PARIS (Reuters) – Veolia published record results for 2023 on Thursday, driven by its savings and synergies with Suez, and announced new growth objectives as part of a four-year strategic plan.

The French specialist in water, waste and energy management specified in a press release that it was targeting an annual increase in its current net profit of around 10% for the period 2023-2027, as well as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of at least 8 billion euros in 2027.

It also forecasts “solid” growth in its sales (excluding energy prices), savings of 350 million euros per year and an increase in its dividend in line with its current net profit per share.

Veolia’s new strategic plan for 2024-2027, called GreenUp, is based in particular on “an acceleration” of its growth in water technologies, low-carbon local energy and hazardous waste, declared its general director, Estelle Brachlianoff.

“We are going to invest in these growth boosters alone as much as we invested in all of the group’s activities in the last plan,” she said during a telephone press conference.

“The demand for our services has never been so high,” she also declared, while the backlog of Veolia’s “Water technologies” activities jumped 13% to 5.3 billion euros.

For the current financial year, the group is targeting a current net profit group share of more than 1.5 billion euros and an organic increase in its Ebitda of between 5% and 6%, with “solid” organic growth in its turnover.

Two years after finalizing the acquisition of the majority of the activities of its former competitor Suez, it posted a current net profit, group share of 1.3 billion euros (+14.9%) and a net profit, group share of 937 million (+31%) for 2023.

At the same time, its Ebitda reached 6.5 billion euros (+7.8% at constant scope and exchange rates), its turnover 45.4 billion (+9% at constant scope and exchange rates) and the group proposes a dividend of 1.25 euros per share (compared to 1.12 euros per share for 2022).

Veolia thus recorded its seventh consecutive year of growth in results and “will have been able to absorb a series of major economic, health, geopolitical and energy shocks”, underlined Estelle Brachlianoff.

“This uninterrupted growth demonstrates our resilience and capacity to adapt, but also the relevance of our positioning in the market driving ecological transformation, of our unique geographic footprint with nearly 40% of turnover outside Europe. “

At 9:20 a.m., Veolia shares were unchanged, at 29.70 euros, while the CAC 40 gained 0.18%.

(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; editing by Zhifan Liu and Kate Entringer)

Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters