Good morning, and welcome to Banigy Group's H1 2026 results webcast. This is Louise Racine, Head of Investor Relations. Before we start, let me draw your attention to the disclaimer on slide two. I also want to remind you that this presentation is now available on the company's website, and a recording of this call will be accessible in the coming days. Your speakers today are Francois Riai, our CEO, and Sophie Kuring-Fleclerc, our CFO. First, Francois will present our key financial and business highlights. Sophie will then cover the results in more detail before Francois provides some concluding remarks. We will then open the call for questions. Before we get started, a quick comment on the perimeter and comparison basis used in these results. The completion of Tipico in April adds just over two months of Tipico earnings to our revenue and adjusted EBITDA reported figures. To give you the clearest view of our underlying performance, we are also providing proforma variations that include a full six months of Typico. For further information regarding proforma performance, you can find in Appendices 2025 proforma figures on Banigy Gaming on a quarterly basis. Proforma evolution at constant exchange rates also includes the restatement of 2025 contribution of Betatom and H2O. Over to you, Francois.
Thank you, Louise, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to highlight that 2026 is a particularly busy and transformational year for the group. We are reporting, as Louise just reminded, our first set of results, including typical this quarter. And next quarter, we will introduce all free media into the perimeter, making another important step in the group's evolution. At the same time, H1-2026 includes only a partial contribution from the FIFA World Cup and also includes the impact of tax increases in France and in Austria compared to H1-2025, as well as some one-off effects linked to the typical transaction, adding a further layer of complexity when assessing performance. Given these moving pieces, our objective today is to present the results act as clearly and transparently as possible, helping you understand the underlying performance of the business beyond the changes in scope and one-off timing effects. Saying that, our H1 results were solid, with pro forma revenue growth of 4.5% and pro forma adjusted EBITDA stable year-on-year and up 5% excluding the betting tax increases in France and Austria. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was a landmark event and a fantastic showcase for our group across sports betting and gaming and live, and I will spend some more time on what made it so special for us later in my presentation. The first half was also a period of major strategic progress, with important M&MI milestones and acceleration on live and on the digitalization of our entertainment business. Thanks to this solid first half and the momentum across our businesses, we are very confident in achieving our guidance for the full year, and we expect adjusted EBITDA growth to accelerate in the second half. Indeed, H1 was a very active period for M&A execution. Our acquisition of Tipico closed at the end of April. The integration is on track and will accelerate after the FIFA World Cup, as we wanted to make sure our teams were really focused on underlying business during this key event, and this was a success. We have just appointed a CEO for our sports betting and gaming activity to lead this integration. Antoine Joutot brings a strong track record in leading digital companies and integrating them. The combination of Panigy Entertainment with all three media closed earlier this month, even if it is not yet included in our H1 figures, creating a global media and entertainment powerhouse. In sports betting and gaming, at the beginning of July, we announced the acquisition of Joa, the second largest casino operator in France, which we expect to close in the second half of the year. As a newly announced deal, I will give you a bit more color on Joa shortly. Finally, regarding the independence, we have decided not to exercise the corruption to increase our shareholding in the independence, prioritizing the integration of all free media and typical and the execution of its strategic roadmap while remaining a supportive minority shareholder of this very good company. So in 2026, we'll have closed three major transactions to translate our strategy in action, which is not too bad. Looking at H1 key figures now, revenue was just under €2.6 billion, almost up 17% on a reported basis, and 4.5% pro forma typical, as double digit growth in sports betting and gaming was partially offset by a small expected decrease in entertainment and live that will reversed in the second half. Adjusted EBITDA came in at just over 500 million euros, up 18.5% reported and stable on a pro forma basis and up 5% excluding the betting tax increases in France and Austria. Adjusted net income was 141 million euros, down 3.7% on a reported basis and up almost 33% excluding exceptional LTIP expense, which is mainly non-cash in the context of typical acquisition that we presented last time. Adjusted free cash cogeneration reached just over 410 million euros, resulting in a cash conversion of 82% on a reported basis and 81% on a pro forma basis, just above guidance. Pro forma of typical and after the closing of all free media for which we already received the cash proceeds in early July, leverage stands at 3.6 times, and we expect it to decrease to around 3.4 times by the end of the year, as planned, and to around two times by the end of 2029. Let's move to business highlights now, starting with sports betting and gaming. Of course, a big event for our business this year was the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the largest in history. 