D'Ieteren Group SA (DIE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the D'Ieteren Group 2026 Half Year Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this call is being recorded. Today, I'm pleased to present Francis Deprez CEO; and Edward Edouard Janssen, CFO. Gentlemen, please go ahead.

Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our half year 2026 results conference call. Let me start with the main messages we want to convey today. First, D'Ieteren Group delivered a robust first half of 2026, our key performance indicator, adjusted profit before tax group share grew by 8.4% at constant foreign exchange rates. And this performance reflects strong growth at Belron, PHE and TVH and is notably driven by lower financial charges providing further uplift. It was partly offset by the challenging environment at D'Ieteren Automotive. In addition, cash generation remains solid with trading cash flow group share increasing by close to 12% to EUR 539 million, mainly driven by Belron. Free cash flow group share stood broadly around breakeven, reflecting acquisition spend at PHE, notably in Spain and largely compensated by Belron's very strong free cash flow generation, which grew by 89% year-on-year. Second, we confirm our full year 2026 outlook. We continue to expect low to mid-single-digit year-on-year growth in adjusted profit before tax group share at constant exchange rates. The trends at Bitron Automotive weakened throughout the first semester of the year and are not expected to improve in the second half, yet the impact of this evolution is expected to be partially offset in the second semester by the other businesses. Third, we also announced that the shareholders in Belron are currently evaluating strategic options regarding the minority shareholder stakes in the company. Those options include, amongst others, a potential listing of Belron. I want to be clear on where we stand. No decision has been made at this stage, neither on any specific option nor on its timing. And let me be equally clear on our position. D'Ieteren Group's long-term commitment to Belron remains unchanged. We remain fully supportive of its management team as they continue to execute on a profitable growth trajectory. And as this process is ongoing, you'll understand that we are not in a position to comment further today, and we won't also be taking any questions on the specific topic. We'll keep the market informed in line with our disclosure obligations as the matters develop. And then there's the other piece of news on our CEO transition that you may have read in the press releases. For obvious reasons, I will not comment on that. All I can say is I've had a good ride over the past 10 years. Now before we dive into details, let me highlight the key elements of the semester. At the group level, I already mentioned the 8.4% growth in our KPI at constant exchange rates and the close to 12% growth in trading cash flow group share. Also, as previously said, we're confirming our full year '26 outlook based on the strong H1 results and the expected resilience of our portfolio. Belron delivered another strong performance in the first half, a top line growth of 8.3% and adjusted operating profit growth of 16.5% at constant FX, which is a 160 basis point year-on-year improvement in its adjusted operating margin, which reaches 23%. The adjusted profit before tax group share increased even by 32.5% at constant FX to EUR 306 million, further supported by lower financial charges. Second, Eaton Automotive, clearly facing a challenging environment. The Belgian new car market was down by 2.4%, and the market share of Eaton Automotive declined to 21.5%. As a result, the sales decreased by 10.8% and the operating -- the adjusted operating margin actually to 2.1% -- the adjusted profit before tax group share was down 2/3 after a record year in 2025. To adapt the organization to a rapidly changing market environment characterized by increased competition, changing regulations, increased digitalization and the evolution of mobility practice of consumers, Dinin Automotive has announced last week to the Works Council its intention to implement a transformation plan, which could result in the loss of 344 jobs. PHE then continued on its compounding growth trajectory with sales up 10.4%, including 6% organic growth driven by market share gains and 4.1% from acquisitions. This includes acquisitions of 2 large Aarts distributors in Spain, which closed at the end of May. The adjusted operating margin reached 9.6% and adjusted profit before tax group share increased by 18.4% to EUR 107 million, now representing about 22% of the group KPI. And then PVH posted a very solid top line growth, sales up 7.7% at constant FX, supported by positive volume trends in almost all the regions and equipment markets. The adjusted operating profit increased by 3.7% at constant FX, reflecting the benefit from volume growth, partly offset by subdued pricing and cost inflation, notably in freight. The adjusted operating margin stood at 13.7% and the PBT adjusted group share number increased by 16.9% year-on-year, also supported by lower financial charges. And then last, Moltken. As you know, H2 remains seasonally more important, but in H1, we showed encouraging signs of recovery with a 6.2% organic sales growth and the adjusted PBT group share of Moltken improved to minus EUR 4.7 million, helped by lower financial charges as well. I will now hand over to Edouard to walk you through the group's KPI and financials in more detail.

