Séché Environnement SA (SCHP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to Séché Environnement for the Presentation of our First Half Results at 30th of June 2023. I would also like to welcome those who are connected to the webcast. So you can send us your questions by e-mail to our Head of Investor Relations, Manuel Andersen on the address that you can see displayed just behind me. We'll be very happy to take your questions at the end of this presentation. To my right, you will recognize Maxime Seche, the CEO, who will be presenting the key points for the first half of 2023. To my left, our CFO, Baptiste Janiaud will give you some detailed insights into the consolidated financial statements. I would like to say a few words about our results for the first half 2023. During the first half against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, our markets held up well, and our Group has confirmed its strong organic growth. Furthermore, we have continued the integration and the deployment of the scopes that we acquired in 2022. On the environmental risk markets with waste management businesses and on the circular economy and decarbonization through chemical recycling and the industrial -- and industrial water cycle. These new businesses, where we have very strong ambition are broadening the range of know-how that Séché Environnement offers to its clients. These businesses strengthen the appeal of our technological offering and vindicate both in France and internationally, our position, as a specialist in the energy transition. In the first half, the contributed revenue was up almost 15%. Excluding the integration of the new businesses, our organic growth stood at close to 9%. France accounts for almost 75% of our business confirms our dynamism and was up 11%. The international scope was up almost 3%. And I recall that the first half of 2022, saw a very strong contribution to the tune of EUR 15 million of environmental -- one-off environmental urgency, which were exceptionally strong. The strong commercial performance was backed up by strong operating performance on our historic scope. EBITDA remained high as was the case last year. In France, in particular, EBITDA continued to rise through our strong commercial momentum and also through our efforts on our industrial efficiency and cost control. Our financial performance also -- was very satisfactory. Our Group posted strong cash flow and was up sharply on last year at plus 81%. Almost all half -- almost half of our EBITDA is available in order to step up our growth to implement growth investment to go ahead with acquisitions to reduce our debt load and to pay out dividends. Thus, at the end of this first half, our Group has reduced its net debt compared to the end of last year and has recorded a slight increase in financial flexibility. At the end of the first half, we have shown yet again that Séché is a flexible company with a flexible and strong balance sheet. On the extra-financial criteria, our Group were at its success. Our climate strategy was recognized by the SBTi. The alignment of our business on European green taxonomy was confirmed. And furthermore, a new action plan in favor of biodiversity was launched by our Group as a whole. These are good results, which have been achieved on markets with strong momentum and high visibility reflect the quality of our business model. On the basis of strong values, our business model puts our Group at the very heart of industrial and regional issues and problems arising from sustainable development, environmental transition and preservation of biodiversity. Through our technological tools, we are responding to the long-term challenges for industry and local and regional authorities in order to have the resources in terms of energy and in industrial water that are regenerated with low carbon intensity. For the industrial players, this is a matter of long-term prospects; and for regions, it's economic relocation. Our business model also puts us at the very heart of the short-term concerns of our customers with the need to have strategic resources at a competitive price. Through our service activities, we're also responding to the environmental risks that are inherent to industrial infrastructure, namely in terms of preventing risk through our maintenance services and to providing remedies through our depollution activities in response to environmental emergencies. Thus, the growth of our Group is not only underpinned by our business in the broad sense in the waste production, which is associated with this. But through all the rules and the new production models for distribution and consumption, the goal of which is to preserve human health environment and biodiversity. Now this is an attractive model for high-performing companies in France and around the world, who share with us the family values, this long-term approach, the culture of industrial excellence -- industrial excellence and the environmental culture that is based on the circular economy and protecting that the natural environment. We have now acquired 2 new companies, Furia in Northern Italy, which is a long-standing player in waste management and depollution. This backs up the know-how of Mecomer on high value-added markets and hazardous waste processing for industrial clients. In Namibia, we have acquired a company called Rent-A-Drum, which is the market leader for waste management in Namibia, thus providing us with a unique offering in the circular economy. For our Group, this provides us with a new leadership role in Southern Africa, as part of our logic to provide support to our industrial companies, which are our core target. Given the quality -- the high quality of our results for the first half, we are very confident as to the rest of the year. Therefore, we're confirming our 3 goals for 2023, namely a growth target of 5% of our revenue on a historic scope plus the contribution of the acquisitions from 2022 in waste management businesses, chemical recycling and industrial water to bring our contributed revenue to close to EUR 1 billion by the end of the year before the contribution of our 2023 acquisitions. A profitability target with EBITDA close to 22% of contributed revenue before the contribution of acquisitions in 2023. And a target of financial flexibility with financial leverage to reach 2.7x EBITDA before the impact of 2023 acquisitions. After the Investor Day that we held in 2029 and the 2025 road map, we have already reached our main goals, and we now wish to present a new plan for 2026 defining new financial and extra financial goals. This plan will be a new landmark as part of our profitable growth strategy for a Group, which has a long-term vision, a Group which is positioned on a high -- very promising markets, committed to a global service offering with high value-added responding to the challenges of the economic players in terms of the environmental transition and sustainable development. An Investor Day will be held, therefore, on the 12th of December 2023, and we will be presenting this new outlook to you. Without further ado, I would like to hand over to Maxime Seche, who will give you a more detailed insight into the first half. Over to you, Maxime.