L'Air Liquide S.A. (AI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'm delighted as the Chairperson of the Board of your group to welcome you here to Palais des Congrès and to be able to have this direct discussion with you during the course of our general meeting. First of all, I would like to thank 2 shareholders, [ Nathalie ] and [ Guilliom ] who agreed to take part in filming the short introductory video that we have just shown, and I think they're with us in the hall. Many thanks to you. We will take your time not only to share with you Air Liquide strategy, but we will also be answering your questions during the question-and-answer session we'll be having a bit later. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish a warm welcome to those of you and many of you who are joining us for the first time as individual shareholders, and I would like to thank you all for your display trust in us. This general meeting 2023 is the first that we are holding since we set up our new governance structure, and this has been fully satisfactory as reflected in the performance for 2022. François Jackow, the CEO appointed last June, will be taking the floor later on to tell you about the achievements of the past 12 months. I would like -- now like to greet all of the members of the Board of the Directors. I have, to my right, Xavier Huillard, who's the Lead Director; and to my right, François Jackow, who is the CEO as well as to my right, Madam Fatima Tighlaline; and Mr. Philippe Dubrulle. Directors representing employees, Madam Geneviève Berger, Madam Kim Ann Mink and Madam Siân Herbert-Jones. And to my left, Madam Annette Winkler, Mr. Aiman Ezzat, Mr. Bertrand Dumazy and Madam Monica de Virgiliis. You are gathered here for the combined shareholders meeting as convened in the BLO dated March 20, 2023, and announced in the official bulletin of announcement on the same day. All holders of registered shares as well as the statutory auditors have been duly convened to this general meeting. And over -- I don't have the figure in front of me. 456 shareholders holding 937,035 shares, who are already either present or duly represented. And these discussions are being broadcast live on the group's website. And I would like to welcome all those of you who are connected through the webcast. This event is open to other persons than shareholders, namely journalists who may be in the room. I recall that it is forbidden to film or to transmit footage of the meeting without the company's authorization. You have a tablet and the functioning of this will be explained a little bit later. We will now set up the AGM bureau. As the Chairperson of the Board, I will be Chair of the Bureau, and I recommend as scrutineers, Madam Frédérique Dubreuil representing Amundi and Mr. [indiscernible]. They are the 2 members of the meeting holding the largest number of votes, and they are sitting here in the front row. With the agreement of the scrutineers, Mr. Thibault Delorme, who is the legal first Director of the group sitting in front row will be the secretary. We have now set up the bureau. The agenda has been published, and you can see it displayed behind me on the screen. Therefore, as I was saying, from the attendance sheet, we have 456 shareholders holding 937,035 shares who are present or duly represented. 78,061 shareholders holding 301,174,593 shares are voted by correspondence, either by postal ballot or through the Internet. The total number of shareholders are the present or represented or who voted by correspondents, therefore, stands at 78,517,000 shareholders for a total of 302,111,628 shares out of 521,885,865 shares with voting rights, that is 57.89% of shares. And I recall that each hold 1 vote. The general meeting with over quarter of these shares. Therefore, with voting rights means that we have achieved the quorum, and I declare the general meeting open. The agenda, which has been published is displayed on the screen. All the documents required under current regulations has been submitted to the bureau. Furthermore, all the preliminary documents have been made available to the shareholders at the head office via the shareholder department and also on the website of the group. No shareholder has requested the inscription of new agenda items or draft resolutions. Economic and Social Committee has received in timely manner of communication, the documents and information submitted to the general meeting. It has not used its voting right regarding the addition of draft resolutions to the agenda. As is the case each year, I suggest in order to save time for this discussion that we do not read out the reports of the Board, the main elements of which will be presented hereafter. In preparing for this general meeting, we have conducted a survey with over 4,600 shareholders who responded, and I would like to thank them for doing so. This was extremely useful in order to establish the topics that you wish to see discussed. And the outlook for 2023 and our hydrogen activities were the key subjects cited. I will then present the strategic framework with a brief overview of the global situation and simplifications for our group. I will then present the strategic framework with its implications for the group. François Jackow will present the strategy progress on environmental and social matters as well as the outlook for 2023. I will then continue with governments, and then I will give the floor to Xavier Huillard, Chair of the Remuneration Committee. And finally, the statutory auditors will summarize their reports. We will then go on to the question-and-answer session, which we wanted to give more time for in order to be able to have a proper discussion and debate with the room that you will be able to take the floor live. And for those of you who so wish, you can, from now and until 4:00 p.m., send your questions by text message to the number, which you see display on the sidewalls of the room, which is also on your part. This method respects your wish for anonymity. And then we will close the general meeting with vote on the resolutions using the tablet that was given to you when you sign the attendance sheet. And I will now hand over to Jérôme Pelletan. Jérôme, over to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, in 2022, your group posted extremely robust results, both financial and extra financial. This performance is all the more remarkable that the -- since the environment was very complex. It was marked by the conflicts in Ukraine, the sanitary situation in China, which led to an acceleration in the rise of energy prices. Regarding financial results, I will emphasize 4 points. First of all, the strong growth in sales, then a significant increase in the operating margin and then continuing high level of investment decisions and the continued strengthening of our balance sheet. In 2022, we posted record sales of almost EUR 13 billion. This is up strongly by plus 28% as published and plus 7% on a comparable basis, excluding the energy impact. The rise in energy prices, in particular, natural gas is contractually reinforced to our large industry clients in 2022. This contributed to plus 25 -- by plus 15% of the increase in our published sales, in particular in Europe. The Gas & Services activity, which accounts for 95% of our sales, was up plus 6% on a comparable basis. All of our major geographies are up. First and foremost, the Americas and Asia Pacific, which posted respective increases of plus 10% and plus 7%. Regarding the businesses, Electronics and Industrial Merchant were particularly robust. Regarding our other businesses, the consolidated sales of Engineering & Construction were up plus 21% in 2022. The order intake was for third-party clients and for the needs of the group, that's in excess of EUR 1 billion for the second year in a row. They are driven, in particular, by projects in the energy transition, electronics and large industry. Regarding Global Markets & Technologies, sales were up plus 26%. They are underpinned by the increase in the biomethane business. The operating income recurring was up again by plus 70 basis points, excluding the energy effect. At EUR 4.9 billion, the operating income recurring is up strongly on a comparable basis by plus 10.5%. This increase in the margin is due to several factors. First of all, adapted the pricing policy in the Industrial Merchant business in order to deal with inflation. Next, with efficiencies which stood at almost EUR 380 million in 2022, which is an excellent result given the challenging economic environment, which made it more difficult to achieve savings on procurement. And finally, the dynamic management of the asset portfolio with 7 disposals and 20 additional further acquisitions in 2022. The strong increase in revenue and the further improvements in the margin enabled an increase of plus 17.3%, excluding currency impacts of net profit recurring, which stood at EUR 3.2 billion. Furthermore, the balance sheet was further strengthened. The cash flow, up plus 10%, excluding currency impact, enabled us to continue to reduce our debt load, while financing our investments and our dividend payout. Regarding value sharing on which we have had questions, I emphasize that the amount paid out to our employees, including salaries, but also profit sharing and other items are over 3x above that of dividends. The net debt to equity ratio of the group stands at 42% versus 48% at the end of 2021. And finally, the return on capital employed stands at 10.3%. It is ahead by the objective set of 1 year early as part of our strategic advice plan. Our cash level has enabled us to finance all of our investments. Our investment decisions were particularly robust in 2022, posting a record level of EUR 4 billion. Furthermore, the portfolio of opportunities on a 12-month basis stood at EUR 3.3 billion at the end of 2022. It is underpinned to the tune of 40% by projects linked to the energy transition. Furthermore, the performance communicated a few days ago on first quarter 2023, confirms this excellent trend, which is up by 6.2% on a comparable basis. Moving on now to extra financial performance, which is an integral part of our ADVANCE strategic plan. This plan includes a reduction of minus 33% of our CO2 emissions in absolute terms on scopes 1 and 2 by 2035 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Emission reduction trajectory by 2035 has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative as being consistent with climate science. Against this backdrop, we maintain our ambition to start the decrease by 2025 of our CO2 emissions in absolute terms. In 2022, for the second consecutive year, these emissions remained stable against the backdrop of strong growth. I recall that our decarbonization strategy is based on 3 main drivers: First of all, the decarbonization of our industrial assets through our efficiency drive and new technologies such as electrolysis. Next, the supply of low-carbon energy, which led in 2022 to securing 350 megawatts of renewable power. Finally, the deployment of innovative technologies for carbon capture. Air Liquide's commitment to sustainable development goes well beyond climate objectives. The social and societal dimensions are part and parcel of our road map. The group has thus committed for its employees, be it in terms of safety, gender equality or social coverage. First of all, on safety. This is an absolute priority for an industrial group such as Air Liquide. In 2022, we reduced workplace accidents with work days lost by 11%. Next, gender equality. This involves increasing number of women amongst our engineers and executives. It stands at 31.5% versus 26% in 2012. We're aiming for 35% by 2025. Finally, the establishment of a common social security coverage, 42% of our 67,100 employees around the world now have this with a goal of 100% of employees covered by 2025. This includes health insurance coverage, life insurance and paid maternity leave for 14 weeks. Your group has also committed more broadly to society as a whole, in particular, through the Access Oxygen program. Through this program, 1.8 million persons now have facilitated access to medical oxygen in low and to medium-income countries. To summarize, notwithstanding a complex changing environment, Air Liquide has posted very robust results in 2022. The group has thus launched its ADVANCE strategic plan on an excellent base, both in financial and extra financial terms. For 2023, Air Liquide is therefore confident in its ability to further increase its operating margin and to achieve net profit recurring at constant exchange rates. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you, Jérôme, for this presentation of the financial and nonfinancial results. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, a year ago, we implemented a new mode of management. The head of the group throughout the year, Francois and I have shared our assessments, our points of vigilance, our strengths, our weaknesses and our vision to ensure perfect strategic continuity for the group. We are therefore fully fit for purpose, and I welcome that year after year, your group has displayed great resilience with both steady and solid performance as Jérôme Pelletan, our Chief Financial office has just demonstrated that. Once again, I'd like to repeat here once again with conviction that the term performance means comprehensive performance and covers all the financial, environmental, societal and governance criteria. These criteria inextricably linked. And because the attainment of such a level of performance is never an accident, I'd like, on behalf of the Board to first and foremost, thank all the Air Liquide employees wherever they are in the world, our collective success is the fruit of the collective ability to meet the challenges and to project themselves forward and I congratulate them for their work and commitment particularly at the present time. Let's now go back briefly over the global context to analyze some of the implications for our group into stress -- strengths to adapt with success. It's a fact the global context for a number of years now is of growing indeed unprecedented complexity. Why unprecedented? It's true the complexity of the world isn't a new development we've already addressed it here. But when we recall the highlights of the past year, we can see a development fundamentally different from that. We have seen these past few years. Indeed, the world is no longer facing up to successive, but concomitant tensions constitute a web that's difficult to untangle. We have, first of all, the climate change. We see the effects on a daily basis, the price of energy almost double. Inflation effect is seem all conflicted at our doorstep after a difficult period of the global pandemic. All these developments have profound, but interconnected repercussions geopolitically, economically and for our societies to return to global stability and prosperity will require comprehensive solutions and adopt a systemic approach, be it for growth, resource and wealth management, social situations or geopolitical balance. To achieve that, we will probably have to accept a long-term approach, which for a group such as ours means anticipating and continuing to act with a long-term vision. The history of Air Liquide more than 100 years old is marked by external events, sometimes series of periods of external tension as well as periods of prosperity, but we've always been able to overcome them, find the road to success and these episodes have, by way of virtue, prompting us to consider, analyze the situations differently. We've learned the lessons that are necessary. We've adapted to become even more resilient. Analyze means tangibly addressing the implications of these tensions of Air Liquide. So I'm going to take 3 examples that have a direct impact on our clients and patients and thereby change radically their expectations in respect to the group. Firstly, there are the energy and climate challenges. Today, short-term competitiveness of businesses depends in large part on their supply chain on the goods management of their consumption levels, energy prices long term to reduce their carbon emissions. In other words, issues of energy conservation and efficiency become priority for our clients and changes their expectations that strategy and highlight solutions that the group can bring through oxygen, hydrogen or CO2, but we always realize that this is transforming our relationship with them over the long term. Second example of the impact of the global context on the