Publicis Groupe S.A. (PUB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. We'll wait until everyone has found a seat. I'd like to say that we're very pleased together with Elisabeth Badinter, Maurice Levy and Board members to welcome you to our shareholders' meeting. It's my first time as Chairman of this meeting, and to be frank, it's not the sort of exercise that I most ease with. I'm very used to Maurice doing all the work. He did that very well. I hope I'll do it to best of my ability without any glitches. Let's start, Honorary Chairman. I'll get on the way. It's not easy to have him sitting next to me. I can go opposite now, insisted to have you at my side. He said, right, I won't come now, he's here and he can stay. So Madam Elisabeth Badinter and Madam Sophie Dulac, to kindly be scrutineers. We appoint Madame Celine Fronval, legal counsel, as Meeting Secretary. Madam [indiscernible] will second her in the second room. Shareholders in Room 2 will be able to follow all proceedings, ask questions and vote without moving. The meeting is streamed live and will be available on the group's website. The agenda is shown on screen. Meeting is open. Over to Madam Celine Fronval.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. The attendance sheet shows that shareholders present, represented or voting by correspondent. So 209,826,000 shares out of the 252,102,000 making up the share capital with voting rights with 229,290,000 votes. Consequently, the meeting has reached a quorum of the 1/5 of shares with voting rights for the ordinary meeting, that's 50,420,000 shares and 1/4 of shares with voting rights for the extraordinary general meeting, 63,025,000 shares. The meeting can take valid decisions, both for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary meetings. The resolutions are shown on screen. All the documents prescribed by law, notably articles L. 225-115 and R. 225-83 and following of the Code de commerce are placed on the desk of the meeting. We thank you for your presence today. We remind you that the gift is for our shareholders who make the effort of coming to attend the meeting. It will be given to each shareholder at the end of the meeting. That's it from me, Chairman.

Dear shareholders, I'd like to begin by thanking the Board for its trust, in particular, our Vice Chairman, Madame Badinter, but also Honorary Chair, Maurice Levy, with whom we formed a tandem for now 8 years. A big thank you to our clients and shareholders as well as to our teams for their remarkable efforts. I'll return to that later. As usual, I won't read all the documents that are already available. You will find all the information on the management report and the corporate governance report and the universal registration document for 2004 (sic) [ 2024 ]. In 2004 (sic) [ 2024 ], you were many to approve the new Publicis governance structure with a Board instead of a Supervisory Board and a Management Board. Three key measures guarantee the balance of this new governance, the maintenance of the function of Vice Chair for Madam Elisabeth Badinter, the creation of a Lead Independent Director function occupied by Mr. Andre Kudelski, reorganization of Board committees to better follow risks and strategy. The Board is now supported by four committees: the Audit and Financial Risk Committee, Nominations Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Committee for Strategy, Environment and Social stemming from the merger of the Strategy and Risk Committee and the ESG Committee. The chairs of these committees will present their reports in due course. Your Board numbers: 13 directors, 2 representative employees, 45% women, 64% independent members and 73% of foreign nationals. The work undertaken by the Supervisory Board between the 1st of January and 29th of May 2004 (sic) [ 2024 ] summarized on screen. Between the 29th of May and 31st of December 2024, the Board met four times to review the parent company, consolidated financials accounts, strategy, M&A and governance issues. The Board was informed of progress on the climate transition, use of renewable energy in the process for appointing a new sustainability auditor, reviewed the anticorruption program, the implementation of a vigilance plan. In February 2025, the Board approved the parent consolidated financials for 2024, having been informed of the view of the Audit Committee on financial risk. I'll return in greater detail the results of 2024. The Board is proposing the approval of a distribution of a dividend of EUR 3.60 per share for FY 2024 as against EUR 3.40 for FY 2023 dividend to be paid in cash. We invite you to approve all the resolutions, put your vote. That completes the key points of the Board report. Now at the moment, you're all waiting for, the message of our Honorary Chair, Mr. Maurice Levy.