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. First of all, in the first half, we maintained a strong growth on our historical scope. We have strong markets in France, in the circular economy and in services. Our activity was also strong overseas. And we should point out that on this scope, the first half of 2022 included EUR 15 million of one-off non-recurring contracts maybe -- namely the flooding in Durban in Southern Africa and the depollution of the ore slicks in Peru. Our operating income continued to grow with a strong commercial momentum and industrial efficiency and productivity. As you know, we made several acquisitions in 2022, and our team's efforts are now focusing on including the teams, who joined our Group on transferring commercial contracts and on organizing the support functions associated with these businesses. Finally, the Group enjoyed positive cash flow, enabling us to finance our growth there. We have strong organic growth through our services and circular economy activities. The revenue of services was up plus 23%, focusing on services to industrial companies, which account for almost 53% of our contributed revenue, showing that our services offering is highly relevant to the needs of our companies, our industrial companies and local, regional authorities in the circular economy, namely the enhancing of energy materials. The revenue was up 17%. These businesses are the core to our clients' requirements for decarbonized resources. And in hazard management, we have the revaluation, the revaluation of rare materials such as bromine and the activities of energy valuation are supported by strong energy prices and the impact of the indexation of our energy contracts that kicked in last year. For electricity for the first half, we were subject to the cap put on energy prices. Now we have hazard management as well in France. This activity remains strong, both in and hazards. And we have -- after the first half of 2022, which was very strong, we have a base effect, therefore. To give an example, for example, MAXIBROME is our bromine regeneration process, which was inaugurated in June after 5 years of research. This is a good example of our innovative capacity to strengthen our position in the energy transition. This is a novelty, whereby bromine -- reprocessed bromine is a substitute for pure bromine. This is used in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. With these new processes, recycling 1 ton of bromine generates on average [ 20x ] less of GHG and uses up 3,000 times less water than virgin bromine. This is local production unit at Saint-Vulbas in France, which accounts for and meets up to 1/3 of French demand. So we produced 2,500 tonnes, which is 1/3 of national demand in France. In the circular economy, markets and services, our industrial services, 2023 was the year, where we integrated new strategic businesses. In services, as you know, in 2022, we acquired 8 hazardous waste management agencies in France. We strengthened our offering for local and regional authorities in the second half of 2022 with Assainissement 34 in Beziers; and in January '23, with Assainissement Rhone-Isere in the Lyon region. And at present, we're in the process of integrating and developing in commercial terms these businesses. In industrial water management, our scope was backed up by Séché Traitement des Eaux Industrielles. This is a strategic business on markets for future growth because industrial water is at the very heart of the -- is key to the concerns of our clients. We presented the acquisitions made at the end of '22 with a portfolio of contracts with major industrial corporations, major corporate accounts and the transfer of these accounts is underway, representing approximately EUR 50 million and will be completed by the end of this year. So we have had integration costs in the first half. These are one-off costs and results should improve, therefore, in the months ahead. We will be very happy to go back on these businesses to talk about our commercial momentum and the integration process when we hold our Investor Day on the 12th of December. In the circular economy in the first half of 2022, we acquired All'Chem, which is a fine chemical specialist to increase the capacity of Speichim, which is our specialized subsidiary and the regeneration of chemical products. All'Chem is being reorganized at present, and we're very confident as to its industrial and financial performance from 2024. Now looking at overseas, we are very happy to announce 2 new acquisitions, which are a complement to our current positioning in geographical, industrial and commercial terms. In Italy, we acquired Furia, which is a family-owned company for hazardous waste management in Northern Italy for managing depollution and waste. It is based near Milan. The company posted EUR 52 million in revenue in 2022. And the acquisition enables us to consolidate our commercial position in Northern Italy and to extend our offering to new -- to major strategic comments, in conjunction with Mecomer, our subsidiary in Northern Italy. So the combination of the 2 means that they will be key players in hazardous waste management in Northern Italy. In Namibia, we acquired a company called Rent-A-Drum. This is also a family-owned company in the circular economy in non-hazardous waste and recycling. The company posted revenue of EUR 7.5 million in 2022. And the strategy of the acquisition is to pursue our development in Southern Africa after Interwaste acquired in 2019 and Spill Tech in 2021 with the goal of accompanying our major industrial clients in the region. The Group is continuing its strategy, which is to protect via diversity. At an event, at the National Museum of Natural History, we announced our action plan for the 2023-2027 cycle, and we renewed our scientific technical partnership with expert associations, which have been working with us for many years now. The Bird Protection Association; FNE, which is France Nature Environnement; and the French National History Museum. These plans will be validated each year by our statutory auditors. And as you know, preserving biodiversity on our site is part of the Group's DNA. This is also reflected in our business model because depolluting soil is becoming a national priority, responding to the goal, which is to have 0 net artificialization. This is accompanying the development of companies using fallow land rather than encroaching on farming land. And to combat erosion of biodiversity, we've developed new platforms for depolluting polluted soil with new platforms, such as Exxon and [indiscernible] and also land to be used for the Olympic Games in Paris. This enables us to preserve nature on our industrial sites and to accompany our clients on these major issues. Now moving on to our non-financial strategy, we're continuing to roll out our strategy to reduce our impact as well as that of our clients. In environmental indicators on water and energy are performing well, and we are confident about our goals for 2025. In 2022, our Group reduced its water consumption by 22.2% with a goal of minus 10% by 2025. On climate, we've managed to reduce our GHG emissions by 24.5% and [ inferred ] by 2.4% with goals of 40% and 10% by 2025. Our activities respond to the main our environmental challenges. I wish to emphasize that 66% of our revenue is aligned on the European green taxonomy, as opposed to the average, which is less than 10% on the European continent. You will be able to see all our commitments and results in the CSR results for the Group, which was published at the beginning of the year. The results and ambitions will be presented in greater detail when we hold our Investor Day on the 12th of December. I'll now hand over to Baptiste, who will present our consolidated financial statements for the first half.