group, the geopolitical context. And of course, I must begin with our situation in Russia. We've initiated a process of total divestment by offering a buyout of the subsidiary by our local management teams through a management buyout. Given the strategic dimension of our activities for the Russian industry, this process is now subject to the approval of the highest level of the authorities in the Russian states. So this process is still pending. But geopolitical situation has its implications on the global economy. The strong commercial tensions between the U.S. and China has multiple impacts on supply chains, customs duties, the balance use of currencies and investment flows on national territories, notably in sectors viewed as strategic. Sovereignty has, so to speak, superseded openness, and it's important for us to adapt our activity in our investments, take counter changes in the political context of countries where we ourselves and our clients operate. Lastly, a word on health. In a post-COVID context, weakening of health care systems such as the lack of medical care have a direct impact on the quality of life and needs of our patients, be it in the hospital or in the home. And against this backdrop, there are higher expectations for your group to develop new approaches for home care that are both personal, more digital and better respond to current needs. Now all these changes are not necessarily simple and straightforward. But as you know, we've learned to navigate [ chilly winds ] and we remain very confident because we believe in progress, resolutely turn to the future by focusing on opportunities and then risk and relying on our strengths that are unique, will be able to stay the course. I said last year that we felt ready for the world of tomorrow. I'd like to return now to our strengths to invent the future. These strengths, these assets to address the challenges of the world. What are they? Well, assets, first and foremost, structural underpin our growth model, a portfolio of business and markets that are highly diversified, allow us to absorb fluctuations and bounce back in the event of a sectoral crisis and then a balanced geographical distribution. Our footprint is both global and on each territory means that we can adapt our offering to local needs and then long-term contracts where we have mutual commitments with our clients, assure the solidity and guarantee recurring cash flows. It's this unique model of resilience that has always allowed us throughout history to face up to all situation. And once again, it is this model in 2022 that sustained the remarkable performance of the past year. So fundamentally, it is the bedrock of confidence for the years ahead. Second, strengths, our ability to anticipate and be in tune with markets. Rapid anticipation and changes in markets require that we constantly track the underlying trends as well as the signals that come from our clients and our patients, but also society as a whole. Who would have thought a few years back that mobility would have been so radically upended that the internal combustion engine would have been almost banned in less than a decade and replaced by the electric engine that we would be short of natural gas, even electricity, that oxygen and respirators would become so critical to face up to a coronavirus pandemic on a global scale. The digital technology would be so important in commerce and interpersonal relations that capture technologies of CO2 would find markets so swiftly that our precursor gases would be so essential to future generations of semiconductors and the scarce resources would be the subject of such tensions and sovereignty challenges. Examples are many in number, and in fact, the whole world because we operate, hence forth in an environment that's totally interconnected. We've developed this ability to identify and anticipate that I would describe as both broad and deep. Thanks to innovation and proximity with our clients everywhere we're present. We are rooted locally in each territory, and we serve a great many sectors. All these factors that are specific to us act as antenna and conduits for current and future needs as well as social barometers. These trends are often not generated but heightened by crisis. So to anticipate that is a key driver for resistance and resilience in your group. Third strength, our business that means that we are particularly positioned -- well positioned to address current challenges with the economic with a very robust balance sheet and access to growing markets, we're fortunate to be able to absorb shocks and protect our stakeholders, recurring cash flows and innovation, guarantee of long-term stability and then sovereignty challenges because our activity is local diversified, and we successfully master our supply chains. Climate challenges also as the world must, at all cost, decarbonize and we've developed solutions to capture carbonate, incorporate it and sequestration change. Similarly, we supply hydrogen necessary to the transformation of industrial processes. Lastly, societal challenges in a world where citizens require that businesses have meaning an impact who better than Air Liquide can provide both to its stakeholders, starting with its shareholders and its employees. Lastly, our fourth strength. That's absolutely fundamental. It's a long-term strategic vision. As you know, our investments in our major industrial projects are over several decades lifespan. They require both the far-reaching vision and decisions taken well ahead of time. And our CO2 targets are a perfect illustration of that. Our ambition, let me remind you, is to become a neutral by 2050 and our obligation to deliver requires that we act as of now, and Francois will show you that later so that we can meet our commitments. Our initiatives comprise the electrification of our plants that are not already electrified, the capture and sequestration of carbon emitted by a hydrogen plant by renewable path, the design of plants of low energy production, the use of low-emission fuels for our transportation, the reduction of energy consumption for our buildings. As you can see, there's a lot to be done, including in-house. And of course, we're acting to develop hydrogen to promote as of now low carbon and renewable hydrogen is absolutely key to prepare for a decarbonized world. It's a genuine shift, which must be implemented collectively. It is now that the conditions of an open dynamic market must be put in place so that hydrogen can find its place in the energy mix so that we can avoid the emission of 6 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050 and that if 20% of global energy is consumed in the form of hydrogen, as you know, Air Liquide on this field is a pioneer to the point that what is, but an intention for some is already a reality for us today. It's our Becancour electrolyzer of 20 megawatts in Canada that's the largest currently operating in the world. Closer to home in Normandy, we're developing an electrolyzer with a capacity of 200 megawatts, that is 10x bigger with this and I want to stress this, the full support of France and Europe. It's also -- thanks to you, our shareholders, who have been supporting us for a long time on this subject that we've been able to preserve our lead. I'd like to share with you an illustration through this video. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I begin my presentation by mentioning unprecedented complexity. I'd like to conclude it by saying that in spite of everything, I remain confident in the future, confident in our markets and our resilience, confidence in our ability to decipher the world and to act globally. Our plan ADVANCE is the most recent illustration of that, also confident in our ability to adapt, to contribute to addressing the major challenges and to remain determinedly and step with our time confident. Lastly, in the talents of the group's employees who, at your side, our shareholders, is continuing the great Air Liquide venture on a daily basis. There are many of you now, over 750 individual shareholders, to demonstrate your trust and confidence to us to collectively hold 35% of Air Liquide's share capital more than ever. It is, therefore, your group. The very good financial performance delivered in 2022 as the Board to propose to you this year a dividend of EUR 2.95 per share in respect of FY 2022. That's an increase of 12.2% over last year, taking into account the allocation of free shares of June 2022. The ex-date for the dividend will be the 15th of May and paid on the May 17, 2023. Lastly, I'd like to thank you very sincerely for your support and loyalty that compels us. Thanks to you that we can move forward in an event every day a sustainable future, rest assured of our full commitment to continue on the path to success. And I'd now like to hand over to our Chief Executive, Francois Jackow, who will go back at the implementation of ADVANCE strategic plan. I'd ask you to give him a warm welcome. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm particularly happy to have this opportunity to have an exchange with you, our shareholders for my first Air Liquide general meeting as Chief Executive Officer. I joined the group in 1993. So it's 30 years during which I've been able to fully appreciate your loyalty, your trust, which have been absolutely decisive. And Benoit, I would like to thank you personally for your support, and with every day, I see just how valuable that support is. Shareholders, I can well imagine that you have legitimate questions. Questions on our ability to invent or reinvent the future in a world, which, as Benoit has recalled, is a world of many growing crises, questions on our level of resistance to geopolitical upheaval, and questions finally on our ability to maintain the investments planned under the ADVANCE plan. In dealing with these questions, I would like to share with you my deep belief, which is that our group is contributing specific solutions in order to invent now the world of tomorrow, contributing to inventing the future in all strategic key areas for the future of our society. Inventing the future means responding and rising to the challenges of today. 2022 will have strengthened us by validating the pertinence of the ADVANCE plan. 2022 was a year during which we maintained our investments, notwithstanding the upheaval in the world a year, which strengthened the resilience of our business model. Inventing the future also means building on new opportunities, new markets with a dual ambition for our group, which is to combine financial and extra financial performance, also to contribute positively to the transformation of the world and to lend meaning to our actions. Inventing the future, finally, is a call on all of us to act for all and to share the value that we create. And with you, our shareholders, with our clients, with the group and with society and with our employees, these unbelievable talents that are unfortunate to manage and whose commitment has never failed. And I would like to thank them very warmly indeed. Strengthening the resilience of our model, building on opportunities, acting for all. These are 3 strategic pillars, which put us resolutely on the path of the future. Let's start off with our resilience model, which has been reinforced with the ADVANCE plan. Benoit recalled earlier, the strength of the Air Liquide's model. With the launch of ADVANCE in 2022, we have further strengthened it. Indeed, the results presented by Jérôme Pelletan bear this out. Not only is our strategy more pertinent than ever, but above all, the strategic direction taken before these upheavals have been accelerated by the global context. Here are a few examples. First of all, energy prices. We have set up tools and training for all of our commercial teams. And through this, we have been able to absorb over EUR 3.6 billion of increase in energy prices. Another example is operational efficiencies. Against a backdrop of inflation, our teams have been exemplary in the mobilization and negotiating with all of our suppliers. They've also been able to depend on 400 artificial intelligence projects throughout the group. These examples illustrate our ability to deliver the expected results. And furthermore, notwithstanding the context, we have continued to prepare for the future. For example, through the energy transition, in 2022 alone, we have signed 7 major projects with groups such as [indiscernible] Siemens Energy and Toyota. And 2022 was a record year in terms of investments. I recall that by 2025 for the ADVANCE plan, we have committed to EUR 16 billion of investment decisions. We have already decided on EUR 4 billion, which proves that the trajectory has not suffered any delay in 2022. ADVANCE has therefore enabled us, as Benoit says, to look far ahead and to act now. In other words, to combine a clear strategy and the required agility in the present environment. I'm very happy to see that this momentum was confirmed by the results for the first quarter of 2023 that we have just published with an increase of 6.2% in revenue in excess of market expectations. And as I mentioned previously, this performance is global. It's financial and extra financial. As you have seen, I'm sure, this requirement you will have seen in Jerome's presentation, it's a requirement, which has been driven by somebody whom I wish to warmly comment here today because it's her last day with us. And I'm referring, of course, to Fabienne Lecorvaisier. You know her well since she was the CFO of the group for almost 10 years before heading up sustainable development with the same energy and passion in the results that we're all familiar with. And I wish to thank her here very warmly and to wish her every success for her future endeavors. Thank you so much, Fabienne. Now as you know, an important component of our environmental strategy is to reduce our direct carbon emissions, which we call Scope 1; and the indirect emissions, which we call Scope 2, for example, those which arise from the carbon content of the electricity that we use. But we want to go further. And we, Air Liquide is the first company in this sector to make a commitment seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of all of our production chain over, which is Scope 3. And finally, because the protection of the planet does not stop with carbon, with stepping up our efforts in terms of biodiversity, and we are developing new standards in order to ensure responsible management and consumption of water. Now I cannot talk about performance and resilience without, of course, talking about client satisfaction. This indeed is what ensures our continued development. In 2022, like each year, we listen to our clients and we had over 100,000 feedbacks from our clients. To summarize, here's what they're telling us. They're telling us that they set great store by the relationship that we have established with them. They emphasize, in particular, our professionalism and our responsiveness. They also tell us that our group in 2022 contributed even more to the implementation of their environmental objectives, in particular, through the quality and the variety of the solutions that we provide. And they tell us finally that our employees are exemplary in terms of ethical behavior, responsible behavior as well as complying with safety rules. And that's why we are fully confident in our strategic plan and in our ability to rise to the challenges that lie ahead. Now I suggest that we talk about -- I would like to talk about our second pillar, which is building on opportunities in order to invent the future. The first opportunity to invent the future, which indeed is a global priority, is decarbonization. Now everybody is talking about this, very few people explain it, and fewer still act in a concrete manner. For us, decarbonization is not a fashion. It's at the heart of our strategy in 2 ways. Firstly, because with the ADVANCE plan, we have set ourselves a demanding ambitious climate strategy with the goal of pursuing profitable growth, while reaching carbon neutrality in 2015. Next, because we are accompanying through our solutions, our clients in their decarbonization trajectories. Put simply, our goal is to become a climate solutions champion. How will we do this? Well, by offering a whole range of solutions ranging from energy efficiency to the transformation of our clients' processes, by hydrogen, CO2 capture, but -- as well as oxygen and biomethane. But rather than making a long speech, I'll let you see this in pictures. [Presentation]

