Veolia Environnement Aktie

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Veolia publication of Q1 Financial Information Conference Call with Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO, and Emmanuelle Menning, CFO. [Operator Instructions]

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining this conference call to present Veolia, because you know the line is a little bit blurred. So I thought you had finished your introduction. No anyway, I will go on. I'm accompanied by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO, to present Veolia's Q1 key figures. I will start on Slide 4 by highlighting the key achievements of the first quarter. We delivered a strong Q1, resilient growth and solid EBITDA progression, fully in line with our annual guidance in spite of a difficult environment. Our unique multi-local model has proven its value again, combining resilience with growth potential based on a sustained demand for essential services, which has led to limited impact from the Middle East conflict and even future opportunities. I will come back to that in a minute.

We are continuing our strategic transformation towards international markets and technology-driven solutions with new tuck-ins in Q1. I will also come back to innovation after our dedicated day recently held in London as it is core to our strategy, fueling growth and efficiency targets for years to come beyond the GreenUp plan. I, of course, will fully confirm our 2026 guidance as well as our GreenUp trajectory. These results demonstrate that Veolia's business model and strategy is robust, diversified and well positioned to navigate uncertainty while capturing growth opportunities in essential environmental services.

Now let's look at the specific numbers for Q1 2026, and I'm on Slide 5. Revenue reached EUR 11,427 million -- so EUR 11.4 billion, up 2.1% at constant scope and ForEx and excluding energy prices. This represents resilient growth in a geopolitical wait-and-see environment and very comparable to the second half of 2025. Our EBITDA came in at EUR 1.766 billion, up 5.1% at constant scope and ForEx and up 5.8% when including tuck-in acquisition. And I recall, without any contribution of Suez synergies that we enjoyed during the previous quarters. This performance is therefore excellent, especially in a complex macro and geopolitical environment. Particularly noteworthy is our EBITDA margin expansion of 73 basis points year-on-year, reaching 15.5%. This margin improvement is fueled by our strategic choices and operational efficiency.

Current EBIT reached EUR 971 million, up 7.2% at constant scope and ForEx, demonstrating strong operational leverage. Our net free cash flow improved significantly by EUR 144 million compared to Q1 2025, driven by strict management of both capital expenditure and working cap requirements. Net financial debt stood at EUR 20.8 billion, which is fully under control. And this result gives me strong confidence for the full year 2026.

I'm now on Slide 6 and wanted to recall what makes Veolia truly unique, which is our positioning that combines both resilience and growth. We are an international environmental services leader operating in 44 countries across 5 continents, which gives us the firepower to lead in technology and innovation, thanks in particular to our 14 R&D centers and over 5,000 patents. We rank in the top 3 in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East, which gives us pricing power. But no capital employed in a single country exceed 10% outside the U.S. in order to derisk the group. This is a choice. Our customer base is diversified, roughly 50-50 between municipal and tertiary and industrial clients. Our multi-local delivery model is anchored in local communities. That means we have no impact from tariffs, no impact on margin rates for ForEx volatility, only translation effects and no dependency on subsidies or government contracts.

Our long-term contract on an average of 11 years in duration with 70% being inflation indexed. We estimate that 85% of our business is macro immune and commodities are essentially pass-through in our contracts. By the way, and in addition to what I already said, we offer a unique way of integrating solutions combining waste, water and energy services. This combination of growth potential and resilience is rare in today's markets.

Slide 7. Given the current headlines, I want to address the Middle East situation directly. I believe it is a perfect illustration of the multiple strengths of our business model. We can see this first with the sustained demand for social services. In the region, we maintain constant and direct daily connection with local authorities and clients to ensure the continuity of critical services. This includes operating desalination units, for instance, which can account for up to 95% of the water supply. These direct contacts confirm that our partners are already preparing for the post-crisis phase and require partners like Veolia to be by their side. Furthermore, our multi-local model ensures our direct financial exposure remains very limited with EUR 1.3 billion revenue in 2025 and capital employed around EUR 300 million in the region, which is less than 1% of the group's total.

Consequently, the local impact on Veolia has been largely neutral, only limited operational disruption like a little bit lower hazardous waste volumes and a slowdown or I going to say more a delay in water technology projects being signed. Regarding consequences on other geographies, we are well protected against rising costs. Our long-term index contract covers 70% of our contracts and covers all our cost base with some lag effect. For the remaining 30%, we have proactively already put in place specific fuel surcharge when needed, particularly in the waste business, and we've secured key supply.

I'm on Slide 8. In a way, this crisis in the Middle East highlights the power of our unique Veolia offer and explains why it may even lead to a few opportunities. Our proprietary solutions help secure access to water supply, which is as critical as oil, if not more, as we see now. Our solution give access to an untapped reservoir of local energy at fixed price instead of import. You can imagine how important it is and lots of people realize it. In addition to that, our solution can contribute to securing supply chain, thanks to the circular economy. And those solutions can as well depollute industrial sites and protect human health. You will understand, I'm sure, why I'm very confident about our future performance as we have built with Veolia a unique positioning as the environmental security powerhouse, addressing critical needs for our clients.

Slide 9. Our international footprint has largely contributed to our good results in Q1. I would like to highlight the continued standout performance in our region outside of Europe, which grew by a strong 3.1% and even 5.3% at constant ForEx. I will insist on the performance of the U.S.A., which grew by 7.5% at constant ForEx in spite of extreme cold weather conditions, which impacted hazardous waste volumes in January and February. The demand for our services is very strong. We also passed the main steps in the Clean Earth acquisition process, which secures the closing at midyear as announced. The Water Technologies segment performed quite well, up 4.3%, excluding the project business line, which was penalized or even more like delayed in signing by the crisis in the Middle East and continued to deliver a remarkable EBITDA growth in this segment.

In Europe, we grew by a solid 3%, anchored by strong performance of Central and Eastern Europe, the U.K. as well as Spain, all enjoying strong commercial momentum and positive weather. Finally, France and Hazardous Waste Europe was resilient in spite of adverse weather conditions, which has penalized a bit waste activities. I expect Hazardous Waste Europe to grow faster in the coming quarters without the Q1 disturbances.

Looking out at our top performance by business line on Slide 10, we see resilient growth and solid EBITDA progression across all our activities. Our stronghold activities, municipal water, solid waste and district heating generated EUR 8.4 billion in revenue, up 2.5% at constant scope and ForEx and excluding energy price. Our booster activities, Water Tech, Hazardous waste and Bioenergy, generated a little bit more than EUR 3 billion in revenue, up 2.2%, including tuck-ins. You have to remember again that Q1 was quite specific with negative impact from the Iran war on the delay of signing specific projects with Water Tech, added to extreme weather events and timing effect in Hazardous Waste.

The demand for our booster activities keeps being very strong. If we were to exclude Water Technology project delay, our boosters would have grown by 4.6%. The combination of Strongholds and Boosters now represents already 30% of our revenue, demonstrating our strategic evolution towards high-growth, higher-margin activities while maintaining the stability of our core business. Emmanuelle will give you all the details by activity in a moment.

I'm now on Slide 11. Veolia continues its transformation as set up in GreenUp towards more international, more technology-driven activities, which is our Boosters. We are very active, sorry, in strategic portfolio management with EUR 8.5 billion of assets, which will have rotated over 4 years. You remember that 2025 was a pivotal year as we successfully achieved the Suez integration, but we've also crystallized strategic moves with 2 major acquisitions signed or closed. First, EUR 1.5 billion invested in Water Tech to enhance our combined technology portfolio capabilities. We have already extracted 1/3 of the planned EUR 90 million synergies, which is EUR 30 million, including EUR 10 million in Q1. And of course, $3 billion with the acquisition of Clean Earth in the U.S. We have obtained both the antitrust clearance and our shareholders' approval on Monday, which means we are fully on track to close the deal midyear.

Both acquisitions already create value, but also will enhance the group's profile going forward. Lastly, we announced EUR 2 billion of nonstrategic asset divestitures in the 2 years following the Clean Earth closing. Process has started with clear list and various scenarios. We have already achieved several small and medium divestments of mature assets or not in the top 3, which you know are some of our criteria, and we will continue pruning our portfolio.

On Slide 12, I would also like to say a few words about our exciting growth ambition related to innovative offers through 2030, which we have explained in a dedicated session last April. I will start with our new offer dedicated to AI industries, covering data centers and chips manufacturing. Those industries are in high demand to secure steady water supply for cooling systems, continuity of supply of untapped water and they use a large amount of high-quality solvent and acids. Data centers are starting to see resistance from local communities to be granted permits given the intensity and resource consumption.

Our DATA CENTER Resource 360 new offers help secure local acceptance and license to operate with recycled water technologies and heat recovery as seen in our recent contract with AWS in Mississippi. We already grew very quickly in those AI industries from $150 million in 2019 to $560 million in 2025, and we're now targeting approximately $1 billion by 2030. We have a unique set of assets and technologies to support this growth. Patented technologies such as electrodeionization for ultra-pure water, ZeeWeed membranes for water recovery, without mentioning a new Taiwan-based electronic-grade sulfuric acid recovery, which is really promising, but also a worldwide installed base of hazardous waste treatment facilities.

In addition, we'll soon have a presence in all 50 states of the U.S. with the Clean Earth acquisition. I'll remind you that the offer we launched in 2024 on PFAS is already very successful, and I'm very confident we'll reach our ambitious EUR 1 billion revenue by 2030. We had 0 revenue in 2022 to EUR 259 million in 2025, which is up 25%. And our recent acquisition of soil remediation specialists in Australia at a very reasonable multiple will complement nicely our comprehensive solution portfolio and offer duplication opportunities. This innovation-driven growth are testimony of the group transformation towards more value-added offer and services as an environmental security powerhouse.

On Slide 13, we will also derive from digital and AI, innovative tools and an increasing contribution to our efficiency plan. In 2025, 23% of our operational efficiencies were already derived from AI and digital, and we aim at 50% by 2030. This is by scaling up AI-based tool we've already tested to maximize plant productivity, to reduce energy or chemical consumption or to help detect leaks. Our Talk to My Plants tool dedicated to plants maintenance operator is particularly very promising. It is a very exciting journey, and we are only on the very beginning here.

Slide 14. I just want finally to fully confirm our 2026 guidance, which is reminded fully on this slide, in particular, with EBITDA to grow 5% to 6% organically and current net income by 8% at constant ForEx and before PPA. And this is, of course, excluding Clean Earth. Additionally, assuming a mid-2026 closing, the Clean Earth acquisition will be accretive to current net income from 2027 before PPA, confirm as well our GreenUp trajectory. This reflects our confidence in our business model and strategic execution. Emmanuelle, the floor is yours to elaborate on Q1 results.

Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. Revenue in Q1 amounted to EUR 11.4 billion, up 2.1%, excluding energy prices. Organic growth of EBITDA was 5.1%, in line with our annual guidance, which is an excellent performance as we no longer benefit from the synergies. And our EBITDA margin continued to increase by 73 bps to 15.5%. We continue to enjoy a strong operating leverage, leading to a 7.2% progression of current EBIT. Net free cash flow increased by EUR 144 million, thanks to tight CapEx control. And net debt landed at EUR 20.8 billion, including the seasonal reversal of working cap. ForEx impact on EBITDA was EUR 33 million as forecasted due to a lower U.S. dollar, British pound and LatAm currencies. ForEx is moving, notably due to the crisis in the Middle East and the final impact on 2026 EBITDA is hard to predict. It will be lower than initially expected with the current exchange rate. We will see, but remember that as a multiple -- multi-local group with very limited international trade, ForEx does not impact our businesses or margin rate and ForEx has a very limited impact at net income level.

Moving to Slide 17, you can see the revenue and EBITDA evolution by geographies. As Estelle mentioned earlier, growth outside Europe was quite satisfactory at plus 3.1% and even plus 5.3%, including tuck-in. Most regions registered mid-single-digit growth. U.S.A. grew by plus 5.2% and 7.5%, including tuck-in in spite of adverse weather conditions, which impacted hazardous waste volumes in January and February and hazardous waste in the U.S. grew by 5.7%. Pacific grew by plus 8.1%, including the successful acquisition in Australia, which strengthens our leadership in hazardous waste and PFAS treatment. Africa/Middle East revenue increased by plus 4.4%. And by the way, Middle East succeeds to be up plus 3% in a complex geopolitical context.

Water Technologies was quite resilient, excluding projects and progressed by 4.3% like last year. And as I remember, 70% of our activities are recurring corresponding to products, services and chemicals, while 30% is more volatile by nature, what we call projects. In Q1, projects were impacted by several booking and milestone delays due to the Middle East crisis, and we forecast this to continue in Q2. Above all, Water Technologies continued to deliver a strong EBITDA growth, fueled by our business refocusing and efficiencies and synergies. Europe grew by 3%, excluding energy prices, fueled by favorable weather in urban heating and by good water activities. And finally, France and Hazardous Waste Europe were resilient.

Now let's take a look at our performance by business. I will start with water. It represents 40% of our revenues and 50% of the group EBITDA. Water revenue was up by 2%. Water operation benefited from good indexation in Europe and in the U.S., except in France, due to the lower electricity prices. Volumes were on a very good trend, up 1.1% in France, 2.4% in Central Europe, 2.9% in U.S. regulated. And as I just explained, the underlying growth of Water Technologies, excluding the timing of project delivery remained quite strong at 4.3%.

Moving to waste, representing 35% of our revenues. Waste activities succeeded to stay flat despite an helpful macro and are very comparable to previous quarters. Indeed, excluding external factors as weather recycled or electricity prices, waste revenue was up plus 1% at constant scope and ForEx. Starting with solid waste, we did not experience in Q1 any significant impact of the higher diesel costs. In terms of diesel price increase, I remind you that it's pass-through. The group diesel purchases for the waste activity amounted last year to EUR 218 million, half for multiple contracts with automatic pass-through in indexation formula with 3 to 6 months lag and half for C&I clients with immediate fuel surcharge.

In terms of volumes and commercial developments, performance was mixed in Europe, slight volume decrease impacted by bad weather, icy road and frozen waste. Good incinerators availability rates and activity continued to progress in the rest of the world. Hazardous waste grew by plus 1.7% and plus 6%, including tuck-in. Europe was slow due to the combination of adverse weather and maintenance outage timing with rebound planned in Q2. Growth remained strong in the U.S., plus 5.4% with average price increase of 3.6% and volume up despite unfavorable weather conditions. For Q2, we expect further price increases alongside fuel surcharge and better volumes. The performance of last year's tuck-in in the U.S., Brazil and Japan was very good.

Finally, moving on to energy, I'm on Slide 20. Regarding the evolution of gas and fuel prices, I remind you that our energy business model is very strong as we demonstrated in 2022 and 2023, it is regulated and our margins are protected. We can also marginally take advantage of higher electricity prices and volatility of our midterm. For 2026, we are largely hedged in terms of gas, CO2 cost and electricity revenue. Energy prices were down as expected, but to a much lesser extent than last year. Excluding the energy price impact, Q1 growth was quite good, plus 4.1%, thanks to good volumes, helped by a colder winter and with a resilient activity for the booster.

The revenue bridge on Slide 21 explains the driver of our resilient growth in Q1. ForEx impact amounted to minus 2.3% due to U.S. dollar, GBP, Argentinian peso and yen. Scope was positive by plus EUR 69 million, including hazardous waste tuck-in. We expect the consolidation of Clean Earth in the second semester 2026, and we are pleased to have now obtained both the antitrust clearance and on very shareholder approval. The impact of energy prices was as expected, more than divided by 2 compared to Q1 last year. Recyclate prices were almost neutral and the weather effect amounted to plus EUR 66 million due to a colder winter in Europe, partially offset by adverse weather impact for waste activities.

The contribution of commerce volumes and pricing was plus 1.6%. Pricing in water and waste remains sustained, contributing to plus 1.4%. Let me walk you through the EBITDA bridge, which illustrates our strong operational performance. We experienced ForEx translation impact of EUR 33 million. It's important to remember that ForEx has no impact on our margin rate. It's purely translation effect since our revenues and costs are in the same currency in each of our countries. Scope effect from tuck-ins contribute positively plus 1% EBITDA increase, showing good revenue to EBITDA conversion and fueling future EBITDA growth.

Energy and recycled material prices had an impact of minus EUR 16 million. Weather effect contributed positively to 1% EBITDA growth. And the most impressive component is our growth and performance contribution of 5.1%. This breaks down into EUR 62 million from net efficiency gain with a very good retention rate, thanks to action plan implemented across Europe. And we have also EUR 10 million from water technology synergies. The volumes and commerce contribution was limited and in line with revenue. This represents organic growth of 5.1% at constant scope and ForEx, which is quite good. As mentioned, we do not benefit anymore from the 1.5% contribution of the Suez synergies.

A few highlights on the efficiency gain. I am on Slide 23. We delivered EUR 96 million of efficiency gain in Q1, in line with our annual target. Two important characteristics you need to consider regarding efficiency. First, efficiency was indeed a permanent lever for value creation. It's embedded into our operation. Efficiency gain at Veolia are not discretionary cost-cutting program, but they come from a very diversified series of initiatives in our thousands of plants. In case of headwinds, we can and we know how to boost efficiency program as we demonstrated in the past by specific plan like the one we have conducted in China, in Spain and in France. Second, digital and AI gain, which already accounted for 23% of our recurring operational efficiency in 2025 will continue to increase, and we have set an objective of 50% of digital gain in 2030.

Let's now analyze our performance below EBITDA. I am on Slide 24. Going down to current EBIT, this slide illustrates perfectly the operational leverage of our business model, 2.1% revenue growth, 5.1% EBITDA growth and 7.2% EBIT increase. Current EBIT grew to EUR 971 million at a faster pace than EBITDA. And let me highlight amortization and OFA, which were slightly up at constant scope and ForEx and industrial capital gain provision were stable, showing a continued strong quality of results.

Now free cash flow generation, which is key and net financial debt, I am on Slide 25. I am satisfied with the progression of the net free cash flow of EUR 144 million, which we achieved despite the seasonality of working capital. And thanks to a tight CapEx control, you see a strong discipline on industrial investment at minus EUR 860 million compared to more than EUR 1 billion last year. Limited increase of taxes and financial charges linked to Water Technology acquisition. Working cap reversal was close to last year. Net financial debt is, therefore, well under control, reaching EUR 20.8 billion, and this increase of EUR 1.1 billion is due to the seasonality of working cap and financial investment for minus EUR 172 million. Our net debt is 85% fixed. Our net group liquidity is very solid, EUR 6.7 billion, and our balance sheet, therefore, remains very strong.

Both rating agency confirmed strong investment-grade rating beginning of 2026. Before concluding this slide reminds you of our 2026 guidance, which Estelle fully confirmed earlier, continued solid organic revenue growth, excluding energy prices, our EBITDA organic growth between 5% and 6% current net income of minimum 8% at constant ForEx, excluding Clean Earth, which we will close mid-'26, leverage ratio equal or slightly above 3x with Clean Earth acquisition. And as usual, our dividend will grow in line with our current year. As you see, we are very confident for 2026. We delivered a strong Q1, resilient growth and solid EBITDA increase. fully in line with our annual guidance. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Emmanuelle. And now we are ready, Emmanuelle and myself to take the questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] First question comes from Ajay Patel from Goldman Sachs.

I have 2 areas I wanted to dig a little deeper. Firstly, on cost cutting and the retention rate over this quarter was quite a bit higher than you normally guide. I just wondered how should we think about that in the context of the full year? And then I guess maybe alongside that, you talk of AI increasingly becoming a proportion of the overall cost-cutting efforts increasing in size. I just wondered, is the retention rate on the cost savings that you make on the AI side higher than that of maybe the non-AI side? Just to understand if there's any dynamic there that we should understand? And then the last one is just referring to the bridge on Slide 22. If you could help us with the volumes and commerce element being a limited contribution. Just what headwinds maybe break out a little bit more of the headwinds that you experienced over Q1? And how should we think about that variable over the course of the year?

Thank you for your question. So first on cost cutting, you're right. It's EUR 62 million out of EUR 96 million basically that we've retained, so which is higher than the usual, don't translate it into times 4 for the entirety of the year. Our good target is usually between 30% and 50%. But it's fair to say in the recent quarters, we've been more around the 40% to 50% than the lower part of the range. That's a good proxy for me.

With regard to your second half part of the first question on AI. You're not wrong. As in our AI cost cutting is mainly on operational things, like that's why I mentioned the example of AI helps us to reduce energy consumption to help us increase the plant efficiency and so on and so forth. And this type of gains are typically more retained than what would be, say, SG&A type of a cost cutting. So you're right. The more we can retain of the cost-cutting gain or efficiency plan, the happier we will be. There always will be some leakage, let's call it that way, because it's part of our business model with our customer. When we renew contracts, we give some productivity back to the customer, and then we find other ways of gaining productivities in the years following the renewal of the contract. That's why there will always be some type of leakage. And of course, we try to retain the maximum possible.

In terms of the second part of your question, I would not highlight anything which would look like -- I mean, there is no slowdown in revenue. When you look at H2 2025 and Q1 2026, we are exactly in the similar type of range of 2-point-something revenue, excluding energy price. In the pluses and minus of this quarter in terms of commerce, so commerce is very good. No question about that, retention of our contract or renewal of our contract is very good.

On the plus side, we had a little bit of weather effect in Eastern Europe. On the minus side, we had a little bit of weather effects on the negative side in the U.S. and in Europe on haz and waste. You may have noted that there was 2 times a week or 1.5 weeks of the Eastern parts of the U.S. being totally blocked by minus 15, minus 20 degrees Celsius type of temperature with everything being closed. Of course, that means less volume in the end. The trucks are not even allowed to be driven into any type of road. So that's why pluses and minuses, but nothing which looks like a slowdown. And April is good. The demand of our services is sustained. And again, the same type of pace in revenue as we had enjoyed in the second part of last year.

May I add one more question? It was just the other thing just on the opening comments, I think then we were talking about that conflict at the moment. Just wondered if -- what -- how does the disruption work in your business model in terms of if a certain component doesn't turn up on time or there are some restrictions on how you operate in terms of some form of rationing. I know that we're not at this level yet, but if these types of impacts happen, are they passed through? Or is there some exposure on that side? I didn't quite necessarily get that from when I was listening to the presentation.

So when it comes to the Middle East activity, we have not seen disruption in supply chain. The thing we've seen is like a few days on and off in the refineries, which were nearby our sites. Therefore, a little bit less activity from one day to the next. But we don't depend on very sensitive component with our chemicals, which only go through -- a lot of it goes through the Strait of Hormuz, if it's your question. We are very decentralized in our supply chain. So we have -- we have, of course, some centralized procurement, but we usually are more on a regional basis anyway. So honestly, we have not seen any disruption, and I don't anticipate any disruption in the supply of everything Veolia needs to operate. We cannot hear you. The line is super blurred. We cannot hear you.

I think, Arthur, please go ahead.

Yes. Can you hear me well?

Yes, perfectly, please.

Apparently, the only line which doesn't work well is that of the operator, which is not exactly helpful, but we'll try to go ahead anyway. Please go ahead.

So the first one would be just on the headwind to waste organic growth that you mentioned related to bad weather in Europe in January, February and plant outage. I was wondering if you could quantify that negative effect on EBITDA in Q1. And I was also wondering, basically, more generally speaking, how should we expect waste volumes to look later in the year, in particular, you're mentioning a bit of a slow start in January, February. How was it looking in March and April? I suspect you already have some indications of trends for those 2 months.

And the second question is just on what's happening in the world at the moment, which is higher inflation due to the geopolitical uncertainty. I was wondering about the sequence of events for Veolia. Is it possible that basically you have a slightly weaker end to 2026 because of the slower volumes and higher costs and then a recovery or a more positive effect in 2027 with your inflation clauses that you flagged that have a little bit of a lag?

Thank you. So I guess I would like to highlight, by the way, some opportunities, and I will start with that. What we discover, we discover or the general public realizes when it comes to the one in the Middle East is the dependent on imports is never a good idea. We rely on supply of water, otherwise, nothing happens. And everybody is super concerned by their health and that of their kids. That's exactly what Veolia offers solutions to. So in a way, in my opinion, the crisis reveals anything but the strength of the business model of Veolia and its positioning.

To answer specifically your question, there is no slow start to the year in terms of volume when it comes to say economy underlying this, even in waste in the first part of the year. We haven't seen that. The only negative, again, was weather related. There's a number of days where we cannot even circulate it. Our customer could not. So they haven't generated waste, and that was it. But don't take it as a start [Audio Gap] as a slowdown in or a slow start to the year in terms of underlying trend because I think that would be a mistake. So the underlying trend is exactly the same as the end of last year. That's exactly what we've seen to answer your second part of your question in March and April, which were exactly good. When you exclude the weather effect elements, which were a few days here and there and even 2 weeks in the U.S. that's the only component. But again, the demand is sustained. So the volumes are there, and they are coming back once you can transport them, if I may.

In terms of the impacts beyond the Middle East itself of the Middle East crisis on costs, if I understand your second question. As we've demonstrated through the war in Ukraine in a way, we have the ability to pass on the cost to protect our margin. We've demonstrated it. There is a little bit of lag effect, but we have a little bit of positive as well in terms of commodities and things like that. So that's why I can confirm fully our guidance for the year. So we will maintain our 5% to 6% EBITDA margin growth for the year.

So I think the next question is coming from Philippe Ourpatian from ODDO. So let's move to Olly from Deutsche Bank.

Two questions for me, please. One is just on the free cash flow. There's a bit of improvement versus Q1 last year. Does this put you on track, do you think, to see a similar improvement for the full year for net free cash flow versus 2025, so we can see a bit more meaningful growth there? And then just coming back to the inflation point, I mean, presumably with inflation expectations where they are currently, and we could see those continue to increase perhaps. If there's any benefit from that with your tariff indexation, presumably the bulk of that would start to come through in 2027. If you could just confirm the mechanics of that again, that would be very helpful?

Emmanuelle, on free cash flow.

Yes. Olly, so as mentioned, we are very satisfied with the progression of free cash flow beginning of the year. As you have seen, it has increased by plus EUR 144 million. And part of it come from the very strong discipline we had on CapEx. I mentioned it. We spent EUR 860 million when it was more than EUR 1 billion last year. You know that we are very committed to have a strong free cash flow generation to be able to cover our dividend. We are fully committed, and we have a lot of action regarding that, working on the time to invoice, putting control our CapEx, improving the collection. So our target remains for the year to have a strong free cash flow to be able to cover our dividend. And as you may see, we have a very strong liquidity, EUR 6.7 billion and a very strong balance sheet for 2026.

So our aim is always to grow free cash flow on a yearly basis. We don't give guidance because there is seasonality in this in Veolia. But of course, we always try to do our best to improve the free cash flow generation of the group, which allow us then to decide where to invest. I remind you that it's free cash flow after growth investments, by the way, which is in our hands. In terms of inflation, maybe I was not clear enough. So Emmanuelle, do you want to get to have a go at that and fuel surcharge maybe?

Yes. So your question, Olly, was on the impact of inflation and fuel surcharge. So as mentioned by Estelle, you know that we -- our model is well protected against cost increase. We have 70% of our portfolio, which benefits from indexation formula, and we have 30%, which -- where we have strong pricing power and where we can do price surcharge. Coming to the specific element on inflation, we showed in the past that our model was very strong and able to pass the cost to our clients in 2022, 2023. And what we have done since the beginning of the year is to be very agile and very reactive on the 30%, specifically on the fuel surcharge. We start beginning of March. It has been put in place. We can have a small time lag, but it's very efficient.

We demonstrate -- you may remember that in 2022, '23, we are able sometimes to do 3 to 4x increase when it was necessary. So it's fully put in place. The element to have in mind is that for our municipal clients, which is 50%, we may have a time lag of 3 to 6 months. But we have put in place all our action plan, as mentioned before, to have really strong discipline on cost to not accept automatically the increase of our supplier to have restricted move or the placement if it's not necessary and of course, to increase our strategic inventory when necessited.

So for the 70%, which is indexed, if there is a little bit of lag effect on the revenue, there could be a lag effect on our supplier in a way in our cost base in other terms to protect our margin. And for the fuel surcharge, it's already in place. And if you have to do 2, 3 this year or 1 will be enough, we will see, but it's already in place now as we speak.

I would like to highlight again, if I may. I said it in my speech first, the type of discussion we have with customers is not only about cost protection. Actually, it's quite the opposite. And I just wanted to share this with you. It's incoming calls on can you help us with energy efficiency? Of course, energy is higher in price. Therefore, can you help me with that? It's -- can you help me with securing local sources of energy? It looks like you do that, Veolia. Can you help me with that because it helps. Same with circular economy. When you recycle, it avoids importing from far away and be dependent, therefore, from the ups and downs of commodity prices. So all that means we have a lot of incoming calls of customer where for them, the war means I want more of Veolia type of services, starting in the Middle East, by the way, where they already are preparing for the postwar and discussing about how can we be even more resilient going forward and in terms of the infrastructure reconstruction or depollution of sites.

The next question comes from the line of Philippe ODDO.

Not Philippe ODDO, I will be more rich than I am. But Philippe Ourpatian from ODDO. Just one question. Most of my questions have been already answered. Concerning the divestments, you mentioned in your slide that 3 operations means the top 3 program have been already signed or being closed in the coming months, I would say. Could you just give us, as you have also mentioned that there is your plan and several scenarios are prepared, could you have the idea -- could we have the idea of what's the amount of divestments already under bracket secured versus the EUR 2 billion targeted? Without mentioning any specific operation, but just to give us where you are exactly '26 and '27 because I do suppose that it's already started and you have some discussion and some assets which have been already determined to be divested...

Thanks for your question. A few things. We said we will divest EUR 2 billion in the 2 years following the closing. So we're talking about from now until mid-'28. So we have plenty of time and given our balance sheet is compatible with the time scale I just gave. In terms of what we've already done of the criteria, as said, non-top 3, so things which we are #5, #6 on the market, and we don't see any possibility to be up very, very quickly. Mature as in we don't see how we can grow the EBITDA or the EBIT even with our best efforts going forward or nonstrategic like we've done with SADE, which was an activity in construction, we didn't want to go on with. So that's the typical criteria.

That's typically in the criteria of what we've already like signed and closed, secured. We're talking about smaller and medium objects, which are listed there, plastic in Korea, industrial cleaning in Belgium. So altogether, it will be a bit in excess of EUR 100 million, EUR 200 million, this type of order of magnitude, if I remember well. In terms of the larger objects, I will consider them secured when they are signed and when they will be signed, they will be announced. And you will have to wait until that date to have them secured. But I'm very confident I'm very confident because we've done a few market testing. And we have alternatives in case for whatever reason, one doesn't go ahead in the type of price range we were expecting. So we have plan A and plan B, if you want. So we will secure this EUR 2 billion in good condition in the 2 years following the closing.

May I have an additional comment because it's very interesting what you said concerning your capacity to choose some assets. In order to do EUR 2 billion, what's going to be your, let's say, global potential of divestment? Are we discussing about EUR 3 billion, EUR 4 billion, EUR 5 billion means the bucket of -- or the basket of potential disposal regarding the size of your group and the numbers of subsidiary you have around the world? Just to have an idea about where we are exactly when you mentioned 2, you can pace your calculation on how much more than that?

We have enough headroom to be able to be very confident. That's the only thing I can say. But those businesses, it always is a choice. The businesses which are plan B are businesses we like. They are on the money. They are a little bit less interesting than others. So we have no problem in selling them, but they still are good businesses. So we don't have any problematic one in the list. Therefore, like I guess, like we have sufficient security on the achievement of this program, I can tell you.

Just one element I wanted to share with you. So we told you already a very clear plan. We know what we want to do. We have different scenarios, allowing us to be agile. There is no pressure on timing because our balance sheet is very strong. We don't need to do the divestments to be able to finance Clean Earth. That's not the issue. And you may have seen that in terms of transactions delivery and execution, we have been showing an amazing track record. So not under pressure of time. We also shared with you before that we will divest part of the EUR 2 billion will be a business which will be divested. The other one will be and 1/4 and 1/3 will be linked to the portfolio cleaning that we have also launched before and that we will continue. So we don't need to do everything everywhere. We have a very clear picture on where we want to do, on where we want to go and a very good track record in terms of execution.

Just to illustrate what we said by portfolio pruning, we said plastic in Korea. It doesn't mean that we don't like plastic or we don't like Korea, but it looks like plastic in Korea, we were not in the top 3 and not being able to get in the top 3. That's why we sold it. In terms of our industrial cleaning activities in Belgium, it was more of the nonstrategic criteria here. Industrial cleaning is not a priority for the group. And therefore, have no ability to be duplicated anytime soon in nearby geography. So we decided to sell it each time with value-added sales. So it was a good sale for us. So that's -- I think it gives you an idea of what Emmanuelle said by the smaller ones, which are more portfolio pruning type of activities of disposal.

So I think next question is coming from [indiscernible].

Yes. May I ask what is the impact of the delays in terms of projects in the Middle East in terms of EBITDA impact or the order of magnitude?

So basically, Water Tech EBITDA has progressed very, very, very well in the first quarter, like it had been in the quarters before. So the answer -- the short answer to your question is none. As we always said, projects are lower margin type of activities within Water Tech. It's only 25% of the business. We like it because it fuels potential buy of membranes and stuff like that in the end, positive margin still, but lower than the average. So the answer is none, roughly. Very nice improving of the EBITDA in the first quarter in Water Tech. So again, Water Tech, excluding project was plus 4.2% revenue increase, which is very nice. EBITDA increased by even more than that. Thanks to, again, the usual cost efficiency and so on and so forth, added to the EUR 10 million synergies we've delivered in the first quarter in addition to the EUR 20 million we already had delivered for the second part of last year. So no impact is the answer.

And I'm very confident again that it's only delays in signing, and we still have discussion with the customers about not only signing whenever they will be able because the world will be like a bit more under control. And we even have specific orders like of mobile units and stuff like that in emergency type of situation in the Middle East in Water Tech. So it has created even some opportunities.

Next question is Alex from Bank of America.

Two follow-ups and one question on guidance, please. The first follow-up on the weather headwinds for waste. I don't think that was a specific item that was disclosed in the revenue bridge before and maybe because the impact was just always much smaller than this quarter. But is that something we need to consider on a more recurring basis given climate change around the world? And similarly, on phasing, just to expands on some of the earlier question, should we not see good volumes in Q2 to catch up on the missed rounds you've had in Q1, which would then normalize in Q3?

Second follow-up on disposals. Why not perhaps rotate capital more rapidly? I think you mentioned that you had a lot of headroom beyond the EUR 2 billion of asset disposal target. But if these assets are not # 3 -- well, I'm sorry, top 3 mature and nonstrategic, why not also increase the pace of disposals and perhaps get money back to shareholders or even create plenty of headroom for yourself to do some more strategic acquisition? Question and last question on guidance. Given the operating leverage of the business, revenue up 2%, EBITDA plus 5%, EBIT plus 7% is the plus 8% net income guidance not too conservative for the year? Or are there any below-the-line items we need to be mindful of?

Okay. So weather on the bridge, Emmanuelle?

Yes. Alex, so regarding the bridge on the column weather, we have always -- we have the same methodology than before. It's just that in the past, we are not facing this type of weather conditions. So you had in the past, mainly in the weather column, the energy impact almost all time. And you had one or twice some effect from waste when it was the case, but it was more an exception than the rules. You were mentioning the impact of volume. So you're right, we benefit in Q1 in terms of -- of weather from good impact on energy. So we'll not have that in Q2. We will not have this positive effect, but we will benefit from a form of rebound as we will not have, as we had in Q1, the weather impacting -- having impact on icy road, icy waste, no project on some remediation. So we'll have a formal rebound in Q2. That's for sure. And we are starting to see that in April, which is positive. And as we are speaking a bit on the month of April, what we could see is that we have plus and minus.

On the waste, as mentioned, there will be -- so yes, we had more outage in Q1, and we'll not have that in Q2, Q3, Q4. We'll not have the negative impact of the [indiscernible]. We'll have a slight -- we may have a slight fuel surcharge or delay, but between 3 and the 6 months like we have mentioned. On the energy side, we had the positive effect of weather that we had in Q1 are not going to be in Q2.

And we may have a small impact on energy prices, as I mentioned, linked to fuel surcharge. But we have opportunities for the non-top which has been hedged that we are -- we have full visibility of the energy margin. On the waste business, we have part of the electricity, we are hedging 85%. So for the 15%, we can have a positive impact. Also positive impact, as mentioned before by Estelle potentially on the recyclate, notably on the plastic side. It's marginal because you know that we have put in place back-to-back to contract. And on water, we spoke already about the Water Technology timing effect on project top line. And we see the good trend we have seen on water, especially in terms of pricing and in terms of volumes, we don't see any change of trend in April.

So altogether, April will be -- has been good. And we haven't seen any change in underlying trends. You have the ups and downs of weather, but apart from that, nothing specific. And no, there is no -- it was really exceptional in waste. It never happens. It happens every -- I don't know, like 5 to 10 years, this type of circumstances, it was really, really exceptional. So I don't anticipate that it will come again very much.

In terms of the capital allocation, yes, we have headroom. That's a question you always ask, what about we sell this and that and then we give money back to the shareholders. I'm really keen on, one, we still create value with those assets by increasing, thanks to our operational efficiency, thanks to everything we are doing. We are creating value. Shall I remind that we've increased the dividend quite a lot in the last few years and the net result by basically 12% year-on-year in the last 2 years and double the net result in the last 5 years. So this creates value. So we already are giving to the shareholders like some element via dividends. We have topped up that starting last year by first in the history of the group, which was the share buyback to avoid the dilution program. So I guess I'm very focusing on delivering shareholder value, but I think we do create shareholder value with the business model we have.

In terms of the -- will we stop there irrespective of the -- I mean, irrespective of the buying opportunity, we are doing the pruning of portfolio anyway. The non-top 3 is a strategy which was in the GreenUp plan. You may remember that. So we've tried in typically in the plastic in Korea, I just mentioned, we've tried for 2 years to try to see if we could be in the top 3. We didn't manage to be successful. Therefore, we decided to sell it. That's more the way to see it. There is an up or out strategy here, which we are implemented. And yes, I can confirm that we are very confident about the 8% net income. But Emmanuelle, do you want to elaborate on that?

Yes, with pleasure. So you know that when you look at our performance this year, very strong performance with the increase of EBITDA of 5.1%, as mentioned before, without the synergies, meaning that we are cruising at the same pace, showing that our strategic decision to go for faster growing and higher-margin activity is delivering results. Down the line, we will, of course, continue to benefit from our operating leverage. We have shown that before, plus 2.1% revenue increase, plus 5.1% EBITDA increase and plus 7.2% EBIT increase. So as you see, we keep a tight cap -- tight control on CapEx so that our DNA will not increase significantly. Our total cost of financing, which decreased slightly in 2025 will only grow in 2026 a bit linked to the financing, for instance, of Water Tech acquisition we did last year in June. And we believe we can sustain a tax rate between 25% and 26%, meaning that we are fully confident to confirm our target in terms of current net income for the year.

I think the next question is coming from [indiscernible].

It's just a follow-up as most of the questions have been already answered. I want to have more clarity on the net income guidance because you signaled that the closing for Clean Earth is expected on June after the 2 major steps in the AGM and the antitrust clearance. So can you help us quantify the expected net income effect from the integration for 2026 as you signaled the 8% growth is ex Clean Earth with a positive contribution from 2027. So what is the expected net income effect that you expect to have from the integration of Clean Earth for '26?

So I will refresh what we've said in a way, which we can confirm on when we've announced the acquisition of Clean Earth, which will be assuming it's midyear. Therefore, since we publish, so we can have -- if we were to do accounts at midyear with everything and dividend and so on and so forth, which is not the case, it would be a different story. But basically, given the fact that it's likely to be midyear, it means it will be accretive before PPA, the Clean Earth acquisition from 2027 and accretive even after PPA by from 2028.

The PPA, we don't know yet what it's going to be. So we have a few uncertainties on dates on things like PPA. So we cannot give you numbers, but it will be accretive very soon in a way before PPA from year 1 and even after PPA from year 2. That's what we've announced, and we're confident we will deliver. In terms of integration, you remember, we plan over 4 years of synergies. So we have not included any synergies in 2026. It will start in 2027. But again, all that depends on the date and the detail of it. Of course, if we are able to manage some synergies this year, we will be very happy with it. But it is not what we've included in our business plan or what we've announced so far.

[Technical Difficulty]

We talk about access to local sources of energy, when we talk about securing supply chains, this is exactly what Veolia offers to its customer. And if anything, the crisis in the Middle East is reinforcing the importance of our services and the demand for our services. So I'm very confident not only in confirming the guidance for this year, but in the years to come. And the last point is, of course, we'll have various opportunities, myself, Emmanuelle and the Investor Relations team to see some of you in the roadshows to come. So I'm sure you will have plenty of opportunities to ask a detailed question. And see you otherwise in July for H1 results. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, welcome to each and every one of you. I am so happy once again to see you all here for our Annual Shareholder Meeting. This is the first time that we are meeting here in Aubervilliers, Veolia's head office, our home for the past 10 years. Here, we have all of our operational functional teams. And we wanted to create a space where everyone can feel that they can work together hand-in-hand, striving towards the same objective. It is this unique way of working together that makes Veolia such a strong company, at least for the past 10 years.

I'd like to warmly thank all of our shareholders here in the room today and those who have sent in their votes remotely. I would also like to thank those people who are joining us remotely to follow this via the live feed. Here for the Bureau, we have Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO and Director. We have Ms. Emmanuelle Menning, Deputy CEO in charge of Finance. And we also have Mr. Helman le de Sécheval, General Secretary and Secretary of the Board of Directors.

I suggest beginning immediately by handing over to Helman to introduce us all to the legal formalities for opening our meeting. Helman, over to you.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. Now before proceeding with opening formalities, allow me to just quickly give you some safety instructions for the room. Emergency exits are located at the top and base of our auditorium, as you can see by the green lights. In the event of an evacuation, security personnel will show you the way out to the assembly point, which is located just outside near the main entrance through which you entered.

Moving on now with the formalities for opening our general meeting chaired by Mr. Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The combined general meeting was convened today, April 23, 2026, in accordance with Article 22 of our Articles of Association by notice of meeting published in the BALO on March 18, 2026, with summons issued also by the BALO on April 8, 2026, and by letters sent to registered shareholders.

Here on the Bureau's desk, we have a copy of the Articles of Association. We have a copy of the journals containing the notice of convening and the summons, a copy of the summons to registered shareholders and the letter to shareholders also to statutory auditors. We have the attendance sheet -- provisional attendance sheet. I will give you the final quorum just before we go to voting on resolutions. We also have a statement of postal voting forms and proxies received by the company. We have various reports to shareholders, and we also have a copy of documents sent to or made available to shareholders at the company's registered office.

These documents, as required by law have been made available to shareholders within the prescribed time limits, in particular, by the company's website in the section dedicated to general meetings. As such, we will dispense with reading in full all of the reports. I will now read the agenda for today's general meeting. As for the first resolutions falling within the competency of the Ordinary General Meeting, we have resolutions 1 to 14.

First, the approval of parent company financial statements for 2025 financial year; second, approval of consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2025; third, appropriation of financial results for 2025 and payment of dividend. Resolution 4, approval of related party agreements and commitments. Resolution 5, renewal of term of office of Antoine Frerot as Director; 6, renewal of term of office for Estelle Brachlianoff as Director; 7, appointment of Mr. Mr. Jean-Christophe Taret as Director, representing employee shareholders; 8, vote on components of compensation paid during 2025 financial year or granted in respect of the same financial year to Mr. Antoine Frerot, Chairman of the Board.

9, components of compensation paid during '25 or granted in respect of the same financial year to Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO; 10, vote on the information relating to 2025 compensation of corporate officers, excluding executive corporate officers referred to in Article L22-10-9 Part 1 of the French Commercial Code. 11, vote on the compensation policy of the Chairman of the Board of Directors for 2026 financial year; 12, vote on the compensation policy of the CEO for 2026 financial year; 13, vote on the compensation policy of directors for the 2026 financial year. And last but not least, 14, authorization being granted to the Board of Directors to trade in the company's shares.

Moving on to those resolutions falling within the competency of the extraordinary general meeting. This is one of financial results. And for resolutions 15 to 18, you are asked to delegate to the Board of Directors, the necessary powers to increase the share capital of the company or one of its subsidiaries by issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future with maintenance of preferential subscription rights, Resolution 15. Now 16, issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights by way of a public offering other than those referred to in Article L4012 of the French Financial Code; 17, issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights by way of a public offering referred to in Paragraph 1, Article L4112 of the French Financial Code.

Resolution 18 issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights for the benefit of one or more specifically designated persons. Resolution 19 is intended to enable the Board to issue shares or securities giving access to the capital without preferential subscription rights in consideration for contributors in kind. Resolution 20 is intended to enable an increase in the number of securities shares to be issued in the event of a capital increase with or without preferential subscription rights.

Now moving on to Resolutions 21 to 25. You are asked to delegate to the Board powers necessary to; first, decide an increase in the share capital by capitalizing premiums, bonuses, reserves, profits or any other sums, Resolution 21. Resolution 22, decide an increase in the company's share capital by issuing shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future reserved for members of company savings plans with cancellation of preferential subscription rights in their favor. Resolution 23, decide on an increase in the company's share capital by issuing shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future reserved for categories of persons with cancellation of preferential subscription rights in their favor as part of the implementation of employee share ownership plans.

Resolution 24, grant fee-free shares, whether existing or to be issued to employees of the group and to corporate officers of the company or to certain people therein and right the waiver by shareholders of their preferential subscription rights and thereby canceling where appropriate, treasury shares. Resolution 25. And finally, Resolution 26 provides to delegate ballots to carry out legal formalities.

Now moving on to forming the shareholder meeting Bureau. With regard to formation of meeting Bureau in accordance with Articles of Association, the following are called to serve as scrutineers. Ms. [indiscernible], representing Amundi and employee shareholders, respectively. On the attendance list, these 2 shareholders present here today hold the highest number of voting rights and therefore, have agreed to act as scrutineers to whom we express our deepest gratitude. With approval from the Chairman and the scrutineers, I will act as Secretary of the meeting.

I would like to inform you that the proceedings of this meeting are public and that this meeting is being recorded and filled with live broadcast via the company's website. Moreover, a number of non-shareholders are attending this meeting, including journalists and also a court officer responsible for ensuring the proper conduct of the general meeting. In accordance with the law, the combined general meeting is duly constituted when the shareholders present and represented on first call represent at least 1/4 of the shares having voting rights for the ordinary and extraordinary sessions, which is 180,345,784 shares.

At this stage, shareholders present or represented or having voted by correspondence represent currently, this is the provisory quorum, 563,478,069 shares or in other words, 77.03% of all shares having voting rights. That is 12,594 shareholders present or represented here today. Therefore, the combined general meeting is duly constituted, and we may validly deliberate on resolutions falling within both the competence of the ordinary and extraordinary general meeting agenda. Mr. Chairman, I turn the floor to you.

Helman, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, once again, it is with a great pleasure that I welcome you here today this afternoon to Veolia's headquarters for our general meeting. Today is a key moment in our history because it embodies what makes our company strong, open dialogue, a shared ambition and results that speak for themselves. We meet today in a time where challenges are piling up against us, persistent geopolitical tensions, economic pressure and environmental issues and considerations that are becoming ever more pressing. And yet despite these challenges, Veolia maintains a solid trajectory forward. Our results stand to prove that.

Our group continues to progress to grow stronger and to create value. Our resilience comes not just by chance. It comes from what makes us so unique at Veolia. We are useful. We serve a purpose. In a world of uncertainty, we provide tangible solutions to the fundamental needs of local communities, industry people. Our calling is to do things that are useful, that things that truly matter, things that are essential. It's not easy to do them, but they have real lasting impact. When a community has waste to be managed, when industries need to shore up their water or energy supplies, when local communities need to depollute soil to preserve resources, Veolia is their go-to company.

We don't provide just services. We are there to protect the environment, to protect the health of people. We fight against emerging pollution. We strengthen communities through energy and raw material and commodity sovereignty. There are very few industries out there that can have such a positive impact on people, communities and the environment. It is through this purpose, this usefulness that Veolia becomes attractive to its clients and customers. We fuel the engagement of our employees. It is what underpins the loyalty of our shareholders.

And this is wherein we find the source of all of our success. It can be seen in our environmental, social, societal performance as well, of course, through our commercial, economic and financial performance. But let there be no mistake, our growth is not just of natural causes. It is a direct result of our usefulness. The more useful we are, the more people will call upon us. The more clients will turn to us to shore up their water energy, raw material supplies and the more we can grow. The more we can make our businesses more reliable in an unstable world, the more people will turn to us because they see us as a source of stability. It's a virtuous cycle that benefits us and it benefits you, our shareholders, because the more useful we are, the more we can prosper.

We don't seek primarily to just maximize shareholder value. We seek to maximize Veolia's usefulness. All our financial performance mechanically follows on from that. The stronger we are, the better we can be, the more efficient we are, the better performance we have. But this usefulness, it doesn't come from our offices. This is something that we make day in, day out there in the field by working so closely with all stakeholders. No operator, however powerful they may be, can truly overcome all economic, social and environmental challenges that we are facing in our current time.

As you know, Veolia was one of the first companies within the CAC 40 to outline its purpose, its corporate purpose and mission. In doing so, we said why we are useful, for whom we are useful and how we can be useful. For example, for whom are we useful? For all those who stand by our side, who contribute to our smooth operation as a company, they can find interest in what we are doing. You, as shareholders, for our clients, our employees, our suppliers and contractors, but we are also worth everyone's while, be they the future populations, future generations, the communities in which we operate. As we embody this purpose on a daily basis, right back in 2023, we created a committee of critical frames made up of individuals, people who challenge us on our strategic guidelines, people who helped us better refine our environmental goals and our circular economy programs.

