Veolia: 2023 results and outlook without major surprises
February 29, 2024 at 03:40 am EST
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Veolia was little changed on Thursday morning on the Paris Bourse, after reporting 2023 results slightly ahead of expectations and unveiling long-term financial targets deemed 'unsurprising'.
Last year, the environmental services group generated sales of 45.35 billion euros, up 9% organically and 4.4% excluding the effect of higher energy prices.
By way of comparison, the market consensus was for sales of around 45.6 billion euros.
Ebitda came to 6.54 billion euros, representing organic growth of 7.8%, above the company's target range of +5% to +7%.
This result also exceeds the average analyst forecast of 6.45 billion euros.
In a press release, CEO Estelle Brachlianoff refers to another 'record' year, 2023 having been the seventh consecutive year of earnings growth, as well as to demand that has never been higher.
For 2024, Veolia says it has set 'ambitious' targets, anticipating 'solid' organic sales growth and organic Ebitda growth of between 5% and 6%.
Ahead of the presentation of its 'GreenUp' strategic program for the period 2024-2027, the group said it was aiming for Ebitda of at least eight billion euros by 2027, with dividend growth in line with current EPS growth.
Analysts, however, considered these forecasts 'unsurprising', and the share fell by around 0.3% in early trading on the Paris Bourse.
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Veolia Environnement is the world leader in environmental management services. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- water-related services (40.6%; No. 1 worldwide): water resources management, drinking water distribution and delivery, wastewater collection, treatment and recovery, engineering, design, construction of water treatment facilities and customer relationship management, etc.;
- waste management services (32.4%; no. 1 worldwide): collection, treatment and recycling of liquid, solid, non-hazardous and hazardous waste, waste treatment and recovery through composting, energy recovery from waste, etc. Veolia Environnement also provides urban waste management services (maintenance and cleaning of public spaces, provision of mechanized street cleaning and façade treatment services), maintenance of industrial sites, and dismantling of industrial facilities and equipment at the end of their useful life;
- energy services (27%; No. 1 in Europe): delegated management of urban heating and air conditioning networks, management of thermal and multi-technique services (operation of heating systems, facility design, construction, and maintenance, etc.) and industrial services (industrial process analysis, production equipment operation, service, and maintenance), general management of buildings and public lighting.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (21.5%), Europe (41.9%), North America (7.4%), Asia (5.6%), Africa and the Middle East (4.9%), Pacific (4.3%), Latin America (4%) and other (10.4%).