LACROIX : Water Network Digitalization: A Structural Growth Driver for LACROIX, supported by Favorable Market Dynamics.

June 16, 2026

Water Network Digitalization:
A Structural Growth Driver for LACROIX,
supported by Favorable Market Dynamics

Digitalizing water networks to improve efficiency, resilience, and intelligence: this is LACROIX’s concrete response to an unprecedented context of water stress.

The first visible consequence of climate disruption, as identified by the IPCC, is the growing instability of the water cycle, now subject to ever more extreme patterns, with prolonged droughts and sudden floods occurring with greater intensity. Since 2000, the frequency and duration of drought episodes have increased by 29% worldwide (UN, 2023).

These environmental factors are compounded by ageing infrastructure, resulting in massive waste. France has an extensive network—nearly one million kilometers of drinking water pipelines, 425,000 km of wastewater networks, and 30,000 to 40,000 boreholes and pumping stations—where around 20% of distributed drinking water is lost through leaks before it even reaches the tap. Globally, this waste exceeds 30%.

In this context of growing scarcity, where losing one out of every three liters of water is no longer sustainable, water cycle digitalization has benefited from significant national investment plans across Europe. Italy has mobilized €194 billion under its PNRR program to upgrade its networks, where leakage rates average around 42%. Spain, facing structural water stress exacerbated by Mediterranean droughts, has invested over €3 billion in the digitalization of its water cycle.

Driven by this supportive public funding context, LACROIX’s Water Networks segment is also benefiting from the cyclical acceleration of equipment replacement linked to the phase-out of 2G/3G networks, delivering particularly strong growth since 2024.

As a result, its revenue has grown at a CAGR of over 13% since 2021, with strong acceleration over the past two years, rising from €47 million in 2023 to €67 million in 2025.

A value chain covering the entire data lifecycle

LACROIX provides its customers with the ability to measure, continuously and in real time, what is happening across thousands of points in a network, and to act accordingly.

LACROIX deploys solutions ranging from sensors installed in pipelines to centralized supervisory software platforms. This end-to-end approach covers the entire data lifecycle through:

• Connected sensors ensuring continuous monitoring (leak detection, pollution prevention); 12 50 sensors deployed in 2025 (+44% year-on-year) ;
  
  
• Data loggers and RTUs (Remote Terminal Units), the “brains” of smart water networks, which collect, process and transmit data in real time from remote sites; 18 500 SOFREL S4W RTUs sold in 2025 (+24% year-on-year) ;
  
  
• A centralized IoT platform (LX CONNECT) enabling operators to remotely manage their entire fleet of equipment (updates, end-to-end cybersecurity); already deployed with 115 operators in France and internationally ;
  
  
• Real-time supervision (LX SCADA), providing an operational control interface for all hydraulic assets.
  
  

The Rennes metropolitan area case: 43% performance gains across three indicators

As an illustration, the digitalization of the Rennes metropolitan drinking water network area (450,000 inhabitants) provides a strong reference case. Following the deployment of LACROIX’s centralized remote control solutions, including field sensors, remote control and unified supervision, improvement of up to 43% have been achieved across three key indicators: water losses, energy consumption, and CO₂ emissions. The annual savings generated amount to €270k compared with a non-remotely managed network.

LACROIX, a leading player in water network digitalization

In the field of critical infrastructure cybersecurity, the European NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) now impose stricter security requirements on operators of critical infrastructure, including water utilities. LACROIX has embedded cybersecurity as a native component of its solutions—automated certificates, centralized access management, end-to-end protection— enabling compliance with these regulations without requiring in-house cybersecurity expertise from local authorities.

The Water Networks segment is the main contributor to LACROIX’s Environment activity, which operates in 7 countries and is distributed in more than 45 through a partner network. It is positioned as a leading European integrated player, capable of rapidly deploying solutions tailored to each market while complying with an heightened demanding regulatory framework

"Our in-depth understanding of the water market, from operational challenges to field constraints, is a key strength. With 50 years of experience in this market, we support our customers on a daily basis while anticipating future needs. The quality of service, the durability of our solutions and increasingly automated cybersecurity make LACROIX’s Environment activity a trusted partner for critical infrastructures," says Vincent Bedouin, CEO of LACROIX.

Next publication
First-half 2026 revenue: July 23, 2026 after market close

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About LACROIX

LACROIX is a French mid-cap technology and industrial group with an international footprint, specializing in the design and manufacture of electronic equipment, as well as the delivery of reliable and secure industrial IoT solutions.  
A family-owned, publicly listed company, LACROIX generated €445 million in revenue in 2025. The Group builds on recognized expertise and structures its development around two core business activities: Electronics and Environment.  
  
Through its Electronics activity, LACROIX supports its customers from design to the manufacturing of embedded electronics for their solutions. Leveraging a network of geographically complementary and competitive manufacturing sites, the Group serves a wide range of sectors, including automotive, industry, connected Homes and Buildings (HBAS), Aerospace and Defense, and Healthcare.  
As the industrial backbone of the Group, the Electronics activity ranks among the Top 50 electronic manufacturing services providers worldwide and the Top 10 in Europe.  
  
Through its Environment activity, LACROIX supports public and private stakeholders in optimizing and securing the management of critical infrastructure networks by offering connected and secure solutions and services dedicated to Water networks, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, Energy networks (Smart Grids), and Public Lighting.  

LACROIX pursues a strategy of sustainable long-term growth. The Group focuses its activities on the development of useful and eco-designed technologies aimed at addressing major societal challenges, as part of a resilience-driven approach with a positive impact.  

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