IN Brief:
- PWR-Grid third-quarter standard sales reached €363.9m, rising 14.8% organically.
- Group nine-month standard sales were €4.95bn, including 3.9% organic growth.
- Nexans retained €770m–€840m adjusted EBITDA guidance and a €7.8bn transmission backlog.
Nexans recorded 14.8% organic growth in its PWR-Grid business during the third quarter of 2026, as demand for electricity distribution equipment supported cable and accessory sales. Standard sales reached €363.9m, compared with €314.4m in the equivalent quarter of 2025. The division’s reported growth was 15.8%, including a 1.0 percentage point foreign exchange contribution, so the reported and organic rates describe different measures of the same quarter’s activity.
Across the first nine months, PWR-Grid generated €1,065.8m of standard sales, up 7.5% as reported and 8.1% organically. That contrasts with the stronger third quarter alone and makes clear that the 14.8% figure is not a nine-month growth rate. The division supplies cables and accessories used in electricity distribution, with underlying demand linked to utility network investment and the connection of additional electrical loads and generating capacity.
For Nexans as a whole, nine-month standard sales of €4,946.7m were 10.1% higher on a reported basis, but increased 3.9% organically. Third-quarter group sales reached €1,698.2m, representing 21.4% reported growth and 9.0% organic growth. Acquisitions, changes in the consolidation perimeter and currency effects help account for the gap between the measures; treating reported expansion entirely as additional sales from the existing business would overstate its underlying growth.
The company reports standard sales using reference metal prices, including a copper reference of €5,000 per tonne. Electricity cables contain substantial quantities of copper or aluminium, and the metals’ market prices can change the nominal value of contracts independently of the physical volume supplied. The standard price measure helps analysts compare the commercial performance of the cable businesses without attributing every fluctuation in metal costs to increased demand or production.
The manufacturer is adding medium voltage production capacity in Europe and the United States, including investment in PWR-Grid accessories. Cable and accessory availability can be a constraint in grid reinforcement programmes because conductors, insulation, joints and terminations must be compatible with the required voltage, current, fault performance and installation environment. Building new production capability may expand supply over time, although factories still require equipment commissioning and product qualification before additional output is available.
Medium-voltage network reinforcement requires more than additional cable footage. Utilities must consider the rating of feeders and substations, the condition of existing routes, fault levels and coordination of protective devices. Cable installation may also require civil works, access restrictions and outages. An increase in manufacturing capacity can improve available supply over time, but it does not remove permitting or construction constraints at the point where equipment is installed.
Growth in Nexans’ PWR-Connect division was partly acquisition driven. Third-quarter standard sales of €749.8m were 36.0% higher on a reported basis than a year earlier, with 10.5% organic growth and a 24.4 percentage point scope effect. The division includes the contribution of Republic Wire in the United States, which was acquired during 2026. Its reported growth rate therefore cannot be used to infer that existing production capacity or like-for-like order volumes expanded by 36%.
PWR-Transmission followed a different pattern. Its third-quarter standard sales were €378.3m, representing reported growth of 2.9% but a 4.0% organic decline. The company described a normalisation in the timing of activity and expected an improvement in margin over the full year. Transmission system projects involve large engineering and manufacturing programmes, and the timing of individual project phases can influence the revenue recorded in a particular quarter.
Nexans reported an adjusted PWR-Transmission backlog of €7.8bn at 30 September, up 0.7% from the end of June. The group says subsea projects account for most of that forward work. Backlog is an indicator of contracted activity, not cash received or completed cable installation. Design, manufacturing and installation stages on major transmission contracts can extend across several accounting periods, making the timing of project milestones important to the division’s reported quarterly revenue.
Nine-month standard sales in the transmission division amounted to €1,155.0m, an increase of 3.6% as reported but a decline of 1.4% on an organic basis. Across its electrification divisions together, Nexans recorded €4,345.6m of nine-month sales, an increase of 12.9% including acquisition effects. Those differences reinforce the need to distinguish the strong performance of distribution equipment from the more uneven timetable of major transmission projects.
Nexans also confirmed completion of a €500m bond issue in September, carrying a five-year maturity and annual interest of 4.25%. It said the proceeds refinanced a bridge loan arranged to fund its acquisition of Republic Wire. The bond issuance changes the funding structure for that transaction; it should not be presented as €500m of fresh capital allocated specifically to new cable manufacturing facilities.
The group reaffirmed its 2026 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation forecast of €770m to €840m, alongside expected free cash flow of €235m to €325m. Its stated assumptions exclude execution of the Great Sea Interconnector project in 2026 and include Republic Wire from June. The difference between strong distribution sales and softer organic transmission revenue leaves delivery schedules, customer procurement and manufacturing expansion as key variables during the final quarter.