In 2020, you may remember, we took a new step forward into the future by implementing what we call multifaceted performance, a way of assessing our impact through 15 criteria, environmental, social and societal in addition to the more traditional financial indicators that we have. Then in 2025, just last year, most of you were there again. We enshrined our purpose in our Articles of Association. This year, in order to strengthen our ties with all those people who work with us and stand by outside to have a more positive impact for them, we kicked off a new initiative, our stakeholder assembly. And during its first edition, we brought together some 30 representatives from all age groups across all continents from our representatives from our main stakeholders, elected officials, experts, industrial representatives, not-for-profit organizations.

And this group of people sat down with our Executive Committee and our Board of Directors to look at a major issue, reuse of wastewater. Together, they helped us identify how this solution can benefit each individual stakeholder, accelerating its rollout with better ways to tackle water shortages, which are an ever-creasing problem, affecting millions of people. So this is how we, at Veolia, we can pull together, we can channel together various sources of energy, allowing certain compromises when legitimate, but bring people together. Because in the long term, having it is in the interest of everyone of all of our stakeholders. It makes us strong, resilient, and it helps us grow our company. Veolia's usefulness, our purpose, our multifaceted performance, our stakeholder assembly, all of this is tied together by a unique bond. It shows continuity between these various parts because this is our definition of success. This is our vision of a shared action.

Dear shareholders, I deeply believe that this notion, this vision is what makes Veolia's prosperity long term. This approach is also reflected in our governance, where we combine strategic vision and operational continuity. To bring this ambition to life, the Board is putting to you the renewal of Estelle Brachlianoff's mandate, who has been a fantastic CEO, fantastically talented lady who's led this company quite well for the past 4 years. Under her, we have boosted our international growth. We have taken on new markets. We designed and fantastically launched our GreenUp strategy. We perfectly integrated Suez. We have solid sustained growth. And that is why she's rightly seeking the renewal of her mandate.

At the same time, you will also be asked to renew my term of office as Board Director, which, if you allow me, will give me the opportunity to continue to serve as a non-Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors, obviously, in accordance with the governance principles that lie at the strength of our group. In accordance with our Articles of Association, my function as Chairman will end in 2028. We are already thinking about how to prepare for that transition to ensure continuity and stability of our company's governance.

Moreover, you will be asked to ratify the appointment of Mr. Jean-Christophe Taret as Director representing the employee shareholders as well as Mrs. Sandra Cortés as her ultimate. Jean-Christophe Taret is VP in charge of Impact and Development within Veolia Stakeholder and Communications Department and Sandra Cortés is HR Director for Latin America.

Combined, they have extensive knowledge of Veolia's operational and functional business lines, and the Board will benefit greatly from their input. They will stand in from [indiscernible]. I would like to thank them both quite warmly for their contribution over the 4 years of their term of office. Their input, their commitment to our work has been so important. It has added to our overall reflection.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to each member of our Board of Directors for their loyalty, their availability as well for the quality, in-depth conversations that we have had for their valuable insights that they bring to our group. Dear shareholders, we are at a decisive moment in our journey. The first quarter of the 21st century is coming to an end with an undeniable observation to be made. Environmental, ecological health challenges have never been so pressing, so complex or so urgent. Faced with these challenges, Veolia has made a choice, not one to stand idly by or to just wait and see. but one to take action. We have not chosen isolation, but rather collaboration, working with all stakeholders. Our conviction, our belief is clear.

A useful company is one which faces the challenges of its current time and climate. We don't just observe, we act. It's not a company that promises, it's a company that delivers. It's one that doesn't suffer, it transforms. This is a philosophy that we put into practice every single day. But this philosophy would mean nothing if we didn't have the unwavering support of you, our shareholders, who I hope will be ever more numerous in the future so that we can apply our philosophy even more in years to come.

But nothing of this would be possible if we didn't have the 220,000 employees who day after day act through dedication across all continents. From their hard work, we have been successful. It is their relentless pursuit of excellence that we have been able to overcome obstacles and better serve our clients. So therefore, before handing over to our CEO, our Chief Executive Officer, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of our shareholders and to all of our employees. Thank you for your attention. And above all, thank you for the trust that you have placed in us.

[Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am truly delighted to welcome you today to Aubervilliers to our head office, which we have done [indiscernible]. It's a place that has been the heartbeat of our group for the past 10 years. When Antoine Frerot chose to establish Veolia's headquarters here a decade ago, it was bold bet on the future. We chose to settle in a community in the midst of transformation, but it was also a very tangible expression of our model, global reach. And this gives us the power to innovate. And this is combined with deep local voice. And today, that choice speaks for itself. This is your home because this is where we take action alongside our teams to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time. And those challenges have fundamentally changed.

10 years ago, the energy transition or sustainable development were just part of the conversation. And today, we have clearly entered a new era, an era where these issues are no longer simply environmental concerns, but matters of economic survival and long-term prosperity. The truth is, for too long, we treated water, energy and raw materials as mere commodities as costs that needed to be managed as variables to adjust, but reality has caught up with us. Those so-called commodities were in reality, the invisible foundations of our world. And today, those foundations are starting to crack. This is a brutal, irreversible realization. This is no longer a matter of choice. It's no longer an environmental debate. It is a strategic imperative.

And that is what I call ecological security. It's a new deal. I'm referring to the ability to guarantee access to vital resources for everyone, irrespective of the crisis. It's a form of security that cannot be declared. It must be built. It can be theorized. It must be delivered through resilient infrastructure, cutting-edge technologies and real-world solutions. We at Veolia are the builders of that security. For decades, we have been acting on 3 strategic fronts; water, energy and raw materials because those are the pillars that underpin both the stability of our societies and the competitiveness of our economies.

Let me start with water. Both in Africa and the Middle East, where up to 95% of drinking water depends on desalination, our teams keep critical infrastructure running 24/7. They operate in environments where every single drop of water counts. And today, I would like to pay tribute to their commitment because without them, millions of people would have to do without water. Industries would grind to a halt and local economies would be thrown into crisis. And Europe is not immune. Successive droughts have pushed entire regions into emergency measures and restrictions, exposing just how vulnerable we all are. Water is no longer just another resource. In a world of rising geopolitical tensions and accelerating climate disruption, water has become a matter of national sovereignty. It's every bit as critical as oil, if not more so.

Next, energy. If water is the foundation, energy is the engine. And the 2022 crisis was a stark reminder when energy runs short, the whole economy runs to a hold. In Poznan, Poland, we have replaced coal with circular heat sources, capturing energy from wastewater and recovering unused heat from nearby automotive plant, cutting 80,000 tonnes of CO2 every year. And this is just the beginning. Across Europe, the local energy we can harness represents a potential of 400 gigawatts of untapped energy. That's the equivalent of 400 nuclear reactors. That local energy can become a powerful driver of resilience.

And finally, critical minerals, lithium, cobalt, rare earths; without those, there are no electric vehicles. There are no wind turbines, no advanced technologies. Europe relies on imports for 98% of its supply, a critical vulnerability. So what's our answer? Turn waste into a local resource. This is what we call the circular economy. In the city of Metz in France, we recycle batteries to 99% purity, and we are even extracting lithium from wastewater because these minerals are not commodities. No, they are the keys to our industrial autonomy. And this ability to regenerate resources to secure water and build resilient energy systems by unlocking local circular sources of supply makes Veolia a cornerstone of global ecological security.

It's an unmatched industrial platform that combines deep technical expertise, breakthrough innovation and large-scale multi-local deployment. And it is that strength, that ability to turn challenges into real-world solutions that our teams bring to life every single day in the field. They don't just operate infrastructure. They secure access to essential resources, make those resources reliable, affordable and available. Our teams design and deliver tailored solutions to meet the most critical needs with tangible results. This means more competitive industries, safer cities and healthier communities.

2025 marked a decisive turning point. We have proved that our model is not just resilient. It is truly transformative. We're now halfway through GreenUp, our strategic plan. And I can say this with confidence. We have never been better positioned to address the critical needs of our time and to maximize our impact. The numbers speak for themselves. Organic EBITDA grew by 6.3%, exceeding our targets. Our margin has improved by 150 basis points over 2 years as we continue to move up the value chain. Net income is up 9%. All this in an economic environment still full of uncertainty. And for the first time at Veolia, we carried out a targeted share buyback to offset the dilution linked to our employee share ownership plan, a plan itself that's a major success with employees now holding 9.4% of the capital.

2025 also saw the arrival of 2 new long-term cornerstone shareholders, la Caixa and Bpifrance. I would like to thank them both for their trust. And I am particularly proud to announce today a 7% increase in our 2025 dividend, up 20% over 2 years, bringing the dividend to EUR 1.50 per share. These results are no accident. They are the direct outcome of our strategic choices, our GreenUp road map and above all, a disciplined execution in the field. First, we have rolled out new offerings in high-growth markets where our differentiation is extremely strong. And PFAS treatment is a perfect illustration.

In 2024, we strengthened our leadership in this segment, delivering 25% revenue growth last year alone. I am confident that we will reach our target of EUR 1 billion in revenue by the end of the decade with this new offering. In 2025, we launched Ecothermal Grid, it's a new offering that is already reshaping energy management across Europe. In the U.K. alone, we already have a [ GBP 1 billion ] pipeline in place. At the same time, we ramped up the transformation of the group, making it more international and more technology-driven. This acceleration took shape through 2 major acquisitions in 2025, one acquisition in water tech in the spring and another in November when we bought Clean Earth. And once this acquisition is complete, it will double our footprint in the U.S. hazardous waste market.

So it's a fast-growing market driven by strategic sectors such as pharmaceuticals and microelectronics. With this acquisition, we will operate across all 50 states in the U.S., giving us the scale to roll out our full range of solutions across North America. In just 4 years, we have fundamentally reshaped our asset portfolio, EUR 8.5 billion reallocated with a clear focus on our priority sectors and 90% of our investments now directed toward these key areas, ensuring sustainable growth fully aligned with our strategy.

Now Emmanuelle, our CFO, will come back to these figures in more detail in a moment. But what matters most to me is what these results tell us. After the many stress tests we've been through, record inflation, the energy crisis, geopolitical tensions. Our model doesn't just withstand crisis. It comes out stronger. Our group is now more international, more innovative. It's even more essential than ever. Dear shareholders, today, the world is finally catching up with something we have long known. Resources are no longer just an environmental issue. They are the invisible foundation of our collective security. Whether water, energy or raw materials, these are the pillars of our stability and our prosperity. Their availability shapes the competitiveness of our industries as well as the resilience of our regions and the health of our citizens, not forgetting the security of our societies.

This is not the reality that we passively endure. It is one we actively build on the ground every day, our teams push back the boundaries of what's possible. They're turning constraints into drivers of innovation, turning challenges into real tangible opportunities. Our teams innovate not only to anticipate tomorrow's challenges, but also to ensure that essential services remain accessible to as many people as possible. And this approach is rooted in a deep conviction. It's embedded in our DNA. A company only prospers if it is truly useful. This vision was shaped by Antoine Frerot. We've inherited this, and it positions us as an indispensable partner in a world where resources have become a strategic priority. 2025 marks a pivotal moment for our group. Our solutions help secure supply chains in an unstable environment. Our model proved its resilience. And at the same time, we made bold investments in the future to build an even stronger company. And this is only the beginning.

In 2026, we will continue to pick up the pace. Already, we are rolling out our new data center and AI offering, which we launched just last week in London, while strengthening our strategic partnerships and investing in the technologies that will define the next standards of our industry. You were among the first to believe in this vision, long before it became self-evident. And today, as these issues take center stage worldwide, we will continue to address them with determination and agility guided at all times by the compass of our purpose. Thank you for your trust, one and all.

[Presentation]

Thank you very much, Estelle. I will now hand over to Emmanuelle Menning, our VP in charge of Finance, who will give us a presentation on the multifaceted performance, our financial and extra financial results. Emmanuelle, you have the floor.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, 2025 was a pivotal year for Veolia, not only because we met our targets, but we actually moved beyond those targets on multiple accounts. It proves that our ambitious GreenUp strategy provides the results -- tangible results that we were expecting much later on in the game. In addition to our financial performance, our societal impact, we have shown that they go hand-in-hand, a strong year where we -- we overcame our objective with revenue growth up nearly 3% and EBITDA growth up 6.3%. 2025 year was a year finished with a very robust fourth quarter. We build our group upon growth performance and capital allocation.

First, let's talk about growth. The group's growth remained very strong at 4.3% in our booster businesses, so Water Tech, Bioenergy. Second, through multifaceted performance, we continued improving our operational performance through top line growth, but also through efficiency and synergy plans. This meant that our EBITDA grew above top line growth at 70 basis points, improving our margin quite well. 70 basis points. So we are now close to 16%. Operational leverage is strong with our net income growing at 9% in 2025.

Third, talking about capital allocation. While we resumed external growth in 2025, we were able to maintain a very solid balance sheet with leverage ratio below 3x at the year-end and high growing free cash flow. But in terms of value creation, thanks to GreenUp, we reached our targets 2 years ahead of schedule. We had return on invested capital at 9.4%, which is our highest level ever.

Let's talk about growth, focusing on various geographies. We now have international presence in various markets with a large portion of business outside of France, 80% in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East, 10% in Water Tech, which is one of our global businesses. Growth is even stronger in our international markets, predominantly outside of Europe, where not only are they growing faster, but they are more profitable. Take the United States. The strategic acquisition of Clean Earth, which we will finalize mid-2026, is our largest and our most transformative acquisition since the merger with Suez. So organic growth has been very strong, predominantly in hazardous waste and in municipal contracts.

Let us now look at growth of our core businesses, our boosters. As you know, we have 3 key business lines; water, waste, energy. Within those 3 key business lines, we have core businesses, our strongholds, they make up 70% of all turnover, municipal water contracts, solid waste and heating networks. We also have high-growth business lines, our booster businesses, roughly 30% with Water Tech, hazardous waste and Bioenergy. These business lines go very well hand-in-hand, making up 30% of overall business, combining at least 2 of these key business lines. Our boosters had 8.3% growth, doing quite well. That is twice as fast as what we saw elsewhere in the group.

Our core businesses are resilient with growth of 2.2%. What is particularly noteworthy is that these businesses [ suffered ] at very high levels, and they have proven their ability to continue growing profitability. So these figures show that we have ongoing demand for our solutions because they address critical needs, be it ensuring up water supply, treating pollution or protecting public health. This top line growth also shows EBITDA growth, 4.8% for our core businesses and plus 12.1% for our boosters.

Let us now move on to our second creation of value, so performance and efficiency. As part of our annual efficiency and savings plans, we have achieved EUR 399 million in savings, which is well above our annual target of EUR 350 million. And these gains made predominantly through digital solutions and AI as they make up a large portion of all operational performance and efficiency, 23%. Synergies with Suez have been fully completed, EUR 100 million in savings in 2025, bringing the cumulative total to EUR 534 million of savings, which is well above our initial target of EUR 500 million.

Our performance here is quite remarkable because it highlights our ability to successfully integrate new companies from a people, culture, business point of view. It clearly shows the success and the rationale behind the merger with Suez because it changed our group.

Going forward, we are going to see new synergies with external growth and transactions, but I'll talk about that in a moment.

2025 year was a year that was important because it was a major year for our GreenUp strategy, where we focused our priority on highly innovative, tech-driven activities and business lines outside of Europe.

We had 2 major acquisitions that we're able to finalize and sign off, strengthening the group's growth profile for years ahead. We had a major EUR 1.5 billion investment in Water Technologies to acquire a minority interest, fully merging our entities, streamlining its organization, but we're able to also extract some EUR 9 million in additional synergies, increasing our growth capacity and our dynamic nature in a global market.

External growth in hazardous waste was also ramped up with a number of key targeted acquisitions in the United States, Japan, Brazil. We also had the major acquisition of Clean Earth, a $3 billion acquisition, which doubles our hazardous waste business in the United States, placing us as the #2 player in the local market. With the growth of Veolia with investment in 2025, all of this falls in line with our financial criteria, and they were never made at the expense of Veolia's financial strength.

Our balance sheet is extremely robust. We apply a rule very strictly where we manage our investments, our working capital requirements and all of our costs so that we can generate every year net free cash flow that funds both our dividend policy and external growth opportunities. We thus generated net free cash flow of EUR 1.2 billion with perfectly managed levels below the target leverage ratio of 3.

Our strong credit rating was reiterated this year at the beginning of 2026. These strong results just show how we have had a first half of the GreenUp plan, which has been fantastic despite the geopolitical climate, which had an impact on exchange rates, fiscal stability, production costs, especially in terms of energy.

Despite that, in 2 years, this plan bringing resilience and efficiency together, proving its worth in terms of our strategic rationale. We had average growth of profitability at 11.8% of net income. Combine that with remarkable improvement in our post-tax return on capital employed, reaching a record level of 9.4%. As such, we are hitting our targets. We are hitting our targets 2 years ahead of schedule, which just goes to show how we can create value in Veolia.

Given our strong results, the Board of Directors is putting to you today a dividend of EUR 1.5 per share. This is up 7% on 2024, and this is in line with our growth of earnings per share. Since the launch of GreenUp, we have increased our dividend considerably, which shows our commitment to you, our shareholders, with a uniquely appealing policy. We also shored up our shareholder return by complementing our dividend policy with a multiyear share buyback program in order to offset the impact of our employee share ownership program.

But before talking about our nonfinancial performance, I would just like to quickly talk about our 2026 targets for finance. We expect solid sustained organic revenue growth, excluding energy prices, EBITDA organic growth between 5% and 6%.

We also have current net income of at least 8%, excluding Clean Earth. As for our dividend policy, we're going to keep that in line with our growth, especially in line with our current earnings per share. GreenUp is very much the solution we've been looking for.

Now I'm sure you're quite familiar with our stock price, which is up 30% despite the fact that the CAC 40 was not up anywhere near that. So we've had remarkable performance, which has really picked up pace ever since the beginning of 2026, and the stock markets are really showing that the early results that we've had this year are bearing fruits.

Let us now turn to our environmental performance because at Veolia, it's not just about finance, it's also about the nonfinancial aspects. And I'm particularly proud to say to you here today that once again, we are not just on track, we are ahead of schedule. Two out of the 3 GreenUp objectives have already been achieved 2 years ahead of schedule. For example, regeneration. We were able to save 1.57 billion cubic meters of freshwater. That is enough to supply a city like London for 1 whole year.

Our coal phaseout plan is progressing well. In 2025, we pulled out of Poznan in Poland by commissioning a new facility that combines a gas-fired power plant, heat storage facilities and biomass. With EUR 786 million invested with 5 out of 9 plants already converted around the world, we have already passed the halfway point of our coal phaseout plan. There's one figure actually, which illustrates our progress. The share of businesses or coal-related businesses has decreased from nearly 4% of revenue in 2023 to 2.6% today. And we will be below 1% by 2030.

We provide cities and industries with water, billions of cubic meters of water while ensuring efficiency through our services. And that is why our Booster businesses grew by 8% and EBITDA by over 12%. It is a virtuous cycle where we are useful, usefulness drives growth and growth creates value for our clients, for our employees, our shareholders with real impact on improving the quality of life for people and the economic health of communities.

We at Veolia are a unique company. We provide environmental safety, long-term solutions for our clients. And we are facing real issues with water scarcity, pollution, supply chain disruptions. And for cities to be able to provide essential services for industries to be able to produce for economies to grow, environmental security is nonnegotiable. Our value creation is global. And every single day, we can show that performance can be both profitable and responsible at the same time. Thank you.

Emmanuel, thank you very much. It is now over to our statutory auditors for the annual report, the related party agreements and regulated commitments for sustainability as well as all resolutions concerning financial authorizations. Gentlemen, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, on behalf of the statutory auditors, Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Associates, I am pleased to present the reports we have prepared for you in respect of the financial year ended December 31, 2025.

With regard to the resolution submitted to your approval at this combined AGM, our reports relating to the ordinary general meeting cover the financial statements and related party agreements, while those relating to the extraordinary general meeting are required by law in connection with the proposed transactions affecting the company's share capital.

We also have issued a report for certifying sustainable information. These reports have been made available to you by the company and are included in the 2025 URD.

Let me now briefly outline the key findings and conclusions. Let us start with the parent company consolidated financial statements of Veolia, which corresponds to Resolutions 1 and 2 of the Ordinary General Meeting.

We certify that the annual and consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, are prepared in accordance with the applicable accounting standards and presented to review the results, financial position and assets of the company and the group at year-end. As part of our audit, we focused in particular on certain key audit matters, which we consider to be the most significant informing our opinion as they involve material estimates and judgments.

For the consolidated financial statements, I'm referring to the assessment of the recoverable value of intangible, tangible and financial assets. And secondly, the evaluation of contingent liabilities relating to certain litigations. Regarding the other financial statements, we identified the valuation of equity investments as the key audit matter. In addition, our report on the parent company financial statements includes an emphasis of matter drawing attention to the impact of the first-time application of E&C Regulation #2002-06 on the modernization of financial statements as described in the notes to the accounts.

We also verify the consistency of the management report prepared by your Board of Directors, in particular with respect to the financial and accounting information presented therein, the disclosures relating to the compensation and benefits granted to corporate officers and the information relating to corporate governance. All of our work and detailed conclusions were regularly shared with the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors of the group.

Now turning to our special report on related party agreements. With respect to Resolution 4 of the Ordinary General Meeting, we have issued a report on related party agreements and have no observations to make on that front. We inform you that no new agreements authorized by the Board of Directors during fiscal 2025 were brought to our attention. However, 4 agreements previously approved by the general meeting continue to be enforced during the year. These relate to 2 agreements with Veolia Eau relating to the licensing of the Veolia brand and the remuneration of guarantees granted by the company and 2 agreements with the Terra Academia Association. relating to a sponsorship agreement and support services provided by the company.

These agreements involve Ms. Brachlianoff, Director and CEO of Veolia Environnement, who is also Co-Managing Director of Veolia Eau and Founder and Board member of Terra Academia as well as Mr. Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Veolia Environnement and Founder and Board member of Terra Academia.

Now regarding the Extraordinary General Meeting, we have issued 5 reports relating to resolutions authorizing transactions that may affect the company's share capital. These reports concern the authorizations and delegations of authority granted to your Board of Directors to carry out various transactions involving the company's share capital.

None of these reports contain any comments from us as the proposed transactions comply with the applicable legal framework and all required information has been duly disclosed to you. Where appropriate, we will issue additional reports should these delegations be exercised by your Board of Directors.

Regarding sustainability information, this is our last report. It's a report that certifies the sustainability and taxonomy information disclosed by the company. This report is not subject to a resolution submitted to your AGM. Our work consisted in providing limited assurance across 3 specific areas.

First of all, the compliance of the process implemented by the group to determine which sustainability information should be disclosed in line with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards or ESRS. The compliance of the sustainability disclosures included in the management report with the ESRS and lastly compliance with the disclosure requirements relating to taxonomy as set out in Article 8 to Regulation EU 2020/852.

Based on our procedures, we did not identify any material misstatements, omissions or inconsistencies in relation to these 3 areas. We'd like to attract your attention to Paragraph 41264 entitled methodology of the Sustainability Statement, which describes the group's analysis of taxonomy aligned operating expenditure during the year.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.

Thank you, sir. Now I'm going to hand over to Olivier Andries, who will discuss say on pay.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, the items relating to the compensation of executive corporate officers. As I was saying, the items relating to the compensation of executive corporate officers for 2025 and 2026 are covered by resolutions 8, 9, 11 and 12 submitted for your approval. These elements are described in detail in Chapter 3, Section 3.4 of the 2025 universal registration document. Let me begin with the compensation paid in 2025 or awarded in respect of that financial year.

The compensation paid to the Chairman of the Board, Antoine Frerot, unchanged since 2022, consists of a fixed salary of EUR 700,000, supplemented by pension arrangements and benefit schemes in line with those applicable to the company's employees.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors does not receive any variable compensation, whether short or long term. The compensation paid or accrued in respect of 2025 to the Chief Executive Officer comprises a fixed salary of EUR 1,030,000 per year, a short-term variable component which following a review of performance against the relevant criteria by the Remuneration Committee and approval by the Board amounts to EUR 1,406,259 per year.

That's a short-term variable component. And lastly, a long-term variable component in the form of performance share awards, subject to performance conditions measured over a 3-year period, resulting in the grant of 44,478 shares under the 2025 plan. The Chief Executive Officer also benefits from social benefits, protection schemes and termination provisions as detailed on this slide, which have been unchanged since the start of her mandate in July 2022.

Turning now to the compensation policy for executive corporate officers for fiscal 2026. The Board proposes to maintain the Chairman's fixed compensation unchanged at EUR 700,000. For the Chief Executive Officer in connection with the renewal of her mandate, in so far as her fixed remuneration has not changed since the beginning of her term in 2022, the Board proposes adjustments to her fixed compensation.

So it is proposed to increase it to EUR 1,133,000 from EUR 1,030,000. So that's a 10% increase exactly. Now long-term variable compensation, the Board proposes to increase it to 150% of fixed salary from 133% previously. These proposed changes are based on a thorough benchmarking analysis against the 2 panels. CAC 40 companies on the one hand and a peer group, a peer group of 13 European companies.

The proposed changes also reflect feedback from investors gathered during governance roadshows, which supported increasing the weighting of long-term equity-based compensation. If you approve the relevant resolution, the Chief Executive Officer's 2026 compensation will comprise a fixed salary of EUR 1,133,000, an annual variable component based 50% on financial targets, 30% on quantitative nonfinancial targets and 20% on qualitative criteria linked to strategy, leadership performance and the equity story.

At target, this variable compensation represents a 100% of fixed salary annually. And in the event of overperformance, it will be capped at 150% -- capped at 150% of fixed salary. Also a long-term variable component in the form of performance share awards representing 150% of annual fixed salary. Performance criteria is split equally between financial and nonfinancial metrics, so a 50-50 split.

And this performance criteria is subject to a holding requirement of 40% of awarded shares until a total shareholding equivalent to 200% of annual fixed salary is reached. If you agree to adopt this resolution, the CEO's 2026 compensation will also comprise the benefits of social protection and termination arrangements, which have been unchanged since 2022.

I would like to remind you that the Chief Executive Officer does not hold an employment contract with the company, having resigned from her employment contract upon her appointment on July 01, 2022. And as such, she does not receive any compensation as a director. Thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you, Olivier. Now ladies and gentlemen, let's take a closer look at the stakeholder assembly that I mentioned earlier. And to introduce this segment, I will hand over to Estelle.

Thank you, Antoine. As you reminded us earlier, engaging with our stakeholders has always been part of Veolia's DNA. But today, in the face of critical ecological security challenges, we needed to go further. We also want to move faster in order to remove barriers and scale the solutions that the world urgently needs. We need to go further, faster, higher, stronger and expand in more geographies simply because the world needs us to move faster.

And that is why we created a stakeholders assembly. So on April 9, we brought together 34 participants from countries such as Jordan, Chile, China, the United States, Lebanon and across Europe. So around the table, there were ministers responsible for water management, but also field engineers, financiers, civil society representatives and captains of industry, all brought together to tackle a concrete real-world and strategic challenge, the reuse of wastewater. It's a key solution to secure access to this vital resource, but it is a solution that still faces significant barriers.

And for 2 days, participants examined the barriers, whether they be regulatory, technical and financial in nature and jointly developed a clear actionable road map to accelerate deployment. On June 5, this work will culminate in a call for action setting out concrete commitments to overcome these barriers. And before we hear from 2 of the participants, I invite you to take a behind the scenes look at this first edition.

[Presentation]

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Francisco Silverio Marques. I'm the Chief of Staff for Estelle Brachlianoff, and it is my pleasure to run this -- or to co-run that first stakeholder assembly session. It was in Paris 2 weeks ago. It was exactly as you saw it. It was lively, exciting, a lot of energy in the room that really brought everyone together. And it's fantastic to have 2 of those people here today, and they'll tell us a bit about what they felt from their own point of view.

First, we have [indiscernible], who is Deputy CEO of [indiscernible] in charge of local communities [indiscernible], which is a professional organization Veolia is an active member of. Denis, you are one of our stakeholders and you fall within the client and customer category. You have much experience, over 25 years of experience providing water services to some 700,000 people. So thank you very much.

Also with us here today, we have [indiscernible] Milan, who is a post-doc student at Imperial College of London, telecom negotiator for the Lebanese delegation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [indiscernible], to some extent, you are a bridge between the world of academia, public policy, industry, future generations and all with a unique regional international perspective on matters.

So therefore, quite naturally, you fall under the planet category of our stakeholders. Thank you also for that. Denis, starting with you. You are one of those members who started out by joining us with a very tangible project that you're talking about. It's already bearing fruit. We saw a few examples of that just in the video, the Jordan project. Can you tell us about it?

Well, Francisco, thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me here for such a fine event. Before I talk about the Jourdain project, I would just like to say, I mean, we've got a fantastic stage here, a lot of green colors, but I can give you a bit of [indiscernible] as well because that's what we have out in Vendee. Roughly 700,000 people, citizens that we serve. And I'm sure you're aware that we're on the coastline, we're talking about 1.5 million people who use our services.

We've got kilometers upon kilometers of fine white sand beaches. So a lot of tourists come to our region. It provides a lot of economic support, a lot of food and beverage, construction industries. If you're familiar with the Vendee Globe. look at all the sponsors that you have on that, fine, a lot of people in our local economies.

So it may seem like all is well, but we have a real issue with water in our local area. There are very -- there's very little water in our water table, very granite heavy soils. So drinking water in Vendee is predominantly provided by dams, small dams that we put along our waterways and numerous constructions for water processing facilities scattered throughout the region to process and treat all of that water.

For over a number of years, well, Vendee Eau was created back some 60 years ago. But bit by bit we started thinking about the future. And we realized that in the 55 million cubic meters of water, we would lack about 8 million cubic meters of water by 2040, 2050.

So we said we need to find solutions. We started focusing on water savings plans. We work against leakages. So we do a lot of work with Veolia. And just very quickly in that video there, I saw that we did a lot of leak detection and that type of work. Water storage. We also do a lot of work with local quarries.

And now we have unconventional water treatment facilities. We actually put to tender, Veolia won the contract, and that brought to life Jourdain, that's the name of the project. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll just quickly tell you about if we've got it up on the screen, there you go. It's very simple.

It's all about wastewater in the local area along the Olonne beach and dunes. So we take it from there. We send it some 30 kilometers away into our water pipes, and we put it through a planted water basin. And then that cleans it, it purifies it, but we can then send it back through the circuit. It's all reused water.

It's quite a leading project. We're a bit -- we're pioneers, but we really believe in it. And ever since March of 2025, we have been operating, and we can produce some enough water for about 15,000 homes. And by 2030, we want to expand it even further so we can reach some 60,000 homes.

Well, brilliant, it is a pioneering project, but it is already working quite well. So the question I have for you is, what motives you at the outset to join the stakeholder assembly?

This project is somewhat of a first for us, but it's also the same case for Veolia. And if the Chairman for Vendee Eau was here instead of me, he would speak of Veolia, not just as a service provider, but a true partner. And it's because we believe in the same things. We believe in water reuse, particularly wastewater reuse. There's also a fantastic assembly with people from very different backgrounds, different cultures.

And something I didn't realize beforehand, but I realized once I was there, is that all of these different points of view coming together, it made something even much more than just the mere sum of those different points of view. I think we all had quite unique experiences. I mean, our project, it's not just a technical project that we're talking about.

We're able to speak about other parts of it, other aspects. And I think that information was really beneficial for us.

Thank you very much. Moving on to you, Elsie. Now we actually saw in the video that you are part of the Council of Future generations for Veolia. So can you tell us a bit about that?

Thank you very much for the question. I'm really excited to be able to talk about the Future Generations Council because it is an unheard of initiative for a major corporation, industrial company like Veolia to do. It's quite unheard of. Some would say it's just for marketing or communication purposes, but not at all because we need, within that, not just to rubber stamp all of Veolia's programs, but to really challenge them to give them a new take on it.

And actually, at a very first meeting, Estelle said, be bold. And that's what we did. We tackle all sorts of issues, energy and water issues, but thinking about it in the new time of AI and what that can mean in terms of governance. So that's why we need future generations to take part in that decision-making process. So we can take Veolia's vision that they have for future generations to bring it to life.

Okay. Same question for you. What pushed you to join the stakeholder assembly in addition to what you're already doing with the Future Generations Council?

Well, as a member of the Future Generations Council, I realized that decisions that were made in-house really do have a major impact outside of that. But as members of that, we always ask who and for whom. And then we wanted to ask how and for whom. So we want to have a form of inclusive commitment with major impact.

So as a Lebanese woman myself, in these very crucial times, there's war afoot, we realize that water is the crux of a lot of major conflicts nowadays. So I said, I need to have a platform where we can talk about how we can better manage that resource, which is a source of wealth for everyone.

Thank you very much for your very touching comments there. Let's now quickly talk about ecological security, which is something we saw in the video. And this was -- the event was the first opportunity to talk about water and water reuse.

Denis, as you said, this is a major issue for you in your local community, how you manage your water resources. So is water reuse? Is it a key way to shore up ecological security? And the second question I have, a follow-up question is, is the collaborative approach something which was very beneficial for you in your own project?

Ecological security. This very much goes hand-in-hand with water reuse. Whenever you start really getting involved as what you have been doing with Veolia in reusing wastewater, firstly, you need to make sure that you have quality water as an output because water is what people drink. So you obviously need to be mindful of their health.

You need to focus on quantity. That was our first target. But you also need to make sure you have continuity. You can't have breakages in the system or you can't shut off the system. We also need to think about the environmental impact of everything that we do. So earlier, we're talking about this circuit. We're talking about this ultrapure water that we put back into the water systems.

I mean, here, we're having ultra-pure water that we're putting into river water, which isn't necessarily at the same level of purity. So you need to figure about the impact that you will have on the freshwater systems, but then also on the ocean as it goes out into saltwater.

So we're always thinking about the environmental impact of our activities and of what we do. And I think that is why we're so much part and parcel of this discussion about ecological security.

From a stakeholder point of view, what did it give us? What did the assembly give us?

When you have a water reuse project like ours, as I said, it's not one of technical matters. I mean there is a technical aspect to it, but it's really a matter of governance. It's a matter of having a proper business plan -- business model. It's an issue of regulation. And it's very much an issue of local communities. So what we were thinking about within our stakeholder experience is, well, actually, there are 2 things that really came through.

First, from a business model point of view. You can't just say we reuse wastewater, which is going to come at a much higher cost than your traditional water. But if you tackle it not from a technical point of view, but from a value point of view, you realize that it's actually the final cubic meters of water in the calculation that cost the most. So you have to think about, well, what is the cost of no water.

I mean just imagine what would happen in our region in Vendee if we hadn't put this program in, where in September, October comes around, and we say, well, tourists, it's time to go home or maybe you have to tell heavy industry locally, well, reduce your scale of production or maybe come September and October, we tell our locals, stop drinking water. So really, value, the value of water takes on this whole new shape.

And in terms of having this multifaceted point of view, the other issue that we see coming through is acceptability. How can you get people comfortable with the fact that they are drinking and using reused wastewater. So there's a lot of work that we can do with sociologists to understand the sociology of this. When you no longer have control over the risk, you have to hand over your faith to those people who do manage that risk.

So when it comes to reusing wastewater, people, they have to have faith in companies like Veolia or like Vendee Eau, our company. They have to have faith in us. And that changed our way of viewing the whole situation because we don't have the right to make a mistake. We can't make mistakes. And I actually found it quite interesting to see that, that was in the speech that we heard a little earlier, there's this notion of being very strict with one's own actions and very rigorous with what you do. So we manage the risk.

And in doing so, we ensure security and safety of the water that we are providing to people drinking and using it. And that is a key way of boosting acceptability. So it's a collaborative approach, which is essential to be able to come up with a business model and make sure that what you are providing is acceptable, and it's all built upon trust.

Elsie, are there key things that stood out for you where the assembly helped you move forward or helped you remove key barriers?

To answer that question, I think there are both stylistic and substantive ways of answering it. We live in a world that is politically divided. It is broken. This assembly was a way where almost by magic, we got people sitting down around the same table, a minister, someone representing you, someone from Europe, a professor, all talking about topics which are ultimately highly technical, highly bureaucratic issues.

So we broke down these topics, very challenging topics, very challenging issues, into topics that we could talk about. In terms of natural content, we came back to a definition. We came back to a definition of what it means to have access to water, reused, repurposed, recycled water, how we can give people access to water because water belongs to everyone.

And I think there was something quite unique in how we were able to bring everyone together to speak quite open and simply and authentically. We weren't just talking about Excel spreadsheets. We found something behind all of this technical side of the topic. There was something quite unique because we're talking about water, which belongs to everyone. Actually, just talking quickly about democratic processes. Just yesterday, we had -- we drank some Erko, which is beer made using recycled water. It's a partnership with Veolia in Czech Republic, I believe.

And it was fantastic because I got to taste the beer and give that beer to everyone within the assembly of future generation -- the Council of Future Generations and they loved it. And they said, look, if the young kids, they love the beer, then we're doing something right.

Thanks very much for your comments. Actually, thank you to both of you for everything that you have been doing. All of this will give rise to a white paper where we talk about our key commitments and a call to action. So we are looking forward to all of that on the 5th of June.

Thank you very much, Elsie, Denis, Francisco. We're now going to move on to our Q&A session. For that, I'm going to hand over to Helman. Maybe we can start out with the written questions.

Yes. The company has received written questions from the forum for responsible investment as well as from an individual shareholder, Mr. [indiscernible]. The responses as approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting earlier today are available in the section dedicated to this AGM on the company's website.

Mr. Chairman, Madam Chief Executive Officer, ladies and gentlemen, I now suggest we move on to questions from the floor. To facilitate this, [indiscernible] positioned in the side aisle are available with microphones, and they will pass along the row to those wishing to speak. [Operator Instructions]

My name is [indiscernible]. I have a question regarding the advisory committee of shareholders. We're halfway through the GreenUp strategic plan, which focuses on ramping up international expansion. To what extent is Veolia being impacted by the current international situation?

Well, clearly, this is a question for our CEO.

Thank you for volunteering me and thank you for your question. I love to think about that. There are many recent geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine and a lot of other crisis that come to mind. So it's been one process after another these past few years. So regarding Veolia, what matters the most to us is the safety and security of our people in those areas.

We have 9,000 people in the Middle East, in particular, who are on site. That's the first priority. Second priority, we provide essential services. We meet critical needs. So we need to make sure we continue to operate. So we can continue to provide the essential services, keep providing water, keep providing the strip heating when winter is harsh, keep providing essential services to the local communities and the countries where we operate.

Now let's take a step back from the [indiscernible] Yes, it's been one crisis after another. Does that mean we should stop investing in specific countries? There are more and more constraints because there are more and more crisis.

Well, most experts will say that a lot of crisis could not be anticipated and have not been anticipated. So rather than doing that, rather than stopping ourselves, we decided to ramp up our international shift. We've made bold strategic choices. And basically, these are 2 sides of the same coin. First of all, we need to derisk our group's approach. And obviously, if we operate in one country, it's because we really want to be there.

First of all, what does that mean hedging our risks for the group. This means that the funds we employ are the money that we invested in the country. We don't want it to exceed the group's equity in that country, irrespective of the country. Now one exception is the U.S. because it's more of a continent, so we allow ourselves a little bit more money.

And so the other side of the coin is, we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. We don't want to do that. That's not what we go for. So we want to rank among the top 3 in every country where we operate because if we decide to go there, we want to do things that matter. In case of inflation, for example, we'll be able to pass on the increase in costs. We'll be able to rely on the market. So we are having a highly operational response, and we're making strong strategic choices in order to derisk our approach as a group.

Next question. Go ahead.

My name is [indiscernible] representing ANA, the National Association of Shareholders in France. Here's my question. Which share of Veolia's revenue is actually secured using long-term index contracts?

That's another question for you there, Estelle.

Overall, you're absolutely right. Veolia's model is based on both resilience and growth. And we have shown our extreme resilience in recent years. So how do we build our own resilience? We do a lot of different things. We make investments internationally, and this ties in with your question, sir. But we have a lot of long-term contracts. The average term is 11 years. That's the average term of our contract and we renew our contracts all the time. But this means we have a lot of time on our hands to build long-term solutions.

Also, 70% of our contracts are to inflation. In other words, if prices increase, this means that our costs are going to increase. But our revenues increase as well, this protects our profit margin. And this is true the other way around. There may be a lag as much as 1 year, 1.5 years. It takes a while before indexation to actually be reflected in the revision formula. Now the remaining 30% of the contracts are not indexed. I'm talking about waste collection, collecting waste from industries, et cetera. So it's up to our salespeople to actually pass on the increase in cost depending on our needs when our costs increase, for example.

So we usually do this once a year. But whenever the situation warrants it, sometimes we increase our prices 2 or 3 times a year simply to protect our profit margins. And this means that inflation is something that we're handling well. We prefer to have a little bit of inflation rather than 0 inflation for various reasons. By and large, we're able to protect our profit margins. Sometimes it takes a little while. Look at our performance in the past few years. If we look at 2022, 2023, inflation surged and then went back down, we were able to increase our revenue quarter-on-quarter.

Next question.

My name is [indiscernible], Advisory Committee of individual shareholders. Here's my question. Could you please tell us again what you've done for shareholders, particularly in terms of dividend payouts and share buybacks?

I'll take this question, if I may, Estelle. Well, what are we doing for our shareholders? We're paying our dividends. As you know Veolia is improving its performance constantly and regularly. And that means our net income keeps increasing year-on-year. And as a result, the dividends that we pay out per share increase as well year-on-year. So that's our plan. We would like to continue doing that. We're going to stay on track. Regarding our Green Up program, the idea is to increase our net income by 10% every year over the past 4 years, and that's what we did in the previous 4-year period and the previous period as well.

So constant increase of our net income. So dividend pay dividend payout for this year is EUR 1.5. Estelle showed us the progression in EPS and the share price has increased quite a bit in recent weeks. So excellent yield, excellent shareholder return. That's what we want. That's our priority, provide our shareholders with regular reasonable shareholder returns. So we're both reasonable and ambitious when it comes to increasing the dividend payout year-on-year. However, there's one thing we're not planning to do. We're not planning any share buybacks unless the goal is to offset the dilution caused by the employee share ownership plan. Otherwise, no share buybacks are in the books. Why?

Because we're very fortunate. The operating businesses across the world that provide so many different opportunities. So we have -- we can take our pick. We can choose the best opportunities. We know what we can and want to do with our monies. So sometimes we decide not to return that money to shareholders because we prefer to invest. We are very fortunate. Every single year, we are able to find plethora of project that actually meets our performance and profitability criteria. So every year, we invest in new projects, and that's why our income and our performance is improving year-on-year, and that's why our dividend payout is improving year-on-year.

So improving shareholder returns. And also, well, we're making it possible for our dear shareholders to be part of this amazing adventure. As shareholders, you are investing into the company and you're helping the group to meet those key challenges across the group. You're supporting population, cities, future generations, you're helping to protect the planet. You are part of this adventure. You are part of this endeavor. And I hope this is a huge source of satisfaction for you all.

Next question.

Quick question, very down to earth question. What role does Veolia play when it comes to upgrading a separation of wastewater from rainwater.

I'll take this one quickly, if I may. Now for many years, the existing sanitation systems in city would collect a mixture of rain water and wastewater. That was true, for example, in because Hoffmann built that sanitation system. And so wastewater and rainwater were mixed. That wasn't a good thing because we're talking 2 different kinds of water, obviously. So wastewater appeared more polluted than rainwater and would trickle down the streets and would run off as well. So 2 different sources of pollution, 2 different kinds of water.

Later, we started building 2 separate systems, one for collecting rain water and the other for collecting waste water. And the wastewater would be sent directly to water treatment plants before they could be purified, treated and discharged into the natural environment. So Paris 2024 was an opportunity to actually hold some of the events on the river Seine. So that [indiscernible] and visitors alike could actually bath in the river waters. And this meant upgrading the system, upgrading the rain water storage system so that at least in dry weather, it would be possible to bathe in the river Seine because the water had been treated. So it was quite a challenge. If we look at our history, we've gone from one technology to another, from one project to another. And the Paris 2024 Olympics was an opportunity as well to set up a major rain water storage reservoir near the Bievre. So that's what we do. We collect and operate wastewater storage and treatment facilities.

Yes, we have a question here.

The shareholder advisory body. I would just like to know about major political upheavals in France. Are they impacting Veolia?

Estelle, I thought that one is for you.

Well, actually, I thought you were going to take that one, Antoine. Well, it's going to be an interesting one to figure out what's actually happening. So Veolia, we have major international footprint. You saw the figures. The beating heart of our company, nevertheless, remains in France.

So when I say political upheavals in France has had a major hit for us in France, where we had dissolution of parliament. We used to see in the past a major impact on our stock price, completely unjustified for many reasons. First and foremost, because Veolia, despite the fact that we are very present in France, it's only 20% of our overall sales.

Veolia, we work with local communities. We don't work with national level contracts in place. We don't depend on subsidies. So while you may have major budgetary cuts coming in place, they don't really have an impact on our business. The people who pay us are end users or industrial clients. I mean the list is long, but this really shouldn't have an impact on our share price. It is already having a less of an impact on the share price. And I certainly hope that, that is going to improve in the future.

That's me as Head of Veolia speaking. Obviously, in the coming year, there are going to be new discussions, let's put it that way. About how important it is to think about strategic autonomy as about access to efficiency of purchasing power. All of these tie into each other, and we can see it in all sorts of polls and all sorts of surveys. And for all of these topics, Veolia has solutions, technical solutions to provide. We don't provide political solutions. We provide technical solutions to make sure that our country is stronger, is more independent, more autonomous, more sovereign with healthier people.

And I certainly hope that next year's conversation, next year's discussion is going to be one where we can talk about our full -- all can vote here in the room. So obviously, we all have our voice to be heard in the elections. Any more questions? Yes, number 4?

Individual shareholder. If I understood you right, we are talking about a potential 400 gigawatts, which may come through at European level. Now with that, that we should have greater independence. We should be able to tap into that energy. We will be able to, therefore, reconcile environmental concerns with energy access on the other, especially for our industrial clients that we can provide them with more cost-effective or more affordable energy.

In Europe, I think energy costs 3x more than the United States, for example. So it's a fundamental issue, especially when you have industrial companies wanting to develop their own business because it is a major item when thinking about the future profitability of these companies.

Now because you spoke about it, what can Veolia do to help tap into that potential to make sure that people can have low carbon or carbon-free energy, reliable energy, affordable energy so that our countries -- our companies can just be more competitive as a whole?

So 400 gigawatts within Europe, it's a lot. It is roughly 30% of all fossil fuel imports in Europe. So it can't replace everything. It is not going to provide a perfect solution for our energy mix at a national or European level. But it is a significant contribution, predominantly through local energy provision. What does this mean?

This means that we are going to be focusing on waste energy coming off the industrial facilities. So production facilities, they produce and emit a lot of heat, heat that is not used. Just take a look at smoke stacks of all sorts of facilities. There are companies out there that produce gas, methane, the exact same sort of methane that we would use or up until 2022, we used to import it by our gas lines.

Electricity that we can produce through cogen facilities. When, for example, you incinerate nonrecyclable waste. Obviously, we recycle what we can, but everything that can't be recycled, we burn it, and we can use that to generate electricity. All of this energy, it's electricity, it's heat, we can reuse it. It's fantastic because it ticks all boxes. It's renewable. It makes us more independent from a strategic point of view, not just in France, but in Europe. We don't have to import our energy.

But this is a sort of energy which is not just affordable, but it is also energy which comes at a surefooted price. So whenever you plug in an urban heating network into these types of systems, we can guarantee for the next 10, 15 years, an energy bill. So you can say to local inhabitants, this is how much it's going to cost for the next 10 to 15 years.

No matter what happens, even if the Strait of Hormuz was to close again, we can guarantee these prices. So this is energy security. No matter what is happening around the world, all of the upheavals that we're talking about. We spoke about this just a second ago. This is fantastic foreseeable future for people. And it's not just for local communities, it's also for industries.

It's what we're doing in Dombasle [indiscernible] where we have a [ Solvay ] facility. We're currently replacing what was once a coal-powered facility with nonrecyclable waste incineration. We have plenty of examples out there of what we can already do. So maybe I can tie this back to the previous question about French politics.

Now because you seem to have seen this how interesting these sorts of solutions are, I think it's up to us, it's up to you, and it's up to me to go out and convince all of these future political candidates that they need to roll out these types of solutions, again, not just in France, but around the world because this can apply to all countries, especially in Europe.

Thank you very much. Moving on to any more questions. I think there's one more question maybe. No, I can't see any hands. Yes, there is one. Sir, over to you.

I'm just going to stay because I am suffering from [indiscernible] I would have a question about energy savings. I think there's a fantastic example of light bulbs. You replace an all-incandescent bulb with an LED light bulb. While providing the same amount of light, it uses less energy. I think it is absolutely clear that for all of us, 90% of energy is not properly utilized.

So with fossil fuels and fossil fuel-powered electricity, we need to take into account the cost of that, especially when faced with a growing military threat, of course. So given the current climate, can you give us some key advice on what can be done. I have seen [indiscernible] students who talk often about the circular economy and there are plenty of examples that they provide that can be used at an individual level.

Sorry, what was your question?

Well, my question is, can -- is it possible? Can we utilize their inputs? And I would just like to say, I think it's fantastic that Emmanuelle Menning is now also in charge of business out in Germany. Congratulations.

