented, increasing by 3%. So order intake overall remains higher than revenue, particularly in Energy Solutions. And this means that the backlog continues to grow.
I will now hand over to Christian Labeyrie, who will present the group's financial performance for the year in detail.
[Interpreted] Thank you, Pierre as Pierre explained, our 3 businesses delivered very different growth rates; plus 8% for Energy Services or Solutions, plus 5% for concessions, plus 1% for construction, resulting in overall group revenue growth of plus 4%. And these trends reflect differing market dynamics and geographic mixes across our businesses. This is not by chance. It's the outcome of a long-standing diversification strategy designed to reduce the group's exposure to economic cycles and geopolitical risks.
This strategy enables us to grow in a sustainable manner, delivering solid results and steadily increasing cash flows year after year. To achieve this, M&A growth is a key pillar of our strategy. In 2025, changes in scope contributed plus 2.5% to group revenue growth. And for international operations, the contribution was higher at 4.1% as most acquisitions were completed outside France, and this represents close to EUR 2 billion in additional revenue.
Full year impact of 2024 acquisitions, EUR 700 million, including over EUR 400 million for VINCI Energies. And the consolidation of Edinburgh Airport mid-2024 to the tune of EUR 162 million. And the 2025 acquisitions contributed EUR 1.2 million -- actually EUR 1 billion, including Conway EUR 664 million, VINCI Energies, EUR 278 million; and VINCI Highways EUR 93 million, so nearly EUR 100 million.
By contrast, ForEx impact had a negative effect on group revenue of minus 1% or EUR 686 million with a significant share, EUR 462 million or minus 1.5% attributable to VINCI Construction. So the euro appreciated year-on-year against several currencies, including the U.S. dollar, 4.4%; the Canadian dollar, plus 6.5%; Australian dollar, 6.9%; and New Zealand dollar, plus 8.6%; the Brazilian real, 8.3%; and sterling, plus 1.2%. On a like-for-like ForEx basis, group revenue growth would have exceeded 5%, while international revenue growth would have reached plus 7.4%.
Now the geographic breakdown. France accounts for 41% of total revenue, which means a 2% increase in line with domestic growth and inflation. Europe, excluding France, 38% of total revenue, up 9% or plus 3.7% on an organic basis. The U.K., 10% of total revenue, up 10% organic growth of 1.2%. Germany, close to 9% of total revenue, so EUR 6.5 billion in revenue, up 17% or plus 11% on an organic basis. Spain, 5% of total revenue, broadly stable. The Americas, EUR 10 billion, 13% of total revenue, organic growth plus 2.2%. The U.S., EUR 3.4 million, up 4.6%, but up 7.2% on an organic basis. Canada, EUR 2 million; Latin America, EUR 4 billion, up 6%; Brazil, 1.8%, plus 18% or plus 13.6% organically.
Australia and New Zealand, over EUR 2 million, but down 10% due to an unfavorable ForEx impact. And Africa is back to growth, EUR 1.8 million, up 14%.
If we look at operating profit from ordinary activities, 2025, EUR 9.558 million, representing 12.8% of revenue. So plus 6.2% versus -- that's an increase of 6.2%, exceeding revenue growth of plus 4.2%.
Now comments on margin trends of VINCI Concessions. There's an impact from higher depreciation charges of VINCI Autoroute, mainly reflecting the commissioning of the A57 widening project in the Toulon area. So for VINCI Airports, there is a mix effect between the different platforms with the end of the [ Pumping ] concession.
Highways, you're not seeing the impact on the slide, but we're seeing a strong increase in [indiscernible] VINCI Highways due to the consolidation of Entrevias and Denver.
For Energy, VINCI Energies is seeing a margin that's up 20 basis points. And you've got to understand that this margin rate is rather homogeneous between the different divisions and business lines of VINCI Energies. It's also true for Cobra. We're seeing an improvement of 20 basis points, so 8% margin and margin levels are broadly comparable between flow business activities and EPC projects.
VINCI Construction, margin up 10 basis points to 4.2%. Again, the impact is quite clustered. We're seeing that the U.K. is back in the lead. The U.K.'s profit margin is close to 4%, and this has never happened before. And this is in part due to Conway being consolidated. Now in real estate, this business was making loss last year due to restructuring and impairments for commercial housing projects. Now we're seeing an increase in the IFRS 2 expense, and this reflects the impact of the PEG employee shareholding project and an increase in employee subscription. And because the share price has increased, this has led to an impact that was higher than in 2024. And this is offset by the improved contribution from the equity accounted affiliates as well as the airports in Japan.
Also Cobra's stakeholding in electrical transmission lines in Brazil. Recurring operating income, 6.2%, but we're seeing differences from one segment to another, plus 5% for concessions, plus 1%. And if we look at the breakdown, we find that there are 3 equivalent blocks, VINCI Airports and other Concessions, 31% and Energy Solutions and Concessions, 35%.
Now if we look at the situation the previous several years ago, we were highly dependent on French motorways. Now there's a much better balance between the different contributions of the different segments to the group's financial performance.
Previous slide, please. Now if we look at nonrecurring items, there are positive impacts of disposals in 2025, particularly the pullout from our Russian auto route activities and also our participation in access and also divestments for Cobra, including a pullout from offshore wind farm development.
Now there's an increase in net financial expense because we paid over EUR 7 billion for new acquisitions in 2024, but the impact is rather limited. It's much lower than expected because of the volume impact due to the growth in debt because of the acquisitions has been offset by cash flow better than expected. And we've been -- we've enjoyed a favorable ForEx impact in particular, thanks to our strategy, partially floating rate debt. So we've been able to curb the increase in financial expense.
Now if we look at our P&L, this comes as no surprise, but tax is up significantly, plus EUR 560 million, including EUR 449 million related to the [ surtax ] on large corporate profits introduced in France in 2025 and extended to 2026. As a result, we're leading -- we're seeing an effective tax rate of close to 35% versus 29% in 2024.
If we restate, for that, the effective tax rate would have been 29%, broadly in line with 2024. The corporate tax rate in France increased from 25.83% to 36%. So net income, EUR 4.9 billion despite the higher tax burden in France was slightly above the 2024 level, which came to EUR 4.86 billion. Earnings per share increased by 2.6%, reflecting share buybacks that reduced the number of shares outstanding. The number of shares outstanding decreased from 562.4 million to 556 million at the end of 2025, and that's a 1.1% reduction, and this continued through 2026.
