Earnings call transcript: Safran’s Q3 2025 shows strong growth in sales

Published 24/10/2025, 08:48
 Earnings call transcript: Safran’s Q3 2025 shows strong growth in sales

In its Q3 2025 earnings call, Safran reported a notable increase in sales, with adjusted revenues reaching €7.9 billion, an 18% year-over-year growth. The company’s propulsion segment led the growth with a 26% increase, contributing significantly to the overall performance. The stock trades near its 52-week high of $356.85, showing a remarkable 42.8% return over the past year. According to InvestingPro analysis, Safran appears fairly valued at current levels, with a GREAT Financial Health score of 3.07 out of 5. Safran has upgraded its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to reflect an 11-13% growth, signaling confidence in its future prospects.

Key Takeaways

  • Safran’s Q3 2025 adjusted sales rose by 18% year-over-year.
  • The propulsion segment saw a 26% increase, driving overall performance.
  • Safran’s full-year 2025 revenue guidance has been upgraded to 11-13% growth.
  • LEAP engine deliveries hit a record 500 units in Q3, up 40% year-on-year.
  • The company has announced a new LEAP assembly line in Morocco.

Company Performance

Safran demonstrated robust performance in Q3 2025, with significant contributions from its propulsion segment, which saw a 26% increase in revenue. The equipment and defense sector also contributed positively with a 12% growth. With an impressive gross profit margin of 49% and return on invested capital of 18%, the company is efficiently converting its market opportunities into profitable growth. The company is benefiting from strong civil aftermarket demand, as evidenced by a 16% increase in spare parts sales for civil engines and a 24% growth in services. Unlock deeper insights into Safran’s performance metrics with InvestingPro, which offers exclusive access to over 30 key financial indicators and expert analysis.

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue: €7.9 billion, up 18% year-over-year.
  • Propulsion revenue: €4 billion, a 26% increase.
  • Equipment and defense revenue: €3 billion, up 12%.
  • Aircraft interiors revenue: €800 million, a 10% rise.

Outlook & Guidance

Safran has revised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance upward to reflect an 11-13% growth. The company expects LEAP engine deliveries to increase by over 20%. Maintenance services are projected to grow in the low to mid-twenties percentage range. However, Safran anticipates a tariff impact of €100-150 million in 2025.

Executive Commentary

"We delivered another strong performance in Q3," stated Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran. "We are upgrading our full-year 2025 outlook on all metrics," he added, reflecting the company’s confidence in its growth trajectory. Andriès also noted that the integration of recent acquisitions is progressing well, stating, "The integration is off to a great start."

Risks and Challenges

  • Supply chain disruptions remain a concern, potentially affecting production timelines.
  • Tariffs could impact profitability, with an expected hit of €100-150 million in 2025.
  • The CFM56 engine turnaround time is currently longer than pre-COVID levels.
  • Macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical tensions could affect global operations.

Safran’s strong Q3 performance and optimistic outlook underscore its strategic positioning in the aerospace industry. The company continues to expand its global footprint and innovate, as seen with the new LEAP assembly line in Morocco and the unveiling of next-generation infrared binoculars.

Full transcript - Safran SA (SAF) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator: Welcome to the Safran Third Quarter 2025 Revenue. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to your hosts, Olivier Andriès, Safran’s CEO, and Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO. Mr. Andriès, please go ahead.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Safran’s Third Quarter 2025 call. I’m here with Pascal. Let us start with the key highlights of the quarter. Safran delivered another strong performance in Q3, with IT growth driven by increased volume and services. Adjusted sales reached €7.9 billion. Civil aftermarket remained robust, reflecting continued demand from airlines. Spare parts for civil engines were up 16%, largely thanks to CFM56, while services grew by 24%, supported by LEAP, Red Perfect, Hammer contracts. Regarding LEAP engine deliveries, output has improved quarter after quarter this year. After a slow start, we have been able to catch up on delays, and in Q3, we reached a new record with over 500 LEAP engines delivered, up 40% year on year and 25% from the previous quarter.