Thank you, Francis. As you mentioned, our headline KPI, adjusted PBT group share increased by 6.6% year-on-year on a reported basis from EUR 452 million in H1 2025 to EUR 482 million in H1 2026. At constant exchange rates, growth was 8.4% year-on-year. As shown in the bridge, all segments, except D2 Automotive contributed to the increase. The largest contribution came from Belron. Its adjusted PBT group share increased by EUR 75 million, supported both by strong operational performance and lower financial charges. PHE contributed an additional EUR 16.6 million year-on-year, PVA EUR 7 million and Molerskine improved by EUR 2.9 million. Finally, corporate and unallocated also improved by EUR 8.2 million, mainly thanks to lower financial charges following the early repayment of the bridge loan in June 2025. This was partly offset by D'Ieteren Auto, where adjusted PBT group declined by EUR 72.7 million in a difficult market environment already described by Francis, marked by a combination of lower volumes, negative price mix, tighter distribution margins and negative operating leverage. Turning to the rest of our group share financials. Sales amounted to EUR 6.1 billion, broadly stable year-on-year, up 0.7% at constant FX. Solid growth at Belron, PHE, TVH and Moleskine was offset by the decline at DPNuto. Adjusted operating result group share was broadly stable at EUR 663 million or up 2.2% at constant FX. This again reflects strong operating growth at Belron and PHE, an increase at PDH and the material decline at DPNuto. Trading cash flow group share increased by 12% to EUR 539 million. free cash flow group share stood close to breakeven. Let's flag that the close to EUR 150 million spent on mainly Spanish acquisitions at DHE was largely offset by the progression of Belon's free cash flow generation. Moving to the group's financial position. The net financial debt of the corporate and unallocated segment stood at close to EUR 300 million at the end of June 2026 and slightly increased versus the end of December 2025. Excluding intersegment loans, corporate and unallocated net financial debt was EUR 486.6 million. This includes the impact of the EUR 76 million waiver on the shareholder loan to Moleskine in the first half of 2026, following last year's impairment charge and aligned with Italian statutory accounting rules. For the rest, the evolution over the semester mainly reflects cash outflows relating to the dividend paid to D'Ieteren Group shareholders, share buybacks and the free cash flow consumption at the corporate level. These outflows were partly offset by dividend received from D'Ieteren Auto, Belron and TVH. Now let me hand over to you, Francis, to talk about the latest developments across the group.