As you can see, we have a new share buyback program, which will cover Q1 2026. On a constant tax basis, net income would have reached EUR 5.35 billion. So that's a 10% increase and earnings per share would have reached EUR 9.44 per share, so up 12%.
Now if we look at the cash flow statement and analysis of the change in debt net for -- during the year, consolidated net financial debt decreased in 2025 from EUR 20.4 billion to EUR 19.1 billion at the end of 2025. Why? Well, first of all, because our EBITDA improved by EUR 800 million, increased more than our revenue, so up 6.4%.
Also a positive change in working capital requirements and current provisions causing contribution in cash of EUR 2.5 billion, which is higher than the already very strong 2024 level, EUR 2.3 billion.
What we can say is that over 2 years, thanks to strong control of working capital in 2024, we're talking plus -- we're looking at plus EUR 1.8 billion, which is comparable with 2024. And also, we have a prudent provisioning policy. So plus EUR 0.7 billion versus EUR 0.5 billion in 2024. So the group generated an additional EUR 4.8 billion in cash. Contrary to what some of you expected, this remains a strength for the group. And this reflected sustained efforts across all divisions, particularly at VINCI Construction to structurally improve our collection process for customer receivables and also our billing process, which delivered results beyond our expectations. You got to understand that Vinci's business is 90% flow business. I'm talking about construction, of course, in energy.
So contingencies pertaining to major projects have much less of an impact than they used to when it comes to changes in working capital requirements.
Now I'm not going to back to tax. Tax is up, financial expense is up. CapEx remained broadly stable year-on-year, EUR 4.9 billion, although there are different trends across divisions.
Concessions, EUR 1.3 billion versus EUR 1.4 billion last year. Energy, EUR 2.3 billion versus EUR 2.2 billion last year; and construction, EUR 1.3 billion, same as last year.
Financial investments made in 2025 amounted to nearly EUR 1.8 billion. That's the difference between disposals and acquisitions, but there's a sharp decrease compared with the EUR 7 billion in 2024 when we consolidated Edinburgh, Budapest and also the Denver Highway project.
This year, what are we seeing? Well, we've seen the consolidation of FM Conway, EUR 0.5 billion, VINCI Energies acquisitions, so about EUR 400 million. And this includes 3 important affiliates in Germany. We dealt with ACS to finalize the EUR 300 million project and also integration of Entrevias. We have a 55% stake in this project in Sao Paulo in Brazil, which didn't use to be fully consolidated. And following renegotiations on governance, we're now going to integrate the debt for this project. Now the divestments amounted to BRL 300 million to BRL 400 million following the disposal of a corporate stake, in particular, in this project in Brazil, offshore activities in Brazil, the sale of access and also the sale of VINCI Highways' Russian assets.
So cash return to shareholders is significant, BRL 3.8 billion, including BRL 2.7 billion in dividends paid to VINCI S.A. shareholders and also the dividends paid by Gatwick, Edinburgh and OMA to minority shareholders.
Now we bought Edinburgh over 1 year ago. And this is the first year that we've been able to extract cash from that entity.
Share buybacks, I talked about that, EUR 2 billion. So share issuances, EUR 0.8 billion, representing 7.5 million shares -- and we need to look at the difference between gross debt and net cash. And this is increasing over a year.
Seasonality of free cash flow, that's the next slide. Nothing new under the sun. VINCI's businesses are characterized by strong seasonality in contracting activities, business volumes are lower during the winter months and I am assuming the obvious year. In Concessions, activity is particularly strong during the summer period. Fixed costs, however, remain largely stable throughout the year. So most of the group's cash flows generated in H2, particularly the last quarter of the year as illustrated by the chart. This is why it's difficult to have a reliable forecast.
We did go out on the limb this year, but we were dragging our feet for that very reason previously. An additional challenge in producing reliable full year free cash flow forecastings from the group's highly decentralized organization. So over 4,000 business units, over 3,000 businesses consolidated and our BUMs, Business Unit Managers who are the core of our business, usually adopt a cautious approach when communicating the forecast. And that prudence is understandable, but the cumulative effect can result in significant variances at year-end as layers of conservatism add up.
Now 10-year trend in free cash flow and net income cash conversion, we're seeing that we generated close to EUR 50 billion over 10 years, including over EUR 30 billion over the last 5 years. And this illustrates the effectiveness of the group's business model and the relevance of its -- and the power of its decentralized management organization.
Secondly, and this in spite the fact that we weathered as many others, a lot of extraneous crisis during that period, thanks to the diversity of our activities and our geographical footprint and a prudent financial policy, we've been able to deliver year after year solid results. We've improved them as well as free cash flow generation. It's the fruit of the work of our business units, our thousands of BUs, all efficient companies, very customer-focused, responsive, fleet footed to take account of market changes to end our financial policy.
It's not revolutionary what I'm going to say. I tend to repeat myself every time. Financial policy rests on several pillars. Firstly, it's key for us to have considerable liquidity. It's the price of liquidity, EUR 15 billion cash. That's EUR 2.4 billion increase, a credit line, EUR 6.5 billion by our banks, maturity extended to January 2031. In spite of the cyclical variations in market conditions at all times, we can generate resources to continue to invest in our businesses, seize development opportunities that form part of our strategic plan and return to our shareholders.
We have to manage significant debt, EUR 34.5 billion that is actively managed. It must be refinanced regularly and its cost must be optimized. 2/3 of the debt are housed in infrastructures that we managed for long-term contracts. That's about EUR 10 billion for ASF and Cofiroute and as much on our airports. So debt service with the concession -- debt service is insured by cash flow generated by projects to calibrate fully our capital injections and optimize return on investment debt housed on projects is fixed rate, whereas corporate debt has a variable rate.
At the end of 2025, fixed rate debt accounted for 46% and 34% and variable debt, 54%. We've been able to reduce the average cost of our debt by 60 bps in 2025, bringing it down to around 4.3% despite of the fact that 60% of the debt is not denominated in euros, the euro where we arrive at very low rates. It's not the case when we borrow in real. So Colombian currencies, dollar or sterling.