Thank you. Good morning to you all. I'm going to begin by presenting the changes of the main financial indicators in H1 2023. As said, revenue coming in at EUR 491.6 million sharply up a change of plus 15%. We'll return to the details of that change. EBITDA at EUR 101.9 million, up versus H1 '22 as was indicated. That's a key point. We had H1 '22 that benefited from large scale spot contracts, as we disclosed. And in H1 '23, reflects a good resilience of our historical scope, both as will see EBITDA, current operating income, and in terms of margin, we see operating income stable. Financial income EUR 11.4 million negative deteriorating slightly given the increased in the financial debt, reflecting our M&A policy. Net income [ Group share ] EUR 23 million. Recurring operating cash flow, stable versus last year high EUR 88.5 million. Industrial CapEx, slightly down, reflecting the good containment of our investments. EUR 46.2 million free operating cash flow sharply up versus the end of last year, a slight reduction in net financial debt and financial leverage ratio at 2.7x EBITDA, slightly down versus December 31st, '22. Turning to revenue. We see contributed revenue EUR 491 million, EUR 38 million non-contributed -- non-contributed revenue that rises following the increase in the TGAP tax and some investments made IFRIC 12 investments behind that [ barbaric term ], it covers investments done for the local community on the facilities management contract at Montauban. And then negative ForEx impacting revenue. It also impacts our operating income of EUR 7.9 million negative. That stems from the reduction in the value of the South African rand versus the euro that has a negative impact in terms of performance. Solid organic growth, plus 6.5% reported plus 8% like-for-like. Like-for-like is, of course, at constant scope and ForEx. With the base scope effect of EUR 34.6 million, that's linked primarily to the acquisition of the industrial water contracts of Veolia of EUR 24 million, EUR 8.6 million for All'Chem and consolidated solely as of Q2 '22, EUR 2.1 million on Séché Assainissement 34. When we look quarter-by-quarter, we're, of course, seeing after a very strong Q1 at plus 13.1%, Q2, that's more in line with our expectations, plus 4.1%. And when we look at the right-hand side of the table, we're seeing momentum that remains robust and strong for non-hazardous waste with the rollout of regulations linked to the circular economy, positive commercial impact in H1 '23. And at the top right, we see hazardous waste revenue, where there was strong dynamism in Q1 and a leveling off in Q2. It's, of course, in Q2 that we had the outsized contracts, primarily in South Africa linked to decontamination following the Durban floods. And in Peru, we had a decontamination following an oil spill north of Lima that impacted decontamination involved and the storage of end waste. Geography now, several points. So firstly, France scope, as was indicated, plus 10.6% growth, great dynamism of service and circular economy activities and internationally, dynamics that vary by geography, and Europe revenue coming in at EUR 41.9 million, slightly up at a level that was high. We recall a strong growth achieved last year, the Italian market. And so, we continue to grow at a slower paced. In South Africa, momentum down minus 4.4% of EUR 49.3 million, 2 different dynamics, one of Interwaste on a logistics business and treatment that remains very dynamic, plus 18.6% in H1 '23 and a lesser performance of Spill Tech in the half on decontamination and environmental emergency minus [ 30 ]. There were fewer environmental emergencies in the first half of 2023. Latin America, strong momentum, plus 64.7% coming in at EUR 21.3 million. We see the decontamination that occurred in H1 '23, more than offset the oil spill in the first half. Solarca, EUR 12.9 million, down 17.8% primarily delays linked to contract executions to be achieved in the coming months. Back to the business mix, no surprise, we have strong business in services, [ 26.1 ] for the scope impact, but at constant scope and ForEx growth, plus 12.2% linked in France, essentially to the good trend of the decontamination activities and also circulation and decarbonization activity sharply up plus 17.4%, scope effect, EUR 8.5 million. But at constant scope and ForEx, 10.8% growth in revenue. Hazardous waste management, slightly down. Performance of LATAM in end waste management, slightly lower this year versus last year. Turning now to operating income, starting with EBITDA. The prime message on this slide that's, of course, split reported income and [ deferred ] is that like-for-like is the resilience of the legacy scope in spite of the absence of one-off spot contracts in H1 and also ForEx impact that was unfavorable, but we're posting