Thank you, Edouard. At the group level, we continue to actively support our businesses across their strategic priorities, including M&A execution, financing, leadership transactions at PHE, TVH, Molsken and also ESG and IT. Belron very much continued its focus on operational execution across all the strategic priorities across all the regions. And the famous best of Belron competition, which celebrates technicians across the globe took place in June in Lisbon again this year with a winner from Germany. Automotive, as stated earlier, announced to the Works Council on September 3, its intention to implement a transformation plan designed to adapt the company to the profound changes affecting the automotive and mobility market. The business also recognized a EUR 47.2 million impairment charge on the retail to the dealerships fully allocated to goodwill. At PHE, the acquisition of 51% stakes in the 2 A Parts distributors, mainly in the Madrid and Galicia that Edouard mentioned, was completed at the end of May, reinforcing its leading position in Spain. PHE also strengthened its leadership team, Guillaume Lou joining as the Group Deputy CEO; and Cyril Flamon appointed Group CFO. And at TVH, Giuliano Parrodi started as CEO on September 1, bringing new leadership to the business as it continues to execute its focused growth and operational priorities. And at Molfkin, Silvano Salatiskat took over as CFO on the 1st of September as well. Now let's run through the performance of each of the businesses, starting with Belron. It delivered another strong first half, driven by growth across all the regions, higher total job volume, increasing windscreen value and growth in recalibration and value-added products and services. The sales as a result increased by 8.3% year-on-year at constant exchange rates or 4.7% on a reported basis. The adjusted operating profit reached EUR 820 million, up 12.3% on a reported basis and 16.5% at constant FX with an adjusted operating margin at 23% for the first semester. And the adjusted profit before tax group share increased by 28.6% to EUR 308 million, supported by the strong operational performance and lower financial charges. Free cash flow increased by 89% to EUR 485 million, and the company distributed EUR 194 million interim dividend to its shareholders. Belon also continues its deleveraging path. The leverage has now decreased to 4.3x and its financing conditions have continued to improve. Now looking first at the top line, the organic growth was 7.3%, which is driven by a 3.9% increase in total volume -- job volumes, total job volumes, favorable price mix, including continued increase in whitecreenindscreen value and a positive sales contribution from the VAPS. The company also had 0.7% growth from acquisitions, and there was an adverse currency translation effect of 3.3%. The growth was actually broad-based across the regions. North America, which, as you know, represents more than half of its sales, delivered a 9.4% organic growth, reflecting successful execution of strategic priorities and improving demand in the insurance segment. The Eurozone and the rest of the world also delivered positive organic growth. And then Belum also continued to benefit from increasing vehicle glass complexity and recalibration penetration, which is now at 52.1%. We have to compare that to the -- sorry, to the 45.9% of H1 of last year, and the VAP attachment rate has remained high at 24.6% -- now the strong top line performance, combined with operational execution and positive operating leverage drove the 160 basis point margin expansion to 23%. The adjusted operating result at Santen FX was 16.5% higher year-on-year, and the company further benefited from the lower financial charges related to the repricing of the term loans, the ongoing deleveraging and the leverage step-down credit booked in the first half of the year. The free cash flow was very strong, EUR 485 million, up 89%, as I mentioned, year-on-year, driven by operating performance, working capital inflow, lower cash taxes and lower cash outflow from adjusting items and the trading cash flow conversion remained high at 89% -- the net financial debt decreased to EUR 8.34 billion at the end of June, and Belron pursued its deleveraging trajectory with a senior secured net leverage ratio continued at 4.3x compared to the 4.5x where we stood at the end of 2025. Edouard will now discuss the performance of Det Automotive.

Yes. Thanks, Francis. After 2 record years, DPN Automotive faced a much more challenging first half in 2026. I'll dig into that in just a minute. Sales declined by close to 11% year-on-year and together with negative operating leverage and tight distribution margins led to a significant decline in adjusted operating profit to EUR 47 million. The negative operating leverage hit particularly high in retail. Free cash flow improved versus H1 '25, but remained negative at minus EUR 34 million. the company's leverage ratio reached 1.7x at the end of June. Now taking a quick view at the market. The pace of change since COVID is quite clear with a slight market decline year-on-year and loss of market share for DFinuto in the first half. We also see the continued decarbonization of the Belgian fleet with new energy vehicles representing now 57% of new registration in Belgium as well as a normalization of the buyer mix towards a growing share of private customers where DIA has less exposure also in retail. These top line pressures, combined with negative operating leverage and tighter distribution margins led to a material decline in the bottom line. The adjusted operating margin declined to 2.1% from 4.5% in H1 2025, which was still exceptionally strong. The reported operating result was also impacted by a EUR 47 million impairment charge on retail, fully allocated to goodwill as a result of a lower-than-anticipated performance. Adjusted profit before tax group share declined by 67% to EUR 36 million, although the contribution from any equity accounted entity improved, notably thanks to Volkswagen Ditronfina. As mentioned earlier, last week, Ditrnauto has announced its intention to implement the transformation plan to adapt the company to the profound changes that are currently shaping the automotive and mobility market. Such projects could lead to the suppression of more than 340 jobs. More broadly, D'Ieterenoto is also scrutinizing its whole cost base and in parallel is accelerating its 2030 strategy based on providing an integrated mobility ecosystem throughout the vehicle life cycle. On the free cash flow side, it has improved year-on-year to minus EUR 34 million, mainly due to a modest working capital inflow compared with a significant outflow last year, partly offset by the weaker operating performance. Net financial debt increased to EUR 409 million at the end of June, mainly reflecting the distributions to the corporate segment, free cash flow consumption and higher lease liabilities. Francis will now develop the PHC results.

