First-quarter 2026 financial information: Solid start to 2026
Financial results
28 April 2026
6 min

Robust organic growth in Electrification at +4.9% supported by disciplined execution
Acquisition of Republic Wire, a strategic platform in the United States generating c.โ‚ฌ520 million current sales annually
No material financial impact from Middle East political situation in Q1
2026 guidance confirmed

  • Electrification was up +4.9% organically, confirming the agility of our model and the strong underlying trends. The Group posted organic growth at +0.1%, including the impact of Other activities, as expected
    • Group Q1 2026 standard sales stood at โ‚ฌ1.5 billion (current sales of โ‚ฌ2.1 billion), with a robust and healthy level of organic growth at +4.9% in Electrification driven by PWR-Transmission at +8.8%, PWR-Grid at +5.7% and PWR-Connect at +2.5%
    • PWR-Connect was supported by the smooth integration of Cables RCT (Spain) and Electro Cables (Canada)
    • Adjusted backlog in PWR-Transmission stood at โ‚ฌ7.9 billion (including โ‚ฌ1.2 billion corresponding to the Great Sea Interconnector project under rescheduling)
  • Outstanding M&A activity with the signing of the acquisition of Republic Wire, establishing a strategic platform in the United States (closing expected in early Q3 2026)
    • Nexans significantly expands its presence in the attractive and strategic low voltage business in the U.S. through the acquisition of Republic Wire, a high-quality asset with a well-established nationwide sales network
    • Transaction complements Nexans’ existing North American footprint, creating a compelling growth platform in the U.S.
    • Over the 12-month period through February 2026, Republic Wire generated c.โ‚ฌ520 million (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86 and in accordance with US GAAP) in current revenue and employs over 200 highly skilled associates
  • Full-year 2026 guidance confirmed
    • Adjusted EBITDA of between โ‚ฌ730 million and โ‚ฌ810 million
    • Free Cash Flow of between โ‚ฌ210 million and โ‚ฌ310 million

With H1 2026 expected to be softer compared to H2 2026
This guidance does not assume execution of the Great Sea Interconnector project in 2026 and excludes the contribution of not completed acquisitions

 

Today, Nexans, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of cable systems to power the world, published its financial information for the first-quarter 2026.

Commenting on the Groupโ€™s first-quarter highlights, Julien Hueber, Nexansโ€™ Chief Executive Officer, said:
โ€œAs we begin 2026, the Group is operating in line with its roadmap, supported by solid underlying demand for our innovative solutions and continued discipline across business units. Our Electrification core businesses delivered a robust +4.9% organic growth in Q1 supported by PWR-Transmission and PWR-Grid, while PWR-Connect continued to recover progressively. Once again, Nexansโ€™ unique positioning as a pure player in electrification, driven by selectivity and a strong focus on innovative high value-added solutions supports the Groupโ€™s performance. In the current geopolitical environment, Nexans, stands as a partner of choice to support energy sovereignty.

In line with our strategy, we pursued our effort in M&A with the signing of the acquisition of Republic Wire that marks a transformative moment in Nexans’ journey to become a reference pure player in electrification. The United States represents the single largest growth opportunity in lowโ€‘ and mediumโ€‘voltage cable, within a premium business segment where quality and reliability drive sales. Republic Wire gives us the expanded platform, the customer relationships and the operational credibility we need to compete in this highly dynamic market. Combined with our recent complementary acquisition of Electro Cables in Canada, we are building an integrated North American business, expanding our industrial footprint in the Americas and reinforcing our positioning in high-growth segments such as data centers, that will serve as a growth engine for the Group for years to come. M&A remains a key pillar of Nexansโ€™ value creation model.

Our priorities remain focused on disciplined execution while our unique positioning and well-balanced business profile provide the Group with strong agility.

Starting 2026 with a robust performance of our core businesses, we confirm our outlook for 2026 and remain committed to delivering sustainable and profitable growth.โ€

Q1 2026 hightlights

The Groupโ€™s first-quarter 2026 sales at standard metal prices reached โ‚ฌ1,496.8 million, up +1.3% compared to Q1 2025, including +0.1% organic growth, +3.3% related to contribution from acquisition. Foreign exchange amounted to -2.0% mainly linked to the US dollar and Canadian dollar.

The Group performance was driven by Electrification core businesses with +4.9% organic growth while Other activities remained impacted by the US tariffs with -24.1% of organic growth, as expected.