In terms of decarbonization, 2022 was a very successful year for the group with projects of which we can all be proud. And I'm referring, in particular, to the signing of renewable electricity procurement contracts for the largest oxygen production site in the world with our client, Sasol, in South Africa and also a company in France, where we have teamed up with TotalEnergies in order to decarbonize the production of air fuel as well as the oxycombustion contracts, which subsequently we've signed with Verallia for glass production and the one signed with Constellium for recycling of aluminum. In a world which awaits pertinent concrete and long-term solution, this is a whole visitor of new opportunities, which is opening up for us and which is becoming global. Beyond Europe, which has got things going, I'm referring in particular to the United States as well as Asia and the Middle East, which have also committed to decarbonization. The second opportunity for inventing the future is in health care. This applies, in particular, to home health care, where we're accompanying almost 2 million patients who are suffering from chronic diseases. In 2022, we deployed new digital tools in order to improve the care provided to these patients. And the patients and doctors tell us what makes the difference here is our approach, which is focused on the quality of life, added value and innovation, which are provided to the patients. And this is done at the best possible cost for health care systems. The third opportunity for inventing the future is in Electronics. 2022 was for Air Liquide, a record year in terms of investment in Electronics. We have exceeded EUR 1 billion in signed contracts. This momentum was particularly evident in Asia as well as the United States and Europe. And there, again, our capacity to innovate, which is firmly established in all the regions where we have a presence is a major asset. And I could continue for -- at length on other opportunities developed by our teams, be it on quantum computers or electric batteries. But I would leave it at that because I want to keep a few surprises for next year. Well, shareholders, rest assured that these opportunities all have 1 point in common, which is lending, meaning to all of our actions that's contributing to collective progress. This is the third pillar of our strategy, acting for all. As you will have understood, the ultimate goal of our actions is to move the head together in order to advance for the benefit of all. This is a fundamental dimension of ADVANCE to which we are deeply committed and to which I personally committed. Indeed, we are, by our very nature, a useful company who's businesses contribute to all sectors of the economy. This essential feature is both an honor and a duty for us. It's sharing the value created, which lends meaning to our performance. And this sharing runs through to all of our stakeholders for our 3.9 million clients for whom our solutions help in making them more -- providing better results and decarbonating the business for our 67,100 employees as well as their families for you, close to 750,000 shareholders for whom growth in the dividend and the share portfolio is the reward for your loyalty. And finally, for society at large, since looking beyond our role as an economic player, our foundation support scientific research and the communities where we operate 60 new projects for access to jobs have been funded by the foundation in 3 years, be it for young people or for people on reinsertion. And of course, I cannot conclude the speech without talking about what we -- the foundation is doing for Ukraine. We have been able to support 40 projects for 60,000 Ukrainian refugees through the foundation, but also through the generosity of 1,200 donors, both shareholders and employees. Some of them are here with us today. I would like to thank you very warmly because that's what Air Liquide is about to, acting for all to build together a more sustainable, more inclusive, more human world, acting together with all our stakeholders, and here's the proof of that. [Presentation]