And lastly, we're preserving our excellent credit ratings. As you know, minus A3 S&P, Moody's, they're periodically reviewed, but they're confirmed year after year. And thanks to all that, we're able to issue in 2025, EUR 5.7 billion additional debt to refinance EUR 4.2 billion. Excellent conditions. Our signature is widely appreciated by bond investors as we demonstrated successfully in January with a new ASF issue, EUR 500 million over 8 years that have cost below 3.5%. Thank you.
[Interpreted] Thank you, Christian, for those very clear explanations. In terms of outlook now, our outlook reflect our value creation strategy in both our long-term and short-term activities, long-term activities, mobility infrastructure. This year, VINCI has signed with competent authorities, major agreements that strengthened visibility and offer promising growth prospects in airports. I'd like to emphasize the expansion potential of the airports that we operate in addition to our M&A growth.
In this complex world, one of the great strengths of VINCI is to forge relations based on trust throughout the world. And thanks to this constructive dialogue, several major agreements were signed these past few months. A few examples. London Gatwick, I mentioned we have the approval of the Northern Runway in Lisbon, Portugal. Our teams in January 2025 at the request of Portuguese authorities began to study the development of a new airport at Alcochete, Lisbon. A major milestone was reached after consultation of the stakeholders with the receipt of a favorable response from the grantor regarding the launch of the preliminary design phase.
Let's cross the Atlantic. In Mexico, OMA subsidiary signed at the end of December, a new 5-year economic regulation contract defines investments over the period, around EUR 800 million as well as the associated tariff increase in Cape Verde, further investments in excess of EUR 140 million over and above those already launched early 2026, increase the airports of the island state to boost their traffic, but above all to maintain the economic and tourist dynamism in the country. We can mention the start of the launch by VINCI Airport in close conjunction with VINCI Construction, VINCI Energies, the new terminal of the Santo Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic.
In France, following a constructive and confident dialogue with the state, VINCI has just signed a new rider to the concession contract for Cofiroute. Through moderate tariff increase, it allows the application of the court decision on the composition of the increase on the regional development plan and an investment of some EUR 350 million on the network. These are essentially shared mobility investments, regional development and use of e-vehicles for electromobility. 100% of the VINCI service areas have charging stations as well as some 40 service areas, making it the best equipped highway network in the country for 2,400 charging points, that's 54 every 100 KM. Thanks to that, the number of charging stations could double.
Through all these examples, our infrastructure is vital, but also changing, evolving, being renewed and needs development, many opportunities for value creation by VINCI for VINCI, both in our airports and the highways that we manage. In terms of energy infrastructure, long term. In 2025, the group decided to combine the energy production activities, essentially PV developed by Cobra Zero.e. That's the dedicated subsidiary to better nurture performance to optimize financing arrangements and asset rotation if need.
Zero.e has a total capability for renewable power production of 5 gigawatts. 1.2 gigawatts in operation and 4.2 gigawatts under construction already to build to date. Cobra has invested EUR 2.3 billion in that portfolio. This investment policy is selective, targeted on limited number of geographies, Spain, Brazil, the United States and also Australia. We plan to strengthen the value of these assets with battery projects. And on the basis of this current portfolio, we're banking for this activity by 2030 on an EBITDA in excess of EUR 400 million.
So furthermore, still long-term energy assets, Cobra benefits, as does VINCI Energies of long-standing expertise to implement construction and maintenance projects for high-voltage power lines, Cobra is currently in charge of 4 PPPs for over 200 kilometers of lines in Brazil and Australia. This is the beginning of an asset portfolio in the field of energy transmission lines where opportunities are numerous in Brazil. They're developing in Australia. And we believe that they will also expand elsewhere, notably in the United States.
Short-term activities, all our businesses are driven by the world's mega trends. And on this slide, we're presenting a selection of 6 megatrends that we view as dynamic, both short and long term. For electrical infrastructure, the group generates over EUR 10 billion revenue with the backlog of close on EUR 20 billion. We're one of the world leaders, if not the world's largest utility, rail works, EUR 6 billion with a backlog of EUR 11 billion. Defense and sovereignty, EUR 2 billion in revenue and EUR 3 billion by way of backlog. Water infrastructure, EUR 3 billion revenue with similar backlog; digital infrastructure, we assess our revenue at EUR 7 billion, backlog EUR 6 billion; healthcare, EUR 2 billion in revenue and equivalent backlog.
All these vital assets are already reflected in our figures, account for half of the revenue and 2/3 of our order intake in Energy Solutions, and that's set to continue to grow. Our order build continues to grow reaching an all-time high of some EUR 70 billion. That's over 14 months of activities. Offices visibility, we can view the future with confidence without departing from our selectivity policy margin over volume. On the right, the share of France, 29%; Germany, 20% share; and the rest of the world, 51%.
Shown here is our guidance, 2026 by business. VINCI Airports' passenger traffic should continue to increase overall in line with global economic growth with various situations across region. VINCI Autoroutes in France, traffic growth should follow French economic output and that of its neighbors, including Spain and Italy. Energy Solutions are expected to see their revenue growth in a mid- to high single digit range, expected improvement of the operating margin already at the highest level in the sector. Total capacity of Zero.e in operation and construction ready-to-build could go from 5 gigawatts currently to about 6 gigawatts at the end of '26. Construction revenue, excluding ForEx impact, is likely to be broadly similar to the 2025 level with at least the same operating margin.
Based on these expected developments, assuming no change in taxation, similar corporate tax rate as in 2025, VINCI will deliver further growth in its revenue in 2026, increase in its operating earnings. And further increase in its net income and as initial estimate of free cash flow, which could reach EUR 6 billion.
The dividend on the basis of the remarkable performance in 2025, the free cash flow generated and confident in the prospects, the Board will propose at the upcoming shareholders' meeting a dividend of EUR 5 per share, EUR 1.05 has already been paid as an interim dividend. This would be an increase of 5% over 2024, and that would be a payout ratio of 58%. A word to remind you of our capital allocation strategy, consistent strategy for their shareholder on the right, the dividend with the payout ratio target, 60% of net income and share buybacks over and above the prime aim to offset dilution brought about by the issuance of shares to employees.