Over the first nine months of the year, we have delivered a total of 1,240 LEAP engines, a 21% increase compared to last year. These strong results also reflect continued improvements across our supply chain. In addition to these strong operational results, we are excited about our recent acquisition of the actuation and flight control activities from Collins Aerospace, finalized at the end of July. The strategic move has already contributed to our Q3 performance. Integration is off to a great start. Our teams are fully engaged and focused on unlocking cost synergies and new commercial opportunities. We are confident that this acquisition will be a strong driver for Safran’s future performance. Looking at the year-to-date picture, adjusted revenue for the first nine months amounted to €22.6 billion, up 15% organically, confirming a strong growth trajectory across all divisions.

Based on this performance, we are upgrading our full-year 2025 outlook on all metrics. Turning to slide four, let me highlight some of our key business achievements this quarter. Last week in Morocco, we broke ground on a new LEAP MRO facility and announced the launch of a new LEAP 1A assembly line in Casablanca. This expansion strengthens our global industrial footprint and will support the sustained ramp-up of the LEAP engine deliveries in the years ahead, with the capacity to assemble up to 350 engines per year. In defense, Safran and Rheinmetall signed a framework agreement to jointly develop advanced defense solutions, combining our expertise in optronics, navigation system environments, and atomic clocks, time servers, with Rheinmetall’s land defense capabilities. At the 2025 Defense and Security Equipment International Show in London, Safran unveiled its next-generation infrared binoculars, setting new standards for tactical observation and situational awareness.

Lastly, in Poland, Safran and PGZ entered into a strategic defense partnership to foster local industrial cooperation and innovation. The agreement covers industrial cooperation on the Hammer precision munition and the local production of GeoDix navigation system with PGZ. Let me now hand over to Pascal for more details on Q3 sales.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Thank you, Olivier. Good morning all. A few words to start with on the FX, as usual. After a sharp rise in the first part of the year, the euro-dollar stabilized around 1.16 to 1.17 since early July. Our hedging portfolio has remained fully protected so far, with no deactivations to date. The team is continuing to hedge our 2029 exposure at very good rates. Our 2025 hedge rate is confirmed at $1.12 per euro, and the hedge book now totals $54 billion as of end September, unchanged from the end of June. Overall, our approach to FX risk has kept us well protected, ensuring attractive hedge rates and supporting Safran’s competitiveness in a challenging market environment. Turning to slide seven, Q3 revenue reached €7.9 billion, up 18% year over year. The currency impact was a negative €300 million, mainly reflecting the euro appreciation against the U.S.

dollar, with an average spot rate of 1.17 in Q3 compared to 1.10 last year. The scope largely offsets the negative currency impact, contributing €300 million, primarily driven by two-month consolidation of the actuation and flight control activities acquired from Collins Aerospace. In total, the group generated over €1.2 billion in additional organic revenue versus last year, fueled by growth in every division, with propulsion leading the way. On slide eight, let me now provide a few details per activity. Propulsion revenue reached €4 billion, up 26%. Civil OE grew strongly. Q3 was a record quarter with 511 LEAP engines delivered, up 40% year over year and up 25% sequentially. Civil aftermarket remained very dynamic, with spare parts up 16%, mainly driven by CFM56 and LEAP engines, both of them benefiting from sustained volumes and higher work scope. CFM56 gross prices were up mid to high single digits in August.

LEAP also contributed positively over the period. In the first nine months, spare parts sales were up 19.5% at the top end of our guidance. Services were up 24%, mainly driven by LEAP RPFH contracts, but also LEAP engine service contracts. Over nine months, services increased by 22.2% beyond our guidance, but as you know, it has no additional EBIT impact given our profit recognition methodology. Military engine revenue declined year over year, notably due to a softer level of aftermarket activity and slightly fewer M88 deliveries to end customers. Equipment and defense revenue increased by 12% to €3 billion, with both OE and aftermarket growing at a similar pace. Higher OE sales were fueled by aircraft ramp-up, driving increased demand for landing gear, electrical and power systems, nacelles, and avionics.

Defense also continued to benefit from strong momentum, especially in the guided bomb, Hammer, missile seekers, navigation, and timing systems. Services continued to perform well, supported by strong air traffic levels, which resulted in ongoing demand, in particular for landing systems, electrical systems, and nacelles. Aircraft interiors, post-deal revenue of €800 million, up 10%. OE sales increased by 12%, supported by steady growth in the cabin business, benefiting from aircraft ramp-up. Business class seat deliveries, however, faced headwinds from certification, which remains a key challenge in the sector. Services were up 7%, driven by cabin activities, with very good momentum in the Middle East and Asia. A few additional points on slide nine. First, on the share buyback program, as of October 17, we hold approximately 5.1 million treasury shares designated for cancellation, and we are currently finalizing the ongoing €500 million tranche, which will be completed by December 5.

All these shares, representing a total of €1.4 billion, will be canceled by the end of 2025. Some updates on the tariff environment. Now that bilateral agreements have been negotiated, we are better positioned to assess and manage the risk associated with tariffs. The agreement between the U.S. and the EU, as well as the eligibility of our products under the USMCA regime, have significantly reduced the amounts at stake. In this fluid environment, Safran remains agile and actively continues to implement mitigation measures and commercial actions. Nonetheless, a residual impact remains, primarily related to flows between China and the U.S., what we call Section 232 on aluminum, steel, copper, or products which are not eligible under bilateral agreements. The net impact on the recurring operating income, which is now included in the full-year 2025 outlook, is expected to be a negative €100 to €150 million in 2025.

Olivier, back to you.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Thank you, Pascal. Based on the strong performance over the first nine months, we are upgrading our full-year 2025 outlook on all metrics. Revenue should increase by 11% to 13%. Recurring operating income guidance is improved by €100 million at midpoint and now includes the expected net tariff impact, as Pascal just commented. Free cash flow guidance is improved by €100 million at midpoint, reflecting the improved business performance. Two of our main assumptions are updated. LEAP engine deliveries are now expected to increase by more than 20% versus 2024. With increased activity in LEAP, maintenance services are now expected to grow by low to mid-twenties %, with no additional EBIT associated due to our specific profit recognition methodology.

In addition to this outlook, the Collins Aerospace flight control and actuation activity should contribute at around €650 million of revenue, with a mid-single-digit recurring operating margin before separation and integration costs. Overall, Safran remains on track to deliver another year of profitable growth and robust cash generation, supported by healthy demand, solid execution, and the resilience of our portfolio. Thank you. We will now answer your question.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A queue. Thank you. We will now take our first question. This is from Christophe Menard from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I had two, actually. The first one is on the guidance upgrade on the EBIT. Now that you include the tariffs, it means we have the equivalent of a $200 million incremental improvement. Where is this coming from? Is it essentially spares? Can you elaborate? The second one is on Morocco. You’re talking about an increase in production capacity. Is it enough for you to reach rate 75 in 2027, or do you need further investment? Thank you.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Good morning, Christoph. I’ll take the first one. Indeed, we raise our guidance by €100 million, but as it takes now into account the €100 to €150 million impact from tariffs, the underlying performance is a raise of €200 to €250 million. It’s coming primarily from the spare sales. You can see that at the end of the first nine months, we are at the high end of our guidance, which is mid to high twenties for spare parts sales at 19.5%. To be frank, we could have been more positive at the end of July, but at that time, we didn’t have such clarity on tariffs. Now that the dust has settled, it’s easier for us to mitigate the impact and quantify the impact. This is the two reasons why we can raise today the guidance.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Christoph, I have a second question relating to Morocco. This investment is allowing us to meet the high rates requested by our FMR customers relating to the assembly of the engines and to the assembly of the engines. We have to look at it holistically between the assembly capacity, let’s say, from our partner GE and our own assembly capacity. Indeed, this new investment allows us to meet, let’s say, the rate increase, the high rate increase for the assembly. The assembly is just the tip of the iceberg because in order to meet rates, whatever, 75 or so, if we speak about Airbus, you know, Boeing has also high rates increased as well, and also Comac is willing to increase. We have to look at the global picture, which is encompassing forging, casting, machining, special processes. Once again, the assembly is just the tip of the iceberg.

Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. We’ll now take the next question. This is from Ben Heelan, Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Morning, guys. I hope you’re well. The first question I had was on aftermarket. Clearly.

Thank you, Olivier.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Thank you, Ben.