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, dear Arthur. I have to say, firstly, I'm very pleased to see you all again. It's great to be with you and I'm honored to be with you, and it's rather strange to be sitting at this table, whereas I'm nobody, I have no role on the Board and even less of an operational role. My place should have been somewhere in the room, perhaps in the back row. But both Arthur Sadoun and Elisabeth Badinter wanted me to be sat at top table. I'd tell you that as a measure of esteem and friendship and the expression of the fact that the tandem that has been so fruitful is working for the company. 2024 marked by several important milestones, I'll note three. The legal transformation. For 37 years, the company operated very successfully according to the dual formula of a joint stock company with a Management Board and Supervisory Board. Having chaired the Management Board for 30 years, firstly, with Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, the founder; then Elisabeth Badinter, his daughter, chairing the Supervisory Board, and then I was Chair of the Board, with Arthur chairing the Management Board, I know more than anyone, how much the relationship between the chairs of the two bodies is a key success factor. I also know through the example that we see in other company, how difficult it is to create this chemistry. And I know all about the damage caused by disagreements at the top. That's why one of the legal transformation of the company, combining the functions of Chair and CEO in a single pair of hands, that of Arthur Sadoun, and we learn, as you'll see later, Arthur wanted our close cooperation to continue in the form of this tandem that was formed in 2017. Once again, I have to say it has worked remarkably well up until now. The second key factor, the company's performance. Some might feel a bit kind of jaded because it's sort of a repetition of the same story with records being beaten. Others may consider that it's a good habit to get into. I have to say that the work to be done every year, once again at every pitch, every presentation to each of our clients, it's very difficult painstaking work that must be constantly repeated. It's never easy and it's never a given. We're not manufacturing yogurts on a production line. Our work, which is strategic, created, technological, requires the human factor and constant unstinting efforts of all the people in the company without exception. It's the performance of a -- it's fruit of tireless work of all the teams like an Olympic competition with a difference. The Olympic competition, it's held every 4 years. For us, it's every day. The third key factor is that Publicis has become #1 worldwide. Why don't you applaud? Well, yes, #1 worldwide. He did it. I dreamt of it, he delivered it. And even if the title will soon be taken from us with the merger of Omnicom and IPP (sic) [ IPG ], it is a mammoth performance. A French company, born in Paris in 1926 founded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, a company born in a country that was almost public though becoming the world's #1 is a colossal performance. And Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet would never have dreamed of that, a company that has values and continues to build on those values. I noted these three facts because they are now intertwined and have in common, the values of the company, a continuity and the leadership of the company and an outstanding leader in the person of our Chairman, Chief Executive, Arthur Sadoun, whom I congratulate and thank warmly and publicly, in private, that's another matter, says Arthur. But we must now continue on this pathway. And now all that's left is to do the job, move fast, to get back to work and win new projects. Thank you.

Thanks very much, Maurice. I'll now present 2024 and the outlook for 2025. Let's begin with the highlights for 2024. We went through a new year in 2024 with an uncertain macro context, high interest rates, continued geopolitical conflict, the U.S. elections and news flow daily and AI, I'm sure we'll discuss that in Q&A. Great opportunities, risk and all this had an impact, of course, on our industry. But first and foremost, our clients made '24 once again a very uncertain year. In this content, Maurice said, so I had a visual with Groundhog Day, I don't know if you remember the movie, repetition every day. We had a record year in '21, '22, '23, got a another record year in '24. Just take a look at the numbers. Number one. Thank you, Suzan. We're #1 organic growth; #1 operating margin; #1 new business; #1 in ESG. And if we dive deeper to get back to work with our clients, Maurice said. Dive deeper in numbers, organic growth, you see the gap widening. We're at 5.8% in '24 when our peers are way behind it, thanks to what we call our revenue mix with media, Connected Media, 70%, high single-digit growth creation, very good mid-single digit. We managed to have combined production and doing Intelligent Creativity, slight dip of Publicis Sapient technology consultants suffering today, slight decline, #1 organic growth for the sixth consecutive year. #1 operating margin, as you can see, margin 18%, 230 basis points better than the average of our three other peers whilst investing and rewarding our talent. Maurice mentioned our values. We're a company that puts our people at the heart of things. We're able to increase our employees by 6.5% or 5% bonus pool, very able remuneration, best in market. When Publicis grows, our shareholders grow as well as our people and share the success we had last year. #1 in new business. For us, quite honestly, for people who work daily on our clients, it's the key figure, net new business. That's what we have won minus what we've lost. Your company is #1 in terms of wins, also in retention. That's key for the group. And lastly, ranked #1 in the industry and ESG for the fifth consecutive year by five leading rating agencies, and let's take a look at a film that summarizes all our actions.

[Foreign Language] 99 years after it was founded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Publicis is delivering financial, nonfinancial performance. We're #1 ahead of our peers in ESG rating for 5 years now. We want to make the difference in three areas: environment, social equity, health. Our environmental aligned with the Paris requirements. In its sector, Publicis has the reduction of reducing its carbon footprint by 2030, 2040 validated by SBTi. In '24, our progression in renewables reached 75%, ahead of the 100% target set for 2030. Thanks for our tools such as A.L.I.C.E, e-Footprint and anti-greenwashing AI, we can support our clients in their climate transition. Communication makes change desirable. Mandatory training on sustainability is in place, and we're rolling out the NIBI, No Impact for Big Impact, with our clients. We have a conviction, which is that each of our 110,000 employees have to be treated on equal footing in the company. We have offered the same opportunities for all. We have a pioneering program over the past 15 years, Publicis Track in France. With our MRCL platform, our talents have access to the best training schemes in order to be able to have full control of the future arising from AI. We are a strong defender of gender parity. Women's Forum has -- will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2025 in Paris. This international forum dedicated to gender equality with companies, governments, universities and associations. We have also set ourselves the goal of having 46% of women in 2025 at the group's key management positions. And we have other associations for dialogue open to all. In worldwide, one out of two people will be affected by cancer. We have to change our approach. A serious illness, is an ordeal. And the -- we have to erase the taboo associated with cancer. All companies are being invited to join in this approach. In 3 years, 3,000 companies have joined Working with Cancer, representing 26 million employees around the world. Publicis has made four commitments to those affected to secure support, provide support. Company in 2025, the Screening Time Off initiative encourages early screening. In a few weeks, we've already seen an increase of 20% in screening test, saving lives. Publicis making difference is growing the company differently with positive points for both the company and for employees.