The group will undertake opportunistic share buybacks based on our financial leeway taking into account M&A and the share price performance whilst seeking to maintain, as Christian said, a solid financial structure to maintain the excellent financial ratings. In terms of development on the left, we'll continue to invest in long-term infrastructure concessions, be it auto routes or airports through M&A or investing in our existing assets as well as in long-term assets for the production of renewable power storage and transmission lines. Short-term activities, the group strategy is to go all out on Energy Solutions for 20 years now. We've demonstrated our know-how when it comes to acquiring and integrating successfully new companies and the group remains open in the construction field to opportunistic acquisitions.
Shown here is a summary of our capital allocation strategy over the past 3 years. Free cash flow totaled some EUR 32 billion, 3 broadly similar segments. EUR 11 billion, EUR 2.7 million for developing energy assets and PPP transmission lines, EUR 10 billion in M&A to prepare confidently our future. There are main deals over the 3 years. The equity IRR and EUR 12 billion in dividends and share buybacks.
Shown here is a recap of the major acquisitions in 2025 already discussed, and I'd like to emphasize what Christian said, we regularly undertake disposals so as to optimize our ROE and improve clarity. The portfolio reviews are regularly undertaken leading possibly to an increase in investments in some assets or disposals in others. With Christian, we've just presented VINCI's financial performance for the year. It's remarkable. This ability to generate long-term value rests on a very strong VINCI culture that is shared by all that makes VINCI unique. This culture is shown on screen, is the long-term mind-set, the quest for all-round performance. We consider both financial and nonfinancial performance inextricably linked.
That's the all-around performance. Our Group culture is decentralized, multi-local, agile organization, which is particularly relevant in this polarizing world. Our culture is its trusted management with common principles across its 1,400 BUs, unmatched execution policy, focus on cash generation and great discipline and cash allocation. This culture characterizes VINCI in all its businesses, in all its geographies and characterize its -- all its global assets. It's this synergy, the shared values that make VINCI a rare precious value. At least for us, it's the only way of continuing to create value long term, and we once again demonstrated in 2025, and as we'll continue to demonstrate.
Thank you for listening. I'd also like to warmly thank Christian today with some emotion. Christian, you've been Group CFO, if I'm not mistaken. since January 1999. It means that VINCI duration and long term is also present in its executives and management. And if I'm not mistaken, you've just presented for the 28th time the group's financials since you were appointed, I haven't taken into account the share price performance today. 1,100% and over 3,000% with the dividends, that's an average 14% a year on behalf of the almost 300,000 employees of the Group, majority of whom are shareholders. Thank you. Well done.
[Interpreted] You can do just as well. Even better. Let's go with the bank. Together with Christian and the rest of the Executive Board, we are at hand to answer any questions you may have.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] Eric Lemarie, CRC. I have 3 questions for starters, if I may. Question number one, future potential calls for tender as part of renewing concession contracts in France. What about the timetable following the presidential elections? The press talked about 2028. Do you have additional information on that?
Question number two, the rider to the Cofiroute contract, could you please give us some color regarding how things worked out? Who approached who? We often bear in mind the political risks, but maybe those risk are lower than what we'd expect. Could we expect a similar amendments to Escota contracts or ASF contracts? Do you intend to proceed similarly? And also the EUR 300 million in CapEx, could you give us the sequencing year-on-year and also the return on capital employed for this particular plan?
And 1 last question regarding free cash flow. The guidance stands at EUR 6 billion. So what are your assumptions when it comes to working capital requirement fluctuation?
[Interpreted] Regarding the first 2 questions, I'm going to hand over to Nicolas.
[Interpreted] Now on a more short-term basis, the investment program contract with Cofiroute and also prospects for investments. As Pierre rightly said, what's important when it comes to concessions, particularly when there are legal contract disputes, always maintain dialogue. And that's what we did. And we now have a constructive dialogue. So what is disagreement all about? It's about transferring investments.
In the life of a contract, a certain type of investments were not being made. So mechanically, we were able to transfer them to new types of investments, particularly for decarbonizing motorways, multimodal exchanges, reserved lanes, et cetera. So one important factor, compensation. The Court of Appeals issued a ruling in 2025 and so the increase in the TAT divisional development tax which was specific to motorways was supposed to be offset for Cofiroute. Since May 2025, the government orders for the past increase in tax and also for the future increase in tax, and this generated additional investments. And as a result, the court ruling in May 2025, plus our partnership-driven approach meant that we were able to find common ground.
So you also referenced other companies. We have submitted a new joint project together with the government regarding Escota. So that's work in progress. The investigation is underway. And of course, we're not ruling anything out when it comes to ASF, but it will be a different approach. As Pierre rightly said, we have completed Stage 1 when it comes to the end of the concession contract because 7 years ahead of time, concession contracts require an agreement when it comes to residual investment we made, and that's what we did for Escota for future competitive bidding.
You know that the government believes in dialogue, that's part of the France transport ambition. And they've recognized the merits of infrastructure concession contracts and also tolling for the future because when a country such as ours is heavily in debt, you got to understand that 20% to 25% of tolling proceeds come from international operations. Spain's economic growth outperforms the European average. As you know, VINCI Autoroutes, Highway -- highways are connected to our Spanish highways. So parliament will be discussing that. We will be discussing the framework legislation to prepare for future contracts now that the current -- once the current contract lapse around 2030.
So we lay the groundwork for 2028, 2029. And of course, we will continue to be selective and disciplined. We will look at the terms and conditions of these contracts and see to what extent we can take part in those efforts. But we will look at the terms and conditions of those contracts in a couple of years.
[Interpreted] Now the CapEx sequencing between 2027 and 2030. In the meantime, still CapEx underway when it comes to networks. I'm talking about new contracts. Were you talking an additional EUR 350 million in CapEx?
[Interpreted] Could you please repeat the question?
[indiscernible]
[Interpreted] Well, you can do the math easily enough. There's a difference between the EUR 6 billion and the slight increase in revenue. Now that assumption is worth whatever it's worth. But there's a breakdown between working capital requirements on the one hand and the recurring provisions. As you know, we externalize our results, but we do it cautiously. There are 4,000 business units. Everybody provisions for risks that may or may not materialize. And -- it's a structural thing as far as we're concerned. So that's where part of the gap comes from and working capital requirement is managed as close to the field as possible by our operations teams and our administrative managers.
