Bureau Veritas SA (BVI) Earnings Call Transcript

Welcome to Bureau Veritas Third Quarter 2026 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions]. Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers. Hinda Gharbi, Chief Executive Officer; and Francois Chabas, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Thank you for joining us for Bureau Veritas' Third Quarter 2026 revenue update. I'm joined today by Francois Chabas, our CFO. This was a busy quarter for us with a major update to our investors during the Capital Market Day late September. I will come back on that later on in this presentation. Let me now begin with an update on the quarter. Organic growth improved sequentially. In the third quarter, we have seen a continued momentum throughout the year. This growth is broad-based across all divisions and geographies, demonstrating the resilience of our business model and the robust mix of product lines growth in our portfolio. Based on our solid year-to-date delivery and growing pipeline, we confirm our 2026 outlook. Our LEAP 28 disciplined execution continues. In almost 3 years, we delivered on our commitments of organic growth and portfolio rotation, delivering mid- to high single-digit growth -- organic growth and rotating 21% of our portfolio. We have now put in place a simple product line centric operating model, evolving Bureau Veritas into a focused multi-specialist company, asserting leadership in certain markets. At our Capital Markets Day in September, we explained how we will amplify execution in 2027 and 2028. We will accelerate acquisitions, and we'll continue to scale our performance and people program. AI is both a growth catalyst and a transformation level for Bureau Veritas. Our ambition is to generate EUR 1 billion in revenue from AI-driven markets and services by 2030. Starting with the revenue performance for the quarter. Revenue reached EUR 1.57 billion, representing total growth of 10.1% at constant currency, total growth was 8%. Organic growth reached 6.2%, continuing the sequential quarterly acceleration of this year from 4.8% in Q1 to 5.9% in quarter 2. This performance reflects our market favorable secular trends and a disciplined business delivery across our 10 product lines. The scope effect was positive at 1.8% and Acquisitions contributed 2.7%, reflecting the bolt-on transactions completed over recent quarters that were partly offset by a 0.9% impact from disposals. Currency contributed 2.1%, mainly due to the strengthening of the dollar against the euro. This follows 2 quarters of negative year-to-date currency impact this year. Overall, the quarter demonstrates a progressive growth equation, robust organic delivery and increasing contribution from acquisitions and a more favorable currency environment. Francois will come back to the bridge in detail later on. Before that, I will update you on the growth by division and geography. This quarter, all 4 divisions contributed to organic growth. We operate today with a portfolio of product lines exposed to growing end markets, robust investment cycles and broad geographies. This creates a more resilient and decyclicalize growth profile. Buildings & Infrastructure is the strongest contributor with 7.9% organic growth in Q3. Mission-critical assets remained 1 of the main growth engines with growth above 40% and supported by data center investments, primarily in North America and in some -- in other countries in the rest of the world. Product testing and services delivered 7% organic growth, technology grew double digit, benefiting from AI-enabled device renewals, increasing connectivity and increasing technology product regulations around the world. Industrials and commodities grew 5.1%. The main drivers are oil and gas CapEx, Metals & Minerals and Marine new construction. Metals & Minerals grew 14% organically in the quarter as investments into precious and green metals continue as we expand capabilities and reach. Business Assurance accelerated organic growth sequentially to 3.2%. Sustainability services remain in high demand with carbon and environmental services delivering particularly strong growth. Growth was also resilient and broadly distributed across our geographies. The Americas delivered 8.7% organic growth, supported by strong momentum in North America, particularly for mission-critical assets and energy and industrial assets. Asia Pacific grew 8.6%, driven by strong activity in China and South Asia and solid demand for technology testing services Marine & Offshore and specifically infrastructure services in Australia. Europe delivered 2.6% organic growth. The U.K., Italy and France performed well, supported by regulatory inspections and building safety, demonstrating the resilience of these mature markets. Africa and the Middle East grew 5.6%. The region remained resilient and a self changing geopolitical environment that is impacting project planning and inducing delays like more recently in Saudi Arabia. It is important to mention that our reshaped portfolio and geographical footprint position us well to capture the ongoing investments in the markets we serve. It also gives us a natural hedge against different geopolitical disruptions. I will now hand over to Francois for the financial review.

