Carrefour SA (CA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, the shareholders, I would like to thank you for attending today our Annual General Assembly. The setting this year is unusual as imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led us to hold it in camera, excluding the typical presence of shareholders, as by -- according to Article 4 of the ordinance 2023-21 on adaptation of rules of the meetings and assembly deliberations. We are together for this ordinary and extraordinary general assembly. Following the convocation, the invitation is sent to individual shareholders by individual letter on the 12th of May and as published in the bulletin of mandatory legal announcements on 24th of April 2020. And as announced in the legal announcement journal. I suggest that we will have as tellers 2 shareholders present and representing by themselves the biggest number of people. Therefore, the company Galfa, represented by Mr. Philippe Houzé and the Groupe Arnault, represented by Mr. Nicolas Bazire. I would also like to thank Mr. Stéphane Israël, who is the reference administrator of our Board of Directors, I'd like to thank him for attending this assembly here in Massy. Mr. Laurent Vallee, General Secretary for the group will be the assembly secretary. This is the Bureau. We also have attending the company, Deloitte & Associés, represented by Mr. Stéphane Rimbeuf in the name of the auditors. About this general assembly. Mr. Laurent Vallee will proceed to the agenda. Then Mr. Matthieu Malige, who's Executive Director of Finances and Group Management will present the results for 2019 and the highlight of the first quarter for 2020 and the key figures also. Then Mr. Laurent Vallee will present the CSR targets for our group. He'll talk about relative evolutions in the governance of the company and the element of remunerations for the corporate officers and executive or not. The associate at Deloitte & Associés will then summarize the various reports of the auditors, and Mr. Laurent Vallee will present then the resolutions presented to approval for the assembly -- by the assembly.

We have 12 resolutions in the agenda. The 3 first are on the approval of the corporate consolidated accounts, but also the allocation of the results and setting dividends. The fourth resolution is in line with regulated conventions. Resolution 5 and 6 are about the company's governance and the renewal of the mandates, the 2 administrators. Resolution 7 to 10 have to do with the remuneration of corporate officers. Resolution 11 authorizes the Board to operate the actions of our company. The extraordinary part of our meeting is made of 5 resolutions. The 12th enables the Board to reduce the capital by share cancelation. The Resolution 13 to 16 then will change our statutory in order to get them into line with certain number of regulatory changes out of which the pact law of the 2020 made in 2019. The company has not received any request to add any resolution products to this agenda. Finally, all the legal documents were submitted to the Bureau in line with the legislation. These documents have been acknowledged as regular by the Bureau. The documents and information targeted by the Article R. 225-81 and R. 225-81 (sic) [ R. 225-81 ] of the Trade Law were addressed to the shareholders on request. The same documents and those targeted by Article L. 225-115 and following of Trade Law were held available for shareholders at the headquarters within the legal deadline. I would like to thank you to listen to the declarations of Mr. Alexandre Bompard and take action. I must say that the amount of securities held by shareholders sums up to 515,882,159 shares, in other words, 64.662% of shares with a right to vote in ordinary session and 515,472,886 shares, in other words, 64.611% of shares having a right to vote in extraordinary second. We have the quorum.

Before we turn to the various presentations that have been announced before, I'd like to share with you a few reflections, not only regarding 2019, which has been full of great achievements to our group, but also on a topic, we all have in mind, which is the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic, COVID-19, has hit all our societies and economies in each country inside Carrefour. Its emergence on Carrefour has first emerged in Taiwan and then Italy as soon as February. So its beginning has been identified and we trust its unseen feature has not been stopped in any given time. In just a few weeks, its amplitude, its magnitude has become global and has expanded this crisis, is not a mere phenomenon. It is still going on and it has had pre-existing trends. And it has had a strong impact on the behavior of our customers and the role of society played by Carrefour. It is more than ever necessary to implement a new model, which is the transformation plan of Carrefour 2022. This is this great challenge that I would like to mention to this progress that we have achieved over the last 2 years through very concrete results. And the answers, we have provided even more vigorous answers during this crisis time. Under these severe circumstances, difficult circumstances, our group has carried on with successfully its mission towards the people. Since day 1, we've been on the front line as a first emergency, and to meet the emergency needs of people, we have made strong -- we have taken strong actions, immediate actions, responsible actions, committed actions from the group. And it has been our image. Our obsession during this crisis has been, first and foremost, the health of our employees and our customers. And we have rolled out drastic steps, drastic measures for our individual protections, connective protections, and we have gone even further than the governmental instructions. We have multiplied towards our employees, equipment or protection equipment, disinfectant gels, masks, gloves, protecting screens in front of the cash out. We have generalized teleworking where it was possible -- wherever it was possible and defined by the special hygiene special procedures and physical distanciation, social distanciation at the entrance of our stores in our traditional departments inside the stores at the cash out for deliveries to push out, to stop and ban the virus inside our stores and elsewhere. We disinfect systematically on our site stores, headquarters, head offices, our warehouses, everywhere. We have added a second demand access of all to -- full availability to all. This demand is immediately visible for those stores, which have remained open nonstop in every country and where customers have been able to shop during the crisis. And this has led to an upsurge, unprecedented success and