And that's been a strong focus in a number of years. And the COVID period served to reveal the issue because we used to choose the path of least resistance, then we start rolling up our sleeves and now it's paying off. It's been 5 years now. And we're still reaping the benefits of those efforts, maybe not along the same proportions of the past few years because there was a catch-up effect. But this means that the EUR 6 billion estimated assumption is pretty reasonable considering the other parameters that we discussed in the press release.
Yes, this affects Cobra, Construction and VINCI Energies. This was particularly true for the Construction business this year because the Construction was lagging behind the other businesses when it comes to improving its customer receivable collection processes and billing processes.
Now from an operational point of view, because the global environment is trapped with increasing uncertainty, this means that our managers business unit managers are much more cautious when it comes to cash predictions. We usually estimate cash predictions throughout the project. But from this get-go, we try to be in a cash plus in a cash positive situation from the get-go because of the growing uncertainty of the global environment, irrespective of the contracts or the relationship with the customer by definition. The customer is always smarter when their cash is already in our pocket. So from an operational point of view, many talks and working capital requirement talks as well. And so our entire reporting structure is -- has been made aware of that.
Now we went through a period of low interest rates. Remember, in Italy, there were 0 interest rates, sometimes even negative interest rates. And so good habits were taken back then to collect as quickly as possible. But when it comes to our vendors, the best thing we can do is pay them in due course. So it's a good thing. It's a good thing, those good habits have continued to prevail. And this explains in part the improvement in working capital requirement. And to our minds, that is a structural thing to a great extent.
[Interpreted] Sven Edelfelt, ODDO. Congratulations for your excellent results. And thank you, Christian, for your contributions. I have a couple of questions. Number one, regarding ANA rate, the ANA output. Could you give us some idea of the CapEx and also the phasing of the initial investments into the Alcochete Airport if you have some idea already.
Question number two, Pierre, you talked about the handover between Thierry and Christian. Sometime this year, maybe at the beginning of next year, maybe you'll be willing to share your vision, your 10-year vision of the growth, maybe during a CME, Capital Markets Day. Won't that be an opportunity to add color?
[Interpreted] Nicolas, would you like to take this question on ANA?
[Interpreted] It's a little early to give you an economic guidance. Now there are contract milestones. We are crossing those milestones and is proceeding at pace. We have an order of magnitude, EUR 8.5 billion. That's been published. Now we're going through an important phase and that's the environmental assessment. As you know, in all Western European countries, the period during which we secured that environmental authorization is an important one. So that's Phase I. That's the environmental phase.
And meanwhile, we're working on the final design of the airport, so we can optimize it considering renewed air traffic constraints, which are different now than they were a couple of years ago. And we are also looking at financial mechanisms. So the figure I'm giving regarding Portugal is already 1 year old, and it will shift further based on how we optimize the projects and also based on the outcome and the environment assessment. But it's not going to start right away. This is a project that will take several years to achieve. But the order of magnitude for this airport in Portugal is EUR 8.5 billion, as I said.
Now in terms of financial reporting, that's something we pay close attention to because it is important. And that's why we all gathered here today. If we look at the timetable and the content of the Capital Markets Day, we don't have a clear guidance yet, but we've put our heads together, but I can't make any promises as to the outcome.
[Interpreted] Other questions?
[Interpreted] I have a couple of questions, more anecdotal questions. You talked about BESS, Battery Energy Storage Systems. Do you -- are you thinking of signing a similar contract between Cobra and Tesla, for example, regarding the EUR 6.4 billion, you gave us some idea regarding EBITDA. You gave us a figure during the presentation, but the EUR 2.3 billion when it comes to current operations, is that generating EBITDA? And when it comes to M&A, you talked about the Fletcher acquisition in New Zealand, I think, and also FM Conway.
Now in terms of mergers and acquisitions, I have in mind VINCI Energies, VINCI Construction is also making acquisitions. What should we expect? Should we expect regular acquisitions internationally from VINCI Construction? Or do you have countries that you prefer when making acquisitions? And also, you talked about the EUR 7 billion in revenue for digital infrastructure. So how much -- what's the share of data centers out of the EUR 7 billion?
[Interpreted] Regarding the BESS, Battery Energy Storage Systems, your question is twofold. First of all, you're asking about our design and build contracting activities, VINCI Energies and Cobra are doing that. Arnaud can tell you more. Jose Maria can tell you more. And then there are investments being made in terms of long-term assets, and we are planning to invest into Battery Energy Storage Systems so as to further enhance the value of our solar PV facilities.
Arnaud, anything you'd like to add?
[Interpreted] Yes, it's true. For a number of years, we've seen a roll-up in those BESS installations and facilities for various customers in Europe. So we have an EPC positioning. We don't have a framework agreement with any battery provider or even Tesla, but most of those batteries are Chinese batteries. China is a major provider of battery technology. So it's up to the developer and to the -- it's up to the investor to decide what kind of battery they want.
Jose Maria?
[Interpreted] [indiscernible] Invest only for supply our projects. We are not going to do or invest in a standalone capacity. And we expect to invest at least 5 gigawatts hour for our own projects in the next 3 years. And this allows us to increase our equity IR in around 200 basis points.
And to add to that, we are considering, as I said in the presentation, a new investment on the renewable plants in Australia and actually an investment in a plant includes the investment in BESS.
[Interpreted] Now in terms of construction, as we said before, our investment policy is an opportunistic one, usually designed to strengthen our existing strong positions where we're already feeling comfortable. Now as it happens, 2 years in a row, we had an opportunity to make the Conway acquisition in the London area. And back to back, there was another opportunity for another acquisition, Fletcher. And before that, the latest significant acquisition by VINCI Construction was back in 2018, Lane. So just because we make 2 major acquisitions back to back in 2025, 2026 means that we will do the same in 2027. It will depend on opportunities. If the opportunity arises, we'll go for it. Otherwise, we'll abstain.