As you would have understood, the appeal within the world has reaffirmed and strengthened the strategy of the group, which is better prepared and more pertinent than ever in order to rise to future challenges. I hope that as shareholders, you are as proud as we are with Benoit, with the Board, the Executive Committee, with all of our teams to be contributing to inventing the future. Yes, we are inventing the future by making ourselves increasingly useful by delivering concrete solutions and by resolutely taking our full part in the positive transformation of tomorrow's world. You may depend on my determination and on that of our team's determination to go ahead confidently and with energy and on the road that we have set out. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Francois. And I'd now like to turn to the key points of the corporate governance report issued by your Board. Let's start with a short video on the composition of the Board and the work undertaken throughout the year 2022. [Presentation]

Following today's general meeting, the terms of office of 2 directors will expire. Those are the terms of be Siân Herbert-Jones and Geneviève Berger. Siân Herbert-Jones expressed her wish not to solicit the renewal of her term. The Board has noted that. We'd like to address, too, on behalf of the Board, our sincere thanks, too, for her contribution throughout her 12 years of service to the work at the Board. We'd like to thank her for very strong commitment within the Audit and Accounts Committee, which has been a member since 2013, in which she has been chairing since May 2015. Geneviève Berger also expressed her wish not to seek the renewal of the term of her office. The Board noted that. We'd like to extend, too, on behalf of the Board, a warmest thanks to her for contribution to the work at the Board since 2015. We'd also like to thank her for her participation of the Environment and Society Committee of which she's been a member since its inception in 2017. Resolutions 5, 6, 7 and 8 cover the proposed appointment of 4 new directors for a 4-year term. Catherine Guillouard, Christina Law, Alexis Perakis-Valat and Michael Thaman. At its meeting held on the 15th of February 2023, our Board appointed provisionally, Monica de Virgiliis to replace Anette Bronder. The latter left her duties on the 3rd of January this year when she took up an executive position with an audit firm that's incompatible with her remaining in office. And so you're asking the ninth resolution to ratify the cooptation of Monica de Virgiliis as Director for the duration of the term of office of Anette Bronder that remains to run that's up until the AGM 2024. Catherine Guillouard, Christina Law, Alexis Perakis-Valat, Michael Thaman and Monica de Virgiliis will now introduce themselves in this short video. [Presentation]

