Thank you. Good afternoon to all participants in Europe and good morning to everyone joining from across the Americas.

Welcome to Elis' 2026 half-year results presentation. I'm Xavier Martiré, CEO of Elis, speaking to you from Paris, and I am joined by our CFO, Louis Guyot.

I will begin with a brief overview of the key highlights from the first half of the year. Then I will hand over to Louis, who will walk you through the financial results in detail.

After that, I will return to share our main CSR achievements and provide an update on our outlook for the remainder of 2026. We'll then open the floor for a Q&A session, and as always, Nicolas Buron will be available after the call to address any further questions.

Before we begin, please take a moment to read the disclaimer. The first half of 2026 confirms Elis' ability to deliver resilient, diversified growth in a demanding macroeconomic context marked by a challenging backdrop across the globe.

Revenue reached €2,457.1 million in the first half, up 4.9%, including 3.2% organic growth, with a similar pace of organic growth in Q2 at 3.2%. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 4.9% to €853.8 million, with the margin flat year-on-year at 34.7%.

Adjusted EBIT rose by +4.6% to €370 million, with the margin also flat at 15.1%. Headline net income per share was up +5.1%, reaching €0.89 on a diluted basis, once again outpacing top-line growth, reflecting the accretive effect of our share buyback program.

Free cash flow stood at -€30.1 million. As I will come back to later, this is a purely working capital timing effect, and we remain fully on track with the full-year trajectory we had in mind.

The financial leverage ratio as of June 30, 2026, stood at 2.09 times. Despite significant macro headwinds, this performance reflects the continued strength of our model, and I want to highlight five things in particular.

Our recent investments in the sales force are clearly paying off, with a record level of new contract signings in H1, and continued productivity gains across all geographies supporting margin. The Middle East crisis had no meaningful impact on Elis' activity.

Our hedging policy shield us on energy costs, and the limited cost inflation we did see is being addressed through a dedicated cost-saving plan and targeted pricing actions. We continue to execute on value-accretive bolt-on M&A, with four new acquisitions strengthening our footprint and a pipeline that remains rich heading into H2.

On capital returns, our €500 million share buyback program was completed in mid-July alongside the planned exercise of the soft call option on our OCEANE 2029 convertible bond. Taken together, this gives us confidence to confirm all of our 2026 financial objectives on the back of the expected sequential improvements in the second half.

Let's now move on the next slide, which focus on top-line growth drivers in the first half of '26. Our recent investments in the sales force are paying off.

The group reached a record level of new contract signings in H1, capturing strong outsourcing demand across all geographies, with new client wins outpacing churn and cross-selling of growth services, Flat Linen, Workwear, Hygiene, gaining traction. We'll come back to this in more detail shortly as we go through each of our geographies.

On pricing, we implemented adjustments across our full geographic footprint in the context of high cost base inflation, especially on workforce costs. Importantly, we saw no significant direct activity drag from geopolitics.

Bolt-on acquisitions added +1.1% to H1 growth, consistent with our value-accretive consolidation strategy in fragmented markets, and our pipeline remains rich heading into the second half. Finally, we recorded a +0.6% FX tailwind reflecting favorable Latin American currency trends.

Let's now turn to slide seven, which highlights our long-term ambition to replicate the successful French model in terms of footprint, scale, and breadth of services across all our geographies. Strong momentum in Workwear continued, driven by the acceleration in outsourcing, and we recorded additional cross-selling successes in Pest Control and Cleanroom.

As local network density increases, we continue the progressive rollout of our services offer to small clients. This strategy remains a key lever for organic growth.

Elis is continuously reinforcing its sales force in many countries to harvest these organic growth opportunities, and we remain committed to investing in local sales teams going forward. As already mentioned, we are clearly seeing these investments pay off where they have been made, and we'll come back to this in more detail as we go through each geography.

Our ultimate goal remains unchanged: replicate the French footprint and service range in all our other geographies. Moving on to the next slide, let me spend a moment on the macro backdrop, which remained difficult across Europe in the first half.

France posting record-high insolvencies, Germany its highest level of Q2 corporate insolvencies since 2005, to name just two examples. Despite this very gloomy European macro environment, this slide presents Elis' organic revenue growth in H1 across a number of our European markets, and as you can see, the trend remains solid despite the difficult context, with group organic growth comfortably above 3% over the period.

This isn't about chasing spectacular growth in any single market; it's about the structural, resilient nature of the markets we operate in and outsourcing trends that keep advancing regardless of the broader economic cycle. That's precisely what allows us to keep delivering solid growth year in, year out, even when the macro backdrop turns difficult.

This is, once again, the clearest illustration of the resilience of our diversified model in a challenging macro environment. Turning to the next slide, let me address the Middle East crisis directly, as I know it's on many of your minds.

In Q1, Hospitality activity in Paris was briefly penalized by lower hotel occupancy following the outbreak of the conflict, but with a rapid return to normal. We saw no transport disruption for our Asia-sourced linen.

On cost, we did see a material increase in gas and electricity spot prices since the beginning of the conflict of around +50%. Thanks to our progressive hedging policy, roughly a third of volumes locked in each year for N+3, '26, '27, and '28 are largely shielded.

We are 93% hedged on gas and 94% on electricity for '26, 81% and 87% respectively for '27, and 61% and 53% for '28. We did see some inflation on other commodities used by the group, fuel, paper, and chemicals, representing a €7 million impact on cost in H1.