Thank you. All this work has enabled us to clearly outperform the French market. 23% in 2024 with the CAC40 down slightly. Looking at the competition, we have outperformed vis-a-vis Omnicom and Interpublic. And with Maurice, we said we would dwell for a minute on what -- all that has been done since the pandemic, the results that we have achieved. Stepping back, looking at our results since 2019, you see that our total shareholder return is up 185%. Headline diluted EPS, up 45%, operating margin, 52%, dividend per share, 213%, and total shareholder return coming out at 185%. As Maurice was saying, 2024 is a rather special year for us because Publicis has become the leading communications group in the world. All the teams are very proud of this. And quite frankly, it's not just size that counts when you're #1. We're all big enough to be able to serve our clients. But when you look at a small advertising agency established by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet 99 years ago in Montmartre, which is now the world's leading advertising agency, it's a matter of pride for all. And this is what we expressed when we gave our new year greetings. We can skip the music, I think. But Maurice said, I dreamed of this, he did it. Well, it's all the work actually that Maurice has done over the years to transform the group, all the very bold bets that he made that would not always immediately recognize. But it was with his pioneering spirit that we took risks, that we became market leaders and today, we're very happy. We're very aware also of the difficulties to get there, even if we may not remain #1 for long, we will keep that pioneering spirit, that spirit of leadership. Thank you so much, Maurice, for everything, for all of that. I think that your future is being an influencer, I think, Maurice. So financial results. Our net income came out at EUR 14 billion, up 5.8% in organic terms, 6.6% on a published basis. Operating margin came out at EUR 2.5 billion, up 6.6%. Free cash flow, before variation in the WCR, continued to grow to EUR 1.8 billion compared to EUR 1.5 billion in 2023. 2024 was marked by a step-up in our acquisition policy, which led to a small increase in our net average debt load, which came out at EUR 585 million. Our operating margin remained at a record level of 18% in '24, and it's the highest in our sector. We've achieved this new historical performance while continuing to invest in our talent with almost 5,000 net recruitments, the bonus package, which is the highest in the industry and a significant investment of EUR 100 million in AI. The group once again has demonstrated its capacity to generate an excellent free cash flow in excess of EUR 1.8 billion in 2024, up almost EUR 300 million on 2023. Further, through a very strict control over payments, WCR variation remained under control, notwithstanding the sustained growth in our business. As I said earlier, we have stepped up our targeted acquisition policy, which now stands at almost EUR 900 million, taking into account earn-outs of EUR 300 million. And finally, after dividends and share buybacks for a total amount of over EUR 1 billion, our net cash position was down slightly by EUR 134 million in 2024. As you can see, against a challenging macroeconomic environment, our financial situation is very robust, including the impact of 2024 acquisitions. Our average net debt came out at EUR 585 million, up approximately EUR 150 million. At the end of the year, our net cash position came out at EUR 775 million versus EUR 909 million in 2023. Therefore, both of the main rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, confirmed our credit rating at the beginning of this year. Through these excellent results for 2024, we are recommending a dividend payout of EUR 3.60 per share this year, which is an increase of 5.9% on 2023, and that is up 80% since 2020. With a payout rate of 49.3%, this is the highest in the industry, and we have decided this year, once again, to pay the whole of the dividend in cash. We have thus defined equity capital allocation policy for 2025 as follows: EUR 900 million to EUR 950 million in dividends paid out in cash; a share buyback program of approximately EUR 150 million to cover the share allocation program for our staff; and as targeted, acquisition amount of EUR 800 million to EUR 900 million, the ambition being to strengthen our expertise in data, digital transformation and new media. We've been very active during the first months of 2024, with acquisitions of Lotame in data, BR Media in the influencer marketing and Atomic 212° in the digital media in Australia for a total of approximately EUR 500 million. This allocation policy, which has been Publicis' policy for many years, created value for shareholders as can be seen with the total yield of almost [ 190% ] since the 1st of January '21, in excess of 20% per year. And what is even more important than our financial outperformance in 2024 is that we made -- produced significant creative ideas for our clients. We want to share one example with you, which was for our long-standing client, AXA, which has one very big strength, which is serving the business, having an impact on society. And AXA really plays a role in people's life and let's have a look at that.