If I remember rightly, you attended our shareholder meeting last year. Now I know that you live in Germany, so you've traveled from afar. You are quite clearly a Veolia shareholder because otherwise, you wouldn't be in the room. So thank you so much for making the trip once again to attend this year's shareholder meeting.

Now as for your question, Estelle, over to you. Or maybe Emmanuelle, you would like to add something?

Now if I understood your question quite well, I think what's good is that at Veolia, nothing is wasted. Nothing is ever lost. There's no such thing as true waste. Now if ever you feel that there's absolutely nothing you can do with something, we will find a way of using it. Obviously, first and foremost, we want to avoid waste. That means not throwing things out that you find one day and didn't even realize that you still had it and just get rid of it. So we want to reduce waste.

Second, we can recycle. And we can do what we call mechanical recycling. So you take bottles of water and we turn that and we use it as water bottles once again. We already have the technology to do that. We have the ability to recycle electric car batteries. Now there are other items where sometimes it costs -- it takes more energy to recycle than it would to either make or costs more to do things using machines.

So for example, in the U.K., I love using the example of packets of chips because we see a lot of them and they eat chips a lot. Take a chips packet. Once you get rid of the chips on the inside, you've got multiple layers. You've got metal then another layer on top of that. So you have to pull each of those layers apart, bit by bit to find something that you can then recycle and reuse.

For the time being, we -- that's not what we're going to do with that type of waste. So you go through the list of priorities. And that's what we do at Veolia. We go through that list of priorities. And thanks to our innovation, we can get rid of one of those layers of priorities. So in the past, there are certain things that we would have burned because we didn't know what else we could do with it. There are all sorts of mixed plastics.

And through innovation, there are plastics which in the past were nonrecyclable, but now they are, maybe in autumn, in [indiscernible]. There's a facility out there where we will be able to recycle all of regular trays that you use for food, like when you buy some meat, it comes in a polystyrene or a plastic type tray, we'll be able to recycle that.

In the past, we used to think that the only thing that we could do with it was to burn it to turn it into energy. But now bit by bit, we can take things up a notch where we will have more recycling in our facilities. Emmanuelle, if there's something that you would like to add? Recently appointed in addition to your position as CFO, you're now in charge of Germany.

Thank you so much for traveling all the way up from Pforzheim because it is so good to see you here for the second year running, you're exactly right. Energy is a major issue in Germany. Veolia is currently a unique company out there because a lot of our business is currently tied up in energy businesses.

We do a lot of heating network type of contracts throughout Europe. We were one of the first companies to go carbon-free at [indiscernible], going away from coal into gas and biomass, so there are certain things that we can do and roll out elsewhere. We can copy that. But there's a lot that we can do in terms of energy efficiency. I think that's what we're talking about there.

But the other main thing that we can do out there is because of our multiple business lines, we can handle different sources of energy and synergize and pull together our experience. We have waste, nonrecyclable waste, different energy sources. And we can tap into all of that because we are at Veolia.

I think if there are no more questions, it's time we move on to our resolutions, just double check, making sure there are no questions out there. I can actually see a hand up, a gentleman at the back. And I think that will be the last because we can move on to the vote for resolutions.

I've got a very short question. For companies like ENGIE and the like, they rather have individual shareholders that after holding those shares for shares for 2 years, they're given additional dividends. It's a way of creating more loyal shareholders. And I think Veolia is the sort of company who could learn from that, maybe copy and adapt, could you implement something of the sort, thereby rewarding those shareholders who are long-term shareholders?

Well, I think Veolia is a much more interesting company than the one you just mentioned. We have greater potential and more long-term potential. And that's why every year, we have new people buying into our share pool.

Do you know who -- do you know how many people -- how many shareholders we have who have been with us for more than 2 years?

Emmanuelle, do you know?

I think over 80% of shareholders have been with us for more than 2 years. So I mean, if you want to give those shareholders an advantage, then you're giving everyone a bit of a benefit, a bonus.

Nevertheless, it's an interesting idea, and I'll talk about it with the Board to see if there is something that we can do, whether it would make a real change in having loyal shareholders.

Without further ado, it's time to move on to resolutions. And let us quickly take a look at a short video so you can see how the voting devices here in the room work.

[Presentation]

Now that you've watched the video, I will now proceed to put the resolutions to the vote. As a reminder, the resolutions are described in detail in the information and notice of convening brochures distributed in the room.

And these documents have been published and made available to shareholders in full compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. I'm going to ask Helman to please introduce the resolutions.

Of course, it will be my pleasure. As our general meeting uses a personalized electronic voting system, I would like to inform you that [indiscernible], present in this room has been appointed to verify the information recorded in the tablets, namely the number of shares and voting rights held or represented by each shareholder in attendance and she will oversee the technical integrity of the voting process and ballot on the resolution.

So please press okay to confirm your vote. I'd like to clarify that an abstention is not counted as a vote cast. Before proceeding with the vote, let me confirm the final quorum. Shareholders present or represented or who have voted by mail or online represent and there are 12,668 bring together 563,565,231 shares or 77.04% of the voting rights.

We may now proceed with the vote on the resolutions. Resolution 1, approval of the parent company financial statements for fiscal 2025. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution 1 approved. Resolution 2, approval of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2025. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 3, appropriation of net income for fiscal 2025 and the payment of the dividend for fiscal 2025. As the CEO rightly said, the dividend comes to EUR 1.5 and will be paid out starting May 13, 2026. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution 3 carried. Resolution 4, approval of related party agreements and commitments as described in the special report from statutory auditors regarding fiscal 2025 and previous years. As the statutory auditor said, Mr. [indiscernible] related party agreement has been approved or entered into during fiscal 2025. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution number 5, renewal of the term of office of Antoine Frérot as director. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Congratulations. Resolution 6. Renewal of the term of office of Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff as director. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Congratulations, Ms. CEO. Resolution 7, appointment of Jean-Christophe Taret as a Director representing employee shareholders as well as Ms. Sandra Cortese as his alternate. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Congrats, Mr. Taret and Congratulations, Ms. Sandra Cortese. Resolution 8, approval of the compensation paid in respect of the fiscal 2025 award over that same year to Antoine Frérot, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 9, approval of the compensation paid in respect to fiscal 2025 award over that same year to Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution #10, approval of the information relating to the 2025 compensation of corporate officers, excluding executive corporate officers. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried as well. Resolution # 11, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors for fiscal 2026. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution #12, approval of the compensation policy for the CEO for fiscal 2026. The changes were detailed earlier by the Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Mr. Andriès. Please vote.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 13, approval of the compensation policy for directors for the 2026 financial year. Please vote.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution is passed. Moving on to Resolution 14. This is the authorization to be renewed for the Board over 18 months to operate on company shares. Unless during a public offer, the absolute price can only go over EUR 44 and buyback cannot go over EUR 1 billion. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has also passed. Moving on now to the 15th resolution. This is a delegation of authority to the Board. We need a qualified majority for this. So this is a delegation of power to the company so that the Board can increase the capital on one or multiple occasions with preferential subscription rights.

The upper threshold for share capital increase, again, according to these resolutions 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 is set at 30% of overall share capital. A delegation of competence will be granted for a period of 26 months. For information, authorization granted by the AGM of April 25, 2024, so 2 years ago, was not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution was passed. Resolution 16. Again, this is not applicable in an IPO to increase the share capital without preferential subscription rights with an upper threshold is set at 10% of overall capital. The approval time is for 26 months. And again, in the 2024 AGM, the rights were provided and not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 17, again, not applicable during an IPO. This provides the Board with the power to increase the share capital of the company or another company by issuing shares without preferential subscription rights. Again, this will not go above the threshold of 10% of overall share capital, 26-month approval. In 2024, approval was given, but it was not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Sorry, I was waiting. I didn't see the results up on the screen, but obviously, I didn't say that voting was over. There we have it. Voting and the resolution has passed.

18th resolution. Once again, not applicable during an IPO, provides the Board with the power to increase company share capital with no subscription right, professional subscription rights reserved for one or more named persons. And this is a new type of resolution for us. This actually comes from the 2024 law known as the [indiscernible] law. Once again, we will not go above 10% of share capital. And unlike the other resolutions, the duration for this is set at 18 months. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is closed. Which is again not applicable during an IPO or public offer period. This is to increase share external growth financed by the sale of shares -- the amount cannot go above 10% of share capital. The time frame is set at 26 months. And again, delegation for the same process granted by the general assembly on April 25, 2024, was not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has been passed. Resolution 20. This is to give the Board the authority when increasing the number of shares with or without preferential subscription rights to introduce option to go above the overall number, 15% of overall initial capital increase. The time frame for this is 26 months. And once again, this authority was given back to the Board in 2024, yet it was not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has passed. 21st resolution, again, not applicable during public offer, it provides authority to the Board to increase the share capital within a limit of EUR 400 million by tapping into bonuses, reserves, profits or any other sums. This will have an upper threshold as referred to in the 15th resolution. The time period for this is at 26 months. For your information, delegation was provided back in 2024, yet it was not used. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Time's up. Resolution has been passed. Resolutions 22 and 23 are part of the company's policy to promote employee shareholdership. You heard from our CEO that as of the 31st of December 2025, the percentage of capital held by employees and foreign employees is set at 9.35% of the company's overall share capital.

So for Resolution 22, the aim is to provide the Board with the power to increase the company's share capital by issuing shares and/or transferable securities for members of company savings plans without preferential subscription rights. The upper threshold is for 2% of overall share capital. The duration is for 26 months and would put an end to the previous authorization that was given in the past.

In the past, it was provided to the Board on the 24th of April 2025. It was used for a total of 1.52% of overall share capital. And it was followed by a capital reduction for the same amount to offset the dilutionary effect -- the dilutive effect of that. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Time is up. Resolution passed. Resolution 23, this is to provide the Board with the power to again increase the share capital so that employees located in countries where for regulatory tax or other reasons cannot tap into the traditional shareholdership program, which was what we had in 2020 in the 22nd resolution. This is so that they can have a similar plan.

The upper threshold is 0.6% of overall share capital available for 18 months. And this would put an end to the previous authorization given in 2025. For your information, back in 2025, the power was not utilized. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Time is up. Once again, vote passed. Resolution 24, this is for the Board to provide free allocation of shares to employees of the group and to the company's corporate officers, pending performance criteria not to over to supersede 0.35% of overall share capital with sub ceiling of 0.02% of overall share capital for Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff. The vesting period would be for at least 3 years with acquisition rule applied to the CEO and members of the Executive Committee. This is for a 26-month period. Once again, this was a power that was utilized last year. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Time is up. Resolution passed. Resolution 25 is to authorize the Board to reduce the share capital once or multiple times with the absolute threshold over 24 months to not exceed 10% of overall share value. Voting is open.

[Voting]

The Resolution was adopted. Last and likely the 26th resolution is to provide the Board with the necessary powers to go ahead with any formalities. Voting is open.

[Voting]

Time is up. And the Resolution has also passed with flying colors.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no more items on the agenda. We can call today's session adjourned. For anyone who would like to join us, we have food and drinks waiting for you outside the auditorium at the back of the room, and we have started to show you the way there. Thank you all for attending. Thank you, especially for your loyalty, your ongoing support. I wish you all the best for the rest of the day. Thank you very much.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this Thema dedicated to Innovation for Environmental Security. And thank you for joining us remotely through the live stream or right here in this amazing space in the Outernet in London.

We are together for 2 hours to explore Veolia's historic commitment and continuing investment in innovation with a purpose to secure critical resources for communities, for cities, for industries to future-proof the business, as you'll see. And we'll also hear how this is benefiting partners and clients.

The agenda very quickly. First, group CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff will take the floor followed by Deputy CEO in charge of Finance, Emmanuelle Menning, then we'll have a roundtable with senior leaders across Veolia's Water, Digital and Growth activities, alongside a senior representative for AWS to bring us a client perspective. And finally, of course, we are going to open to the room to all of you following online for a Q&A session with all the speakers.

Now before we begin, just a quick note for those of you who are here in person. As usual, we have given you some booklets with all the slides and all the key figures, so you can refresh your memory after the presentation. I'd like to warmly encourage you to keep those booklets for after the presentation and to take a full advantage of the immersive experience that we have created for you here today. That's it. Let's get started.

[Presentation]

Please welcome Veolia's CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Outernet. Just look around you. This is a place which was built in March 2020 during London lock down. Right here at the heart of the city. Some dare to ask, what if people came back for something bolder, a place that's open, alive, deeply human, a place that constantly reinvents itself. And that same question has driven us for 170 years.

What if we could secure water from diseases, waste into new resources not only capture CO2, but also reuse it. Every what if became a solution. And every solution, a proprietary technology or know-how. So we're not just an environmental services company, we are the innovation powerhouse for critical needs.

The R&D engine for the individual systems that keep civilization running. While some innovator needs you didn't know you had. We innovate to secure what communities cannot live without. Water, energy, critical minerals, the resources essential for prosperity, health and well-being.

When we planned this event, we knew the world was changing, but it's fair to say we didn't know how fast. And before I go any further, I need to pause, because what I have to describe isn't theoretical. Our people are living this reality every single day.

In Africa, in Ukraine, in the Middle East, where up to 95% of water depends on desalination plants, in every conflict zone. Keeping entire communities alive with water, sanitation and energy. That work reminds us every day that environmental security is not a concept, it is a reality.

And what's happening is part of something bigger. A full geopolitical and technological reset. Water has erupted as a center of conflict in the Middle East as strategic as oil, if not more. Energy is weaponized through the Strait of Hormuz.

China has restricted export of rare earth minerals, essential for batteries, electronics, different systems. Climate change accelerates droughts, floods, more extreme events. New contaminants, 9 million people die annually from pollution. But everything is connected.

Resources are no longer given. They have become a competitive advantage. A matter of independence, geopolitical power and ultimately a condition for life itself and prosperity of communities. This is environmental security.

Securing available, affordable, reliable resources, inventing proprietary solutions for critical needs, delivering competitiveness for industries, resilient cities, healthy communities. And our solution address those 3 critical challenges: securing our critical resources starting with water, circular economy, finding local resources into waste reducing, therefore, dependency on distant supply chains.

Pollution treatments, protecting health and securing license to operate. Innovation has been in our DNA for 170 years, but science and challenge evolve and we evolve with them.

Picture this, Paris 1853. Cholera has devastated the city a few years before, thousands died and the risk remains. Engineers were challenged by contaminated water infecting resources, and they asked, what if we connect it to people only clean water sources. They created the company [ General Dizo ] to pump and deliver clean water, eradicating the epidemic. And since then, we've never stopped anticipating. We find solutions, then we keep searching for the next frontier.

Take plastics, almost 10 years to master food-grade recycling at the highest quality. The new frontier, wind turbine blades, solar panels, new high-performance recycled compounds. Water pollution, we started by treating biological contamination then. Over the last decade, we learned to treat PFAS, microplastics. The new frontier, pesticide metabolites.

Energy. We know how to reduce consumption for industries and buildings. The new frontier capturing, but also utilizing CO2. A true environmental security powerhouse, the world's leading innovation force for critical needs.

Today, Veolia operates in 44 countries across 5 continents. And that global footprint, it's about learning and scaling up. Every challenge we face in one place teaches us something we applies everywhere else. Take PFAS. Australia, early 2000s, near military bases, we started developing solutions. Then the U.S. regulated PFAS, we were ready. And now we are scaling up. Now Europe is waking up. And once again, we are ready.

We don't wait for problems to occur. When a problem occurs, there is a good chance we've already sold them somewhere else. But here is something else that makes us unique. Over 170 years, we've captured know-how embedded in data. And today, this data is the next generation of resources almost as precious as the natural resources we manage. This is quality data, long-term data, real operation data from tens of thousands of sites operated in 44 countries across decades.

So when a new crisis hit, we don't start from zero. We have the records and the pattern which help us learn quick and find the right solutions. That's a key strategic advantage. And this has allowed us to develop world's first.

Barcelona, we're using coal from LNG terminals to power industrial freezers. Australia, recycling water almost infinitely for a lithium mine, enabling them to double its capacity. Take Japan, recovering lithium residues from battery factories. Oman, the world's first desalination plant powered entirely by renewable energy, or the Pudong district in Shanghai, China, the largest water PPP featuring AI that allows plants to self-optimize in real time. Or Port Arthur in the U.S., a high-temperature incineration destroying up to 99.9999% of PFAS.

We're not just operators, we are the innovation lab for essential services. And this environmental security powerhouse rest on 3 goals. Three outcomes we target when we innovate. First, keep essential services running, no matter what. Second, protecting health. And third, securing industries license to operate. And we apply this innovation firepower across our entire portfolio.

In our boosters, water technologies has this waste bioenergy, we push the frontier with perfect emerging technologies developed tomorrow's offer, but also in our strong goals, water operations, solid waste districating, because innovation is what keeps us competitive. It's what makes our service more resilient, more efficient, more affordable. And both fuel growth through revenue for today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, through efficiency and competitiveness.

So, how do we do all this? How do we stay ahead? It starts with scale. Sorry, I was dragged a little bit into this [indiscernible] I have always a small vibration when I see this. We are a Fortune 500 company with global reach. That scale allows us to invest in R&D, in patents, in pilots, in attracting the best experts from around the world of partnering with local ecosystem and universities, investing in startups.

During our GreenUp plan, we will have dedicated EUR 1 billion to innovation. It is a significant step up to drive growth today and build it for tomorrow. Our portfolio has grown to over 4,600 patents, positioning us as a European leader in patent registration for Water Technology alone, for instance.

We have 26 research and innovation labs on 5 continents, and we will soon open a new lab in Singapore dedicated to ultra-pure water for the semiconductor industry. This makes us the world's largest private R&D force for environmental security technologies.

Scale gives us reach, but our decentralized model when it comes to delivery, allows us customer proximity and gives us impact. We operate close to the ground, close to local innovation hubs, which helps us adapt our solution fast. Add to that, our unique ability to combine water, energy, waste, creating proprietary solutions no one else can replicate. Global scale, local routes, unique combination, that is our winning formula.

At Veolia, every innovation delivers real impact and the potential is just massive. What if we deployed all the solution already invented at the larger scale. We could save 34 billion cubic meters of freshwater. London water for 200 years.

At European scale, we could recover 4 million tons of critical materials that is 25% of Europe's needs secured locally. We could unlock 400 gigawatt of unused local energy. A country of 50 million inhabitants powered sustainably and avoiding imports.

We could help prevent part of the 9 million deaths from pollution worldwide. So for the future, let's scale up for the maximum impact.

You hear it everywhere, the AI industry's revolution. Data centers and microchips factories rising across continent at double-digit growth rates. New possibilities and very soon a matter of strategic sovereignty for nations worldwide.

But alongside the excitement, rising fear and resistance because this technological breakthrough rest on something fundamental, resources, water, energy, critical minerals, but also land. And these communities where those facilities are built in a world where resources are really scarce, they're starting to see them as a threat.

Competition for water, strength on energy grids. And we are seeing the consequences. In 2025 alone, $156 billion worth of data centers project was stopped in the United States. And we are seeing the same pattern emerging in Europe, permit refusals, moratoriums. This revolution is part of our reality today and for the years to come. And at Veolia, we have the capacity to help do it better.

The key here is to help the AI and micro E supply chain completely rethink or redesign how they use resources. And the good news is we already have many solutions they need. For data centers and chip factories, our innovation gives us 3 unique capabilities.

Unique proprietary technologies from water tech, like the capacity to produce ultra-pure water, the chip manufacturers. Chips are currently 50,000 times smaller than a human hair. You can, therefore, imagine in that case, what ultra-pure means, it's at the molecular level.

An installed asset from hazardous waste base, like high-temperature incinerator operating at industrial scale at more than 1,100 degrees Celsius. But also the capacity to bridge with local communities. For water access, and recovering waste heat to provide heating to communities.

And I must say, I'm super happy to announce that today, we are launching our new offer. DATA CENTER Resource 360. The turnkey solution that can transform data centers from resource consumers into potential resource contributors.

Take Energy. Every data center generates massive amount of heat. Most of it is wasted. Thanks to our solution, we capture it and turn it into heating for entire neighborhoods, up to 20% energy reuse efficiency, moving therefore towards carbon-neutral operations.

Take the cooling water. Instead of just consuming it, we treat it, reuse it and replenish it and can reduce water footprint by up to 75%.

Take waste, electronic waste, cooling chemicals. We're recovering up to 95% of it, turn it back into new resources. This isn't just 3 separate contracts. It's one integrated system across all our businesses working together to make data centers more sustainable.

And what really makes it work is that it's designed to earn the license to operate from the communities that host these facilities. And today, I'm excited to announce that we've signed a very promising partnership with the data center developer, SDC. And this is just the beginning.

We are also developing initiatives with all the major hyperscalers, including AWS, and Will Hewes will share more about our collaboration in the panel discussion shortly. But in the meantime, here is DATA CENTER Resource 360 in a nutshell.

[Presentation]

Now let's move to semiconductors because if data centers are demanding, chips manufacturing, I must say, is on another level. A single large fab uses 20 million to 38 million liters of water per day. Chemicals, 30,000 to 50,000 tons per year, and the industry is growing at more than 20% annually. We are accelerating development with Micron, TSMC, Intel, our global clients through water technologies and hazardous waste.

Take Micron in Boise, Idaho. We use our regulated municipal water expertise to secure water access with the city, then deployed water tech for ultra-pure water and has this waste for chemical management. This is typical of the Veolia's winning formula. And once again, we anticipated and are investing Arizona 2025 tuck-in acquisition for sulphuric acid reuse.

Taiwan and the U.K., new solvent regeneration plants commissioning now. Our incoming Clean Earth's acquisition, which will give us reach across all 50 states in the U.S., including a stronger presence in the western part of the country.

SAR Tech, a 30% stake in this Taiwan pioneer with a game-changing technology that regenerates [indiscernible] ultra-high purity for 2 to 3 nanometers chips. Singapore 2027, our first clean room opening with our electrodeionization technology, filtering to less than 1 part per trillion sodium ions.

And just last week, a new partnership I'm very proud of, with the [indiscernible] founded by [indiscernible] who won the Nobel price last year, an advanced treatment technology that will be defined what's possible.

In 2022, our revenue coming from AI industries, data centers and chip factories were EUR 410 million. Today in '25, we reached EUR 560 million. And by 2030, we are targeting EUR 1 billion. That's doubling our business. Our innovations, unique offers and investment underway give me real confidence about reaching this ambitious target in one of the most critical sectors today.

Now we've talked about water and energy. But this evolution also depends on another resource battle, which is critical minerals. The geopolitical reality is dark. Congo controls 64% of cobalt. Chile, 44% of lithium. And China dominates with 70% of all critical minerals refining.

Meanwhile, Europe produces less than 10% of its copper and 1% of its lithium. And this is where circular economy and recycling becomes strategic factors of autonomy, independence and sovereignty.

At European scale, that can secure locally 25% of Europe's needs. How do we do? Our hazardous waste recycling plant near [ Mes ] in France uses a hydrometallurgic technology to extract lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper from used electric batteries at 99% purity level, turning waste into a strategic resource.

For plastic, we've pioneered PET food-grade recycling since 2005, even more difficult. This year, we're opening a closed-loop trade-to-trade facility in the U.K., every plastic package you see in the supermarkets. And with plastic loop, we create unique plastic recipes for any industrial needs. It could be car bumpers, vacuum cleaners, dashboard component packaging, 75% less CO2 than virgin plastic.

This is circularity at industrial scale, turning dependency into autonomy. So when you look at who we are partnering with, Micron, TSMC, SK Hynix, Intel, SDC, AWS, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, these are the companies building the AI revolution and they're choosing Veolia because we are not just a supplier, but more so a partner, a partner that transform resource challenges into opportunities, a partner that turns communities resistance into acceptance because the future of AI industries depends on environmental security.

And you will see how we are approaching this from both sides, serving AI industry while also using it to make our own services more efficient and sustainable. Emmanuelle will elaborate about that. Emmanuelle, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. You've just seen the innovation that opened new markets. Well, first, technologies we have invested in build over the past years to enter our most critical need of our client. But as Estelle start to explain, innovation at Veolia does not stop there. There is another kind, one that's just as critical, one that make essential services better, smarter, more efficient every single day.

Think about it. This morning, you turn on your tap, water flowed, and you didn't think twice about it. But behind that simple gesture, there are decades and decades of innovation. Sensor monitoring quality in real time, AI optimizing treatment processes, network design to never fail.

And technology making water affordable for millions of people. That's the innovation I want to talk about today, the kind that helps us give 110 million people supplied with water, that hit 7 million home and that treat waste for entire cities.

Inventing new market matters, but perfecting what we already do, that's what keep societies running, what make essential services affordable, and that's what drives growth in our core operations. So 3 imperatives: business continuity, essential services that never fail. Second, health, protection from threat people can't see and competitiveness, differentiating solution at scale affordable for everyone.

Business continuity. So I will start with water. Water security is becoming the defining challenge of our time. Today, 3 billion people live in area facing water stress. By 2050, this could reach 5 billion. So it's not a future stress. It's already happening. So we have invested and innovate to secure water with multiple approach, reducing leaks, reusing wastewater, making desalination affordable.

Reducing leaks. In the U.S., water network lose up to 50% to leaks. We are bringing that down to 10% using sensor and AI that detects leaks in real time and prioritize repair for maximum impact. Reusing waste water, over 2,000 references worldwide with a portfolio of proprietary technology that help recycle waste water to drinking quality in Namibia, in France, in Spain and each tailored to local needs and regulations.

Making desalination affordable, we have cut consumption by 80%. Making seawater drinkable for more or less than $0.50 per cubic meters. All proprietary solutions that give us a decisive competitive edge but continuity also means resilient crisis. So we have built the capacity to respond fast. We operate the world's largest fleet of mobile treatment units across EMEA and the U.S., more than 2,000 units ready to answer in a few hours, all urgent situations.

Water reuse, desalination, such treatment, and we are the world leader of mobile water solution with revenue around EUR 500 million, an average EBITDA of 25%, and we expect that business to grow around 10% per year on average. So we are not just operating infrastructure. We are securing it.

Which bring me to our second imperative because continuity mean nothing if the water flowing isn't safe to drink, has protections. Across every country, every political fraction, every social class, 97% of the people put health first. It's the one thing that everyone agrees on. Back in the 19th century, it's been decontaminating water from bacteria. Today, it's mean removing the smallest and the most toxic contaminant like PFAS.

PFAS, it's a great example, how an innovation goes from R&D lab to a package offer to profitable growth for the group. And it follows the typical [indiscernible] methods, anticipate, find solutions, deploy at the lowest cost for everyone and combine our businesses using our global presence to scale.

Today, what make BeyondPFAS absolutely unique is that it's a complete hand-to-hand solution. Mobile app for measurement, extraction and removal technology for concentration and 99.99% destruction at 1,150 degrees approved by EPA and the Pentagon regulators. So we combine water operation, water technologies and hazardous waste. 3 businesses and one integrated solution. Nobody else can do this. And there are new developments. Last week, we partnered with [ Bertlepinoff ] to go one step further on ultra-short chain PFAS.

At the end, the results speak for themselves. 25% growth in 2025. We are targeting EUR 1 billion in 2030 through acquisitions like Clean Earth in the U.S., Enviropacific in Australia, plus organic growth driven by supportive regulation in the U.S., in Europe, in Australia.

So what is ahead of us? [ Nociceptors ], we have already done full-scale test on site. Microplastic, we demonstrate 99.9% microplastic elimination in wastewater, thanks to partnership with Aalborg University and [ LSU ] laboratory.

So each generation of contaminants gets smaller, it's harder to detect, harder to treat. And each time the technology become more sophisticated, more proprietary, deepening our competitive edge. But sophisticated technology mean nothing if it's too expensive to run, which brings me to our third imperative, competitiveness.

AI and digital innovation will be the cornerstone of our next efficiency plan. Our approach to digital is global, shared across all function and operational directions with the strong involvement of HR to ensure that everyone benefits from AI.

First, our employees, everything starts with them at every level of the company, we bring them along, empowering and upskilling them. Secondly, our assets whose efficiency is being enhanced by new digital solutions; and third, our customers. They benefit from new range of services as well as affordable tariffs. And we are already seeing the impact.

The digital share of efficiency rose from 10% of operational gains in 2023 to 23% in 2025. Water contributes the most. It represents more than 50% efficiency gains, digitalization of meters boosted by AI, increased bills collection and reduced network [indiscernible]. Energy contributes to more than 25%. In waste business, our in-house software optimize waste collection routes and increase 13-hour detection. So at Veolia, we have not wait for GenAI to start the digital transformation of our operation.

For more than 20 years, we have worked successfully at scaling up our asset efficiency through digital improvements. Let me give you one concrete example. In China, at Shanghai Pudong, our advanced algorithm can anticipate consumption several days the week ahead, enabling optimized pumping and energy consumption as well as world-class network efficiency. But as you can guess, it does not stop there. So let me tell you about the transformation going on at Veolia, leveraging the power of GenAI to become the first player to revolutionize resource efficiency management.

As mentioned, the involvement of all Veolia employees here at the centers of our digital transformation. We are bringing them on board. Our internal platform, Veolia Secure GPT is the first GenAI corporate platform in France and already reached 90,000 daily users. We have already over 2,000 in-house agents to optimize functional processes, payroll, accounting, billings, but the highest potential lies in the deep transformation of our operational processes.

The way we manage our plant, our fleet, our maintenance, the way we sell our electricity, our heat, our recycling. So how we manage that? GenAI is fed with data. We have by far the largest available data bank of all the businesses we operate. This make already Veolia unique. Now imagine GenAI powered by the largest environmental data bank, analyzing all the input and output parameters of our plants, communicating in a natural language with on-site technicians, suggesting in real-time optimization to drive them to their peak performance. So it's the alliance of AI posted algorithm with on-site experience workers. What I just described, this is Talk To My Plant. 9 use cases of Talk To My Plant are already being developed with very strong proof of value for each of them.

For example, to increase energy generation at our waste-to-energy plants in water, optimize maintenance programs for predictive and we are targeting 30% of our plant maintenance technician equipped within 2 years. Early results are promising type, save in finding sources of breakdown, higher availability rates, more water delivered.

Ultimately, digital, AI, robotics at Veolia are already an operational reality and it will be even more so tomorrow. We have a major ambition by 2030, delivering 50% of our operational efficiency through AI and digital solutions. We optimize our operation and secure for the years to come a long-lasting business model that deliver value through efficiency for our clients, our shareholders and the planet. As I am talking to you, use cases are being developed, team are being trained and value is being delivered. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Emmanuelle. Thank you, Estelle. From strategy and operational efficiency to real-world applications, let's see what this innovation looks like specifically in today's fastest-growing sectors, data centers and advanced microelectronics. Please welcome our panel of experts. I'm going to call on stage Glenn Vicevic, CTO for Water Technologies at Veolia. Stuart Stock, Head of Digital Business and Technology at Veolia. Will Hewes, Global Lead for Water Sustainability at Amazon Web Services. And Richard Kirkman, CEO, Northern Europe zone and Chief Growth Officer at Veolia.

Welcome, gentlemen. My first question is going to be for you, Richard. Now as you position yourselves at Veolia as a security partner for your clients, how is Veolia addressing the challenges that are caused by this growing demand for data centers and microelectronics? How are you turning these growth -- these into growth opportunities through sustainable solutions?

Well, Ele, I think for this mega opportunity, what we're very focused on is what our customers need, what their projects need on the ground and at the pace that they need them. It's a GBP 25 billion sector in the U.K. and it's powered by algorithms, but it's fueled by the available space, the available water, the available electricity. And if that's going to travel in the next few years, we simply can't have the resources required traveling at the same time.

We have to conserve them because they simply aren't enough. Our estimates say that around 50% of the cost base of AI infra is coming from the water and the power consumption. So having innovation deliver that resource efficiency is critical. But you asked me how we're enabling it. And to answer your question, we think the enabling pathway is to use our technology to make it relatable to local populations.

So you've heard about our hazardous waste technology for PFAS, our ultra-pure water, the way we can turn heat into cooling, novel sources of power and energy, but they're all framed in the sense of a circular economy, a low footprint, a net zero application. And that makes it relatable to local communities where they operate. I think that's probably our core offering.

Thank you so much, Richard. Let's hear directly from a city official who is navigating these very tensions and with the support of Veolia, it's in Belgium. Have a look.

[Presentation]

Client testimony. And I'm now going to turn to Will Hewes. How do you approach, Will, the issues of the scarcity of resources? What measures have you implemented to make your infrastructure more resilient and perhaps to reduce this energy consumption and water footprint in your data centers?

Sure. Good morning, everybody, and thanks to Veolia for having us here at this event today. So at AWS, we're working to operate in a resilient and sustainable manner across all of our data center operations.

On the energy side, we have goals to be net zero carbon by 2040. We had a -- we set a goal to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2030, a goal that we met 7 years early, and we're continuing to invest in carbon-free energy projects with over 700 of those to date. On the water side, which is the area where I focus, we have a goal to return more water to communities than we use in our data center operations. And there are 3 key ways that we're doing that. Broadly, we call them reduce, reuse and replenish.

So on the reduced side, that's all about efficiency. We want to withdraw as little water from communities and from the environment as possible. And we've been innovating constantly over the past number of years to minimize that water use. We've improved our water efficiency by 40% over the past several years, really trying to decouple that growth in data center footprint from the growth in water use.

And our water efficiency is about 82% better than the industry average. So we've been succeeding in that, but we're still working to continue to improve efficiency. On the reuse side, this is really about what types of water are we bringing in for cooling our data centers. Wherever possible, we don't want to use potable water for cooling. We're focused on as much as possible, switching to recycled water, which is treated sewage. It's not competitive with the community's water supply. And we have -- we'll have in the next couple of years, over 120 of our data centers around the world using recycled water instead of cooling water.

And we're making huge investments in public water infrastructure to enable that, over $1 billion of investment to date in recycled water infrastructure. And that helps to supply, of course, our data centers with non-potable water, but also helps to build a more resilient water supply for that community because communities still make wastewater even in a drought.

And so we're investing, yes, to supply our data centers, but also in ways that build resilience within the community. And then after we've maximized in those first 2 areas, efficiency and reuse of water, then we focus on replenishment. And these are projects that we fund within communities and within watersheds to help support water resources in that place. In India and Indonesia, we've done a lot of work to expand water and sanitation access. In really drought-prone places, we focused on improving the availability of water by, for example, providing technology to farmers that helps them optimize irrigation and avoid overwatering.

And then we're also funding projects focused on water quality. For example, here in the Thames River Basin, we've worked with the Rivers Trust and are continuing to work with them, a local NGO to build wetlands and restore flood plains in ways that improve water quality in the Thames River. And so all of that together, those are the ways that we're helping to ensure that community water resources are better off from our operations in that community than they were before we were there.

Thank you, Will. So what I'm hearing is that you're already doing quite a bit for water reuse replenishment availability. What do you expect from a partner like Veolia? What can they do for you?

I think there are a number of potential intersection points. The one that really rises to the top for me immediately is on this water recycling question. So we're really good at operating data centers. We are, for the most part, not water treatment or wastewater treatment operators. And so we have some really complementary skill sets here with Veolia that can help us expand our ability to use recycled instead of potable water for data center cooling.

One example of that is a project that we're just beginning right now around our new data center campus in Mississippi in the U.S. And there, one of our campuses is going to be switching entirely to recycled water in 2027. Now the public infrastructure, the water -- the wastewater treatment is not to the point where we can use that directly in data center cooling today. And so we're working with Veolia to further treat that wastewater so it's safe to use in our data centers. And we're actually piping that water from the treatment plant over to our facility.

And there -- we're doing a water-as-a-service approach with Veolia, where we don't have to worry about the treatment and the buildings. We are buying the water from Veolia, and they're doing all of the O&M of this facility to treat the water to where it needs to be. Now one interesting thing about this is that we're actually putting the treatment that we're building just outside of the data center fence line so that it can potentially in the future, be an asset for other potential users of wastewater and recycled water in that community. And so that we're -- currently, it will be serving us, but there's the potential for others to tap into it in the future. And so that's the way I think one of the ways that we can work together to not only supply water to data centers, but also think about how we do it in a manner that helps support long-term water resilience for the community.

Thank you so much, Will. Thanks to you. We just heard the perspective of a major industry player. Earlier on, we heard from Citi. I'm going to turn back to you, Richard. What does Veolia bring to the table to meet both these needs? And since it's the theme of the day, how is innovation helping you anticipate what's coming next?

Well, I think we've got the experience of not only developing new technology to address the technical needs, but also that deployment magic. I think that's often where the projects fall down and dreams fall apart. Our mantra is to get the solution on the ground, running quicker on time and affordably. That's what's important for us. We find innovation, I think, from what works.

Of course, we've got deep research. We've got research institutes and labs and patents and open innovation funds and developers and pilots. But when a client like Will comes to us and says we need to deliver something, it needs to happen and it needs to be robust and always on. And I think we look there to 3 key things. First of all, cross-fertilization.

Can we find another sector where we've deployed the solution already and it's working and we can adapt it for Will's business. So it might be ultra-pure water that we've delivered in defense or health care, and we adapt that for a data center. Secondly, we rely on the combination effect, the combination effect of water, waste and energy. We put those 3 things together. We've very successfully deployed that in the food sector where we take food waste, we turn them into energy, we clean water. It's a circular approach.

And we can use those combined effects as you've seen in our Data 360 offer. And then finally, we've got a kind of what I call a scaling effect. And that's where our amazing CIO, he collects all the information from our thousands of water treatment plants, all operating in slightly different conditions, slightly different circumstances. But all that data comes together and gives us a unique insight which we can apply to a new area. So cross-fertilizing combinations and the scaling effect come together to deliver something really special.

Thank you so much, Richard. Glenn, let's bring you into the conversation and give us the point of view of Water Tech, how do you serve your clients' needs?

Veolia is very well positioned to take on this challenge because we have extensive experience in industry and municipalities, and we understand the opportunities and the limitations. If you think about it, the resources that are needed today include infrastructure, and we have a deep understanding of how to improve infrastructure.

We are specialists at finding innovative solutions to squeeze more capacity out of existing infrastructure. We can do that by simply operating the facility in a better way or we can apply our suite of technologies. For instance, we have a suite of wastewater intensification technologies that can turbocharge an asset to significantly improve the production out of it or we could deploy our ZeeWeed hollow-fiber ultrafiltration membranes, we could install it in a conventional municipal wastewater plant and transform that facility into a water reuse factory.

So really, what we're doing is we're offering our customers options to deal with the needs of today and plan for the future. And maybe even more to the point, we have a deep understanding of what our customers actually do with these resources. So we're here speaking about semiconductors and microelectronics. And over the last 30 years in Veolia, we have designed and supplied almost 400 full-scale ultra-pure water facilities for our customers. So I kind of look at us as a bridge between the needs and resources of today and the opportunities of the future.

Thank you, Glenn. Stuart, I'm going to turn to you. And now with a very direct question. AI is often framed as part of the problem. We know that it drives up energy and water consumption. Is Veolia's use of AI different? If so, how, what makes your approach stand out?

Well, Eli, since 2017, Veolia has been a pioneer in the cloud, providing services to our operations. So we've had to provide reliable and resilient solutions for those operations to continue. We talked earlier about or Emmanuelle talked earlier about Talk To My Plant. This is an important proprietary software that Veolia has where we have an inner source model with the zones in the [ BU ], so they can contribute to the innovation and the development on that platform.

In terms of Talk To My Plant, clearly, it focuses on operations, so because we are helping to reduce wastewater and energy, that naturally offsets the carbon footprint that we use in terms of generative AI. From a responsible AI point of view, we have a governance model on a global scale that focuses and make sure we prioritize the right projects based on the value that they derive. And we also orchestrate from a group level to ensure that there's no duplication of effort between the zones and the [ BUs ].

In terms of training, by the end of next year, we want to have trained every single Veolia employee on AI. So they know when to use the models and when not to. We don't want them to use an LLM for something that a Google search can simply do. In terms of proprietary software, there's a middleware piece in the middle where it looks at the prompts that are being generated by the users and selects the most appropriate large language model as well.

And finally, we're not really training any models ourselves. We use knowledge bases that sit under the large language models. And naturally, that means we use less resources as well. And finally, sorry, I'd like to say we take a very human centric approach to what we do. There's 2 modes that we have at the moment. We have the normal mode where the responses that are generated and give the answer to the end user. And we have a training mode where the end user asks or writes a prompt, but the generative AI talks through a series of questions to give them the answer so they don't use that cognitive ability.

Thank you so much, Stuart. Glenn, we've spoken a lot about quantity up until now, but water quality is also a hidden constraint, particularly in semiconductor manufacturing, where, as you probably know, ultra-pure water is absolutely essential. What innovations can realistically reduce dependency on a high-quality freshwater?

Well, the semiconductor industry is clearly pushing the boundaries of the 2- to 5-nanometer tech node and even has ambitious goals to reach angstrom levels. And what's clear is that if we're going to enable this technology, we have to improve the quality of our already very clean ultrapure water.

And this is a real challenge for us. So we've adopted something we call the PPQ mindset, PPQ meaning part per quadrillion. And it's our call to improve what we already have to serve the industry and also to develop new technologies. So a real-world example is our electrodeionization systems that are sound in many, many ultrapure water facilities to deal with ionic contamination.

We recently released our newest product based on the principle of PPQ to improve it. It's called our E-Cell ME-5 PICO, and it can deliver contamination levels lower than 1 part per trillion of ionic contaminants. Now that is impressive, but it's also not good enough. And so that's why earlier Estelle announced that we're developing a microelectronics innovation center in Singapore.

And this will be an R&D laboratory and associated clean room and all of the unit operations that you find in a UPW plant. And the point of this center is not just to develop these solutions and improve them, but as an area for collaboration with our customers, with other partners in the field and providing the solutions.

We really think that if we're going to deliver the solutions of tomorrow, we should do it together. And you think about it releasing new microchips every 18 months, we have our work cut out for us, and we're ready and excited to be on this journey.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Will, we saw earlier that AWS and Veolia are collaborating on water reuse for data centers. I know that globally, AWS is also doing water replenishment initiatives. Do you have any plans to expand on this? And what role could partners like Veolia play in this expansion?

Right. So again, replenishment are those projects that we're funding within the community and within the watersheds to help support water resources outside of our direct operations. And to date, we've announced about 45 -- over 45 replenishment projects that are collectively restoring 18 billion liters of water to communities with a lot more in development.

Increasingly, and I think one of the most exciting ways that we're doing these projects are working directly with the utilities that are supplying us with water to find ways that we can help them operate more sustainably and more reliably. One example of that is by helping -- providing them with technology that helps them reduce nonrevenue water. And so for example, in Mexico City, that's a city of -- we're actually not -- we don't have data centers there, but we still saw it as an opportunity to help address given the major water constraints in Mexico City, over 20 million people there. They've been on the verge of day 0, where they could potentially shut off the water system for the whole city because of scarcity.

And they lose 40% of their water to leaks. And so we've worked with them to deploy technology that helps them optimize pressure, identify and repair leaks and we're already saving billions of liters of water there, and we're working to expand that further. That's the type of thing that we want to replicate around the world, both in places where we operate data centers and where we don't. And I think Veolia could potentially be a great partner on that.

They have relationships with these water utilities. They know what those needs are. We're not coming in and telling a water utility what they should do. They know their systems. We're always trying to find the project that is going to help respond to what that community really needs on water.

And so having partners that can help deliver those solutions and that know those utilities is a great way to accelerate progress in building out this replenishment portfolio. And really, the goal here is not just to fund projects to meet our water positive goal to return more water to communities. It's also to really help identify and elevate those key innovations that are going to help solve the world's water challenges more broadly.

And the types of technologies and solutions that Veolia and our other tech partners bring are a big way that we're helping to uptake or accelerate the uptake of these innovations that are critical to solving water challenges.

Thank you so much, Will. Richard, one last question to close this panel. I think we can see clearly that we're living through a major technological geopolitical reset. What is Veolia's role in this new world? And what gives you confidence that innovation will be part of the answer?

Look, as you say, I think we all do acknowledge we're a pretty special moment in history with the technological acceleration. We've never seen that before at that pace. We've got the geopolitical situation and at the same time, a bit of a resource crunch. There aren't enough resources to fuel that unless we do something differently. And Veolia from our history, we've never been a bystander when it comes to these things. We've always been there to address the current needs, but make sure it's resilient into the future because we're a long-term player.

So we do innovation in a way which, yes, it deploys new technology, and we have researchers on that. But we have a kind of ingrained philosophy of, first of all, really listening to our customers, actively listening to what they need, what their strategic needs are, where they're going, an anticipating what the future will hold, what the regulation will look like, what the resources pathway is and then putting that together and responding, responding to what we've heard, responding to our anticipation and our prediction and bringing together our cross-fertilization, our combination of our businesses and the scaled data insights that we have. And altogether, it's pretty exciting, and we're looking forward to it. It's a thrilling moment, and we're ready, willing and able to accelerate.

Thank you so much, Richard. Thank you, gentlemen, for your insights. Shall we give our roundtable a bit of a applause. Thank you so much. Thank you for them. Now to close the plenary and share her key takeaways, I now invite Estelle Brachlianoff to please come and take the stage once more.

So today, you've seen what [indiscernible] innovation looks like at Veolia. This is innovation that secures critical needs, solutions that deliver real impact everywhere in our boosters, pushing tomorrow's frontier as well as in our strongholds, making essential services more competitive and more affordable.

And for 170 years, the pattern has always been the same. We anticipate before crisis strike. We invent proprietary solutions. We create impact and sustainable growth from Paris in 1853 to the AI industry's revolution today. And we are backing this with unprecedented ambition, EUR 1 billion dedicated to innovation during GreenUp. By 2030, EUR 1 billion in revenue for data centers and chips manufacturing and 50% of our operational efficiencies, which will be due to digital and AI because scaling up those tools can be a force for sustainable growth.

And I am very confident because we anticipate, we prioritize, we invest and scale up exactly as we've seen in our EUR 1 billion target for PFAS and new pollution treatment, which is well underway. Proprietary solutions for critical needs. That's our winning formula for environmental security. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Estelle. Now ladies and gentlemen, we are going to open the floor to your questions. [Operator Instructions]. In the meantime, do we have any questions in the room? Over here, can we bring a microphone there?

Would you please be so kind to stand and perhaps tell us your name and your publication?

Yes, sure. Wanda Serwinowska, UBS. Just one question on the [indiscernible] benefit from AI. You mentioned it helps your customers, helps...

The question is about the benefit from the AI. Can you quantify it? Because at the end, we -- analysts we really like the numbers. So can you quantify in million euros? How much do you benefit? How much was achieved maybe? Or how much do you expect this year?

So the benefit from AI is all the efficiencies we do. So Emmanuelle has mentioned a few figures. We went from 10% of our efficiency -- operational efficiency plan to 23%, and we target 50%. So -- which is the operational part of our efficiency, which is only part of our global efficiency plan, as you can imagine.

So last year in '25, it was around EUR 60 million, something like that, just from digital and AI related. And basically, we're doubling that by the end of the decade in a running rate, it's here to stay. I think you have in the pack, Emmanuelle has mentioned that, but a lot of examples of what's behind that.

And why it's not just -- I don't know, sorry, but get rid of a few people type of initiative. It's everything but that typically Talk To My Plant was a good example. I think we have a page here with -- it's whatever, 10% of energy savings in a desalination plant. It's 2% of leakage reduction in a network distribution. It's 20% less aeration into wastewater treatment plants, therefore, reducing like energy consumption. That's a series of a few percent of efficiency here and there on thousands of plants across the globe.

So, so far, we have them in a few of those plants, the tools applied. And the idea is to scale up, of course, and to deploy those solutions to more and more plants across the globe. So that's a good example of -- we're usually as always with Emmanuelle the question, how do you sustain efficiency for so long? And I always say we will sustain efficiency forever the efficiency plan. AI is a good example of that, right? Emmanuelle, do you want to elaborate?

Yes. So, Wanda. So I absolutely agree. So on the value creation on AI, one of the -- we have several pillars, growth, resilience and capital allocation. And I had a discussion last week with one of our investors and say something really true.

When you look at the 200,000 people of Veolia, they are waking up every day thinking on top of new business, I'm going to win, what can I have and I have as new efficiency because it's the main condition for us to be competitive.

And we haven't wait for AI to go for efficiency. For years, we have launched digital program. And Estelle mentioned it, it's -- at the end of 2025, it's 23% of our operational efficiencies. But 2 years ago, it was already 10%. So it's increasing, and we are targeting 50% in 2030, meaning that it's making our resilience, it's confirming our synergies and making them even more sustainable.

So it will come from 2 elements. The first one is Copy and Adapt because today, we have digital implement solution, which are implemented. But for sure, for instance, just take the example of Spain. In the last 4 years in Spain, we have generated for each of the year, EUR 4 million, thanks to digital savings.

So monitoring quality, decreasing the amount of chemical products, so EUR 16 million in 4 years. And we can duplicate that in all the water plant and wastewater plant we have at Veolia. That's the first element. The second element as mentioned by Estelle is GenAI, which is a game changer for us. Just imagine the maintenance costs we have.

So we have in our CapEx EUR 1.9 billion of maintenance CapEx, but we have also maintenance costs in OpEx. It's EUR 4 billion. If we just save 0.001% of this amount, it's very significant on our EBITDA. So AI will play a significant role on efficiency on top of everything that will happen on the top line.

Thank you so much, Emmanuelle. Thank you, Estelle. Do we have another question? I think we had another question here, and then we will come to you, sir. It's you. Go ahead.

This is [indiscernible] from [ Expansion ] in Spain. I have 2 questions for Estelle.

I'm very sorry. We can't hear you.