Thank you, Edouard. So yes, on PHE, it continued its growth trajectory in the first half of '26, combining solid growth and good operating leverage. At the end of May, PHE announced the closing of the transaction of majority stakes in 2 -- apart distributors, Polaris and Rligueira. So there is 1 month contribution from these in this half year number. Trading cash flow stood at EUR 45 million, and leverage increased moderately following the additional financing raised to fund the acquisitions. And I must add that additional financing was very successful. France, which represents about 57% of sales, grew organically by 2.8%, while international activities grew organically by 11.2%, confirming the continued market share gains across the regions. M&A further contributed 4.4% to the total growth of 10.4% in the first semester. It's worth noting that in France, higher fuel prices started to weigh on miles driven with an impact on market volumes. Adjusted operating profit increased by 16.6% to EUR 155 million, with an adjusted operating margin of 9.6% compared to the 9.1% a year ago, and that was supported by positive operating leverage, a strong focus on costs in the context of inflation continues to weigh on transport and personnel costs. The adjusted PBT group share reached EUR 107 million, up 18.4% year-on-year. And the trading cash flow stood at EUR 45 million, down from EUR 66 million a year ago despite the stronger operating performance, mainly due to higher working capital requirements, including additional stock built and from reverse factoring as well as higher expansion CapEx. Free cash flow reflects mostly the acquisition spend, of course, and the large distributors that I mentioned before. Leverage only slightly increased, remains at a reasonable level at 3.5x. And with that, I'll hand back to Eduardo to talk about TVH.

Indeed. After a few tougher years, TVH is progressively recovering its growth trajectory with a top line growth of 7.7%, as we said in the first half and a 3.7% growth in adjusted operating profit at constant FX. The adjusted operating margin stood at 13.7% and adjusted PBT group share increased by more than 19% year-on-year on a constant currency basis. Trading cash flow stood at EUR 42 million and free cash flow at minus EUR 8 million. Leverage remained broadly stable at 3.2x. Reported sales growth of 5.3% is composed of 6.6% organic growth, 0.9% from smaller bolt-on acquisitions and a negative currency translation headwind of 2.2%. Organic growth was driven by improved volume trends across all equipment markets served by TDH and in nearly all regions, except, of course, the Middle East. Adjusted operating result increased by 3.7% at constant FX, with the benefit from sales growth and positive operating leverage being partially offset by cost inflation, notably in freight due to higher oil price and by controlled growth in other operating expenses. Adjusted profit before tax group share increased by close to 17% to EUR 44 million, 19% at constant FX, driven by the operational performance and lower net finance costs. As a reminder, H1 2025 -- in H1 '25, net finance costs have increased by realized and unrealized foreign exchange losses. Now moving on to free cash flow. It was at minus EUR 8 million, notably due to working capital investments, reflecting stronger sales with increased trade receivables and inventory investment to ensure product availability and allowing top-tier service levels that characterize AH. Net financial debt stood at EUR 901 million at the end of June 2026 compared with EUR 853 million at the end of 2025, mainly reflecting free cash flow consumption and the interim dividend paid to shareholders. Francis will now cover Molisky.