A man was accused of killing his wife at home, a woman found drowned in her bath. The home is the most dangerous place for women, a quote from Time Magazine. Often we ask women, why did you stay? I stayed because I didn't have any money. I had no where to go. I didn't have access to any financial resources. There are many reasons for -- that prevent women from leaving, some reasons where we can act. AXA is the leading insurer in France is modifying its home insurance policies. These contracts enable rehousing when home becomes uninhabitable after a fire or flooding. And AXA has added domestic violence. Three words, helping women to emerge. This insurance company now guarantees to its companies who have suffered domestic violence to be rehoused. AXA is launching an insurance policy for women who are victims of domestic violence. 118, this can help women greatly. I wish I could have had that 20 years ago when I needed it. When a woman calls a help line, she's immediately rehoused. Transportation is provided to take out to a safe place with her children. And women have free psychological, legal, financial help in order to come up with long-term solutions. These, even if the contract is not in your name, you have access to the help. This clause has been added to the 2.5 million home insurance policies, and they're all back dated. Being rehoused was really a decompression chamber. I don't know how to live again.

Thank you very much. Yes, we had it once. That's enough. Thank you. One important thing which makes us very happy. The Cannes Festival are -- for Cannes Festival, there's the advertising festival. Publicis Conseil, created by the founder 99 years ago, has been named the best advertising agency of the year. And so this has been achieved through major clients, major clients like AXA and Renault. And it's an agency that [indiscernible] has run for decades. And Agathe Bousquet, Marco Venturelli and their teams made this major achievement. So Agathe, Marco, thank you so much for that, for that brilliant achievement. And we can't say more, but we won one wonderful thing this morning. We're very happy. So the morning has got off to a very good start. I can't tell you much more for the time being. Briefly, the first quarter of 2025 and the outlook. Well, we're off for a new record year. We've had an excellent start to the year, organic growth close to 5% and the good news continues. And we're very confident for the rest of the year given the performance in the first quarter. We had two winning pitches, very significant. So we're able to absorb any shock in this very difficult environment. And we're able to confirm our objectives for 2025. We expect organic growth to stand between 4% to 5% after a very, very good first quarter. Would do our very best to get as close as possible to 5%, a slight improvement in operating margin and free cash flow between EUR 1.9 billion and EUR 2 billion. And what is interesting here is that we are widening the gap with the competition. We don't have any restructuring to do. We don't have any mergers to do. We can focus on our clients and make sure that they have the best products, the best service. And we have organic growth in the first quarter of close to 5% versus a decline of 1% on average with our competitors. We expect growth of 4% to 5% for the whole of the year, whereas for the rest of the sector, be close to 0 and while keeping our leadership in operating margin terms. The reasons for this, well, it's everything that we've done to build a unique business model in the market, which now enables us to provide exactly what our clients need in a very difficult environment. That's why you see the gap widening with the competition. And we have the best data brand. And this enables us to engage with 95% (sic) [ 91% ] of adult internauts around the world. We have the most powerful ecosystem of connected media. Everything that you see, this enables us to optimize the marketing budgets of our clients. We've reinvented creation -- creativity. We have a production infrastructure, which is unique. It limits waste. And finally, we have the technology to build the infrastructure of the future and ensure that our customers can durably establish marketing models arising from AI. And the last reason why we're so confident, and we'd like to convey this even more strongly, we have an absolutely exceptional team everywhere around the world. You have no idea, the level of commitment of all the people who work for your group around the world. The momentum we have at present is exceptional in a very difficult environment. It's remarkable. I want to thank them for all the efforts, results, commitment, everything that they do every single day. Thank you very much. I hope I haven't been too long, and I will now hand over to Mr. Andre Kudelski, who will report on his activity as the Lead Director. Andre, over to you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was designated as the reference Director on the 29th of May 2024 on the recommendation of the Nomination Committee. My mission is to contribute to the balance of governance and make sure that we are talking to the right people in order to complete our mission, which is why I talked several times with the CEO, the Vice President of the Board and the Honored Chairman of the Board. I also had several meetings in September 2024 to make sure that the executive was aligned -- the executive strategy was aligned with the Board's intentions. For 2024, I associated -- I was associated to the establishment of the agendas of every meeting of the Board and to the scrutiny processes of the Board for 2024. This was done under my supervision. There were individual interviews with the administrators that wanted to undergo these interviews. Third point, there is no conflict of interest within the Board. Fourth point, an executive session took place with independent administrators only. Its main conclusions were made available to the entire Board on the 27th of November 2024. Point five, the dynamic of the Board and the relationships between the Board and the Executive Committee are open and are of a nature to guarantee the sustainability of the group in the long run. And I give the floor back to the Chairman of the Board.