Thank you, Hinda. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me take you through the revenue bridge and the financial dynamics for this quarter, Q3 and the first 9 months of the year '26. So starting with the Q3 revenue bridge. Revenue increased from EUR 1.42 billion in the third quarter of EUR 25 million to EUR 1.57 billion in the current quarter reported -- representing the reported growth of more than 10%. The main contributor was organic growth at 6.2%. As a reminder, it's an acceleration. Q1 was at 4.8% to 5.9%. So this is, as a consequence, the third consecutive quarter of growth acceleration and confirms the stronger momentum across the company. Scope 1.8%, acquisition added 2.7%. It reflects mainly the transactions completed over the recent quarter. While the disposal for our B&I activity in China reduced growth by roughly 0.9%. The positive contribution is particularly visible in building infrastructure following the integration of Lotus works from August onwards in no numbers. Currency added 2.1%, mainly due to the strengthening of the dollar and pet currencies against the euro. As a result, total growth at constant currency over the quarter reached 8%. On a 9-month basis, next page, Group revenue reached EUR 4.5 billion, up 4.9% on a reported basis and 6.1% at constant currency. Organic growth is at 5.7% and reflecting the continued strength of our three largest divisions, together with improving performance for business assurance. Overall, scope contributed 0.9% over the first 9 months. include the increasing contribution, as mentioned from acquisition, offsetting the impact of activities divested over the last 12 months. On a 9-month basis, currency remained slightly negative at minus 1.2%. However, you may remember that the currency impact in Q1 and Q2 were rather different, minus 5.3% in Q1, close to 0 neutral. Now moving to positive in Q3 at 2.1%. We started, as Hinda mentioned this in July, we started to have positive FX impact from June onwards. It does continue, as we've just explained, driven mainly by strengthening of various currencies against the euro. If you now [indiscernible] by -- on the main divisions we have, I would like to highlight a few elements on that page as far as Q3 is concerned, which is on the left-hand side. First, a strong acceleration on B&I, as you see a combination of organic growth, 7.9% and scope at 4.2%. Here again, we have the impact of Lotto starting to kick in, in the numbers, which means after 9 months on the right, you're going to see that this division is the first one to deliver double-digit growth at constant currency. It's an echo of what Hinda mentioned in the Capital Market Day at the beginning of September. Second element of highlights. The 3 other divisions are accelerating the organic growth sequentially. So it's not only at group level, as well as division level. As a reminder, Industry & Community grew 3.3% in H1, it's now 5% in Q3. Business Assurance grew 2% in H1 it is now slightly above 3%, and product testing and services grew 5.6% in H1, it's now 7%. The overall organic growth is accelerated in a relatively spread manner across the division. A quick summary or focus on the scope point of view. In the part of the plan, Data has rotated approximately 21% of this portfolio. 24 acquisitions represented more than EUR 400 million of U.S. revenue and for divestment and exits around EUR 800 million. So it's active portfolio management in motion. Capital has been redeployed towards higher growth and more scalable activities. And moving forward, as mentioned, we expect the net M&A contribution being M&A native divestment to increase as the bulk of our divestment program is behind us. I close this financial review with a quick snapshot on the balance sheet item. [indiscernible] is in a very strong financial position, as you know, and we enacted proactively to refinance our debt ahead of the recent increase in interest rate volatility. It's been timely, as you may consider. In September, early end of September, we had a placement of EUR 700 million [ A3 ] rated bond, which was -- which is due in 2034 with a 4.1% coupon transaction has been covered twice and attracted obviously strong investor demand. Perhaps to keep in mind, and that's what is depicted on the right, in refinancing the September '26 and January '27 maturities. And as a consequence, we don't have any maturity until 2031, 0.1, 0.2. All of our debt is at fixed rates. So no risk on that front. And to close on this, the net financial debt of the company at the end of September was probably unchanged compared to what it was at the end of [indiscernible]. I now hand back to Hinda for the portfolio business highlights.