I'm truly honored to be nominated to join the Board of Air Liquide. I'm particularly inspired by the company's corporate value and growth model, which combines financial performance and sustainable development. I'll be thrilled to join this journey of actively contributing to building a better and more sustainable world. I have more than 25 years of executive leadership experience across geographies in the consumer sector with a number of long-standing multinational companies as well as independent Board Director experience with leaders in health care and business education. I believe I can bring unique strategic insights from the consumer and health care industries, a deep understanding of the rapidly evolving digital and innovation landscape and I will provide a global perspective, particularly from Asia Pacific and across emerging markets. I'm eager to work with the Board and executive team to help achieve the company's vision and ambition and to deliver against expectations of the shareholders and society at large. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Mike Thaman. I'm the Former Chair and CEO of Owens Corning. Owens Corning is a leading global building materials company operating in over 30 countries. During my 28-year career at Owens Corning, I had the opportunity to work with our customers and visit our operations around the world, including living and working in Belgium for 2 years. One of my proud as achievements was our leadership on sustainability. We began our sustainability journey over 15 years ago and have established a strong track record for both transparency and reporting and the achievement of aggressive science-based goals. I believe that I can bring relevant experience having worked in the global industrial markets. As a business leader, I understand the constant need to stay competitive, while always striving to create a better future. I'm honored to be considered by the shareholders for the opportunity to serve on the Air Liquide Board. In addition to my 18 years of service to the Owens Corning Board, I bring nearly 2 decades of additional public company experience at Air Liquide. I'm appreciative of the potential opportunity to serve this wonderful company. Thank you.

