Bouygues raises its 2026 target, but TF1 weighs on net profit over nine months
Bouygues' accounts for the first nine months of 2026, published on 5 November 2026, show two developments moving in opposite directions.
Current operating income from activities (COPA) rises by €44 million, to €1,858 million, while net income attributable to the group falls by €369 million, to €306 million. This decline is due to a €569 million impairment of Bouygues SA's stake in TF1.
According to the group, this impairment has no effect on its cash position or its investment capacity. Excluding this item, net income attributable to the group increases by €200 million, to €875 million.
Bouygues has also raised its annual target: it now expects a slight increase in COPA in 2026, whereas it had previously aimed to maintain it at a record level.
Equans drives the increase in current operating income from activities
At group level, the margin from activities improves by 0.2 points, to 4.5%, on revenue of €41.6 billion, stable at constant exchange rates (down 0.5% as reported). This improvement is primarily due to Equans, whose COPA increases by €174 million, to €739 million, more than the increase for the group as a whole.
Equans' margin from activities gains 1.4 points, to 5.5%, while its sales decline by 2% (1% at constant exchange rates), to €13.5 billion.
Bouygues Construction contributes to a lesser extent: its COPA rises by €31 million, to €295 million, and its margin from activities increases by 0.2 points, to 3.5%, its highest nine-month level since 2018.
The third quarter marks a turning point in sales. Group sales rise by 2% year on year, to €15.3 billion, as do Equans' sales, which, according to the group, confirms the gradual improvement expected after a mixed start to the year.
Bouygues Telecom, TF1 and real estate weigh on results
Other businesses move in the opposite direction. Bouygues Telecom's COPA falls by €40 million, to €469 million, due to higher depreciation and amortisation linked to the high level of investment in recent years. Its EBITDA after leases is stable, at €1,500 million, and its margin declines by 0.3 points, to 31.0%.
Nevertheless, the operator gained 359,000 mobile postpaid customers (excluding M2M) and 219,000 fixed-line customers over nine months. In the third quarter, however, average revenue billed per customer fell by €0.5, to €16.8 per month in mobile, and by €0.3, to €33.1 in fixed line.
In the Construction division, COPA falls by €6 million, to €585 million, and the margin from activities declines by 0.1 points, to 2.8%.
Increases at Colas (€12 million, to €329 million) and Bouygues Construction do not offset the shift of Bouygues Immobilier to a current operating loss from activities of €39 million, compared with a profit of €10 million a year earlier.
This decline at the real estate subsidiary reflects lower sales and a base effect: the third quarter of 2025 had benefited from positive non-recurring items of €27 million, mainly related to the disposal of its activities in Poland.
For TF1, the group reports an expected decline in COPA, in a linear television advertising market under pressure.
Net debt reduced by €2 billion and Equans' target raised again
Net debt stands at €5.6 billion at the end of September 2026, an improvement of €2 billion over one year, and the net debt-to-equity ratio (gearing) falls by 14 points, to 39%.
Order backlogs reach record levels: €27.7 billion at Equans, up €1.9 billion, and €32.5 billion in the Construction division, up €0.4 billion.
Equans' order intake amounts to €15.3 billion, a nine-month record, part of which will only contribute to sales from the end of 2027. For 2026 as a whole, the group targets stable revenue at constant exchange rates, and Bouygues Telecom confirms its targets, excluding potential effects of the proposed acquisition of SFR.
Equans now targets a margin from activities of at least 5.5% for the year, after a first upward revision to at least 5.2% in the first half of 2026.
The initial target, set at its investor day in February 2023, was to reach 5.0% in 2027: the group's main driver of profitability has thus already exceeded the level it had set for 2027.