50% more teams, 63% more matches, and 10 more days of competition than in 2022, creating a significantly expanded tournament, staged for the first time across three host countries. We've heard a lot of superlatives about the World Cup, but this time they are real. Compared with the 2022 World Cup and on a combined basis including BetClick, Tipico and Admiral, the number of active players during the competition rose by 75% compared so to the last World Cup. Turnover doubled and gross grooming revenue was up 88%. So this is in 3.5 years. Only the contribution of the group stage is meaningfully reflected in H1 results as the knockout rounds started on 28 June and therefore only contributed a few days in the quarter. As a result, a much larger share of the World Cup impact including the normalization of sports margins that comes with the big games will be more visible in Q3. Now the World Cup is over and I can tell you that we are very happy with our performance during the World Cup, both commercially and financially. Beyond the World Cup, sport betting and gaming, commercial momentum was exceptional throughout the half. Unique active players grew 22%, and revenue grew across all our brands. Now, I'd like to spend a few moments on our acquisition of Joa, which is a very exciting development for Banijay Gaming, and another important step in our strategy to build a diversified European gaming leader. Joa is the second largest casino operator in France by the number of casinos, with a nationwide network of venues that combine gaming with restaurants, bars, and leisure experiences. It generated around 430 million euros of gross revenue in 2025. Following the acquisition of Tipico, the addition of Joa further strengthens our omni-channel capabilities, combining our digital expertise with one of France's largest land-based gaming networks. So Tipico was the start for omni-channel strategy development, and a few months after, we are now omni-channel in Germany, Austria, and with Joa, we will be also soon in France. Of course, we will leverage on our new know-how in retail operations in Germany and Austria when it comes to JOA integration. BDG Gaming will acquire 100% of JOA at an enterprise value of €465 million, financed through a mix of cash and debt, with closing expected in the second half of the year, subject to customary consultations and regulatory approvals. Additionally, it will create opportunities to connect JOA's venues and customer base with BetClick's digital betting and poker platform and extend the omnichannel ecosystem we are creating between our digital platforms and our physical destinations. And I can tell you that both BetClick and JOA teams are excited about this combination. Let's move now to entertainment and live where we continued to make progress across our key growth drivers in the first half. A particular highlight this semester was the strong momentum in sports and live events, while we also continued to expand our digital footprint and scale our franchises worldwide. Actually, sport was the major focus this half and set both live and digital. In the first quarter, Paddy Chwonder Studio delivered the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony watched by 2.5 billion people. In the second quarter, it delivered three FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies staged in three countries in less than 48 hours and watched by more than 1.2 billion viewers. Similar to sports betting, the World Cup was not finished for our live business at the end of Q2 and will continue to benefit from it in Q3 through the production of key events associated with the tournament, including the Independence Day celebrations on 4th July and the FIFA World Cup closing ceremony in New York on 19th July. This World Cup momentum also provided the ideal platform to launch Ballish Wonder Studio North America, a very important development for the group. With new hubs in New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City, we are strengthening our footprint in one of the world's largest markets for sports, culture, and live entertainment, and probably the market where the connection between sports and entertainment is the strongest. I can also tell you that our partners at Redbird have been extremely supportive in helping us launch and build awareness around this business in the US, which is the first concrete demonstration of the strength of this partnership when it comes to development in the US. On Digital, we launched Players Network, Banigy Entertainment's new digital sports brand with the first flagship series fronted by Jamie Vardy, released around the World Cup, expanding us into social-first, talent-led sports entertainment. We also continue to scale our franchises globally, both through new local adaptations and digital expansion. Luminance sold more than half a million tickets in the first half and is now live in eight countries, while the Black Mirror experience is now open in three cities, Montreal, Madrid and New York, and São Paulo is going to open soon as we are working on other locations. In entertainment, we continue to grow our brands through new adaptations, such as Physical 100 on Netflix, sports again, and through digital initiatives including a new representation partnership with chef Mike Reed. And as already mentioned, you'll see more about production in the second half of the year and Sophie will come back to this later. And of course there is much more to come with all free media and Banigy Entertainment combination. On the 9th of July, we completed the merger creating the world's largest independent production company and all free media will be integrated into our results from the third quarter. The combination significantly transcends our capabilities across content production in English language, live experiences, digital and new media, while expanding our footprint across 25 territories. We see very good opportunities for commercial synergies. We are fully on track to achieve around 50 million euros of cost synergies within one year of closing, which is what we announced when we told you about the deal. While this is a challenging target, we are very confident in our ability to deliver it and the teams already started at a very high pace. And as part of this operation, As announced, the exceptional dividend of $0.93 per share is confirmed and will be distributed in mid-August. That's all from me for now. Over to you, Sophie.
Thank you, Francois. So let's start with group revenue. Reported revenue reached just under 2.6 billion euros, up 16.9% on a reported basis, versus the first half year of last year. including a contribution from Typico for the two months since closing. On a pro-pharma basis, with the full six months of Typico in both years, group revenue grew 4.5%. This growth was fueled by sports betting and gaming, up 10.5%, while entertainment and live declined slightly at minus 2.2%, reflecting the anticipated phasing in content production in Q4 this year. Moving to group adjusted EBITDA. Reported adjusted EBITDA reached 503 million euros, up 18.5% on a reported basis. On a pro forma basis, adjusted EBITDA was flat at 0.1%. This reflects the betting tax increase in France and Austria from July 2025 in France and in Austria, April 2025 for sportsbook activity and from January 2026 for gaming activity. excluding this impact of tax increase. Proforma adjusted EBITDA grew by 5%. The reported adjusted EBITDA margin improved slightly to 19.5%, despite the betting tax headwind reflecting the positive contribution of typical, higher distribution in content, and continued efficiency. Moving to Adjusted Net Income next, excluding the exceptional LTIP charge of 54 million euros that we flagged at our strategic update in March, which is vastly non-cash and related to the typical transaction, Adjusted Net Income stood at almost 200 million euros, up 32.9%. Beyond this exceptional charge, main factors were higher cost of net debt, reflecting the financing of the typical acquisition with debt raised since January 2026, higher DNA also linked to the typical integration, and conversely, lower income tax expense following the implementation of the IP box tax regime in sports bethinean gaming. Moving to results by business now, starting with sports bethinean gaming. Reported revenue was up almost 55%, reflecting the consolidation of Typico since the end of April. Including six months of typical on a pro-forma basis, revenue grew 10.5% fueled by record player engagement with unique active players up 22% and record engagement for a World Cup that benefited to all products. By-products, sports book revenue were up 8.6%, reflecting the specific sports margin in the middle of the World Cup, while games, poker, and turf revenues grew over 18%, reflecting our diversification strategy. Looking at earnings now, Sports betting and gaming adjusted EBITDA stood at 294 million euros, up 32.5% on a reported basis, with a margin of 24.3%. This reflects the betting tax increase and the effect related to sports margin during the World Cup. Pro forma, the acquisition of typical and excluding the betting tax increase in France and Austria, adjusted EBITDA grew by 5.4% with a pro forma margin of 28.2%. Adjusted free cash flow conversion remained very high at almost 89%. The change in working capital was positive, driven by cut-off effects on betting tax and pending bets in the context of the strong volumes in June relative to the World Cup. And income tax paid was lower, reflecting the positive impact of IP box tax regime. And if you remind, well, a favorable base effect related to a one-off tax catch-up in 2025. CapEx and lease expense increased slightly related to the integration of typical. Moving now to entertainment and live, where revenues were down 2.2% at constant exchange rates and current scope. Looking at revenue by activity, the 11.9% decrease in content production was expected and reflects phasing on scripted shows deliveries, further weighting on Q4 this year. For instance, the Buccaneers, a scripted show produced in the UK, was delivered in Q2 last year and will be partly delivered at the end of the year in 2026, which reflects this seasonality. Distribution revenues were up 10.5 percent, benefiting from a format sale in the first quarter and the opening of initial licensing windows for several finished tables. The standout performance was once again live, with revenues up almost 50%, driven by the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony in the first quarter, the three FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies in the second quarter, and the continued momentum of Luminiscence. Adjusted EBITDA was up 2.5% as reported, 3.4% at constant exchange rates and current scope to just under 213 million euros with the margin improving by almost 1 point to 15.5 percent. The improvement of this margin was driven by distribution and continued cost efficiency. The change in capex reflects the high comparison basis in the first half of 2025. Adjusted pre-cash flow conversions stood at 72.5%. The change in working capital reflects cut-off effects, including phasing in payments related to the significant live shows produced during the first half of 2026, which we expect to normalize throughout the year. From a cash flow perspective, group adjusted free cash flow reached just over 411 million euros with cash conversion of 82% on a reported basis and 81% including six-month contribution of typical, just above our full year guidance of circa 80%. The adjusted operating free cash flow conversion is 66%, in line with our mid-term guidance. The group's net debt stands at 5.5 billion euros at the end of June following completion of the typical acquisition. Following the closing of the combination in entertainment and life, which means including all free media steps, The cash proceeds we received early July and exceptional dividends to be distributed, net debt amounts to 5.8 billion euros, representing a leverage of 3.6 times. We expect leverage, as mentioned during our strategic update, to decrease to around 3.4 times by the end of the year, driven by cash generation in the second half. We maintain a strong liquidity position with 713 million euros of cash at the end of June 2026, post combination with all three media, including the cash received at the beginning of July in relation to this transaction, and including the payment of the exceptional dividend of approximately 400 million euros, the cash position exceeds 1 billion euros. At the end of June 2026, the group's revolving credit facility amounts to 350 million euros, reflecting the additional 70 million euros of CF in sports betting and gaming, including in the new financing package. The past undrawn amounts to 312 million euros. That's all from me. I will now hand back to François for some concluding remarks.
Thank you, Sophie. Given our visibility at this time of the year in entertainment and live, about the schedule of deliveries over the second half, and the results of the World Cup 2026 that we already have, We confidently reaffirm our 2026 guidance of mid-single-digit adjusted EPIDA growth on both a standalone basis and pro forma of the typical group and all free media transactions, excluding the impact of the tax increases in sports betting and gaming, which reflects the real performance of the business, this would be even higher at mid-to-high single-digit. And as Sophie reminded me, an adjusted free cash flow conversion of circa 80%. In conclusion, this was a solid first half for the year with outstanding player engagement in sports betting and gaming, strong momentum in live, and content production and distribution activity set to normalize by the end of the year. We are very confident about that, with, of course, more business opportunities to come from the combination with All3Media in the next months. This semester, we have made significant progress on M&A. Typico has closed and is integrating well. Our combination with All3Media is complete and integration has already started, too. JOA is expected to close in the second half. In just a few months, we have transformed the group and accelerated on diversification by geographies, products, and we are now better positioned strategically. We are also expecting to implement synergies, very significant synergies, from the typical and all free media deals in the second half of the year and, of course, in the following months. And look forward to updating you on this. In a nutshell, H1 was busy. H2 will be busy as well. Busy is good, but the summer break is welcome. That's all from me. Thank you for your attention, and back to you.
Thank you, Francois. It's now time for questions, so please state your name and company. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question on the phone line, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1, 1 again. Once again, please press star 1, 1 and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1, 1 again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please use the Q&A box available on the webcast link to submit a question. We are now going to proceed with our first question. And the questions come from the line of Ricardo Cinchilla from Deutsche Bank. Please ask your question.
Hey, good morning. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I have three if possible. The first one is on the World Cup monetization and outlook. You indicated that a limited portion of the FIFA World Cup knockouts phase was reflected in the first half results. Can you quantify how the third quarter trading has evolved since the end of the tournament, particularly in terms of player retention, sportsbook turnover, and post-event activity levels versus the World Cup cohort of 2022? The second question is related to the acquisition of Jira. Could you please elaborate on the multiple paid for the transaction and any color that you could give on the mix of dev and equity financing that you are targeting, even if it's just anecdotal, understanding that the transaction is yet too close. And lastly, if you could mention or provide some color on the competitive environment in France, Germany, and Austria, and Poland with regards to gaming, our marketing intensity and customer acquisitions cost trending differently pose a typical acquisition? Have you seen any response from competitors following the creation of your larger now Banijay Gaming platform?