To address this temporary cost increase, a cost-saving plan has been implemented alongside additional temporary pricing surcharges. Looking further out, our 2027 pricing indexation should be strong, reflecting the evolution of all prices.

All told, we expect energy costs of around €190 million in '26, below the '25 level, and we have already secured a further reduction for 2027. Moving on to slide 10, let me highlight two of our fastest-growing activities.

Cleanroom posted +6% revenue growth in H1, reaching €145 million, supported by favorable market drivers. We operate in a structurally growing Cleanroom market at +5% to +7% per annum, driven by pharma, biotech, and semiconductor investments.

We continue to differentiate through innovation, real-time monitoring, connected devices, smart garments, predictive analysis, and our international footprint supports growing demand for rationalization and harmonization at key accounts. Pest Control posted +16% revenue growth in H1, reaching €45 million.

Growth was broad-based across all geographies where the service is deployed, and solid execution by our dedicated Pest Control teams supported continued expansion. Our growing network of regional technical centers and sales representatives is driving growth ahead of the overall market in a highly fragmented industry.

Let's now take a look at each of our geographies, starting with France. France delivered good commercial dynamism across segments in the first half, with revenue growth at +2.5%, of which +2% was organic.

Hospitality showed an encouraging level of activity despite a slight decrease in Paris hotel occupancy in Q1, with a rapid return to normal, and some softness during the June heat wave. Pricing adjustments implemented at the start of the year helped to offset labor cost inflation.

The EBITDA margin further improved to 42.7%, up +90 bps, driven by sustained operational efficiency, workshop productivity, logistics optimization, lower water and energy consumption, and improved purchasing conditions. Moving on to next 12, Central Europe posted revenue growth of +5.9% in the first half, including +3.2% organic growth.

We recorded many commercial successes in Workwear in both standard and Cleanroom, despite a difficult macro environment, and performance was solid in Benelux, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Growth in Germany was still impacted by a selective commercial approach in the Healthcare segment, reflecting ongoing budget pressures on clients.

Nevertheless, some encouraging signs are emerging, with improving churn and some new signings to be implemented toward year-end. We are also seeing interesting developments in the nursing home market, with growing outsourcing driven by a search for higher quality of service, and this is a promising market where we intend to step up our focus going forward.

We also secured a contract add-on with a leading German private healthcare group to be implemented in late H2, which is expected to bring around €20 million in additional revenue on this contract in 2027. Four acquisitions in Germany and Switzerland contributed to +2.3% in the half-year growth.

On profitability, the EBITDA margin came in at 32% in H1, down 30 basis points, reflecting the temporary dilutive effect from the numerous acquisitions in the region, as well as a significant increase in the minimum legal salary in Germany, which remains difficult to fully pass through. Moving on to the next slide, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe is a region made up of relatively small, mature markets where the group already holds a strong market position.

Reported revenue was up +3.4%, including +1.6% organic growth, percent of organic growth. Finland, Norway, and the Baltics are still benefiting from outsourcing demand, and the competitive environment normalized in Denmark, even if the market remains subdued overall.

We also benefited from a +1.8% positive FX impact on half-year growth. The EBITDA margin improved slightly by 10 basis points to 34.5%.

The margin is now stabilized at a high level. Limited top-line growth currently makes it difficult to benefit from operating leverage.

Moving on to the next slide, let's now turn to the UK and Ireland. Organic revenue growth held up well at +1.6% in the first half.

Reported revenue, however, was down -0.8%, reflecting the negative evolution of the British pound, which had a -2.4% impact on revenue. Despite a difficult macro environment, the UK performed well, with strong contract wins in Hospitality, supported by an expanded sales force and Elis' recognized quality of service, all while maintaining pricing discipline and a selective approach to winning new clients.

Healthcare, for its part, remained stable. Turning to Ireland, the picture was more challenging, with increased competition in Hospitality weighing on performance.

The EBITDA margin of the region came in at 31.8%, down 10 bps. The significant UK minimum wage increase remains difficult to fully pass through in a competitive environment.

Let's now move on to Latin America. Revenue was up +15.4% in the first half, including +8% organic growth, and benefited from a +5.6% positive impact from local currencies movements.

Brazil delivered a solid commercial performance, posting +8.6% organic growth in H1. In Mexico, meanwhile, a public tender had been launched to reset all volumes following a reorganization of the Mexican federal healthcare system.

This tender was previously structured as a single lot, but has now shifted to a multi-lot format and a diversified supplier to optimize prices, even at the potential expense of the service quality, as a phenomenon we have already seen playing out in the healthcare market in Europe in the past. As a result, 50% of the volume has been lost, representing around €2 million per month since June or an expected €14 million impact on full-year 2026.

That said, despite this episode, revenue in Mexico still stands more than 36% above its level at our entry into the country in '22 in local currency, and this should be kept in perspective. More broadly, this is naturally part of the business we operate in.

Tenders get reset, contracts get won and lost, and it's worth weighing this against the German healthcare add-on I mentioned a moment ago. Across our footprint, these puts and takes tend to balance out over time, and this is precisely why our diversified model continues to deliver resilient growth overall.

Against this backdrop, the group continues to expand its offering in Mexico, notably with Workwear for industry and Flat Linen for hospitality, while in Brazil, the acquisition of Aqua Flash contributed to +1.8% to H1 growth. On the profitability side, the EBITDA margin declined by 180 bps to 30.8%, impacted by workforce cost increases in the region and by the volume losses in Mexico.