Now VINCI Energies, however, is more of a continuum because we have a recurring bumper crop of 30 acquisitions per annum. We're talking hundreds of millions in annual revenue, thanks to M&A. And that's part of our modus operandi. And we do it so often that it's almost akin to organic growth. But like I said, it all depends on what opportunities arise as indicated when I talked about our capital allocation policy.
When it comes to digital infrastructure, I did emphasize the fact that regarding construction, flow business against 90% in major projects remaining 10%, but we could be saying the exact same thing regarding Energy Solutions. If you look at the share of EPC contracts for all Energy Solutions at Cobra, it's about 10%. For digital infrastructure, we have pretty much the same take. Now I don't have the exact figure top of mind to try and answer the question you posed, but we have major projects and there's a lot of visibility there. I'm talking data centers. And there's a lot of activity, a lot business around digital infrastructure between anything that happens between the hyperscaler and your smartphones. We're talking a lot of networks, a lot of assets. A lot of installation and maintenance contracts, a lot of cybersecurity aspects.
So we have to factor it all in, into that EUR 7 billion figure. Now I said the flow business accounts for 90% of the mix. And that's much more -- that's much more recurring business than data centers. So data centers, we're talking major contracts, Cobra's EPC contracts, whenever they do want such a contract, there's a lot of visibility, and it's easy to understand. But you've got to bear in mind the recurring repeat flow business, which accounts for 86% of our contracting activities. And I know, I believe that this is a major differentiating factor when it comes to construction for VINCI.
And this also explains the high quality for results. But whatever is happening around the data centers is going to fuel our business throughout the digital infrastructure segment. So yes, we do have a presence in data centers, but we mostly have a presence in the recurring multiyear flow business, what VINCI Energies calls Axians. I mean that accounts for 25% of VINCI Energies. And digital infrastructure can also be found in Energy Solutions because you can find it within a building, that's what we call [ sport ] building. You'll find that in electrical grid as well. That's what we call smart grids.
Digital infrastructure is everywhere, smart grids, smart buildings, microphone please, regarding the contribution, no forecast yet. We have tentative figures only in 2023 where we have a full over 1 gigawatt on a full year basis when it comes to operations. So I can't -- I prefer not to give you a figure, first of all, because it wouldn't be significant, not even at Cobra scale, let alone at VINCI scale. But yes, this will start to generate EBITDA as early as 2026. We started generating EBITDA in 2025 a little bit because, Jose Maria, correct me if I'm wrong, operations began in June, July, started generating earnings, but I don't know how significant that is. So that is why I prefer to wait until '27 before I give you the guidance. That's how long it takes for the asset development pipeline to actually reach cruising speed.
[Interpreted] Well done for your results. Just following up on Zero.e, 1 giga for this year, we report the figures separately as of '26. A question on airports. We see slight margin erosion, traffic increase. Could you maybe just rehearse the reasons for that? And Gatwick specifically, could you give us some color and a time horizon?
And final question, you mentioned a bit more portfolio rotation going forward. Could you enlighten us as to the criteria that will be applied?
[Interpreted] On the Zero.e figures, I won't answer immediately, when it becomes significant, we'll report. But there's no point giving overly small numbers that can be misread. I think we'll be still in that situation in 2026. So it's preferable for us to give you an indication once these assets are in operation in -- reach cruising speed, it's far more significant.
Question on the airports. A couple of questions on the airports, Nicolas.
[Interpreted] So your question on the airports. Well, firstly, we regularly make acquisitions that don't necessarily have the same EBITDA EBIT margins. The annual comparisons are not always like-for-like. Secondly, that we had some one-off high turns EBITDA and EBIT in 2024 versus 2025 and EBITDA EBIT margin, very high, that's grown significantly. And final point mentioned in the presentation, I believe it was Christian, we're going to change the motor contract on Phnom Penh Airport through September. We were in full concession. We were compensated, that was a one-off of the earnings. But today, we have an operation contract for Phnom Penh Airport, which obviously doesn't have the same EBITDA or EBIT margin. Those are the prime reasons that justify this consolidation and margin on VINCI Airports.
Gatwick. Color on Gatwick -- Gatwick, as we said, we have a plan that we're now rolling out the CapEx, same to that's being development, about GBP 2.2 billion for that with the latest legal challenges are underway that approval was given. But as I said, we have to follow the latest rulings. But without delay, we're launching the design and works phase, 45 million is Gatwick capacity that will grow to 80 million passengers. So with that investment, we can up the capacity significantly.
On portfolio revenues, just to reaffirm that we're doing that. And Christian drawn up an inventory. I mean there are a number of significant disposals. Those are amounts in the P&L and cash. Yes, we're active. We're developing and we're active to focus and we've done that, but we've always done and we'll continue to do.
[Interpreted] If there are no further questions in the room, we can take questions on the call. Questions in French first.
[Operator Instructions] First question, Patrick Creuset from Goldman Sachs.
[Interpreted] Christian, congratulations for the great numbers. In your release, you mentioned the strategic review of the portfolio through your businesses with the goal of optimizing the return on capital. Could you tell us what type of asset will be involved? What will be the criteria, the potential scale of this review. And also in terms of capital allocation, how you currently assess opportunities for M&A business, region and also size?
[Interpreted] As I've just indicated, this principle of reviewing our portfolio concerns all our businesses, all our geographies, we do it. We'll continue to conduct that review. I'm incapable of saying to produce -- or depends what the ROE asset by asset, how to improve the Group's clarity. That would guide us, but we are not saying that these are times where we're going to increase the capital -- the volume did for M&A. There's a pipeline of M&A at VINCI Airports an M&A pipeline at VINCI Highways, at VINCI Energies and VINCI Construction that remains active for opportunities.
We do that across our businesses, and we remain open to all geographies as long as we're comfortable there. And with stronger reason, we're more comfortable in geographies where we're already present, where we're already strong to do the various deals that we've mentioned. But if we go back further, without being present in Japan, we had the smart idea was from Nicolas to go to the Osaka and Kansa Airports. And Christian mentioned that. So we remain very open and very opportunistic. And similarly, we have no M&A investment targets per year.