It's a very wide room. So we look closer, but we cannot hear you that well otherwise.

This is [indiscernible] in Spain. I have 2 questions for Estelle linked to the Spanish market. The first one is about CriteriaCaixa. [indiscernible] Your shareholder since last year, and they took 5% stake.

How satisfied are you with CriteriaCaixa as a shareholder? And if you think that they could increase their participation in the company? And the second one is one of your tenders you have in Barcelona, which is valuing EUR 1 billion, more or less. And how confident are you on winning this tender?

Okay. So very specific to Spain and actually not Spain to actually Catalonia. Very happy to answer those in a way that's a big translation of what I just explained in my speech, which is we are very large in scale when it comes to innovation and ability to invest, but very embedded in the various communities.

So in a way, I love this type of question because it's an exact translation of what we are trying to explain. So Caixa first. So Caixa, CriteriaCaixa took 5% stake in the group last year. They are very happy about the investment. We are very happy about to have them on board. They have a Board representative as well. And it's not only me saying that they are a long-term investor, happy about long-term sustainable delivery of results and dividends.

And actually, the newly appointed [indiscernible] Sorry, I don't speak Spanish, so I hope I'm not pronounced it too wrongly. [indiscernible] was very happy about investment very recently a few weeks ago. So everybody seems to be happy about that. But I guess we are here to stay as partner and long-term shareholders.

So we're talking about long term. So in a way, a year of living together is a great year. There will be many, many more years and why not one day increase the share. Let's start with being happy about the way we are dealing with that to start with. In terms of the [ tender ] in Barcelona, you're right.

We have the large contract of the metropolitan area of Barcelona, but there are a few cities which are very nearby the metropolitan itself, which are in a different [ tender ] mode, and they are at [indiscernible] at the moment. We've put a very good offer, not only taking all the benefits of what all our team in Spain and in Catalonia has learned over the years.

So the best of what we can do in Catalonia, but the best of what you've seen today in a way in terms of innovation and worldwide and the group's capacity to make it specific to the needs of those municipalities in Barcelona. And of course, we -- including be very efficient and affordable because it's, of course, a [indiscernible]. So let's the best win now. We've put an excellent offer, which I'm very proud of.

Thank you, Estelle. I'm going to take a question from online. This is a question from Ajay Patel from Goldman Sachs. He thanks us all for the presentation. You're welcome, Ajay. We're happy to oblige.

And here is his question. Given the rising impact of AI and digital on operational efficiencies, should we expect the cost-cutting targets to increase over time? And if not, what is declining in the other direction?

No, I'm usually anticipating these questions and Emmanuelle has it regularly. I guess we're always trying to find new sources of efficiency to sustain a level which, if you recall, used to be EUR 200 million a year when it was Veolia alone.

We raised it to EUR 250 million a year. When we acquired [indiscernible] , we raised it to EUR 350 million a year. We've exceeded our target. So in a way, [ digital NII ] so far is embedded into what we've already committed, which is EUR 350 million a year. If one day we could increase, we will. But the only thing I can tell you is we are always looking for the more we can, and we always have new ideas to sustain that for a very long term. So it's already included in.

Thank you, Estelle. And I believe we had a question here. Who was first? I think it was the person in front who was first.

Yes, correct.

Could you please stand up?

Arthur Sitbon, Morgan Stanley. So my question was on the EUR 1 billion of revenues from AI Industries. I was wondering, first, where you're starting from, if it's at 0 today or you already have some revenues linked to that? And what's the typical like EBITDA return on capital employed profile of those revenues? That would be the first question. And the second one quickly on the efficiencies that you were talking about.

As I imagine, you will not be the only company in the sector to try to drive those efficiencies. I was wondering if you think theoretically, they will come with the same type of retention rate than you have on your usual efficiencies or if that could be higher, lower? Just any thoughts on that would be interesting.

So for the first question, you have the Page 24 with the answer. We mentioned it in our speech, but I appreciate the fact that it was an intense of information presentation. So we started a few years ago at EUR 150 million. Now we are at EUR 560 million, and we basically aim at doubling by the end of the decade, combining all the various forces.

ROCE, funds employed, of course, Emmanuelle is going to be low margin making, super not profitable, super CapEx intensive, isn't it?

Not really. No, very fair question because you're right, development is nice, but it has to be profitable and contribute to our ROCE accretion.

As mentioned by Estelle, we are close to the EUR 600 million for this revenue at the end of 2025, and we are targeting EUR 1 billion, meaning that we -- in terms of top line, it's an increase of globally EUR 1 billion. The major part of it today, it's MicroE and MicroE today, it's mainly Water Tech and hazardous waste. When we are looking at our forecast and provision, working with our business line, what we see that a huge part of the growth will come from hazardous waste.

It will be organically, but a small part will be also from a few tuck-ins. So we did an acquisition that you may have seen in Taiwan. The name is [indiscernible], very, very profitable business. And on top of that will come the water growth.

On data centers, today, we have 50% of revenue, which is coming from Water Tech and 50%, which is O&M. What we expect in the years to come, it will mainly be on the O&M part, especially in the energy and the water part. And in terms of ROCE, you globally know the ROCE of hazardous waste and of Water Tech, so we are reaching at a minimum this level for the project we are launching.

And just to elaborate on what Emmanuelle said, the revenue, the EUR 0.5 billion we do already now roughly is a lot of MicroE and not a lot of data centers. And progressively, I could see the data centers ramping up. It's not by chance, and it was a discussion, it was on the round table.

Data centers is a boom, which is relatively recent in its scale. And it started with what about power. Now the discussion is moving into acceptability and water and stuff like that. But it's only starting. So it's not by chance that we're launching the new offer today.

Probably 2 years ago, I'm not so sure we would have any interest, if I'm honest, from big hyperscaler in such an offer. Now it's time. So I can see like these things moving.

And in terms of the ROCE and everything, the investments are mainly behind us. As we explained when we discussed on hazard waste, like we almost have no revenue, no profits, but almost all the funds employed already on our balance sheet because when I said we are opening now solvent recycling in U.K., in Taiwan, and everything we've mentioned today, pretty much by the end of the year is going to be in our balance sheet without the ramping up yet of the profitability.

So I guess, don't worry, we're going to go on with improving the ROCE of the group, including with this new growth opportunity and retention rate of efficiency.

Retention rate of efficiency. So I just wanted to mention one example regarding retention rate. Stuart spoke about Talk To My Plant, and we were a few weeks ago with some of our colleagues in the waste-to-energy plant in [indiscernible] And it was really interesting to see what are they doing with Talk To My Plant.

And what we have seen and what I like is that they have been able to generate saving of EUR 200 million just for one incinerator by doing one thing, thanks to this additional AI layer that we have. It was to optimize the stream production in order to reach thermal saturation. And it bring for one incinerator EUR 200,000, meaning that when you multiply that by the 70 incinerator we have worldwide, it's potential savings that we can do. So today, our ambition is at least to keep our retention rate as it is, which is between 30% and 50%.

And you have a lot of figures on Page 43, 44, 45 in the presentation with a percentage of efficiency gains and things like that, which you can have an illustration and give you color about what we're talking about here.

Thank you, Estelle. Thank you, Emmanuelle. I'm just going to take a question from the people following us online. This is a question from David [indiscernible] [ Recruit Mag ]. When can we expect the first data center to go live with your 360 solution fully deployed on the data center?

I guess we already have 100 sites across the globe with data center who use part of this software, not necessarily the entirety of it as it was said in some circumstances, the question is more the water regeneration.

In other places, it's more the wasted heat. But we already have 100 sites which have part of the solution already now. The one I love is in the U.K., we're in the U.K. So what about taking a U.K. example? What about the Genome Campus? -- who wants to talk a little bit about the Genome Campus or shall I? Genome Campus is in Cambridge. It's a massive, massive new investment, super high tech. There will be a lot of start-ups, whatever on Genome. Not so sure I understood perfectly everything they are going to do, but super R&D near Cambridge University.

We won a large project there, very much in anticipation because it's under construction, it's not yet fully developed, where we reuse the energy heat from the data center to feed the campus. It saved, I think, 30,000 tons of CO2, if I remember well.

And that's not very far away from here. And we have, I think it's GBP 2 billion of pipeline in the U.K. alone. The problem is usually, I'm not allowed to mention any names or any locations. It's so secret. And I understand it could be a bit frustration, but there are a lot of projects, for instance, in the U.K. So very confident.

Currently in the pipeline, yes. Understood. Thank you so much, Estelle. I'd like to gently encourage you to not forget that you have access to all of our lovely panelists this morning so you can address your questions to every single one of them. Do we have any other question in the room? Yes, sir. Let's bring a microphone here.

Alex Roncier, Bank of America. A follow-up on margins and numbers and innovation. I think you mentioned for mobile water treatment units, and I think that's the units we saw in Poznan 1.5 years ago, 2,000 units, 25% margin.

Should we think that this fleet is fully utilized? Or do you have upside to those 25% margin if use cases grow? And then secondly, if we think about returns from new innovation revenues for Veolia, should we think about that 25% margin as a floor, not necessarily for the EUR 0.5 billion of data center revenues, which I think you mentioned are more O&M, but in general at Veolia.

Emmanuelle?

Regarding the -- so thank you for your question, Alex. Regarding the retention, the utilization rate, we are targeting at least 80%. So the short answer is we still have room of maneuver and a possibility to increase. That's for sure. In terms of profitability, what we have seen so far, it's really profitable.

I was mentioning our small acquisition, [indiscernible] in semiconductor industry. We are reaching more than 25% margin. And for a lot of projects, we are around 20%. So what we are targeting worldwide is to be at least above 20%.

And I guess, on profitability in more general terms, less specifically to your question. You've noticed that we've increased by 150 bps, the margin of Veolia in the last 2 years alone.

And this is not going to stop. The more we are international, the more we are techy like we've seen today, the more it goes with higher margin. And that's not by chance. That's exactly what the GreenUp plan is about investing in priority outside Europe in the techy stuff, exactly to drive growth, which is more and more profitable with higher margin. We've demonstrated it plus the efficiency plan, as we've seen this morning, fed by AI. That's exactly the transformation the group is moving at a very fast pace.

And we'll soon have the keys, hopefully, of Clean Earth acquisition in the U.S., which will be another big like a game changer for us, doubling our size in the hazardous waste in the U.S. that's high margin as well. So each time we are increasing that differentiation element which goes with high margin. So I think it's here to stay really.

Thank you, Estelle. Thank you for the question. Do we have any other questions from the room? Can we bring the microphone here, please?

This is Paula Solanas from La Vanguardia in Spain. And I'm sorry to ask you again about the Spanish market. But you do mention in your plan of operations in data centers and microchips in the U.S. mostly and some European countries like Germany, the U.K. and I think also France, but not Spain.

I wanted to ask you if this is also related to the bigger, more aggravating scarcity of resources in Spain, especially when it comes to water because of the recent droughts. And what is the scalability you see in Spain for these data center plants in terms of investment and number of data centers?

No, I think we still have a lot of opportunities with this new launch of this data center [indiscernible] Resource today, new offer in Spain.

We have many other opportunities. So when Daniel Tugues is here, our Head of Spain, he can tell you a lot about our ambition to grow the business in Spain, where we already are very present in water, very present in the energy efficiency, very present in recycling of plastic, but we have many, many other opportunities.

Data centers is one. What are the positives and negatives about Spain in that regard? The positive green energy at a reasonably reasonable price. When you look at the map of pure green energy price, Spain stands out in a positive way, thanks to everything which was developed over the last 5 to 10 years.

On the negative side, you're right, water scarcity is everywhere, and there could be a limiting factor. The good news is Veolia in Spain has learned progressively to develop reuse of wastewater, recycling of a lot of things. So in a way, we have the solutions as well to unlock this potential if there was data centers who wanted to be implemented in some places in Spain.

And for the rest, it's going to be for political elected members to decide if they want to give a permit or not to those data centers. It's not for us to decide. We can tell you what can be done. It can be made sustainably. It can be even water positive at one point, but the rest will be for them to decide.

Yes. We have a question right here. Can we bring a microphone?

I'm [ Nicolas Medlin ] with [indiscernible]. I would like to know of the EUR 1 billion you expect from AI and chips industries, how much will come from Europe, including the U.K. And also another question, I'd like to have a comment on how your U.S. business is doing at the moment given the current environment.

So I won't give a split between Spain, France, whatever the U.S., like it's a global reach, and we -- the EUR 1 billion is everywhere where -- and it's fair to say there is a competition as we speak on data center implementation, and Mr. Hewes will be well placed to talk about that if you want -- if you wish to expand.

And like everybody is trying to attract investments, but not at the detriment of local communities, resource scarcity and so on and so forth. So there is a big demand. So that's everywhere. Same applies to microelectronics. It's fair to say that so far, the big 2 places where the microelectronics is well in advance as in 2 nanometers, which is the smaller you can go are more Southeast Asia, Taiwan, in particular, a little bit South Korea and the U.S.

But Europe has an intention to catching up in many respects with STMicroelectronics, just to mention one name. So we have projects in, I think it's Sicily it with [indiscernible]. There is one in [ Grenoble ] so Europe is not lagging.

But everybody realized that microelectronics is of a matter of sovereignty. And therefore, there is a big ambition in Europe to try and catch up on that front as well. So we'll see, and we'll be ready to serve them. How is our U.S. business doing? I'm regularly asked. Actually, I remember when we announced that we would invest massively in the U.S. with the big Clean Earth acquisition, which we are under the various procedures of getting the approval and should be done by mid-'26, so in a few weeks' time.

People were saying, okay, Estelle, with Donald Trump in the White House, you invest massively in the U.S. when you're an environmental services powerhouse. How is it possible? I was asked this question quite a lot.

The answer is quite simple. the demand is here. It's a sustainable demand, whatever the political agenda in some respects. The demand comes from the population, demand come from industries. And the demand is a demand for environmental security is to secure water access, is to secure health as in remove PFAS, for instance, in the U.S., which is a big thing.

So in a way, whoever you voted for now almost 1.5 years ago, in the end, you don't want to have pollutant when you open your tap. When you're in Arizona and you have a TSMC massive factory, without disrupt water, without solvent recovery anywhere, there is no factory at all.

So the question is not who's elected in Washington. The question is critical needs. And I think that's a very important element. That's why I talk about environmental security, which is what we do because it goes down to critical needs.

And I'm daring making the link with what's happening as we speak in the Middle East. We suddenly realize in the Middle East that water is as important as oil, if not more. Even for data centers, we couldn't be like working without that. Obviously, for agriculture, for everybody to this. So in a way, critical needs in the U.S. are critical needs like they are in Europe, but are critical needs in the Middle East. We're talking about vital essential services. So our U.S. business is doing well.

Thank you for this candid answer, Estelle. Do we have any other questions? Yes, we have a question right here, please.

Bartlomiej Kubicki, Bernstein. Just on the data centers and the energy side of the data centers, I just wonder if you can offer actually power access to data centers as well. And I'm thinking about your incinerators, whether you thought about maybe offering them the connection to your incinerators and they can be partially off grid. Consequently, also, if you can offer data centers access to grid, for instance, via your decarbonized power plants you have in Central Eastern Europe. I guess you will have excess capacity once you decarbonize those and also maybe related excess land. Just thinking about, I mean, whether this is also on your offer or it's only water and waste being discussed here.

So it's -- I don't know if you want to? Who would you like to, to pass it over to?

Richard, do you want to answer on that one, maybe?

Richard?

I think in terms of energy supplies to data centers, we've got an incredibly flexible offering under our 360 offering because we can either use our existing energy supplies from landfill gas, from incineration, from digestion of food waste and sleeve that to data centers remotely or locate those facilities close to data centers or we can bring those novel fuel sources to the sites. As Will mentioned, we've got a project in the U.S. where we're taking biosolids and using that as the water source. We could just as well be digesting those biosolids, getting a biogas and using that biogas to provide energy to the data center. So it's the combination of effects, this circularization of what we're doing with water, waste and energy, which is the capability which we're rolling out. At the moment, on our existing data center MicroE assets, we're really providing 1 or 2 of those things. But going forward, it's more looking like 3 because you get a combined effect and a better efficiency.

You've understood that at Veolia, nothing is wasted. We turn waste into resources.

Thank you for this question and the answers. Do we have any other questions from the room?

[indiscernible] I was just wondering if you had any reflections on...

I'm sorry, we can't hear you, dear.

Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit louder. And I wondered if anyone has any reflections on a big headline for us in the U.K. recently, which was that OpenAI is pausing its development of the Stargate data center? And I wonder sort of if there's any comments you have on the regulatory barriers in the U.K. when it comes to data centers and AI and on the water scarcity issue in the U.K. as well.

So I won't be able to specifically comment on the OpenAI announcement and then remove and all the rest of it, which is the news in the U.K. What you can say is a few things. Richard mentioned that if we follow up the trend on data centers and MicroE, we are 3x the consumption of water and energy by 2030 in the U.K. Basically, it will mean we would need the water for the equivalent of an extra 3 million inhabitant city and an extra 3 million inhabitant power generation by 2030, which is tomorrow morning.

So a lot of people, apart from the British in the room, probably think that water is a problem for your Spanish colleague, but would not be a problem in the U.K. You would be wrong. For a lot of geological reasons, I would be very happy to explain [ with clear ] and everything. Everything south of Birmingham, but correct me if I'm wrong, there are people more aware than I am here. Everything south of Birmingham is in water scarcity mode in the U.K. You even have desalination plant in this country already now. So there is a scarcity of water even in the U.K.

And as far as electricity is concerned and grid, there is a big strain on the grid, and there is a question of affordability and grid connection and so on and so forth. So acceptability in the U.K. is something absolutely critical.

What I can say in terms of -- I don't know how the legislation is going to move, but we've seen in Europe a few places whereby instead of the major say, saying no to a project, he said, yes, but those are the conditions. Those are the conditions that you reuse the waste heat to feed my district heating in the U.K., we are developing District Heating. There could be even more. There is a potential for more, and that could be a good option.

It could be a yes, but let's use, as Mr. Hewes said, recycled water from a wastewater treatment plant as opposed to new water if you want, and so on and so forth. So I can see the trend of legislation moving from the yes and no black and white to the yes, but with some condition and, of course, job creations and so on and so forth. This is the way I see it. And there is an extra one in the U.K., which is a country of roughly 70 million inhabitants on an island, which is wonderful, lovely, not that land rich, like it's super dense, which is a scarcity for land. That's why we even have projects, which I cannot talk about in the U.K. where we use land which are already -- had another usage before, if you will, industrial lines to redo something out of them for data center as opposed to use new land, new green land for data center. And I think you know that all the series of that, which at one point can make it acceptable.

Do we have any other questions? Any other questions from the room? Do not hesitate, we still have a few minutes left on the program available for this Q&A.

My name is [ Santio Sushrut ]. I am the leader of Latin America, of Toyota. And when you speak, Estelle, during your speech that Veolia wants to be very close like different things happened. You mentioned that in Latin America we have the most research of lithium around the world. So my question is, if you consider perhaps a new unit of business related to circular economy of lithium recycle in Latin America because as a vehicle industry it's very important, start to think with strategic partners about, for example, vehicle lithium batteries recycling. In fact, in Argentina, we are developed with Veolia like a strategic partner, a project like this.

Which country are you from, if I may ask?

Argentina. Maybe my English sounds a bit strange.

No, no, no. I was wondering if it was Argentina or a neighboring country, I won't mention his name anyway. So I guess, the Desert of Atacama roughly between Argentina and Chile, and I think it's super rich of a few things, lithium in Chile, you have copper as well and other minerals. And there is a mining boom of lithium, which has its positive and negative. It's super water, [ first key ], the mining, and we have specific technology to try to, again, recycle the water because if you're in a desert and you don't have water you cannot mine, and to recycle the water almost instantly to be able to extract with limiting the impact on the water resource.

With regards to circular economy in South America and Argentina and Chile, that's an interesting question. Gustavo is here, our Head of South America and Iberia, who could elaborate about the -- we already have a few initiatives, a few ideas on a few projects. In Colombia, I will miss one -- in Chile as well, in particular, just to try to move the needle in terms of not only extract but be circular. So Gustavo, do you want to elaborate?

Yes. In fact -- we work with Toyota in Argentina recycling solvent today. So we work in Colombia recycling plastics. So the intention is there. The capability to do it is there. Sometimes what we need is to have the conditions of the market, the demand, the consistency of the feedstock for these kind of installations. So all these kind of things needs to be analyzed country by country. But you can count on us to analyze specific issues. We talked before about recycling some kind of batteries or giving a second life to some kind of batteries. Of course, we will be there. We need to analyze very carefully that all the conditions to make it a sustainable activity are also there.

And in the plant in Japan, I mentioned earlier in my speech. This is a battery factory in Japan, which some of the affluents still have a trace of lithium and cobalt and nickel into the water, if you wish. Instead of just treating it and that's it, we are recouping in a way we are mining the wastewater. And that's exactly what our technologies can help us do to extract a little bit the remaining traces of lithium, which are traces but even in nature you only have traces. It's not pure lithium. So we have as well things that we've done in Japan, in Australia exactly doing what I said. So maybe that will be of interest to you that we can discuss about that.

I have a question from our online followers. Question from Philippe Ourpatian from ODDO BHF. What would be the equivalent installed capacity or production in GWH, gigawatt hour available for the DC needs in your AI 360 solution offer? And I believe that this may be a question for this side.

I think -- so I do not -- maybe Stuart will...

No. I think she has...

Anyway, I can start. When you're Veolia, you've understood that for AI and digital, it's too flip of a coin. On one side, we are serving customers to help them be more sustainable, like AWS, Hyperscalers or the Microelectronics. On the other flip of the coin, we want to use it for our own needs to be more efficient and, therefore, produce more green energy, consume less water and so on and so forth.

Of course, if one was to be a big negative and the other one is more positive, we would have a problem environmentally speaking. So we are constantly checking exactly that, that the positive is largely had weighed the negative. So when Stuart, and that's why I was alluding to Stuart. When Stuart is doing, talk to my client, we don't necessarily use the large language model, the most sexy -- sorry, latest version of them. If we can use a bit less but less consuming resource, we always will have this very big focus on -- we don't want to use too much resource ourselves because it's precisely our mission. If I remember, whereas this, 20,000 tons of CO2 altogether that we consume with our digital NAI, something like that?

2,000.

2,000. So it wasn't even too big, 2,000. 2,000 tons of CO2, we consume, whilst at the same time a super big positive of reducing water consumption and energy savings and so on and so forth. So it's 99% positive and 1% negative as in we consume some resource, something like that.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much. Do we have any other questions from the room? All right. This brings, I believe, our Q&A session to an end. And it also brings our live segment to -- an end to all of you who followed us remotely, a big thank you for joining us today, and we hope to see you soon in future THEMA. Goodbye.

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning or good afternoon. I am Francisco Silverio Marques, Chief of Staff to the CEO at Veolia and honored to be your host today for what will be not only the presentation of our multifaceted performance results, but actually how for Veolia, multifaceted performance is a natural lever for creation of value.

To lead this discussion today, I'm very happy to welcome our CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff; and Emmanuelle Menning, our Deputy CEO in charge of Finance and purchases as well as a few other guests that we'll discover along the way.

We will also have time to take your questions that you can ask by using the chat box on the platform. And now without further ado, Estelle, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Francisco, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I must say I'm delighted to present our extra financial results today. And we're meeting at a particularly significant moment. The world is experiencing profound instability. War has returned to the Middle East where we operate essential services. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping global trade and uncertainty seems to be the new normal. In this context, some might question the relevance of ESG, and I think it's exactly the opposite. It's precisely in times like this that our strategy proves more essential. Because the environmental challenges we've been addressing haven't disappeared, they've become security imperatives, water scarcity, energy independence, supply chain resilience. These are now matters of national security and economic sovereignty.

What's happening in the Middle East actually validates our strategy, reinforces our priorities and confirms the value of our local presence. We generate EUR 1 billion in revenue in the region with minimal capital employed. Our employee security is our absolute priority, and operations continue with enhanced measures, as you can imagine. As a multi-local group, we're not exposed to international trade disruption and the fundamental insight remains. In an unstable world, environmental security is economic security. Our 2025 results prove it. 2025 was the second year of our 4 years GreenUp plan. And whether you look at financial or extra financial performance, this first half of GreenUp is a real success. We are fully on track or even ahead.

The numbers are historic. Revenue a bit more than EUR 44 billion, EBITDA up 6.3%, exceeding our guidance, profitability up 150 basis points in just 2 years, current net income up 11.8% on average per year in the same period. And we've achieved our ROCE target of 9.4%, 2 years ahead of plan. Despite EUR 2.3 billion in strategic acquisition, our leverage ratio stands at 2.79x, well below 3x. Financial strength with room to grow.

What's driving this? In particular, international operations. EBITDA jumped 9.3% outside Europe and our booster activities in Hazardous waste and Water Technologies in particular. This is transformation in action. Veolia has become more international, more technology-driven with a stronger growth profile.

Now to our environmental performance. And here, I'm particularly proud to share that once again, we're not just on track, we are ahead of schedule. 2 out of 3 GreenUp objectives already achieved 2 years early. Think about what this means. On regeneration, we saved almost 1.6 billion cubic meters of fresh water. That's enough to supply the city like London for a year. On depollution, 9.2 million tons of hazardous waste treated, protecting health, securing industrial operations, exceeding again our '25 -- '27, sorry, goal. On decarbonization, we've helped our clients raise nearly 24% more CO2 versus '23. We are accelerating the transition, not just for ourselves, but for the entire value chain.

Now why are we achieving such strong financial results? Because impact drive results growth. Everything is really connected. When we save billions of cubic meters of water, we're not just hitting a target. We are securing supply for cities and industries, and that creates demand for our services. That's exactly why our booster revenue is up 8%, EBITDA up 12%. Same goes for CO2. When we achieve 88% employee engagement and improve safety by 17%, we are building the teams that deliver excellence for our customer on a daily basis. And that's why our Net Promoter Score scores at more than 57, which is great. When we reduce our own emission by 19% and deploy 80% of our biodiversity plans, we're proving our solution works. That's why clients trust us.

And this is a little bit like a virtuous circle. Impact is a sign of our useful next, which drives prosperity. For our clients, our people, our shareholders, with real impact on quality of life for communities and economic health for all.

Our leadership is recognized globally, A rating from MSCI, top tier across Sustainalytics, S&P, ISS and EcoVadis. CDP's highest A rating for both climate change and water security, one of only a handful of companies globally to achieve AA status. Three achievements I'm particularly proud of. First, that specific AA rating from CDP, proof we are delivering environmental leadership and not just talking about it. Second, our Future Generation Council. We brought together 30 young people under 30 from across the globe. And I had the chance to participate at the first 2 sessions. And what's remarkable is how they challenge us, they push our thinking with concrete actionable proposals that go directly to our Executive Committee.

Third, our Sequoia employee shareholding plan, 9.35% employee shareholding. That creates powerful alignment and lasting trust. Now we are aiming for 10%. Veolia's value proposition is unique. We deliver environmental security that creates lasting shareholder value.

Our clients face unprecedented challenge, water scarcity, pollution, supply chain disruption, the imperative for strategic independence. For cities to deliver services for industries to produce, for economies to grow, environmental security is nonnegotiable. We secure supply chain by mining waste and waste heat for local energy and critical minerals, reducing, therefore, dependence on imports. We protect health through hazardous waste management and depollution, ensuring drinking water meets the highest standard and securing the license to operate for strategic industries such as micro conductors and pharmaceuticals. In a world of instability, environmental security is long-term economic security.

Thank you very much, Estelle. Let's have now a more detailed look at some of these results, starting with decarbonization. Emmanuelle, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Francisco, and good morning, everyone. I am delighted to be among you today to present the progress of our decarbonization plan. What makes Veolia so specific is that our decarbonization strategy is fully embedded into our business model. It's not an additional layer that comes on top. At Veolia, business and decarbonization go along together as our clients need offers addressing both decarbonization and adaptation and our own decarbonization plan generates significant additional value.

This alignment explains the fast decarbonization for Veolia. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are already down by 18.6% in 2025 compared to 2021, which is our starting point. This represents a yearly decarbonization pace of around 5% per year, so very significant. We are ahead of our trajectory, and we have already achieved our 2027 GreenUp target, minus 18%, so 2 years in advance. And we won't stop there. We'll keep on deploying our action plan because at Veolia, what is good for the business is good for the climate.

And we mainly rely on 3 pillars. First, methane capture. In all geographies, we are increasing the methane capture for further valorization into heat, electricity or biomethane. So less emissions and more revenues. Second, more efficiency in all our businesses to reduce energy consumption and cost. And third, coal exit in Central Europe that I will detail in the next slide. Our coal exit plan is progressing well. In 2025, we went out of coal in Poznan, opening new facility combining gas-fired plant, heat storage and biomass. With EUR 786 million CapEx spend and 5 plant transitions out of 9, we are more than halfway to our coal exit plan.

One figures illustrate this progress. Our share of coal-based activity has reduced from 3.8% of turnover in 2023 to 3.1% in 2024 and to 2.6% now in 2025, and we will be below 1% in 2030. And today, I am very proud to announce the upcoming transformation of our heating plant in Karvina, Czech Republic into a multi-energy facility. By 2029, we will eliminate coal and shift towards a diversified energy mix, combining locally sourced RDF, biomass and natural gas.

Based on local and circular energy sources, the new system will significantly reduce annual CO2 emission by 200,000 tons. This plan benefits to our clients first. We will enjoy diversified, reliable and sustainable source of energy and also to the planet with a cumulated reduction of CO2 close to 4 million tons expected in 2032 and to our shareholders with project being IRR above 10% and we will benefit from brand new innovative and decarbonized assets.

Beyond the IRR, we increase patrimonial value of our assets, increase our resilience with a multi-fuel approach and increase connection rates to our network, which are classified as efficient network under the European regulation. Our decarbonization plans benefit the planet, but also our clients. This is why it is so embedded in our business strategy because it is driven by our customers. So let's take example. We signed in 2022, a partnership with the city of Tashkent in order to operate a massive turnaround of their district heating network.

It is a 30-year concession agreement mean to redesign the network and massively improve its operating performance. After only 3 years of operation, we raised the efficiency rate of the network from 53% to 72%. This translates into a massive 600,000 ton CO2 reduction. So major contribution to Scope 1 and 2, more sustainability for the client and reduction in Veolia Scope 3.

In Hong Kong, the environmental commitment we took was decisive to win the contract to operate local municipal landfills. We deployed our solution on the ground, raising the capture rate from 46% in 2021 to 69% in 2025, and we will not stop there. And for our clients, it's a reduction of around 600,000 tons a reduction equivalent of taking 150,000 cars off the road for a year. With this example, you see the essential contribution of Veolia to the decarbonization of our clients. As you know, we follow this contribution under Scope 4, which has already increased by plus 23.6%. Since the beginning of GreenUp and is well on track to reach our 2027 objective of plus 30%.

Thank you very much, Emmanuelle. You brought us to Asia, so I suggest you stay in this continent. And let's have a look still on the decarbonization front at what is happening in Harbin, China, with Christophe Maquet, CEO, Asia Pacific zone.

So we are in Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Northeast of China, close to the Russian border, where Veolia owns and has operated the district heating system for nearly 20 years. Harbin is a ice city of China, hosting the famous Ice Culture Festival every year. In Harbin, the winter is quite harsh. The temperature can drop to minus 35 degrees with an average of minus 20 degrees over 6 months of winter. So for the 10 million inhabitants of Harbin, among them the 600,000 who are the customers of our district heating system, you can understand that heating their home is not a comfort. It is a necessity.

And we are very proud at Veolia Harbin to deliver these essential services to our customers with very high quality. As in all major cities in Northern China, district heating is based on coal. As of today, there is no alternative fuel on a large enough scale to fuel district heating. Natural gas is not available in enough quantity. Biomass or other options are not sufficient. But it's not because there is no option today for coal exit that we are not doing anything to improve the situation, far from it.

Let me present to you what has been already deployed and made Veolia Harbin District Heating the best-in-class in reducing CO2 emissions. We have increased the length of the network, connected more customers and shut down more than 300 inefficient independent coal boilers. We've replaced kilometers of pipes and improved the network efficiency to reach 94%, which make it one of the most efficient district heating network in the world, well above most European networks who are in an average at 75%.

We've improved the efficiency of the heating plant by deploying the base standards of Veolia and by including the valorization of waste heat. And we've deployed some energy saving measures by installing some sensors of indoor temperature at the premises of our end users. What are the results? Between 2012 and 2024, we've reduced the carbon intensity of the network, meaning the CO2 emission divided by the square meter heated by more than 30%. And we do not stop here as we are preparing the future to further improve the carbon footprint of the network. We are conducting feasibility studies to introduce a share of biomass in the fuel mix with a potential deployment of the solution between 2028 and 2030. And the first tests are happening right now in Harbin.

Furthermore, we will keep on optimizing energy efficiency at top levels using AI. AI will allow us to optimize the fuel consumption based on a very precise weather forecast parameters as well as the demand from the customer, thanks to [indiscernible] program that has been specifically developed by the Veolia teams for the Harbin project and is now being deployed in other project of Veolia. What are the expected results? Another 25% reduction of the carbon intensity of the network by 2032. Thanks to all those solutions already deployed and to be deployed in the very near future, Veolia is reducing tremendously the carbon footprint of heating system in Harbin.

Thank you very much, Christophe, and thank you, Emmanuelle. Our multifaceted performance is not only about decarbonization, but also about regeneration of resources and depollution. I'm very happy to welcome now Sebastien Daziano, SVP, Strategy, Innovation and Development for a heads-up on these 2 topics. Good morning, Sebastien.

Good morning, Francisco. At Veolia, sustainability is deeply embedded in our business model with our regeneration and depollution achievements. First, preserving the water resource is not just a sustainability commitment. It is a core offering and a powerful driver for value creation. Through our core business activities, Veolia actively works to combat this stress to offer a stable water supply and to guarantee the continuity of essential services and economic activities. First, we protect the resource. Veolia has deployed advanced tools to monitor and track water distribution from the natural resource to the end user, maximizing efficiency and drastically reducing network leaks to limit water extraction. But today, we need to go further than efficiency.

To protect more resources, we have found new solutions for regeneration by deploying advanced solutions such as water reuse, zero liquid discharge for industries and sustainable desalination, we actively ensure long-term industrial and municipal resilience and avoid water shortages for both populations and businesses. In the Water Reclamation Station in Vitoria in Brazil, we free up the equivalent of 200,000 people's freshwater needs while securing industrial operation by transforming wastewater into a new resource. The group has made a concrete commitment to its GreenUp program to save 1.5 billion cubic meters of freshwater by 2027. And in 2025, we were already ahead of schedule, proving the massive impact of our regeneration solutions.

Granting environmental security means as well actively protecting people's health against invisible threats like persistent pollutants. Veolia has an important historical activity dedicated to fighting pollution and treating hazardous waste, and we are consistently ahead of the curve, thanks to our capacity for innovation. Today, we are the first company to propose a true end-to-end solution offer for PFAS with our BeyondPFAS taking these forever chemicals out of the water and ensuring the final destruction. We know how to do this because it relies on the unique combination of our different business line from Water Technologies to Hazardous Waste Management.

A clear example of this is our Port Arthur facility in the U.S., where we utilize high-temperature hazardous waste incinerators, where we achieved the world's first technological breakthrough. By providing these end-to-end solutions, we directly help our industrial and municipal clients to guarantee regulatory compliance and secure the license to operate.

We had set an ambitious target to treat 9 million tons of hazardous waste and pollutants by 2027. And today, we have already reached 9.2 million tons, well ahead of schedule.

Coming now to biodiversity, which is a major priority for Veolia. We are very confident we will reach our target as we aim to deploy biodiversity action plans on 85% of our sensitive sites by 2027. In 2025, we reached 80% deployment on our sensitive sites. But biodiversity goes beyond. It is deeply embedded in our business and our daily operation have a direct impact on biodiversity. Protecting biodiversity is for us an essential lever for value creation, and we are innovating with nature-based solutions.

A perfect example of this preventive action is in [indiscernible] North of Colombia. Our goal is to leave a positive footprint wherever we operate. And by using nature-based solutions, we will restore the soil and protect groundwater recharge zones. We have planted more than 100,000 trees on specific geological outcrops. This action to protect the water resource directly enhances water quality and secures access to water for over 300,000 inhabitants.

Thank you very much, Sebastian. We have been talking a lot about resources, and rightly so. And at Veolia, there is a resource that is absolutely fundamental. It's our 220,000 colleagues across the world. I'm very happy to welcome now Isabelle Quainon, SVP, Human Resources, who will tell us everything about employee engagement.

Good morning, Isabelle.

Good morning, Francisco. Good morning, everyone. Estelle reminded us of something fundamental, the strategic importance of our teams. And current events are proving just how true that is in the most powerful way possible. Here is the paradox we live with. When everything runs smoothly, we're invisible. Water flows from taps, waste disappears overnight, energy systems hum along quietly. Nobody notices. And yet we're essential. It takes a crisis to reveal that truth, a flood, a cyberattack, geopolitical tensions.

Right now in the Middle East, in a highly complex environment, our operations continue without interruptions. Our teams are there. Our desalination plants providing a significant share of the region's drinking water are running because hospitals need water, families need water, life needs water. This is what operational resilience looks like, the ability to maintain critical infrastructure and protect our people even in the most volatile environments. And this resilience, it comes from our people, their commitment, their engagement.

Because here's the reality. We are a manpower company. 85% of our employees are blue collars. Our performance lives and dies with the engagement of our teams. And that engagement is built on trust. 85% engagement rate, 14 points above the utilities benchmark, 5 consecutive year pretty much at this level. This is our competitive edge. Trust leads to engagement, engagement drives performance.

And we are building that trust through 3 pillars. First, safety and security, nonnegotiable. Our people work in high-risk environments every day, at heights, in the traffic, in confined spaces with hazardous and flammable materials. And some operate in tense and sensitive areas, as we see today in the Middle East. This is where our strict safety framework and security protocols prove their value because when our people feel protected, truly protected, they can do their job even in the hardest context. They continue to operate critical infrastructure because they trust the system we've built to keep them safe.

Crisis situation put this in sharp focus. There is no room for error. But the truth is, it is the same every single day. Whether it's a geopolitical crisis of a routine operation, the standard stays the same. Everyone goes home safe. And that discipline shows in our results. Workplace accidents down 75% in 15 years, down another 5% this year. But our culture is zero accident because every person who comes to work should go home safe to their family, whether they're in Barcelona, Sydney or the Middle East.

We're building this through common safety standards, our 12 life-saving rules; fair culture, where people report near misses without fear; and stop work authority, giving everyone the right to stop unsafe activities. That's how you protect people, assets and performance continuity wherever we operate.

Second, ownership and inclusion. Protection is fundamental but also means giving people a real stake in our future. We want our people to think like owners because when people own the company, they perform differently. So our ambition is to bring employee shareholding to 10%. And we are very close to make our people the #1 shareholder at Veolia. And ownership means everyone has a seat at the table.

This year, we signed the European Diversity and Inclusion Agreement, 125,000 employees covered. Equal opportunities for all in action, close to 40% of external managers hired are women. Finally, trust means being there when it matters most. And that's Veolia Cares, launched by Estelle when she became CEO, supporting new parents, families who lost loved ones, showing people they matter beyond their work.

Third, local impact, anchoring Veolia at the heart of society. Participation in volunteering has doubled in 2 years. Our team restored ecosystems in Italy, built infrastructure for vulnerable population in Ecuador, through our foundation, humanitarian missions in Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo. When communities see Veolia as a genuine partner, not just a service provider, we build long-lasting trust. And when our people see their work making a real difference at the community level, they show up with heart and gut. This is how we become essential, not just operationally but socially.

So here's the bottom line. Trust drives engagement. Engagement drives performance. We build that trust through safety because people need to feel protected, through ownership and inclusion because people need to feel values, through local impact because people need to see their work matters. This is how we deliver essential services in a consistent and reliable way, even in the toughest moments, even in the most challenging places. Because when the world needs us most, our people show up and our operations keep running.

Thank you very much, Isabelle. And we are now getting close to the questions. So just let me remind you that you can ask them by using the chat box on the platform.

Estelle, maybe just before we move to the questions, a few words of conclusion.

Yes. What makes Veolia very unique is quite simple. Sustainability isn't a separate agenda for us. It is our business model. Environmental security is what we do. It's what we sell. It's how we create value for our clients and for our shareholders. Our 2025 results prove it. Historic financial performance, 2 out of 3 GreenUp environmental objectives achieved 2 years early. This is proof that our strategy is on track.

And in a world of turbulence, our mission becomes more critical than ever, keeping vital resources available, reliable and affordable, enhancing strategic autonomy, meeting the sustained demand for our services and technologies. And that's what we do.

So we are now ready to take with all the team your question. Thank you.

Thank you, Estelle. And I have a first question from [ Raj Singh ]. There is a lot of attention around the water and energy requirements from the AI data center boom. To what extent will Veolia's strategy benefit from such growth? Is Veolia involved in tech-related infrastructure discussions with local authority clients or directly with tech companies?

So I will start with suggesting you join our very, very soon Thema, a specific day on innovation and AI in digital, which is in London in a few weeks' time. All the details will be sent to you. And maybe, Emmanuelle, if you want to elaborate more than just inviting to this Thema.

Thank you very much for your question. AI, it's at the heart of our strategy. And on that one, we have a different approach regarding that. Before coming to business, just one word on efficiencies. Under the push of Estelle and Christophe also, we have a very clear strategy in terms of AI and digital. And you may have seen that in terms of efficiency, now 23% at the end of '25 of efficiency has been created or generated through AI and digital when it was 5% or 10% before. But that's one dimension.

The second dimension, you're absolutely right. It's an opportunity for our business. We have an offer which is covering really important need of the data center in AI. It's on water consumption, on energy efficiency and on the treatment of hazardous waste. What we have seen so far with discussion along by Estelle even in advance or really in avail of the process is that we can really bring a differentiation on those ones and especially as we know how to deal with municipality, and that's a language that this type of clients does not manage or have under control. So we can bring for them cost efficiency to help them to keep their license to operate and also help them when they are building or implementing.

So it's acceptability as much as a technical know-how which we have a lot.

Thank you. I have further question from Mr. Philippe Ourpatian about Qatar. Following the recent strike in the Qatar LNG facilities of Ras Laffan, could you update us about your position in Qatar and more broadly in the Middle East by activities, EBITDA contribution by businesses and capital employed?

So, I guess, I will take this question. I've said a few words in my introduction exactly about that. First things first, our priority is to keep our employees safe in the Middle East. We have 9,000 of them and they operate a central service, which means that what we do is ensuring supply of water from desalination. You need treatment of hazardous waste and, therefore, removing pollutants and keeping licensing to operate as much as energy efficiency in large malls and airports. So we have various type of activity in the Middle East.

When it comes to desalination in particular, as you can imagine, it's a very arid part of the world where desalination account from between, say, 70% in Saudi through to more than 90%, 95% of the water supply of the entire countries in the region. So it's absolutely critical needs. That's why I said essential services and critical needs is what Veolia does and does well. As you can imagine, those sites have been -- their security has been reinforced by actually the national like security forces.

And we have as well plan Bs. Just to give you an idea, the various desalination unit we have are interconnected very, very often. So in addition of storage of water, if one were not to be able to operate, you can switch largely to a neighboring one. And of course, there is a little bit overcapacity there. So that's just to give you one hint. And as for the whole details, you can imagine, I won't share them with you today. In terms of figures, Emmanuel, so it's what, EUR 1 billion turnover roughly, but minimal capital employed.

Absolutely, So in terms of figures, just to complete on regarding the numbers. The Middle East, for Veolia, it's EUR 1 billion of revenue. It's a growing, but it's limited in terms of capital employed and EBITDA. It's 0.9% of the capital of the group and 1.2% of the EBITDA of the group. And the reason for that, regarding the limited capital employed, is that for our water operation and our energy efficiency, we don't put our own investment. It's services, it's procurement, it's engineering.

Coming back to Qatar. Regarding Qatar, we don't have any capital employed as we are not putting our own money. Its partnership, we are operating. And in terms of revenue, it's limited. We are speaking roughly around EUR 50 million of revenue.

Thank you very much. I have now a question from [ Olivia Watson ]. What is the outlook for recycling activities with the pending changes in EU regulation?

So I guess there are a few elements about recycling. First things first, recycling is something on circular economy in general which is very well supported by the EU legislation and elsewhere in the world as well. It used to be an environmental agenda item, if you want. It's moved recently to, as well and in addition to be an environment item, to securing supply chain item. If you are able, like we do, to mine waste, to find back some strategic minerals, so cobalt, lithium, nickel used in wasted batteries, for instance instead of importing them from very far away, you can find them in the waste. Therefore, you reduce the supply chain distance and you reduce your dependency.

Therefore, circular economy of recycling is becoming a security agenda as well as environmental agenda, if you wish. I think that's an important item for everybody, including in Europe, where you don't have that many strategic minerals under our feet. Or the same applies with wasted heat and local sources of energy, which can replace like importing fossil fuel. So I think that's a promotion de facto of what circular economy brings as a byproduct in addition to, of course, the CO2 reduction in footprint. So that's why I'm very hopeful that not only in Europe, but in places where you are dependent on imports, it's something which will go on growing in the next few years.

Okay. Thank you, Estelle. I have another question from Mr. [ Francois Umber ]. Thank you for this presentation, especially the focus on coal in CEE and Asia. Is the business case of coal closeout in Central Eastern Europe unique? Or are there other places in the world where this can be duplicated building on the expertise of the Veolia in district heating?

Emmanuelle, maybe?

Yes, with pleasure. Thank you for your question regarding coal exit. The first element, you know that we -- it was -- when we have launched that, it was in 2018 with the decision to completely transform our assets from coal to other energy fuel. And it was the uneasy decision instead of selling, we start to transform. And this transformation has gone really well. We now have a very differentiating expertise to be able to go from coal to multi-fuel approach. We have done that in Germany. We have done that in part of our facility in Czech Republic, and we have started in 2025 with -- in our facility of Poznan.

These projects are really amazing because they have an ARR which are above 10%. It's coming from cost reduction from CO2, but also less maintenance cost. It's also from additional revenue as our new facilities are more efficient and generating more energy revenue. Just taking the example of Poznan, we have increased our ratio from 40% to 70%, and we have also a regulatory framework, which are giving us an upside. And on top of that, as we mentioned, we are increasing the patrimonial value of our assets as well as being more resilient because it's a multi-fuel approach.

Where you're absolutely right is that it is scalable. We have started in some countries. We are deploying that in the rest of the country. We have announced this morning Karvina. And we will be able to continue to deploy that to our other country, but also to sell it to our clients. And this is a special offer that we have put in place and launched, which is the geothermal grid and which is working really well with already projects in the U.K.

So I guess and to elaborate, what about outside Europe? U.K. is outside Europe as in the EU sense of it. And the recipe for success, which you described are there in the U.K. There is a CO2 price. It's not exactly the ETS, which you have seen in Europe, but it's an equivalent of that and an ambition and a political ambition together with local sources of energy, which can replace like fossil fuel. And same, of course, in terms of efficiency and cost reduction as in Mainland Europe.

Outside Europe and the U.K., I guess, Emmanuelle gave you the keys of recipes for success. So if you have no CO2 cost whatsoever, neither any local sources of energy as an alternative, it's going to be tough. But if you have those 2, it can work and it can create a business model, and we'll be very happy to expand in those geographies to give us -- to share our experience built in Europe.

Thank you. Actually, I have a few more questions about this decarbonization district heating that is really driving a lot of interest from Charles Swabey. For the European district heating decarbonization targets, what are the time lines for the additional EUR 250 million EBITDA? Will the sites be fully ramped up by 2030? Could you provide more color about what is driving the EUR 250 million EBITDA increase from the assets? Do you expect a margin increase.

And I will couple that with a question from Peter Crampton that you have already partially answered because the first part of the question was how scalable is the Karvina multi-energy model across Veolia, broader district heating portfolio? But the second part, what are the key economic and regulatory hurdles to replicating this coal exit pathway ahead of the group's 2030 headline? That was a lot.

So like Emmanuelle, so it makes Monday in Europe. So are we on our way to make the plus EUR 250 million EBITDA, which we announced when we were on Poznan a few months ago.

With pleasure. And Estelle and Francisco, please, if I forgot something because there were 10 questions in the question, please tell me. So dear Peter, it's fully scalable. You may have seen it that our main message. It's a truly differentiating element we have to have the team. We know how to deliver this project, which are so complex on time, on budget, multifuel. It's a performance that almost no competitors is able to do in Europe, where we are #1 in district heating.

Coming to the question of profitability. So we communicated to you EUR 250 million of EBITDA coming from this coal exit plan, which is absolutely by 2032. EUR 50 million have been generated before the start of GreenUp. During the start of GreenUp, it's EUR 50 million. And the rest will come afterwards.

Coming to the part which was before GreenUp, it was mainly coming from Germany and a part of it from Prerov. Then during the GreenUp, we have the rest -- a part of Germany in Braunschweig, Kolin, but also Poznan and then has announced this morning, after the plan, we'll have the contribution of [ Lodz ] in Poland and of Karvina. So a very clear plan. We are doing what we say. And we say what we do, really disciplined with clear time line.

There was a question about the economic and regulatory hurdles replicating the coal exit path ahead of schedule.

Ahead of schedule?

Ahead of the 2030 deadline.

So basically, Emmanuelle, we are on schedule to beat the plus EUR 250 million EBITDA, by 2032, like you said. We are on schedule, right?

We are on schedule.

And we publish every year the result. And they are embedded in, of course, financial results. So we're on schedule. What about being ahead of schedule? Can we hope to get quicker, if I try and translate the question?