Labor cost inflation has been particularly strong since the start of the year, with, for instance, a +23% minimum wage increase in Colombia and a +13% increase in Mexico, and this could not be fully passed through to pricing in H1, reflecting the typical lag between cost increase and pricing adjustments, an effect set to ease in H2. The Mexico volume loss late in H1 temporarily lowered capacity utilization.

The necessary operational adjustments have since been implemented to limit the impact on margin. We now conclude our geographic review on slide 16 with Southern Europe.

Reported revenue increased by 8.1%, included 5.7% organic growth. We recorded many commercial successes in all geographies, notably in Workwear, and performance was strong in Spain, supported by a good start to the summer season in Hospitality.

Acquisition in Spain contributed 2.4% to growth. On profitability, the EBITDA margin further improved in H1 to 32.1%, up 30 basis points, driven by industrial process optimization, delivering further productivity gains.

Solid top-line growth also generated some operating leverage, helping margin progression. Moving on to the next slide to conclude on M&A, the group continued to execute its targeted bolt-on acquisition strategy, with M&A contributing +1.1% to revenue growth in the first half.

Four recent acquisitions have further strengthened our presence in key geographies and strategic market segments. In Germany, we acquired Adrett, located in Schuby, close to the Danish border, offering rental services for flat linen and serving hospitality customer, with €12 million of revenue in '25.

In Switzerland, we acquired Wäscheperle, one laundry facility in Interlaken at the heart of one of Switzerland's leading tourist destinations, addressing flat linen for hospitality clients, with €13.5 million of revenue in '25. In Spain, we acquired RSYS, one plant located in the northeast of Barcelona, servicing healthcare customers primarily and hospitality clients in both flat linen and workwear, with €5.5 million of revenue in '25.

In Brazil, we acquired Serv-Brasil in July, which operates from 20 small-scale laundries across five states in the central and northeastern regions in the country, located directly within its clients' facilities, serving isolated hospitals with flat linen rental and maintenance services. It generated €5 million of revenue in '25.

This is a new client source for the group on the Brazilian market, and we are very excited about the opportunity. All these acquisitions are fully aligned with our bolt-on strategy, and our pipeline remains very solid heading into H2.

With that, I will now hand over to Louis, who will provide more detail on our H1 2026 financial performance.

Thank you, Xavier. Good afternoon, everyone.

Let us start with this chart that we like a lot, and it's the best testimony of our success. It illustrates the evolution of Elis revenue and EBITDA margin over 25 years and demonstrates the resilience and profitability of our business model.

You see indeed a regular growth, with some push from major deals, while keeping the margin in a narrow bandwidth, whatever happens. Indeed, you see on this chart the 2009 financial crisis, the 2012 South Europe crisis, the COVID period, then the energy crisis, then the inflation, and so on.

It is the result of a consistent strategy and a pristine execution. Our cash generation model has remained strong through every crisis, with steady free cash flow growth expected going forward.

Moving on to the next slide, let me walk you through the usual H1 '26 revenue breakdown by activity and market and geography, which illustrates Elis' highly diversified and well-balanced profile. Whichever angle you look at it from, activity and market, geography, you will see that Elis is not dependent on any single category, which remains the key strength of the group, especially in times of macro uncertainty.

By activity, our offering spans Flat Linen, Workwear, Hygiene & Well-Being mix, a mix that reflects the breadth of our service portfolio and our ability to serve clients across multiple needs at once, deepening the relationship over time. On the market side, we serve four major end markets, Healthcare, Industry, Hospitality, and Trade & Services, each driven by different fundamentals and offering complementary growth drivers, which adds to the overall stability of our model.

Looking at geography, France represents now less than 30% of group revenue, illustrating how the rest of our footprint keeps gaining relative weight, with a solid balance between mature regions, such as Central Europe, UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and more dynamic regions, such as Latin America, Southern Europe, which continue to offer strong structural growth potential. This well-balanced diversification is no coincidence; it's the result of a disciplined long-term strategy built on marketing, commercial execution, targeted M&A, and it's precisely what allows us to keep delivering resilient growth even when individual markets or segments go through a rougher patch.

Moving on to the next slide, let's take a look at revenue growth and EBITDA margin by geography. As Xavier mentioned, total revenue growth of 4.9% includes 1.1% from M&A, 0.6% positive forex impact, mainly reflecting favorable Latin America currency trends.

Organic growth is to 3.2%. In a nutshell, looking at the growth, we keep in mind that the forex is very positive in LatAm, negative in UK, we focus on organic.

As expressed in the geographic split, we have Latin America and Southern Europe very dynamic, with organic growth at 8% and 5.7% respectively, which reflects both our commercial successes while addressing the need for outsourcing and probably more dynamic economic environment. On the other hand, the rest of Europe is more moderate, between 1.6% and 3.2%, which is all in pretty decent.

It's a mix of more mature markets and tougher macro environments. For margin, Xavier discussed the evolution per region.

At group level, the margin stands flat at 34.7%, with some headwind from inflation coming, first, from staff costs, with LatAm countries and Germany increasing strongly the cost of our on-the-benefits, and second, from the Middle East crisis, with fuel costs spreading to other commodities. Let's now take a look at the full P&L for the first half.

Revenue reached €2,457.1 million, up 4.9% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA increased to €853.8 million, with the margin flat at 34.7%.

We discussed that already. Depreciation represented €483.8 million, resulting in adjusted EBIT of €370 million, with a margin also flat at 15.1%.