EBITDA at constant scope of EUR 103 million, very strong resilience, France, EUR 82.7 million, 27% EBITDA margin, and we were negatively impacted in terms of infra-marginal taxes. We were taxed for all the electricity production above EUR 175 per [indiscernible], and that impacts EBITDA to the tune of EUR 4.1 million. H1 '23, we have the [ EUR 4.1 million ] in revenue, and it's reduced in terms of EBITDA. But facially, it negatively impacts our EBITDA margin. Turning to international. On the legacy scope, we have EBITDA at EUR 20.5 million, 16.3% of EBITDA margin, with here again negative ForEx impact of EUR 1.6 million. When we analyze our margin changes, restating for that negative ForEx impact and the negative tax impact, we end up with an EBITDA margin that's broadly in line with the EBITDA margin of 2022. The new scope, as was said, is posting a negative EBITDA effect EUR 1.3 million linked to -- primarily to integration costs on the industrial water contracts, temporary subcontracting, linked to support the implementation of the new applications and the installation costs for our new teams. These are one-off costs that won't be repeated in the coming months. When we look at EBITDA and the volume, price and cost front, we have a price effect. It's very positive that increases EBITDA in H1 [ EUR 26.8 million ] linked to good saturation of capabilities in France, good pricing power across regions, of course, were impacted by inflation on costs with variable operating cost, plus EUR 10.9 million, impacted by inflation on subcontracting costs, certain raw materials, reactives, essentially an increase in fixed costs. These are essentially personnel costs EUR 6.3 million and miscellaneous EUR 4.1 million. We have the cap on the electricity. When we look at current operating income, broadly the same trends as for EBITDA with very strong resilience of our historical scope and some additional appropriations in order to cover these contributions to provisions for additional 30-year provisions for major overhaul and to amortization linked to our dynamic CapEx policy these past few years. When we move down the P&L, the income statement, pretty much no non-recurring operating income, very close to COI that's broadly stable versus to the operating income seen H1 in '22. Financial income at EUR 11.4 million linked to the increase in net financial debt between H1, '22 [ EUR 60 million ] volume, additional debt, increasing the interest expense rate effect linked to the rising cost of gross debt. Income tax, broadly stable, slight decrease linked to a lower performance internationally. And a share of equity accounted investees platform that was consolidated at equity, that's no longer [ been sold ]. So there'll be no impact on the share income of equity accounted investees. Good containment in maintenance expense, EUR 27.2 million, EUR 25 million in -- this year in spite of the increase in the Group scope. We've applied strict discipline on containing investments allows us to continue to invest in our expansion EUR 11.6 million in CapEx development in various areas, essentially circular economy, an example, stated by Maxime, MAXIBROME. Several examples in the service business that we can, of course, return to. In terms of cash flow, recurring operating cash flows, a stable recurring CapEx that is slightly down. Change in WCR that was contained minus EUR 5.8 million. So available free cash flow sharply up. And the cash conversion ratio with free operating cash flow versus EBITDA at 45%. That allows us to post, as I said, net financial debt at EUR 581.7 million, down EUR 5.7 million to be noted. And the net financial CapEx, an increase in the concessions debt that sets to become a non-recourse debt as soon as the work is accepted by the local authority. Liquidity at a high level, EUR 311 million. EUR 116 million available cash. Financial leverage that contain the goal being midterm to be below the [ 3x ]. We're at 2.7x EBITDA flat versus last year, slightly down versus the end of '22, which reflects the quality of Séché Environnement. No significant major maturities and maturity of financial debt at 4.8 years. As regards the outlook, as was indicated, the prime message is that we're maintaining our EBITDA targets. That's important for both for you and for us, have contributed revenue set to be close to EUR 1 billion. We've split the detail of the calculation that's fully in line with our March guidance. EBITDA set to be close to 22% of contributed revenue. And we maintain our positive free cash flow with a contained CapEx of EUR 100 million. Slight decrease in net financial debt. So we also expect at the end of the year and financial leverage that continues at 2.7x EBITDA continues to be below the target because it's below [ 3x ]. We're now available to take your questions.

