Half Year 2021 Spie SA Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Nicolas Tabor - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division - Analyst : The first question would be to understand the trends in the revenue and organic growth. So looking back at the Q1 slide show, so it seems that your overall group organic growth decelerated compared to 2019, right? And I know there's many moving parts, but I wanted to understand if there's something to flag at the group level other than maybe more restriction from COVID? And maybe what would be the exit rate at the end of the quarter? And as you said, at or above revenue for the full year and you're already above in H1. Is there any particular headwind we have to think about other than COVID, obviously, which is difficult to predict? But is there something like contract phaseout or any pressure that you want to mention? And then apart from the revenues, on taxes paid, it was much lower despite higher profits. So what to expect in H2. So more technical question. And then on the net working capital, congratulations on the strong improvement. And is there any reason those 7 days should reverse in H2? And does a lower outflow in H1 means a lower reversal in H2? How should we think of that evolution sequentially?

Question: Nicolas Tabor - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. And can you just -- do you have the information on the exit rate that you can share with us for the end of Q2 to have an idea of when we exited sanitary restrictions, how the business was coming back?

Question: Peter Testa - One Investments S.A.G.L. - Analyst : I've got 3 questions, please. I'd go one at a time. If you look at your comments you made about ENGIE and Bright, you made a point that only if it were a safe way to significantly increase value creation. Maybe if you could just give us a reminder of how you view hurdle rate on M&A and how you take account of the difference between a large transaction and a small deal given different risk criteria and thinking about that and also the different implications of the capital structure. Just give some reminder of how you regard the value creation from M&A. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 29, 2021 / 7:00AM, SPIE.PA - Half Year 2021 Spie SA Earnings Call

Question: Peter Testa - One Investments S.A.G.L. - Analyst : Okay. Is there a different view on return requirement, given scale and risk and maybe also the fact that one could be funded by cash and the other may not entirely?

Question: Peter Testa - One Investments S.A.G.L. - Analyst : Okay. Then the second question, please. If you look at recruitment, can you give a sense on how recruitment is stepping up in your major zones in Q2 or maybe expectation in H2 in recruitment and the extent at which -- if you are indeed stepping up recruitment and whether there's any impact to this on margins from either having more people come in and need training or reengaging with subcontractor networks, which (inaudible) back to growth may also have a margin impact, but will be repaid with growth as the resources grow.

Question: Peter Testa - One Investments S.A.G.L. - Analyst : Okay. Can you give us a sense on how recruitment itself has stepped up in Q2 and what do you think in H2 in your major regions?

Question: Peter Testa - One Investments S.A.G.L. - Analyst : Yes. Okay. And then the third question, please, is if you could give some sort of sense on the commercial side of activity. There's obviously a lag between projects being announced one and launched and COVID coming after COVID can create some time aspects of that. So I was wondering if you could give some sort of sense on what you see in terms of pipeline or maybe more specifically, book-to-bill Q2 versus Q1 or something like that, please?