Yeah.

You may have noticed it.

Sorry, I’m sorry, Olivier. You do sound quite ill.

It’s okay.

I hope you get better soon. The third question is on aftermarket, and clearly, very strong trends through the year. Your partner, GE, gave some building blocks for 2026 on their call earlier this week. I was just wondering, are there any building blocks that you can provide? The mix is obviously very similar, but there’s also some differences in how we can think about aftermarket growth and any building blocks you can provide at this point into next year. My second question is free cash flow. You’ve obviously had guidance upgrades pretty much all through the year. They have been quite material.

I think when I look at what you’ve done in 2024, I look at what you’ve done in 2025, it’s clearly extremely difficult for you to be as low as what you guided at your capital markets day for your 2024 to 2028 sort of cumulative free cash flow. How are you thinking about the medium-term guidance here? You’re clearly running well ahead of it. When can we expect an update there? My final question is, obviously, you’ve owned Collins Aerospace for a couple of months now. Just any comments in terms of how it’s performing, what you see? Now that Collins is done, where’s next from an M&A perspective? Or are you broadly happy with the portfolio as it is today? Thank you both.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Okay. Good morning, Ben. I guess your first two questions relate to either the 2026 outlook or the 2028 ambition. At this point in time, now our midterm plan is ready. What we need to do is to compile our midterm plan with the Collins contribution. We acquired this company late July. August, as you know, is not a busy month, at least here in France. We need some more time to compile all this data. We’ll come back in February, obviously, with the 2025 results, with the guidance for 2026, notably on aftermarket. We’ll discuss our first EBIT target for 2028 and our cumulative free cash flow. I would again agree with the comments you made that we are clearly on the upside, notably on aftermarket.

I guess we can now say that we share a similar view with GE on the CFM spare parts momentum, CFM56 spare parts momentum that they disclosed mid-July. We need to quantify the impact at Safran level and come back to you next February.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Ben, on Collins Aerospace, I can tell you that the teams are enthusiastic. The ex-Collins teams that were Safran in the UK, in France, and in Italy are enthusiastic to join Safran. They are on board our strategy. They are very pleased to see that we have a strategy going forward with respect to flight controls and the preparation for the next single aisle. Our integration team is fully engaged to get in the timeline that we’ve committed to, the cost synergies that we can draw from the various activities. We have engaged in that. Typically, our team from the nacelle business have started to connect with our new flight control and actuation and flight control teams, same for our landing system teams, same for our aerosystem teams. We are fully engaged. What is next? As we have always said, M&A is opportunistic.

To be very clear on the equipment side, I think we have made most of our moves. We have quite our complete spectrum of activities in safety-critical equipment. I don’t expect that there’s going to be a significant further move on the equipment side. As we said, we stand ready for, let’s say, some bolt-on acquisition, especially in defense, which is a strong area of growth.

Thank you both. I hope you go well.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. Next question is from Chloe Lemaire from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I’d have the first one on the LEAP assembly line in Morocco. I was wondering how quickly it would ramp because I was under the impression it would start operation in 2028. I’m wondering how long it would take to reach the 350 engines per year mentioned in the press release. Also, with this announcement, does that mean that you have finalized discussions with Airbus on the ramp-up to rate 75? My second question was actually on seats. We’ve obviously seen challenges in certification for a while in the industry now. I was wondering if it affected in any way what you see as the potential margin for the business, and in turn, if it affected your view of how core this business is for Safran.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Hello, Chloe. On the LEAP assembly line, we said that the first assembled engine would be the beginning of 2028, if I remember well. It’s 2028. We will ramp up, let’s say. We are not going to reach 350 in a matter of months, for sure, but I expect that the 350 can be reached by 2030 or so. This is for Morocco. Typically, here, our assembly line in Villaroche, in France, will account for about 65% of our, let’s say, global assembly capacity. Morocco, plus we have a small, we have a tiny, small assembly capacity in Mexico as well to deliver engines to Mobile, Alabama. Morocco plus Mexico would account for 35%, roughly. Rate 75, we have, let’s say, a new line view with Airbus on basically 2026 and 2027. We have engaged in discussion for the rate 75. The discussions are ongoing at the moment.