Thank you very much, Maxime and Baptiste. Now Manuel, do we have any questions?

Well, I think you've been very clear. I don't have any question that has been submitted by e-mail.

And in the room, any questions? There are bets open here. Thank you.

[ Jean-Francois ]. Can we go back, please? On the lower organic growth in the second half following strong momentum in the first quarter. Now I understand that there are one-off effects. Are there any structural element to account for the lower momentum in France, which is around 5% and flat in overseas, any structural factors here? And also regarding acquisitions, namely in Italy, a very good transaction here, but it will probably have a dilutive impact initially in consolidation terms. What is the -- what are the targets for Furia? Do you expect to achieve synergies to improve their profitability, and will there be synergies, in particular with Mecomer. Can you put some figures on that? That's all I have for the moment.

Well, I'll go back on the lower organic growth aspects in Q2. Indeed, we had a Q2 last year, which was very strong, and this is reflected in the hazardous waste section. We see this quarter-by-quarter. If you look at the historical performance in Q2, we publish it when we had -- we don't see any break with trend. That's the main message for Q2. The performance is in line with our expectations. And on the face of it, it may seem a bit weaker, but there are no nasty surprises compared to what we -- our budget forecast in France, for example, May, saw very low growth in France, given the impact of bank holidays. And this is due to a calendar effect mainly, and we don't have any change in trend for Q2 in relation to our expectations. Italy, do you want to take that, Maxime?

On Italy, we've spoken about this, there's complementarity in those businesses, and there's a complementarity in terms of client portfolio for major industrial accounts. And both entities put together enable us to have a broader global offering for our industrial customers in Northern Italy, which is the most highly industrialized region in Europe. And we are working on the synergies, on the organizational structure, but the real issues here are commercial growth and organization.

Well, on the dilutive impact on margins, we're in a business, which indeed is a platform business, and this means that -- and this is what we have seen with Mecomer. Overall, the lower margins compared to the Group's margins overall. It's less capital intensive, as a business. There are possible synergies. But to be clear, we will never achieve the EBITDA margin that arises from hazardous waste management, for example. We are dealing with a business, where there's growth, where there's synergies, but they're slightly dilutive compared to the rest of the Group. Yes, it has to be said. And I would just add the benefits of these businesses typically during the pandemic and structurally in terms of securing provisions compared to all our tools for waste management. This has been very useful for resilience.

Now I have a question on EBITDA margins internationally. Now I've understood that if we restate the spot effects with the currency impact, we're pretty much stable in terms of margin compared to last year. Is this a normative result or without going as high as the levels of margin in France because the business is not the same, but can we pick up a couple of points, do you think, in terms of margins internationally? And also, can you go back on the delays in the [ Aker ] contract, what is the reason for this? And my last question on the 2 external growth transactions that you have announced, I understand, of course, that these are family-owned businesses. And what are the reasons for the disposal of these companies?

I'll hand over to Maxime.

Well, on EB margins -- EBITDA margins, we -- in normative terms, this is excluding the impact of one-off contracts. For example, on depollution contracts, we're working well here. And this -- there will be a more detailed presentation on this during the Investor Day.