The D&A-to-sales ratio has stabilized, reflecting a decrease in the linen capex-to-sales ratio, now more in the 12% region on a full-year basis, which is partially offset by higher rents. The main items between EBIT and operating income are, first, the non-current operating income and expenses, which amounted to -€12 million, slightly higher than last year.

Figure '26 is standard for M&A costs, integration costs, restructuring costs, while H1 '25 was lower than the usual average. IFRS 2 expenses, it is the accounting treatment of the free share plans, it decreased to €16.3 million compared to €21.1 million last year.

H1 '26 is normalized, whereas H1 '25 included a one-off charge related to the increase in French employer contribution of free share allocation. Amortization of intangible assets from past acquisition decreased to €40.2 million, reflecting the end of the amortization period for, a, the Indusal contracts, b, the Mexican brand.

As a result, operating income increased by 7.1% to €300.2 million. Below operating income, net financial expense increased to €73.9 million from 60 €64.9, reflecting higher average net debt related to the extraordinary '26 share buyback program and higher average interest costs following recent refinancings.

Income tax expense came in at €62.8 million, roughly stable year-on-year. H1 '26 reflects a normal tax rate of 25.8% plus the French business tax, CVAE, while H1 '25 was impacted by the French surtax, which is no longer applicable to the group in '26.

Finally, net income rose by 3.3%, reaching €163.6 million compared to €152.4 million last year. Moving to the next slide, let's have a look now at H1 '26 fully diluted headline net income per share, or EPS.

As usual, the main restatements to get to headline net income include the amortization of intangible assets recognized in past acquisitions, after IFRS 2 expenses, and non-current operating income and expense. All in, headline net income for the first half standard €215.5 million, up 1.1% year-on-year.

This translates into 96 cents per share on a basis at end of shares and up 3. 5.3%, and 90 cents on a fully diluted basis, up 5.1%.

It's worth noting that the growth in headline net income per share significantly outpaces the growth in headline net income itself. This is explained by the reduction in our average share count, both basic, -4%, and fully diluted, -3.6%, reflecting the impact of our share buyback program.

Moving on to the next slide, let's now review our free cash flow performance for the first half '26. Adjusted EBITDA came in at €853.8 million and remains the starting point of our cash generation.

After the usual non-cash adjustments, this brings us to a cash flow before net financial cost and tax of €830.8 million, up from €796.9 million. Net capex stood at €479.1 million, or 19.5% of revenue against 18.4% last year.

This increase reflects a phasing effect, with many major industrial projects developing in the first half to follow the strong growth, for example, in Workwear in Poland and Spain, and Cleanroom in Germany. We are confident that the full-year ratio should be just above 18%.

Change in working capital requirement was negative at €154 million against €113 million last year. This kind of figures are usual for us due to the seasonality of the business.

For H1 '26, we can outline some flat linen stock building ahead of the hospitality season, some workwear stock building to improve service quality, and a slight deterioration in the cash collection. Net interest paid decreased to €51.8 million from 60 €66 million.

This is explained by two coupons less in '26 due to reimbursement of bonds in '25. We still expect circa €90 million for the full year.

Tax paid amounted to €74.8 million, up from €67.7 million, with a cash tax rate stable at 24.5%. Lease liabilities payments totaled €91.1 million, up from €87.3 million, in line with activity levels.

The group is also benefiting from a rent-free period on the new headquarters running until December '28. All in, free cash flow came to -€30.1 million for the first half, slightly penalized by the seasonality of the capex and the working capital, but within the usual bandwidth of H1.

You remember, of course, that nearly all the free cash flow is generated in the second half in our business, reason why we still expect to grow the free cash flow mid-single-digit this year. Below free cash flow, the capital allocation was split between €36 million for M&A, €105.6 million for the dividend, and €456.8 million for the share buyback program.

As a result, net financial debt stood at €3,670 million at the end of June compared to €3,020 million at the end of '25. Moving on to the next slide, let's look at the debt in detail.

On March 16, Elis successfully priced a €600 million bond at 3.875%, maturing in March '32, further extending our maturity profile. As a reminder, we are rated investment grade by Standard & Poor's at BBB- stable, and by Moody's at Baa3 stable.

End of June, we had €1.3 billion of available liquidity, comprising €437 million of cash and €900 million of undrawn capacity under the bank revolver line. Financial leverage ratio stood at 2.09 times as of June 30.

Moving on to the next slide, net financial leverage have increased to 2.09 from 1.92 in June '25. As you remember, '26 is not exactly a normal year for the debt evolution, with two events out of the usual.

First, €500 million buyback program nearly completed in H1, and second, the probable conversion of the convertible in H2. Looking at the full-year trajectory, we continue to expect a reduction of the leverage of 0.1 times versus full-year '25, in line with our capital allocation policy.

Moving on to the next slide, a reminder of our state capital allocation policy, which we clarified last year. It starts with the free cash flow generation and is structured around three clear priorities.

First, pursuing our bolt-on acquisition strategy, with the usual investment between €50 and €150 million per year. Second, consolidating our investment grade rating with further deleveraging of the balance sheet circa 0.1 per year.

Finally, allocating the remaining cash to shareholder returns through a regular dividend, complemented by share buyback or, where appropriate, a special dividend. You remember that the year '25 was typical, with nearly €366 €360 million free cash flow split between M&A for €143 million, dividends for €105 million, and buyback for €150 million, leading to a leverage down by 0.1 at 1.75 times.