I think that's it.

So you are very greedy, but a fair question. Coming to that, I just -- regarding the hurdle, I just wanted to say in terms of people, we have amazing people. The main challenge we have, it's, of course, permitting, and it's also the operational challenge because you have to deploy a solution which makes sense locally in your geography. That's why we haven't deployed the same technology when we were, for instance, in Braunschweig, where we have biomass and gas. Then we are in Kolin and Prerov where we have deployed RDF and biomass. So we have to find the solution, which is fitting the geography.

Taking the example of Braunschweig, it was making sense. We are #2 in the geography, the second player in terms of solid waste. So for the sourcing of biomass, it was something which was completely secured. And for -- in other geography, you have to find the solution which makes sense locally and which is the most financially viable.

Can we go even faster than that? So the question, for us, it will be the permitting. Are we going to be able to get the permit even in advance? Estelle is really pushing for us to have a calendar which is progressive because we want the team who has the know to further deploy really properly one project and then go to the other one. If we can scale up, it can -- if we can go faster, we'll do it at the moment, focus is on delivery.

So when it takes a few years of permitting, having a design specific to the local sources of alternative fuel, you can find, plus what, 3 years of construction, something like that, a little bit of ramping up, that's why we already see -- we are talking about [indiscernible] which was opened, what, 3 years ago, something like that and which has ramped up now. And it will spill in the result. So I guess we are making one by one every year, which I think is already a very good achievements.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Changing topic now and talking about biodiversities. I have a question from [indiscernible]. You have just mentioned your objective to be nature-positive wherever you operate. It is a very difficult claim to achieve in a comprehensive manner. What metrics do you use to prove that your positive impacts are superior to the inherent negative impacts of any industrial activity? Your current percentage deployment of biodiversity action on sensitive sites is more an indicator of means than a real way to measure outcome.

So maybe, Sebastian?

Thank you, Estelle, and thank you for the question. So we are working on 2 main pillars about biodiversity. The first one is, of course, to diminish our impact for biodiversity. It is a KPI presented during the presentation. But the second pillar is, of course, about action and solutions because biodiversity is totally part of our solutions.

And you can report for this question to your biodiversity report, which was published last year. And we want to publish before the next general assembly the TFND report, which will explain how biodiversity is totally part of our solutions, speaking about depollution, regeneration of resources and biodiversity beyond our solutions.

I guess in biodiversity, exactly as in CO2 and many other items, environmental speaking, you have the positive impact and the potentially negative impact we have to reduce. Overall, Veolia has a positive impact on biodiversity. Each time we treat wastewater, we have a positive impact on the local biodiversity sources. And we measure it. It's very clear. You have a before and after. You see fish coming back and a variety of them and same with other -- basically nature is coming back each time. And we have great examples in many places.

Same applies with hazardous waste, as you said, Sebastian. The fact of treating hazardous waste and the pollutant as opposed to releasing them for all industries not only has a positive impact on human health, but on biodiversity health, if you want, nature health. And that's again, something we measure. So overall, Veolia have a positive impact on biodiversity. Nevertheless, we could, if we'll not be careful, have a negative impact, which would unfortunately have a little of a minus. That's why we have this initiative, which Sebastien said on specific critical sites, which you could, if we're not careful, have a negative impact.

And it's -- I must say, it's not only obligation of means as opposed to result. We act on the action plan we've defined. But today, there is not 1 KPI in the world on biodiversity. We are working with Act4nature for instance, on all the initiatives to try to define something which will be measurable. But as you can imagine, you can count on this not only to define an action plan but to act on it. Although overall, we have a positive impact on biodiversity at Veolia.

Okay. Thank you. Getting now back to the Middle East. A question from Pierre-Alexandre Ramondenc from AlphaValue. So regarding your desalination operations in the Middle East and the resilience of these activities, could you elaborate on how rising energy costs are managed and their impact on the cost of desalinated water production? Specifically, are these costs hedged? Or are they passed through to customers? And is it the same strategy that is applied on the energy segment?

So globally, energy prices are pass-through for Veolia. Not only we said for a few years, but we've demonstrated in our figures over the last few years. Why do I say the last few years? Because, of course, we started to have this type of question in 2022 when the war in Ukraine started and we've seen the spike of energy price in Europe in particular. So it's globally pass-through for us overall in district heating, in all the activities we have. In the Middle East, in desalination, to answer specifically to your question, it is really pass-through. So we don't pay directly, if you want, the energy cost. Our customers do. We operate the plant with an incentivization of being more efficient in terms of our consumption of energy. But this will not impact in our P&L.

Thank you. And actually, I have a question from Olly Jefferey that is on the same line. Diesel costs are passed through but with a lag for Veolia. So this could be an H2 EBITDA headwind. However, the energy business should have offsets. How should I think about the net effect of this for 2026 earnings if commodity stays where they are?

Thanks, Olly, for your question. You know that fuel, for us, it's mainly diesel that we buy for our waste activity for the trucks. It's limited. We are speaking about EUR 270 million which are fully passed through. Just a personal comment. I started at Veolia working in the solid waste business, spent hours and hours on the potential upside of hedging diesel. But as we have fully pass-through formula to our clients, it doesn't make sense. You're right, we may have a small tag line, but it's limited. It's a question of months because you may have seen that in 2022, we were able to make for solid waste or hazardous waste sometimes in some geography, price increase 3x per year.

We have communicated on the impact of the negative commodity energy price in 2026. It's roughly EUR 30 million, which has been communicated and all the assumptions and the calculation we did in the last few weeks with Estelle are confirming the numbers so far. But we'll see what will happen with the evolution on Middle East. But so far, as mentioned by Estelle, it is pass-through. And even as in 2022 and it's going slightly up, we may have some one-off opportunity as we have been able to demonstrate to you in 2022 and 2023.

On all these questions about risks, I would encourage you to look back at a slide we've published when we released our yearly results about the various factors where we have some proven resilience in our results, which have gone up in the last 5 years quarter after quarter after quarter irrespective of a lot of things that have happened in these years. And you can go through the full list. Like our business model is very protective because we are very global when it comes to innovation and scale of R&D but very local when it comes to delivery. Therefore, tariff, not a question for us.

Inflation, we are well protected, and we've demonstrated it. As Emmanuelle said, commodities is exactly the same. We don't rely on specific 1 or 2 customers. It's very varied the portfolio of customers with long-term contracts. And I could go on with the list. So we'll be very happy to answer those questions, but have a look at the proof that we've demonstrated over the last few years.

Thank you. I have now a more general question from [ Lorian Gillet ]. Are you considering revising and increasing the objectives of GreenUp so that you can keep a continuous improvement dynamic considering that 2/3 of the initial objectives have already been achieved?

2/3 of the initial objective, you're talking about the 3 environmental one. But as you know, multifaceted performance is environment, it's HR, HR as in employees. You know we're talking about our customers and Net Promoter Scores and so on and so forth. So we are very happy we've achieved very great results on the nonfinancial as well as financial in '25. But I can tell you, we never rest on our laurels at Veolia. We have to keep on focusing the attention on delivery again in '26 and '27 as we've done in '24 and '25 for the first part of GreenUp. So priority is to delivering. And of course, if we can increase and keep on increasing, we will. Don't worry.

And the specific targets of all the managers are very clear, and they all have a plus. Even if we overachieved in '25, it goes on with improving in '26 and '27. Maybe Isabelle, you want to elaborate on the nonfinancial, which are not necessarily only like environmental items and how in '26 and '27, you have specific things you want to achieve.

Yes. Well, we have specific goals on health and safety, of course, but the target is already very demanding. We're getting there, though. We have also a specific objective, for example, in diversity and inclusion. We have revised this one, by the way. And so, well, it's on the way, let's say, it's work in progress. But believe me, it takes a lot to get there for all of our executives but also for all our people within Veolia. It takes a lot. It does.

And I think when I say all our people in Veolia, you realize that we are only 5 presenting those results to you today. But there are 15,000 managers at Veolia who have part of their incentive yearly, which has to do with the result that you were presented today and objective in '26 and '27. So it has an impact on many, many people, and you can count on us to go on always trying to be better.

Thank you. I have now a question from Emira Sagaama from ODDO. How do you see prospects for services linked to the circular economy overall? And what are the fastest-growing segments? Do you expect positive drivers from new relations, such as the Circular Economy Act expected this year?

In a way, that's a question I've partially answered already. So circular economy is not only good, as I said, for the environment, but as well for securing supply chain because you can find into waste new sources of minerals, strategic elements or even heat. So the EU legislation is relatively ambitious there with a few layers. We can talk about the plastic regulation. There is a Critical Materials Act, which was launched by the EU last year if I remember well. And it's constantly evolving to have an even better ambition.

What we know works well is incentive to make compulsory to have within the supply chain in a few years' time X percent of recycled content into it. So we know that's a tool which doesn't imply a lot of public money. Nevertheless, it's quite efficient. But then you have to keep moving this type of target in a very specific way. So regulation is nice. I'm always hoping for more pace in the implementation of the regulation in the various different countries. And at times, devil is in the detail. From a big ambition to, okay, how do you count this percentage, what counts in, what doesn't, what are the dates of these obligations?

So in a way, the ambition is there. I think there is a big plus potentially in the EU. But we'll see if it translates into real things depending on the all details of the way it's implemented and the speed of implementation in every single country. So juries out for me.

Thank, you, Estelle. We still have many questions coming. But cautious of time, maybe what I'll do is, I'll take one last question. And then for all the other questions, please do not hesitate to refer to our Investor Relations team. They'll be very happy to provide you with all the answers.

So the last question, still from Emira Sagaama. Biomass is one of the alternative energy sources in your decarbonization efforts. How do you ensure the sustainability of the sourcing?

Maybe, Sebastien.

Yes. Thank you, Estelle. So biomass is used for heat district production. And it is supported by the European Union and member states in Europe, of course. But it's not only the support from the states which is important, but of course, the origin of the biomass. And so we are working with the national forest offices in different countries in order to trust the biomass product. And today, 100% of our wood biomass is [ trusted ]. And 90% is certified sustainable. And the objective is to be 100% in 2027 for this quarter.

We as well mine a lot of biomass into wast stuff. So in addition to what Sebastien said, of course, it's used biomass, if you want, as opposed to virgin one. I don't know if you want to have your experience in Asia maybe on biomass. How do you source biomass?

So the biomass we are getting from Asia and in Harbin project, for which we are doing the study right now is coming -- it's a residue from the industry business. So we are not speaking about virgin wood biomass. We are speaking about residue, which is very important to be able to decarbonize the project. Important point.

Thank you very much. Thank you to all our speakers, and thank you for following us. I think we are more than 500 across almost 50 countries. It was a pleasure to be with you this morning. Thank you, and goodbye.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Veolia Annual Results 2025 Conference Call with Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO; and Emmanuelle Menning, CFO; and also Daniel Tugues, Country Director of Spain. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded today, Thursday, February 26, 2026.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining this conference call to present Veolia's 2025 results. I'm accompanied by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO; and by Daniel Tugues, Head of Spain.

I'm on Slide 4. 2025 was the second year of our 4-year GreenUp plan, and I consider it as a truly pivotal year in our trajectory, and I will tell you how. 2025 was another year of outperformance and historical high. We exceeded our guidance with an organic EBITDA growth of plus 6.3%, above the target range of 5% to 6% despite a complex environment and with a particularly robust fourth quarter.

In the 2 years since the start of GreenUp, we have significantly improved our profitability with an increase of 150 bp in our EBITDA margin and plus 11.8% average annual growth of current net income. The first half of GreenUp is a real success, and we are fully in line with our trajectory, even ahead when it comes to our ROCE at 9.4% after tax at the end of 2025. This is 2 years in advance of our targets.

But in 2025, above all, we resolutely resumed external growth with 2 major multibillion dollars acquisitions in Water Technologies and U.S. Hazardous Waste, two of our growth boosters accelerating, therefore, the group's transformation towards more international and technology-driven businesses and enhancing the group's growth profile for the years to come.

We have also enhanced our shareholder return in 2025 as we complemented our dividend policy with a multiyear share buyback program related to our employee shareholder plan. The excellent 2025 result as well as our strong fundamentals allow us to be very confident for '26 with an ambitious guidance and full confirmation of our GreenUp trajectory building a stronger group going forward.

I'm now on Page 4 -- 5, sorry, where you see that 2025 results are at a historic high and largely exceed our initial objectives. Revenue reached EUR 44.4 billion, up 2.8%, excluding energy price, which are essentially pass-through for us, as you know.

EBITDA increased by a substantial 6.3% on a like-for-like basis, above our 5% to 6% guidance range and shows a margin improvement of 70 basis points, above plus 80 basis points in '24. We are now at the historical high of 15.9% margin rate -- EBITDA margin rate in Veolia. This is thanks to our continued performance improvement and recurring efficiency gains with an enhanced performance outside Europe, where EBITDA jumped by plus 9.3%, complemented by the last synergies coming from the Suez acquisition 4 years ago.

Current net income was up plus 9.1%, in line with our guidance and demonstrating our strong operating leverage.

Net financial debt remains well under control at EUR 19.7 billion, even after EUR 2.3 billion of net financial acquisition, closed in '25.

Our leverage ratio is at 2.79x at the end of '25, well below 3x, testimony to our strong financial discipline and our capacity to have room for maneuver in the future.

Finally, we reach our ROCE targets 2 years in advance and achieved a remarkable 9.4% after-tax ROCE in 2025.

Page 6 illustrates our enhanced growth in international markets, notably outside Europe, where our businesses are not only faster growing, but also more profitable with an EBITDA margin already at 17.8%, which is better than the 15.9%, nevertheless, a historical high for the group as a whole.

Our revenue grew by 4.1% organically outside Europe with an excellent performances in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, notably. Emmanuelle will detail each zone performance in a minute, but I would like here to highlight a few key commercial successes. In the Middle East, after years in the making and technical design, we were awarded, and we've just signed a few days ago, a $500 million project in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Aramco TotalEnergies Consortium, SATORP. We will design, build and operate a massive new plant to treat the super complex effluent of this petrochemical site.

In the U.S., in addition to the strategic execution of Clean Earth, which we expect to close mid-'26, our biggest and most transformative acquisitions since the merger with Suez. As you know, we've complemented the strong organic growth with 3 tuck-in and hazardous waste, which are high value creative.

In Chile, we signed the first hybrid municipal industrial desalination plant in Valpara so.

In India, we secured 2 strategic contracts for 2 of Mumbai's larger water treatment plants. Both facilities will use Veolia cutting-edge technologies. Finally, in Europe, we also enjoyed a very encouraging commercial momentum.

Page 7 shows our performance split by activities. On the one hand, our booster activities, which is Water Technologies, Hazardous Waste and Bioenergies have continued to grow at a steady pace in '25, plus 4.3% organic and plus 8% including tuck-ins, almost 2x faster than Strongholds. Strongholds on the other hand, confirmed their resilience and infrastructure life profile with a 2.2% growth.

As you know, Strongholds and Boosters go hand in hand with 30% of our revenue coming from a combination of activities. Those numbers are a confirmation of the sustained demand for our proprietary solutions to tackle critical needs from securing water supply to treating pollutant and protecting health. This top line performance translates well into value creation with EBITDA up 4.8% for Stronghold and jumping by 12.1% for Boosters. Emmanuelle will give you all the details in a few moments.

2025 was also the year of the successful launch of new technology and offers. I would like to give you two examples on Slide 8. First, in PFAS treatment, which, as you know, is a fast-growing and very promising business unit opportunity for Veolia. We achieved EUR 259 million of revenue in PFAS in '25, which is up 25% versus 0 in 2022. And as you know, we aim to reach EUR 1 billion by 2030.

In 2025, we developed BeyondPFAS, our end-to-end management solution from detection to disposal, combining Water Technologies and Hazardous Waste and including our DropFast proprietary technology to optimize HTI disposal.

We already provide PFAS treatment in the U.S., in France and in Australia, and we've already deployed 30 PFAS removal units in our U.S. water operations and plan an extra 15.

In the area of new urban energy, we presented our new Ecothermal Grid offer in Poznan last November. It's a truly green heating and cooling solutions for existing and greenfield networks, using untapped local sources of energy, which is really unique at Veolia.

We target EUR 350 million extra revenue in 2030. We actually already have a pipeline of GBP 1 billion of projects in the U.K. as part of the deployment of our new Ecothermal Grid offering, and I'm very pleased we were recently awarded a first in this U.K. pipeline with flagship scientific Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge.

I'm now on Slide 9. In 2 years, the delivery of the GreenUp plan, combining resilience and growth was above our own expectation, both in terms of growth performance and strategic transformation. And this in spite of a complex economic and political context, which impacted foreign exchange rates, fiscal stability and production costs, notably energy costs.

These first 2 years were indeed marked by a strong improvement in our profitability and value creation with an average annual 11.8% growth in current net income group share between '23 and '25, combined with a spectacular improvement of ROCE post tax to a record high 9.4% in '25.

Our performance during these first 2 years was also augmented by the completion of Suez Energy Plan, which evidenced our capacity to boost the performance of the business we integrate.

On Slide 10, given our very strong '25 results, the Board proposed to the AGM a dividend of EUR 1.5 per share, up 7% versus '24 and 20% since '23 and in line with our EPS growth.

Since the start of GreenUp, I really -- as I mentioned in the beginning, we have also enhanced our shareholder return as we complemented our dividend policy with a multiyear share buyback program in order to offset the impact of our employee shareholding program. And this represented EUR 402 million in 2025.

2025 was a pivotal year in many ways. I'm on Slide 11. First, 2025 was the last year of Suez integration. We successfully completed our integration plan with EUR 534 million of synergies delivered in full year, above our initial target of EUR 500 million. This clearly demonstrates our track record in securing delivery of value creation when it comes to external growth, and we will, of course, apply those skills to the Clean Earth's acquisition.

Moreover, 2025 has also been the year where we've crystallized strategic move consistent with our GreenUp strategy, investing in priority in highly innovative and technology-driven activities, our Boosters and outside Europe. Two major acquisitions were signed or closed in '25, creating value and enhancing the group's growth profile going forward. This began in the spring with EUR 1.5 billion invested in Water Technologies to buy out the minority interest and to fully merge our entities, and be in a position to extract EUR 90 million of additional synergies and enhance our growth capabilities on a worldwide dynamic market.

We then accelerated external growth in Hazardous Waste. First, with several tuck-ins for a total amount of almost EUR 370 million in the U.S., in Japan and in Brazil. And finally, with the strategic acquisition of Clean Earth in the U.S. This $3 billion acquisition, the largest in Suez will allow us to double our size in Hazardous Waste in the U.S., positioning us as #2.

Veolia will strengthen its presence in the U.S. altogether with more than $6 billion turnover and a very strong position to deliver unique solutions and technologies to remove pollutants, to secure water supply and support reshoring of strategic industries. The complementary of Clean Earth and Veolia's assets in the U.S. will enable us to extract significant synergies of $120 million and will be accretive from 2027, excluding PPA, assuming a closing midyear '26.

On Slide 12, we've illustrated the accelerated portfolio transformation underway with EUR 8 billion of asset rotation in 4 years towards a group that is stronger, more international and more technology-rich. This transformation enhances our sustained growth profile and will create additional value for many years to come. We started GreenUp with a divestment program of around EUR 1 billion, including the disposal of our SADE French construction activity and the non-duplicable sulfuric acid generation activity region.

In '25, we will have crystallized major acquisition in our boosters, specifically in Water Tech and with Clean Earth to close in '26. We will divest an additional EUR 2 billion in the 2 years post closing of Clean Earth. The typical candidates for disposal are assets that are mature or nonstrategic or undercritical in size.

I would like to highlight the fact that these divestitures are not all financing purposes as well finance Clean Earth on our balance sheet and recover 3x leverage as soon as '27, but rather in order to keep flexibility for investment in faster-growing activities or geographies.

Acquisitions, net of disposal represent a cumulative net financial investment of EUR 2.5 billion compared to the EUR 2.2 billion initially envisaged for GreenUp.

Before we move to our guidance for '26, I would like on Slide 13 to emphasize the group's sustainable growth engine, which explains how we could be confident about our future performance. The demand for our services has never been stronger. And it is here to stay whilst crisis multiple because the proprietary solutions Veolia provides are answers to critical needs for industries and cities alike.

Indeed, our customers, businesses and committees are facing growing challenges in terms of water scarcity, water quality, pollution control, supply chain interruption and a growing determination to achieve strategic independence and accelerate industrial reshoring.

In short, for cities to deliver essential services for industries to produce, for economies to grow, one thing is nonnegotiable. This is environmental security, securing water, securing energy, securing supply chains, protecting health. We secure water supply to cities by leveraging our unique patent of technologies, our efficient network distribution using AI, by resuming wastewater and running energy-efficient desalination plants. We secure supply chain for industries by mining waste or waste heat to secure local sources of energy or critical minerals, thus avoiding dependents on long-distance imports.

We protect health with Hazardous Waste management and depollution, ensuring that drinking water is at the highest standard and securing the license to operate for strategic industries such as MicroE or pharma.

Whatever the turbulence in the world, Veolia's mission and unique offer is, therefore, to keep vital resources available, reliable and affordable to enhance strategic autonomy and to take advantage of sustained demand for our services and technology.

On Slide 14, I would like now to share how Veolia is uniquely positioned to benefit from this sustained demand as we've built a unique powerhouse for environmental security.

Our worldwide leadership and presence in 44 countries always in the top 3, gives us size to innovate and develop unique technologies through our 14 R&D centers. As you may remember, we hold more than 4,400 patents in water treatment, for instance.

Our proprietary solutions are then locally delivered, and tailor-made to fit each community or industrial complex specific needs. We are really multi-local in our delivery, which explains why we are not affected by tariffs and why ForEx does not impact our margin rate and central government are not central to us.

In addition, our customer base is really varied. 50% from municipalities or public authorities, 50% from private customers and wide ranging from retail and hospitals to microelectronics, pharma or oil and gas. This variety is combined with the long duration of our contracts, 11 years on average. The high Net Promoter Score, which ensures a renewal rate of over 90% and with no one single contract representing more than a small percentage of the group revenue. This offers massive resilience in our performance.

Finally, we provide a unique combination of waste water and energy solutions. That's our edge. It's already delivering 1/3 of the group's revenue from these combinations. Veolia has really transformed into a unique global powerhouse for environmental security, organized to grow and innovate whilst ensuring resilience and long-term performance in an uncertain world.

This sustained demand and unique positioning gives me high confidence for the years to come as the group has never been stronger. I'm on Slide 15.

The GreenUp trajectory is fully confirmed. I would like to highlight why our organic EBITDA and net result growth are sustainable for the years to come because they are fueled by top line growth, supported by sustained demand for critical services, boosted performance in certain activity, notably Hazardous Waste and Water Technologies, superior and continued effort on efficiency and cost control, as well as an ability to react quickly and strongly when needed with specific action plan, as we will see in a minute with Spain and a good track record in successful integrating companies when we complement organic with external growth.

For 2026, we have very ambitious targets on an organic basis, which will be complemented by the Clean Earth acquisition when we close the deal. On a stand-alone basis, we expect a continued solid organic revenue growth, excluding energy price, an organic EBITDA growth of 5% to 6%, and I would like to highlight this is without Suez synergies since they are now behind us, a current net income growth of at least plus 8% at constant ForEx. The dividend will continue to grow in line with current EPS and our leverage ratio will be below or equal 3x before Clean Earth. And after Clean Earth, equal or slightly above 3x. As you know, we would consolidate Clean Earth for only part of the year, and we'll be back to 3x or below 3x in 2027.

As you know, we have to go through various regulatory approvals before we close the Clean Earth acquisition, which we said will be accretive from year 2 and current EPS. Assuming the closing happens mid-'26, which is the best assumption we can do now, this would mean synergies will start in '27, and the transaction will be accretive to current net income from 2027 before PPA. The $2 billion -- sorry, EUR 2 billion disposal program should be delivered in the 2 years post-closing of Clean Earth acquisition.

Before Emmanuelle details our '25 results, I will hand over to Daniel Tugues, Head of Spain. He will give you some color about how we can drive performance improvement and sustain margin increase as well as top line growth in what is a historical activity and typical stronghold for us, thanks to our agility. Daniel, floor is yours.

Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. I'm Daniel Tugues, Country Head for Spain. I'm very happy to be here today to present Veolia's 2025 results and illustrate our GreenUp execution with a focus on our activities in Spain over the past 2 years. Estelle just mentioned, Veolia is unique because we are an environmental security powerhouse. and this is highly relevant in Spain, where climate change and the scarcity of resources, notably water are central to our citizens' concerns. Indeed, 70% of Spanish people believe that they are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which are already happening in Spain. Citizens still vulnerable, and I'm afraid they are right. 75% of our land is threatened by desertification. We just went through the worst drought on record, which ended last spring, and it is going to get worse with 20% less precipitation expected by 2050.

As it is recognized, these impacts could prove far more costly than the capital expenditure required for adaptation. This is precisely what Veolia is doing in Spain, driving ecological transformation by providing efficient water networks and reuse solutions, by securing supply chains for industries, providing them with local energy and by protecting health with waste management and depollution.

Given this geography, it is no accident that we developed innovative solutions early on, such as wastewater reuse, which already accounts for 15% of our water supply and growing and other nonconventional resources such as desalination. To illustrate the point, during the past drought, the water coming out of the tap in Barcelona was sourced 1/3 from traditional sources, rivers and wells, 1/3 from desalination and 1/3 from water reuse. We have shared this experience with our Veolia colleagues. First, with our French colleagues across the building and also with our American teams who are very much looking forward to deploying those solutions in their countries.

Veolia is strongly positioned to tackle Spain's critical needs. Spain is the fourth largest country of operations for Veolia, with EUR 2.8 billion in revenues or EUR 3 billion if we include the activities of our specialized business units for Water Technologies and Hazardous Waste.

Our presence has grown significantly since 2022 with the integration of Suez and notably Aguas de Barcelona. The defining feature of our presence in Spain is our strong local footprint, deeply embedded across territories and communities. Starting with water, which represents 70% of our revenue. In a nutshell, Veolia is the #1 water provider in the country, locally anchored and positioned across the complete water cycle management from production and distribution of drinking water to the collection and treatment of wastewater.

We run long-term concessions such as Aguas de Barcelona, Aguas de Murcia, Aguas de Alicante and many others, and we are also active in water technologies and operate several industrial wastewater treatment plants and desalination facilities. such as those in Tenerife and Almer a.

In energy, Veolia is the #1 in building energy services and also leader in energy efficiency. Examples include EcoEnergies, the Barcelona District Heating and Cooling network using residual energies and energy efficiency projects for sites like Hospital Reina Sofia in Cordoba and maybe other similar sites around the country.

In waste, we provide circular economy solutions for municipalities and industrial clients, notably in plastic recycling, waste-to-energy and hazardous waste, the latter including a high-temperature incinerator near Tarragona.

Our strategy going forward is not only to continue developing those businesses and enhance profitability but also to constantly innovate at EUR 1 billion, especially given the strong demand for treating new pollutants for more simpler solutions and for new sources of local energy from waste or wastewater.

On a personal level, having spent many years focused on water, I can say that the One Veolia project is like a tremendous opportunity to me.

As for the whole of Veolia, 2025 has been a pivotal year for Spain, and I would like to show you how we have been able to recover while improving our profitability over the past 2 years since the launch of GreenUp. Given the underwhelming performance we faced in 2022 and '23, notably in water concessions, we decided to launch a specific action plan in 2023 called Hunter associated with specific objectives and incentives for managers, not only at the national level but also at the regional one. And I must say that Hunter benefited a lot by leveraging Veolia's performance culture and tools in our Spanish operations, including internal benchmarking on operational costs and KPIs as well as a proven methodology.

To boost the top line, we launched a tariff campaign to catch up with cost in water concessions with a tailor-made approach for each of our more than 1,000 contracts. In parallel, we deployed a commercial excellence program to enhance our offers, and we also complemented our organic growth with 13 tuck-ins, mainly in energy efficiency, which were highly value accretive as they are actually plug and play. Over 2 years, this represented EUR 87 million in enterprise value, bought at an average multiple of 7.4x EBITDA.

In terms of operational performance, we largely improved our efficiency, not least with AI. For instance, we put in place an AI customer service tool across Spain, that currently deals with more than 1,000 daily transactions, improving availability of our customer service, omnichannel 24/7 no waiting, while at the same time, saving nearly EUR 1 million. Those efficiency measures were complemented by the synergies delivered from the Suez integration.

All in all, Spain delivered EUR 109 million in efficiencies plus synergies from 2023 to '25. All that resulted in a very significant improvement of our growth and performance. In 2 years, revenue has grown by 12% and EBITDA by no less than 40%. We are very proud of these results as we are even ahead of our plan to hence Spain's performance. But this is not the end of the journey, as I am focused on continuing to deliver sustainable and profitable growth for Veolia. Demand for all our services in the country is strong, and the power of One Veolia offers many possibilities for combining our diverse expertise to secure essential services. Thank you for your attention, and I will now hand over to Emmanuelle.

Thank you, Estelle. Thank you, Daniel, and good morning, everyone. Veolia 2025 results are very strong, perfectly aligned with our GreenUp trajectory and above our initial guidance and that on many grounds. For growth, we continue to deliver solid growth, thanks to strong underlying business trends and fueled by boosters, which progressed by 4.3% and even 8% if we consider tuck-ins.

Second, performance in the first 2 years of GreenUp, we considerably improved our profitability driven by strong intrinsic growth and synergies, leading in 2025 to an EBITDA organic growth of 6.3% and to a very strong improvement of 70 bp of our EBITDA margin in 16%, which reflects the success of our strategic choices. We maintain a robust operational leverage, enabling us to grow current net income at a faster pace.

And third, capital allocation, while we resume external growth in 2025, we maintain a very strong balance sheet with a leverage ratio below 3x at year-end, thanks to our strong free cash flow.

And finally, value creation, the successful GreenUp execution led to an outstanding ROCE, which is the best measurement of our value creation at 9.4%, which was our objective for 2027, so delivered 2 years in advance.

With EUR 34.4 billion in revenue, we experienced a solid growth of 2.8%. The operating leverage and the delivery of efficiencies and synergies were excellent and resulted in solid organic EBITDA growth of 6.3%, above guidance, current EBIT growth of 8.9%, current net income growth of 9.1%, with underlying higher growth, even higher if we restate for last year set capital gain.

Net financial debt reached EUR 19.7 billion. The leverage ratio reached 2.79x, below 3x as expected.

ForEx impact was significant as announced due to lower U.S. dollar and LatAm currency. This reflects the improved performance of our international activities, which is increasing value creation. But as you know, as a multi-local group with very limited international trade, ForEx has very limited impact on margin rate and on net income level.

Moving to Slide 23, you can see the revenue and EBITDA evolution by geography. The main features in 2025 was the enhancement of our growth outside Europe and the superior growth of EBITDA in both outside Europe and Water Tech segments. In Q4, EBITDA growth accelerate as announced at the end of Q3, thanks to the benefit of our action plan notably in France and the good performance of Water Tech.

I will start with Water Technologies, for which 70% of our activities are recurring, corresponding to product, mobile unit and chemicals, while 30% is more volatile by nature, what we call projects. In 2025 and especially in the first 9 months, project revenue was impacted by the timing of milestone delivery and a strong comparison basis versus last year. And as we announced in Q3, Water Tech revenue rebounded in Q4 and grew by 3.6% for the full year, excluding project by 4.6%.

Operational performance was excellent with EBITDA growth of 14%. America, Africa, Middle East and APAC performed well in 2025 with revenue growth of 4.1% and EBITDA growth of 9.3%. Europe grew by 3.3%. And finally, France and Hazardous Waste Europe, revenue was flat, but EBITDA increased by a significant 6.3%, thanks to good Hazardous Waste performance, efficiency action in solid waste and resilient water activity.

Now let's take a look at our performance by businesses. Very solid growth in our Strongholds, which proved themselves very resilient with very high margin and capacity to continue increasing EBITDA growth.

Let's start with Municipal Water. Revenue increased by 3.5% with a remarkable EBITDA progression of plus 6.1%. We continue to benefit from good indexation, have achieved successful tariff renegotiation in Spain, and in the U.S., which protect our future earnings. Volumes were on a very good trend, up close to 3% in Europe. Solid waste revenue grew by plus 0.5% with a very strong EBITDA progression of plus 6.8%, which illustrates our capacity to implement efficiency plan, supporting EBITDA improvement.

Revenue from District Heating Network increased by plus 1.7%, excluding energy prices, thanks to a sustained e-tariffs.

Let's move on to our Boosters performance on Slide 25, which have gone very well, with revenue up by 4.3% and by 8% including tuck-ins. Overall, EBITDA performance is excellent, up by 12% with an increase of the average EBITDA margin by 100 bp, which confirms GreenUp choices. Skipping Water Tech that I am just commenting and started with Hazardous Waste. Revenue increased by 5.3%, including tuck-ins and 3.8% organically with EBITDA up by 12.8%, which is outstanding.

I would like to highlight especially the strong growth in the U.S., up plus 9.2%, including tuck-ins, fueled by incineration volumes and mix. In Bioenergy, revenue was up plus 5.8%, excluding energy prices, and EBITDA increased by 5.1% with strong sales momentum in Belgium, Southern Europe and in the Middle East.

The revenue bridge on Slide 26 explain the drivers of our growth in 2025. Negative ForEx impact decrease in Q4. Scope was slightly negative as the impact of 2024 divestiture, SADE, Lydec and RGS was compensated for a large part by the favorable impact of 2025 external growth. The impact will turn positive in 2026. The expected consolidation of Clean Earth in the second semester 2026 will further contribute.

The impact of energy prices was as expected, divided by 2 compared to last year. Recycled prices were neutral. Weather effects after a colder winter at the beginning of year in Europe, Q4 was marginally helpful.

The contribution of commerce and volume was comparable to last year. And finally, price effects were, as expected, lower than in 2024 due to lower inflation and contribute plus 1.4% to top line growth.

On Page 27, you have the EBITDA bridge detailing our organic growth of 6.3%, above the annual guidance between 5% and 6%. Negative ForEx impact increased in Q4, as mentioned earlier. This impact was very much ups and down the line for EBIT and current net income. Scope was slightly negative, but as expected, was positive in Q4. The impact of energy was minus EUR 40 million, less than last year as expected, while recycled prices were slightly up, plus EUR 10 million. Intrinsic growth contributed by a significant plus 4.8% to EBITDA growth, thanks to the combination of commerce volume works for 2% and pricing productivity efficiency for 2.8%, it accelerated in Q4, thanks to the benefit of our action plan in France and the rebound in Water Tech, including new synergies, and I'll come back later to those synergies.

Now let's dive into our second lever of value creation after growth, which is performance and efficiency. I am now on Slide 28, which shows our 2025 performance.

In terms of our yearly efficiency plan, we achieved EUR 399 million in gain in line with our annual target of EUR 350 million, which we will, for sure, renew in 2026.

Efficiency are indeed a permanent level of value creation embedded in our operation and therefore, one we can count on for years to come, not to say forever.

It is worth noting that digital and AI gain already account for 23% of our recurring operational efficiency.

Suez synergies are fully completed, as Estelle mentioned. We have achieved another EUR 100 million of gain in 2025 for a cumulative total of EUR 534 million since day 1, well above our initial objective of EUR 500 million, which, as you know, was raised a year ago to EUR 530 million. This overachievement is a testimony to our capacity to successfully integrate our acquisitions and the clear marker of the success of the Suez merger.

Going forward, we will benefit from the synergies coming from the merger of our 2 Water Technology entities following the buyout of the 30% minority stake of CDPQ in June '25. We target EUR 90 million by '27 and EUR 20 million have already been achieved. On top of that, after we closed the acquisition of Clean Earth mid-'26, we will start the integration process and target a total amount of $120 million of synergies between 2027 and 2030.

Let's now analyze our performance below EBITDA, and I am on Slide 30. Going down to current EBIT, this slide illustrates perfectly the operational leverage of our business model. 2.8% revenue growth, 6.3% EBITDA growth and 8.9% EBIT increase. Current EBIT grew to EUR 3.7 billion at a faster pace than EBITDA. I am particularly pleased with our financial results, which excluding financial capital gains, show a slight decrease of EUR 21 million of our financial charges. This was due to a combination of a well-controlled cost of debt and lower other financial charges coming notably from French exchange results. We did not benefit in 2025 from net financial capital gain contrary to 2024 with the SADE disposal. The tax charges were only slightly higher by EUR 11 million, and our current tax rate decrease from 27.1% to 25.4%, thanks to the benefits of Water Technologies fiscal synergies. Finally, current net income increased by 9.1% at constant ForEx in line with our debt.

Moving to net income group share, I am on Slide 31. Noncurrent charges were stable at minus EUR 433 million. They include additional integration costs coming from Water Tech merger, one-off restructuring charges and an exceptional litigation provision in 2025. Net income group share reached EUR 1.2 billion, showing an excellent growth of 10.9%.

Now free cash flow generation, which is key. I am on Slide 32. I am satisfied with the progression of the net free cash flow of EUR 39 million at constant ForEx, which we achieved despite the working capital evolution due to less project down payment in Q4 and one-off litigation payments in 2025, including Flint for around EUR 70 million. The underlying evolution of our working capital was, in fact, quite good with another reduction in the DSO of 5 days to 74 days. Thanks to our dedicated plan, which will continue quicker invoices. We have a clear plan to reduce time to invoice, cash collection, new ERP with use of AI.

CapEx was once again under site control and was stable in 2025. CapEx will remain under control but continue to include significant growth CapEx, which will generate EBITDA.

As you can see on Slide 33, net financial debt is well under control, which is EUR 19.6 billion at the end of 2025 versus EUR 17.8 billion at the end of 2024. This increase of EUR 1.8 billion is due to the resumption of external growth with EUR 2.3 billion of financial investment, which includes the purchase of the Water Tech minority stake for EUR 1.5 billion. This was not at the detriment of our leverage, which remained well below 3x at 2.79x. This bridge also reminds you of our share buyback program, which has been launched to offset the dilution of the employee shareholding program for EUR 400 million in 2025. We have, again, in '25, successfully issued new bonds, which attracted market interest and was done with very good market conditions. I will also mention that 85% of our net financial debt is at fixed rate.

Our balance sheet, therefore, remains very strong. Both rating agencies confirmed strong investment-grade rating in '25. Before concluding, this slide reminds you of our 2026 guidance, which Estelle has commented earlier, continued solid organic revenue growth, excluding energy prices, EBITDA organic growth between 5% and 6%; current net income of minimum 8% at constant ForEx, excluding Clean Earth, which we will close mid-'26 and which will be accretive as soon as '27, excluding PPA, leverage ratio equal or below 3x, including Clean Earth and equal or slightly above 3x with Clean Earth acquisition. And as usual, our dividend will grow in line with our current EPS. And we fully confirm our GreenUp objective.

Finally, let me remind you that we have started our $2 billion nonstrategic asset divestiture program, which I cannot, of course, give you detail, but which will also contribute to the continued soundness of our balance sheet while providing us with balance sheet headroom. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Emmanuelle. Thank you, Daniel, and we are ready, 3 of us, to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Arthur Sitbon with Morgan Stanley.

I was wondering basically about your 2026 current net income target, which is at constant FX and basically without the Clean Earth impact. I was wondering if you could provide some more thoughts on at the current FX levels, what do you see as the mark-to-market impact from FX on your 2026 numbers as well as potential comments to understand a bit the magnitude of the Clean Earth impact for 2026?

And you confirm the GreenUp target. So you talked about 8% growth in net income in 2026, but there is more growth. It's a 10% pace annual for -- by 2027 for the GreenUp target. So I was wondering basically if we should understand that net income growth will considerably accelerate in 2027. And my last question is just on your broader medium-term objectives. I was wondering if at some point you would consider rolling over your targets and maybe guiding to 2028 and 2029 or if we should wait for early 2028 for your new business plan?

Thank you for your questions. Many different ones. Just a few things. We're very happy about the 2025 results, which was a very value accretive and a history high and well on our trajectory of GreenUp and even exceeded some of the target in EBITDA and in ROCE, just to mention the 2 of them.

In terms of the guidance for '26, you have noted that the guidance left-hand side of the slide, if you want, is without Clean Earth and after Suez merger. So in a way, it's a kind of stand-alone. But of course, the acquisition of Clean Earth will be accretive for years to come. So the way to have a look at it, and that's why it's an ambitious one. We are saying that without any Suez synergies and before the accretion and the synergies of Clean Earth, we are able to deliver in '26 5% to 6% organic growth of EBITDA and at least 8%. So it can be more than 8%, but it's at least 8% of net results. That's what the guidance says. So I just wanted to highlight that it was after Suez and before Clean Earth. which means that it's really a confident and ambitious guidance, which I'm very confident we will deliver.

In terms of the global ForEx element, and it's not only on like net results, it's on everything. I just want to highlight again that ForEx for us is a translation, not transaction. In other terms, as I tried to explain, we are a multi-local delivery company, which means that the cost and revenue are in the same currency. And therefore, ForEx up or down doesn't impact our margin. And we've proven it in '25. We've proven in '24, within 2 years, plus 150 business point -- bp, sorry, of margin increase. So proof is in the pudding, as you say in English, that it doesn't impact our margin. And as you know, ForEx translation at 100 at the top of our P&L goes down to 20 basically, so 20% or divided by 5 when it comes to net results, that's the global figures that we've already mentioned. But again, ForEx for us is not a real thing, as you know, like it doesn't impact our margin. It's more a sign of our being international and goes up and down, but it's not a question of anything, but the translation of us being very international.

In terms of the targets midterm. So what the GreenUp trajectory, which I could fully confirm today and have fully confirmed it today, is 10% on average over 4 years, assuming, of course, more than 8% this year, and there is no reason why it should slow down going forward. We've achieved already 12% in the first 2 years of the plan. So we are really on the at least 10%, which we've said we would deliver in the GreenUp trajectory. So I guess that's a confirmation again.

So another way to see the guidance for '26 on net result is in '25, we said and we have delivered around 9% of net result increase. And this was with Suez synergies in. And in '26, we said we'll do more than 8% without Suez synergies, and again, before like any positive effects of the Clean Earth synergies.

So in terms of rolling over targets, that's always a good question. We have a few moving parts here. And the big one is the timing of the closing of Clean Earth, which everything is running exactly as we expected so far. But I will wait until we have the various authorization before we can have a clear timing, but that's a good point. At one point, we will be able to show visibility over years beyond 2027 GreenUp. But what I can say from now on is we've already crystallized with the acquisition of Clean Earth, value creation beyond 2027 with the synergies as well as enhanced revenue growth. So the more the company is international innovation-driven, which we are transforming quite rapidly the portfolio into, the more in the years to come and beyond '27, you will have a company, which is enhanced growth and enhanced value creation, in particular, thanks to the synergies of Clean Earth. I don't know if you want to complement something, Emmanuelle?

So maybe one element. So very quickly, as mentioned by Estelle, the figure that you see and the 2026 guidance is fully aligned with GreenUp. We have demonstrated in the past a very good result for the first part of GreenUp. I'm not going to mention again the ROCE, which is absolutely amazing 2 years in advance. And as mentioned by Estelle, you have seen the trajectory in terms of EBITDA with a target between 5% and 6% which is very strong, which is long term and which also show our capacity to grow on high potential growth and high-margin businesses as without the merger -- the Suez merger synergies, we are continuing on the same trend.

In terms of ForEx impact, you will have at net result level, it's our estimation based on the ForEx rate for -- at the end of December, an amount which is similar to what you had in 2025. So '26 equal to 2025. You were mentioning...

It's difficult to say because ForEx goes up, ForEx goes down, like it's super uncertain.

Yes, it's with the estimation that we have for the -- at the end of 2025. And where you're right is that, of course, in 2027, we will benefit from synergies from Clean Earth and the full synergies also of Water Technologies. And the element, which is, for us, very important is that you know at Veolia that the trains are arriving on time. You have seen what we were able to do with ROCE, with EBITDA, and we don't have any intention to stop and to not have this impact.

You can't confirm that.

Your next question comes from the line of Bartek Kubicki with Bernstein.

I would like to discuss 2 aspects as well, please. Firstly, if we think about tariffs overall in waste and water in 2026, where do you see them moving and more specifically in France as 2025 was relatively subdued in terms of revenues increase in both waste and water?

And secondly, if we think about your M&As, which has just happened and which are about to happen this year, just 2 sub questions. A, what will be the contribution of Clean Earth into your net income once it is being acquired? And secondly, what will happen to your integration costs with now 2 companies, or in 2026, 2 companies being integrated into your group? Shall we expect an increase going forward? Or shall we stay flat at around whatever EUR 30 million, EUR 40 million per annum as in the past?

Thanks for your two questions. So in terms of waste and water price more so than tariff, probably, I don't know, and specifically in France, a few things. Altogether in terms of price for our activities, as you know, 70% of the Veolia revenue is indexed and 30% is prices in pricing. And as we said, like inflation is relatively neutral or slightly positive for us, which means that when the cost base goes up, the price go automatically up or via pricing and vice versa. So everything is a way to protect our margins. So I think the priority for us is to protect our margin.

In terms of anticipation for '26 in France, it will depend on inflation and a few indexation formulas, which have anniversary dates. I don't expect a big plus in '26 in terms of this indexation given the inflation is relatively low, but that was anticipated. And again, that cost base and revenue base are in the same type of range.

What I could say in addition is, in a way, the proof is in the delivery of our performance in France in '25 because we had a revenue which was relatively flat roughly but a big plus in EBITDA, which you see on slide -- I can't remember where it is. But anyway, you will see that in our pack. And this is thanks to our action plan. And in a way, that's exactly the same example, which Daniel just highlighted in Spain. We increased our EBITDA by a lot more than our revenue, thanks to a lot of efficiency plans, and it was specifically the case in Spain and France because we anticipated it. We knew that there won't be a big push from the revenue, from tariff or from specifically or indexation or from the economy. And we launched specific action plans. So it was Hunter in Spain. It was called Ariane in France, and it delivers results. It delivers results in EBITDA level.

So what we expect in '26 is exactly the same as we've seen in '25. Top line probably modest, but EBITDA will grow again in '26 in France and in Spain, plus Daniel has ambition on the top line as well, as you've heard him explaining earlier on.

In terms of M&A and Clean Earth's net income. So basically, the question is the timing of the closing. We said it would be accretive in current EPS from year 2. So assuming the closing is mid-'26, it will mean year 2 is mid-'28. So mid-'28 is not a point where you look at the net result because it's end of the year. So assuming, again, end of mid-'26 we close. It will mean that in '27, it will be accretive before PPA and in '28 accretive even after PPA, if you want. So more accretive before PPA and accretive altogether, including the PPA. And it's a very modest dilution in 2026. Again, assuming the timing I just highlighted, modest as in what really, really less than 0.5% of potential dilution, again, assuming the timing I just highlighted.

And integration costs, we've highlighted, we will have integration costs in the 4 years of the delivery of the synergies. So synergies $120 million in 4 years. And integration costs, we said...

We communicated when we when we did the signing at the end of November, so it's less than the $120 million. It would be around $90 million.

Yes, we said $90 million over 4 years. You have years with a bit more, years with a bit less. But roughly, if you divide on average the $90 million by 4 years, you have a good estimate.

And your next question comes from the line of Olly Jeffery with Deutsche Bank.

Two questions for me as well, please. The first one is staying on the topic of M&A. You're looking to divest EUR 2 billion of investments or assets rather within 2 years of closing the Clean Earth deal. Could we expect you to get on the front of that and do that potentially some divestments by the end of this year? And do you have any color at all now on what type of assets you might be looking to or geographies you might be looking to divest in?

And the second question is on hazardous waste in the U.S., but again, connected to Clean Earth. In the U.S., you've got finite incinerators, potentially more onshoring coming to the country. That seems like quite a good combination for having pricing power going forward. Compared to when you made the Clean Earth acquisition, do you think actually the environment for hazardous waste in the U.S. has improved? And we've seen some hazardous waste peer share prices in the U.S. do particularly well year-to-date.

Two good questions. So on the EUR 2 billion disposal in the 2 years following the closing of Clean Earth, a few things. The timing I mean, we have, as you can imagine, a list with Emmanuelle and with the various options, and I won't be detail -- I will not detail them today. Nevertheless, I can give you a little bit of color on this list. So we have not anticipated a big sell in '26. We will go on with the traditional small and medium portfolio rotation, which we do every year anyway, but nothing as a big as a big object is in our plan so far.

So what are the typical candidates in this list, which is another way of answering your question. I guess, threefold, one is mature. The other one is nonstrategic. And the third one is not in the top 3. Let me explain them one by one. What I mean by mature, it means a business, which we don't think we can grow much more the profit in the years to come. I'm talking about the profit here. As you can imagine, in some of our Stronghold activities, we still have a way to increase our profitability, and therefore, we would keep them. So it's really the -- if we are the max of profitability, and we don't anticipate any way to go better.

The second, like criteria is what I call nonstrategic. Nonstrategic, typically, it's what we've done when we've divested the SADE, which is a construction business. We said years ago, we don't want to be in construction. We want to be in technology. And that was a good example of that.

The third one is what I call non-top 3. As you've seen in our geographical strategy, there is an element of when we are in a country, we want to be in the top 3 of this activity in this country. It's a key element to have pricing power, for instance, which is what we said earlier on. We have a few smaller objects which are not yet in the top 3. So either we have a way to put them in the list in the years to come or if not, we will divest them. So that's the 3 criteria lists, which met the list which we have with Emmanuelle, and we have various option and will deliver in the 2 years following the Clean Earth closing.