And now I give the floor to Jean Charest, who will present the activity of the Audit committee. Jean has just served a 12-year term. He will no longer chair the Audit and Financial Risk Committee. This committee will now be chaired by Tom Glocer. With Elisabeth Badinter, Maurice Levy and all the members of the Board, we want to thank Jean Charest very sincerely for his professionalism, his efficiency as well as the humor he always brought to the Board, whilst guaranteeing he was always working in the most rigorous and serious manner.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Badinter, Maurice. Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the members of the Audit Committee who actively participated in the activities for many, many years and who did it in a very serious manner. Our exchanges were very productive. I would like to also thank the executives, the General Secretary, the financial teams, the internal and external auditors for their collaboration, which were always very professional and always of a very high standing. I -- finally, I want to assure you that with Tom Glocer, the committee is in good hands. Dear shareholders, the Audit Committee, the Audit and Financial Risk Committee met 6 times during 2024. The composition of the committee has not changed. There are five members; Ms. Suzan LeVine, Mr. Tom Glocer, the new Chairman; Andre Kudelski, Tidjane Thiam and myself. The committee is also assisted by an expert, the next CFO, Mr Jean-Michel Etienne, on which -- on whose expertise, we rely because of his experience and good judgment. The committee examined the consolidated and corporate accounts of the group and reviewed the accounting methodology and analyzed the cash situation of the group. The committee made sure that the statutory auditors were independent and that they undertook their missions properly. The committee has reviewed and authorized payment for extra missions that were given to the statutory auditors. The statutory auditors have presented their methodology, their audit scope and the details of their works to the committee. The main contentious point are a few in numbers and a few in scope given the size of the group but are reviewed at each meeting. The committee is informed of every inquiry and request for information where relevant. The committee has informed the Board of the results on the procedures for the evaluation of past conventions of Publicis Groupe. Concerning current operations concluded under normal conditions, the committee has followed the evolution of the level of internal control for finance and accounting in the group. This system relies on a self-scrutiny process, a quarterly process and on dedicated teams who test the effectiveness of key controls on a regular basis. The global evaluation presented to the committee has concluded that the level of control is satisfying for 2024. Internal audit of the group was undertaken within the scope of the 2024 audit plan and has exceeded its goals. The committee has approved the internal audit plan for 2025. The implementation of the recommendations from the internal audit is being supervised at the highest level with a lot of attention given to it. In April of 2025, certification of the internal audit department obtained since 2017 was reconfirmed by the French Audit Institute, which also supervises internal control. It confirms the quality of internal controls at Publicis, and the committee congratulates itself upon that. The committee is regularly informed by alerts, frauds and fraud attempts that the group is made aware of. A synthesis of anticorruption controls is presented twice a year within the scope of the Sapin 2 Law. No confirmed case of corruption has been revealed. The -- your committee reviewed risk that could have a financial impact and reviewed our liabilities outside of the balance sheet, has also mapped the risks of corruption for 2024. Finally, we reviewed the mapping of environmental, social and governance risks for the group, a work which we have done jointly with the Strategy, Environmental and Social Committee, and we have started working on the corporate sustainability reporting directive within the group with the presentation of the results of the double materiality matrix when it comes to the most significant impacts, risks and opportunities. The committee also participated in the work to name a sustainability auditor. Throughout the year, the committee has reported to the Board about its missions. Thank you very much for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, Jean. Before we give the floor to Antonella to introduce the work of the Compensation Committee, which she chairs, we want to thank Andre for all his work as a Chair of the Compensation Committee for 6 years before he became a reference Board member. Antonella, we thank you for taking over for Andre and we listen to your presentation for this 2024 committee.

