Ackermans & Van Haaren NV (ACKB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. As we know, 2020 was an unprecedented year amidst these uncertain and volatile times created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But let me say, first of all, how proud I am of the strength and the resilience shown by our 22,331 colleagues throughout the AvH group. The response they have shown to this adversity is absolutely exceptional and outstanding. In terms of performance, the AvH group realized a very solid net consolidated profit of EUR 230 million. Based upon the strong portfolio performances, both Delen Private Bank and Bank Van Breda realized very strong inflows, leading to assets under management at a record level of more than EUR 54 billion. The strong client focus, the digital services offering and the complementarity between our 2 banks lead to a Private Banking group that is a consistent outperformer amongst its peers, both in terms of net inflow, quality and recurrence of earnings and the solidity of its balance sheets. On the back of a strong push towards combating climate change, developing more renewable energy sources and greening the world economy, DEME grew its order book to a record level of more than EUR 4.5 billion. This proves that DEME is rapidly transforming itself from a pure dredging company to a diversified and innovative marine engineering group. It remains a pioneer in the construction of offshore wind farms and is now positioning itself to become a producer of green hydrogen from these renewable energy resources. AvH itself remains committed to invest in further strengthening our current portfolio and investing in a more sustainable world, as illustrated by our recent investments in Verdant Bioscience in Singapore; Medikabazaar in India; and in Belgium with Indigo Health Care (sic) [ Indigo Diabetes ] and OMP, OMP being a leading European cloud-based supply chain services group. In short, AvH is coming out of this crisis in a much stronger way because our teams, both at the holding level and within our group companies, have proven to be very resilient. We have strong balance sheets and, at the holding level, substantial cash resources. And our strategic priorities are, even more than before, focused on helping to build a more sustainable world by investing in line with the major societal trends, such as: the battle against climate change, driving innovation for a low-carbon economy; the development of more sustainable food chains; health services, driven by the growth and aging of populations; and the opportunities provided by the digitalization of services. In other words, we remain ambitious. And we feel we are well positioned for 2021 and beyond. To entrepreneurs and family businesses in these areas, we have one strong message: we truly are your partner for sustainable growth.