Going to the next slide, let me detail our shareholder returns for the first half '26, which again is more out of the ordinary. End of June, nearly 18 1.8 million shares were repurchased at a weighted average price of €26.25 for a total payout of €456.8 million.

It's part of a €500 million buyback program, which was fully completed in mid-July. This comes on top of the cash dividend of 48 cents per share, up 7% nominal versus last year, paid on May 28 for a total of €105.6 million.

Moving on the last slide of my section, let me give you an update on our convertible bond. Elis intends to exercise its soft call option on the OCEANE '29 bonds, effective from mid-October '26, subject to market condition.

In this context, and as previously flagged, Elis announced in March '26 a share buyback program of €500 million for the year, and as of July 28, the group held 18.3 million treasury shares. In the event of the exercise of the soft call option and the exercise of the share allocation right, Elis could be required to deliver up to 23.8 million shares to holders of the OCEANE '29.

Looking at the impact on our share count and factoring in the soft call exercise in mid-October '26, we expect the average basic share count to decrease by 3.5% by year-end, and the average fully diluted share count to decrease by circa 5%. I will now hand back to Xavier to give you an update on our CSR achievements in the first half.

Thank you, Louis. Let me now take a few moments to walk through our key CSR achievements for the first half of 2026 on slide 31.

We rolled out our CSR strategy 2030, integrating innovative topics such as avoided emissions or absenteeism, and communicated it widely, both internally and externally. Regarding our circular services benefit for the market, Elis received an award at a major recycling textile events in Europe for its Workwear to Workwear project, and new products are to be launched soon.

We'll also launch new calculator to demonstrate the environmental benefit of our circular services on mops for the Cleanroom activity versus single-use products and on cotton rolls versus paper solutions. On other highlights, our alternative vehicle fleet continues to expand, with 174 more electric vehicles to be delivered in France by year-end.

Thermal efficiency in our European laundries improved by around -2% between January and May 2026 versus the same period in 2025. The Elis Foundation is expanding into the Netherlands and Sweden.

It will allow us to support more and more young talents in our community. Finally, last June, Elis joined the board of the UN Global Compact Network France.

Moving on to the next slide, our CSR performance continues to be acknowledged by leading non-financial rating agencies. We reached the Platinum medal from EcoVadis, with our highest ever score of 92 out of 100, positioning Elis among the top 1% of 150,000 assessed companies.

Elis was included in the CDP A List for the second time, out of the 23,000 companies assessed, with only 4% making the A List, where we are among the top 56 French companies recognized. On MSCI, following methodology change across the industry, Elis was ranked BBB.

A data update is still pending from MSCI. For the S&P Global and ISS ESG ratings, we came in at 52 and 55.3 out of 100 respectively, in the Prime category.

Taken together, these results are strong recognition of our strategy, and above all, of the dedication and day-to-day commitment of our teams across the group. Let's now turn to our 2026 outlook on slide 34.

On organic revenue growth, through the first part of the year, we were actually tracking ahead of our full-year guidance, and the volume losses in Mexico have brought us back in line with the indication we gave in March, and we continue to expect organic revenue growth slightly below the 2025 level. It is worth reemphasizing that we recorded a record level of new contract signings in H1, which will progressively kick in and drive sequential organic growth improvement in the second half.

We expect a slight expansion of both the adjusted EBITDA margin and the adjusted EBIT margin, driven by further productivity gains and the implementation of a cost-saving plan, which is helping to offset the increase in certain cost inputs, such as fuel, linked to the Middle East conflict. We continue to anticipate high single-digit growth in diluted headline net income per share.

On free cash flow, the negative H1 figure should not be read as a signal. It is entirely a working capital timing effect, and we remain fully in line with what we had in mind back in March.

Free cash flow is still expected to grow at a mid-single-digit rate, reflecting the seasonal cash generation pattern of the business, with very strong cash generation expected in the second half of the year. We expect the financial leverage ratio to decline by around -0.1 time versus 2025 to around 1.65 times by year-end, as previously guided.

All of our 2026 financial objectives as communicated in March are therefore confirmed. Let me wrap up with this slide, which for me really captures why we are so confident in Elis going forward.

First, we have a highly resilient business model, proven time and again through successive crises, and we keep compounding it further by combining organic growth with value-accretive bolt-on acquisitions. Second, we have an outstanding track record of high margins and strong cash generation year after year, and we intend to keep extending that track record.

Third, our EPS growth is consistently outpacing top-line growth this year and in the years ahead, which is exactly the kind of operating leverage that translates into real value creation for shareholders. Fourth, our ROCE keeps progressing, with a pre-tax ROCE expected above 15% in 2026, a truly best-in-class level for our industry.

Finally, we offer one of the most shareholder-friendly capital allocation policies out there, combining regular, growing dividends with meaningful share buybacks. Put simply, Elis is a resilient, high-quality compounder, and we have every reason to be excited about what lies ahead.

That concludes our presentation. Thank you for your attention, and we are now happy to take your questions.

Operator, over to you.

Hi, good evening. I have two questions, please.

Just firstly, on price relative to volume, given you've lost some volume in Q2 in Mexico, but you're also implementing pricing adjustments to offset cost inflation, could you talk about how pricing has developed as a component of organic growth relative to Q1, and do you expect pricing to be a larger component of growth in the second half? Then secondly, on Mexico, the €14 million impact that you expect for full-year 2026, does that assume that you don't win any of that volume back of that 50%, or is there a possibility that you do reach some agreement and you can reclaim some of that contract in the second half?

Thank you.