In terms of Hazardous Waste, you're right, we're super happy about Hazardous Waste business in the U.S. And there is nothing in the last few months, which is anything but confirming it's a very good acquisition, the Clean Earth one. Synergies-wise, platform-wise, including to be able to develop other services of Veolia beyond the Hazardous Waste. So you're right, the trend is good. We've seen a very good Q4 in Hazardous Waste in the U.S. for us. If I remember why it's a 7% organic growth for Q4, which is a very good positive way to end the year, and to begin the next one. So all the lights are really on a green light. We are very, very confident it will create a lot of value for years to come.

Next question comes from the line of Juan Rodriguez with Kepler.

I have two on my side, if I may, more follow-ups. The first one is on guidance at the net income level in 2026. I want to be clear. You said that you expect no synergies from Suez, but it does include water tech synergies on 2026. Is that right? And can you please quantify the fiscal positive effect that the water tech synergies had on your 2025 results because it supported a lower tax rate? And are they part of the EUR 90 million synergies that you're targeting. So this is the first one.

And the second one is on France. You said that performance was slightly better in 2025 despite weaker revenues. Can you please quantify the level of the performance that you had in here? And what is expected ex Hazardous Waste? And what is expected for 2026? You signal some improvement in the region, [indiscernible] in the low to mid-high single digits. So some color on that would be helpful.

So I've tried to note down all your question. Hopefully, I won't miss anyone, anything. So you're right, the net income guidance before Clean Earth acquisition in '26 does not include any Suez synergies because it's over. Does include, of course, the recurring gains, which will, again, efficiency gain more than EUR 350 million again in '26. And does includes some of the CDPQ water tech synergies, but they are not of the same magnitude of the Suez acquisition. That's why I won't compare apple and pear. But you're right, they do include some synergies of the water tech.

I want to say that it started well with -- in H2, we already had EUR 20 million, if I remember, Emmanuelle, of synergies from the Water Tech acquisition, which was delivered in H2. We've closed in on the 1st of July. So EUR 90 million over 3 years, EUR 20 million already delivered in H2. There will be another lot in '26, another lot in '27. And that's when I mentioned the synergies as in EUR 90 million over 3 years. This is the EBITDA synergies, if you want, because we said clearly that they were on top of that fiscal and in a way, net income synergies, which already were delivered a lot in '25. So EUR 20 million of EBITDA, if you want synergies already, plus already some fiscal synergies in '25. Do you want to comment on the fiscal tax rate. Fiscal tax rate, maybe, Emmanuelle.

With pleasure. Thank you for your question. So as you know, in the GreenUp plan, we targeted a tax rate of 27%. Our current tax rate in 2025 decreased significantly from 27.1% at the end of '24 to 25.4%, thanks partially to the benefit of our water technology synergies.

As an example, in the U.K., we have been able to offset past and future tax losses, which were not recognized before. In France, also, we were able to merge the total group of Water Technology. And also in 2025, we benefit from a positive impact led by the anticipation reduction of the CIT rate in Germany. So all of that is contributing to the good tax rate and we have also a positive ambition for 2026, which participate to the net result as the fact that we have the cost of debt fully under control.

And on your question about France EBITDA, hopefully, you have the answer on Slide 23. Where you see the business unit Front and Hazardous Waste Europe with a revenue which was basically flat compared to -- or slightly negative compared to '24 with all the -- what we said about indexation formulas and so on and so forth, but a plus 6.3% EBITDA growth. So I think that's the type of results we see from the specific action plan we've launched 2 years ago in Veolia, we just don't wait. We anticipate and act quickly and strongly. So this was called Ariane in France, and you see the results. And this was called Hunter in Spain. And you've seen in Spain, and it was presented by -- because it's kind of a bit the same, plus 14% EBITDA growth in '25 compared to '24 in Spain. And we won't stop here. So you can go on with this type of improvement in '26 for France and for Spain.

And your next question comes from the line of Davide Candela with Intesa Sanpaolo.

I have two, if I may. The first one is if you can share with us sensitivity on energy prices, mostly with regards to Europe. I know that in most cases, the energy component is a pass-through for you, but at least if you can provide a bit of sensitivity that would likely most refer to your WTE plans throughout Europe and so on? That would be the first one.

Second one is with regards to your approach to demand. You said that the demand for your services is strongly increasing. I was wondering if you can share how you approach that in the sense that you are being selective in waiting. And so taking the most valuable contracts or opportunities or on the other hand, you are taking a more aggressive approach in trying to put more pressure on power on your prices and just being proactive in trying to take demand from your clients directly.

And with regards to that also on volumes, which is the capability you have to attract more and more and if there is a risk of saturation in that respect And yes, that will be the second one.

Thank you. So energy price sensitivity. So you're right, energy price for us are global pass-through. This is why we published and we've been publishing for years now, excluding energy price. Why is that so? Because we mainly sell heat and when you know the price of the entrance as in what we have to buy to produce the heat for the district heating net price goes up, the tariff goes up. And that's why it protects our margin again. The little effect, which is not what I said, is on the cogeneration of electricity, if you want, and the ancillary service is associated with it, where it's a little bit more into our margin. So it's more -- it's not the main product for us. We're not a producer of power. We're not at all. But we use all the equipment and infrastructure we have, specifically in district heating and things like that to try to deliver ancillary services in addition and on top. So this top-up is what can go up and down, and it's a little bit more like variable for us.

If you have a view over 3, 4, 5 years in a way, you can see that in our figures because as you can imagine, the price of energy in Europe has gone through the roof in '22 and then down very massively in '23 and '24. And you can have a look at the sequence of our EBITDA in our Energy business over 4 years. There was a big plus, a small minus for the reason I just mentioned in terms of the cogeneration of electricity. But altogether, the curve is on the up over these few years. So in a way, we've demonstrated what I said in the figures from '22 to '25.

In terms of the demand for our service, what I was trying to highlight is, I was asked a lot of questions about, okay, is Veolia about ecology, the environment? Yes, we are, but we are more about critical needs. I think this is important. So whatever the elections results are in a country, we're not about politics here. We're about critical needs for industries and population. That's what makes us super resilient when it comes to supply of water, when it comes to supply of critical materials and critical minerals, when it comes to supply of energy, we produce local resources Therefore, they don't depend from like far away imports, disruption of supply chain and so on and so forth, which is very key for all our customers. So that's why the demand is, in a way, the more the crisis, the more the demand is paramount because we are really critical for our customers.

In terms of your question about how selective are we shooting everywhere? It's the former of the latter. We still are very selective. We don't want revenue for the sake of it. We want revenue, which can create value not only for 1 year but for years to come. The 2 keywords are resilience and growth here.

The business model of Veolia is really sustainable growth and for years, which means that we've intentionally decided not to bid for specific tenders, for instance, in West municipal collection because it was not value creative for us to focus on what is very value creative, typically our growth boosters. So we are very selective and the choices are clear, the growth Boosters. So Water Technologies, Hazardous Waste and bioenergy.

In terms of where we go for saturation at one point in terms of volume, do have a limit in a way, in our plants and installed base. This is not exactly the way it works. In water, the needs go with the growth of the population or the growth of the industries and the plants do follow, if you want, and that's what we've seen regularly.

In terms of Hazardous Waste, it could have been a limiting factor, and that's exactly why we have invested in 5 new facilities across the globe, which are just ramping up from last year till 2028, exactly to be ensuring we unlock the future growth. So we're not only at Veolia talking about the guidance for '26. And when I say we have an enhanced profile of growth for years to come, I can talk to you about '28, '29, 2030, even with the Clean Earth acquisition synergies and investments we've made.

And your next question comes from the line of Philippe Ourpatian with ODDO BHF.

I have three questions, in fact. One is a slight, I would say, a clarification concerning the efficiencies means that the Slide 27 is showing EUR 326 million growth in performances on which you have some price effects and volume effects. I would like to know exactly what was the amount of the efficiencies you were mentioning, in fact, previously in your slide has separated from works, volumes and commerce. That's the first question.

And in this question, there is also another one concerning the next slide, which is the 28, where you are mentioning EUR 399 million. It's over the target of EUR 350 million of efficiencies. Could you spread it a little bit more by activities or geographies? You mentioned France and Spain as a specific plan, but to have more color about where this EUR 399 million were generated?

Second point -- second question is hazardous waste. Could you just remind us or elaborate more about the new facilities because Germany -- in Hazardous Waste, Germany has started, if I'm not wrong. And there is some other geography where you are working, U.S., U.K., Saudi Arabia and Asia. Could you just remind us, in order to take into account those volumes and maybe value creation effects?

And last, you just issued a press release concerning India. Your famous French competitor also issued a lot of press release concerning this area. It seems to me that India was not an easy country. We have seen Suez losing a lot of money years ago in this contract. What has changed in this market concerning water? And what are the level of risk or capital employed you are injecting in this kind of country, even if I do think that it's mainly through OEM contract?

It looks like you have not only the question, but the answers, and you're right. But I will elaborate in a minute. So efficiencies in a way, the answer is on Page 28. So efficiency, EUR 399 million, which we've retained 47%, right, Emmanuelle?

Absolutely. So [Foreign Language] Philippe. So roughly, when you say -- you're absolutely right, from the EUR 399 million which have been fueled by all the specific action plan also which were in France and in Spain and the rest is, as you know, fully embedded in our business for 70%. We have been able to retain 47%. When you look at this number, if you want precise number, we have volumes commerce, which is around 10% growth and pricing net efficiency, which is around 2.8% growth. So roughly EUR 140 million and EUR 190 million.

So 47% of EUR 399 million equals EUR 189 million, plus volume and commerce, roughly equals what you see on the slide. And where is it mainly? So the beauty of the Veolia's model, it's everywhere. That's why we're so confident we can keep it forever because it's a series of plants everywhere in the globe, which have initiatives, which combined give you the number. The specifics where you have more than the average are France, Spain and China. France, Spain and China launch specific plans, which were more than the average, given the fact that we're disappointed by the result in '23, basically for those geographies.

So we've launched specific action plan with specific names, the Hunter, the Ariane and there was an equivalent one in China. And that's why on those geographies, we have a perfectly big disconnect between revenue and EBITDA growth because this was thanks to the very, very well-executed delivery of this plant, which again won't stop. Hazardous Waste. So the various Hazardous Waste -- yes, do you want to add something on the...

Yes, with pleasure. So you know us perfectly well, Philippe. Regarding the efficiency, one point that I wanted to add. As you know, 70% is fully embedded in our business model. It's what we sell, selling price increase, purchasing and procurement improvements. And on top of the 3 specific plans that Estelle has mentioned, and which are taking a lot of energy to the French team, but also to Daniel in Spain. So with very, very specific action plan where you have strong SG&A efficiency on top of procurement and on top of operational improvement, we have launched this year, and you see it in our results. What we call, it was a project which was called Mobi.

So we are dealing with a lot of energy of what we consider as assets, which are not as performance as we wanted them to be, meaning that for us, it's a clear approach of upper out and all the team is working very, very strongly to it, and it's in all our geographies, and it is contributing toward our leverage -- operational leverage that you see and the increase of EBIT of 8.9%.

In terms of Hazardous Waste, you're right, we have 5 new plants which are under construction or under commissioning. In terms of the sequence, we've showed it during our deep dive on waste a few months ago. So we are exactly on the trajectory we showed you at that time, which means that just to refresh your memory, you have a phase of construction, but then you have like what we call cold commissioning and then hot commissioning and then ramping up of operational performance with a commercial -- commercializing the plant. So depending on the difference, what we call by ramping up, again, cold commissioning, hot commissioning and then commercializing progressively the total capacity of the plant.

It takes quite a while. It's not you press a button and it's on and off and 100% instantly. It takes usually between the cold, hot commissioning and the full capacity 2 to 3 years. Just to give you an idea. This is classical in this business, but then you're here forever, which has its merit. And in terms of the as orders of the being in this situation, the first to come online has been the Saudi one which has already gone through the -- and I hope I won't miss one, but the cold and hot commissioning and we are in the ramping up of the commercial activity, then the next on the line is Blue Jay, which is our facility in the U.K. in solvent, which is in the ramping up mode as well. I think we've finished the hot commissioning, and we are in the ramping up of the commercial activity.

Then the next on the new will be the German one you mentioned, but which is not there yet. We are more at the end of the construction phase, if you want, not yet in the commissioning one. The next one will be in Asia and the next one will be in the U.S.

All that means that combined, if I remember well, we've put again the figures in our presentation. But if I remember what it's 285,000 tonnes of capacity, which will be active at the end of GreenUp, but out of 130,000 tonnes of capacity when they are fully ramped up 100%, so 1 or 2 years after the end of GreenUp.

And India, you're exactly right. We're not doing crazy things in India. That's why I was super proud about this contract, which is new of its kind. You've answered yourself the question, like there is not funds employed at all of Veolia. We've delivered technologies, and then we'll have 15 years of O&M contract. So it's not about funds employed here. It's about selling technology and know-how in terms of maintaining plant. Those are massive ones. We are talking about a plant, which will be able to sustain the water supply for 60% of the entire Mumbai global population, which I remember is a 12 million like population. So those are massive, and I'm very happy that it was without risk associated exactly, as you said. So we're not chasing revenue for the sake of it. So we said we will exit construction. So in India, many, many -- so it's EUR 250 million backlog, by the way.

We are not chasing revenue for the sake of it. So that's why a lot of the contracts which were announced by competitors, we didn't even bid to be honest, because we don't want to be in construction and pouring concrete. This is not what we do. We do sell technology, plus we do want to be in the O&M. All the rest, we just don't go for it at all. So we are super selective in India as elsewhere, but this opportunity was a very, very good one.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Charles Swabey with HSBC.

Just one question for me on efficiency gains. And the '23 that came from digital and AI in '25, can you give us an idea how this compares to your assumptions when you put together the GreenUp plan? Would you say that they have exceeded expectations? And how should we think about this going forward?

Thanks for your question. We have no idea there will be AI at this level when we launched GreenUp, which was at the end of '23, we've conceived the whole thing and launched it beginning of '24. So we had no specific expectation. We knew we were already very much into digital. or AI, but not GenAI, if you want. And this is really ramping up and a big potential for future efficiencies in the years to come. I think 23% is already a big figure. So we're not the style of talking about things we're trying to deliver that instead of talking too much. And I think that was a proof of it.

We've picked our battles as well because some of it is more a miss than delivering new results. We've picked the tools, which actually are delivering real efficiencies. Real efficiencies for us means consumer less water, produce more green energy. This is the criteria, which we've picked a few proof of concepts and there were many of them, we've picked a few just to be on the scaling up front.

And what is also absolutely amazing is the increase of the percentage of digital. It was in the past 5%, 10% of our efficiency gain and now it's 20%, and it will continue to increase.

You're right. Yes. I will say thank you very much. It looks like we have no further questions. And just wanted to say how happy we are about 2025, which not only was on target or even beyond targets in a few different KPIs, but as well as really a pivotal year for Veolia. We've crystallized major transformation in our portfolio, which will generate really enhanced growth and value creation for years to come and years with a lot of assets, as in '26, '27, '28, '29. I'm very confident about Veolia's trajectory, and there is more to come.

Thank you very much. And let me, before I finish, I invite you not to miss what we've put on the slide, which are a few dates. If you want to have more information about our ESG agenda and multifaceted performance that's a webinar on the 23rd of March, and we'll have a deep dive on innovation, tech and AI in London on the 14th of April. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this now concludes today's presentation. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

The magic of urban heating from the plant through the city pipes straight to this very building where we are here today. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. Thank you to all of you present here today in Poznan and to everyone connected remotely. Thank you for joining us for this Thema dedicated to new urban energy. Now as with previous editions, the aim here is to connect group level strategy with operational realities to give you all a clear view of Veolia's innovation capacity and its competitive position.

Let's have a quick look at the program. First, Estelle Brachlianoff will outline her strategic vision to expand Veolia's longstanding and unique position in the European heating landscape. Then we will hear from Emmanuelle Menning for the financial and structural foundations. Next, Pavel Mícka, will guide us through Poznan's transformation pathway, showing us how the city is using heating networks as a decarbonization lever.

And then we will explore how territorial cooperation supports this transition with Jakub Patalas and Philippe Guitard, alongside the mayor of Poznan that we are happy to count among us today. And finally, Estelle will return with our key takeaways before we open the floor to a Q&A. That's it for the program. Let us begin. Please help me in welcoming Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Poznan. And now you may probably wonder why did we fly you all the way from London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and beyond to brave the Polish cold because it looks like it's going to be snowing in a few minutes. Well, as you may have seen, we announced a major acquisition in the U.S. last Friday in hazardous waste, one of our key boosters. So -- but today, we are not going to talk about boosters. We're going to talk about strongholds. Because at Veolia, we love our boosters, but we absolutely love our strongholds, too. And it is the combination of both, which defines our strategy and makes us who we are.

And I guess Poznan is a perfect example of that stronghold in action. This city is in the middle of a remarkable transformation. For decades, Poznan rely on coal to keep its people warm through harsh winters. But the city made a bold decision to fundamentally reimagine the future of energy without coal. And what we are inaugurating today is proof that this vision is real. By 2030, with just 5 years from now, Poznan will have 100% coal-free urban heating network. This isn't aspirational, it's already on the way.

So today, you've understood we are not just innovating infrastructure. We are sharing a blueprint for how Europe reinvents its energy city by city and network by network, building resilient from local resources, proving that security, affordability and sustainability can go hand in hand. So let me take you through that journey. And let me start by taking you back a moment we all remember, February 2022. The world changed overnight. When the war in Ukraine began, energy, something we've taken for granted for so long, suddenly became fragile, uncertain. And the crisis revealed a hard truth. We had built our prosperity on foundation we didn't fully control. But crisis clarify. And what emerged was a new energy equation for our clients.

They need local energy production so that they can see, touch and control. They need affordability because energy poverty is real. They need stability, which is predictable cost and predictable supply. They need energy efficiency because the cheapest energy isn't -- is the energy we don't waste. They need flexibility as well, systems that adapt to changing demand and intermittent renewables. And they need, of course, decarbonization because the climate crisis hasn't paused while we dealt with the energy crisis. And those cannot be competing priorities, they all must be delivered simultaneously.

So where does Veolia fit into this new landscape? Let me paint the picture. In 2024, Veolia generated EUR 45 billion of revenues. We are known, obviously, for water, for waste, for environmental services, but many people don't realize energy represents already 25% of our business. This is EUR 11 billion. And another EUR 1 billion on top in energy revenue from our waste and wastewater businesses. Every year, we sell mainly heat. This is 51 terawatt hours, sorry, of heat, which is enough to warm 7 million people through the cold winters. That's equivalent of heating every single household in Berlin and Madrid combined.

And as a byproduct, we sell electricity as well, 13 terawatt hours of electricity, equivalent to powering 1 million people. And we've made deliberate choices about who we are and who we are not. We don't build massive centralized power plants. What we do is this. We work at the scale of a community, a city, a district, an industrial park, a building. We focus on urban heating networks, which is in a way the circulatory systems of cities energy. We develop bioenergy and renewable solutions, turning waste into a resource.

We create flexibility solutions, helping grid balance and adapt. We deliver energy efficiency for buildings, ensuring there is not a single megawatt hour wasted. And what truly sets us apart, we are the only player who can orchestrate all this solution together as a complete kind of ecosystem. When our competitors usually do one thing well, we do everything integrated, kind of an ecosystem where nothing is wasted, where local solution create local resilience. That's who we are, new urban energy specialists.

Now today, we're going to focus on one of our favorite strongholds, urban heating networks. Let me show you why this sector is kind of having its moment as we speak. And let me start with the numbers that surprises most people. In Europe, 50% of all energy consumed is heat, not electricity, heat. This is warm for homes, hot water, industrial processes, half of everything. Yet 3/4 of this heat still comes from fossil fuel.

The good news, we've already made progress, but what remains to be done represents a massive opportunity going forward. And regulation is accelerating this shift. I'm thinking of, for instance, the EU Renewable Energy directives as well as the U.K.'s Energy Act, just to mention a few, all pushing hard in the same direction. And the targets are breathtaking, 17 million additional European citizen connected by 2030 in addition of the 80 million, which already are, plus efficiency standards, which are rising dramatically. This is transformation at scale and it's happening now.

So what makes us claim the leadership in this space? Let me tell you what makes us different. First, our scale and local presence. Heating networks are not just infrastructure, they are relationship, they are proximity, they are responsiveness. Think with the weather like we have today, when something goes wrong at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, in the winter, we are there. Second, our public procurement expertise. We understand cities, local authorities, hospitals, universities. In a way, at Veolia, we speak the language of public service.

Third, and this is crucial, our ability to combine Veolia activities. Because we are in water, we can tap into wastewater treatment plant as heat resources. Because we are in waste, we can access to wood, biogas, wasted heat. Fourth, our efficiency expertise. We create value through transformation, taking underperforming assets and making them perform. And fifth, our decarbonization know-how. We specialize in core phaseout, building new plants and operating them because, of course, you cannot stop one whilst you're dealing with the other one. We ensure service continuity. And very few energy players can claim this at the scale we do.

So to put it simply, we're not just energy providers, we are urban energy transformers. And let me show you now how we've built this leadership position over the years. We've started in France in basically the '80s, learning the business and developing our expertise. But we've understood clearly quickly the real transformation would happen in Central and Eastern Europe, where cities were built around massive district heating, serving millions of people, but running on coal.

So we moved east, and we grew through different pathways. First, privatization. When cities opened their network to private operators, we were there. I'm thinking of Warsaw in 2011, the largest heating network in the EU or more recently in Tashkent in 2022, our first concession in Central Asia, serving 1 million people. Yes, we're speaking big numbers here.

Second, decarbonization. Cities that wanted to phase out coal, but didn't know how. And that's Poznan in 2002, where we stand today or Prague in 2016. Each time we took on the challenge of transforming networks, while keeping the heat flowing. Today, we operate around 500 heating networks worldwide. We serve 7 million customers. Roughly, this is -- 9%, sorry, of all connected Europeans. And this didn't happen by accident. We built all those assets city by city and one promise delivered after one promise delivered.

And look at the map we've built over those years. Each dot represents a Veolia owned or operated district heating network from Harbin to Tashkent, from Warsaw to Prague. But I wish this map were a film rather than a picture because you would see how the footprint is growing and still is through different dynamics. Privatization, as I already mentioned, where government bring in specialists to make aging infrastructure more efficient, leveraging from the latest technology.

This is as well expansion because existing network grow as the city grow. This is more district, more building, more connections. And we have a few greenfields as well, new networks built from scratch in developing districts and we're 21st century from day 1. Three pathways, but all growing simultaneously. And here is the crucial point on every single of the dots on the map, we are locally embedded. We employ local people, we source local fuel, we serve local communities. So now let me go through the foundation and where the success is and the key promises on which we've built this portfolio.

Efficiency, of course. We operate at 88% average efficiency across our portfolio. Some of our networks achieved even 94% compared to an average of 75% in Europe. That means less heat waste, lower cost, better performance and lower CO2. Security because we rely on diversified local sourcing of fuel. I estimate that in Europe, it's 400 gigawatts of untapped resource that we can tap into, enough to cover the consumption of a country with over 50 million people. That's resilient built in.

Affordability, of course, is key. We protect customers against price volatility because when gas price spiked in 2022, our customers with diversified local sources were largely insulated. Sustainability, because we use decarbonized energy. I'm talking about biomass, about waste heat, geothermal, solar, heat pumps. Systematically, we're trying to replace fossil fuel by those. And increasingly, flexibility. We provide flexibility to electrical grids and balancing intermittent renewables with dispatchable combined heat and power.

And we are leveraging AI quite a lot to optimize network performance in real time to predict demand, to manage loads and to maximize efficiency. And everything I've just mentioned is not aspiration. Those are the solutions we are deploying right now. And let me be a bit more specific about a few items I just mentioned, starting with decarbonization because this is not a slogan for us. It is a track record already. Look at those 3 projects on the map. Braunschweig, Germany.

We converted a coal plant, which dated from the cold war to biomass and natural gas or calling them [indiscernible] in Czech Republic, where we shifted to refuse-derived fuel and biomass, working as well with local team to retrain them to these type of new technologies because you don't operate the boilers exactly in the same way as you used to when it was coal.

And here, Poznan, the largest decarbonization project in our portfolio, where we are transforming a coal-dependent system into a hybrid model, natural gas, biomass, wet heat recovery. And of course, that's going to be detailed more in a minute. Across these 3 projects, we've achieved emission reduction between minus 45% and minus 60%. This is remarkable. And we did that without any interruption in the service, not for 1 hours, families stayed warm.

We've invested EUR 700 million in this project since 2018. And by the end of the decade, this is EUR 1.6 billion cumulative. Now some may think decarbonization means sacrificing return. We proved them wrong. This project deliver returns above 10%. Good for the planet, great for the business, profitable decarbonization. That's the Veolia's model. And we go even further. We combine our businesses to create energy security. As I just alluded to, we are not just energy, we are water, waste and energy. And the combination unlocks what our competitors cannot match.

London, Southwark, we hit 5,000 households with energy from waste facilities we operate. Braunschweig, our plant runs on 100% waste wood from Veolia sorting plant nearby. So one business fits another one. But at best, we produce heat and coal from wastewater treatment plants we operate. This is sewage network hitting hospitals and universities. And here in Poznan, we capture waste heat from the Volkswagen foundry. Industrial heat, which would otherwise escape into the air, warms 6,500 homes. Local energy for local needs. That's resilient, that's sovereignty and that's security.

Now let's move on to efficiency because, of course, this is as well what we deliver, and it goes hand-in-hand with affordability. We optimize energy efficiency across the entire value chain, production, distribution and the combination of both. In production, we maximize output and minimize losses using digital tools and AI. This is cogeneration, smart monitoring, intelligent fuel management and so on and so forth.

In distribution, AI helps us optimize heat sources and allocate heat to the right place at the right time. As system becomes more decentralized, this becomes essential. But here is where combining production and distribution creates real magic. We can store heat. Have a look this afternoon at the tower behind our plants. This is not just one tower. This is 24,000 cubic meters of water, storing 800-megawatt hour of energy. To store the same energy, we would need, if we were to go for electric batteries, several hectares of land, not to mention the massive resources to produce those batteries. Here, everything fits in one tower. That's the power of thermal storage.

And let me tell you now about a tale of 2 cities that we are building the future at now. Görlitz and Zgorzelec. You probably never heard of them, I'm guessing. One is in Germany, Mr. Mayor has, but of course, you know, like for the rest of the audience, maybe you haven't. One is in Germany, the other one in Poland. And they sit on the opposite side of the Neisse river. Today, we are connecting them. We're building a connection between the 2 networks, 1 heating system crossing the border, connecting 2 countries.

And what's great about this project is we are taking decarbonization a step ahead. We're talking here of gas exits. How are we doing it? Local and sustainable biomass, heat pumps, solar thermal with storage and e-boilers and waste heat to fill the gaps, a living laboratory, a proof of concept. And we have a blueprint, we aim at scaling across Europe.

And that brings me to the announcement I'm particularly excited about. You've understood we've spent 3 decades transforming and extending district heating networks across Europe. We've proven it works. We've proven it's profitable. Now we are packaging everything we've learned into one comprehensive offer. Today, we are launching ecothermal grid. We know how to identify local energy sources and turn them into heat. We know how to optimize network to the highest standard using the most recent technology. We do it every day in our own network. Now we want to make this expertise available to those who need it, not only for our own network, but for any city or any campus as well. And not only for large scale, but small and medium-sized city as well.

So what does it do? For existing network, keep your pipes, keep your network, only change the fuel. Geothermal, biomass, wet heat, biogas, same infrastructure, zero disruption, clean heat. And for new districts, new developments, such as campuses or airports built from scratch, 100% renewable from day 1, AI optimized, flexible, clean heat from the start. The opportunity here, EUR 4 billion addressable market. Our target is to reach EUR 350 million additional turnover by 2030. And I'm pleased to announce we've already secured a first step in the U.K. with a cumulated EUR 1 billion pipeline and already great wins, including the Wellcome Genome Cambridgeshire Campus.

So let me bring all this together now. Our 2030 ambition is clear, become the #1 player in urban heating in Europe, not #2, #1, achieve coal exit across all our European operations, zero coal, that's a commitment, as well as generate EUR 350 million in revenue from ecothermal grid. In other words, lead heating network transformation across the continents. How? Through our winning formula, unmatched assets, innovative offers, local energy sources and the unique ability to combine our wastewater and energy business. No competitor can replicate this.

The challenges are clear, security of supply, decarbonization, efficiency, flexibility and affordability. The energy transition isn't someday. It's happening now, and it's here in Poznan. Thank you very much.

[Presentation]

Thank you so much, Estelle. And now to present the financial structure behind this impressive portfolio, I now invite on stage Emmanuelle Menning, Deputy CEO of Finance and Purchasing at Veolia.

Thank you, Élé, and good morning, everyone. I will now enter into more detail on our business models. So as Estelle has just recalled, energy revenue reached 25% of the group in 2024. This EUR 11 billion split for 70% in urban heating and 30%, a large quarter in our boosters, energy services and Bioenergy. I am going here to detail our urban heating business model, a key and beautiful stronghold.

Starting with the financial indicators of urban heating, I am on Slide 20. 85% of our activities is located in Central and Eastern Europe with 5 main countries. Poland with EUR 2.9 billion revenues, Germany and Czech Republic with around EUR 1 billion; Slovakia and Hungary with around EUR 0.5 billion turnover. This positioning is the result of our strategy and history. Indeed, our energy business has always been part of Veolia DNA, initially as a complementary offer of our municipalities in France with a business model very close to our historical municipal water activities, essential services, macro immune infrastructure base, which sustained efficiency gains.

Our business are centered around heat delivery for 80%, electricity 20% as a byproduct of heat produced through CHP cogeneration. In total, we produce and/or distribute 64 terawatt hour of energy. Urban return, it's a profitable business with 14% EBITDA margin with a strong predictable free cash flow and a high ROCE after tax of 9% above group average and group WACC.

Now let's dive in the main characteristic of our business model in Urban heating. Our energy business is asset base. We own the asset and the heating business is regulated in Central and Eastern Europe. In terms of business model, the district heating is very strong, especially as we are present in the whole value chain, resilient macro immune with a fully protected cost base. It is regulated, and we are covered by a pass-through formula with a long-standing capacity to deliver efficiency gain and create value.

There is typically 3 type of business models. First, in 40% of the cases, we only operate the heating network and distribute energy, notably in Warsaw and in Prague with an EBITDA margin of 11%. Second, in 10% of the cases, we own only production assets as in Hungary or Slovakia with an EBITDA margin of 15%.

And third, we operate at the best level of our efficiency when we combine production and distribution in the same location, which is the case in nearly 50% of our turnover, for instance, in Poland, here in Poznan, in Ouc, in Czech Republic, or in Germany. EBITDA margin are at the highest in this case, around 70% as we benefit from synergies between activities, combining production and distribution through cogeneration, enhancing our margin with electricity cogeneration and flexibility services and the benefit of decarbonization.

We have been able and will continue to create value in urban heating, thanks to key levers. We own our asset and enjoy long-term contracts. Beside one part is important. We are fully in charge of the CapEx decision and delivery with no obligation to complete -- to comply with specific regulatory framework. We have a longstanding expertise in managing heat networks, decarbonizing assets and increasing our EBITDA. Our customer base is, of course, very stable and is even expanding, thanks to high expertise in public tender offer as our heat offer is providing both security of supply and stability of prices compared to individual options.

Context has changed in the recent years, providing additional business opportunities with 2 main factors: The necessity to decarbonate and exit from coal and the war in Ukraine, which led to an unprecedented energy crisis and volatility in Europe as energy prices were soaring, price in Europe remained at a higher level than before the crisis and will remain so. Veolia maintained a robust and multifaceted strategy to effectively manage and mitigate the impact of energy price volatility, ensuring financial resilience and stability.

This approach is built upon several key pillars. A significant portion of our contractual agreement incorporate well-defined pass-through mechanism, mostly for its energy sale. Proactive and disciplined hedging strategy to protect our margin. Our standard practice involve hedging a substantial portion of our anticipated energy needs, typically covering a strategic horizon up to 3 years with very skilled local teams. The chart on the right-hand side on the slide illustrates the benefit of this strategy with a steady progression of our energy EBITDA during the 2022, 2024 years when energy price were highly volatile.

I am on Slide 24, and this chart is key. It shows that thanks to our unique expertise, combined with the decarbonization opportunities, the EBITDA growth between 2021 and 2030 of municipal energy will be sustained and fueled by natural organic growth, CapEx light, contributing to roughly 25% of the EBITDA growth, new connection, new contract, network expansion in Europe, pushed by favorable regulations. Another 25% of EBITDA growth will come from continued efficiency gains. And last but not least, the coal exit will contribute to roughly 50% additional EBITDA gain with a large part from 2027 onwards, and I will come back to it.

So that also a stronghold, municipal energy will continue to deliver in the next 5 years and onwards, a sustained mid-single-digit per year on average between 2021 and 2030. I will now detail more specifically the first pillar of our EBITDA progression, which is growth. Growth will come from 3 levers: New connection, additional services, thanks to combination, and geographic expansion. New connection. It will be fueled by strong regulatory incentive, pushing users to connect decarbonized network, efficiency network qualification key to gain new clients, new building connected as this has been the case in Warsaw in the last 10 years.

Second, additional services, energy efficiency package, smart metering waste heat and managed notably for data centers. Geographically, we will expand where we will favor asset-light model such as the one in Uzbekistan, which is the case I would like to explain. We signed in 2022, a 30-year O&M contract to manage the district heating network of Tashkent. The assets are not owned by Veolia. We operate them, which enable us to grow with very limited capital employed. We are bringing our unique expertise on the table. Our objective is to significantly reduce leakage, therefore, increase asset efficiency and margins.

Second pillar of our municipal energy EBITDA growth its performance, where we benefit from a very strong track record efficiency gain. It will come from 3 factors: increase of our production and distribution asset efficiency through optimization of heat temperature, preventive maintenance, reduction of thermal losses and other. Digitalization and AI to accurately adjust generation to demand. And an important point, as Estelle mentioned, our strategy is based on a diversified energy mix, which enable us to optimize production cost according to the different fuel prices gas, biomass, RDF, CO2 and therefore, increase EBITDA.

I am very proud to present to you the latest and biggest pillars of our EBITDA growth, which is coal exit. As you know, we decided 6 years ago, very early in the process to decarbonize our energy asset and fully exit from coal in 10 years. This is very ambitious. And as I will explain, also very rewarding for all our stakeholders, our clients, of course, and the population we serve in Poland, in Czech Republic, in Germany, the planet as coal exit will help us to save close to 4 million tons of CO2 emission. Our shareholder, too, as they will benefit from very rewarding investments with above 10% IRR and eventually own fully renovated coal-free cogeneration assets.

We are dedicating EUR 1.6 billion of CapEx and have already invested EUR 0.7 billion. Braunschweig in Germany, Prerov and Kolin in Czech Republic, Poznan in Poland are decarbonized, and you will visit it in a few moments. I would like finally to stress the fact that our coal exit plan until 2030 does not rely only on gas, but much further rely on a multi-fuel approach, including a large part of decarbonized energy, waste food, biomass, heat pump, waste heat recovery, geothermal.

So how are we creating value through coal exit and how much? As I have just mentioned, we will have deployed EUR 1.6 billion in strategic investment between 2019 and 2030. This CapEx will generate more than EUR 250 million in additional EBITDA with a back-end loaded profile with all projects generating IRR above 10%. Our decarbonizing strategy creates value through both immediate operational improvement and long-term strategic positioning.

Our IRR generation above 10% rely on the following levers. So first, cost reduction with less CO2 certificate purchase and cheaper alternative fuel. Second, additional revenues, thanks to increased electricity volumes with higher electricity conversion and efficiency of our new assets. Regulatory incentive generating long-term secure additional revenues. The regulatory framework in the country where we are implemented provide secured long-term value through additional revenue streams and green energy premiums.

And fourth, reduced fixed costs, thanks to gas-fired assets require less intensive handling and maintenance compared to traditional coal infrastructure, resulting also in cost reductions. Beyond this excellent IRR, this investment results from a long-term strategic vision with additional value. With this investment, we are also improving the patrimonial value of our asset base, increasing our economic resilience with a multi-fuel approach and investing into flexible assets, which perfectly fit the new energy market requiring flexibility.

The heat distributed is now classified as renewable heat, which increased connection rate to our networks. You can see on the slide, three illustration of the mechanism I have just described. First level, coal exit will enhance our heat spreads. For example, in Prerov, we reduced fuel cost to 0 with RDF source for free or even negative prices, not mentioning the very strong decrease in CO2 certificate purchase. Second level of value creation, it's higher electricity revenue. For example, in Poznan facility, we increased electricity production by around 70%.

Another one is provided by regulatory framework, which are entitling us with green premiums. For instance, in Germany, we benefit from cogeneration premium secured up to EUR 40 per megawatt hour over 10-year periods, which provide predictable cash flows, hence, secure investment returns. While in Poznan, the capacity market contract guarantees 17 years of revenues. Finally, coal exit is enabling lower fixed cost as we are saving, for instance, coal handling and storage cost.

So indeed, municipal energy, it's a winning business model, very strong, resilient, macro immune with a cost base fully protected. It's very close to Veolia capacity to address municipalities needs in a regulated context and Veolia has the unique profile to extract value, thanks to its long proven operational excellence, our decarbonization capability and our capacity to seize new growth opportunities.

Growth will come from new connection, new contract, network expansion in Europe, pushed by favorable regulation. Performance will continue, thanks to our longstanding expertise on network management, efficiency, fuel mix optimization, flexibility and digitalization. And finally, decarbonization will provide more than EUR 250 million of additional EBITDA with double-digit IRR. We have the right people, the operational skills and the longstanding execution track record, which give full visibility on our 2027 target and beyond. This is the beauty of the Stronghold. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Emmanuelle, for this very clear presentation. We now offer to give you a closer look at the operational reality and the technical choices that are shaping district heating networks in the region. I'm going to ask to join me on stage, Pavel Mícka, Head of Transformation and Performance for Central and Eastern Europe at Veolia.

Welcome, Pavel. To begin, perhaps you could outline for us the regional landscape that you're working with and the main drivers that are shaping the evolution of these heating networks.

Good morning, everyone. So in order to answer that nice question, in Central and Eastern Europe, Veolia operates large district heating networks in such key cities like Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava or Tashkent in Central Asia. However, in the region, we operate in total almost 400 heating networks, which means that in the region, we operate as well medium and small-sized networks, like, for example, here in Poland, almost 60 cities like that.

In summary, we provide the heat for 5.7 million of inhabitants, and we provide the heat as well for almost 800 industrial sites, which means that we are a major heat provider in Central and Eastern Europe and in countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, we are ranked in top 3 heat suppliers.

What is our strength? On the next slide, you can see that our strength is based on 4 pillars. For the first, we are a leader in decarbonization, which means that our solutions, as already presented by Emmanuelle and Estelle are efficient and sustainable. Moreover, we apply always the approach of circular economy, which means we put into the balance economy, environmental aspect and social aspects. And we're always enriching our solutions by local resources and renewables. For example, geothermal, either shallow or deep, waste heat, particularly from industry or data centers. And we are installing more and more heat pumps, which are not more the heat pumps of small size. It's very powerful devices of even powerful more than 10 megawatts. And as already said, we have as well a large experience in biomass.

Second pillar. In second pillar, we are focused on autonomy and security, and we are boosting that solution by installing more and more storage devices like heat accumulators or battery storage. As I said, we continuously improve our efficiency for both our operations and our customers. Moreover, by installing of such devices like gas turbines, e-boilers, by aggregating of small sources into virtual power plant, we are not only improving our efficiency, but we are able as well to provide flexibility and ancillary services to national grid.

Last but not least, digitalization. We are transforming our business by digitalization. And thanks to our experience, we are able as well to provide our customers with the services, particularly for cybersecurity, which is our -- one of our priority, of course. So the strength in Eastern -- Central and Eastern Europe is based on those 4 pillars.

Now if we turn to Poznan more specifically, what would you say makes the city a significant example of the transition that is underway? And what elements of the project best illustrate this in your opinion?

Okay. So Poznan, it's amazing example, thanks to Polish colleagues. We performed that showcase of decarbonization journey from coal through gas for transient period to renewables finally. The main driver of our evolution in Poznan is the reduction of CO2 emissions. The path you can see on the picture on the right side, which is based on the change of fuel mixture in the future.

And just to tell you some details about the Veolia approach. So for the first, we take into account the legal framework. We are preparing our local environmental consensus solutions -- solution, and then we perform the asset transformation. We are applying properly the asset management, which means by optimizing cost, we are minimizing the risk and as well optimizing the performance, and we are applicating large scale of innovations. Here in Poznan, we've applicated 13 innovations -- innovative solutions in order to improve heat and electricity production, energy efficiency and digitalization.

Of course, as already Emmanuelle mentioned, we take care into the stability and sustainability, 17 years contract for capacity market has been already mentioned. Last but not least, regarding investment of -- optimizing of investment, we are profiting from each possible funding either in Europe or specifically locally in Poland. So this is the showcase of our decarbonization journey. Just to precise, when ecothermal grid offer is presented now, for example, with the pilot of Görlitz, Zgorzelec, it's for medium and small-sized cities where taking into account the best available technologies, we are able to perform 100% renewables very soon.

On the other hand, for these large district heating transfers and big CHP, central heating plants, sorry for that, we decarbonize step by step and the journey is planned like that.

And we can hear how convinced you are by this journey. You've spoken about many levers to make this system more efficient. I'd like to know if it changes the way the networks are operated. And you also spoke about the combination of water and waste. What does this mean for the cities?

Not only combination of energy of waste, but we have the unique opportunity, what could be seen on the next slide, please. Thank you. So we have the unique opportunity to combine those 3 activities, waste, energy and water. Example of waste for energy combination, there is the Prerov Heating Plant where we use that RDF fuel, which is provided by our waste division. In Veolia, we always prefer to share the experience and to duplicate the projects, which means this project will be replicated soon in Karviná.

Regarding the combination with water, which means energy for water or water for energy, we are using the residual heat from ice drinking water or sewage water for heating of buildings. When we operate the wastewater treatment plants, we are able to produce biomass and by burning of biomass in cogeneration unit, we are providing heat and electricity. And the flagship of that solution is our Kubratovo installation in Sofia, where we've achieved 100% self-sufficiency in production of energy. Once again, duplication already mentioned Budapest, but as well Bucharest, Bucharest, Prague as well, where we even upgrade the biogas production by conversion to biomethane.

Last but not least, when we supply energy to water business, for example, in Prague, we are able to manage perfectly the usage of electricity for pumping of water, which means if there is low need of electricity, sometimes even price is negative, we could make the pumping and vice versa. So this is regarding synergies. And last but not least, already Estelle and Emmanuelle have been speaking about strong potential for growth. So just to tell you that we are focusing on organic growth.

The figure from Poznan where since 2015, we've performed the expansion of about 27%. It's one of the examples when we are present in a city, it's always the case like that. But we are as well extending the networks, but nontraditional way. The very nice example, it's the using of geothermal energy, for example, in Bucharest, today, we performed several projects where we are using geothermal energy, which means transforming shallow geothermal energy by heat pumps, which makes finally the significant reduction of CO2, but as well optimization of cost, and this is the sustainable solution.

In conclusion, if I may. In fact, we are performing our decarbonization journey. We are profiting from unique opportunity to make the synergies between business line. We are expanding our network. And by that way, we are achieving our actual targets, but as well, we will deliver the growth as expected and requested, not only in Central Europe, but particularly Central Asia and as well in other zones because we like duplication in Veolia according to the strategy, which is defined by headquarters. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you so much, Pavel. I would like to take a seat next to Estelle and Emmanuelle. Let's give him a round of applause for this presentation, please. We are now going to discuss the partnership between the city of Poznan and Veolia. We'll discuss how this has been instrumental to the coal exit pathway and how that has created new opportunities for the wider energy transition.

Now to address this, I am going to welcome on stage Jacek Jaskowiak. I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, Mayor of Poznan, please come on stage. Philippe Guitard, Head of Central and Eastern Europe zone at Veolia; and Jakub Patalas, CEO of Veolia Energy Poznan.

And my first question will be for you, Philippe. This morning, we have spoken a lot about heat, about the importance of decarbonization. Can you tell us what makes Veolia different in its approach to energy in the zone?

What makes Veolia different is, first of all, to have with us the Mayor of Poznan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, to be in a building -- a new building of the city, which is heated by Veolia. So minus 2°C outside, and today, we have 22°C inside. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, because without you, we will be very cold. What's bringing Veolia, you had the presentation of Estelle, Emmanuelle, Pavel, very simply, first of all, the partnership, without the mayor, without the local authorities, the national authorities, Veolia will not be able to apply it's own. That's the base that the history of Veolia to be a local partner for win-win.

But we have also in Central Europe and in Veolia, advantages that the others don't have. The first one is a global approach. We produce, we distribute, we invoice, we have client, we have performance, we have the total value chain that no one can compete with. The other exception which make Veolia unique, is we are working with 3 legs: the water, the waste and the energy. And on these 3 historical activities, one is a common point, the energy. We produce with water energy. We produce with waste energy. And this combination is making for the city, for the final client and for Veolia, a winning combination.

Winning combination, which is reinforced by the innovation, 13 innovation in Poznan, but on all the global scale of the group, we can say hundreds of innovation. And we have innovation every month, every day on the principle of copy and adapt.

We have also some unique expertise. We talk about artificial intelligence, Poland, the network in Poznan, in Ouc, in Warsaw is today with an artificial intelligent pilot, making 3%, 4%, 5% higher efficiency. In Germany, in Hungary, we have a unique biomass expertise. RDF is already applied. The others are talking about it, we are doing it. That's why with all this specific combination and with our association with the local authority, Mr. Mayor, we try to fulfill your promise to make Poznan as an example, not only in Poland, but in the rest of the Veolia activity.

Thank you so much, Philippe. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to continue on this train of thought and ask you a very direct question. Why did you choose to invest in decarbonization? Was it because of regulation? Or was it a personal vision? Tell us more.

Innovation, it is not only semiconductors. Innovation could be also the investment like this. And so I'm from business. Before being elected, I was very active in business, and so I'm not afraid of cooperation. And we did a lot together. And so thank you, Veolia, because to have such a partner, we can do a lot. And decarbonization is very important. We see climate changes and all the things, it is necessary to invest.

And first, to be innovative, I'm very happy to have strategic partners like Veolia. Veolia did a lot. If you see these numbers comparing to the even Görlitz or the Czech Republic, it is 820, it is the biggest amount. If you see the investments in Germany, in Czech Republic, in Hungary, in Poland, so Poland is last time quite successful because we cooperate with such partners like Veolia.

And so innovation, it is not only semiconductors like Taiwan, it is not only such things like in U.S., Google or Facebook, it is also such business. And so for me, it is very important to show Poznan as also a very innovative city. And in the business, it is very important to be the best, but it is also sometimes very important to be the first. And it is a big chance for Poznan, such cooperation because we could be the first with such big decarbonization. And then for Veolia, it is also the chance because if we are successful as Poznan in this area, then the different cities in Europe and maybe not only in Europe, will follow us. But I like to be the first.

Very clear answer. Thank you so much for that candid answer. Why did you choose Veolia?

Telling the truth, it was chosen before, and I saw the result. In business, numbers are very important, and we could see the numbers and also to follow the numbers in the past, the reduction of coal consumption and so on, it is clear. And then if I see such profit margin, it is very easy to do more, to discuss some things what could we do in next years, how could we together change Poznan.

Nowadays, it is also the matter of security. Three years ago after this aggression of Russian Federation and Ukraine, the challenge to heat all the apartments, all the homes, all the offices, it was not easy. I remember this all discussions, is Poznan is safe or not. When I was invited and very big amount of coal was there. And so I was told we are safe. And so it is also important, not only to be the first, but also to be safe.

Thank you so much. I'd like to turn now to you, Jakob. As we have been hearing there is some exit -- this coal exit in Poland -- in Poznan, sorry, is a joint effort between the city and Veolia. Can you tell us more about how important the city's implication is and has been to successfully achieve this transition?

Thank you. Before I will jump to those answer, let me tell you where we are just because we are in a good example of transition. This building has been old brewery that has been changed into shopping mall. And I think Poznan citizens love that place, so do I. And I'm pretty proud that we can, as Philippe said, supply it with the heat deliveries.

Answering your question, the role of the city and its officials was always crucial for the entire project and at every of its stage until it was success. We received tremendous support from city officials, especially during the permitting phase when we were acquiring building permit zone locations and after all, at the end of the project when we were applying for occupancy permit. Although all these processes are lengthy and complex, they have been success accomplished without any delays.

It's also worth to mention that we have been also supported after the project has been accomplished just because we have changed coal to gas. We also changed the heat tariffs and not everybody has been, let's say, happy about that tariffs has been increased. So the city council members and vice mayor stepped in with the idea to organize a meeting where we had a chance to discuss with the housing cooperative representatives about what was the reason, why this heating prices has changed. And they approved our explanations. So in the end, it was very successful. I would like to also emphasize that our partnership with city resulted with also consistent communication and clear approval of our plans and actions in the end.

On the other end, how would you say that Veolia's unique positioning and its wide portfolio of solutions has been essential to support the city?

Well, Veolia in Poznan is not only the district heating supplier for over 60% of residential buildings within the city range, guaranteeing the security and continuity of those supplies, we are also a key provider for building energy services for over 140 municipal buildings when in one hand, we are enabling for energy savings, but on the other hand, we are maintaining the heat comfort inside those buildings.

It is also, I think, so that we became for the 20 years of our cooperation kind of a first choice partner due to our innovation and the worldwide experience. And last but not least, it's also worth to mention that we, Veolia, together with city, we are conducting 1 degree less is more campaign that is showing to local community how important is to save the resources.

