EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Getlink reports 2019 results. Jacques Gounon, a warm welcome to you, you are the CEO and the Chairman of Getlink.
Jacques Gounon: Hello
EBM: Jacques Gounon, you are presenting FY results; they are positive despite an uncertain environment this year, how do you explain that?
Jacques Gounon: I think that the group performed very well, in spite of the Brexit uncertainty, and various strikes in France which have impacted our business. Having said that, we had a weak market, but we had the traffic which we believe is able to support the results of the company. If I have a look at the Europorte rail freight business, it did very well and it has a very positive contribution to the Group, so everything is working well. If we consider now the fixed link, we can say that all the KPIs, the key facts are very positive. We increased our market share, we increased our load factor, we increased our quality of service, we increased the satisfaction of our customers. We have a very strong staff motivation, and on top of that of course we have our green credentials, and this is the reason why this group is performing very well and will continue to do so.
EBM: Let’s get back to this robust year, as you said…
Jacques Gounon; I think, first of all, turnover is more or less stable, a slight increase against 2018 with 1,085 billion euros, so very strong turnover. But of course, more importantly, at EBITDA level, we reached €560 million of operational margins and this is absolutely key because we are in line with our guidance, which was not so obvious. And I would like also to focus on free cash flows and more importantly on operational cash flows, which reached the incredible figure of €599 million, so it means that – and if we consider the net result, which is a result of all these efforts we made – we have a new increase, a yearly new increase of the net result up to €159 million, which is roughly 20% more than last year. So, at the end of the day and based on our green credentials, yes, we believe that we are a very interesting, profitable, performing company.
EBM: How about your guidance for 2020 and beyond?
Jacques Gounon: First of all, of course we can commit and continue to commit to our dividend policy, which means that we will present a new increase of 5 cents, up to 41 cents per share, at the next AGM. And, due to the cash flow I mentioned, we are very confident in order to have this sustainable dividend policy increasing by 5 cents per year, which is good. Having said that, if we consider the EBITDA guidance, I mentioned that we are Brexit ready and there is no Brexit impact in 2020 because negotiations are ongoing. So the only point we have to deal with is very short-term virus crisis, that all people know, and on this basis we believe that we can reach €580 million EBITDA guidance in 2020. So, at the end of the day and to my shareholders, the investors, what I can say is the fact that we are offering this year a 2.5 dividend yield which is let’s say the average level of other infrastructure companies. So we are very strong. We have a total return to shareholders of €1.4 billion since 2008, so the company with a market capitalisation of more than €9 billion is a very strong, interesting, profitable company. Our shareholders, our staff can be confident for the future.
EBM: Jacques Gounon, CEO and Chairman of Getlink, thank you.
Jacques Gounon: Thank you.