On seats, this is an area where we had many, many challenges. We have tackled the development challenges. Now the development process is really under control. We have addressed the supply chain issues. Here as well, it has improved significantly. This is an area where we probably were a little bit too shy, if I may say, on extracting the value of our seat business. We’ve significantly improved our price on the, let’s say, most recent wins that we have obtained. This will materialize in the EBIT in two years from now. The pricing is obviously a key element of the, let’s say, financial recovery of the seat business. We are still facing some certification challenges, which is an industry-wide challenge on certification. That’s where we are.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Yeah. Good morning, Chloe. Part of your question, is it still a core business? It is. You know we have not changed our mind compared to the view we shared at the Capital Market Day in 2021. We’ve said that 30% of the former Zodiac activities were non-core. We have already divested some of them. We may divest more in the future. Seats is not part of our divestment process.

We’re here. Thank you very much, and get well soon, Olivier.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Merci.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. Next question is from Ross Innes, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just to come back on LEAP rates, you just mentioned that you’re aligned with Airbus for rates for 2026 and 2027, but still in discussions for rate 75. Does that mean that rate 75 could only be achieved beyond 2027 from a Safran perspective? Second one on LEAP again, just in terms of the engine catch-up, you previously said you aim to fully catch up by the end of October, so a few days’ time. Given this, obviously, strong delivery numbers in the third quarter, is that still on track? Last one, if I may, just on tariffs. You’ve quantified the number or the impact for 2025 at $100 to $150 million. This, of course, only applies to a portion of the year. Should we extrapolate this run rate into 2026 until a trade deal is finalized? Thanks.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Hello, Ross. On your first questions, what can I say? Rate 75 is under discussion. I have not, to my knowledge, I mean, Airbus has not said that rate 75 would be fully reached full year in 2027, to be very clear. There should be no misunderstanding here. Yes, we have, let’s say, a joint vision on the number of engines we need for 2026, 2027, and we are discussing now 2028 and going forward. Are we going to catch up this year? I’m confident we will. We had a very strong Q3. I don’t see any reason why Q4 should be different than Q3. This is why we have raised our guidance of deliveries of LEAP for the full year. If we continue on this rate of weekly deliveries to Airbus, we will catch up by the end of October, beginning of November, as we said.

I am confident in that respect. I will let Pascal answer on the tariff.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Yeah. Good morning, Ross. As you said, in 2025, the tariff story was a bit strange because we had no tariff paid in Q1. Starting from April, we had different trades between EU and U.S., China and U.S., and Mexico, Canada, and U.S. Before we had the bilateral agreements being announced and now signed, we were lacking clarity. To answer your question, going forward for 2026 up to 2030, if I may, I would expect, given what we know today, because this may change, this is still a fluid environment, the net impact to be no more than €100 million per year on EBIT. Okay? I would say, yeah, €80 million, €100 million, could be the right range to think of.

Okay. Great. Thanks so much. Get well soon, Olivier.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. Next question is from Ken Herbert from RBC CM. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Good morning.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Morning, Ken.

I wanted to first ask on the CFM56, can you comment on across the network how much improvement you’ve seen this year in turnaround times for that engine, specifically on the aftermarket, and specifically when you think you might get back to 2018, 2019 pre-pandemic levels in terms of turnaround time? My second question is for the spare parts guidance this year, can you just remind us how much of that is price versus volume versus work scope for the guide on the parts? Thank you.

Hello, Ken. Most of the shops today are dealing with CFM56 and LEAP. What is mainly driving the turnaround time are the two following elements. One is the overall maintenance capacity. In fact, on a worldwide basis, especially in the CFM network, we were short of capacity. This is why we are on a significant ramp-up of our maintenance capacity, and the same for our partner GE. That is one. The second key element is basically the availability of parts. Those are the key drivers of the turnaround time. Because the pressure is very high, both on the maintenance capacity and on spare parts, on parts globally because we have to feed the OE side as well as the aftermarket side, the turnaround time is not the same as the one we enjoyed pre-COVID.