Thank you, Francois. I'll be looking now at the performance of our 4 divisions, starting with industrials and commodities, our largest division. It delivered 5.1% organic growth in Energy and Industrial assets product line recorded low single-digit organic growth. This performance is a mix of a strong double-digit growth in oil and gas CapEx that was partly offset by softer OpEx activity, and we talked about this recently, oil and gas operators are deferring some inspections to maintain production. While, of course, they're always managing risks as they do that. So we have seen some of these deferral in fact, since the start of the year. The commodities product line delivered high single-digit growth, driven by the continued strength of upstream metals and minerals activities. Lastly, in this division, the marine and offshore product line also grew at high single digits supported by double-digit CapEx growth from backlog conversion. This is for new ships. The order backlog actually continued to grow and reached a record of 36.3 million gross tons giving us very strong visibility as we consider our future growth for this product line. Buildings & Infrastructure, our second largest division, continues to deliver the highest organic growth performance, delivering 7.9% in Q3. Now looking at the two product lines within this division, the buildings product line delivered high single-digit growth, mainly fueled by CapEx activities, mission-critical assets continue to grow, delivering, as I mentioned earlier, over 40% on an organic basis. The business also secured a backlog of commissioning services, a strong backlog of commissioning services for the next 2 to 3 years. We are expanding our capabilities in the mission-critical space with new access with now our new access to the semiconductor market. We are pleased to report that we have now closed -- as we have closed the Lotus Works acquisition on July 31. It is progressing well in its first 2 months. I take this opportunity to welcome all our new colleagues from Lotus works to Bureau Veritas. OpEx delivered OpEx buildings delivered low single-digit organic growth, owing to project time line shifts. Now if we exclude this, we will see that the activity is actually quite robust in most of Europe where we have our mature OpEx activity. The infrastructure product line delivered mid-single-digit organic revenue, organic growth, supported by a broader, more diversified portfolio, considering the multiple acquisitions we have completed in the last 2.5 years. activities maintained strong momentum for infrastructure, supported by recurring asset integrity and specific monitoring programs in Italy and Asia Pacific. Moving now to business insurance. The division delivered 3.2% organic growth in the third quarter, an improvement from previous quarters following the implementation of a number of operational remedial actions. Certification Solutions reported mid-single-digit growth with resilient demand for customized insurance solutions and transition-related programs such as carbon and environmental services. Digital Insurance recorded a low single-digit contraction due to a contract termination late last year. The service offering continues to be shaped, particularly in cyber, with strong growth in certification services that are offsetting lower offensive security testing activity. We expect this product line to grow from Q1 2027 onwards. Lastly, product testing and services, a newly assembled division that includes consumer products, technology products and industrial products delivered 7% organic growth with all -- with these three product lines growing at least at mid-single digit organically. The consumer product line delivered mid-single-digit growth Testing activities were accretive to organic growth carried by higher volumes in South Asia and a sourcing shift back to China. Supply Chain and Sustainability Services improved, supported by demand for supply chain resilience and responsible sourcing solutions. The technology product line delivered a very strong double digit or double digit, so organic revenue growth. The diversification strategy and the acquisition completed in the last 2.5 years contributed to the strong organic performance. Growth acceleration in Electronics was supported by the renewal of AI-enabled laptops, desktops and connected devices as well as increasing local testing requirements for market access provision. Industrial Product Certification delivered high single-digit growth. The base business of this product line is pressure vessels and welding services. that continue to grow on par with the product line, while rail and mobility growth in Europe is growing faster and is accretive to this growth. Let me now turn to our outlook and the next phase of LP. On the outlook. Our year-to-date delivery is solid. Our pipeline continues to grow and the portfolio post reshaping is well positioned for growth. We therefore confirm our 2026 outlook. Mid- to high single-digit organic revenue growth, adjusted operating margin improvement at constant exchange rate and strong cash flow generation. Let me now move to talk about our LEAP 28 ambition. At our Capital Markets Day in September, we confirmed the strategic pillars of LEAP 28 and explained how we will amplify execution in 2027 and 2028. The first phase from '24 to '26 has been about execution, refocusing the portfolio, building a product line centric and multi-specialist operating model and deploying performance programs. The next phase is about scale. The three pillars remain portfolio performance and people, where changes is the pace and level of ambition. On portfolio, we'll accelerate acquisitions and scale organic growth within our product lines. On performance, we'll complete the rollout of proven operating systems and we use technology to improve productivity, service quality and margins. On people, we will make expertise more visible and more mobile. This is how we are transforming Bureau Veritas into a more focused, faster-growing and higher-performing multi-specialist company. Now our new operating model is central to achieving these ambitions. The purpose of our operating model is simple: make growth more focused, more repeatable and more accretive. We have moved from 6 reporting lines and 21 subsegments to 4 divisions and 10 product lines, this aligns the external reporting with the way the company is now managed. Each product line is a growth platform. It