Well, thank you, Edouard. H1 is seasonally not the most important part of the year for Moleskine, yet it's worth noting that there has been a strong additional organic growth in the first half of the year that we have EUR 0.7 million adjusted operating results and an improving adjusted profit before tax group share, thanks to lower financial charges following the shareholder loan waiver of EUR 76 million. The trading cash flow and the free cash flow slightly improved year-over-year. The new management team is driving a comprehensive action plan to unlock Molkine's full potential after several years of underperformance. And that program includes both strategic and operating initiatives, spanning brand strengthening, enhanced go-to-market, omnichannel execution, operational discipline and efficiency, greater organizational alignment and a revitalized digital marketing strategy. As mentioned in the highlights, the reported sales grew organically by 6.2% year-on-year, a good performance, especially in the retail channel and a recovery in wholesale mainly in the U.S. This mix led to a slight margin dilution at the adjusted operating result level and the adjusted profit before tax group share stood now at minus EUR 4.7 million versus minus EUR 7.6 million a year ago, primarily due to the lower financial charges as mentioned before. Net debt after the waiver stood at EUR 204 million. Let me quickly finish with the Corporate and allocated segment. Adjusted operating result remained broadly stable at minus EUR 1.4 million. The adjusted net finance costs improved significantly to minus EUR 7.2 million as the group prepaid its June '25 EUR 500 million bridge loan that was raised at the end of '24. And as a result, adjusted profit before tax group share improved from minus 16.7% in H1 '25 to minus 8.5% in H1 '26. The corporate unallocated net financial debt position stood at EUR 300 million at the end of June or EUR 487 million if you exclude the intersegment loan. So to conclude, the first semester of 2026 was a robust first half for Eaton Group. Strong performances at Belron, at PHE and at TVH, the improvement at Molkim and the lower financial charges overall more than offset the challenging conditions at Eaton Automotive. We confirm our full year outlook. The trends observed at Eaton Automotive weakened throughout the first half of '26 and are not expected to improve much in the H2 of 2026 yet. The impact of this evolution is expected to be partially offset in the second half at the adjusted profit before tax group share level by the other businesses of the group. We remain focused on supporting each of our businesses in the execution of their strategic priorities and are now opening the floor to questions. Operator, can you please take over?

[Operator Instructions] [Your first question comes from Alexander Craeymeersch with Kepler Cheuvreux.

First of all, thank you, Francis. It's not yet the finish line, but thank you for the years that I have seen the company grow. Second is, of course, also good to see that you are leading on Belron that is over delivering once again. So yes, first of all, I wanted to get that off my plate. Now the questions. The questions -- the first question that I would have is on Belron, of course. We see nice growth in U.S.A. But of course, a part of that is related to sort of normalization of this claim avoidance. The question I have is how long is the runway of the recovery of this claim avoidance normalization? Yes. Second question would be on auto. Automotive clearly was sort of squeezed on margin plus received a sort of market share loss. Question I would have there is that the 2.1% EBIT margin that we have seen, whether you expect this to be a trough margin? And second question on auto would be whether that market share loss, which was, of course, somewhat related to models being ramping up in the H2. Do you expect to recover some of that market share loss in the second half? Because it is quite far away from the 25% that was originally marked as the target 2 CMDs ago. And then the last question I would have would be on TV. TVH volume growth is not translating into relative margin expansion yet. I mean margins were better than what we expected. But given the market dynamics going forward, do you expect a change in this margin development, whether the operating leverage from extra volumes would actually translate in margin increase? That's it from my side.

Okay. Well, thank you, Alexander, for those questions. Yes, first, and thank you also for your kind comments. On Belron on the U.S., running the claims avoidance, well, claims avoidance, as you said, had stopped declining a while back already again and started to -- the claims started declining and the claims started to go up again since quite a couple of months now again. And so are we now completely back to fully normal I would not say that yet, but what we see is that we see continued good development that people are having claims and are using their claims overall in the U.S. So in that sense, it's a very healthy development that we're seeing. But to kind of put the timing on when that would be running out, that's really pure speculation from my point of view. On automotive, yes, you talked about the market share loss. That's true. Actually, we have not been helped by the fact that we had less models being launched in the first half of this year in 2026. We had a couple of models that were working very well last year, new ones. And we do actually anticipate there's a couple of new models coming in, in the second half year. They've already been launched, by the way, the ID Polo, the Cupra Raval, the Skoda Epic, nice, smaller electric vehicles, but that once they're there, and of course, there's always a little bit uncertainty when you're launching new model, when exactly do you not only get the order, but do you get the cars delivered and therefore, can invoice them -- so what exactly will happen in H2 exactly will be more for 2027 is always a little bit difficult to predict. But so in terms of market share, we do think that with the new models coming up, we have a good mix of brands and models available to work on our market share and make it move higher again than of today. So we will see where exactly that will land going forward in the months to come. In terms of the margin, the throw, well, it's -- as you've seen, we've announced the intentions of the management of Vitro Automotive to prepare the future. Part of that is, of course, also addressing part of the cost base. And so that depends a little bit on how that process will be going, and there's nothing to comment on that.