upsurge of our drive stores and e-commerce, thanks to the creation of new order channels. It is a human challenge that we have overcome and picked up beyond our points of sales. Every aspect, the human and logistic levels have worked together to continue supplying our stores when production was disturbed at the same time. Inside the group, we have simplified our processes. And we have increased our supply chain, and we have been able to limit the risk of shortage by our supporting agricultural producers, our local producers, which have been hit by the crisis badly. The protection of all then access to food for everybody are challenges that need to require a lot of solidarity. To all our customers, a lot of them, our customers are worried on their purchasing power, and we provide them with a strong guarantee those of strong frozen stable prices on the products they buy every day or use every day to our customers. We have designed delivery services, especially to senior citizens, priority access to senior services. And we continue our food gifts and donations. This is the 3 pillars: health, security, safety and activity in terms of solidarity, which have been essential during this crisis. These conditions have made Carrefour, our group, a key actor in the food -- public food sector. And this is how the men and women of Carrefour have been holding together to face up to this crisis. We have been able to stand up against the crisis. We've been able to stand up, thanks to the commitment of all our teams, we have been very active since day 1. I'd like to pay tribute to all of them. And the customers have identified this unrelentless commitment. We have been able to face up, thanks to our strong spirit of responsibility, which is not new through our social dialogue and which has been the blood of our group. Our trade union organizations, our managers, our shareholders have given proof of all this since the beginning to all our teams who are in the field, in the stores, in the drive stores, in the warehouses, have made a collective effort during that period of crisis. And in all our countries, we have granted or given benefits and premium for this outstanding working situations. We've made a special financial effort for our group, which is concrete translation of our choice towards responsibility. And the top management of our group has decided to drop their own remuneration, fixed remuneration during this 2 months' period, during the most acute or severe period of the crisis. And the members of the Board of Directors have decided to cut down and to cut down the remuneration for 2020. The corresponding funds will be devoted to solidarity activities towards the employees inside Carrefour. And we have taken into consideration this pandemic situation, outstanding situation, special and to divide by 2, the dividends in 2019 to EUR 0.23 per share. And we have brought our support. We have been able to [ set up ], thanks to the assets that have been gained over the last 2 years through the transformation plan, our governance after showing our resilience power. Our Board of Directors have met every week and have been present and taken part in each of the decision along the milestones of this crisis. I want to thank them for their availability and their commitment and have given full proof of this. Our organization has become more agile, more open to change, has given proof to their ability to carry out their task and set -- to set priorities. And our international dimension has helped those to save a lot of time, thanks to the lessons taught by Taiwan and Italy. Our offering has become multi-format and multi-channel, has brought us a lot of flexibility to meet the normal course of activities. And the new purchasing powers from our customers, our economic model has been put under control. And over the last 2 years, we've made efforts that has led us to a strong financial basis. Without this change quick transformation and the concrete results, our group would not have been able to adjust so quickly to the crisis. And I'm even more convinced and it goes beyond the collective strengths and our sense of commitment, which is that of Carrefour during this crisis has been built up over the last 2 years. Over the last 2 years, we have been able to build up and to -- achievements, and I suggest we look at some of our achievements made in 2019. [Presentation]

Over the last 2 years, huge progress has been achieved for Carrefour, leading to solid strong results. Our action capacity that we have today has to be questioned. And started 2 years ago, our leadership has been -- was weaker under a combined effect of prices that were too high. We were lagging behind in terms of modernization of our physical and digital offering. We have been committed to recover and to correct this through the group difficult decisions where -- we have taken and we did not delay, and we took these strong decisions. We have transformed our organization by rationalizing our head office. And the voluntary departure in France, in Belgium, in Italy and in Argentina. Eventually, we did put demand to situations that were leading to major losses in France. We have sold ex-DIA stores that were losing money, and we have sold out our Rue du Commerce in China, thanks to our efforts in the framework of the 2022 transformation plans. We have been successful to give -- bring new value to our assets and to find a new partner towards an advantageous and good operations for us, representing EUR 1.4 billion and finalized in short-term last fall. And we have been able to carry out a financial -- strict financial discipline. And we have increased our productivity through our investments and to control our costs. We have dropped our cost of over EUR 2 billion in over 2 years. And we have achieved our objectives as early as 2019. And we have gone further with EUR 300 million target of additional sales by 2022. We have gone one step further by releasing the brakes that we are slowing down our models, prices that were high. The organization that was not enough customer-oriented and hypermarkets that were going down in terms of power. And we have questioned the competitivity of our prices at the heart of our commercial policy, we have done that, and we have invested in terms of prices, absolute necessity to catch up. And we have reinstalled our loyalty programs, which have become omni-channels. And we, in many countries, Latin America, Taiwan, Spain and Eastern Europe, we have already achieved a high level of price competitivity, it's very satisfactory. And in other countries, we are catching up fast. And we have already committed to a cultural transformation by targeting to our customers, all actions are targeted to our customers. We have taken concrete steps, which translate through our performance. Everything where these actions have been deployed in Taiwan, Argentina, Poland, Spain, diverse countries, and we devoted a lot of energy on this in 2020. And this has emerged and be seen -- being seen through the crisis. And we have made customer satisfaction at the heart of our transformation process by making of Net Promoter Score, additional KPI for Carrefour in 2022 with a high level of ambition for the group, plus 15 points by 2022. We have carried out the necessary structural reforms in our hypermarkets, so we have cut down the size of our offering and of our stores. We have stopped some product families or categories. And as a response by 10%, we have reformed our organization and the implementation of our working abilities, concentrating on operational efficiency. And we have reformed our management methods. And in 2019, our first systems, property systems will be spread up until 2022 and omni-channel dimension will accelerate. And we have set up this single channel dimension, very powerful for our drives and our hybrid models, which has been very, very active during the crisis. We still have a lot of ongoing actions and especially for hypermarkets in a very special role. Because of their size, it facilitates the implementation of health steps for its offer. Everything under the same room (sic) [ roof ]. It makes purchasing and shopping easier, especially for families. And of course, because of lower prices, it is the best possible answer. In terms of purchasing power, hypermarkets are picking up in terms of speed and the reform -- the structural reforms, which has been carried out over the last 2 years, has been a very good preparatory step for that of -- to boost our group as larger Carrefour, it is also indispensable to set a very ambitious target. We have started this type of activity by implementing a new project to become the leader in food transition for all, for everyone. It is conviction which has become the reason that the backbone of the new model that we are building. We are concentrating our actions through the deployment of our global program that we use called, Act for Food. Many initiatives, too many to be mentioned here. I will just give you a couple of -- a few examples. Regarding the quality of our products under our own brand Carrefour brand, 1,500 new products are revisited products in 2019 to cut down the sugar, salt content, et cetera, to provide better food or nutritional information to our customers. The deployment of Nutri-Score on all our products and food safety throughout the approaching on all the support given to producers. For all these topics, which are for us, priorities, for our partners and action priorities, on animal -- towards animal well-being, to cut down plastic packaging, all these actions have been translating over the last 2 years through very concrete steps that can be observed by or as through our CSR index and food transition for all together 17 quantified objectives, which have been audited integrated to the remuneration package of managers. We have reached a score of 114% in 2019. Third-party organizations have welcomed and taken note of our progress in their grading. For the third consecutive year, we have been included by the sustainability index -- Dow Jones Sustainability Index among the top 5 global companies in this sector. CDP climate change has given us the top score of A in 2019, which puts us among the 2% of the leading companies in the fight against climate change in the world. That has required a lot of determination, a lot of discipline, a lot of humility in all the things we are -- all the efforts we have to -- achieved. The crisis has strengthened our deep conviction that our role is one of leader and that we have to play an historic role of responsibility. Over the last 2 years, the decisions that we have made are a new starting point for Carrefour. And we are reconquering and rewinning again a new market, and we have been able to capture the growth where it was to be found. The crisis has confirmed that we have adopted the right positions through our channels, through our farmers, through the choice of our products. First of all, it is clear that this crisis has been essential for food e-commerce, essential, and it constitutes a turning point for e-commerce that remains to be strengthened and consolidated. We are convinced that e-commerce in March alone has been 70%. And the speed, the development remains true, and we benefit at a very level -- high level of investment, EUR 2.8 billion over the last 5 years. And we have already accomplished over the last 2 years. We rely on our logistical architecture and digital architecture. We have gone over 1,700 drive stores across the world, and we are the leaders for pedestrian drives in France. And we have drawn -- taken advantage of our partners' networks through the high-tech groups like Google and innovating start-ups, like Rappi and Brazil's Glovo and Uber Eats in Europe. We have sped up our progress secondly, through our convenience stores and cash and carry stores, we have winning formats, excellent formats, which have been strengthened by the crisis. Through the proximity, we were already in a very good expansion position and we have gained new geographies, key geographies with 1,000 stores that have been opened since 2018. A major example of that of France. Over the last 1 year, we have been growing and opened 2.5x more than the normal market average, and we are still opening new stores, and we have targeted 2,700 store openings by 2022 for cash and carry together with Atacadão, we have a full model, which is at full steam, which is developing very quickly on the Brazilian market, where we are already a leader, which meets the concerns customers have in terms of purchasing power, the integration of 30 Makro stores will start this year and will bring us more additional activities shortly with full transition for we have preempted a very strong position to which the crisis is giving us a very central one. I'm convinced that after the crisis has ended, consumer attention will be focused even more on food safety. People will go more and more towards healthy products, organic products, local products, and we have had a leadership for some time. We are already leaders for organic food. Our growth is over 25% every year over the last 2 years, and we have built a complete offering, and we have become an online specialist of Greenweez for our Bio Experience general stores and hypermarkets. Our own brand is essential for food transition, and we have gained 2 points. And in France, we have grown 3x faster than that