So after today's general meeting and subject to the approval by the meeting of Resolutions 5 to 9, your Board of Directors will be comprised of 14 members, comprising 6 women, 5 elected by the general meeting and 5 members of foreign nationality. This composition reflects diversity and experience, expertise and culture served by the Board. Turning now to the composition of committees, the Board had met today -- before today's meeting decided to make the following appointments within the Audit and Accounts Committee: Catherine Guillouar as Chair and Bertrand Dumazy as member; for the Environment and Society Committee, Monica de Virgiliis as a member. These appointments will comes into force after today's general meeting, subject to the approval of the resolutions proposed regarding the composition of the Board of Directors. I'll now hand over to Xavier Huillard, Chair of the Remuneration Committee, who will present to you the resolutions pertaining to the remuneration of executive officers.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. Your meeting is invited this year to vote on 7 resolutions pertaining to the remuneration of executive officers. Firstly, the 11th resolution concerns the remuneration paid in 2022 or awarded in respect to 2022 to Benoît Potier, your Chairman and Chief Executive, for the period of 1st of January to 31st of May 2022. In accordance with the policy, you approved last year, this remuneration comprised an annual fixed portion of EUR 1,325,000, stable since 2018, calculated, of course, on a pro rata basis that's an amount of EUR 552,083 and a variable portion also pro rata of EUR 921,979, reflecting the excellent financial performance of the company in 2022 and the full attainment of qualitative targets, the Board considered as excellence the performance of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, both in terms of corporate social responsibility with notably the launch of the action plans linked to the advance plan as well as that of the organization and human resources with work held on the governance and preparing his successions and the launch of initiatives aimed at reaching the human resource targets of the advanced plan. I also like to stress the excellent individual performance of Benoit Potier in a pretty contrasted global context. Short-term remuneration 2022 remains almost stable versus 2021 on an annualized basis in accordance with provisions of the AFEP-MEDEF Code, Benoit Potier did not benefit from the allocation of performance shares in 2022. The 12th resolution concerns the remuneration paid in 2022 or awarded in respect to 2022 to your Chief Executive Officer, François Jackow, for the period 1st of June through 31st December 2022. In accordance with previously approved policy, this remuneration comprises an annual fixed portion of EUR 1.1 million calculated in a pro rata basis at EUR 641,667 and a variable portion pro rata EUR 912,450, reflecting the quality of performance of financial criteria as well as qualitative. As with Benoit Potier, the financial criteria, the variable portion all achieved beyond maximum as regards to qualitative criteria. The Board viewed as very good performance of your executive, both in terms of CSR as well as organization and human resources were, in particular, noted the acceleration of actions put in place retaining CSR target, the talent development policy and the development of action plans in favor of diversity and inclusion. I'd also like to underscore the remarkable individual performance of François Jackow. When he took up his duties in the previously mentioned complex environment, displayed strong commitment and expressed his gratefulness to team's remuneration, lastly, comprises an allocation of performance shares for an IFRS value of EUR 961,965 for the period 1st of June to 31st of December 2022. Thirteenth resolution concerns, remuneration paid in 2022 or awarded in respect to 2022 for the Chairman for the Board for the period 1st of June to 31st of December 2022. In accordance with the policy previously approved, remuneration comprised an annual fixed portion of EUR 800,000, calculated pro rata for EUR 466,667. Your Chairman benefits from no variable remuneration or exceptional long-term remuneration. The 14th resolution, you're asked to vote comprehensively on the remuneration of all executive officers as well as nonexecutive directors. Amongst the information supply, you find the annualized remuneration of your executive as compared to the average and median remuneration of employees of the company. And since last year, with the average remunerations of the employees of the group in France, the ratio for your executive is shown on the screen. The remaining information is available on Pages 206 and 207 of the Universal Registration Document. The remuneration of nonexecutive directors set in accordance with the policy 2022 as part of the unchanged package of EUR 1.3 million that you approved in 2020, is to be found on Pages 208, 209 of the Universal Registration Document. You're asked to vote also on the remuneration policy through Resolutions 15 to 17, and it's set out on Pages 227 to 236 of the Universal Registration Document. In general and structural terms, the remuneration of the executives is in continuity with that approved by the AGM of 2022. The financial criteria, the annual various portion are based on the growth in EPS and revenue, personal criteria and corporate CSR organization as well as human resources targets. The performance conditions applicable to performance shares linked to the ROCE, return on capital employed, total shareholder return on environmental criteria aligned on the target to reduce CO2 emissions in absolute terms in accordance with the group's climate targets. These criteria reflect the group's strategy combining as was set out lens in the videos, both financial as well as nonfinancial performance on this basis. The remuneration policy of François Jackow is in continuity with that of 2022. It's put to you through 15th resolution and provides for an annual fixed remuneration of EUR 1.1 million, the target variable portion equal to 120% of the fixed part and limited to 150% of said fixed part and allocation -- annual allocation of a long-term incentive of the order of EUR 1.650 billion. François Jackow will not receive any remuneration. As a Director, François will continue to benefit from the supplementary retirement schemes put in place by your company and also to benefit in the same terms as those approved by the AGM last year of a termination allowance and an allowance in return for a noncompete commitment. Then you're invited in the 16th resolution to vote on Benoit Potier's remuneration policy as Chairman of the Board. This policy is identical to that approved last year. And he will receive a base remuneration of EUR 800,000 with no variable remuneration, either long term or exceptional that would be awarded to it or any remuneration to him as a Board member. Lastly, the directors' remuneration policy is the subject of the 17th resolution. It's also similar to that approved last year. The variable remuneration is preponderant and is based on the actual participation of each director meetings. Additional remuneration is paid to the Lead Director and Committee Chairs. This policy also promotes attendance and actual participation of directors at the work of your Board and its various committees. The package of EUR 1.3 million that you approved in 2020 remains unchanged. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Xavier. Let's now turn to the report of the statutory auditors.

Thank you, Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. On behalf of the statutory auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, I'm delighted to report on the independent mission that you have entrusted us with. Our reports on 2022 are to be found in the convening notice to this general meeting as well as in the 2022 Universal Registration Document. We have submitted 7 reports to you. Reports on the annual and consolidated financial statements, a report on related party agreements and full report on share capital transactions. We have also published a report that is not accompanied by resolution at this general meeting. This is the report on the consolidated extra financial performance of the group. All right. I am also proposing, as is customary at this general meeting, to present the highlights of our reports. First of all, our report on the annual financial statements of the company to be found on Pages 335 to 337 of the Universal Registration Document. As part of our diligence, we considered the assessment of equity shares as a key point of our audit. We can certify that the annual financial statements are faithful and accurate under French Accounting Rules and Principles and provide an accurate reflection of the business over the past year and of the financial position and situation of the company at the 31st of December 2022. Our second report is on the consolidated financial statements to be found on Pages 318 to 321 of the Universal Registration Document. Our work on the consolidated financial statements are intended to provide the assurance that the accounts do not include any significant anomalies. Our global auditing approach is suited to the businesses and the various activities of the group as well as its organizational structure. Our report on the consolidated financial statement emphasizes the key points that are representative of what we have considered to be the most sensitive areas in our opinion, 2 of this concerns, the financial industries business. First of all, the qualification of the contracts and modalities for recognizing the revenue, next the amortization period for the production assets and the evaluation of the retrievable value. Finally, our third point in the audit has involved the implementation of goodwill depreciation test. The Audit Committee and the Board of your company were kept regularly informed of our work. In concluding, we are able to deliver an unqualified opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the group for 2022, which are presented and are being submitted under resolution #2. We have also ensured that the management report included the consolidated extra financial performance declaration for your company. This extra financial declaration includes the reporting duties, which are mandatory under the European taxonomy. Our third report is on the related party agreements, to be found on Page 464 of the Universal Registration Document. We were not informing any new convention or related party agreement in 2022. The related party agreement on the life insurance contract for Mr. Benoit Potier, which has already been approved by the general meeting -- previous general meeting continued during the past year. And finally, for the extraordinary general meeting of this combined general meeting, you have the related -- reports related to share capital transactions, to be found on Pages 465 to 468. And these are covered by Resolutions 18 to 22, authorizing transactions that may have an impact on the equity capital of your company, namely through capital reduction, capital increase through the issuance of securities with preferential subscription rights or securities providing extra rights -- access to the share capital, while maintaining preferential subscription rights and capital increase reserved for employees. These reports do not include any particular comments or observations, and we will draw up additional reports where in the event that the Board of Directors uses the delegations of authority. Chairman, shareholders, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you. So this marks the end of the presentation. So we'll now move on to the questions and answer session.

Each shareholder has the right to preserve his or her anonymity and to protect his image and, therefore, shareholders who do not wish to appear on the films shown on the Internet, will avoid introducing themselves when they ask their question. I recall before we open the discussion on how this was -- during the session, you may ask your questions directly by requesting the floor, bearing in mind that we have gathered your questions by text message or through cloud. Now consistent with legal provisions and, I mean, the answers from the Board to written questions before the general meeting be published on the group website and in order to allow as much time as possible to the discussions with the shareholders in the room, I propose that we do not take them up here again. What you should note that these questions, there were more than 20 of them, mainly covered the climate targets of the group and the hydrogen goals as well as social, societal responsibility and the fiscal responsibility and lobbying. The Board's answers, therefore, are available on the website under the General Meeting section. So we will move on. We will start with questions that are asked. All in, we will analyze the SMS. So we'll start off with S.