The gap between price and volume, it is slightly more price than volume in Q2 and for the full year. I don't share exactly your analysis for the second half when you say that less volume in Mexico and extra pricing.

Yes, but on top of that, we have also implementation of all the big signatures of contracts in H1 that will start to invoice in H2, and so it will bring some additional volume. I think that we'll keep more or less the same breakdown between price and volume for the full year.

Second part of your question, Mexico, for now, we have lost the half of the volume. At every moment, they can decide to stop with a smaller supplier, because we know that they have a lot, a lot of trouble in quality of service.

At this stage, I have no evidence that it can happen. Yes, it's possible, and we could recover some hospitals that are too much desperate from the low quality of service, but it's impossible for me to say that I'm sure, and it is not included in our forecast for the year '26.

Very clear. Thank you.

Just as a follow-up on those contract signings, I think when we've spoken previously about during periods of macro uncertainty, customers are sometimes more reluctant to sign new contracts, but it doesn't sound like you're seeing that at the moment. Is there anything else driving that record level of signings that you talked about?

It is a fair comment, Annelies. Yes, the job is more complex in a context where small customer mainly will be more reluctant to engage for four years and so on, but the good performance that we have and it is a record level of signature, it's just the consequence of all our efforts, and also the consequence of all our investments.

If you remember what we have always said over the last two to three years, we invest regularly in marketing and sales to protect the organic growth and to develop the organic growth of the company. We always said that over the last two years, we could have delivered a better margin, but just by keeping the level of investment, but we were preferring a small increase of the margin, but a strong investment in additional marketing and sales effort.

That's why it is normal, if I may, to see this good level of signatures. It is a consequence of all our efforts.

It's nice to see that we're able to do that despite the macro environment that is really complex, as you highlight.

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Hi, Xavier. Hi, Louis.

Thank you very much. Three questions for me, please.

Firstly, back to Mexico. Given you're the market leader in that market with significant capacity, do you believe that your volumes can be redirected to any other customers, and is this really a question of waiting for the customer to come back with a more sensible price offer, and then you can re-engage?

Then two questions on the cash flow. Firstly, you've highlighted the normal seasonality in the cash flow, but there's also a deterioration in DSOs in the half.

Is there anything further going on in the working capital beyond typical seasonality that we should think about for the full year? Then secondly, on cash and capex in particular, the 19.5% of sales versus 18.4% last year, I think in the release, you talk about investments in industrial capacity in flat linen and in workwear.

Is there anything particular inside the additional capex that you would particularly call out, and is this a sign that maybe you're feeling a bit more confident on the growth outlook for the rest of this year and into next year and therefore driving up the capex as a result of that? Thank you.

Mexico and capacity of the landscape of competitor and so on, it's clear that the level of capacity is limited, and so that's why we know that many, many hospitals today that have switched to super small competitor are suffering because the quality of service is not at the level expected because they are not able to deliver all the volume needed. In some cases also, because a part of the gains that we had with Bienestar hospitals, in very often, it was by closing their internal laundry.

We have some situation probably where the small supplier is not able to deliver the full service, and I'm sure that some hospitals are forced to reopen part of their equipment to process some additional volume. It doesn't change significantly the fact that the market today is not able to offer a lot of capacity, and it doesn't change the incredible strong position that we have for the mid-long term in Mexico.

Regarding the cash, Louis will cover the DSO subject. For capex, it's just a question of timing during the year, nothing behind.

When you will see for the full-year '26, we will be close to the 18%. It's just that we have some big project of new plants that has been delivered in the first semester.

We can be happy that our industrial team has been super efficient, and we have some projects that have been delivered on time in the first semester, even before what we were expecting. That's why we have this extra capex in the first semester in percentage, but it's absolutely not a structural change, and we will have for the full-year '26 the amount expected in percentage of sales, close to the 18%, slightly above, but super close to the 18%.

No other signal behind this level of capex in the first semester. Now perhaps DSO for

Louis? With regard to some for DSO, we are speaking a couple of days, huh?

You remember that we are around 60 days at group level. A couple of days is the kind of thing that could happen, one month and another month, it's just like, I don't know, Disney paying first of July instead of 30th of June.

I will not overread that, even if, of course, it's a key priority of local management to follow and track the clients, even more when times are tough, and of course, it's not always the priority of the clients.

Thank you. Maybe just one more if I may.

Obviously, there's a huge amount of newsflow at the moment in Europe regarding fires. Is there any impact to the business operations from wildfires ongoing currently?

We have two plants in the region, one inside the city of Bordeaux, the plant is still open and not concerned by a risk, and one precisely in Mios, here this plant is stopped because people are not able to reach the plant. We have protected the plant around to avoid any major risk.

We have been able to be super reactive and we have transferred all the volume in other plants, one in the north in Loudun, one in the south in Bayonne, and another one in Pau. People have been, as always, incredible to make a lot of effort to work during the night in the three plants to assume all the volume that we have moved to these plants.

No disruption in the service that we provide to the customer. It's the first topic.

Second topic, what is the impact? We lose some turnover, of course, because we have some customer that are closed now, but it is not so meaningful for the group because we estimate that we have probably a risk for this summer around €1 million, not more than that, for this lack of volume in hospitality in this region.

It is the magnitude of what we could lose.

Very clear. Thank you.

Yes, good evening. Just two for me.

On margin, could you quantify the amount of the cost savings you were mentioning, and are those savings permanent or just temporary savings to offset the ongoing inflationary pressure? Secondly, on France, how do you feel about the country as we are going to head into the next election over the coming months?