Thank you for your question. I will take the two last ones and let the first one for Sophie, but that's why I start in reverse. So competition in the different countries, of course, is always fierce. especially for World Cup because all everybody wants to capture new new players we have in France you know the increase in taxes is weighing on competition because you really need to have a large market share to to be able to sustain this but all in all we are very happy with what we did in the World Cup compared to the market and you know we have been very present in in in all our markets on on the World Cup there was no specific response from competitors no of course all our competitors you know made a very good efforts to capture clients but we believe we met we had a very good performance on this in all our markets. On the acquisition of JOA, the multiple paid is in line with the sector and the mix of debt and cash has not been decided yet. We still have a few weeks or months to work on this. On the World So I leave the floor to Sophie just to say, you know, during the first phase of the World Cup, you have more unbalanced games. And also the big teams, especially France, Germany, performed very well. You had, you know, Mbappe scoring two goals every game, Messi scoring also every game. So typically what the players want to bet on. So the first half of the World Cup was very positive for the players, and this is what we have in our figures. The second half was more, you know, reversing the trend and normalizing the results.
So I think that Françoise has almost said everything. What I can add is that, yes, in the second part of the World Cup that occurred during Q3, so the sports results were more favorable for Betkik and Tupico. We are very, very happy with the results of this World Cup. As mentioned to you with a growth of the UAP by more than 75%, that we doubled our bets and that the GGR increased by 88%. What is important to know is that around 50% of the new players remain active during the following quarter, which is also very good for the business in the next few months.
Thank you so much for taking my questions.
Operator
We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the next question comes from the line of Anikmas from Bernstein. Please ask your question.
Good morning. So my first question is going back to this JOA acquisition. I guess it's a physical acquisition and not only online, which is slightly deviating from what you've done in the past. So my question is really going forward, shall we expect more of this, more of casino operators in the markets in which you are present to create a wider omni-channel strategy? Or was this a one-off explained by an attractive opportunity? The second one was on M&A in content and production. I guess you have a big debt at the moment, but on the other hand side, you know how to structure deals and ITV studios is coming on the market without the TV bits attached to it. So is that something that you could be looking at again? And then you started saying that synergies are going to impact in the second half. Can we maybe get a little bit more of the phasing of how these synergies are going to come through in the second half?
Thank you, Anik. So, JOA acquisition, in fact, two or three years ago, we were already focusing only online, and we looked at the different geographies, and especially when we discussed with Typico, looking at Typico, we understood the value of having also a retail network. I think also that artificial intelligence is increasing this value because you know the brick and mortar is not as easy as to replicate. And so you know of course online remains our main focus will remain our main focus but Joao was an opportunity to create an omnisciental situation in France which is one of our largest market and we have it in Germany we have it in Austria and it was an opportunity to create it in France we cannot create it in France through physical sports betting because it's a monopoly of Française des Jeux. So JOA was a very, probably the best opportunity we could we could think of. So and you know JOA was looking for a home and they were very interested in joining our strategy that as we are building as a European leader. So it was good fit now you know our focus of course remains in largely on online but when online can be supported by retail by your physical we believe it's a good match on your second question on ITV studio you know it's easy to answer because it's not it's not the right time neither for us or for them you know we are in the transactions which is going to last for a long time when we are we
are we have a lot of our on our plate to integrate so it's not something which is really in the cards today on the synergy so she had some colors so on the synergies what we announced during our calls previously is that we expect from typical and then we are integration to the gaming business an amount on the full-year basis of 100 million euros of synergies we as now the the the work company is over, we are, well, the teams in Banigy Gaming are focusing really on the implementation of these synergies, so we will start to have the first impact in Qt in H2, but then on a full year basis, more in 2027. On the all three media completion combination, We expect cost synergies to be around 50 million euros on a full year basis, and we expect to implement them within 12 months. Just for you to know, of course, as we completed this early July, the teams in entertainment business have already started to implement them, and we will have the first impact in HR also but the full impact will be done within 12 months.
Operator
Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question and the questions come from the line of Adrienne de Saint-Hilaire from Bank of America. Please ask a question.