Thank you, dear Chairman. I am glad to be the Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee since May of last year. I will guarantee you with the committee that decisions are taken in a just and transparent manner in agreement with the interest of the group and its stakeholders. The committee contains four members, three members of which are independent: Ms. Patricia Velay-Borrini, Mr. Tom Glocer and Andre Kudelski and myself. The committee is helped by Michel Cicurel as an expert. In 2024, the Compensation Committee held six meetings with a 100% attendancy rate. The work of the committee is described in the Universal Recording Document (sic) [ Universal Registration Document ] 2024. I would like to remind you this morning that the core elements are available to enlighten resolutions that are put before the assembly. Following the change in governance of 2024 and to anticipate the nomination of new Board members and maybe the increase of the amount of meetings of the Board, it is proposed to increase the yearly envelope for compensation of Board members from EUR 1.5 million to EUR 1.7 million. The structure of compensation of administrators would remain the same. For 2025, the structure and the compensation for Mr. Arthur Sadoun does not change. However, to account for the fact that the geopolitical context, especially in the U.S., has changed and to take into account the excellent results already obtained the RC criteria concerning his early variable compensation have been adapted. The overperformance only pertain to financial criteria. Furthermore, given the shares for performance given to some employees of the group in 2025, the criteria for performance, the scope of this criteria have been broadened to a larger reference group in order to reflect reorganization in our industry. Concerning the compensation of the Chairman of the Board -- of the Supervisory Board who's mandated -- whose mandate ended on the 29th of May 2024, in accordance with the compensation policy, the compensation of Mr. Maurice Levy for 2024 is EUR 541,667. You will also have to vote on the compensation of the Chairman and CEO and members of the Board for 2024, which is founded on demanding criteria, which were fixed in advance and which pertain to the scope of responsibility of each member. The committee has very carefully evaluated the goals that Mr. Arthur Sadoun had to accomplish and has made the following recommendations to allow the Board to conclude on the total compensation package for Mr. Sadoun. The organic growth criteria for revenue -- for group revenue was over -- for Publicis has exceeded every internal expectation in terms of growth. For operating margin, we have also exceeded our goal. For corporate social responsibility, the maximum goals for diversity, equity and inclusion and fight against climate change have all been met. Given the exceptional performance of the group in 2024 and given the remarkable quality of the work of Mr. Arthur Sadoun, the Board proposes to compensate him for the maximum amount of his variable yearly compensation. Concerning the other members of the Board who's mandate ended on the 29th of May 2029, the fact that almost all goals have been met during 2024 would allow them to receive for Ms. Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner a 100% -- a 106% of her target variable compensation and concerning Mr. Loris Nold, a 119% of his target variable compensation. Mr. Michel-Alain Proch will not receive any variable yearly compensation for 2024 in accordance with the compensation policy. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Antonella. Ms. Marie-Josee Kravis is unfortunately held in the U.S. due to prior engagements, but she recorded a video to give a report for the ESG -- for the CSR Committee, which she is the Chairwoman of. We would like to thank Suzan LeVine, who was the Chairwoman of the CSR Committee for 3 years, and Marie-Josee, who is a Chairwoman for the Strategy and Risk Committee in 2024. I'd like to thank them for all the work they've done. Now let's watch the video.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear shareholders, the Strategic, Environmental and Social Committee, which I chair, is actually a merger of the CSR and Strategy and Risk Committee of the group. This is to clarify the role of the committee of the Board within the framework of the new governance. The committee has a majority of independent members with Ms. Sophie Dulac, Antonella Mei-Pochtler, Mr. Simon Badinter, Tom Glocer, Pierre Penicaud and Mr. Tidjane Thiam. The committee met once in 2024. The Strategy and Risk Committee also met one time. The committee is in charge of examining every aspect of the group's strategy, including its environmental and social commitments. In 2024, the committee scrutinized the action plans by the group on the management of data in the charter for a clean data. We also examined our goals in terms of clean Internet and in terms of accounting and purchases. We've reviewed our strategy for external growth. We've also supervised the implementation of the vigilance plan of the group and mapped risks in terms of necessary vigilance. These different works was completed. On top of those accomplished during 2024 by the Risk and Strategy Committee and by the ESG Committee, the Strategy and Risk Committee has supervised the updating of the mapping of major risk for the group and has discussed strategies to address these. We've accounted for a future risk and reviewed the scope of cybersecurity risks. The ESG -- the CSR Committee, under the Chairwoman-ship of Ms. Suzan LeVine has been informed of the changes in CSR environments in the U.S. and of the environment in Europe and has reviewed the conclusion of the audit by Grant Thornton concerning extra financial performance. Following that, there was an implementation of the corporate sustainability reporting directive within Publicis and a review of the position of Publicis within CSR rating agencies. We've met our goals for Science Based Targets initiatives. We also reviewed the primary impact of the group on biodiversity. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Marie-Josee. And finally, Ms. Elisabeth Badinter, Chairwoman of the Nomination Committee, will present the report of the committee.

Thank you, dear Chairman. As Chairwoman of the Nomination Committee, I will now sum up the activity of this committee. This committee contains five members, four of which are independent members, Ms. Marie-Josee Kravis and Suzan LeVine, and Mr. Jean Charest and Mr. Andre Kudelski as well as myself. Mr. Maurice Levy was member of the committee until the 29th of May 2024, and I thank him for his precious contribution to the work of the committee throughout these years. The nomination committee met three times during the year 2024. The committee continued its work and kept making several recommendations within the scope of the change of governance model for Publicis. All of the propositions supported by the Nomination Committee were approved by the AGM on the 29th of May 2024, and I would like to thank you for that. The Nomination Committee continues its work relative to the composition of the Supervisory Board and has worked to enrich the skill matrix of its administrators. As each year, the committee has evaluated the level of independence of members of the Board, given the criteria of the Afep-Medef Code. The Board now has seven independent members out of 11, which amounts to 64%, excluding two administrators, Board members who represent employees, which must not be taken into account in this calculation in accordance with relevant legislation. The Nomination Committee has also worked on key topics for the succession plans for the executives of the group. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much. I would like to now move to the report of the statutory auditors, the reports are available on the Publicis Groupe site. The mandate of Ernst & Young comes to its conclusion after this assembly. Elisabeth Badinter, Maurice Levy and the members of the Board wants to thank Ernst & Young, who has worked with Publicis for all these years. Your rigor and the quality of your work was appreciated by the -- by our different CFOs, the Audit Committee, the Risk and Finance Committee and Maurice. And now the floor goes to [indiscernible] of the Ernst & Young cabinet.