You've seen it's far lower this year than last year. And on average, that is pretty much the same thing, 3-year average. I presented that on the reflection over the past 3 years of M&A CapEx. But we're disciplined when we need to be disciplined, that is we don't do any old things. And if there are 3 or 4 deals to be sealed, Christian has the wherewithal, the munitions to strike a good deal or several good deals when we believe the time is right. And what we could add on that, says, Christian, that across our businesses, I mean we're not an investment fund. So we're not in the business of buying assets for the pleasure of buying. When we buy something, it's to nurture it, manage it to extract value through management that is a position of control even 100% in Energy, Cobra, VINCI Construction and in Concessions to be in control or co-control. If it's just to be a passive partner, not really in terms of the revenue that we contribute extensively through our work.
The idea is to have a hope of improving receipts if it's a pure PPP with a fee paid linearly over the duration of the contract. It's a less interest. Cobra did in 2025 to seed its stake in a project acquired in Brazil, for which there was no upside on the traffic. It was clearly a financial deal. Once the development and construction risk is behind it can be -- can make sense to sell the asset to a pure financial player, an investment fund.
[Interpreted] So the minority stakes that might be sold or disposed of as your portfolio rotation?
[Interpreted] It's possible. Look at the disposals of the year. There weren't just minority stakes or investment.
[Interpreted] Next question. Elodie Yvonne, JPMorgan, over to you.
[Interpreted] Yes. Sorry not to be with you this morning. Best wishes, Christian. Just to start, we sense that you're more ambitious regarding your return to shareholder policy. You mentioned opportunistic share buybacks to what level could you go and notably regarding the dividend 5%. I mean that's a priority. So clearly, that we're moving away from a payout policy so with things possible in terms of a dividend increase going forward, perhaps more dynamic, the net income.
And maybe another question, if I may. Would you have a comment on the German contract, you're beginning to see the fruits of that and also highway traffic year-to-date? Are you seeing an inflection on the residential -- French residential market that you lost at '25. You see some green shoots of hope there. And I see on the portfolio review, you mentioned that at a great length, but how -- where does ADP feature in your thinking?
[Interpreted] On the dividends, I've spoken about that, our goal down the road was 60%. I mean if the payout ratio is to head to 60%. On the share buybacks, in fact, we're pretty much the end of the catch-up of the dilution several years. generating new shares for the group savings scheme. So we're not ruling out the possibility of going beyond that. But once again, it will be opportunistically, as I indicated, based on the capital that we have to allocate on the expansion, be it M&A or developing existing assets and depending on the share price performance.
I can't give you more guidance than that. But you can say is that the dividend policy. We don't want to change it every other day. But to give some guidance that we've always done on the share buyback, there we can be more opportunists I suppose you look at the Americans who're massively buying back shares when it suits them. depending on their CapEx plan, the GAFA is spending hundreds of billions in CapEx, maybe they'll do a bit less share buyback. That's part of the financial strategy.
Highly complementary dividends and share buyback, we do both. In the CAC 40, same return to shareholders in terms of its market cap as VINCI today. Next, on highway, auto route traffic, they're significant. I mean January is never significant month of January. Not much to say what to draw from that. On residential housing construction with the exception of VINCI Real Estate, that's a fine company and the impact is limited on VINCI as a whole, notably construction is not at all very little dependent on the building of new homes. It's negligible share.
And so the impact of residential property development aside from VINCI Real Estate has a little impact on the Group financials. What we can say Virginie, what the market is challenging.
The housing stimulus plan announced to [indiscernible]. So that hasn't yet been placed on the statute. But so we wouldn't really see the effects of that before the coming months and that we're in a year of local municipal elections that are never times that are propitious to the dynamic launch of new projects. But whatever the housing stimulus plan is a good signal for the sector to kickstart the momentum after 3 years of crisis. There's a question about Germany. Well, in Germany, there are 2 major stimulus plans. There's one for defense and stimulus package for infrastructure. From what our German teams tell us and when we ask them, we need to question them several times to get a sense of what's happening between the EUR 500 billion at federal level and twice EUR 500 billion and how it percolates down to contracts.
It's not easy to read. But the sense, yes, it's beginning to be visible in defense. I remind you that in defense, VINCI Energies made an acquisition of a company SAN last year that primarily works in German shipyards for the German Navy and has very sustained activity and growth prospects. And so that momentum is part and parcel of the defense stimulus package. So for the infrastructure stimulus German teams have great difficulty in seeing a significant shift to date on that front. Arnaud? Well, what we can say is we indicated ahead of phase on energy infrastructure stimulus package, there are major needs, but they're not fast-track projects because they need authorizations, there are appeals, et cetera, a lot of design work. So it's positive over the long term, but they're not hyper growth rates short term in defense, it's production capacity. So it's positive for one sector, but it's not hyper activity, either short or medium term.
But what is, however, clear is that these announcements have generated a climate of confidence and that weighs heavily in the economy of the country. And -- the Germans are fortunate in that respect. That's why it's good to be in Germany. It's good to continue to expand in Germany. And as you saw these past few acquisitions, as you saw in the contracts, be it VINCI Energy, of course, but also Cobra with the major Cobra projects in Germany, VINCI construction there for a long time. Also VINCI Highways, which is the leading operator of German highway PPPs, and we haven't seen nothing yet in terms of project launch, but that could form part of the stimulus package. We're very well positioned to benefit from that. Questions in English. If you want, you've got the translation headsets. Okay. Let's have the first one.
Our very first question from the English conference is coming from Harishankar of Deutsche Bank.
I have a few. Maybe the first one would be around order inflows. When I look at your outlook for 1C Energies, solid mid-single digits to high single-digit growth. But in Q4 -- till Q4, we have not seen inflows improve a lot. So does the outlook imply that you are expecting inflows to turn the corner pretty soon? The second one on the German side of things. Any time line by which that could overtake U.K. And lastly, on the working capital, I do see you referencing better customer payments and so on. But when we look at the balance sheet, it looks like trade receivables are broadly flat, whereas it's the payables that have increased significantly. So is it a question of delayed payments to vendors? And if that is the case, then is that structural?
[Interpreted] Quick answer to the second part of your question. The answer is no. It's been a long-standing policy for us to pay our vendors in due course. I don't know what it is like in other countries, but in France, the authorities pay close attention to that and Vinci has never been named or shamed with that kind of thing. we don't artificially prolong paying our vendors.