Do you anticipate some sort of volatility in the business ahead of the election? Thank you.

Cost savings, it's the magnitude of the cost saving, we are talking about something that will be close to €10 million at the group level. It is more or less the impact.

For the full year, the Middle East extra costs due to fuel, chemical, and so on, of course it will depend on the length of the war, and so we have also a kind of uncertainties there. Let's say that it could be €20 to €25 million, and what we have in mind to offset that is a part with some temporary price increase linked to some indexes, it's a temporary additional fees, and second half with a cost-saving program.

This cost-saving program will be majority, it is temporary cost saving, we postpone some project, and only a small part is a definitive saving. That's why for '27, because it can be the second part of your question, what will happen in '27, in '27, we will be much more strong to start the year thanks to the indexes that will sustain the price negotiation at the end of the year '26, because we see today all the indexes related, of course, to labor cost and wages, but also all the indexes related to the other component of our P&L, energy, fuel, even textile, and so on, everything is growing fast.

We'll have some strong indexes during the negotiation that will take place end of '26 that will support some super nice price increase in '27, and so with this permanent price increase in '27, we will be in a good position to stop the temporary cost-saving program that we have put in place for '26. France now, I would say that I know that everything is under severe pressure and super worry about French election in '27 and so on, but it was a mess in '26 also, huh?

When you see the mess we have, a budget and the super bad economic climate for all the small customer, we know that this year it is a record level of bankruptcy, the French economy. Really, the country is in a bad shape even in '26, and I think that when you see our level of performance in this context, you can understand why we are quite relaxed even for '27 in France, because we are so strong, and we are exposed to so many, many end-market type of customer.

We have such a broad level of services that we provide in the country that, of course, we would prefer to have less volatility, to have more stable parliament, to have a president in '27 that is business-friendly. Of course, we would prefer that, but I think that during all the crises that we have known in France, we have always demonstrated that the resilience of our business, especially in France, is so impressive that we don't worry too much what will happen in '27 with the French election.

Clear.

Good evening, and thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to come back to the new contract signings, and if I recall correctly, you had a pretty soft Q4 last year, and then a nice pick up in Q1 where you had already flagged that the record number of newly signed contracts.

I was just wondering if you could provide a bit of color how the momentum in Q2 compared to Q1. Was it kind of, yeah, a stabilization or was there any further acceleration in the commercial momentum?

Then also if you could clarify how fast they will translate into the organic growth number.

It's exactly the sequence that we had, huh? End of Q3 and the beginning of Q4 quite a low level of signatures, new contract.

Q1 much better, record level, and even better in Q2. That's why we are super confident for the second half of the year, and of course it is just a summary, but we need at least three three months in average, three to four months to implement a new contract.

Of course it depends on the size of the contract, because when you take the example of the super big contract in Germany with one of the leader or the leader of the private healthcare, we have signed just at the end of '25, and we will only start to invoice in November, I would say. It depends on the size of the contract, but rough summary could be three to four months between the signature of the contract and the beginning of the invoice.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, gentlemen.

I've got three questions, please. The first is about your outlook perhaps into 2027.

If I take the combination of your confidence around new contract wins, coupled with your observations around pricing negotiations, it seems highly likely you'll see an acceleration in organic growth into 2027. Interested in whether you'd agree with that and anything that we should sort of consider as an offset to that set of observations.

My second question is around the progress on margins in France in the first half. In your prepared remarks, you noted that in Scandinavia, it's difficult to drive margin improvement given modest levels of growth, but growth in France is also relatively modest, yet the margin gains were really good.

Just interested in whether there's anything happening in France at the moment on the efficiency side that you think you can explicitly transplant into other geographies. Then the final question is again sort of just slightly coming back to Mexico, but just a little bit more broadly on the Latin American segment.

You've obviously seen some margin pressure in the first half, and you've called out both the lost volumes as well as the labor cost characteristics there. Just thinking about the second half, clearly taken actions to mitigate some of the lost volumes, but do you think overall that margin pressure will continue at a similar pace through the course of the year in LatAm?

Thank you.

Okay. For 2027, we are not in position, of course, to give any kind of precise guidance for '27, as you can imagine.

Nevertheless, I share 100% of your analysis. We shall have better volumes and better pricing effect in '27.

The organic growth would be better in '27. Margin in France, it's yes, it's not due to a lot of additional volume with operating leverage and so on.

By the way, at this level of margin, the operating leverage effect is more limited by definition, because we have such a high level of margins that the additional volume will be slightly better with less fixed cost, but not a huge effect. It is really the efficiency of our operations.

As always, huh, each time we have a new idea, new project in the group, the first laboratory will be France. When we decided, for instance, to launch, thanks to AI, logistic tool to optimize the routes and so on, we started in France.

It is always the same story. When we have a new idea, we start with France.

It is where we have the highest level of competence in our team. It is the reason why we are much more efficient in every topic in operations.

It is all the story and the strategy of the group, huh, it was the second part of your question, how could we imagine to roll out this efficiency in the other countries. It is all our strategy.

It is what we are doing to regularly share the best practices and to improve the margin everywhere. We have still some room to improve in some countries, of course, and the efficiency even in Scandics, huh, in Nordics countries in many topics.

We know that the operational KPI could improve and that they're not exactly at the level of the best-in-class operations that we can have. Yes, it is thanks to this shared best practices that we aim to increase the margin everywhere outside of France.