And in terms of improving margins, our goal is clearly to achieve 20%, looking at how we manage our business, looking at our international subsidiaries, we want to achieve 20% margins on international business. We're not there yet, but that's our target, and we'll be talking more about that. And the delay on Solarca, this is -- this is due to factors in Asia and the Middle East with our clients, who were late in providing and enabling us to implement our contracts. So we have contracts that were signed. We have a very strong backlog on [ Aker ]. Simply, we need to be able to deal with this. And we're dependent from time to time on a few clients, who are not ready for us to be able to go ahead with the required transactions, and that's what we'll be doing in the months ahead. So there's no concerns over this. On the business, in fact, quite the contrary. Since we emerged from the pandemic, we have -- we're seeing strong momentum. There are execution issues with the contract is as simple as that. And the last question, why are people selling, Maxime?

Well, the reason -- there can be many reasons for this. It can be a cyclical effect. For example, companies, who want to continue the business, but there's no identified transmission or successor. The key thing for us is that we share the same values as family-owned businesses, which is quality work over the long term and accompanying the teams, the men and women, who are also working in the company with a career plan to accompany them through growth. So these -- it's really all about shared values with family-owned businesses, whereby we have the same wish and commitment to continue development. And on a case-by-case basis, there can be various reasons. Maybe people want to stop running the business or other issues. I don't know if you want to add anything on that? And there's a preference, perhaps for people to sell to a family-owned company. I think that's very important as well.

Good morning. Thank you for the presentation. CIC. I have a first question, which is on the sale prices of electricity, thermal you generated in electricity. Can we quantify what this represented in terms of contribution to organic growth in the first half? And can we look ahead to what follows in 2024? Is this a contribution that is going to decline given the decline in energy prices that we've seen at the beginning of the year. And looking at the taxation of infra-marginal units, is this going to have an impact in H2 to give us some idea of the impact for the year as a whole, 2023? And can we have some forecast looking out to 2024. I think that this taxation is to be implemented until the end of '23, I was thinking '24 or '25. So that's -- those are the overall aspects, namely on energy prices. And also, I had a question on both of the acquisitions on Furia and Rent-A-Drum, are the authorizations that are required on Furia, perhaps there are authorizations to be obtained from the European authorities to authorize the acquisitions and can we have some ideas to when both of these acquisitions will be integrated into the consolidated financial statements of Séché?

Well, I'll answer on authorization from Brussels. Once we have made the acquisitions, the goal is to use the platforms to achieve organic growth. And depending on the needs of the region [ in question ], we're going to seek authorizations in order to best respond to the need of the region. And so we are awaiting authorization on both of the platforms. First of all, the electricity selling price, how much have we been able to capture? And how much have we had to give back? Well, we've captured about EUR 7 million, and we've had to give back EUR 4 million. So the net-net is approximately plus EUR 3 million for Séché. Can we double? No. This was mainly regarding the first half of 2023. And what happened for many players, in fact, is that in 2022, we made forward sales of part of the electricity that was produced [ biogas ] at very high prices. And -- so it was difficult to sell further than that for further maturity. So the difference is there. So we couldn't go -- we couldn't double it because we weren't able to go as far as the second half of 2023. Why did we do that? Well, most players did this. We did this because we didn't think that we would have tax above EUR 175 per megawatt. And in the same way, in 2024, I don't know how it will look in '24, but at present, what we can see is that we cannot sell above EUR 175 per megawatt per hour. So this probably shouldn't be factored in our models. Infra-marginal sales, if they continue how we modeled this is that we won't pay for this in 2024, given the prices that we have access to at present. For Rent-A-Drum, well, I think we've answered the question. There were no authorizations. What you have is the competition authorities. There are technical requirements to go ahead with the acquisition of Furia mainly arising from carve-outs of the property assets, which had nothing to do with the manufacturing assets, and that's why it's going to be done in the days ahead. And I'm just smiling here because our Head of Legal Affairs is with us and Rent-A-Drum has gone ahead. So we no longer have any authorization issues. So to answer your question, these are acquisitions that will be discussed by the statutory auditor, but from October of this year, this will be consolidated.

Good morning. So thank you for this presentation. I'm from BNP Paribas. 2 questions from my side. The cost of the integration of Furia that set to happen in the coming days, the doubling of the production capacity of Mecomer, is that going to contribute to the synergies and to provide a sooner return on your investment in Northern Italy. I want to check, I don't know if I read this right, but on the Rent-A-Drum, I saw 500 people, that was a smaller number versus 120 for Furia, this difference because EUR 7.5 million in revenue, is the explanation and collection activity perhaps.