has clear accountability to scale services, deploy expertise across geographies and strengthen client interactions and identifying capability gaps. At the same time, the four division structure allows us to leverage our global scale and bring more of Bureau Veritas to each client in a more systematic way. This operating model enables a self-sustaining dynamic of organic growth and M&A. The first engine is organic execution. We scaled new services, expand proven capabilities into new geographies increased cross-selling and use our product lines to deploy expertise more effectively. The second engine is disciplined M&A. Targeted bolt-on, strengthened leadership positions, add specific capabilities and increased density in attractive markets. Selected midsized transactions can accelerate our entry into strategic high-growth areas. Selected disposals are also an integral part of the model. They release capital and management attention from activities with lower growth, lower margin or limited strategic relevance. Together, organic growth and M&A creates a compounding effect a higher-quality portfolio, stronger execution and greater financial capacity to invest in the next wave of growth. In terms of ambition for the coming 2 years, for organic growth, it is mid- to high single digits, our M&A plans will support our upgraded ambition of double-digit total revenue growth at constant currency. The second phase of LEAP 28 will also amplify our performance and people programs. On performance, we are creating operational leverage and functional scalability through standard processes, digital operating systems, shared services and disciplined overhead management. The impact is already visible. We have achieved 110 basis points of margin improvement towards our 180 basis point ambition. The next step is to move from discrete programs to broader deployment across the company. We will also evolve our digital process modernization towards AI-enabled operating systems. This will help us automate routine work, improve planning, accelerate reporting and deliver a more consistent customer experience. On people, our multi-specialist model makes expertise more scalable. We are developing specialist skills, strengthening internal mobility and giving our experts clearer pathways across product lines and geography. The objective is straightforward: high productivity, better service quality, stronger customer experience and a more scalable platform for margin expansion. In this simplified phase, AI will play a larger role. AI is an accelerator of the execution of the portfolio, performance and people strategic pillars. It creates opportunities for Bureau Veritas in three areas: first, new markets, AI is driving investments in data centers, semiconductors, power infrastructure and other mission-critical assets. These are complex, high-performance and assurance intensive systems that require testing, inspection certification and assurance at scale. Second, new services. As AI adoption accelerates, clients face new needs around model reliability, data quality and privacy cyber security, regulatory compliance and responsible component. These needs are aligned with our capabilities and track record as an independent trusted third party. Third, new ways of working, AI can automate repetitive tasks support technical decisions, improve consistency and service quality. Bureau Veritas differentiation is built on its independent broad technical expertise, the body of accreditation and licenses to operate that we have footprint and reach and brand and accountability. AI, we believe, will amplify this foundation and increase our company relevance. Now in terms of future ambitions. We aim to generate EUR 1 billion of revenue from AI-driven markets and services by 2030. Approximately $800 million would be coming from AI-driven markets, including data centers, semiconductor fabs, new power systems and other mission-critical assets where Bureau Veritas has existing client relationships and proven technical capabilities. We target an additional $200 million from new AI-related services. These include AI assurance, cybersecurity and data integrity services to list a few. Finally, AI will transform our delivery model. We aim to fully integrate the technology into activities, representing 30% of our revenue by 2028 and 60% by 2030. At our Capital Markets Day, we confirmed our LEAP 28 total plan ambition. We also updated our growth guidance for the next 2 years. For the full plan, we continue to target mid- to high single-digit organic revenue growth and consistent margin improvement at constant currency. Our cash conversion ambitions remain above 90%, and we confirm our double-digit shareholder return ambition. Our CapEx and dividend policies remain unchanged. For 2027 and 2028, accelerated acquisitions through a combination of bolt-ons and selected strategic deals mid-sized strategic deals support an upgraded ambition of double-digit total revenue growth at constant solvency. Our cash conversion will be strong and will narrow our leverage range to 1.5 to 2x net debt to EBITDA. To close, we have delivered sequential organic growth acceleration in Q3, consistent with our expectation for the quarter. This growth is broad-based across geographies and product lines. This performance, coupled with a robust pipeline of opportunities and a track record of reliable execution supports our 2026 confirmed outlook. Our new multi-specialist operating model provides a stronger platform to accelerate growth, scale our expertise across markets and geographies and create greater value. We entered the next phase of LEAP 28 with confidence and momentum. We're fully committed to delivering our 2028 ambitions through disciplined execution, accelerated portfolio development and the continued deployment of our performance and people programs. AI is a key element of our future development. On the growth front, we'll capture in the coming 2 years, the opportunities associated with the AI build-out and the new risks created by white AI adoption. AI is also a level of performance and its integration to our workflows will drive the next step of performance beyond 2028. Bureau Veritas is well positioned for the future, and we remain focused on creating sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders. Thank you. Francois and I are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question comes from Victoria Chang from JPMorgan.