The integration of Cables RCT (Spain) is progressing in line with expectations, with initial steps completed in the alignment of organizational structures, operational processes, and industrial standards. The Group is already benefiting from an expanded industrial footprint, following a significant Capex program completed prior to the acquisition, resulting in a c. 25% increase in capacity. At the same time, Nexans is reinforcing its positioning in high value-added segments, particularly in data centers and critical buildings, leveraging Cables RCTโ€™s recognized expertise in fire safety cable solutions.

The integration of Electro Cables (Canada) is progressing in line with the Groupโ€™s roadmap, with early benefits already tangible. Nexans is actively leveraging synergies across its North American footprint, notably thanks to capacity optimization and procurement harmonization. Through Electro Cable the Group has enhanced its commercial competitiveness, already translating into tender wins, particularly in the data center segment.

Q1 2026 standard sales per segment

| PWR-Transmission (23% of total standard sales)

PWR-Transmission standard sales came in at โ‚ฌ342 million in Q1 2026, up +11.1%, including +8.8% organic growth and +2.4% of foreign exchange.

The segment started to return to normalized levels of organic growth, following two years of exceptionally high performance, as expected. We continued to drive commercial expansion in smaller-sized projects while implementing cost actions, maintaining a high level of agility in a demanding and highly technical business.

Adjusted backlog was at โ‚ฌ7.9 billion at March 31, 2026, up +2.6% compared to โ‚ฌ7.7 billion at December 31, 2025 (including โ‚ฌ1.2bn related to Great Sea Interconnector).

Our PWR-Transmission backlog provides strong visibility through 2028, while we maintain a disciplined and selective approach. This visibility is further supported by the high quality of our backlog and a robust pipeline of projects, particularly in Europe, driven by increasing energy sovereignty needs, as well as by the upcoming commissioning of our third cable-laying vessel, Nexans Electra, expected to be operational by mid-2026.

| PWR-Grid (22% of total standard sales)

PWR-Grid standard sales reached โ‚ฌ322 million in Q1 2026, up +2.9%, including +5.7% organic growth and -2.8% of foreign exchange.

Q1 2026 was particularly supported by call-offs under framework agreements and data center activity; renewable activities remained well oriented. This performance is particularly strong in comparison with the usual seasonality in the first quarter (low quarter in terms of organic growth). Momentum in our Accessories sub-segment remained strong with a double-digit organic growth, highlighting sustained demand for high value-added solutions, driven by ongoing modernization and smart grid requirements.

| PWR-Connect (43% of total standard sales)

PWR-Connect segment standard sales amounted to โ‚ฌ647 million in Q1 2026. Standard sales were up +7.2% including +2.5% organic growth and +8.0% related to growth from acquisitions (Cables RCT in Spain and Electro Cables in Canada). The foreign exchange amounted to -3.2%.

The signals of recovery we observed in Q4 2025 continued to materialize in Q1 2026 in some countries in Europe such as France, Spain or Italy while Nordic countries remained subdued. Asia Pacific started to stabilize in Q1 supported by recent management changes. The integration of La Triveneta Cavi is ongoing and delivering results in line with expectations.

The Group continued to actively deploy its strategy, focusing on high value-added solutions and premium customers, supporting selective and profitable growth. This unique positioning provides the Group with agility and resilience.

| Other activities (12% of total standard sales)

The Other Activities segment โ€“ corresponding mainly to copper wire sales (Metallurgy) and corporate costs that cannot be allocated to other segments – reported standard sales of โ‚ฌ186 million in first- quarter 2026. As expected, standard sales were down in Q1 2026, at -24.1% organic growth.

This performance reflected unusual semester phasing in 2025, with very strong H1 momentum driven by US customers bringing forward copper orders ahead of tariffs implementation followed by a significant H2 contraction, as well as the Groupโ€™s strategy to reduce external copper wire sales in favor of internal sourcing and recycled-content offerings. Therefore, Other activitiesโ€™ organic growth is expected to mechanically turn positive again in H2 2026.