I have several questions. First of all, the increase in Total's involvement in the oil fields in Qatar. Are you going to increase this pro rata for hydrogen? I'd like to know whether technically speaking and economically speaking, it would be possible through electrolysis to operate and, alternatively, depending on the cost of electricity, which varies on a daily basis and even on an hourly basis for that matter. And last question. In the agreement with Siemens, as always, with the Germans, the industrial part is going to be -- there are 3 questions there.

I'll ask François to take the first question on Qatar, and I'll take the following question. François?

Well, your question can serve the natural gas field of Qatar. These are sources of helium for us. So now we're not in the natural gas business, as you know, but some very specific sources of helium have natural gas. Some contained helium in low quantities, less than 1%, very often, even a fraction of 1%. And this enables us to extract with Air Liquide technology helium that we then supply globally to our clients either for medical research purposes, for medical imaging, for example, or for the electronics sector. Now the resources acquired of helium are quite limited. Qatar is one of those major sources. And we have, in particular, the United States, historically, Algeria is one of those sources for our part. Our main sources are in Qatar. And in the United States, at present, we are looking at a capacity increase in Qatar. Not specifically what has just been announced with Total because it's the joint venture company with the local players, Qatar Petroleum, which could provide the quantities of helium that we would need to purify for our own business. Now we're looking at this, yes. But in actual fact, nothing has yet been done or decided upon for this new source that Total is going to be putting into production.

Thank you very much, François. Now your second question on hydrogen. Now in technical and economic terms, can we efficiently use electrolysis and other sources as an alternative depending, if I understood correctly, on the availability of renewable electric power. And does this make sense in cost terms?

Now in actual fact, the technologies, which are used for electrolysis are diverse. We have alkaline technologies, which are basic technologies. They're pretty robust, which have been in existence for a long time. And which usually are technologies, which do -- are not subjected to rapid fluctuations. So these are technologies, which should be used as a basis for electricity supply. Now the Mn technologies, Mn proton is much more flexible technology, which can produce hydrogen as soon as there is power. That's the technology that we would use in order to connect it to the renewable network for power production in general. And this brings me to Siemens Energy. Siemens -- our agreement with Siemens is a technological agreement for industrializing the technology depends membrane exchange with protons. This is what we're going to be manufacturing. We have been very careful from the outset with Siemens to probably allocate the industrial part, the manufacturing of the electrolysis between Germany and France. Not that, that's necessarily ideal, but we have drawn on our respective strengths, so the manufacturing of the modules, which is Siemens' know-how and then the assembly of the module, which is in France, and it will be spread between both countries. It's a Frankfurt, German and European initiative. And with Siemens, I think we have very constructive discussions in order to implement this agreement. So in response to the 100% industrialization in Germany, I don't think that will happen. I think we're on a sound footing here. And I'll take the second question, which is on water.

I represent the national association of French shareholders. A question regarding situation in China, the country is opening up again. Could you tell us a bit about 2022 and the outlook in 2023?

Thank you for your question. So you going to the COVID management situation in China, we had, well, a whole period during which sales were limited, volumes down the economic activity with -- in China was lower. So we lost that growth driver. Business was running, though we had not significant growth as we had at previous years. The good news that was last year, there was a shift on the zero COVID policy. And since the Chinese new year has past, business is picking up again in China. So there's reason to believe that business volumes will be up in 2023. François; said a couple of words about performance in the first quarter. We're already seeing a slight improvement on volumes in China, so we can expect things to recover. Thank you for your question. I'm going to take a question further up on the back of the hall. Next question, please.

I'd like to know why -- what is working at Sasol has not expanded and developed elsewhere in the -- what's working well at Sasol isn't working throughout the world.

Well, we're not quite sure of the point you're referring to of what works well because there are great many things that work well at Sasol. So Sasol, we have largest oxygen production that gasifies coal to transform into chemicals and petroleum. The originality of what we do is we propose to buy out the oxygen production side. Once again, the largest in the world. We didn't stop there. And we conclude an agreement with the client in order to have a decarbonization pathway extremely aggressive because the target is to reduce CO2 emissions by 30%, 40% linked to oxygen production. You know that oxygen doesn't produce any CO2. But the power, the electricity you buy emit CO2 if -- to manufacture electricity use, fossil fuels covers the case in South Africa in the majority because that's the resource they use. So we've committed with the client to change the way in which the units operate in there. We bring all our know-how in terms of efficiency for a year now. We've managed to reduce the consumption because overall, we operate the plants better with technology and know-how. What we've done is that we've launched tenders to have developers who develop wind farms and PV farms so as to produce renewable power that will drive the oxygen unit. About 500 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity to be installed to decarbonized sites. So it's a great industrial success because it's our core business on a long-term contract, a 15-year contract, but it's also fully aligned with our net zero strategy is pretty unique in the world, bringing together the skills of Air Liquide and the determination of a client to go in that direction. We haven't found any other clients who wanted to commit so aggressively to that. With a number of sites that are similar in China, if we find similar opportunities. And of course, we'll look at them.

Let's take the next question over there on the left.

I've got several questions. So 13% of revenue health worldwide, 23% in very few revenue in health compared to total revenue in Asia and Africa is compared to America. And you said Mr. Jackow that China wasn't at all ready to allow us to establish ourselves in that. Has it changed? Given the aging of the Chinese population, that's happening very soon. India is one of the key targets for health care.

Second question, Air Liquide plans to produce biomethane. As Air Liquide going to buy biomethane in very large quantities, gray hydrogen. Gray hydrogen by Air Liquide emits very little CO2, which would give us a price that is stable over time. So we could have long-term contracts with a hydrogen price pretty much locked in so as to counter the fact that methane currently is constantly fluctuating, even if sale prices by large industry is passed through the -- even if prices have passed through to the client, still having stable price is an appreciable advantage for sales.

Third question. Revenue that you're presenting for Mr. -- are they gross co-employment, the income figure and ditto for the income of the average median employees? Is it growth? Is it co-pay, co-employer? And then fourth question. Perhaps I suggest we stop after the fourth, the mutual fund. so employees are enrolled in a mutual fund. If you allowed the possibility for these employees to vote on the fund so as to give a view on the resolutions that you're putting to the vote and is that taken into the account and the vote of these employee mutual funds?

So a wide range of questions. François, would you like to address the first on health care, and I'll tell the others.

