Full Year 2023 Spie SA Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Rory McKenzie - UBS Limited - Analyst : The morning is for your three questions, please. And firstly, can you be more specific on the organic growth outlook for 2024? I understand it will moderate from the record 8% in 2023. But do you expect it to slow down from the 5.5% exit rate you saw in Q4? And any comments you have on the backlog strength would also be helpful. Then on the 2025 EBIT margin targets, and of course, we've had really good progress over the past two years -- and good to hear you can hold onto that -- but can you explain or give more detail on how you expect to continue to push margins up given the past two years have been quite a unique environment with very tight markets and very strong demand. So how are you going to drive new records? And then finally, just on the segment change, is there going to be any internal management reorganization around this? Any exceptional costs? And can you just clarify what the organic growth rate within nuclear has been, so we know how to adjust the base? Thank you.

Question: Rory McKenzie - UBS Limited - Analyst : And so just to follow-up on nuclear being added into France, is there any impact on I guess both the organic growth run rate in France? What was the nuclear growing at organically?

Question: Eric LemariT - CIC Market Solutions - Analyst : Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. And I got three, if I may. First on the organic growth in 2023, could you give us the volume and pricing contribution to the total growth? And maybe could you give us an idea of what kind of pricing you expect in 2024? I've got a second question on accounts actually. The margin improvement of France has been okay in 2023, and I was wondering if you observed any positive behavior from your competitors entering France now? And you see any particular impact on the competition mood in the market? And the last question regarding the margin for the Northwestern Europe. The margins there are below normalizing in France or in Germany. How would you explain the difference of margin between Northwestern Europe and France and Germany, and do you think margin in Northwestern Europe could catch up with France, Germany and also for year? Thank you.

Question: Augustin Cendre - Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited - Analyst : Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I've got two, if I may. The first one is a kind of a follow-up on margin. I'd like to understand where the opportunities might come from in the next two years and the timing also of that margin expansion. Maybe you could talk there about the margin opportunities you see in Germany in T&D, and you could maybe also elaborate on how much Northwestern Europe could represent in that margin expansion in the group level. The second question relates to working capital. You've reached negative 37 days this year from negative 38 last year. It's not been four years with very strong working capital. Is that 37 days the new normal? And a second question on working capital. Do you benefit at all from payments coming from new contracts?

Question: Laurent GTlTbart - Exane BNP Paribas - Analyst : Yes, good morning. I have a couple of questions. So the first one regard France and the backlog. So could you share with us how do you see the backlog evolving for France? I'm mentioning that because we know that the FTTH or FttX in France should go down, should decline. So how is it holding the rate of this under all of this activity? And also are you positioned on the big decarbonization projects being sponsored by the state? I'm referring to, for instance, [astronomical] is set to invest billions to reduce the CO2 emissions of its facility. So how do you see some potential for you on this one and other decarbonization projects in France?

Question: Christophe Chaput - Oddo Midcap - Analyst : Good morning. Christophe Chaput speaking from ODDO, and congratulations for the results. Just a quick one for me because you speak about FTTH in France. There is a loose -- as well as I know opportunity on FTTH in Germany. Would you say that it will be visible, let's say, under your organic growth for 2024, please? I am just looking at the pace of ramp up in certain extent.