Hinda, I have two. My first one is on the delays in OpEx inspections, particularly within the energy assets that you've seen through this year. To what extent do you think these delays can continue? Is there a window of time that inspections must happen for regulatory or contractual reasons, for example? And what do you anticipate the impact to your margins for this year? My second question is on your activities planned for exit. Are you able to disclose what the revenues from those activities were in 3Q and what the growth was for those, please?

All right. Victoria. Thanks for the questions. I'm going to answer the question on the OpEx and then Francois will answer the question on the business for Exito what we can answer that. So on the OpEx, we've explained since the start of the year impact, we did specifically mention that the OpEx delays we've seen the we had some delays late last year, late Q4, this sometimes happen. They are -- they might move a little bit. Some of the shutdowns we see for refineries would move. I think this year is a little bit more complex, first owing to. So we had some of these traditional delays. But we're also seeing some delays that were induced by the conflict, particularly in the Middle East, where operators either they had damage to some of their facilities, so they really weren't going to continue with the schedule they initially had anyway or they had they have facilities that are operating. And at some point, they made the decision, of course, always with the risk in mind. So these are important decisions when people delay some of the scheduled inspections. Some of them are regulatory and some of them are rather based on risk assessment. So that's really what we have seen. So there is a dynamic of you do get delayed, which you've seen many of them, of course, compounded with the fact that you have the conflict decision-making on when to schedule these there is what created even more delay. And I think in general, OpEx spend. I wouldn't say it's completely discretionary, but there is some flexibility when you schedule it, again, provided you're managing the risk. And that's really what we've seen. Now do I think it will resume at some point? Absolutely. And I think we will see some facilities, we'll see is some damage assessment as well added to that, plus other inspections that need to be done. So it's a matter of time. It will have to be done, and we've seen that in different parts of the world, but of course, the Middle East has been the most impacted. The second question was on the businesses -- the exited businesses. I let Francois comment on that.