Yes, sir. I'll be brief through quite a few questions. So health care, in fact, represents around 50%, 70% of the group as the other activities largely benefited from the increase in price -- energy prices. We didn't have so much in proportion for health care. So revenues continued to rise. Other activities grew faster. Health care, 70% in Europe, both for medical gases and oxygen, but also health in the home. And in Europe, it's growing strongly across geographies, in particular, home health care. You mentioned Africa and Asia that are small regions in terms of revenue. We see clearly that we're looking at long-term trends here because I mentioned China last year, as you pointed out and structurally, China has a hospital organization such that many local players who don't really focus on medical oxygen. It's almost industrial oxygen. We offer the medical oxygen with all the service because, unfortunately, owing to COVID, we were heavily solicited to provide large quantities of medical oxygen. It was a rather cyclical structural change towards medical oxygen for hospitals, will take time. There's another area that's growing that I also mentioned, which is home health care. We did a number of pilots. Some have concluded very positively now. The system sees the benefits and realize all the benefits, both for patients and launch these new models in China. We're in talks with the authorities, but we're really at the beginning of the process. For Africa, just a word, the health system there is rather underdeveloped. We're working across 2 areas, initially to try and develop our health care and the home activity. We made a few acquisitions in South Africa this year in order to develop home health care in the country, and that's pretty promising given the needs that are present. The other aspect is small and the margins of our traditional activity, over 50% of people don't have access to medical oxygen, that we're trying to find new models in order to work with health care centers for example, in Senegal or other West African countries. We have pilots underway to give access to medical oxygen through new units, about 1.8 million people today have access through new models to medical oxygen, thanks to these initiatives. So as you see, development still a lot to do, though.

On biomethane, as you know, we're in this business through our technology. We have the ability to transform biogas into biomethane. Biomethane has the value and it's injected into the network and we are buyers, but we buy what we need in the production mix of hydrogen using methane. So we can buy certain quantities of biomethane, not necessarily huge quantities. That was your question. But in this respect, we produce if we use biomethane, not gray hydrogen, but we manufacture renewable hydrogen using the European definition since biomethane is considered to be renewable energy. So it's not gray hydrogen. And the fact that we can roll this over time. There's no fixed price, but biomethane is expensive. It's sort of set price, but it's expensive. So that has to be based on the purchasing strategy depending on cost and biomethane obviously makes a positive contribution. Yes, we will have it, but we'll have relatively limited quantities, and this is more in an environmental approach rather than cost strategy. Now remuneration with all the figures are gross clearly. So everything that you have that you see as remuneration presented ratios, gross figures. In other words, they do not include the employer charges, but they will include those charges included in the gross and which produces the net -- the FCP, the funds, the employees don't have a voting right on this, the fund manager that has the voting right. But the employees can choose the investment vehicle, which is very diversified in the employees, of course, take part in the choice -- in the choice of funds because there are salaries, there are employees on the Board of these fronts. So those are the answers to your 4 questions. I'll take question O and then we'll go perhaps a bit further up in the hall.

Chair. I'm from the Individual Shareholders Association. First of all, congratulations on managing such a significant increase in the number of individual shareholders, which has risen from 0.5 million to 750,000. And next year, I'm sure you'll reach 1 million. Now my 3 questions, if I may. First, what is the share of executive officers bonus is included in the climate challenges. Is it going to increase significantly in the [indiscernible], who is the founding partner of Chapter 0 France. Next question on 550,000 shares, representing less than 0.11% of the equity capital. Why was this done? What is your share buyback policy, given that the state now has decided to tax these buybacks. Next, you've signed several partnerships with Total Energy in South Africa. Total Energy has set up a joint venture held in equal shares to develop hydrogen station network for heavy goods vehicles on the main European highways, Air Liquide and Total Energy has signed a long-term contract in the context of reconversion in biorefineries in major sites of Total Energy in order to produce low-carbon renewable energies. First, where do we stand with all these partnerships? And next, the growing number of partnerships with Total Energy. Does this auger the establishment of a dedicated subsidiary?

Thank you, sir, and thank you for congratulating us on the number of individual shareholders, and I'm sure that this will really touch with our shareholder relations department. We'll be very touched by your compliment and congratulations. What is the share of the remuneration, which is dedicated to climate? Well, put simply, it's 10% to 15%. When you look at the executive officers, look at the CEO or if you look at all the teams, which have a variable share in their remuneration with -- where we have issues reflected namely on society and governance issues. Could we increase it? Well, yes, of course. It's the management team and the Board who both decide on an annual basis on the percentage on the recommendation of the management team, of course. So we have the ability to increase it. I don't think it will go down over time. I think on the contrary, it may go up, but in any event, it will be done in stages and provided we identified very specific programs for the group. So 10% to 15% with a potential increase lying ahead regarding share buybacks, 550,000 shares. Our policy has always been the same. We don't buy shares in order to give money back to the shareholders, we prefer emphasizing our dividend policy. We have EUR 1.5 billion, which are being paid out through dividends to our shareholder base. Share buybacks to offset dilution, namely through the capital increases reserved for employees and long-term incentives which are adjustments in other words, in order to any dilution of shareholder remuneration. This hasn't changed. It's the same policy for Total Energy. I think you referred to some recent events. And I'll hand over to Francois to make some comments on this.

Yes. Thank you, sir. Well, Total Energy is a major player in energy is very facet. So this covers various aspects. We have Total Energy as a supplier of Air Liquide, and you referred to South Africa where Total Energy is one of the players that will provide us with renewable energy, and we'll invest in new wind farms, photovoltaic sites. So we selected 3 partners. Total has part of this supply, not all of it. So Total Energy has a supply. Of course, Total Energy has declined in the group's history, and you mentioned [indiscernible], which is an innovative contract because we can use products or subproducts from the biorefinery in order to supply our hydrogen unit, which will provide biohydrogen and CO2. So through these capacities, we're able to roll out contract, which is very suited to large industries over 15 years in Total Energy is our client. And finally, you referred to filling stations partnerships. We have a joint venture in order to set up a network of filling stations for heavy goods vehicles in some European countries. And this is the partnership between 2 players in order to established infrastructure. Hydrogen, as Benoit has discussed this at length. And it's our job here in order to develop hydrogen, we can see clearly that no single player has all the answers. So this is very complementary between us. And we've spoken, you referred to Total Energy, but there are other groups in the energy area where we have these various facets. And I think this is all that what is happening with the energy transition, whereby some players can be clients, suppliers, sometimes competitors. And we have to learn how to handle all this. We have to be able to create value and invent the future with them. And for Total Energy, as such, this does not mean that we're going to move towards a subsidiary because these activities, as you can see, are diverse.

Thank you very much Francois. I'll take another question, but I'd just like to be sure that I have a question coming from the other side. This is a general meeting, so I already had to be able to ask questions. So the next 2 questions will move to the other side. So question V, if I may. Yes, good afternoon, Madam. I'm delighted that lady is asking a question.

As earlier, I'd like to say thank you for this fine performance, growing number of shareholders. I've got 2 questions for you. On your climate pledges, looking through 2050, what's the probability of you having 100% renewable energy sort, as you said very well, you're a pioneer, a path finder while just making do with carbon neutrality? Then I have a question for your -- as a woman, why only 42% women are now 50% of your board because there were renewals. Thank you.