M&A activity

On 27th April 2026, Nexans announced that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Republic Wire, Inc. (“Republic Wire”), an established American manufacturer of low-voltage copper and aluminum wire products headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Founded in 1982 and family-owned, Republic Wire is a recognized manufacturer of low-voltage wiring products serving electrical wholesale distributors, utilities and municipalities across the United States and Canada. Over the 12 month period through February 2026, Republic Wire generated c.โ‚ฌ520 million in current revenue (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86; in accordance with US GAAP). The company operates a fully invested industrial platform comprising a 32.5k square meters manufacturing facility equipped with significant automation, and a newly completed 30.0k square meters warehouse and distribution center. Republic Wire employs over 200 highly skilled associates and recently completed a significant expansion program that will be fully online by the end of 2026, increasing its production capacity by approximately 30%.

Strategic rationale

The acquisition of Republic Wire is an important step in Nexans’ strategy to expand its geographic footprint to the United States, one of the world’s largest markets and among the fastest-growing for low- and medium-voltage cables. The U.S. low-voltage segment, estimated at c.โ‚ฌ12 billion (Roland Berger February 2026 Market Study), is mainly driven by sustained demand across residential, commercial and data center expansion.

The acquisition of Republic Wire is perfectly consistent with Nexans’ strategy and will allow Nexans to:

  • Establish an expanded manufacturing and distribution platform in the high-growth U.S. geography, complementing the recent acquisition of Electro Cables in Canada;
  • Access residential and commercial channels through Republic Wire’s strong sales agent and distributor network, building on Nexansโ€™ proven global distributor relationships and benefitting from Nexans’ broader complementary product portfolio into additional high-growth verticals, including data centers;
  • Create a platform for future organic and inorganic growth across the U.S., ensuring that the Group will benefit through the cycle from structural growth in the region; and
  • Generate c.โ‚ฌ235 million (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86) in run-rate synergies within 3 years, driven by commercial cross-selling opportunities rolling out Nexans’ comprehensive product offering in medium-voltage and grid solutions, technology synergies through the deployment of Nexans’ proprietary manufacturing IP, and industrial synergies through purchasing scale, manufacturing mutualization and efficiency.

Financial highlights

The transaction represents a total enterprise value of c.โ‚ฌ680 million (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86; in accordance with US GAAP), with a further earn-out of up to โ‚ฌ43 million (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86) potentially payable in 2028 based on performance through year end 2027. The current management team, led by Ron and Jeremy Rosenbeck, is remaining in place and will continue to drive the business performance.

At the terms of the transaction, the enterprise value (before earn-out) represents multiples of 10.3x 2027E Adjusted EBITDA (in accordance with US GAAP) before synergies and 7.6x after run-rate synergies. There is also the potential for the transaction structure to provide tax benefits to Nexans over time.

The transaction will be financed through a combination of debt and existing cash on balance sheet. On a pro forma basis, Nexans’ net leverage is expected to rise to approximately 1.2x Net Debt to 2025 Adjusted EBITDA, returning to comfortably below 1.0x through rapid deleveraging by the end of 2028, in keeping with our disciplined financial policy.

The transaction is expected to be immediately EPS accretive before synergies (before amortization of intangibles and implementation costs). Synergies are expected to reach full run-rate of c.โ‚ฌ23 million5 over three years, with approximately 50% to be achieved in year one. Implementation costs are expected to amount to c.โ‚ฌ23 million (FX rate USD to EUR of 0.86).

Timeline and approvals

The transaction is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2026, subject to applicable regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Following completion, Republic Wire’s experienced management team will continue to lead the business, supported by an earn-out structure designed to ensure alignment of interests and a successful ownership transition.

Nexans expects to maintain Republic Wire’s operations at its existing Ohio facilities and utilize the combined platform to support its activities in the United States.

2026 outlook confirmed

In 2026, and in line with the 2025-2028 strategic roadmap unveiled in November 2024, Nexans expects to achieve:

  • Adjusted EBITDA of between โ‚ฌ730 million and โ‚ฌ810 million
  • Free Cash Flow of between โ‚ฌ210 million and โ‚ฌ310 million

With H1 2026 expected to be softer compared to H2 2026
This guidance does not assume execution of the Great Sea Interconnector project in 2026 and excludes the contribution of not completed acquisitions

Information related to segment non-electrification (industry & solutions)

Following the exclusive negotiation for the sale of Autoelectric (the final step in Nexansโ€™ portfolio rotation) in December 2025, Nexans no longer discloses the Industry and Solutions segment in accordance with IFRS 5. Further details are available in the FY 2025 results press release.