H1 2025 Results

Our business performed well in the first half of the year, but results were impacted by three exceptional adverse events: an exceptional VAT adjustment in Italy, increased tax pressure in France and the costs of integrating our latest acquisitions in the Benelux region.
We remain confident as these results do not reflect our Group’s structural potential or our long-term vision. We will continue to pursue our leadership goals in the second half of the year with the completion of a new acquisition in Switzerland.

Stanislas Lemor

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the STEF Group

In €M	H1 2024	H1 2025	Change
Revenue	2,325.2	2,474.1	6.4%
Operating income (EBIT)	106.6	55.9	(47.6%)
in % of revenue	4.6%	2.3%	(2.3) bp
Income from continuing operation	68.1	15.9	(76.6%)
Income from discontinued operations - -	-	-
Net income (Group share)	68.0	15.8	(76.7%)
Net investment programme*	(218.0)	(140.0)
Free cash-flow **	(94.5)	(24.5)	70.1
Gearing (net debt / equity)	1.05	1.17	0.12

* Corresponds to the net cash flows from investing activities as presented in the cash flow statement

* * Corresponds to the sum of net cash flows generated by operating activities and net cash flows from investing activities as presented in the cash flow statement

Operating income (in €M)	H1 2024	H1 2025
STEF France	53.4	60.0
STEF international	49.6	(8.7)
Other activities	3.7	4.7
Operating income (EBIT)	106.6	55.9

Breakdown by region and business line

STEF France

The Transport business is resilient and is seeing an improvement in its operational performance.
The Frozen activity is suffering from the restructuring of the retail market and sluggish consumption, which has an impact on the occupancy rate of its warehouses.
The Retail activity is benefiting from good sales momentum driven by three new logistics outsourcing contracts.
The Foodservice business is benefiting from new contracts started in 2025, with a positive impact on its revenue.
The corporate tax surcharge decided at the start of the year represents an additional tax expense of €5.3 million over the half-year.

STEF International

Sales activity in Italy is buoyant, but subcontracting costs are rising sharply, confirming the wisdom of our policy of insourcing resources. Like major international groups in various sectors, STEF Italia faced an exceptional VAT adjustment, which severely hampered its half-year results. In this respect, a provision of €31 million was established even though STEF Italia had already paid VAT to the suppliers concerned.
In a positive economic environment, STEF Iberia recorded market share gains and benefited from the positive effect of the acquisition of Montfrisa.
Activities in Portugal are maintaining a positive sales momentum and will soon benefit from the opening of a major new site in the north of the country.
Activities in Belgium and the Netherlands posted losses due to the integration costs related to companies acquired last year.
Activities in the UK maintained their operating performance despite a slight drop in volumes and a positive currency effect.

Outlook

The Group remains fully aligned with its 2022-2026 strategic plan, with the unchanged goal of being the sector leader in all its countries of operation and achieving €5 billion in revenue by the end of 2026. The signing at the end of August of the agreement to integrate the temperature-controlled activities of Christian Cavegn AG into its subsidiary STEF Switzerland is part of this growth strategy by enabling STEF Switzerland to have full territorial coverage.

The half-year financial statements have been subjected to a limited review by the statutory auditors and will be published on the Group’s website.

Next publication

Q3 revenue: 16 October, after market close