Thank you, Jakub. And my final question will be for you, Philippe. What are the next steps to continue revolutionizing the energy in the zone?

Revolution and future. Well, I think we can use Poznan as an example. The decarbonation, as was presented, is an opportunity, not as a constraints. We can use innovation. We can use new technology. We can use the diversity of solution of Veolia to create the future. All what you have seen this morning, you have the solution for all the problems. But we have also, and I want to insist on that, what no one has, we have in Central Europe with this expertise, a unique portfolio with a unique workforce, 40,000 people are working in 14 different countries. 15,000 of them are working in the energy.

Why do you think in '22 that Veolia was choose in Uzbekistan? Because we have been the only one to deliver what the other one dream to do. We have the resources. We have as Estelle, the ambition, and we have also the proudness, proudness to do what we say and to say what we do. The experience of energy, the capacity of Veolia to demonstrate we can do more with less, digestion of the complexity with the support of the partnership, it's more than a future.

Geographically, we have a lot of ambition in Central Asia, in South of Europe, but we are also on industrial world, a unique position. I'm sure that you don't know that we are managing in Hungary or in Czech Republic, more than 50% of the energy hospital with efficiency, with resilience and with professionalism. So as I like to say, it's better to see one than to listen 100 times. Let's visit the gas station of Poznan, and you will see already a part of the future.

Thank you so much, Philippe. And to end this roundtable on a visual representation, please have a look at this video on new urban energy. Thank you, gentlemen.

[Presentation]

Now before we turn to you to take your questions, I would like to invite you, Estelle, to please come back center stage to give your key takeaways.

We've shown you this morning what's possible. The technology does work, the project do deliver returns and the transformation is happening. But here is the reality to scale this across Europe to move from dozens of cities to hundreds of cities, European authorities need to act, and they need to act now.

So let me be very clear about what needs to happen to get there. First, prioritize local energy. This is waste heat from data centers, metros, industry, geothermal, biomass, those resources exist. They constitute a potential 400 gigawatts of untapped resources, make them a priority. Second, accelerate permits. Permits take years. We need months, fast-track renewable heating projects. Third, scale geothermal guarantee funds. Hungary and France proved it works, replicate it across Europe, remove the risk, unlock the resource.

Fourth, deliver regulatory stability. Investment needs visibility. So implement existing laws and stop changing the rules. Local energy, fast permits, geothermal guarantees, regulatory stability, these 4 priorities will unlock carbon-neutral heating across Europe. Veolia is ready. The cities are ready. The technology is ready. Now we need the policy framework to match this ambition. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Estelle. So let's open to your questions. [Operator Instructions] Do not hesitate. We are at your disposal. Yes, we have a question right here. Can we bring a microphone over there?

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you. Can you present yourself and ask your question, please.

Bartek Kubicki, Bernstein of Gen. Two questions, if I may, on heating and power generation. First of all, if we think about Poland per se, there's plenty of coal-fired power plants here, heat plants here. I just wonder if in your minds, you are thinking about maybe expanding a little bit beyond the assets you have, getting new assets and then transferring your expertise to decarbonize other assets, which I guess are predominantly owned by municipalities. That will be question number one.

And question number two, if we think beyond the decarbonization, so let's say, 2030 or when you finish the projects, if you can tell us what are the growth drivers of ROCE and EBITDA beyond decarbonization so after you decarbonize the plants and then whether they meet your criteria or definition of being a mature assets, and I'm referring here to your Friday's presentation.

So I may start and maybe, Emmanuelle, you want to complement. On Poland, I guess we launched this morning the ecothermal grid. That's partially the answer to your question. The idea is not -- it's to be an asset-light offer to be able to help cities, even if they were in-house, like you know you have many in Poland, but elsewhere as well, to help them with decarbonization, with making more efficient and so on and so forth, not having to necessarily buy the asset of them if they were just to want to maintain the ownership as it is today. So that's a good example of what we have in mind in the next few years. The rest we'll see the opportunities as they arise, but that's the global picture.

In terms of beyond, so is your question, do we intend to sell our assets in Poland? The answer is no. I'm trying to refer to the Friday last bit of your question. You've understood that not only it delivers good return, but there is good growth. It's growing in terms of profits. And just to elaborate a little bit on what I called about mature asset on Friday, it's really something which the profit in a way or the return would not grow in the next few years. As you've seen this morning, we have a lot of things up to 2030 and even beyond because beyond that, I think the example of Tashkent was mentioned. And I know that Philippe and same applies to my -- the Asian colleague of Philippe, lots of new dots on the map beyond 2030, I can tell you. Emmanuelle?

So maybe on your first question, Poland. So as you may know, we love Poland. It's one of our top 5 countries. And we have an amazing team, amazing track record and track record of figures and delivery of projects, which have been stellar. So we'll continue to grow. That's for sure. As I mentioned, it will come from new connection. So we had new connection in the past. It was the case, for instance, in Warsaw. Yearly growth was, if I'm not mistaken, 1.5% per year over the last 10 years. So that will be one thing, and urban will continue to expand.

We will work on efficiency networks that will also help us because our network now when we take the definition of EU is defined as efficiency network, meaning that we have incentive for connection. We'll continue to sell our additional services and the team for that is amazing. That's a strong combination with our boosters. So it can be energy efficiency package. So all that, that we will continue to deliver. We'll have smart metering, waste heat management. And the third element is, of course, we want to expand. It will be majorly CapEx light, and it has to be fully in line with our, what we call financial criteria. If we have one amazing opportunities, we need a bit of CapEx, of course, we will consider it.

Coming to your second question, so what happened after 2030? So you are quite early, Bartek, if I may. But what I can say is it's what we explained with Estelle and the team today is that, first, growth will come also from decarbonization. What you have in mind is will all the decarbonization we do, part of the EBITDA growth will come after 2030. That's a really important point. And after that, we'll continue to grow, thanks to efficiency, geographical development. We have a very clear vision of what we want to do.

Thank you so much for this question and the answers. Do we have any other questions in the room? I hope I can see. We have quite a few questions here. Perhaps you can bring a microphone here first, and then we will get to you.

Arnaud Palliez, CIC. I would like to have more details about geographical expansion regarding, of course, the track record and the innovation accumulated in Central and Eastern Europe. Can you develop the business in other regions? The eligible market you mentioned with 400 gigawatt of wasted heat. This is on a global scale or this is what is really your eligible market?

So geographical expansion, you have district heating and urban heating, which we have discussed this morning. But we have other type of activities in the energy business, which I referred to earlier on in the day, such as bioenergy, energy efficiency, just to mention 2 ones, which are boosting our activity, as you know.

So if you take the overall new urban energy, which is what Veolia does, we have a worldwide ambition to develop this business with some specificity on choosing our battles, but like we do in waste and in water in the same way. So what are those criteria in a way? First is, of course, it's where the demand is for a very long time. And by the way, we don't want to be dependent on subsidies. As you know, it was proven to be quite a successful choice, if I may, with all the ups and downs of various governmental help. We don't want to be depending on subsidies. So basically, that gives you a full demand for our service in various parts of the world.

The second one is I don't want to disperse our means. You've seen the top 3 strategy in the GreenUp plan. When we are in a country, we want to be very good at this specific activity in this specific country. It goes with what Philippe said about being embedded, having super professional team who can deliver on their promises and so on and so forth. So if you mix all that, that type of criteria, you will end up having, yes, district heating not only in Central and Eastern Europe, which goes from Germany all the way East, Central Asia and Asia altogether.

In terms of cold, we've developed the first new worldwide first, for instance, in Barcelona that we've launched a few months ago. And you can imagine that in the Middle East, we will be more talking about cold rather than heat. Then if you move to, for instance, energy efficiency and all the rest, we are doing already a lot of that in South America, in the Middle East again. So it depends on which pieces of the jigsaw. But each time, we want to be in the top 3 of this specific market at Veolia in this specific country.

So the ambition is really worldwide, but not by dispersing our means because we have potential pretty much in lots of different places. And 400 gigawatt, it's our estimate on European scale. We could do the same estimate in other parts of the world, but we wanted to make it very, very like easy to capture because 400 gigawatt at European scale is equivalent of the overall consumption of Italy on everything, just to give you an idea. So it's massive. It's 1/3 of what the EU does import in fossil fuel that you can replace by, again, biogas, biomass, wasted heat, nonrecyclable waste and so on and so forth. So local sources.

So the idea was try to capture, is it worth it in a way? Or is it -- will it stay super small? And the answer is it could be a big game changer in the energy mix, but we could do exactly the same math in other continents.

Thank you so much, Estelle.

This is [indiscernible] I have a couple of questions. First of all, your goal is to be #1 in heat solutions in Europe by 2030. So I want to know where do you stand now? Are you in second place, in third place, I mean, what's your market share? And the other question would be more or less you have already answered it, but how does this heat push with countries like Spain in which you have an important footprint, but at the same time, maybe they are not solutions that much needed?

So on the first one, so we are #2 today in urban heating in Europe, close to the #1. In terms of market share and pushing, you've understood to get to the #1 status. In terms of market share, it's roughly 10%, I think it's 9.5%. If you count by number of inhabitants, which are connected to a Veolia district heating network as opposed to other competitors. Having in mind that the #1 is probably a little bit both, but the vast majority of the market share is run directly by cities. So what's run by specialized companies like Veolia is basically like just 25% of the overall market. The 75% is actually run by cities.

So in a way, there is -- that's why we talked about privatization of cities who are looking for efficiency, innovation and decarbonization, which is exactly what we do. You have an open market which is expanding as well in that spectrum.

In terms of Spain, Spain, we already are very present in energy, # 2, I gather, in energy efficiency in Spain. Plus, we've invested in the last 1 year, which is one of our booster of activity coming back to the question we had earlier on, we've invested in half a dozen of tuck-in acquisition this year alone in Spain from -- and it's mainly, I would say, industrial energy efficiency and energy supply and heat supply, if you want, that we have developed in Spain. So from industrial cold to industrial heat and everything which looks like that.

With regards to urban heating as what you see in Poznan, you would understand that it's a little bit less relevant given the weather is slightly different, right? But as we said, heat is not only to warm your homes, it's as well needed for industrial processes, and that's exactly where we focus our attention in Spain.

Thank you so much, Estelle. We have a question here.

So a few questions from me and from Olly Jeffery from Deutsche Bank. The first question is just a clarification. So all of the business growth outside of the coal program, is that CapEx light? Or is it just the geographical expansion part of CapEx light think of the new connections and the ecothermal grid?

And the second question is on the organic growth out to 2030, particularly with regard to the waste heat service you might be able to provide to data centers. Do you see upside potential to that? Or is that really too nascent to see that as potential upside over the medium term versus your expectations? And the last one is just on the coal program. You've got EUR 250 million EBITDA at full run rate. You've already got a couple of plants up and running. How much is it -- how much is that delivering today?

Okay. I'm going to start with Emmanuelle. So apart from coal, all the others expansion, are they CapEx heavy or CapEx light, Emmanuelle?

Yes. So what -- as Estelle mentioned, we want to concentrate our means, meaning that today, the main CapEx we invest and we want to invest, it's on the decarbonization, which is very profitable with excellent people, amazing track record and ERR above 10%. Then we have all the maintenance that we want to continue -- and that we do and that we will continue to do. We want to have plants which are solid, which are delivering the essential services for our people. In terms of additional expansion, the priority is given on CapEx light. If we have an amazing project coming fitting our criteria, we'll take the liberty to look at it.

So, it's CapEx-light mainly apart from the coal transition. Organic growth and data centers. So data center, we see a potential for growing the business of Veolia in different ways, basically to launch a sustainable data center offer, just to put it in simple terms because waste heat recupe is a big potential, and we already are developing projects like that one, like we have -- we will see one major in Poznan, but as you can imagine, it's not only in Poland, it's pretty much across the globe.

The other one is water because you need water to cool down data centers as well. And we are a worldwide specialist of water technology. So we developed a way to kind of recycle water, if you want, to avoid having to fight for water between a town, farmers and data centers, which, by the way, we already see in the U.S., just to give you an idea of how crazy at times the world can sound. And the third one is more the hazard waste element of data centers because you have a lot of electrical, electronical equipment within a data center, which are hazardous waste material. And that's why like our waste presence. And again, we are #1 worldwide in hazardous waste and soon #2 in the U.S. will be helping.

So it's a comprehensive sustainable data center offer, which we are launching and having some already early success. Can you project a big number? We'll see that through. First things first, we are really like launching this offer, and it's proven to be quite successful already. In terms of core program of the EUR 250 million, which I think on the slide you said was back-end loaded, Emmanuelle, but back-end loaded, is there already a little bit of it in our numbers today?

Yes, absolutely. Fair question. So on the EUR 250 million of EBITDA that we will generate, we had 50 million, which were before the start of GreenUp, mainly coming from Braunschweig. During the plan, we have roughly EUR 50 million coming from Poznan and a part of Prerov and Kolin, and all the remaining part will arrive after 2027. And I think it's made the link with the question of Bartek.

Thank you so much. Now if you will allow, I'm going to close the in-person portion of this Q&A. I'd like to remind you that we're having lunch together so we can continue the discussion later on. I'll just take a few questions from our online participants. Here is a question from Emira Sagaama from ODDO BHF. Do you have any ambition to replicate this expertise in China as your coal exit target only applies to Europe?

So we already are very present in China in the district heating and urban heating business in various cities. So it's Harbin, it's Yanshan and Chong -- sorry, I'm...

Wuxi...

Xi'an, Wuxi, thank you. Always I'm slightly confused with the name of cities we operate in, which are so numerous. So we already are very present in China. And again, as we said, already present in Asia altogether. We are present in Hong Kong and Central Asia as well.

In terms of decarbonization agenda, we already are doing a lot. If I remember well, in China, we've reduced by 30% the carbon intensity in our network. But as far as coal exit is concerned, the question is with what can you replace it with? So we do already a lot of biomass and stuff, but there is not enough alternative to replace coal so far.

So it will happen one day, probably. And we are working with the Chinese authority to see how we can -- how we could implement that. But you have to realize that in those cities I mentioned, it's minus 30 degrees in the winter. And you don't have any wood, you don't have enough waste in the city to provide with the entirety of the replacement of coal. But very proud already with what has been achieved, which is a minus 30% carbon intensity in those network and replacing progressively with biomass.

Thank you, Estelle. And for timing constraints reasons, sorry, I'm going to end with this final question coming from our participants online. A question from Arthur Sitbon from Morgan Stanley. What will the timing profile be for the EUR 0.9 billion remaining coal exit CapEx? Will they peak in a given year? Or will they be more evenly distributed to 2030? And he also has the same question for your EBITDA trajectory in energy. When will most of the EUR 250 million EBITDA uplift materialize?

I think on the second one, you already answered, Emmanuelle, but on the spending of the CapEx, maybe?

Yes. On the spending of the CapEx, thanks to the amazing team that we have, we are succeeding to have a schedule of CapEx, which is evenly split over the years. We will have 2 years with a higher peak, which are 2027 and 2028.

But I guess on the timing of the project like the one we've seen -- we will see early this afternoon, I don't know, Pavel, how long does it take to get a project like the one we'll see up and running? What, 3 years of preparation and detailed design and something like that?

It's a little bit longer. Nevertheless, thanks to say that we are cooperating very well with headquarters with financial department in order to make the planning and not to focus something on 1 year. So we've already began. You've seen that we are somehow in the middle of our journey, already a lot of projects finished, which give us the chance to continue step-by-step and in such a, let's say, cooperation on CapEx delivery continuously or CapEx request.

Only if you permit me, maybe small technical remark regarding Poland because, of course, we are decarbonizing our assets. But for example, by installing of gas turbines, and we've been talking a lot about flexibility and actually services, here in Poznan, we today, we've commissioned already 2 gas turbines. We will do the same or more or less for Lódz with 3 units. And by providing those services, we enable to the grid to connect even more renewables out of our scope. So Veolia is here to help the country, the zone in order to implement the decarbonization journey even out of our assets, which we either own or operate.

So direct impact and indirect impact as well.

If I may say one word because Pavel is a bit humble. When I'm looking at the project that you are delivering with the [indiscernible] because you have 300 people on site at the same time, you are able to continue to deliver it and to build the facility. And also, you are always finding the most fitting technological solution, which is amazing.

I'm not only humble, but my teams or our teams here are humble.

0 accidents.

With 0 accidents.

With 0 accident says Philippe. That seems like an excellent way to close this Q&A. Thank you so much for your questions. Thank you for your answers. And this brings this plenary to a close to our remote audience. Thank you for joining us. We look forward to seeing you again for a future Thema trip. Goodbye.

Good morning. My name is Dave, and I will be your conference facilitator. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to this Enviri Corporation Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Also, this telephone conference presentation and accompanying webcast made on behalf of Enviri Corporation are subject to copyright by Enviri Corporation and all rights reserved. No recordings or redistributions of this telephone conference by any other party are permitted without the express written consent of Enviri Corporation. Your participation indicates your agreement.

I would now like to turn the call over to Dave Martin of Enviri Corporation. Mr. Martin, you may begin your call.

Thank you, Dave, and welcome to everyone joining us today. With me is Nick Grasberger, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Tom Vadaketh, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Russell Hochman, the future CEO of New Enviri.

This morning, we will discuss our signing of a definitive agreement to sell Clean Earth to Veolia, and our plans to spin off Harsco Environmental and Rail into a new public company. After our prepared remarks, we'll take questions.

Today's press release and a slide presentation for this call are available on our website.

During this call, we will make statements that are considered forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see the Risk Factors section in our most recent 10-K and as updated on our subsequent 10-Qs. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement.

Lastly, on this call, we will refer to adjusted financial results that are considered non-GAAP for SEC reporting purposes. A reconciliation of these details is included in the release today and our slide presentation. Now I'll turn the call to Nick.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on short notice today. Earlier today, we announced that we signed a definitive agreement to sell Clean Earth for $3 billion to Veolia. This announcement culminates an in-depth strategic evaluation process that was communicated on our August 5 earnings announcement. We believe the transaction is a very positive outcome for our company, our shareholders and our employees, and our Clean Earth and corporate teams made an all-out effort to get this transaction across the finish line over the past few months. I and the Board are very thankful to those involved.

The transaction is a big step towards realizing the sum of the parts value of our business portfolio, which is ultimately our goal when we began this process. The transaction is structured to maximize value for our shareholders by minimizing tax leverage, significantly reducing our debt and financing a large cash payout to existing shareholders.

In terms of the details, shareholders will receive a cash payout that we estimate to be between $14.50 and $16.50 per share, and an ownership interest in a new public company consisting of Harsco Environmental and Harsco Rail, which we are referring to as New Enviri. This tax-efficient transaction allows our investors to crystallize the value of Clean Earth at a highly attractive valuation while retaining full ownership of a conservatively capitalized New Enviri.

New Enviri has pro forma EBITDA of $135 million with a capital structure of 2x leverage. The value of Enviri, when considering the cash payout plus the value of New Enviri is well in excess of yesterday's closing share price and we believe north of $20 per share. The expected cash payout alone on a per share basis represents a 70% to 90% increase from our share price in early August, and a roughly 10% to 20% increase from the share price over the past few days.

I'll speak a bit later about New Enviri. But first, I'd like to briefly remind investors about the history of our Clean Earth platform. In 2018, following a formal strategic review process, the company identified the specialty waste sector as an attractive adjacency to Harsco Environmental. Within a year, we divested 3 industrial businesses and acquired 2 specialty waste businesses for just over $1 billion. Since that time, the Clean Earth platform has weathered a pandemic, extraordinary inflation in key cost categories and a complex and full integration of the 2 acquired businesses to become a market leader in the U.S. specialty waste market.

Over the past 5 years, Clean Earth's revenues increased roughly 30%. EBITDA more than doubled, EBITDA margins tripled and the business generated over $400 million of free cash flow. The sale price of $3 billion is not only nearly 3x our initial investment, but is also at roughly 18x trailing EBITDA, an unprecedented valuation in the specialty waste sector.

I would like to personally thank and recognize Jeff Beswick, Mike Polcovich, Liz Peterson, and the entire Clean Earth team for their exceptional effort and dedication in creating a tremendous amount of value for our shareholders while leading the business in a manner that reflects the Enviri values.

I'm also very pleased that our Clean Earth colleagues are joining such an exceptional global organization as Veolia that shares a similar culture and focus on environmental sustainability. I would like to congratulate Veolia and acknowledge its high degree of professionalism throughout our process.

I'll now ask Tom to provide further perspective and details about the transaction.

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. As Dave Martin said earlier, we've posted a slide presentation that has more details about the transaction, which you can get from our website. I'll just touch on a few points.

From the transaction proceeds, we estimate that about $1.5 billion will be used to repay debt and pay transaction costs, taxes and related expenses. We also plan to set aside cash to support our Rail ETO contracts. While we've made significant progress on these contracts, risk remains, and we are evaluating what would be required to protect against this risk. For example, the institutions providing credit support to our customers on these contracts currently may require some amount of cash to support our obligations. We've laid out a bridge in the appendix that walks from the $3 billion of sales proceeds to the cash paid per share, where we show a range of outcomes. We'll know more in the coming months and will narrow our estimated payout range when appropriate. Our base case currently would lead to a cash payout towards the high end of our range of $14.50 to $16.50 per share.

As far as the path forward, there are no financing contingencies with our agreement. We anticipate filing our Form-10 registration statement with the SEC in the first quarter of 2026 after we finalize our fiscal year 2025 financial results. We also anticipate filing our proxy statement later in Q1 to solicit shareholder approval of this transaction. And accordingly, we're targeting to close this transaction in the middle of 2026.

Turning towards New Enviri. Based on the 2025 guidance that we provided in early November, pro forma adjusted EBITDA for the company is expected to approximate $135 million for 2025 on a revenue base of $1.3 billion. This EBITDA figure accounts for the fact that we plan to rightsize our corporate costs to align with New Enviri's size and needs. As we mentioned with our Q3 results in early November, we recently amended our credit agreement to allow for the sale of Clean Earth and to provide a capital structure framework for our remaining businesses.

At closing, we expect New Enviri to have a net leverage ratio of 2x within this framework. In addition to its funded debt, the company will have an unused revolver of 1x adjusted EBITDA.

Thanks, and I'll now hand the call back to Nick.

Thank you, Tom. Turning to a further discussion on New Enviri. This new public company will have an attractive profile with 2 market-leading businesses with strong and trusted brands and, as Tom mentioned, a conservative capital structure. We expect New Enviri to deliver a substantial improvement in earnings and cash flow over time. And this will support material value creation, and Enviri shareholders will retain full participation in this upside.

We believe the Harsco Environmental business troughed in the first half of 2025. Performance in the second half has improved, providing a higher base for future growth as steel markets recover and newly won sites mature and achieve run rate profitability.

In addition, our innovation pipeline has never been stronger and the recently announced tariffs and other protectionist measures in the EU should improve pricing and production levels for our customers in our largest market.

On Harsco Rail, the new leadership team has made significant progress on our operational performance and is removing a great deal of cost. We expect demand for equipment and aftermarket parts to rebound as it has historically.

With regard to the troublesome engineered-to-order contracts, we have not and will not pursue new contracts of that nature. And the smaller contracts have been largely completed with just a few remaining to be delivered in 2026. Importantly, the risk associated with 2 of the 3 large European contracts has decreased significantly. The third contract is currently being renegotiated, and we are hopeful for a favorable outcome in the first half of next year.

Additionally, cash flows from our engineered-to-order contracts are expected to turn positive in 2027. Once these contracts are resolved, overhead costs will be further reduced and the financial profile of the Rail business will improve substantially.

I'd like to close by addressing our upcoming leadership transition. After more than 10 years leading Enviri, I plan to step down following the close of the transaction. Effective immediately, Russell Hochman, our long-time General Counsel, has been appointed to the additional role of President and Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for Harsco Environmental and Harsco Rail. Russell brings deep knowledge of these businesses having served as a member of the executive team for a decade. Russell will serve in this role until the transaction closes, at which point he will become the Chief Executive Officer of New Enviri, leading Harsco Environmental and Harsco Rail into their next chapter, and one which we expect will create meaningful shareholder value over time.

Throughout our time working together, Russell has been a trusted adviser and a key member of our executive leadership team. His contributions in leading our legal and governance efforts cannot be overstated, but his contributions and experience go well beyond that. He is a strategic thinker and a very capable leader with a strong operational and commercial focus. He played a key role in helping to shape Enviri's strategy and the multiyear portfolio transformation that got us to where we are today. And I know that Russell truly appreciates and supports the values and culture that underpin everything we do at Enviri.

Many of you will meet Russell in the coming weeks and months, and I expect that Russell will share his vision for New Enviri as we approach the closing of the Clean Earth sale in 2026.

I'll now pass it over to Russell to make a few comments before we open the line for Q&A.

Thanks for the kind introduction, Nick. Hello, everyone. I want to take a moment to acknowledge Nick in his role as a visionary leader who has transformed this business in so many ways, including our strategic pivot to becoming one of the leading providers of specialty waste services in a very short period of time. I am grateful to have served together during this time, and I'm excited to build on Nick's legacy of creating substantial value for our shareholders as evidenced by today's announcement.

Since joining Enviri in 2013, I've had the pleasure of working together with talented colleagues to guide the company through a period of significant transformation, which has ultimately led to this transaction. I'm honored to lead our collective team as we embark on this next chapter, and I'm excited to capitalize on the value creation opportunities that we see ahead for HE and Rail.

As Nick noted, the businesses that will comprise New Enviri have certainly been navigating through a challenging period. While many of the headwinds faced have been external, we will accelerate the actions that we are taking, including reducing complexity, driving operational excellence and managing costs. As a more focused organization, we will operate with a sense of urgency. I'm confident that both HE and Rail have the right foundations in place to deliver increasing value over time.

It's important to remember that both businesses are market-leading providers of products and services that are poised to benefit from a recovery in their respective markets. In fact, as previously mentioned, we believe that HE troughed in the first half of 2025, and is delivering improved performance in the second half.

For Rail, I believe this segment is approaching an inflection point, thanks to the aggressive actions we've taken to reduce overhead and drive operational improvements. I've been directly involved with the negotiations with our European ETO customers and I will continue to make derisking these commercial contracts a key priority of New Enviri. While there is more work to do, I expect Rail to be poised to deliver sustainable improvement following the close of the transaction and as we progress through the second half of 2026.

One of the most critical factors that will enable us to unlock the value creation potential of New Enviri is the transaction that we announced today. By deploying some of the cash proceeds from that sale to pay down debt, New Enviri will launch as an independent publicly traded company significantly less burdened by leverage and related interest costs, and we expect value to accrue to shareholders from further deleveraging as Rail begins to generate positive free cash flow in 2027 and beyond.

For 2026, we are optimistic that New Enviri will see pro forma EBITDA and free cash flow growth as we work towards positive cash generation. In the coming months, we will have more to say about the outlook and will provide a strategic update detailing my key priorities for the company.

The Clean Earth transaction announced today is a great outcome for our current Enviri shareholders, future New Enviri shareholders and all of our stakeholders, and I'm excited about the opportunity to lead this new company as we accelerate the work underway. I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming months to share more about our plans to enhance value for shareholders.

Thank you, and I will now hand the call back to the operator for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Larry Solow with CJS Securities.

Great. Congratulations, Nick. It sounds like a very good, beneficial deal. I guess the first question, it still feels like you have the tax shield at the corporate level. I'm just trying to figure out the -- how will the shareholders tax be treated? Has the burden been passed on to the shareholders? I'm just trying to figure that out.

Larry, it's Tom Vadaketh here. I'll attempt to answer that question. And I'll just maybe start by saying, I'm not a tax lawyer and don't want to start giving tax advice to investors on this call. But just generally speaking, the cash distribution that we talked about, so that's the $14.50 to $16.50 range, that will be -- is characterized as merger consideration and in Tom Vadaketh layman speak, effectively return of capital. And then the New Enviri shares or dividends will be treated as dividends.

So the return of capital or merger consideration cash you're saying is, is that not taxable?

That would be taxable, yes. So that would be subject to capital gains tax. Yes.

Right. So the -- so it's tax-free, but it's not tax-free. But basically, it's been passed on to shareholders?

No. Yes, but Larry, if we had not done it in this tax-efficient way, then there would have been 2 levels of tax. There would have been corporation tax and significant tax leakage to be followed by then tax and the shareholders anyway. So this is a very efficient transaction for the shareholders ultimately.

All right. We can go into my discussion offline. I guess the other question is just -- is there any regulatory approvals or anything that needs to be done mid-2026, I guess, not too far off, so in about 6 months, but is there anything that could hold this deal up or anything? Or just the logistics behind the closing process.

Yes. Certainly, regulatory approval will be required. We're highly confident this transaction is going to close. These are 2 very complementary businesses and we're expecting to, as we said, close sometime in the second quarter.

All right. Great. Congratulations again, Nick. I appreciate it.

Our next question comes from Rob Brown with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Congratulations, everybody, on the strong sale. Just first question on the kind of the multiple being paid is very good to the Enviri shareholders, I think, top end kind of multiple. Could you give us a sense of the just sort of the overall interest and how many -- I don't know the exact number, but just a sense of the interest level for the business on the process?

Well, it was certainly very strong. As you know, this industry has been consolidating. And I think most view Clean Earth as the most attractive kind of remaining business and collection of assets in this space. So yes, there was a very, very high level of interest. But it was a relatively quick process. And I mentioned that our Clean Earth team just did an outstanding job getting us to this point. And of course, given how they drove this business over the last 5 years, an awful lot of credibility. And so I think that they certainly help the process a great deal.

Okay. Great. And then on the newco New Enviri business, I think you talked about an EBITDA level. Does that -- what does that assume for Rail kind of in this year? And I know you haven't exactly given guidance, but I assume if Rail improves, the sort of go-forward EBITDA levels are higher than you said it is.

Yes. Rob, it's Tom here. So yes, we essentially -- those numbers are based on our current guidance. And Rail, you could talk about maybe negative $15-ish million number.

And Rob, there's a schedule in the back of our deck this morning that lays out those details, which you may not have seen yet.

Yes. Okay, okay. I'll take a look at that. And then I think before, you've said the Rail kind of normalized for the ETO contracts is historically sort of $30 million to $40 million. Is that, if I remember right, is that what the sort of historical run rate was there for all the issues?

Yes, that's right. I would say Rail normalized for normal demand and normalized for these ETO contracts. So the ETOs, Rob, as you know, if there is a forward loss that we record, those are not included in EBITDA, right? But the big item that impacts our reported EBITDA is the overhead structure that supports the ETOs and that's in the tune of $15 million to $19 million. And so that structure will go away once the contracts are completed.

Got it. Okay, okay. Great. And I assume, based on kind of the commentary that the strategy with improving Environmental and getting Rail going is going to be very similar to what you've been doing. But do you sort of foresee any changes under the newco? I think you talked about maybe a better balance sheet. Will that help you invest in growth and customers? And I guess, just what's the sort of changes from now to the newco situation that you expect?

It's Russell Hochman. I'll respond to that. I would say, we should expect to continue to focus on the strategies currently in place, which have set a great foundation. I would say, as I referred to before, accelerating those will be a priority. These ETOs, as I mentioned, I've been very much involved along with some of the other leaders here in derisking those. And my expectation is that we will continue to derisk those. And by the end of 2026, we'll be in a better place. I'm very positive on where I think the outcomes of those will be.

Okay. Great. Congratulations again.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dave Martin for any closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to reach out to me. And as always, we appreciate your interest in the company and look forward to speaking with many of you in the near future. Have a good day. Thank you.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Veolia Conference Call and Webcast with Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded today, November 21, 2025.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this conference call. I'm accompanied today by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO; and Bob Cappadona, Head of our Hazardous Waste Activities in the U.S. We are meeting today to share what is one of the most important strategic moves of our GreenUp journey so far, an acquisition that accelerate our growth, strengthened 2 of our key boosters and position Veolia exactly where global demand is rising fastest.

Yesterday, we signed the acquisition of Clean Earth, a prominent hazardous waste platform in the U.S. with prime assets. This deal doubles the size of our U.S. hazardous waste operations, making Veolia the #2 in the U.S., and further reinforcing our position as a worldwide leader in hazardous waste with $6 billion turnover.

From a financial perspective, this acquisition is both strategic, accretive and transformative. We secured the deal below a 10x 2026 [ ev ] times EBITDA multiple, reflecting $120 million of synergies with our existing U.S. operations. This synergy target, as Bob will detail, is very much achievable with very limited risk of execution, given, first, the strong operational complementarity between Veolia and Clean Earth in the U.S.; and second, our excellent track record in terms of synergy delivery.

Acquisition will be accretive to current net income in year 2. The deal is fully cash financed with leverage remaining around or slightly above 3x in '26 and below 3x in 2027. We aim at closing the deal mid next year. As part of this acquisition, we decided to target at least EUR 2 billion of new assets disposal within 2 years, typically in more mature activities. Considering the EUR 4 billion of asset rotation already realized in '24 and '25, the Clean Earth acquisition and our new divestment plan, we will have rotated EUR 8.5 billion since the launching of GreenUp. With this acquisition, Veolia accelerates its ongoing portfolio transformation towards the most dynamic markets. It strengthened the group financial profile and positions Veolia for sustainable growth towards 2030.

I'm now on Slide 4. The acquisition of Clean Earth doubles the size of our U.S. hazardous waste operations, making Veolia the #2 in the U.S. and further reinforcing our position as a worldwide leader in hazardous waste with revenue will grow to $6 billion. Veolia business in the U.S. will reach almost $7 billion -- $6.3 billion post the transaction. With this acquisition, Veolia enters a new dimension, a step change in scale enrich in the world's most strategic market with sustained demand and in a timing which couldn't be more critical. I'm referring here to strategic sectors such as health care, pharma, semiconductors. Industry wide demand for our solution has never made higher today's reassuring context. I'm referring as well to industries across the U.S. grappling with new contaminants like PFAS and pharmaceutical residues and increasing pressure on aging waste and water systems. Hazardous waste treatment in the U.S. has reached a tipping point. The country and its industry needs safe, high-tech solutions, and we are stepping in at the moment it matters most.

Leveraging 82 specialized sites and 700 permits across all the U.S. states, Clean Earth significantly strengthened our operational network in the U.S. This expanded platform not only reinforces hazardous waste, but the combination enables us to offer the full range of Veolia environmental services on a national basis.

On Slide 5, Clean Earth sits at the exact intersection of our strategic priorities set by GreenUp. And as you know, 70% of our activities are strongholds, mostly municipal water, waste and district heating, offer resilience and anchoring. They generate long-term sustainable cash flows that are cost protective, large infrastructure base, macro immune and deliver steady growth coming from regulatory tailwinds and our long-standing capacity to deliver efficiency gains. The remaining 30% of the group's revenue comes from boosters, water technologies, hazardous waste and bioenergy, which have higher growth potential. Under GreenUp, we prioritize capital allocation to these boosters to capture that growth. I must add that boosters and strongholds go hand-in-hand, and by combining activities, which is the case of 25% of our revenue, it makes us unique.

Geography growth will primarily come from outside Europe, notably in the U.S., in the Middle East and Australia. As you can see, Clean Earth is at the perfect intersection of these strategic priorities strengthening boosters, expanding in high-potential geographies and reinforcing our focus on areas where we create unique value.

I'm on Page 6 now. Just to say Clean Earth represent a prime asset for Veolia. Clean Earth is a subsidiary of Enviri, a U.S. listed group, involving the treatment of specialized and hazardous waste and soil remediation in the U.S. Enviri decided to sell as part of their product strategy. Its operations span a comprehensive network of strategy located sites across the U.S. with 46 transfer stations, which are usually called 10-days, and 90 treatment facility called TSDF, collectively holding more than 700 active permits. It is, of course, a very regulated industry, augmented Veolia's immediate scale and reach in the U.S. hazardous waste with 10 more states that we can reach through the acquisition, becoming a very national player.

Over the past 3 years, Clean Earth has significantly grown, achieving organic annual average revenue growth of almost 7%, while improving its EBITDA margin to 17% with over 60% EBITDA to free cash flow conversion. They enjoy an excellent reputation with 95% of customer retention rate. On a stand-alone basis, Clean Earth's growth is expected to continue at a solid pace. And by integrating with Veolia's [ agentic ] hazardous waste activities, we will be able to significantly accelerate both profitability and growth. I will explain that in a minute.

I'm now on Slide 7. With Clean Earth, we are doubling our U.S. hazardous waste presence, taking revenue from $1 billion to $2 billion. This is more than just growth in numbers. It's a step change in capabilities and reach. The combination of activities and Clean Earth's footprint create a truly complementary network, unlocking strong operational synergies and positioning us to serve the market more efficiently than ever. Our combined activities will now rank #2 in the U.S. market with $2 billion revenue and even a bit more than that. With the full range of activities from collection to transfer treatment, including incineration and infilling to soil remediation or very specialized services. This is a real transformation of our U.S. platform, enabling Veolia to deliver more value to customers, accelerate great growth and strengthen our strategic position in a market where demand is surging.

Take a look at this map on Slide 8. Together, Veolia and Clean Earth now form a truly nationwide complementary network across the U.S., both in terms of geography and treatment capabilities. This gives us presence across 39 states, reaching customers wherever they operate. A powerful operational complementarities unlocking significant efficiencies and expanding treatment capacities for liquid waste, medical waste and [indiscernible]. With a complete end-to-end solution able to handle any type of complex waste for any customer from collection to final treatments.

Put simply, it's a strategic backbone for the U.S. hazardous waste market, gives Veolia scale, coverage and capabilities, positioning us to capture growth, drive synergies and deliver superior solution across the country.

I'm now on Slide 9. With Clean Earth's acquisition, Veolia's hazardous waste globally now reached EUR 5.2 billion in revenue or around $6 billion with an EBITDA margin of 17%, up from 15% on a stand-alone basis. We're #1 in Europe, now #2 in the U.S. or soon #2 in the U.S., and hold strong positions across Asia, LatAm and in the Middle East, enjoying a truly robust footprint. Our customer base is very diversified and loyal, reflecting the trust we've built in every market.

More importantly, and as I've explained to you during the deep dive in June, we will continue to grow significantly hazardous waste revenues, mid- to high single-digit rate per year, thanks to strong growth levers, which Clean Earth will enhance. We'll provide additional capacity to deliver tailored high value-added services while accelerating time to market for innovative with treatment solutions. We will also further enhance our EBITDA growth profile, thanks to significant synergies to now double digits.

On Slide 10, we are really on a transformative journey in hazardous waste, which growth is supported by sustainable mega trends, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, clean energy, pharmaceuticals, the strategic sectors are reshoring production and expanding rapidly, all while facing critical constraints in safe compliance complex waste treatment.

Public health, environment security and regulatory compliance are nonnegotiables. Companies and communities need modern high-capacity, reliable solution, and the current infrastructure is struggling to keep up. With Clean Earth, Veolia is stepping in at the exact moment our customers need it most. This is a leap in scale in capability and in impact, allowing us to lead the market defined by sustained demand.

On Page 11, you will see that in Clean Earth, we enhance our international footprint, which accounts for more than 80% of our revenue. The Clean Earth acquisition allows us to reach $6.3 billion turnover in the U.S., which is 12% of the group revenue now, making a clear step forward in our global GreenUp journey.

Now handing over to Bob, Head of Hazardous Waste in the U.S. for Veolia. Bob, the floor is yours.

Good morning all. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Very happy to be here today and announce this major acquisition. I'd like to share with you what makes this acquisition in the U.S. so strategic for the group and value creating, and hopefully to make you understand why I am so excited about it. In essence, we are buying a very profitable cash flow generative hazardous waste activity in the U.S. with complementarity with Veolia is very compelling. Therefore, I believe the $120 million in cost synergies delivery is very secure. To get to that number, we have had a detailed analysis on a bottom-up approach, depot by depot and waste flow by waste flow across the entire country to examine how we could be more efficient in our cost of waste disposal or transport while benefiting from the best of both worlds in terms of organizational model. The main synergies will come from waste disposal optimization across the facilities and transport optimization as well. We expect to also reduce IT, procurement expense and other G&A.

Beyond these cost categories, we'll be able to deliver more in terms of new offers and our top line will grow faster. I believe this acquisition will create a lot of value for all of our stakeholders. First, because we're becoming 2 complementary leadership teams with different strengths but aligned values. We will expand the service offering of existing Veolia hazardous waste business into new markets like health care and retail. We will open the technology, research and development and treatment and recycling network of Veolia to an expanded customer base. The addition of 19 permitted transportation storage and disposal facilities improves the logistics and enables Veolia to further develop our business to underserved geographies like the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. The integration is an opportunity to build a unified culture focused on excellence, growth and long-term value creation for employees and customers so that we are not just adding assets, together, we are creating a more capable, more global and more competitive organization.

Finally, our 2 organizations are built on a foundation of sustainability and making the environment a better place while supporting industry and society's ability to enjoy the best of our world. With our deep know-how of the U.S. hazardous waste market and ready to deploy the integration process and a strong cultural fit, I'm fully confident in delivering a smooth integration.

Thank you. And now I'll turn it to Emmanuelle.

Thank you, Bob. As Estelle and Bob have just explained, Clean Earth's acquisition is very strategic and will create a lot of value for Veolia. This comes from a few main simple factors. First, we are buying a fast-growing, highly profitable and cash flow generative hazardous waste player in the U.S. Second, the U.S. hazardous waste market will continue to grow fast, fueled by reshoring, regulation in terms of PFAS for instance, and still scarcity of safe, modern, high-tech solutions. And third, the complementarity of our businesses is compelling. Hence, the $120 million cost synergy delivery is very secure, and we enjoy quite a track record in that matter.

Synergy will be delivered in 4 years, $50 million in '27 and then around $25 million, additional per year to $120 million in 2030 and involves $90 million of implementation costs mostly in '27 and '28. Considering those synergies, the acquisition multiples stand at an attractive level below 10x 2026 estimated EBITDA. Besides, thanks to Clean Earth's acquisition, EBITDA to free cash flow conversion of the hazardous waste activity in the U.S. will grow from circa 35% to circa 55%.

The combination of Veolia and Clean Earth's activities in the U.S. will deliver a sustained mid- to high single-digit top line growth, while the EBITDA growth of our combined global hazardous waste business will be now above 10% per year. Enhanced growth coupled with continued efficiencies and the $120 million synergies will enable the acquisition to be earnings accretive in year 2, 2028.

Clean Earth will be fully financing cash through available cash and cash proceeds of future bond issuances. I remind you that we had EUR 6.9 billion of centralized cash at the end of June and an excellent access to the bond market as evidenced by the recent issuances. Until closing, we'll have sufficient time to size market opportunities and raise debt in good conditions.

We, of course, reiterate our commitment to maintain our strong investment-grade rating. Including Clean Earth's acquisition, the FFO to net debt and RCF to net debt ratios calculated by S&P and Moody's will remain well within the range consistent with our BBB Baa1 rating.

In terms of leverage, we expect leverage to remain around 3x or slightly above in 2026, depending on the divestiture program, and below 3x in 2027.

Since the launch of GreenUp, we have already executed a significant rotation of assets around EUR 4 billion. This includes EUR 1 billion of divestiture in 2024, and EUR 2.3 billion of acquisitions in 2025, mostly in water technologies and tuck-in, in hazardous waste. The Clean Earth acquisition marks a new step in transforming Veolia's growth profile. Alongside this, we will continue to streamline our portfolio with more than EUR 2 billion additional disposal in 2 years, mostly in noncore or mature assets. And why? Because this is about continuously transforming our portfolio and shaping a stronger, more agile and more powerful Veolia by 2030.

Taken together, post-Clean Earth and the plant disposal, we'll have executed EUR 8.5 billion of asset rotation in the start of GreenUp, as mentioned by Estelle, Among the EUR 5.5 billion of acquisition, more than 80% are in boosters and outside Europe, which is fully aligned with our GreenUp strategy.

In short, this is disciplined and intentional portfolio management designed to accelerate growth and strengthen the group financial profile. It's not about divesting underperforming assets, it's about focusing our resources where Veolia has the strongest differentiation and can deliver unique value.

We aim at closing the deal mid '26 once the carve-out of the non-hazardous waste activity from Enviri will have been completed and a regulatory approval granted.

Thank you, Emmanuelle. In a nutshell, the strategic acquisition of Clean Earth doubles the size of hazardous waste business for Veolia in the U.S. and creates a new major player in a high-growth market. This is an acquisition which is fully aligned with GreenUp strategy and objectives. As mentioned earlier, we are not just adding assets together. We are creating a more capable, more global and more competitive organization. The Clean Earth acquisition is a new step in transforming Veolia's growth profile and optimizing our portfolio of assets. Building on the successful integration of Suez, it enhances the group's financial strength and resilience as we move towards 2030.

Thank you for your attention, and we are now ready to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from Ajay Patel with Goldman Sachs.

Congratulations on the announcement this morning. I have 2 questions, please. I think one is just very specific with this acquisition. Could you help us just understand the growth -- the longer-term growth potential in the acquisition? I wanted to more focus on development sites, the permitting. To what degree could this really add to the growth picture of the U.S. beyond the 3-year horizon that you're outlining? I just want to appreciate that scale.

And then secondly, on just more high level on the asset rotation. This is a sizable step-up in asset rotation more towards the growth areas of your business. Is this maybe a statement of intention that if Veolia finds the opportunities to rotate assets more aggressively, you'll take advantage of them and that this may be the balance of the business between boosters and strongholds may change as a result? I just wanted to understand that strategic level as well.

I will start with the first question, and maybe Bob can elaborate following me and the asset rotation will -- answer to that with Emmanuelle. So the long-term growth potential and permitting, so in a nutshell, the hazardous waste business in the U.S., to start with that, is a very sustained demand, and I'm very confident it will go on for years, not only the next 3 years, but years with a lot of assets to come. And why is that so? Because the demand is supported by trends which are very sustainable. One is health and the environment. We're talking about removing pollutants to protect the health of inhabitants, and I think that's something which is absolutely paramount to anybody, in particular in the U.S. So we are talking PFAS. We're talking endocrine disruptors and many other things that you don't want to end up finding nearby you, but you'd rather be destroyed by this in a way.

The second one is really the reshoring the strategic industries because it's not a nice to have. It's not here as an environmental protection, it's a license to operate for industries like semiconductors or pharma or biotech. They all need our service. So those are very important megatrends. That's why we said hazardous waste all together is a 5% to 10% growth year-on-year, and I don't expect that to go down, quite the opposite in the years to come. And you can have a look at the performance of our hazardous waste business in the last few years in the U.S. which has enjoyed a more than 5% CAGR for the last 3 years and which is, I guess, enhancing this number is really what we are aiming at here.

So merging the 2, of course, you have a national footprint, so it opens new geographies in the country, in the U.S. plus new type of services, I would say, decontamination and PFAS is one. We are very good at treating PFAS at Veolia. Clean Earth is very good at decontamination. If you combine the 2 decontamination as in soil decontamination. So if you combine the 2, you can imagine that beyond the -- what each of the 2 businesses can deliver in terms of growth, the combination of the 2, I guess it's -- there is a little bit of 1 plus 1 makes 3, if you want here.

But Bob, maybe you want to elaborate on this, the potential for growing faster by combining the forces.

Sure. Thanks, Estelle. And kind of taking a lot of the things that Estelle mentioned, put them in a 1-year, 3-year, 5-year time frame, the initial -- just the opportunity of having the 2 organizations together and enhancing the national footprint, getting reach into geographies that we currently don't have immediate growth from that. In the 3-year time frame, you've also got open to markets that we currently don't operate in, things like retail and health care that have definite good long-term growth opportunities. They grow at rates greater than inflation, the resistance of some of the overall economic trends, those are good businesses for us to be in, much like other businesses that we currently occupy within Veolia.

And the 5-year trend is one of the things very unique about Veolia, very proud of the work that Veolia does in terms of R&D. If you've seen some of the work that we've done on PFAS within the last few years, the opportunities that we've had as a result of that, frankly, being invited to the Pentagon to present the results of the work that we've done at Port Arthur, that opens up the longer-term opportunities on emerging pollutants, development of regulations, new technologies within our network. We've got those under development like processes that we have underway at our facility in Gum Springs, and now we've got a wider customer base to apply those to.

Thanks, Bob. And I would add to that, that, of course, we're talking about hazardous waste in the U.S. But we do have a lot of other activities in the U.S., water technologies or water altogether. And of course, this national footprint, which will enable us to get access to customer and to offer them the full range of services, not only the hazardous waste but the full range of services for Veolia going forward. We are not as national as we will become. It's a fair statement.

Asset rotation, so asset rotation, it's a continuous process that we're speeding up today, as you see in the graph presented on the slide. We've already done like disposals and acquisitions in the last 2 years. Now we are stepping up as you rightly mentioned it. Altogether, since the priority of investment is in boosters, it means that naturally, the group will go from, say, 70-30 in terms of stronghold than boosters to something a bit more balanced, but because one is growing faster than the other.

But I want to highlight the fact that the strongholds have a very big merit for Veolia. They offer sustainability of like cash flows. They are very strong, as their name alludes to it. They offer resilience, plus they are in combination of the boosters. So don't think of them as a totally separate. Actually, they work hand-in-hand. And 25% of our revenue actually comes from combining forces rather than just be very good at every single of the activities we operate in.

So I guess, yes, progressively, the group is enhancing its growth profile, but we will still keep a good footprint in our stronghold activities for the reason I just mentioned.

And the next question comes from Olly Jeffery with Deutsche Bank.

Two questions for me, please. The first one is just coming on to the cost synergies and I guess, potentially some of the revenue synergies you mentioned. Given this is the first cut of the synergy targets, and you think they're quite relatively achievable given your track record, I presume we should see this as a floor with the hope to go ahead of that over time?