of our competitors, and we continue going on. And the rapid transformation and the reliable and the success of our new strategic orientations have produced solid results. Our results are visible by our customers. Customer satisfaction has increased to all geographies in all formats, with group NPS increasing 8 points in 2 years. Our results are visible through our performance. Our sales have increased 3.1% in 2019, our ROI has increased EUR 145 million in 2019, that's an increase of 7.4% in just 1 year. France has been a strong contributor with ROI of 2019, growing 15.6%. The net result of the group has been increased EUR 900 million, an increase of 13% in just 1 year. Free cash flow has had an increase of 17% to EUR 1.3 billion, out exceptional elements. This good development has been carried on since the beginning of this year, nearly with the growth of our sales of 7.8% in comparable terms during the first semester carried out through all our geographies. The first period has been untypical because of the crisis has made our activity very volatile since March. We have been able to show our resilience but also our dynamism and our resilience. Our e-commerce is growing fast, and our physical formats are taking up, and we have been able to adapt to the crisis on the challenges in the behavior of our customers. Dear shareholders, in this unseen unpredictable period, which has been a source of worries for many business sectors, our group is standing up strongly. What we see from this crisis confirms the choices that we have made 2 years ago. Our trust relies on the assets that we have designed over the last few years and built up and the results are clear, the results we have obtained. And the way ahead is clear and good for the future. Of course, we have ongoing reflections. We have to adjust some reflections, but some reality are coming true and emerging that of a solid results a capacity for action that we have recovered. We have been able to use all the new opportunities from this crisis that of a growing company, which has been able to achieve its objectives, financial goals as well as extra financial goals and which is moving with strong determination towards the goals we have set for ourselves that of a company, which relies on total mobilization of teams that our company that can count on the full support of our shareholders. I will now turn the floor to Mr. Matthieu Malige, our CFO, who is going to give you the financial results for 2019, and the striking factors for the first quarter 2020.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I will present the key highlights for the performance -- financial performance of Carrefour for 2019. In a nutshell, 2019 was a year of net progression. Consolidated turnover is up by 3.1% like-for-like and that acceleration as compared to the 1.8% 2018 had the best performance in years. ROI reached EUR 2.88 billion. With the constant exchange rate, it is up by 7.4%. Consolidated net income group share is at EUR 905 million, up by 13%. Free cash flow -- adjusted free cash flow is up by 17%, reaching EUR 1.3 billion against EUR 1.1 billion in 2018. Finally, the financial debt of the group was reduced by EUR 1 billion on the constant exchange rate. As you can see, these figures reflect the good execution of the planned capital 2020, which is bearing fruit. Let's now look at the detail of our turnover for 2019. EUR 80.7 billion, up by 3.1% like-for-like and plus 2.1% at a constant exchange rate. This performance comes from a strong growth in Latin America, 14.6%. E-commerce -- food e-commerce progressed by over 30% and organic by over 25%. The turnover for 2019 enjoyed the positive impact, plus 1.2% due to the opening in -- of new formats, especially convenience stores and the cash and carry. The unfavorable currency environment, especially with the Brazilian real and the Argentinian peso led to a negative impact, minus 2.4% on our turnover. Let's now look at the top of the P&L. ROI, post-IAS 29 plus IFRS 16 is at EUR 2.88 billion. Operational margin is up by 16 basis points at 2.9%. Investments in committed prices in 2019 impacted our gross margin. But this was compensated by gains in procurement, logistics and the better performance in financial services. Distribution costs are at 17.5% of our turnover, in other words, an improvement by 21 basis points. They benefited from the cost reduction scheme and include certain number of fees pertaining to new stores and new services, especially into digital. As you've understood, Carrefour invests strongly in its growth potential but maintains a very strict financial discipline. Let's dwell on the cost and savings scheme. In 2019, the group has carried on reducing its cost at a high rhythm and generated EUR 1.30 billion in savings. Added to the EUR 930 million saved in 2018, this represents close to EUR 2 billion since the beginning of this scheme is planned. The group has neutralized its merchant procurement between countries and enjoyed gains linked to these buying procurement centers with its partners. We also developed a true know-how with the recruitment experts in procurement, in non-merchant procurement and the process application (sic) [ simplification ], reduced cost, be more efficient. This is our daily work. The savings target was, therefore, put up at EUR 2.8 billion by the end of 2020. Now let's look at the various geographies, starting with France. Turnover like-for-like is stable. ROI is at EUR 539 million, a strong increase by 15.6% compared with 2018, with operational margin up by 24 basis points. Carrefour France has reversed the trend of the previous years. This improvement reflects a strong cost reduction dynamics, which enables to finance important investments in competitiveness, offer attractiveness and the new services and the digital. In the other European countries, turnover is also stable in a very competitive environment. We post very solid performances in Spain and Eastern Europe, where the sales model confirms its attractiveness, when Italy and Belgium enjoyed important investments in the competitiveness. ROI is at EUR 647 million, in other words, operational margin at 3.1%. Latin America, Brazil and Argentina are still posting a very strong growth. The ROI of the zone is up by 10% like-for-like. 2019 proves yet again that Brazil is a motive for growth turnover and results, thanks to the very strong dynamic -- sales dynamics of Carrefour Retail Atacadão but also financial services. In Argentina, the transformation plan and the sales plan are still bearing their fruits, that -- so much that in 2019, the country is contributing positively to the group's ROI. Taiwan, Asia. In 2019, Carrefour finalize the session of