It's too early. And for H2, unfortunately, as we said, we expect continued very tough situation as in H1, right, for auto. And then -- thank you Francis. Indeed, even though the performance is better at TVH, we are happy to see growth coming back, the message as we observe it on the margin development is very much in line with what we had said at the beginning of the year, if you remember, that we were expecting, unfortunately, some margin dilution due to various factors, including freight costs, right, with fuel price related and also some noncash cost of goods sold increases such as inventory write-downs, combined with some control on OpEx. That said, as well, what is important to remember is that while the volumes recover at TVH, pricing trends are not yet recovering besides in the U.S. with the tariff pass-through. -- which, by the way, has had a dilutive gross margin effect. But so there is as well a bit of a differentiation country to country on the pricing and hence margin side, as we said, a more favorable situation in the U.S. versus less in Europe.

Okay. Very clear. If I maybe squeeze in one more, and it's -- I know you can't say much about this potential listing, et cetera. But I'm just wondering, it was already published in the financial papers in January that the minority shareholders are looking for strategic options. There was no announcement in Q1 press release, which would have been sort of an easy thing to do. Today, the interest rates are higher now than in January. So I'm just wondering as an outsider, like what changed between, let's say, April and today that this is now becoming a higher focus.

Well, as you know, each time I got that question in the past, I basically said that the moment has not come. because at some point in the future, we may get a knock on our door to start talking about potential strategic options. Well, that's the difference is that now we are exploring the strategic options.

Your next question comes from David Vagman with ING.

I'll refrain from asking a question on the change of CO. I just have 4 quick questions. So first on Bterhrom, could you disclose the volume growth, excluding recalibration basically the previous communication. So my question is basically how is the general volume of cars on which Belron is working evolving or did evolve in H1? Then second question on Belron, a bit related to the question of Alexander. So what has Belron seen in the U.S. on insurance claims? So if you could quantify the insurance claims recovery. I understood from some auto services companies in the U.S. that it was bottoming or let's say, troughing, but not really yet recovering. What are you seeing basically in H2? And quickly related to Belron again, like how do you see the -- what was basically the progress you had on mobile recalibration and the progress in the cash market in H1? Then last question on auto. on auto, so you have this restructuring just announced. Is it enough to put you back on track to achieve the 4% EBIT margin that was a target for 2028? Or is the Belgian auto market evolution really calling for a material downward revision of this objective?

Okay. David. On Belron, the volume growth, if you exclude the recalibration is actually plus 0.4%. And insurance claims recovery we have actually seen uplifts in claims percentages is something we try and track on a monthly basis, so to say, to see what it is always takes a while before you get the last months, et cetera. But we have seen -- if I just look at H1 of this year, really encouraging positive percentage increases on the claims -- insurance claims that were happening but I can't put specific numbers that they say that they have been clearly there. Then on the MSR and the cash progress. Yes, MSR is, of course, in the U.S., it was the first current that was launched. In the meantime, it has been also a couple of other countries. If you were in France by any chance, the some may have seen the advertisements on the MSR that we now also have in France, and we have it in more and more countries now. The consumer and insurance feedback and get is actually very positive. So both the insurers like it very much as an additional service feature that we can go to the end customers rather than having them come to us. And also the consumers enjoy that actually helps on no shows and things like that and so on to avoid that. So it's a very good way to be a better service company, which is the ultimate objective of Belron as it has been for many, many years. And so we're really pleased with the way MSR is being accepted by the market. both consumers and insurers and it's progressing quite nicely. The cash, as you said, he mentioned that Belron is growing, thanks to strategic initiatives and cash is one of them. And so cash is also continuing on this trajectory. On auto, honestly, as you know, the intention was declared by the management is in automotive. The process has been launched with the social partners, and it's really impossible to say anything meaningful about where that will lead to at this point in time. So we really have to first go through the process and work together with the other partners on the way forward.