As for the order inflow, it's complicated to look at quarter-by-quarter. And I think what you have to do is in the 12 months rolling. And another thing is the order inflow of SCNG was impacted also by a very large project in the past years. And when you restate that of the very large project, over EUR 50 million, the order inflow is still increasing. I think it's plus 4% this year. So yes, there's no worry. And as the guidance is supported by the -- what we see in the order inflow.
We need to be very vigilant when it comes to analyzing the order inflow because VINCI has a lot of multiyear contracts, a lot of recurring business. So usually, we input the contracts at the beginning of the year. So during the year, we burn through the contracts that came in the year before, and we generate business for the year after. And this is true for VINCI Energies as well as other players. Now regarding the question on Germany, these are our estimates. Next year, revenue for VINCI in Germany will be higher than VINCI's revenue in the U.K. I'm not saying that the U.K. revenue will go down, but we will simply grow ours faster. In 1 year's time, things will have been reversed. Germany will be our second international contributor to revenue after France. That's our prediction. Next question.
Our next question is from Ruairi of RBC.
Congrats on the results. One question on tax. So do you think the tax targeting large French corporates specifically needs to be exceptional to be constitutional? Would you challenge this tax if it became an even more regular feature of French budgets? Yes, I'll leave it there.
[Interpreted] Don't ask me, ask the government and ask parliamentarians. We can answer that question, particularly since last year, the surcharge was presented as a one-off thing that would apply just that year. And we're almost at the end of the budget approval process because it's been through parliament. So without too much surprise, that surcharge, that surtax is going to be approved and this means that a promise was made to us last year, but they're not keeping it. So I can't possibly tell you what will happen in a year's time. We do realize that for a while now, SME leaders and corporate leaders in France, major corporation CEOs are making statements to the effect that this goes on for too long. Tax-wise, France will be less competitive than the rest of the EU member states, and this could actually hurt the French economy.
I think as the Head of Total Energies, who said that if corporations have a choice between 2 countries where the tax rate is 15% to 30%, what do you expect them to do? Where do you expect them to go? So -- and there's also an impact on the surrounding ecosystem, the employees, the vendors, suppliers, et cetera. So reason should prevail at some point. You can't continue to hurt the French economy's competitiveness compared with Spain, Italy, the U.K., Germany, et cetera. So we can hope that eventually reason will prevail. Who knows...
Let's move on to the next question.
We have a question from Nick Mora, Morgan Stanley, a question in French.
[Interpreted] Congratulations, Christian. I'm sure you're looking forward to retirement. [Indiscernible] To sell shares here. Now profit margin, let's start with that. Could you please give us an update on the upside for construction, Energies, Cobra, AS. So 2025 went pretty well overall. Profit margin was driven by M&A in construction and also profit margin for Cobra is being driven by renewables. So -- is that just a medium-term thinking? Or are you expecting that the improvement of 20 basis points to continue year after year? Now regarding airports, profit margin is under pressure -- was under pressure in 2025. If we look at '26 and '27, what should we expect? We're seeing an increase in costs. We look at the U.K. business rates. Prices are being moderated. Now the traffic situation is so so. So do you think that profit margin has already passed its peak?
[Indiscernible] Nick Mora -- regarding our contracting business, there's still potential. But we've been seeing it for a while now and yet people struggle to believe us. And this is true for construction as well. Thierry Mirville gave us a chart regarding the past 10 years, showing a regular steadfast increase in construction EBIT and also a cash conversion pattern that is as good as VINCI Energies and Cobra. So yes, those are value contributors and the value should be assessed properly. And needless to say, VINCI Energies and Cobra, you heard this several times in the course of the presentation is actually being supported by all customer requirements.
There's so much to be done. So obviously, we're not going to double the profit margin, but there's still room for margin to continue to thrive. And the guidance has been set accordingly. Now how long will that last? It's hard to say. But yes, over the short term, we expect that trend to continue. When it comes to airports, that's slightly different. Nicolas can tell you more about that. We have a mixture of different platforms and each platform has its own trajectory. Nicolas, why don't you go ahead?
[Interpreted] And sometimes it takes a while for the effect to be fully felt. Now we have a new economic regulation contract in Mexico, as we said before. And -- so we're talking 6% to 7% above inflation over the 5-year period, which is good enough already because usually, our method is based on regular capitalization. And clearly, this platform has been outperforming the sector.
Obviously, we've got London Gatwick and we've got the Lisbon Airport. So there will be regulatory discussions as well. So we haven't yet set the course in terms of tariffs, but we are aligned with inflation. So future expectations in terms of profit margins from airports have yet to reach the peak. But the situation is highly fragmented geographically, so is growth. But the recent news regarding Mexico is showing that these 5-year contracts are helping us to renegotiate so as to renew our profit margin prospects in the future.
[Interpreted] Very well. If there's nothing further, if there are no other questions. Over to you, Pierre, for the conclusion.
[Interpreted] Well, thank you so much for attending. Enjoy the rest of the day. Enjoy the rest of the year and see you very soon.
Financial data from Vinci
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 76,211 76,211 |
4%
4%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 14,748 14,748 |
5%
5%
19%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 61,463 61,463 |
6%
6%
81%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 23,194 23,194 |
4%
4%
30%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 13,710 13,710 |
7%
7%
18%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 4,328 4,328 |
7%
7%
6%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 9,382 9,382 |
7%
7%
12%
|
|
| Net Profit | 5,085 5,085 |
7%
7%
7%
|
|
In millions EUR.
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Company Profile
VINCI SA engages in the design, building, finance and management of facilities for transport systems, public and private buildings and urban development and water, energy and communication networks. The company operates through the following business segments: Concessions and Contracting. The Concessions segment develops and operates motorway, transport infrastructures, and public facility concessions. The Contracting segment includes electrical works and engineering, information and communication technology; heating ventilation and air conditioning engineering, insulation, building and maintenance of roads and motorways, production of road-building materials, urban infrastructure, environmental work and demolition and recycling. The company was founded by Alexandre Giros and Louis Loucheur in 1899 and is headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, France.
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| Head office | France |
| CEO | Mr. Anjolras |
| Employees | 292,101 |
| Founded | 1899 |
| Website | www.vinci.com |