Well, on Rent-A-Drum business, we're looking more at the valuation. The recovery collection and non-hazardous waste treatment in a geography that's less mechanized than in other aspects. So the goal is precisely to meet the needs of the community and to employ maximum "the -- to maximize the use of the premises". And then the Furia integration costs, I'll let you speak to that.

So [indiscernible] does the doubling in the capacity of Mecomer and then synergies between Mecomer and Furia. Mecomer capacity doubling, that's work in progress gradually, little by literally. We're increasing the tonnage available capacities are available for Mecomer now been available for some few weeks now. So gradually, so it's not to weigh unduly on the market. It's -- we're upping the capacity. It's happening. What you're seeing in terms of growth change in Europe, it's primarily linked to Mecomer volume effects. There's no price effect currently and the Italian part of the business, that's gradual and it's going to happen. Does it help to grow synergies? It's not that obvious because it's -- what will it allow is flexibility of allocation between specific types of waste, there's liquid, solid waste. We're going to be able to meet. That's what Maxime said to meet clients' needs. That will help in terms of flexibility and commercial offering. Will it -- will the available Mecomer capacity, help to the integration of the 2. It's not that simple. We're going to have to up the capacity, and that's globally a commercial challenge. There'll be synergies because both are fully complementary in terms of ability to collect waste and massify the waste so as to optimize the treatment value chain. Will that take place sooner rather than later? It depends on the local commercial momentum in Italy. We know that the European market generally in the oil chemical segment is the market that's less dynamic than it was last year. That's what we're seeing in terms of volume change. What we can say, however, we continue to grow in spite of the market that is more complex than it was a year ago.

[indiscernible]. Just the acquisitions, M&A, EUR 35 million at minus [ 1.3 ] EBITDA, you said they were integration costs. Can you give us some granularity in the H2 of what we can expect in terms of EBITDA more generally on this type of acquisition. I'm not talking about the new ones, essentially water, if I understood well. Down the road is this a business, where in terms of operating margin or EBITDA margin, we have the same type of margins on your current business or structurally, will there be a diluted effect. Your guidance, plus 5% organically, [ 8 -- 8.5 ] in H1, I think there are delays at Solarca. Are there objective significant reasons why you're being so prudent as H2? Or is it your legendary prudence?

Thanks for that question. I was expecting that one. So no, your first question, that's an excellent question. On -- once again, I'm not going to reveal because one of the Investor Day is uses to show you that this business of industrial water supplements our business portfolio and our services fits fully with the needs of industrial companies, and we can make money on that business. It's to demonstrate that we can make money in that business. Once I've said that, what we've recovered on this portfolio of contracts following the acquisition of Suez by Veolia. We've acquired contracts with new skill sets, new know-how, and we've integrated operational staff. That's what happens. So it's normal. One, we've integrated contracts and operational teams without any support staff, it's normal that there should be integration in terms of the applications management why? Because we didn't have the IT system to manage these various contracts that are very often in the industrial facilities, industrial sites of our clients. That's the first point. There's applications management. The fact that we recovered bulk of contracts, portfolio contracts quite swiftly, it was all accelerated by the European Commission, the merger between Veolia and Suez. So we subcontracted during the first half of great many functions to the vendors payroll purchasing receivables collection management. That comes at a cost, a cost that's give or take the amount shown to break even. And this subcontracting is going to end by the end of the year. That's the -- that's our goal. That's the goal of the vendor. So once we've brought everything in-house that amount will disappeared, we'll have some additional costs internally in-house. But overall, that will be integrated by our own department. So very soon, we should break even, which is the first step. It's not enough. It's not satisfactory. We have a first milestone. Then we'll describe overall how we price these contracts and what are the margins that we're achieving on these contracts. So what we're seeing is that they are lower than Group margin levels, but they're fully consistent with the margins that we're seeing in services and other businesses. So day factor, we're going to integrate this portfolio. We're going to grow that book of business. We'll describe our commercial ambitions to you, but weakened very well to have margins that are consistent versus our services, given it's far less capital-intensive than hazardous waste management. It's very attractive for a shareholder to invest in that type of business. Well, we'll do a bit better than that in H2, then why? Because we have costs of -- implementation costs to internalize the applications management that weighed on H1. So it will be -- will improve in H2, that figure. It's work in progress. That's the first question. So the second question now, the main message of our earnings outlook through the end is to maintain our EBITDA targets as possible given the business in H1 on the basis of the business mix, we could even end up with a higher revenue, higher top line figure. But we have an impact on the EBITDA that we hadn't anticipated ForEx, tax on infra-marginal profits in spite of all those headwinds are not one-off spot contracts. In spite of all those headwinds, the main message is that we're maintaining our forecast of EBITDA for 2023. If we end up with more growth, it doesn't mean that necessarily we're going to have more EBITDA. That's the message we're conveying today.