On the CFM56, talking about Safran at least, our current turnaround time is around 100 days, which is above, let’s say, the typical turnaround time we had before COVID, which was closer to 70 days. That is where we are today on CFM56. On LEAP, the turnaround time is higher, but this is, as always, the beginning of the journey on the LEAP. We are on a strong trajectory to decrease the turnaround time on LEAP globally this year compared to last year and will make more progress even next year. Today, the turnaround time on LEAP, let’s say, our target is 130 days. Basically, we are on a trajectory to go down to 100 days in the next one or two years.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Okay. Your second question on the spare parts momentum. You know there are three components within our spare parts index: CFM56 engines, LEAP engines, and GE engines. The largest positive surprise we had so far this year is coming from the GE engines. You know that we have a minority stake on all GE engines, and we do benefit from a strong volume and heavier work scope, sorry, than we initially anticipated. That was the first good news so far this year. On LEAP, I would say it’s slightly better than we had expected, but not far from our initial expectation. On CFM56, if I break down volume, it’s a mid-single-digit growth, as we’ve said since early this year. On pricing, we both benefit from the price increase we had in August 2024 in the high single-digit range.

We also benefit now from the mid to high single-digit range price increase that we had in August 2025. The good news is coming as well from the work scope, which is higher than what we had expected. Altogether, this is why we have consistently and continuously increased our assumption for spare parts, starting the year with high single-digit plus. Now the guidance is mid to high teens. As I said, we are at the end of the first nine months at 19.5%.

Great. Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. We’ll now take our next question. This is from Sam Burgess, Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Olivier and Pascal. Thanks for taking the question. There was clearly very strong growth in services over the quarter. I know you can’t quantify this exactly, but can you just give us a sense of the overall proportion of LEAP RPFH within the services revenue mix? Broadly, how should we think about margin there across services relative to spare parts? Is lower but improving the right way to frame it? A second question, if I may, is there anything we should be aware of that may put pressure on the implied exit rate margin going into 2026?

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Good morning, Sam. On your first question, LEAP RPFH is the vast majority for services revenues. Growth is coming from, you know, as we recognize revenues as per the cost. It means that we have more costs on these contracts, which is no good news. In fact, the reason behind that is that we have a different mix within our LEAP RPFH contracts today. We were performing a lot of what we call quick turns, so you know low-value shop visits. Now, as there are more shop visits in the mix, so performance restoration shop visits in the mix than quick turns compared to what we had anticipated, meaning more cost, meaning more revenue. This is why we upped our assumption to low to mid 20s.

By construction, it has no EBIT benefit because we know from the beginning of the year, you know, the value of EBIT we will recognize under our LEAP RPFH contracts. As we have disclosed and discussed at the capital market, we have a profit recognition methodology, which is fixed, whatever the revenue level is. No EBIT contribution from this upgrade in our assumption. What was, sorry, your second question again?

Sorry. The second question was just going into 2026. Is there anything we should be aware of that may put pressure on the implied exit rate margin given your new EBIT guide?

I’m sorry, I’m not sure I got your question, Sam.

Is there anything we should be aware of?

Is your question FX or not? No, it’s not that.

No, on margin, whether there’s anything that could put pressure on margin going into 2026 that we should be aware of.

Okay. You mean globally or on propulsion?

No, in terms of group.

We will guide in February for 2026. Our view is that, if I take businesses by businesses, starting maybe with aircraft interiors, our intent is to improve the operating margin by more or less 200 basis points each and every year if we want to be at 10% by 2028, which was what we discussed at the Capital Market Day. In equipment and defense, I would say before Collins because we have still to evaluate the Collins impact. As you know, it will be dilutive in the first years. Before the Collins contribution, our target is to be at 15% in 2028. We were last year at 12.2%. This year, we expect to improve by at least 50 basis points our margin in equipment and defense. We should continue to grow next year. In propulsion, we posted a very strong H1 at, I guess, it was north of 23%.

I remember that we say that the margin should improve by more or less 250 basis points this year. I would maybe revise slightly down this expectation given that we have higher services. As you see, we up our assumption, and it comes with no EBIT, as I just said. We will also increase LEAP deliveries, meaning more revenues, but all that is coming at a loss. In propulsion, I would say 200 to 250 basis points, but maybe on the low side of the range. Going forward, the key point will be on propulsion, and we will discuss that in 2026, a bit early to tell.