Yes, good morning Francois and Sophie and Louise. a couple of questions or one question perhaps can you discuss the underlying growth trends that you're seeing in content production you talked about the phasing of deliveries being skewed to to the end of the year but more generally speaking are you seeing like same or higher or weaker demands from broadcasters and streamers for for content at the minute thank you
thank you Adrien you know so what we see to this year is really in line with what we were expecting so it's same that's what we were expecting we we of course
the trends of the sector you know them you we have I would say broadcaster that are suffering on the other revenue side but we see that they they continue to to be committed to you know the programs that are making the audience of course we do more and more with three miles and and we really believe that all free media is going to enhance this development and always this question on you know the development on digital media especially YouTube so we have very it will take time but we have very very good I would say experiments moves you know new things that we are doing on on YouTube and also a little dot studio which is going to help so again we have no positive or negative surprise this year in what we we think we are going to deliver and there's a trend of on the the next year is that it will continue to evolve but you know we gave some some midterm outlook recently i would like also to underline that we you know two or three years ago three years ago we decided to develop live events i think it was a really good choice and we clearly see that the growth driver and as you can you know have seen in the presentation we also decide to go stronger on sports which is also a very good growth driver so we believe we are on the right trends and we will continue to enhance them.
Can you just talk also about your appetite for further M&A in the gaming space? I mean, it's always a space where lots of deals are happening. There's been a transaction this year involving one of your peers, I would say, around Eastern Europe. So generally speaking, can you talk about your appetite for M&A in that space?
Yeah, sure. Of course, you know, So today we just ate a big piece with Tpico, so we are not hungry today. But our appetite in the midterm is real because we believe that consolidation makes sense. And we believe that we are very well positioned for this consolidation. You have, you know, in this industry, founders, private equity companies that at a point are always looking for an exit, a liquidity, or a combination. And so today we are focusing on typical integration. But we believe that our new setup is also very attractive for, you know, companies that look for a home. And so we keep a real appetite for M&A in this sector, but more in the mid-term. Yeah. Thank you.
Operator
We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Connor O'Shea from Kepler Chevrolet. Please ask your question.
Yes. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Three questions from my side as well. First question, could you have a sense of the like-for-like growth for the typical standalone in the second quarter or first half? Secondly, could we have a sense of what the calendar is for the live entertainment business in the second half of the year, any major events that could boost growth? And then last question, I understand that you're not going through with the independence deal. And now I think that was part of that was designed to improve share liquidity through an equity issuance.
So what's the revised plan in respect to improving liquidity now that that deal is is you're not going to exercise the call option thank you uh thank you conor uh i think the last question i leave the two first for sophie on on on the independent uh yes we decided not to exercise our our collection of course this decision is uh independent uh if i can say so from uh the So the question around liquidity, of course, you know, increasing our float and liquidity remains a top priority. But the independence was just an illustration of, you know, a long time ago because it was before typical before free media, before it was a special dividend we are distributing. So it's no more relevant to things like that. But both are completely, you know, separate topics and to look for, you know, to try to increase our float and liquidity is a constant priority for Sophie and myself.
So on the two other questions, in terms of calendar of major events and seasonality for the content business, so on Q3 we still expect the impact of significant ceremonies that has been produced by each one of studios as mentioned to you the ceremony of july 4th the closing ceremony for the world cup in the production on the show production tv show production we are expecting a seasonality as as usual uh into four more For example, we already mentioned that a scripted show like Buchaniel's should be partly delivered in Q4 instead of Q2 last year, so we expect more in Q4, but we already gave guidance for 2026, and we are very confident to reach this guidance despite this seasonality.
Just on that, I really want to insist on what I said during the presentation on the opportunity to develop more knowledge in the U.S. and now really we are very well considered and identified in the U.S. as a very top company to organize big shows linked to sports, especially and you know it's clear to that it's a very good market so it's a very I think the World Cup has been a very important milestone for us in the live event it's
not just a one-off it's also I think a trigger for more business and on your last question for us on the room typical so we provided in the presentation the the 2025 results by a branch. But in 2026, we are now an integrated group. So we don't provide figures by branch. We are considering that Benji Gaming is one business, and we are looking at this business as a whole. But what we can say is that both brands have very, very good results, quite the same profile. and and we are very happy with both of them we had a double-digit growth in UAP in these two drones so we are well it's quite similar in terms of profile okay very clear thank you we are now going to proceed with our next question and the questions come from a line of Jérôme Boudin from Udo BHF please ask your question yes a good morning everyone just to question the first one on the independence
so you're not exercising the option but the plan for the minority stake do you are you happy with that do you really plan to remain a long-term minority shareholder or do you have any agreement with the maybe with the founder to to sell this this stake that's my my first question and second one um on the on ai um can you remind us what's what's your strategy regarding a big ai platform have you signed or do you plan to sign deals with them i guess not on fresh content but maybe on back catalog or old all content uh is that the case uh yes just an update on
where you are with with this spectrum thank you thank you so about the independence yeah we we will remain a minority show although you know we have a very very good relationship with this company we we have a we believe it's a great company so nothing has changed in how we see the company and the founders and managers. They are exceptional people. So we are very positive on the development of the company but just a question of priorities and also a question of where we were seeing the most of the synergies etc. But we will continue to work with the independents and to collaborate each time it makes sense we have usual minority rights so we see in the next month or years how this company wants to evolve and but we are not worried and we believe that our stake in independence will create value in the short mid or long term depending on the when we exit on the AI we haven't signed the type of contract you are mentioning if I understand if it's about selling content to AI platforms too is it what you mean or we don't yeah no we haven't this type of contracts with with the AI platform.