And then the second question is on -- just regarding your 2027 targets of EUR 8 billion of EBITDA. Given this acquisition and the time since those targets were set, was that something you'll be looking to update at the full year results?

Cost synergies. So Bob, I was smiling, he will be on the spot, the $120 million, I will start with asking Bob to deliver the $120 million first, right? But it's fair to say, it's a minimum target I gave to Bob. We are very confident you said, to achieve it. And that's a fair statement to say we're very confident about.

But we'll start by delivering on our promises, that's always Veolia's way. I want to focus on the delivery of them. And you're right, the $120 million is only cost synergies. The rest will come on top as enhancing our growth profile. And of course, this is the intention of today.

In terms of our GreenUp strategic plan, we are well on our trajectory, as I said this morning, to achieve all our targets for 2027, as they were set by GreenUp, including, for instance, the 10% CAGR in net result or the ROCE above 9%. So I'm very proud that we are really full speed on our trajectory to have a very specific delivery of GreenUp. And as far as the guidance for '26, for instance, will be concerned, we'll wait for the result of '25 to be released to give you a color about '26.

And the next question comes from Arnaud Palliez with CIC Market Solutions.

Yes. Congratulations for this acquisition. I have a first question regarding your incineration capacities in the U.S. I would like to know if these acquisition is going to change the capacity utilization rate of your incinerators. And if following this acquisition, you will need to add more CapEx to your U.S. incineration operations.

Bob, do you want to answer this one?

Sure. With the -- as you may know, we've got 3 incineration sites currently with 6 incinerators. In '26 into '27, we will open up our new 100,000-ton incinerator in Gum Springs, Arkansas. Our work with the Gum Springs, Arkansas incinerator is that 50% of the capacity the incinerator will be with preferred partners, essentially selling in advance the capacity of that incinerator.

The second half of that incinerator will be much like we operate our other incinerators, market opportunities for the incinerator based on the type of materials that are available within the market. And we don't believe that, that will have an impact on CapEx investment within that network in the next several years, not at all.

So there is no intention to add another incineration post Gum Spring because it would be needed or whatever flowing today's announcement. So no, it's exactly what we said when we were at the Deep Dive a few months ago. So we are happy with what we have for a few more years. What we have or what we're building because it's the 2.

Maybe one thing to add to that. Clean Earth was one of our preferred providers for the Gum Springs incinerator for a portion of the incinerable materials that they generate. The second half of those incinerables, we would also look to utilize the Gum Springs incinerator, but a portion of that was already with the preferred provider agreement that we had with Clean Earth.

Does it change something in terms of incinerating the PFAS, this acquisition?

I guess, Clean Earth didn't have any specific incineration you need at all and none for PFAS. That was really and is Veolia's like prime assets. But what brings Clean Earth is not on the incineration. It's more on the decontamination of the soils because Veolia was not so much present in the soil decontamination and one-off works, which goes with it. And this is a big capability of Clean Earth among hazards, of course, but just to confirm the specific PFAS one.

The next question comes from Jenny Ping with Citi.

A couple of questions, please. Firstly, just on the long-term plans, now that you've acquired this growth both from a cost synergies point of view but also revenue synergies as we go forward. How do you envisage to show the market some of those numbers? Because clearly, again, I think I asked about this before post your last acquisition, some of your multiples, which your shares are trading are still very much below the acquired levels when you're paying for deals. So I'm very keen to understand how you show the market some of the values in your business. So that's the first question.

And then the second one, just the answer to Olly's question earlier in terms of the EUR 8 billion EBITDA target and the 10% growth, it doesn't sound like this deal necessarily changes that. Is that my -- is that a correct understanding? Or are you saying you're going to come back to update that for us at some stage?

And then just very lastly, on the EUR 2 billion asset disposal. Can you help us to understand the type or the geography these assets are going to be based in just to sort of define a little bit what old or mature growth assets look like?

I will start, and maybe Emmanuelle can complement the share price. At one point, I think there is a value creation and value appreciation in the share price, of course, considering the quality of the assets we have and the portfolio, which is really unique. So that there is a potential for increase. Of course, I would agree with that. That's why the transformation of the portfolio is something which enhances the group's profile progressively and which should come to fruition. So I think this is really an important point for me.

In terms of the trajectory, I answered earlier to that question. We are on the trajectory of GreenUp. And I confirm it today with all the various elements of the acquisition we announced today, the disposals as well, the enhanced profile altogether. So we are on our trajectory for GreenUp. So we'll give you the guidance for '26 when it comes. But I think that the main thing is GreenUp is exactly what we -- I mean, we are doing what we said we would with investing more in the boosters whilst keeping very strong strongholds, aiming at creating EPS growth and 10% net result growth on average over the duration of the plan. This is exactly what we are on our way of delivering.

In terms of the disposals, what are the good candidates for disposal. It's mature asset. And by mature assets, I mean, those who don't have a big prospect for growing the profits in the next few years or growing EPS, if you want, on the equivalent. So that's a typical one.

So it's either they are not growing fast as in revenue or that they are growing okay, but there is no profit more to be extracted from them typically in geographies which are more mature and therefore, like there is no value creation ahead of us. That's the value creation ahead is my definition of mature or, of course, and you can have a few of what I call noncore, which are more not as aligned with our strategy and defined as GreenUp as you could have hoped for.

But do you want to complement on that, Emmanuelle?

Yes, maybe one word. Jenny, thank you for joining us this morning. We have continuously reinforced our growth profile in the start of the year. As you know, 90% of investments, including M&A in boosters. And today, we are accelerating and we are pushing the capital allocation with an acquisition, which will boost the underlying EBITDA growth of the group. Thanks as mentioned during the presentation of our improvement and further improvement of margin of our hazardous waste. We mentioned more than 10% increased EBITDA per year and margin accretion.

On top of that, you may have seen the very attractive cash conversion of this transaction, which will also continue to boost the growth profile of Veolia. We are, therefore, well on track to deliver our promises. For instance, the current net income CAGR of 10% on average on the planned duration. For us, this acquisition is very strategic, and it's a significant step. We would even say is the perfect timing. It's the most transformative transaction after the merger with Suez on the perimeter, which is stabilized and running faster than before.

So now we are becoming the leader in the fast-growing hazardous waste market in the U.S. and we continue, we are pursuing the rotation to create value attrition for all our investors.

And the next question comes from [indiscernible] with Bernstein.

The question will be, does the acquisition include landfills? And if so, what is the capacity?

So no, it doesn't include landfill or incineration, which was the previous question of your colleagues. It includes nevertheless, a very highly regulated permitted sites. So typically, it's -- 19, sorry, 19 TSDFs, which are treatment capabilities. So it's not landfill nor -- neither landfill nor incineration. But in a way, everything else. You can see on the map, we've seen on slide -- whatever, there is a defined list of the typical assets. So by treatment capabilities. So maybe Bob, what type of treatment does Clean Earth hold. So the electronic waste, whatever, I can't remember. You know best.

Also a key part of the 10-day network and the TSDFs provide a collection and consolidation opportunity for materials that are fed either into the incineration network or into the Gum Springs landfill. The Gum Springs landfill, the largest hazardous waste landfill permitted in the United States. And that's some of the work that we've done with Clean Earth over the last several years of opening up the commercial opportunity at that landfill. So we utilize those 2 assets.

Within the Clean Earth network, they have fuel blending capabilities, sovereign recycling capabilities, metals recycling capabilities, all within those TSDFs. They have a niche kind of opportunity or treatment technology where they treat aerosol cans, which may seem like a small percentage of the waste spectrum. Aerosol cans are managed at our incinerators, they have an impact on our ability to optimize on the capacity at the incinerator. So by taking that inventory out of the incinerator, we actually free up incineration capacity by taking the aerosol cans out. So that, although small, very attractive because the utilization increase at our incinerators.

I guess a key word here is complementarity. Complementarity of the teams, complementarity of the assets, complementarity of the portfolio, of customers as well. Complementarity, it's really paramount. That's why it's a prime asset for us. It's really totally complementary to what we do in the U.S. You can see it on the map, Page 8 in our presentation. You have lots of dots on the map, but there are 700 permits associated with those dots on the map, and permits, which, as I said, we are highly regulated.

And the next question comes from Juan Rodriguez with Kepler.

I have one follow-up, if I may. It's mainly on the $120 million of synergies, which seems quite ambitious target compared of the size of the company of the earnings today, this represents more than 60% upside potential from current levels. So what makes you so confident that you're going to be able to get to these levels? And I want to double check as well. These are outside growth potential that is from revenue synergies that you're expecting from combining the forces?

So it is cost synergies only, the $120 million. Yes, it is. Why are we confident? Bob will elaborate in a minute. But first, to say that it's 4% of the combined turnover of our 2 businesses in Haz in the U.S. That's another benchmark you can have a look rather than just a proportion of the Clean Earth one.

Two, we have a great track record of delivery, starting with Suez, of course, which we really performed very well and even beyond the EUR 500 million initial number, which was set. So we have a habit of it, method and a good capability there.

But maybe, Bob, you want to elaborate a little bit on the -- why are you so confident about the $120 million, which is a big number. Yes, it is, but very confident. I said it's a minimum for me. Bob?

No pressure, it's set at the minimum. I think it starts with the level of knowledge that we have with the Clean Earth organization. This is not a business that we're unfamiliar with. We've worked very closely with Clean Earth as a customer for many, many years. So we know the team. We know the assets that they have within their network. From that, we looked at, during the due diligence process, all the transportation and disposal spend and evaluated how -- what alternative ways we can manage that transportation and disposal spend. Also mentioned earlier the overlap of the national network, that national network in and of itself provides a significant logistics synergy just by making sure that every vehicle that we move across the United States, a lot of miles knows to have floor ceiling when we're shipping trucks across the United States, maximum efficiency in how we manage the transportation.

When we looked at that T&D spend, we evaluated where the material was coming from, both from Clean Earth facilities as well as from the customers. And then the proximity of those generating locations to ultimate treatment locations versus how they were being handled today.

Again, very complicated analysis, but a lot of data available to do that. So we spent time, a lot of time in evaluating that to look at what our synergy would be on transportation and disposal. From that, we also went to a third party to evaluate our work. So we had someone from outside Veolia, outside Clean Earth evaluate the assumptions that we were making to ensure that those were within reasonable assumptions of what we thought we would make and they concurred with our assumptions relative to the management of transportation and disposal.

We also looked at other things in terms of on a national level, how we could procure the basic supplies that we utilize to deliver the services that we do. Can we do that better than we do that today, leveraging the scale that the 2 organizations will have together. And then just generally, how the organizations operate, what's the operating model of the 2 organizations and candidly looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations.

I've been with the company for 34.5 years. So I believe I've got a pretty good perspective on self-awareness of things that I'm absolutely very, very proud of in terms of strengths within our group. But like anything, we also have those areas that we've been focused on for improvement. One area for improvement was our IT network. Our IT network, we had outgrown the infrastructure that we had in place in terms of our IT network. We've been working on a redevelopment plan, transcelerate, transform to accelerate the business, transcelerate. And Clean Earth has been working on a very similar type activity. The combination of those 2 activities will provide a significant synergy as well.

So in evaluating all the different pieces, as much as Estelle has clearly indicated that it's the minimum, we're very, very confident that we'll be able to achieve that.

And I guess you've understood from Bob's answer that it's a very detailed plan, which is ready already.

Definitely.

The next question comes from Philippe Ourpatian with ODDO BHF.

Yes. I have only 4, but very short one. The first one is concerning -- could you just indicate to us the additional CapEx maintenance or, let's say, the needs of CapEx of this company added to Veolia, just to have an idea about where we're going to be in terms of consolidation CapEx for the coming year, starting '26 and beyond? That's the first question.

The second question is concerning, is there any implementation costs for extracting the synergies? Are you going to provision some, let's say, millions or hundreds of millions -- hundreds of thousand USD for -- to implement this cost synergies program.

The third one is in your disposal plan, are we think also about the fact that as Bob says, there is sometimes some overlap. Those overlap could come from Clean Earth or from Veolia. Is there something coming from this deal, which would be included in the EUR 2 billion of disposal, just to have an idea? And what's going to be, let's say, the portion in terms of percentage of the deal currently?

And the last question is mainly concerning Gum Spring because Gum Spring is under work. It seems that Clean Earth is already a client, you mentioned it several times. And I was wondering if this acquisition could speed up, I would say, the capacity of Gum Spring, when it's going to be fully commissioned to reach its full speed faster than expected; and two, to saturate the installation in order to generate the maximum value of the different installations you have in Gum Spring? That's the fourth question.

I hope I've noted them right. If not, you can complement. So Emmanuelle, on the CapEx question first, maybe.

Yes, on the CapEx question. [Foreign Language] Philippe, thank you for your questions. Starting with CapEx, you have noticed, as we have mentioned before, that thanks to the Clean Earth acquisition, the EBITDA to free cash flow conversion of the hazardous waste activity in the U.S., we grow from circa 35% to circa 50%, thanks to the very attractive cash profile of Clean Earth. So meaning that coming to CapEx, it's limited. We are speaking around roughly $50 million, meaning that it will enhance the free cash flow profile of the hazardous waste in the U.S. and also of Veolia to finance our future growth.

Coming to your second question, which were on integration costs, if I'm not mistaken. So we have pencil integration cost of roughly $90 million on the 4-year duration. And it will be mainly in '27 and '28. And the split is 10, 40, 30, 10.

So on your third question, no, there is no disposal in the EUR 2 billion associated with the merger. The word overlap, which Bob just mentioned was more on the geographical basis as in one of the treatment, the other one as a transport, if you wish. So it's more complementarity than overlap as in -- and therefore, you would have to sell it. We don't anticipate any disposals associated with the merger. So the disposal in the EUR 2 billion will be more mature assets as in mature geographies or activities where we don't see the profile of the growth of the profits be as good as what we would expect. So that's more this type of criteria.

In terms of the fourth one, actually, to build a high-temperature incinerator takes time, it takes time to get permit. It takes time to build it. It takes time to be ramping up. We've been explaining that in detail during our Deep Dive. So the ramping up is as much a technical something. You just don't press the button and it's on, off. You have to progressively ramp up the furnace, if you want, one by one, and the heat is increasing by the day and so on and so forth. I'm trying to explain, and it takes a while.

So of course, it will help, though, the fact of the capacity is going to be probably very much happy to welcome the new Clean Earth material in addition to the one Bob explained, which was already anticipated to be in. But the technical aspect will stay as it is. So the type of timing we put in our Deep Dive last year are exactly the ones we anticipate to maintain now.

If I may, just one clarification. When you say for your last -- the last question concerning Gum Spring, that's going to help because there is potentially let's say, there were some capacities already contracted in Gum Spring coming from Clean Earth. Does it mean that, let's say, the full potential capacities of Clean Earth will now be driven to Gum Spring versus some, I don't know, other contract the company has had previously? That's correct to understand?

I guess we will try, of course, to direct everything we can into our own treatment facilities. But it will depend on the geographies as well. And each time, we are trying to see the best destination depending on the characteristics of the ton because, as you know, you have tons and tons, and some tons which get into an incinerator at what, $2,000, $3,000, and others which are almost at 0. So it's -- the waste mix is as important as anything, plus the -- and it's all that, which Bob has analyzed as well in his synergies, very detailed plan.

Much like I mentioned about the footprint of the service offering, it enables us to have access to customers and geographies where we may not have had facilities or logistics to support it in the past. So that's the opportunity there. Within the incineration network, and frankly, for all of our treatment network, the process that Estelle described where we, based on the chemical composition of material, identify the type of facility that we would manage it at and then logistics to get the material from the customer to the facility. In most cases, we'd like that to be with the Veolia facility. But if that's not the case, we also have a network of third-party facilities that we work with, and we would plan to continue to do that. Part of that evaluation, of course would be with that new network on whether that material could be directed into the Veolia network.

Which means in addition, there will be new customers as well. And that's intentionally when I say, enhanced growth, it means it's not only to put the tons of one into the incinerator of the other one, it's to have a broader range of offers to our customers in new states where we couldn't be -- get access to yet, but with the new asset network of Clean Earth, we will be able to. So in a way, our customers will have more options. The customers in the U.S. will have more options. I think this is the way to look at it. And so I guess the first intention is to grow the revenue, and not only what we just said on the cost of disposal.

And we do have a follow-up question coming from Olly Jeffery with Deutsche Bank.

So just 2 questions. Just going back to the rotation. Could you please just outline when you expect to execute on some of the planned rotations? Is it something you're looking to do imminently? Or is it more next year? Or any detail you can give around that?

And then also on the -- just to clarify for the 9.8x multiple that you gave today. I presume that includes the $200 million and the full $120 million of synergies that's in that figure with the year 4 synergies being in 2030. Is that correct?

Okay. Thanks for your questions. So I guess you know the answers on the when and how much are on Slide 17. So we anticipate to do this extra EUR 2 billion in the 2 years following the acquisitions. In a way, we're not in an emergency because we don't need to. We could do without disposal, but we see the opportunity to accelerate the asset rotation. That's more the way to think about why we're doing that, which means that when you see the figures, it's not starting now the disposal. That's why it's not a disposal to be able to afford this acquisition, if you want. It's not at all the way to look at it. It's quite the reverse. This acquisition is an opportunity to accelerate the asset rotation, which we've already started 2 years ago. We are going on and in an accelerated mode. That's more the way to think about it.

Having in mind that as Emmanuelle said in her speech, we are okay with the leverage anyhow. And so as I said, we don't have to dispose of it. It's a constant decision given the profile of some mature sets compared to the opportunities we have. So it keeps us some flexibility. That's more of the way to think.

In terms of multiples, yes, it includes the full speed synergies the 9.8x.

Olly, our valuation, of course, it's, of course, prioritize value creation through synergies. You know us. And we have succeeded in reaching below 10x 2026 EBITDA multiple, so 9.8x, thanks to significant synergies that we have mentioned before, the $120 million. And you know that we have an amazing track record in terms of synergies. And we have, in the U.S., a team which is already prepared to generate synergy coming from the merger with Suez, but also with the tuck-in we did this year or the [ 5 ] taking into consideration the one that we did last year.

And we have no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Estelle Brachlianoff for closing remarks.

Thank you very much. You've understood. I'm very happy about this most transformative acquisition we announced this morning, value-creative, but transformative as well, not only by doubling the size of hazardous waste business in the U.S., becoming #2 in this sector in the U.S. and enhancing the growth profile of the group and enhancing the -- and accelerating the asset rotation to EUR 8.5 billion over the duration of GreenUp. So we are really on our way to deliver GreenUp. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Veolia 9 Months Key Figures Conference Call and Webcast with Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO; and Emmanuelle Menning, CFO. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded today, November 6, 2025.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Estelle Brachlianoff. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this conference call to present Veolia's 9 months key figures, and I'm accompanied by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO. I'm on Slide 4 for all the key takeaways. Our 9-month results are once again very good with strong underlying business trends and a favorable momentum going into the end of the year. Our 9 months performance in EBITDA terms was particularly strong internationally, where the group generates 80% of its revenue as well as for our Boosters, as I will explain in a few minutes.

In a rather challenging environment, this sustained performance quarter-after-quarter is really a testimony to the choices we've made in GreenUp as well as the strength of our business model of resilience and growth. Veolia can rely on a successful combination of Stronghold and Booster activities added to a diversified portfolio, both by geography and customer as well as a continued attention to performance.

Moreover, we're constantly looking to create value by pruning our portfolio and have completed EUR 2.3 billion of M&A since the beginning of the year in our Boosters, Water Technology and Hazardous Waste in particular, and outside Europe, following, as you know, the disposal of nonstrategic assets last year. I can, therefore, fully and strongly confirm our guidance for the year, and we should have a very strong Q4.

I'm now on Page 5, where you see that our 9-month key figures are once again very strong. Revenue reached EUR 32 billion, up plus 3.2% excluding energy prices, which are essentially pass-through for us, as you know. EBITDA increased by a substantial plus 5.4% on a like-for-like basis, fully in line with our 5% to 6% guidance and shows a margin improvement of 50 basis points. This is thanks to our strong international performance as well as our recurring efficiency gains complemented by the last synergies coming from the Suez acquisition more than 3 years ago.

Current EBIT was up plus 7.9%, demonstrating strong operating leverage. Net financial debt remains well under control at EUR 19.9 billion, even after EUR 2.3 billion of net financial acquisition closed in the 9 months. We are perfectly on our trajectory to less than 3x at year-end with the usual seasonality. Our solid 9-month performance and expectations for Q4 enables us to fully confirm our guidance.

In this uncertain time, Veolia's results are sustainably progressing quarter-after-quarter as we have demonstrated over the last few years. And why is that so? I would like to highlight key features on Slide 6. And I will insist on our international exposure with 80% of our revenues growing faster than the rest of the group and with very good EBITDA performance as well. Even in France, which accounts for 20% only, our results are not sensitive to the political context. And this is structural as we hold no national contracts and no public money is involved.

Moreover, ForEx does not impact our businesses or margin as we just saw in the last 9 months with plus 50 basis point margin. We do not have ForEx transaction exposure, only translation. In a way, no business impact. We are a multi-local group with very limited international trade.

On Page 7, you see in figures our performance outside Europe, which really stands out and explains a great deal of our resilience and growth in the last 9 months. Indeed, our Rest of the world businesses are more profitable with an EBITDA margin already at 17% versus 15% on average for the group, and they are faster growing. In growth term, you can see the detailed performance in the 9 months, which has been enhanced in Q3 compared to the first half, plus 6.2% in North America, fueled by an accelerated growth of Hazardous Waste, plus 9%.

In Africa and Middle East, plus 10.5%; in Latin America, plus 9.4% and plus 5% in Asia. As you know, our value creation and EPS growth come from 3 pillars: top line growth, performance and capital allocation. And I'm going to go through them one by one as always, to illustrate how they have each contributed to our performance in the 9 months, starting with growth of our Stronghold activities on Slide 8.

We've registered a very solid revenue growth of our Strongholds. Let's start with Water operations. Revenue increased by plus 3.9%. We continue to benefit from good indexations and have achieved successful tariff renegotiation in Spain as well as rate cases approvals in our U.S. regulated operations, which protects our future earnings. We just opened our first upgrade control center in North America to foster operational excellence and leveraging data.

Solid Waste revenue grew by plus 0.9% or 1.5% excluding energy prices despite sluggish macro. As we have detailed in our deep dive last June, we managed to largely disconnect our waste activities for macro, thanks to a varied portfolio of customers, good pricing and quality of service, and we favor bottom line over revenue as well.

Revenue from District Heating Networks increased by plus 2.7%, excluding energy price, thanks to sustained heat tariff as well as some network expansion and a favorable weather impact in H1. Q3 is not a very significant quarter for this activity.

On Slide 9, one good example of the dynamism for Water operation in Q3 is certainly the signing of its first hybrid municipal and industrial desalination in Chile in Valparaíso. As you know from our Oman event on desalination a few months ago, Veolia is the world leader in desalination technologies with 18% of the world's desalination facilities having been designed and built with Veolia, and we have big ambitions. I'm very proud of this win in Valparaíso after a very intensive competitive process as we will be able to provide the highest technical, environmental and social standards to Aguas Pacifico.

Let's move to our Boosters performance on Slide 10, which have performed well. The EBITDA performance is even remarkable, confirming my choices in GreenUp. Water Technology to start with, as you know, is a mix of various business models as we detailed in our deep dive last year. As you may remember, 70% of our Water Tech activities are deemed recurring, corresponding to products, mobile units or chemicals. And I'm very happy to see this base having achieved a very good Q3 with 6.8% growth and 4.8% since the beginning of the year, testimony to our technologies and commercial power.

On the other hand, projects were impacted in the quarter by the timing milestone delivery and a strong comparison base last year. Quarters are always very different in this activity, and I expect a normalized Q4. Overall, and combining those different business lines, Water Tech has been up only 2%, but EBITDA progressed with 10% organically, which is excellent.

Hazardous Waste revenue increased by plus 5.5%, including tuck-ins and 4.4% organically. I would like to highlight, in particular, the very strong growth in the U.S., up plus 9% year-to-date and despite planned shutdown of [indiscernible] early in the year. We have started our new operation in Saudi in the Dubai complex, and only China is lagging behind in terms of price, but we start to see some rebound in volumes. In terms of EBITDA, 9 months performance was excellent with above 10% organic growth.

In Bioenergy, revenue was up plus 21.3% excluding energy price and including our new targeted acquisition. If I go to organic growth, it was still plus 8.2%, which is very good.

Some illustration of the high-tech part of Veolia on Slide 11. You can see on this slide 2 good examples of the dynamism for our Boosters in Q3. First, in Water Tech, after years in the making and technical design, we were awarded a $500 million project in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Aramco Total Energy Consortium called SATORP. We will design, build and operate a new massive plant. We're talking 8.10 million cubic meters per annum, treating the super complex affluent of this petrochemical complex. We combine here our unique set of Water Technologies and Hazardous Waste know-how, not only to offer a solution to remove pollutants, but also to recycle water in this arid region.

I'm also very proud to have signed a partnership with TotalEnergies to combine our expertise and technologies to develop innovative solutions for industries, methane measure and capture, low-carbon energy for desalination facilities, strategic metal recovery from waste, et cetera.

Now let's dive into our second lever of value creation after growth, which is performance and efficiency. I'm now on Slide 13, which shows our 9 months performance. In terms of our yearly efficiency plan, we achieved EUR 295 million in gains, in line with our annual target of EUR 350 million. As you know, this is a recurring lever embedded in our operations and therefore, one we can count on for years to come, not to say forever.

Efficiency gains of Veolia are not discretionary cost-cutting programs, of which you could question the continuity, but they come rather from a very diversified series of initiatives in our thousands of plant, which explains the recurring element of it. Worth noting, we have already registered EUR 5 million of additional synergies coming from the combination of our 2 business units in Water Technologies after the CDPQ minority buyout closed on June 30.

In terms of cost synergies derived from the Suez merger, we have achieved EUR 73 million in 9 months for a cumulative total of EUR 508 million since day 1. This is in line with our objective of EUR 530 million by year-end, which, as you know, we've raised a year ago.

I'm now on Slide 14, which details the third pillar of value creation, capital allocation and portfolio pruning. You will see a powerful 9 months in that respect with EUR 2.3 billion of acquisition completed almost entirely in Water Tech and Hazardous Waste and outside Europe. This is fully consistent with our GreenUp priorities. I must say the year-to-date enhanced growth outside Europe and plus 10% EBITDA increase in those 2 Boosters confirm that these are good investments to sustain future earnings growth.

Detailing those investments first in Water Technologies with CDPQ's 30% stake for EUR 1.5 billion, which you know is an operation which will be accretive and ROCE enhancing, thanks to EUR 90 million cost synergy by 2027. In Hazardous Waste, we've signed 6 bolt-on acquisitions for a combined EV of EUR 400 million and good multiples, notably in the U.S. and Japan. Of course, we maintain our strict balance sheet discipline and our leverage will remain below 3x at year-end, allowing the group to retain strategic flexibility. Our strong 9-month results, of course, allow me to fully confirm our guidance for 2025, which is reminded on Slide 14. I wish to invite you as well to join us in Poland later in the month, where it will give some color about our district heating and decarbonizing energy activities.

Finally, and as a conclusion, I wanted to remind you of our long-term guidance, fueled by our 3 levers of value creation and GreenUp priorities. It includes current net income growth of 10% per year on average over the period with dividend growing in line with current EPS and ROCE above 9% in 2027. As you remember from our yearly presentation, we decided to launch a share buyback plan from '25 to '27, size to neutralize the impact of the employee shareholding program. So that going forward, current EPS will grow in line with current net income growth.

I now hand over to Emmanuelle, who will detail our 9 months key figures. Emmanuelle, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. Veolia's results at the end of September are very solid with strong underlying business trends and a very favorable momentum, which I would like to detail. Indeed, if we look at our EBITDA performance, we see tailwinds. First, in our international operations, notably outside Europe, where the group generates 80% of its revenue with circa double-digit EBITDA growth and second, for our Boosters with EBITDA increased by more than 10% in the 9 months.

In Q4, we expect this trend to continue, and we also expect improved performance in France as we will reap the benefits of our action plan, notably in French waste. Nine months results are fully in line with our annual guidance and are also a testimony to the strength of our business model of resilience and growth with a successful combination of Stronghold and Booster activities and a diversified international portfolio.

With EUR 32 billion in revenue, we experienced a solid growth of 3.2%. The operating leverage as the good delivery of efficiencies and synergies were excellent. A solid organic EBITDA growth of 5.4% at EUR 5,080 million and a current EBIT growth of 7.9%.

Net financial debt reached EUR 19.9 billion at the end of September, up from December '24 due to the seasonality of working capital variation and M&A activity, down compared to the end of June '25 due to the temporary favorable impact of the hybrid bond debt issuance of EUR 850 million, which will be reversed at the end of the year. We expect the leverage ratio to be below 3x at year-end after full seasonal working capital reversal in Q4.

You can also see on the slide the detailed ForEx impact, which increased in Q3 due to the weakening of the U.S. and Australian dollars as well as the Argentinian and Chilean pesos. A few things are important regarding the ForEx impact for Veolia. First, our revenue is only about 40% generated in euro. But as a multi-local group with very limited international trade, ForEx does not impact our businesses or margin. Our revenues and costs are always in the same currencies in each of our countries. The increase in currency impact in '25 reflects the improved performance of our international activities. Our guidance at EBITDA level is at constant scope and ForEx.

Finally, as you saw in previous year, the ForEx impact at EBITDA level is very much offset down the line to current net income. ForEx impact was minus EUR 68 million at EBITDA level and minus EUR 44 million at current EBIT level at the end of September. Using the ForEx exchange rate at the end of September '25, the full year impact at EBITDA would be around EUR 130 million minus, but it varies every day. Our full year guidance, which is at constant scope and ForEx is fully confirmed at EBITDA and current net income level.

Moving to Slide 18, you can see the revenue evolution by geography. The main feature in Q3 was the enhancement of our growth outside Europe. I will detail it in a few minutes. I will start with Water Technologies. As Estelle recalls, 70% of our Water Tech activities are recurring corresponding to products, mobile units and chemicals. While 30% is volatile, these are the projects. In Q3, project revenue was impacted by the timing milestone delivery and a strong comparison base last year, while the 3 other business lines grew double digit. Excluding project, Q3 Water Tech revenue was up 6.8% in Q3 and 4.8% in the 9 months. This was reflected in the EBITDA level. Water Technology EBITDA increased by 10% in the 9 months, benefiting also from the efficiency and synergy delivery. As Estelle mentioned, we have already generated EUR 5 million of additional synergies coming from the buyout of WTS minority interest in Q2.

Rest of the world performed very well in Q3. With revenue growth accelerating from 3.7% in H1 to plus 6.6% in Q3, driven by all geographies. Europe grew by 4.1% in the 9 months, fueled by resilient waste activity, a solid Q3 in water operation and excellent performance in Southern Europe, notably in Spain, up by 7%. Finally, France and Hazardous Waste Europe benefited from good hazardous waste performance, partially offset by low growth in solid waste and good water activity.

Now let's take a look at our performance by business. Let's start with Water, representing 40% of our revenues and 50% of the group EBITDA. Water revenue was up 3.4%, fueled by the strong water operation, up 3.9%, while Water Technology was up by 2%. Water Operations benefited from good indexation with continued price increases in Europe and in the U.S., while indexation was back to 0 in France due to lower electricity prices. Volumes were on a very good trend, up close to 3% in Europe. As I just explained, the underlying growth of Water Technology, excluding the timing project delivery remained quite strong.

Moving to Waste, representing 35% of our revenues. Waste activities grew by 1.8%, a steady pace despite an [ helpful ] margin. Waste growth was very comparable in Q3 to previous quarters. Starting with solid waste. It's a very local, systematically adapted to the reality of the geography with a well-balanced customer portfolio across countries, and it has been demonstrating its resilience through the quarters.

In terms of volumes and commercial developments, performance was mixed, resilient volumes in the U.K. and in Germany. U.K. incineration activity was impacted by planned outages, but still down in France, although better in Q3. Activity continued to progress in the Rest of the world, notably in Latin America and in Hong Kong.

Hazardous Waste grew by plus 4.4% in the 9 months, plus 5.5%, including tuck-ins, thanks to continued good pricing and plant performance with EBITDA up by more than 10% year-to-date, which is outstanding. Growth accelerated in the U.S., plus 9% in Q3, fueled by excellent incineration volumes and pricing, a slower quarter in Europe due to facility outages and lower recycled oil prices.

Finally, moving on to energy, and I am on Slide 21. As you know, energy revenue is sensitive to energy prices, which were down as expected again in '25, but to a lesser extent than last year. The prices were on average almost stable compared to last year and electricity prices were down as expected. Excluding the energy price impact, growth was quite good, plus 4.5%, thanks to good volumes, helped by a colder winter and fueled by a strong activity in the booster energy efficiency and flexibility, up 8.3% with strong momentum in Belgium, Southern Europe and in the Middle East.

The revenue bridge on Slide 22 explains the driver of our growth in the 9 months. Scope was negative at the end of September and reached minus EUR 327 million, mainly due to the impact of last year disposal, but as expected, was neutral in Q3. The impact will turn positive in Q4 as 2024 divestiture were all closed in Q3 last year.

Negative ForEx impact increased in Q3, as I mentioned earlier. The impact of energy prices was as expected, divided by 2 compared to last year at minus EUR 501 million. Recycled prices were neutral. The weather effect amounts to plus EUR 169 million due to a colder winter at the beginning of the year in Europe. The contribution of commerce and volumes were comparable to last year, plus 1.3%, driven by sales momentum and resilient volumes. Finally, price effects were as expected, lower than in 2024 due to lower inflation and contributes plus 1.4% to top line growth.

On Page 23, you have the EBITDA bridge detailing our organic growth of 5.4%, in line with the annual guidance between 5% and 6%. Scope was negative at the end of September and reached minus EUR 56 million. Negative ForEx impact increased in Q3 versus Q2, as mentioned earlier. The impact of energy was minus EUR 39 million, less than last year as expected, while recycled prices were slightly up plus EUR 13 million unchanged in Q3. The commerce/volumes/works effect was positive at plus EUR 77 million, in line with revenue impact. Pricing and efficiency gains of EUR 295 million generated plus 2.3% in additional EBITDA, hence, a very good retention rate of 38%.

Worth noting, we have already registered in Q3 EUR 5 million of additional synergies coming from the combination of our 2 business units in Water Technology after the CDPQ minority buyout close on June 30. The synergies amount to EUR 73 million, notably in the Water Technology activities in the U.S. and in Hazardous Waste, leading to a cumulated amount of EUR 508 million, perfectly in line with our cumulated objective of EUR 530 million. The symbolic threshold of EUR 500 million has been exceeded.

Going down to current EBIT, this slide illustrates perfectly the operating leverage of our business model, 3.2% revenue growth, 5.4% EBITDA growth and 7.9% EBIT increase. Current EBIT grew to EUR 2.7 billion at a faster pace than EBITDA. Renewal expenses of EUR 231 million were comparable to '24. Amortization and OFA were slightly lower than last year due to perimeter and slightly up at constant scope and ForEx. Industrial capital gains, provision and other were down due to the high provision reversal in '24 with the ending of operational risk. Joint ventures are slightly decreasing.

Before concluding, I remind you on this slide of our share buyback program, which has been launched to offset the dilution of the employee shareholding program. Our strong 9 months results allow me to fully confirm our guidance for 2025, continued solid organic growth of revenue, excluding energy prices. For EBITDA, organic growth between 5% and 6% more than EUR 350 million of efficiency gains, more than EUR 530 million of cumulated synergy at the end of 2025, current net income up 9% at constant ForEx, leverage ratio below 3x. And as usual, our dividend will grow in line with our EPS. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Emmanuelle. And now we are ready to answer your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line with Bartek Kubicki with Bernstein.

If I may ask maybe 3 very short questions. First of all, on your FX, you gave a little bit of a guidance, what could be the FX impact on EBITDA in 2025, assuming the currency rates stay where they were at the 30th of September. I just wonder what would be the impact on net income? Because in FY '24 in the first half, the impact on net income was 0. But in the past, it used to be negative, when the impact on EBITDA was negative. So I wonder what is your view on this one at the end of FY '25?

Second of all, if we -- about your share buybacks, I think there was a proposal to increase a taxation on share buybacks in France, an idea. And I wonder if this was applying to share buybacks on employee shares. What would you do if you had to pay additional taxes on share buybacks in France? Just a hypothetical example.

And the last point would be on your Hazardous Waste margins because I guess, with 4.4% revenues increase and 10% EBITDA increase, we are looking at margin expansion. I just wonder whether this is a structural trend and you will see a margin expansion going forward from today's levels? Or do you think you have already reached levels which you find optimal in terms of EBITDA margins in Hazardous Waste?

Thank you for your 3 questions. I will start and Emmanuelle will be able to comment further, of course. Regarding guidance on ForEx, on net result, just a few elements on that. First, I can fully confirm our guidance for the year, so which means 5% to 6% EBITDA at constant ForEx. And it's fair to say you've understood from the tone of this presentation this morning that I expect to be on the upper range of this range.

Two, I can fully confirm as well the net result, which is 9% growth this year. I think this is a super important element. And as you know, I just wanted to highlight a few things on ForEx. ForEx for us is very different from in many different companies, I guess, because in a way, it has no impact on our business neither positive nor negative in a way. That's exactly why we guide at constant ForEx. It's because it's exactly what we have a look at.

It's the direct consequence, of course, of our being super international with 80% of international business, plus it has no impact on margin as we've demonstrated in the 9 months with a plus 50 basis points. As Emmanuelle said, we are a multi-local company. So we have no transaction impact of ForEx. It's really like we are paid in dollars, we pay our cost in dollars and same applies to euros and so on and so forth. Just want to highlight that before Emmanuelle comments on the specifics of your question.

Yes, you're absolutely right, Estelle. Regarding ForEx, it's the direct translation of our being 80% international and 40% outside Europe, which is growing faster. I will not come back on the fact that we are only translation impact and no transaction impact. We expect, as I mentioned, the impact at the end of 2025 at EBIT level to be around EUR 130 million -- EBITDA, taking into account the 9 months results and the closing rate at the end of September.

Although it's fair to say it varies every day, as we've seen with the political situation in the U.S. meant suddenly, the dollars went up again. So I'm not so sure we expect if we were to do that calculation with the same range as end of September, which would be now the fair comment, right?

Absolutely. And we haven't changed our range. You know that ForEx impact at current net income level is largely attenuated. Usually, EUR 100 million at EBITDA level translates into EUR 20 million at C&I level.

Your second question on share buyback, even in the -- I mean, as you have said and implied, the fiscal debate is not over yet in France like far from. Even if we were in the -- what was imagined in the last few weeks were to be voted, which is, I must say, unlikely for the majority of it, but nevertheless, even if the share buyback that we have launched would not be concerned. Actually, there is an exception in this fiscal turmoil, which is share buyback associated with employee shareholders. So we would not be impacted in any way, shape or form even if that were to be voted.

And just to rehighlight that French political situation does not have any impact on our results at Veolia, not only because we're only 20% in France, but even in France, we are very local as opposed to national. We don't have national contracts. We don't have like debt -- public debt is not involved. We are really multi-local as well. Just want to highlight that again.

In terms of your third question on Hazardous Waste, the margin expansion is structural. And we've highlighted that in the deep dive we've done last June. I think it was with a big ambition, in Hazardous Waste to raise the margin, the EBIT and the ROCE by plus 50% by the end of the plan, thanks to the progressive opening of the various facilities we have. We are on the way of building, which are good profitable margins apart from the ramping up of those, which could be temporary for a few months, just like not fully yet delivering the full speed.

Yes, I don't expect any specific thing. It's really structural. It's a mix of like availability of our plants, plus pricing, good pricing plus good volume and increase in the industrial base in some key sectors such as micro e. This is what is structurally behind this increase in margin.

Just to give you a specific figure, which was highlighted by Emmanuelle, but I want to emphasize again on. In the U.S.A. alone in Hazardous Waste, we've grown our revenue plus, plus 9% in Q3, which is even at a higher rate than the first half. So it's really sustained we don't see anything but a sustained, if not even better Q3 than the first half. So that's why I'm very confident for a very good Q4 for Veolia and a very good year. That's why I mentioned the upper end for EBITDA at constant ForEx.

And your next question comes from the line of Arthur Sitbon with Bernstein (sic) [ Morgan Stanley ].

Can you hear me?

Yes.

It's Arthur Sitbon from Morgan Stanley. So the first one is actually on your EBIT. I've noticed that your industrial capital gains, I mean, the line of capital gains net of impairments, et cetera, is significantly lower than last year, which I suspect suggests the quality of your EBIT -- the underlying quality of your earnings in 9 months is relatively good. I was wondering, is it just a timing effect and we're going to end the year with a similar level of capital gains than last year? Or should we expect basically you to deliver on your net income guidance with a bit less gains than last year, which could be a message on the underlying quality of earnings? That's the first question.

The second question, you talked already a little bit about taxes in France. I -- and as you mentioned, we don't know what will be implemented at the end of the day. But I just wanted you, if possible, to give us some information on that potential tax that would change the way -- essentially, that amendment that would change the way the corporate tax is calculated in France and will align it on your share of revenues generated in France, not PBT. I was wondering if there is a significant discrepancy between your exposure at revenue level and PBT level in France? And if you could help us understand a bit that.

So capital gains and the quality of earnings, Emmanuelle.

Yes. Thank you, Arthur, for your comments on the quality of results, which is really good at the end of the 9 months and that we are confirming. And to be short on your question, we confirm that at the end of the year, the amount will be decreasing compared to last year, confirming the quality of our results.

In terms of your second question on tax in France, the short answer is we don't expect any negative impact nor positive on the potential corporate tax that you mentioned because there is an addendum, which makes it that we would not be concerned. And we could go through the list of the various tax which we imagine in France. And for some, the answer would be, again, in conditional terms, no impact. For others, it may be EUR 5 million, EUR 10 million max. So we're really talking about things which are absolutely not significant at Veolia's group level. And as I remind you, France is 20% of our revenue, but less of our earnings. So there is no big impact of all this in our group's results.

And the next question comes from the line of Olly Jeffery with Deutsche Bank.

So 2 questions for me, more kind of general beyond the results today. So the first one is just on the efficiency program that you guys have and have every year. Is there some part of the efficiency program that happens every year that you might be able to consider to be almost efficiency that could be considered as underlying growth that might be, for example, you're sharing in the benefits of efficiency targets on specific contracts.

I know often this is seen a straight out cost cutting, but is there some elements of cost cutting, which actually perhaps people view as that, but you might consider internally as being more genuine growth. I'd just be interested to hear your views on that.

And then secondly, there's been discussions from some investors recently about the opportunity you might have with regard to data centers, water cooling, et cetera, in the U.S. Is that something that you see as a potential growth opportunity out this decade? And if so, what are the areas where that you feel that you can operate within that and potentially might be able to see the most growth?

Thank you. Do you want to take the first question, Emmanuelle, on efficiency?

With pleasure. So regarding efficiency program, you're absolutely right, Olly. It's fueling our underlying growth, and it will continue to fuel our underlying growth. Very happy about what we have been able to achieve in terms of efficiency for the 9 months. The element which is important also and that you have in mind is that in Q4, it will be also pushed by the results that will come, especially in France as we will reap the benefits of all the measures that we have implemented in the 9 months. So very sustainable trend completely linked with our businesses and which will fuel the underlying growth.

So basically, you can count on them forever with Veolia. For the reason I mentioned in my speech, which is it's not a big cost cutting as in one-off laying off people typically. We're talking about thousands of plants, each of them having a constant way of having a look at how they could be more performing and efficient, which is very different. Therefore, you can count on them forever.

In terms of data center, you're exactly right. We are building an offer on data center, which I think is very, very promising. We already have quite a few contracts actually across the globe in Europe as well as in the U.S. so far and in Australia as well, it's fair to say. And it's a way to have Veolia combining the data center needs and boom with still the access to resource and sustainable element of it.

Meaning what we offer is not only reduce carbon footprint by recouping the heat as well as being even water positive as in replenishing resource. As you know, data centers consume a lot of water to be cooled down. And we have implemented a few offers there with a few customers already, and we aim at doing more of that. So yes, you're right, growth opportunity for Veolia certainly. And I count on it to fuel not only the GreenUp plan, but the next few years with a lot of assets is going to be here, I think, for a very long time.

And the next question comes from the line of Juan Rodriguez with Kepler Cheuvreux.

I have one, if I may. It's kind of a follow-up. If I'm correct, you signaled that you expect to be on the upper part of the guidance for the year. Can you please give us more clarity, as we currently see, you're in the middle part of the range? So you expect probably a strong Q4 with cost efficiencies, volume recovery? Is it both? And can you give us a first look of what has been the operational performance so far in the quarter were already at the beginning of November?

Emmanuelle?

Yes, with pleasure. So as mentioned by Estelle, we expect a very strong Q4 and to be at the upper range. Regarding revenue, we expect -- we have some moving parts regarding, of course, the weather, but we expect a growth which is similar to what we have seen in the 9 months. And regarding EBITDA, it will be, of course, pushed by the generation of synergy from Water Tech, the performance that we will have in France, recovery -- thanks to the action plan which has been launched, which are the 2 main reasons. And as you may have seen, the October in terms of heating generation has been positive. So that's the main reason for us to be very optimistic regarding Q4.

And as we -- I will comment on the Q3 was more on the plus side and then minus side in terms of trend compared to H1 as well. Everything we've seen internationally in the U.S. has this way, just to give a few examples, and we have figures in the slides, but Q3 was more on the up than the down compared to H1. So we are into a very good momentum into Q4.

And the next question comes from the line of [ Mark Abe ] with Citi.

The first one I've got is on the Water Tech business. I think at the first half, you gave a number of EUR 2 billion of bookings. Can we get an updated figure of backlog at 9 months as of now? And also remind me how that converts -- how that backlog converts into revenue? And if there's any sort of large projects with definitive timing that we can think about?

And then just a second one quickly on the recyclate pricing. I think at 9 months, you've seen it relatively flat, slightly positive. We saw in the U.S. Waste Management profit war, they're seeing low lower recyclate pricing. Can you just talk to if there's any kind of read across or impact for Veolia there, please?

Okay. So on Water Tech, we always hesitate to give always the backlog because backlog is only on the project bit of our activity, which is roughly 30% of it. And the backlog was not very relevant in Q3, but we expect quite a few bookings in Q4. So we'll give you the over end. So it doesn't translate directly because of the proportion of projects versus more recurring things. So roughly -- and you can have a look at our deep dive on Water Tech, where we explained the full detail of that. Basically, we have 30%, which is project based, which is very linked with backlog, say, and 70%, which is more recurring. We're talking here about products, typically membrane.

We're talking about services, mobile unit. We're talking about chemical products as well. And this 70%, which is more relevant to be compared quarter-on-quarter, has grown by 6.8% in Q3, year-to-date, plus 4.8%. So we are very happy about this bit. And you have the ups and downs of the project, which is that plus a very high comparison base of last year. So we expect quite a few bookings in Q4, and it starts well, it's fair to say.

In terms of the recyclate pricing, I will have Emmanuelle answering, but no read across from American dry waste company. We are not in dry waste in the U.S. We are not concerned by recycling prices, which is a quite different logic from the European one, it's fair to say. But on recyclate price trends, Emmanuelle?

Yes. On recyclate price, you have seen the impact at the end of the 9 months, which is plus EUR 13 million at EBITDA level, we don't expect a significant impact at the end of the full year. You know that we have implemented with Estelle a huge transformation and deep transformation of our Waste business, meaning that everywhere we can, we are in a back-to-back construct. So if you want a figure for the end of the year, it's non-material. So we had a little bit of plus at 1 month, a little bit of minus the month following. So nothing very specific. And in other geographies which are concerned mainly on dry waste, we're talking Germany, France, U.K., Australia. With that, you have an 80-20 type of flow for our business.

And the next question comes from the line of Philippe Ourpatian with ODDO BHF.

I have just one simple question is concerning your free cash flow. I mean there is no mention about where you were at the end of 9 months this year. And as you confirm, I would say, a very strong Q4 and your net debt-to-EBITDA below 3. I do suppose that the reversal on Q4 will be maybe stronger than expected. Could you just give some figure concerning the end of 9 months in order to help us to better understand how it will move concerning the working capital and some other, I would say, items, which could be your CapEx and some cash in coming from, I don't know where. But please just -- that's going to be very helpful.

Bonjour, Philippe. With pleasure to speak on free cash flow. You're absolutely right. The amount of free cash flow at the end of the 9 months is quite similar to what we had last year. We had a strong Q3. You remember that in Q1, we had some few timing effect and specific effects linked to Flint cash-out, scope entries and adjusting scheme Water France royalty payments. And we fully confirm that we expect the usual reversal in Q4.

You know that we are very committed to free cash flow generation, which is fueling our growth and to pay our dividend. We have -- we are mobilizing the organization to invoice faster, to collect faster. We have a few projects regarding [ ERP and ER ] also to have optimized processes. So fully confirming for the year-end, the usual guidance and the debt below 3x. We'll have the reversal in Q4 with strong EBITDA growth fueled by our international activities, French recovery and the Boosters, discipline on CapEx and working capital reversal.

So the usual seasonality.

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Estelle Brachlianoff for closing remarks.

Thank you very much. You understood. We are very confident, very happy about the 9-month result, very, very confident for the rest of the year and very happy that the priority we've been given in GreenUp as even being more technological oriented, more international are bearing fruits in our results as they support the growth of our earnings and will so in the next few years. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.