Yeah, great. Thank you very much. Very helpful.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. We’ll now take the next question. This is from Olivier Brochet from Rothschild. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, Olivier. Good morning, Pascal. I would have two questions, please. In the newspapers a few weeks ago, there were discussions about potential disposals that you could be doing in interiors. I don’t know if you can comment about that, but if you are doing these disposals, what will you be doing with the cash, please? The second question is on the tariff impacts on free cash flow. If you could give us a sense of how this would play out in 2025, 2026, compared to the impact that you give for operating income, please.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Hello, Olivier. We will not comment specifically on basically those articles and those remarks. I will only reiterate what we’ve said back in 2021. At our Capital Market Day in 2024, we intend to sell and dispose about 30% of the ex-Zodiac portfolio. The majority of this perimeter is going to relate to interiors, the majority. We’ve also said that we wish, we want to recover, let’s say, the performance, the operational and financial performance of those activities before starting a process of disposal. We are on that path.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Morning, Olivier. On your question, it’s a good question on the free cash associated with tariffs. On the EBIT side, as I said, there’s a net impact of a negative €100 to €150 million in 2025. The cash impact is higher than that for two very simple reasons. First, we have put in place what we call a duty drawback mechanism by which, if you apply, you can get your cash back in some circumstances, but it will take time from the CBP to reimburse you. Part of what we see in EBIT in 2025 will be cash back only in 2026 and so on. As you know, part of the mitigation actions is to take commercial actions with customers, meaning invoicing customers for the tariff surplus. Here again, there is a cycle for cash collection from our customers.

You would assume that the cash impact in 2025 is higher than the EBIT impact that we have disclosed.

That’s helpful. Thank you. If I can go back on the disposals, my point was not so much whether you will do them or not. It was more on the use of the cash. Is this something that shareholders should think of as reinvested in the business, reinvested in external growth, or effectively as shareholder distribution?

It depends on the size of the disposal. If we are talking of a few hundred million euros or if we are talking of more than a billion euros, depending on what we can achieve or not. At this point in time, I guess we have a friendly approach to shareholders in terms of dividend and share buyback. We need to execute on that. On M&A, as Olivier said before, you know it is always opportunistic because we don’t know what kind of companies will come for sale. We will see with time. We will consider what will be the cash use once we have finalized the divestment.

Thank you very much. That’s helpful.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. We have one more question. This is from Ian Douglas-Pennant from UBS. Please go ahead.

Thanks, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Yes, Ian at UBS. Firstly, just a quick one on currency. Could you just remind us of the translational impact here? Your guidance assumes $1.10, and we’re obviously a little off that point today. I know you hedge, but what’s the translational impacts, please? Secondly, could you help us understand, are you still expecting a kind of fade in the market environment that you’re seeing in Q4, which results in weaker revenue growth and weaker profit growth in Q4 as implied in your guidance? Could you just help us understand what the kind of offsets are there, please? Thank you.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Okay. Good morning, Ian. On your first question, to provide clarity on the translation effect. First, in terms of sensitivity, €0.01 of FX change has more or less €150 million of impact on revenues either way. We built our initial guidance at 1.10. What matters is the average spot rate over the full year. Year to date, despite the fact that we went up to 1.17, even 1.18 at some point in time, on average, year to date, it’s 1.12. If we assume that Q4 will remain at 1.16 for the full quarter, you would assume that the full-year average spot rate will be more or less at 1.13. Okay? It’s €0.03 different from our initial expectation, which means no more than €0.5 billion of a negative impact on the full-year sales.

On your Q4 question, lower growth than what we had in the first nine months, but it’s simply because of the comparison base, which was quite high last year. I don’t see anything specific other than that.

Conference Moderator: Thank you.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Okay. Next question.

Conference Moderator: And please.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Maybe the last one, if you have one.

Conference Moderator: We have no further questions, so I would hand back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Okay, thank you for your attention.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Have a good day.

Pascal Bantegnie, Group CFO, Safran: Have a good day. Bye-bye.

Olivier Andriès, CEO, Safran: Bye-bye.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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