And just to follow up on this one, so is it a no-go for forever or will you be more in a fight mode versus this platform like some of your peers like in music, publishers, they are fighting a lot and they usually win a big amount. Is it maybe your strategy or could you be a bit more constructive and again I guess it would not be on fresh content which is sold.
Yeah, we never say never, and forever is a big word, but for the moment, we have no plans to do that, but we'll continue to follow what is happening in the markets.
Okay, thank you very much, Francois.
Operator
Thank you. There are currently no further questions on the phone line, so I'll now hand back to you for the webcast questions. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. So there are a few questions on JOA. Can you say how much of JOA EZ will be paid by debt? What will be the maturity and security ranking on this debt relative to the term loan and bonds? another one about how do you plan to fund this acquisition and last one on JOA what is basically the impact on the leverage because you have a target of 3.4 time end of 26 leverage performance typical of free media and special dividend but without JOA or with the JOA so this acquisition will be funded by debt and cash in our balance sheet we don't know yet the proportion of each
one this is something we will decide early September so we the impact on the under leverage should there is there should be no impact on the leverage this acquisition is not as significant as the ones we we made during the first half of 2026 so it should not impact and it will not change our guidance so that's why what we provided as to use for format the acquisition of which media, et cetera, is not pro forma, the acquisition of JOA. And is there any other question on?
Ben, yes, there is a question on the IP box regime. Could you explain, I guess, the IP box regime? Should we expect this to impact H2? And also, can you provide H1 like for like from content distribution, excluding the one-off of format sale?
So, regarding the IP box regime, this is a very specific tax regime related to tech companies. In fact, this is a regime that allows some companies to benefit from the reduced rate linked to the research and development done on the software. Of course, this is a recurring benefit, so it will also benefit to the next year's. So that's it, and?
Distribution, the format sale.
Well, we don't provide any specific figures on the format sale, but it is not so significant to give a pro forma.
On the synergy, I think we explained the timeline of the synergies, but one question about the the cost to implement them we expect the cost to be along one time the amount of synergies so and and will be of course incurred during the next 12 to 18 months depending on the business and one last question on the webcast about the target capital structure given a date of on
your desired increase in the free float of your shares what would be your business focus for the next 12 months a lot of questions on the on the target capital structure exactly you wanted to what is the question behind it I can tell you that I consider that where we stand today we have even if our leverage has gone a little bit or significantly we are very very very solid and problem even more than before given the refinancing that have been done with maturity is extended we have a lot of cash and we also have been we are going to be even more cash generative so we are very confident with our financial structure on the free float of our shares it's not completely under in our control so it's difficult to update on our desired increase but of course we are not satisfied with where it stands today. Business focus for the next 12 months is clearly about integration and also delivering what is expected and yeah everything is on track but of course it's always a big effort from all the teams to deliver what is what is expected okay so no further question sorry maybe one additional one what was the like for like EBITDA performance on the gaming business in Q2 we gave the pro forma so
So this is for the life for life, the underlying performance. And we gave it in appendices. So for Q2 on a pro forma basis on the revenue side on soft dating and gaming, it was up almost 15%.
So it was 10.5% in Q1 and 14.8% revenue growth on the pro forma basis in Q2. thank you all for joining us today and for your questions just you know to conclude I think you you all heard that we are quite happy and excited both with the organic development of our businesses and with the new setup of our group with the addition of typical and all three media integration is progressing well teams are melting and synergies are already visible at the horizon h2 will be about focusing on delivering both growth and synergies and we look forward to assisting you on our continued progress in the coming months but meanwhile have a great summer break