Dear Chairman, dear Board members, dear shareholders, in the name of the college of statutory auditors from EY and KPMG, I present our synthesis for 2024 as it has been reported in the different reports that were published for you. We have emitted seven reports within three categories: the first two for the ordinary AGM concern our report on yearly and consolidated accounts for your company on one hand and our special report on regulated agreements. On the other hand, our deferred category is with regards to resolutions with -- in the scope of the extraordinary AGM, which aim to give authorizations and delegations to the Board to realize operations on capital. The first three reports are produced in the Universal Registration Document. The others are available on the website, and I will now give you our conclusions. For the ordinary AGM, the report on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts first and second resolution, we have certified without reservation the annual accounts and consolidated accounts for 2024, which were established according to the rules and French social norms and the IFRS referential as adopted in the EU. For yearly count as last year, we identified a key point for the evaluation of participation titles and corresponding evaluation. Concerning consolidated accounts, the three key points of the audit are in the following topics: recognition of revenue because of the variety of contracts currently underway and because of the way that control is being transferred, evaluation of goodwill and in corporeal assets, their recoverable value requires several judgments and estimates from the direction, which take into account the competitive environment of the countries in which your corporation operates and the ability to manage cash flow. The accounting of the evaluation of provisions for risk and litigation. Given their inherently uncertain nature in evaluation of the risk, we've also worked on specific verifications within the scope of the law. We have no observations to formulate on the information given when it comes to the management of the company and evaluation of the company. Fourth resolution, related party agreement. We were informed of an agreement authorized by your Board and concluded during the course of the past year to be put to your approval, acquisition by Publicis Groupe S.A. of 150,000 shares held by Madam Sophie Dulac, member of the Supervisory Board and as of 29th of May 2024 of the Board of Directors of Publicis. Furthermore, we were informed of no agreement previously approved by your AGM whose execution continued during the course of the past year. For the Extraordinary General Meeting, reduction in the capital, 18th resolution, this resolution proposes to delegate to the Board for a duration of 26 months as of today, all powers to cancel within the limit of 10% of the capital by 24-month period, shares bought through a purchase organize -- agreement of its own shares, allocation of share purchase schemes. 19th resolution, to authorize your Board for 38 months to allocate share options to the benefit of employees and corporate officers of the company or group companies. The total number of share options thus granted cannot give rise to a total amount of shares representing more than 3% of the company's share capital, the date at which they are allocated by the Board. This ceiling will apply to the 3% ceiling mentioned in Resolution 24 adopted by the combined meeting of May 24th last year. Issue of ordinary shares and/or marketable securities for beneficiaries of a company savings schemes, 20th resolution. The nominal amount of the capital increase cannot exceed EUR 2.8 million. This ceiling is common to capital increases that might be undertaken under this resolution. The 21st resolution that will be charged to the total ceiling of EUR 30 million set at the 16th resolution adopted by the AGM of May 24th last year. Issue of ordinary shares and/or marketable securities with cancellation of preferential subscription rights for certain categories of beneficiaries. 21st resolution, the nominal amount of the capital increase cannot exceed EUR 2.8 million. It being stated, the ceiling applies to capital increases that might be achieved under this resolution and the 20th resolution and will be charged to the total ceiling of EUR 30 million set under the 16th resolution adopted by the AGM of May 29 last year. We have no observations on the information set out in the report of the Board or the arrangements of these various transactions. We will draw up additional reports if need be, if these authorizations are used by your Board in order to express an opinion on the final conditions of the execution of said operation. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Ladies and gentlemen, we have received three sets of written questions, and we have responded to, though, as per legal requirements, responses were placed on the website under the tab AGM.

We're now available to answer all your questions. The floor is open to shareholders.

[ Claude Laroche ] for a question that will concern the merger between Omnicom with IPP (sic) [ IPG ] Interpublic. We have -- we divorce before getting married. It's through this ironic formula that Chair Levy, was announcing his planned merger with the American Omnicom that was #2 in the sector. That occurred back in December of 2013, 12 years on the merger, same Omnicom with Interpublic companies has just been massively approved by the shareholders of both entities. The combination will create the sector's #1 in terms of market cap and business volume. For Publicis that will end up in second place on the podium. And this brings me to my question. Is this merger a strength, a weakness, a threat or an opportunity?

Thank you. I'll start by saying all four general. We'll return to those. I'll let Maurice say a word about the context of the marriage, divorce, merger between equals. I'll answer your question on the three but I'll let you start.