the control of Carrefour China. In Taiwan, growth like-for-like carried on, ROI is up by 8% with a constant exchange rate. It reached EUR 85 million, which translates by an increase in 19 basis points of the operational margin, which reaches 4.3%. Now let's look at the bottom of this P&L. And let's look at the group's debt results adjusted. It's at EUR 905 million, up by EUR 101 million compared with 2018. Activity net results, group share has also strongly increased and is positive again. The net results of non-pursuit activities reached EUR 1.1 billion. And it therefore, shows the nearly exclusive but giving gain linked to the transfer of activities of Carrefour in China. Now let's look at cash generation. The group generated in 2019, a free cash flow adjusted at EUR 1.301 billion against EUR 1.115 billion in 2018, in other words, an increase of 17%. Before adjustments, free cash flow is slightly down by the EUR 54 million, and taking into consideration, a number of very important expenditures linked to transformation of the organization projects. It represents EUR 719 million in 2019 versus EUR 478 million in 2018. The net financial debt in 2019 has also improved with these results. Just like the disposal of the real estate portfolio of cargo and the Carrefour China activities. It improves by short of EUR 1 billion with the constant exchange rate that ended at EUR 2.615 billion at the 31st of December 2019 versus EUR 3.510 billion on the 31st of December 2018. Turnover for the first quarter as published on the 28th of April last, is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales up by 7.8% like-for-like for the first quarter, which reflects an improval (sic) [ improvement ] in the sales dynamic in January and February, capitalizing on the success of the sales initiative launched over the last 2 years. It also reflects the extraordinary mobilization and exceptional organization of the employees in order to face the demand of the -- peak of demand in March. A few words about the robustness of our balance sheet and the cash situation. Carrefour carried on in 2019 its active liquidity management refinancing operations, were all led very successfully. In June 2019, the group amended and extended 2 credit facilities until 2024 for a total amount of EUR 3.9 billion, integrating a CSR element. It is the first operation of this kind within the European distribution sector. The bond issue, EUR 1 billion with a maturity in December 27 and issued in April 2020, was oversubscribed quite largely, proving that our investors trust the Carrefour signature. Carrefour has one of the most sound balance sheets in the industry. And this is a true asset within this context of fast changes in food distribution and the economic crisis, which is blooming. Now let's look at the dividend. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the Board decided to reduce by 50% the dividend proposed for 2019. It is about EUR 0.23 per euro -- EUR 0.23 per share. The Board suggests to receive this either in kind or in cash. Discount for those accepting payment in kind is at 5%. Therefore if you opt for a payment in shares in kind, the price of the subscription of the shares would be at EUR 12.19. The option period will start on the 10th of June, and it will finish on the 23rd of June. Payment of dividends and delivery of the new shares will take place on the [ 21st -- 29 ]. Those who did not opt for dividend paid in shares, will, by default, receive payment in cash. Carrefour posted solid performance in 2019, which translates to good execution of the plan for Carrefour 2022. The plan targets are therefore being confirmed and put upward. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you, Matthieu. Let me now turn the floor to Mr. Laurent Vallee. He's going to give you a presentation on the objectives as well as the goals for the governance and the remuneration elements for the corporate officers, the Board of Director or Members.

Thank you, Alexandre. I will deal with several aspects of the -- so CSR of the group, its governance evolution and the remuneration of the social corporate officers. First of all, for our CSR of Groupe Carrefour, I would like to underline after Alexandre, the good results of our group in the field of extra financial performance. Last year, we have set up the CSR index in terms of food transition. It's a composite index, regarding 7 goals on products, stores, customers and employees, which have been described on this slide, performance has been measured in 2019 along this index, we just reached 114%. The score of 100% corresponding to the objective that has been set for the year. This index is a measurement tool for the good performance. It is yearly -- it has a yearly follow-up. And it is part of criteria, which has been implemented by the group, and for its managers, this global performance has made many different initiatives. Organic is a field where Carrefour has undertaken many actions, which are leading to many results development of our own brand with a lot of new SKUs of products such as Carrefour Bio, to support given to producers during the transformation period total. The revenue of the group is growing 17% against last year with a trajectory to reach EUR 4.8 billion in 2022. The initiatives there go in terms of packaging and the commitment of Carrefour to its circular economy this year, the increase of bulk products sell, the development of reusable packaging solutions, or the withdrawal of plastic packaging on fresh products has led to a new approach in terms of quantity of packaging to limit the use of plastic. The performance of Carrefour in extra financial terms confirm the performance, which translate the CSR food transition index. The DJSI at CDP and VIGEO assessment positioned all Carrefour among the leaders for DJSI Carrefour is part since 2017 of those companies, which are most performing in terms of global index in terms of performance -- CSR performance. With a grade of 73 out of 100 in 2019, Carrefour is constantly growing in this CSR grading and is among the 5 leading global distributors in the segment leader for food staples retailing. Eventually, Carrefour has obtained 7 -- grade of 68 out of 100 at VIGEO ratings, collecting an excellent score in its category. Among divisions of Carrefour in the extra financial field climate has played an essential role. Carrefour has implemented over the last 5 years, the number of solutions to cut down greenhouse gases in 2019. Carrefour has almost reached its objectives that were initially set in 2015. The emissions of the group have been reviewed regarding direct emissions for a reduction of 30% by 2030 and 55% by 2050. In a framework of the science-based