[indiscernible]. To continue with the forecast, I'm not an analyst. So can you give us some idea of the contribution in revenue terms of all the acquisitions, those which will be new on your scope and the dilutive impact on the EBITDA margin because your forecast pre-acquisition, so I don't really understand what -- now onto Slide #33, on the left-hand side, you have the expected contributions to the scope acquired in 2022, so [ sanitation ] EUR 30 million, All'Chem EUR 18 million, STEI EUR 50 million, that's for 2022 acquisitions. Now for 2023 acquisitions, we have given the figure, which is mainly on Furia, which will be consolidated as from October. This is approximately [ EUR 15 million ] for the next 3 months.

Well, okay, I'll calculate. [ One ], given the total -- but I'll just jot this down for you, EUR 113 million. [ A question of Mike ]. So the dilutive impact is on the EBITDA margin. Well, we haven't disclosed that, but when we say EBITDA close to 22%, not including 2023 acquisitions. If we exclude Furia, you've got the EBITDA for Furia, well, you can conclude, infer that we have an EBITDA, which is at 22%, which is pretty close to the first half of 2022, given the change in the long-standing scope and the acquisitions made in 2022. So excluding Furia, where the impact will be marginal, we will be at 22%.

[indiscernible]. Two questions. On the circular economy, can you give us some idea of the breakdown between energy enhancing and material enhancing. Has this changed over time? And this will -- will this evolve further? Will these 2 businesses evolve further? And second question, I think the answer will be more on Investor Day, but your growth in industrial water, is there any analysis underway? Well, I'm sure there is on the issue of long-term pollutants this -- you're very close to your clients in this, who are confronted with this. They're having to deal with this. So in this industrial water business, are there studies underway? And are there any results of the studies that you can tell us about?

Now on both of these aspects, I think these are 2 themes for the Investor Day. So it's work in progress. But I think we'll go back on both of these items on the 12th of December.

Just to go back on 2023 forecast, I have a question. Given the acquisitions to be integrated by the end of the year, will the EBITDA margin be less than 22%. That's following on from the question by [indiscernible]? And the second question is on the exposure to floating interest rates. What is the share of debt that is exposed to floating rate debt?

Well, we expect EBITDA of close to 22% for 2023. So that's -- we've put that in writing. It's stated on the slide. And what I was saying on that is that given the first half results, if we continue with that momentum, strong momentum of the business, in actual fact, the revenue may go up strongly. It may rise more than what is set out on the slide. And we may be a little bit less than 22%. That's why we're close to 20%, it would be around 22% by the end of the year, that's for EBITDA forecast. Now looking at the debt question, we have 76% of our gross debt, which is fixed rate than 24% is floating rate debt. 76% represents EUR 67 million. Looking at the snapshot of our cash flow at 30th of June 2023, we have [ EUR 116 million ]. So if we're able to offset in other words, ensure that the cash is remunerated at floating rates and offset the 24% of floating rate debt, our net debt would be 91% fixed rate. So we're very much geared towards fixed rates, so little exposure to interest rate fluctuation. However, it's not always [ EUR 116 million ] in terms of the cash flow, it may be below. And in terms of interest rate exposure, we're probably slightly above 9% in terms of residual exposure. That's the first point. And the second point is careful here because unfortunately, our bankers are very fond of us, but sometimes when we invest the -- our cash flow -- it doesn't always go into interest rates that are consistent with interbank rates. So this occasionally has impact on our performance, in particular, for that residual share that I was talking about.

Any further questions? Yes?

Yes. [ Jean Francois ]. Two questions. A major price impact in the first half over EUR 26 million, are we on a strong momentum, a strong growth path for the months ahead? And second question, good control of WCR for the first half. And does this all go well for the generation of free cash flow for the rest of the year? Have you maintained the strong control of the working capital requirement?

So first part of your question answer, yes. We're posting very good sales, commercial momentum in this first half that's set to continue into H2. That makes us confident overall. Regarding the outlook for 2023. That's really the -- the strong point on the historical scope here that allows us to strengthen our target for EBITDA. Secondly, WCR, we have good WCR containment. We're saying net financial debt slightly down before acquisitions in 2023 made up of good CapEx containment and good WCR control.

Any further questions, please?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to bring this to a close. Thank you all for your attention. Coffee and tea is that all what we've got to offer and fruit juice and orange and fruit juice served outside. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]