Yes. So as you know, as per IFRS 5, we now publish numbers excluding activities for exit, at least from the revenue down to the adjusted operating profit. Not to let you with our answer I think we've communicated during the Capital Market Day that the two activities, which are exit being namely the fuel testing business and the government has been storing less than the average of the group by 30 basis points, some of organic growth. So you could easily think that this has not dramatically changed over Q3. And considering we are actively pursuing a strategy of existing government services, most probably the gap is even a bit wider in Q3 because we are closing contracts and as a consequence, reducing the level of activity.

The next question comes from Annelies Vermeulen from Morgan Stanley.

Two questions, please. So firstly, in terms of -- Firstly, on the operations review in certification that you announced at the H1, could you comment on any progress you may all finding. And as part of that, for Business Assurance, do you still back a material improvement in growth in that division into 2027. We've seen some improvement now in Q3? And then secondly, I just wanted to ask on the Middle East and Africa. The growth here in Q3 looks better than in H1, but you've mentioned some ongoing and broadening project delays. I think you mentioned Saudi Arabia, for example. So I'd be keen to understand what the situation is like on the gross in the Middle East? And what are you hearing from your customers in terms of when that might more formally recover going into next year?

Thanks, Amy. There is four questions there -- or 3, 4 questions. You tell me if I addressed all of them. So look, on the operational view, yes, indeed, we did say that on that business, we had some issues in the certification solution. We have some geographies that struggled a little bit commercially. There were some operational management concerns in terms of how they were managing their there are opportunities. We have reviewed those. We have planned, we have put plans in place. We are building the pipeline. It's starting to recover. Of course, it takes time. And that's why we can't confidently say that we said it, in fact, in half 1, we said the performance will improve gradually. You've seen it in Q3. We believe you will see something similar, slight improvement as well in Q4. And the question for 2027, yes, absolutely, I expect that business assurance will improve. Overall, that includes Certification Solutions product line and also the digital assurance is expected to improve as well because we are difficult -- we have a difficult comparable this year that will be off by the end of this year. And therefore, I expect business assurance to resume growing in 2027. In MCA and Africa, I think -- what is important to keep in mind for this region, we have had a number of years where we have worked on diversifying our growth from being really mostly around energy and industrial assets into more buildings and infrastructure and metals and minerals. And of course, we always have had certification there. And I think that's resilient performance you see is the result of that very resilient portfolio we have in place. So while industrial, energy and industrial assets have struggled to your point, and I just expect to Victoria, the OpEx delays. We continue to have very strong -- it's very important, very strong CapEx performance in energy and industrial assets, particularly in oil and gas. We haven't seen impact there. those are long-term projects, but the OpEx indeed did suffer. But what was interesting is the activities in the other -- the growth in the other activities and particularly Metals & Minerals certification and to some extent, B&I have been actually quite healthy, and that's why you have that resilient aggregate organic growth performance. I think these are the three questions there, Have I missed anything?

The next question comes from Suhasini Varanasi from Goldman Sachs.

Just two small ones for me, please. Just wanted to clarify your organic growth expectations for the next quarter. I know at the beginning of the year, you had talked about sequential improvement in organic growth from the first quarter which you have delivered on. And therefore, can we extrapolate that for Q4 as well? That's my first question. The second one is on B&I, mission critical assets doing very well on growth driven by data centers. Can we expect further acceleration in the coming quarters as the backlog converts to sales.