target initiative, Carrefour has set for itself ambitious objectives for indirect emissions Scope 3 into vocabulary of science-based target initiatives. These commitments are complete by a number of actions carried out by the Foundation of Carrefour and many other actions in terms of cellulite it has been adopted by Carrefour. The Carrefour Foundation this year has funded 73 projects in 9 different countries, out of which 43 in France for a donation of EUR 6.75 million altogether. The group has distributed 150 million meals across the world. Specific actions have been adopted during the health crisis. We have made donations and funded many groups financing of hospitals, solidarity operations, masks. And the group has given proof of its responsible approach and solidarity approach. This profound and deep commitment of the company can be -- was made possible, thanks to a committed governance, active governance, and this change is that of the full transformation plan for 2022. The presentation of this governance and its good operations and its evolution is when I'm going to develop. Now the Board of Directors of your company, is made up of 19 members, and you will find on this slide on screen, its makeup, which was that during the course of 2019. Now if we look quickly at the achievements and the decisions made by our Board of Directors, our reference document host on these element -- all the elements for your information to indicate the results in order to operate the governance of this group. As you can see, the discussion between men and women as the rate of independence of our Board of Directors complies with the [ affidavit ] curve over 40% of women Board members and the majority of independent Board members, the Board of Directors has implemented as mature that the governance was well operated and has set up several specialized committees and report as is made for every new meeting, at the beginning of every new meeting of the Board of Directors. The 5 specialist committees are met regularly during the course of 2018. And as you can see, the rate of attendance is remarkable, which has reached 100% of our meetings for all committees, the governance of our group has evolved on several points. First of all, Mr. Philippe Houzé has been appointed Vice President of the Board of Directors; secondly, Mrs. Mathilde Lemoine, Independent Board Member has come after Mr. Thierry Breton to Chair the Remuneration Committee. Thirdly, Mr. Stéphane Israël has been appointed Lead Board Member. Eventually the Nomination Committee has been renamed the Governance Committee to best reflect the reality of its duties. Two Board members have been appointed this last year for a duration of 3 years Madam Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon and Mr. Alexandre Arnault for a duration of 3 years, that is until the general assembly that will decide on the accounts that have been closed December 31, 2022. Mr. Alexandre Arnault has been co-opted in April 2019 and manages the company called Rimowa and because of his background as special qualifications in the field of technology e-commerce. Ms. Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon was an Independent Board Member, who's been co-opted in June of 2017, and a Member the CSR Committee provides to the group knowledge in digital technology and entrepreneurial experience. At the end of the general assembly and because of the vote of resolution 5 and 6 pertaining to the renewal and the makeup of the Board of Directors, will be that of the results. And as a result, there will be Board of Directors restricted to 16 members only that will be maintained a good equal number of men and women with the rate of independence that will be complied. Let's talk about the remuneration elements and especially the remuneration elements of Mr. Alexandre Bompard, as you know, the say on pay regime makes it compulsory by the general assembly of the elements of remuneration of the corporate officers of the companies which are stock exchange. Regarding the remuneration paid in 2019, your general assembly has opted the following principles on June 14, 2019: First of all, the remuneration is submitted essentially to performance conditions. And the fixed remuneration without conditions or preference, represent 20% of the total remuneration to target. When 80% of their remuneration in this variable part is submitted to performance conditions based on 5 criteria identical and weighted up to 20%, CSL, ROI, CSR and government. 80% of these objectives are quantified, and 60% of the objectives present a financial feature. So during its meeting, April 28, 2020, the Board of Directors has made a recommendation of the committee remuneration and determine its quantitative criteria and determined separation for qualitative criteria to set the variable remuneration of Mr. Alexandre Bompard. Otherwise, as you check the performance conditions set for the remuneration plan over the long term, which have been attributed during its -- at the time of his appointment in July 2017. And all the consequences and appreciation of the Board of Directors has decided to payment to Mr. Alexandre Bompard, they [ vary apart ]. Regarding the remuneration policy for 2020, the Board on suggestion of the Remunerations Committee decided to suggest the general assembly as follows: To maintain without any change the annual fixed remuneration of Mr. Alexandre Bompard; to change the structure of his variable remuneration at a one point, adding the NPS criteria, Net Promotor Score, which enables to measure the intensity of the recommendation of the Carrefour brand by its clients and translate the specific accent put on the customer orientation within framework of the planned Carrefour 2022. Regarding the long-term remuneration, the Board decided, just like last year, to set the long-term share of the remuneration of Mr. Alexandre Bompard under the form of performance shares and not anymore in cash. This attribution is without any change in line with demanding targets weighing 25% along with the strategic priorities of the group, which is the external performance criteria, total shareholder return, in line with the relative evolution of the share of Carrefour in line with a panel of comparable companies in line with invest expectations. This evolution of the -- the remuneration of the -- the remuneration policy for the manager is, therefore, presented to the vote of the general assembly. Considering the remuneration of the administrators, nothing has changed, and therefore, no specific comments are required. These are, ladies and gentlemen, main aspects of CSR governance and remuneration of corporate managers that have to be presented today.