Okay. And maybe a very quick follow-up on that one. Is it compared to the time at the CMD, so basically May 2025, has the evolution been like very significantly worse than you had feared. Any particular evolution in specifically?

I think what has probably been different in the -- I mean we mentioned it in our tech centers, that's what's going on with the consumer sentiment is what's going on with the regulation, et cetera. And the example of the mobility budget as 1 example. This is something that was still very small and it's being pushed more and more within Belgium, the mobility budget is a change in consumer behavior. That does have an impact on that. What I think is also there, but that was somehow to be expected that, of course, the arrival of the Chinese brands is now more and more visible. And I've always said that at some point in time, they will pick up in their market shares. And now we start seeing that in Belgium as well. The B2B market that we are maybe made a little bit later than other markets, but this is starting to happen. And so step-by-step, this increased competition forces us to prepare well for the future so that we can defend our market leadership position that we have here in Belgium.

Your next question comes from Michiel Declercq with KBCS.

Michiel Declercq from KBC Securities. And also thank you, Francis, for the last couple of years. You leave a completely different company in a positive way, I would say. I have some further questions. The first one would be a bit on the group outlook. So you guide for low to mid-single-digit adjusted PBT growth you're now at plus at constant currency. I understand that the impact from auto will continue in the second half, but that would basically imply almost 0% growth at the group level in the second half. I'm just trying to understand the moving parts here. Is that maybe a further deterioration at auto? Or is that more the higher comparable base at? So any color on that would be useful. Then the second would also be on Belron sorry to come back on those -- on the claims situation. If I look a bit at the yes, the insurance, the motor vehicle insurance inflation in the U.S., we've actually seen that it's coming down in the first half and continues to do so. Can you maybe tell us in terms of the claims filings, how much we are still below, let's say, the preinflationary period, that would be useful. And then also I understand that you now guide for the volumes both in terms of core and ADAS, but I still model it as the core VGRR volumes. And if we look at the first half, we have seen a very strong price mix effects, one of the strongest one in the recent years. I'm just trying to understand whether some phasing of the price increases still in there or how, let's say, the almost 7%, how should we see this going forward? Should that come down a bit? Or any explanation why this was particularly strong this quarter or this half year.

Okay. Edouard to take the question on the PBT.

Yes, sure. On the PBT, what we can say is that, as we explained, right, as the year develops, there are always some pluses and minuses, right? And as communicated clearly, I think the trends at detonator have indeed weakened throughout the first half of the year and not expected unfortunately to improve in the second half of the year. And hence, this will lead to a weaker -- a negative impact, let's say, that should be partially offset in H2 at the level of the adjusted PBT group share by the group's other ones partially offset the import right? Clearly, we do not provide guidance on a half year-on-year basis, but we gave a growth rate range for our KPI on a full year basis, and we have no reason to change that. On the back also of the strong performance delivered in H1, and despite these weaker trends at auto as we described, which should be, again, partially offset in H2 by our other businesses and despite, let's remember that there is a comparable base for Belron, of course, in H2 versus H1. The other group as a whole, okay? Then on the Belron claims, I obviously don't have the answer to the inflationary period and now be entirely back. It's not something I have here at hand, unfortunately. On the price mix, yes, it has indeed been quite nice at 7%. In the U.S., the pricing was notably supported by an increase in NAG, probably partially incorporating tariffs, I would assume. It's always a bit of a black box at next that may have increased more than usual in September 2025. And then the price was also supportive in the other regions across the board, and that's mainly windscreen complexity, I would say, in the car park and the type of cars that have required service for us. Now so that's more or less what has been behind the 7%. We'll see where the rest of the year will land.

If I can maybe ask a quick follow-up. So you mentioned the next increases were in September of last year. Is there anything still expected for this year in terms of -- for the price adjustments or...

That's always not only black box and how they cut. The percentage is also a black box and when they will change. So we will have to discover that together.

Your next question comes from Tim Ramskill with Bank of America.