LatAm now, it was the last question, margin in LatAm. Margin in LatAm, yes, it is the loss of volume in Mexico in H1, it is a super small part of the explanation of the decrease of the margin, because it has only one month's effect, June.

The rest is more linked to the fact that as we have a majority of healthcare, big hospitals, where the price index is more or less linked to the inflation of the country, and not the reality of inflation of our cost. When you have a mismatch with, as we had at the beginning of the year, a lot of increase of the cost of the workforce, when you see the minimum wage increasing by more than 20% in Colombia, above 10% in Mexico, and so on, that means that in reality, in our balance of inflation, our costs are increasing much faster than the global inflation of the country.

You have always a lag effect where you will increase your price less than the increase of your cost. At the opposite, we know also that progressively when the country will see more inflation due to this increase of minimum wage, and we knew it in the past, we will have some situations where it will be exactly the opposite.

That means that the inflation of our cost will be below the inflation of the country, and then of course we will have a favorable effect in pricing. I don't believe it will come in as fast as the H2 '26.

What I expect is regarding the price effect, it will be more balanced in H2. At the opposite, we will have the full effect of loss of volume in Mexico that will put pressure on margin because we will lose the operating leverage in Mexico.

That's why, all in, what we expect in the second semester in LatAm is to see a decrease of the margin that will be more limited than what we see in '26. It is too early to advance any figures for '27, but our internal forecast and so on are more favorable for '27 in LatAm, where we shall see beginning of a recovery of the margin.

Great. It's very rude to ask four questions, I thought I'd do three and then one odd one follow-on, if that's okay.

Really really quickly, you've described the pipeline of M&A as rich. Is that sort of even richer than usual?

Obviously, it's been a relatively quiet period in recent months for M&A activity, but just sort of a little bit of extra color on how rich is rich.

That you need always to be cautious in M&A, because when it is not signed, it is not signed. Nevertheless, yes, the pipe is significantly higher than usual.

We are quite confident with some ongoing discussions with some players that are bigger than usual. We will see.

It is always in our existing countries, huh, mainly in Europe, where we have this interesting pipe. I would be disappointed if we are not back in front of you before the end of the year with some good news.

Excellent. That's great.

Thank you very much for your answers.

Good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my question.

My first question was actually on M&A pipeline, it's already been asked. Just to be sure, during the CMD, you said that five to 10 targets are, let's say, available, in theory, with a unit size above €200 to €300 million.

You are speaking about that, let's say, till the end of the year? One target could be in term of size above €200 million of sales, that is?

The second question is about the saving on electricity and gas. You say that it's going to be €190 million for 2026, below the 2025 level.

Just to be sure, the saving will be close to €20 million in 2026 and to €15 million going forward in 2027? Is it the same magnitude?

The last one is just a quick question, but on the new contracts wins for the first half, obviously, there is a lag effect as you mentioned, but what is the amount of sales for a full year, let's say for 2027, that it could represent? Thank you so much.

M&A, no, it is not discussion with an elephant in the list of the five to 10 above €200 million, but several targets that are bigger than what we deliver usually at €15, €20 million. Closing, and just to remind you what I said regarding the M&A target and pipeline, it is in existing countries in Europe, to be sure, I don't want to come back three years in the past regarding the mess in US.

It is existing countries in Europe. Energy, yes, it's close to €20 million of the saving in '26, huh?

For '27, yes, we still have a part that is not fully hedged, as you have seen in the figures. It's limited, but still a small part.

Of course we need to be cautious because we cannot anticipate at this level what will be the spot price for what is not yet hedged. We shall have, I would say, the half, we will be slightly below €10 million, I think, for the saving in '27.

Then contracts, it's smart to try to have the guidance for '27 that I will not provide today. Yes, just confirm that, yes, we expect a better organic growth in '27 because we will have the full effect, reported effect, of the nice signature, plus some positive index to sustain a price increase.

Okay. Just on M&A, obviously, it is on existing country where you are in.

Just in term of activity, most of that will be in Flat Linen, correct, versus Workwear?

Majority Flat Linen, but not only.

Okay. Thank you so much for the answer.

Good evening, guys. Just two for me.

You obviously mentioned the kind of success in the recent investments in the sales force are having. Do you have any plans to invest, I guess, more than usual in certain geographies to drive higher organic growth going forward?

Then secondly, just a question, you mentioned that cross-selling is gaining traction. Is that because the sales force is specifically focusing on those areas or has there been a change of strategy or competitive dynamics?

Investment in sales force, no, we don't have in mind to increase significantly these investments everywhere, because you know that it is an investment, and in some cases, the payback in cash is not immediate. We need to monitor carefully the pace of this investment, and by the way, you cannot invest in all the different end markets, all types of reps, if you want to cover small customer, for instance, and so on, because it takes some bandwidth of the local management team, and we need to be cautious and to invest progressively.

We'll keep the same level of regular investments in marketing and sales force, and we don't plan to increase more the pace of investment there. Cross-selling, we have launched some specific initiatives also to develop more existing customer base, and we start also to have the fruits of our efforts in the investments in the new CRM IT tools that we have rolled out now in some countries, in France, in Netherlands, in Ireland, and we are on the way to day to roll out this new IT system in Southern Europe, in UK, and in some Nordics countries.

Of course, we have a much better management of our existing portfolio of customer, and we can target some specific campaign to push the cross-selling.

Great. Thanks very much.

Thank you for your interest in the company as usual, and it's time to wish you a wonderful summer. Bye-bye.