Well, thank you very much, Laurent for this presentation. Information regarding the activity in your group have been communicated during the presentations -- previous presentations. They can be completed by the reports that are available, but they're also in the Universal Registration Document for 2019 and the invitation for 2020. I would like -- now like to ask Mr. Stéphane Rimbeuf from the company, Deloitte & Associés to present the summary of the different reports of the college of auditors.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, in the name of the college, I would like to report the execution of different missions accomplished by the auditors, but also the reports that we established for tax year 2019. I'd like to remind that our mission with the financial management and the Board is a permanent mission. Our audit approach is based on a precise risk analysis that could impact the quality of information, financial and for bookkeeping. In order to assess the environment, we control the various figures and data. And therefore, we have noted and we appreciated the voluntaristic efforts by financial management to reinforce yet again, the management control within Carrefour and the results of our work enable us to give a justified opinion on the regularity and sincerity of the annual and consolidated accounts. The use of digital tools enables us to ensure a broad coverage of transactions audited. Throughout our mission, we organized the restitution of our work to management, but also to the Audit Committee in order to share our risk analysis, and statements. The reports are available and the figure in the universal reference document filed with the AMF on 3rd -- 30th of April 2020 and posted on Carrefour website. Now of course, this general assembly is held in a very special setting because of the COVID-19 crisis. This led your group to present the main impacts in the -- on the activity in 5.4 turnover for Q1 2020 in the universal reference document. It also shows the resilience of the economic model of Carrefour reinforced by the measures of the planned Carrefour 2022. So I suggest I do not read extensively the report, but just give you a summary. About the consolidated accounts of 2019 on Pages 309 to 312 of the universal reference document in which express a opinion without reserves. According to our judgment, there are 3 key points that we identified. The fiscal risk in Brazil and the information that comes within the appendix, the work we carried out was mainly analyzing the opinions of the advisers on tax adjustments and the possible financial or likely financial consequences. We proceed to a critical review of the estimates and position of management. And then we appreciated the appropriate character of the information provided in the appendix. The second key point of the audit is on the assessment and the book keeping of discounts and sales corporations received by suppliers. Our work was mainly about appreciating the control environment, and we concluded to quality and continuous improvement of the controls set up in all the Carrefour entities. We appreciated the control environment to understand discounts and contracts and with suppliers. And then, of course, we had to compare the figures with the volumes that we see in the IT systems of the group. And then the third key point of our audit is on the assessment of user fees and rental liabilities that we see because of the use of the [ norm ] IFRS 16 for the first time. And therefore, we had to acknowledge on the 1st of January 2019, user fees for EUR 5.244 billion and lease debt for EUR 5.256 billion for the method called simplified retrospective. Regarding the first application of this new text, we have underlined the impact of our observations in our reports. And as mentioned in Note 4.1.4, the group did not implement in the books 2019, the edition of the IFRIC 16 2019 on the determination for lease duration by lack of time to determine precisely its impact. And like besides most companies in the distribution sector, the work we carried out were mainly take note of the control environment, in order to list the rental contracts and their features. And we concluded that the controls set out by management are efficient and of good quality. We appreciated the relevance of the criteria and assumptions taken into consideration for the group to determine the residual time for rental and we appreciated the compliance of the method used to determine actualization rates. Now let's look at the report for annual accounts on Page 335 to Page 337 of the universal reference documents and which express an opinion without reserve. The key point of the audit that we identified is on the participation titles assessment for Carrefour SAS, the value is -- the value represent EUR 6.222 billion, and which is the objective of annual depreciation tests. Our works were mainly about appreciating developments of the methods for cash flows due to determine the value. We analyze the consistency in occurrence of cash flows with the comprehension of perspectives and your strategic orientation of the group in France. We appreciated the reasonable characteristics of the financial assumptions, thanks to the help of our specialists in financial assessment. We also note the existence of information on remuneration and the advantages paid to corporate managers and they are shown in the report on company governance. We would also like to underline that to your Chairman, Mr. Alexandre Bompard, but all the members of the Board and Executive Board decided within the context of the crisis of the COVID-19 to reduce their global remuneration 2020 in favor of solidarity actions for the employees of the group, as mentioned in Note 5.4.2 of the universal reference document. Our report -- our special report on regulated conventions can be seen on Pages 161 and 162 of the universal reference document. Three new conventions were authorized for the excise and are to be approved by you. They concern riders signed on 30th of June 2019 for 2 credit -- renewable credit conventions with a banking syndicate, out of which BNP Paribas is a member. The first, it's an amount of EUR 1.4 billion on the second of -- May 27; the second, an amount of EUR 2.5 billion signed on the 22nd of January 2015. These riders are there to extend the credit line by 5 years with -- which could be renewed twice regarding the extension by 1 year. Finally, the conventions pertaining to these 2 credit lines that can be renewed and approved during previous tax years were carried out during this operation. And to finish, our last report is on a competence delegation to be given to your Board, to reduce the capital by the buying of shares with the limit of 10% of capital delegation is proposed on the -- in Purpose number 12. We do not have any observation to formulate regarding the causes and conditions of the reduction of capital that could be carried out. This was all. Thank you very much for your attention, and I return the floor to you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much, Mr. Stéphane Rimbeuf for this presentation. And I'll now give the floor to Mr. Laurent Vallee for a point on answers to the written questions that you sent us, the presentation of resolutions that were submitted to the approval of our assembly, but also the results of votes. Thank you.