Thanks for the questions. On Q4, I think we believe we'll have a slight organic growth improvement in Q4 versus what you have seen in Q3, and we have reiterated our guidance. So that gives you an idea on where we think we will land. So that's really our plan. Now in terms of how we see that performance. I think previous questions were on business assurance. We expect that to continue to improve. I expect that B&I in Q4 continued to deliver a very robust performance. And then I would say, in general, probably the best way to think about it is out of the 4 divisions, B&I would do a stronger performance than what we have seen and the others should be mid-single digits roughly around that.

The next question comes from Neil Tyler from Rothschild & Co Redburn. The next question comes from Geoffroy Michalet from ODDO BHF.

Yes. So two questions. I think you answered the first by anticipation -- speaking on the normative growth profile for next year. in mind that B&I should lead probably business insurance catch-up. And at some point, product testing and services could be considered as having maybe a growth that is probably a notch higher long-term potential currently? The second question was on acquisition. I think it's the first quarter since a while that you haven't announced any acquisition this quarter, yet you are the matter at Capital Markets. So can you operate on the pipeline and your ambitions?

Yes. Thank you, Geoffroy. So yes, I think you -- for -- I mean, we're not, of course, guiding right now or next year. But obviously, we have worked on -- with our new operating model, our different divisions. We have very clear plans of growth that we shared throughout the Capital Market Day a few weeks ago. Yes, I think B&I is very well positioned to continue to perform nicely next year. And it's a combination of very strong, of course, expectations from our -- our strong expectation for our mission-critical but also the rest of the portfolio that is -- that we continue to monitor very carefully, and we expect that it will continue to grow on par with the market. And we are very vigilant to the B&I portfolio because we want to make sure that our acquisitions are really contributing to this high level of growth that we like to maintain and that we committed to in the Capital Market Day. Business Assurance, I think, absolutely, I think this was a year of reset for a number of reasons that I explained earlier and both on the certification solution from an operational perspective, but also commercially, and as we diversify our activities in the digital assurance, I expect that business assurance will have a stronger performance next year. And I would say, overall, again, we reiterated our guidance for LEAP 28 to be mid- to high single digits for 27 '28. So I cannot say more than that on 2027 at this time, but I think that helps you to triangulate how we think about the year. In acquisitions, you're absolutely right. We did say that we will pursue more acquisitions going forward. And we upgraded to your point, 2027, 2028 total growth at constant currency guidance. And yes, in Q3, we didn't announce acquisitions, but we are very active on scouting for opportunities, sourcing opportunities, engaging with targets, defining understanding these targets. And I think you will see in the by the end of this quarter and certainly early quarter 1, we would be able to complete some of these acquisitions. So it's not -- it's -- again, it's a disciplined approach. It's very focused, very clear. We know what we want to buy. We know where we want to buy them. It's a matter of executing all this, and we're trying to remain disciplined and not focus on the numbers. So yes, indeed, we did have a bit of a lump. But we were busy preparing for completing those in the coming quarters.

Geoffroy, perhaps adding one point to what Hinda explained very clearly. M&A have very little regard to quarterly close. Unfortunately, we try and discipline them, but it -- you feel that it has less predictability as intervention. And just keep to keep everyone in mind that's our ultimate focus pretty much in Q2 and open until the end of July to close to deal with noise works and to divest our large oil and petroleum and [indiscernible]. So it's not totally a surprise to us that Q3 would not see big announcements, but we push hard and make you happy in the next quarter, for sure.

The next question comes from Neil Tyler from Rothschild & Co Redburn.

A couple from me, please. the comments you made in the release around the backlog in B&I. And specifically, does the visibility you talk about, I guess mainly around the mission-critical assets -- or are you -- can that comment expanded more broadly across the B&I portfolio in terms of the visibility, the 2- to 3-year visibility on order book. That's the first question. And then secondly, I wondered if you could expand on the comments you make and consumer product testing around the sourcing shift back to China, how that's impacted your business? And whether that's a sort of structural change that you see or something more temporary?