Thank you, Alexandre. I will start by your questions. I want to say that the Board of Directors has scrutinized the number of questions that have been raised. And as provided, answers have been put online on the Carrefour Internet site. There are 2 major aspects out of these questions, the environment and the consequences of the health COVID crisis. Point 1, the first climate commitments adopted by Carrefour that we have mentioned earlier. Second one, initiatives taken -- made by Carrefour and the first crisis element are in the answers adopted by the Board of Directors, which are on the Internet site. Let me present the resolutions and the vote. The first resolution aims at approving the yearly results, the net results of Carrefour Group with a profit of EUR 1,314 million. This resolution has been adopted by 99.95% of votes. Second resolution to approve the consolidated results and the net share of the group represents a profit of EUR 1,314 million adopted by 99.95% of votes. Third resolution aims at dealing with the profit of the budget year to decide on the distribution of a dividend of a total amount of EUR 183,000,495 (sic) [ EUR 183,495,831 ] that is EUR 0.23 per share opening to a dividend. And individual payment of the dividend in share or in cash, and the period will be between June 10 and June 23 and the dividend will be paid 20 -- June 29. The price of the shares for payment of dividend will be EUR 12.19 per share, corresponding to 95% of the average of the -- average price. And this resolution has been adopted 99.65%. The fourth resolution has a goal to approve the 2 new conventions that were mentioned and indicated in the special report of the auditors. This resolution has been adopted 99.99% of votes. The fifth resolution aims at renewing the mandate of CEO, Mr. Alexandre Arnault, of -- a Member of the Board of Mr. Alexandre Arnault for a duration of 3 years. This resolution has been adopted 95.82%. The sixth resolution is to renew the mandate of Board Member of Ms. Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon for a duration of 3 years until the general assembly has been -- for the -- adopted for the accounts -- the financial year until December 31. This resolution has been adopted 98% of votes. The seventh resolution has been adopted for the information cutting to the remuneration of the corporate officers under Article 225-37-3 of the code of trade. This resolution has been adopted 94.38% of votes. The eighth resolution has a goal to be approved by the fixed elements, variables and the remuneration and total benefits of all accounts attributed to Mr. Alexandre Bompard. This resolution has been adopted 64.11%. The ninth resolution aims at approving the remuneration policy of Mr. Alexandre Bompard, CEO. Due to its mandate for 2020, this resolution has been adopted, 75.36% of votes. The 10th resolution aims at approving the remuneration policy of the corporate member of the members -- Board members due to the mandate in 2020. This resolution has been adopted 97.89% of votes. The 11th resolution aims at authorizing the Board of Directors to operate these actions for the company within the limit of 10% of the social capital in application of Articles L. 225-209 for maximum sum of EUR 2.9 billion. This resolution is valid for a period of 18 months. This resolution has been adopted by 97.90% of votes. The 12th resolution aims at allowing the Board of Directors application of L. 225-209 for a code of trade to cut the social capital in one of several parts. And for a period, they will choose by the cancellation of shares that are already held by the company and could proceed to the buyback of its own actions, and this authorization would be for a period of 18 months. This resolution has been adopted for a period of -- 97.72% of votes. The 13th resolution aims at modifying Article 11 of the bylaws of the group concerning the Board members in compliance with the Pacte law. This resolution has been adopted 96.96% of votes. The 14th resolution is going to modify Article 13 of the bylaws of the company concerning the modalities of all the decisions made by the Board of Directors and the possibilities to dematerialize the list of attendants to the Board of Directors. The resolution has been adopted 96.96% of votes. The 15th resolution has a goal to modify Article 15 of the bylaws, is the attendance fees for the remuneration of Board members. The resolution has been adopted 96.96% of votes. The 16th resolution aims at modifying Article 19 of the bylaws of the company to not to appoint the auditors -- substitute auditors under the conditions -- legal conditions. The resolution has been adopted 96.96% of votes. 17th resolution aims at giving power to carry out the legal formalities according to legislation.

Thank you, Laurent. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. This general meeting is now over. On behalf of the Board of Directors, on behalf of all its members attending this meeting, I want to thank you for your kind attention. There's nothing else on the Board, on the agenda, and this meeting is declared closed. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]