Yes. So it was 2014 and not 2013, as you stated, but that of little consequence and both AGMs, those of Publicis and Omnicom back then had voted massively, and I would say extremely positively on the planned merger. What was lacking in this plan is that we had a joint project and that ensemble seemed, at some point, to have dissolved because our friends from Omnicom didn't want to implement the decisions that we had agreed upon prior to the merger so that they might become absolutely irrevocable. And that could have led to an acquisition of Omnicom by Publicis, which was not at all the will of Madam Badinter, nor that of the Board and nor for that matter, that of shareholders. Our plan was a joint merger in common and to achieve a project amongst equals. And when we now look at the pathway since 2014 of both parties, for we're concerned, we achieved a very satisfactory pathway. And as to them, well, I'm bound to say that they're behind us, whereas they were well ahead of us at the time, the weight of Omnicom represented 60% of the balance and that Publicis, 40%. Where we to merge today, it would be strictly the opposite. That shows the road travel. I want to congratulate Arthur because a lot of that ground was achieved by him.

Thank you, Chair. Strengths, weaknesses, force, threats, opportunities or for -- it's a strength because I hope you've seen that we're battle-ready, that we're focused on our clients and that we're focused on attracting the best clients, acquisitions in tech to make further inroads. Where our #1 competitor, Omnicom, is obviously very much distracted in this great maneuver, not easy to implement. We lived through that. Weakness, possibly, we're bound to recognize that the position of #1 for client counts, but the market is changing so much that what's going to count is not to be #1 in size, but to be #1 in innovation. We need to be watchful. It's a very big U.S. corporation. We have to remain vigilant. Threat, yes, the threat is elsewhere. If you look at the stock market performance of our industry, since the deal was announced, stocks have dropped consider as we often say, we didn't say that, an analyst did that we're a fine house in a neighborhood that's experiencing a few problems. Two houses, we and Omnicom, the topped EUR 100 billion market cap. And so of course, it's not good for the industry, and therefore, not good for us by ricochet to see deals that are uncertain or viewed as such in the market. But now it's first and foremost, above all, an opportunity. I mean, there are two immediate ones, the first, and we see this day in day out is on talent. We've spoken a great deal about our acquisitions that we're able to achieve, thanks to you, the way we're able to use our cash to be in a position to grow, generate growth and value, but we remain a people business where men and women, talents are our #1 asset. If today, if you're between 30 and 50, you look at our industry, you want to stay in it, you have two very different choices that of Omnicom that decided to buy more of the same to generate efficiencies, thousands of layoffs to boost its margin way behind us. On the other side, you've got Publicis investing in tech, hiring the best, rewarding them, which today, on a path of growth and transformation, gives us a big asset and what counts the most are our people. Lastly, it's an opportunity because there were four big groups that divvied up 80% of pitches, there'll only be three of us now. By definition, the competitive landscape shrinks by 25%. Lastly, and I'll end with that, of course, they're going end up. They'll be #1 in terms of size. The real question is necessary #1 in terms of value market cap. If you look at the stock price, we've got market cap higher than Omnicom plus IPG. It's not saying it's going to last. The model we're rolling out, we firmly believe is a model that create far more value for the shareholder than they're currently doing. Long term, it's the strength of Publicis. That's what I was saying earlier about CapEx and the wages of Maurice. We're a pioneering company, always innovated, done differently. For 99 years, it's that strength that creates our value and what we can deliver for our clients, our people, our shareholders. Room 2. Okay, let's move to Room 2. Yes.

I'm an individual shareholder. Just a comment, you, Publicis, are a fine company and through the upheaval in the world, you maintain your activity in an enviable and accretive manner. We thank you for that. My question. Given that we are a communications group, how do you build loyalty amongst your shareholders? Do you have a shareholder club for Publicis shareholders? If not, are you planning to set up a Publicis shareholders club in order to better know your shareholders and reach out to all your shareholders, including individual shareholders?

Thank you for that. Thanks for your comment. We consider that these past few years, notably for all those who followed us for a very long time, we've been a measure to build shareholder loyalty. The shareholder club, we're constantly addressing it. We discussed it at the Board not so long ago. Anne-Gabrielle, like to say what about that?

Thank you. So it's an issue that we've been addressing and locked into. But at the end of the day, most important for all of you, the strategy of -- that we're implementing, the dividend that's growing steadily perhaps more important than the shareholder clubs. And of course, we continue to look into it from time to time, but isn't planned for the immediate future. Thank you.

Next question, please. I can't see. The room is very dark.

Chairman, I represent the individual shareholders' club. Before perhaps celebrating Omnicom, I can't resist the pleasure nor that of all shareholders present to say once again how proud we are to belong to both a family company and the world's #1 as shareholders. Coming now to my two questions. First, of course, concerns the fact that the more uncertain the world remains, the more you perform, but I don't know if that's going to continue, the uncertain setting seems to look kindly upon you. AI, are you recruiting talents worldwide, which is key to delivering the results for your company? My second question, on a somewhat different note, could you give us an explanation as to the disappearance of the site voila.events?

Thank you for that comment. Voila, Maurice, perhaps? I'll take the other two points. Further to this uncertainty in AI talents, great question. If I were to summarize using an ads log and the reason why we're so successful with our clients today, touch wood, one never knows when it's going to stop, but today is because we make the world the uncertain -- this uncertain world more certain for our clients. Thanks to data, we can predict where the new customers are, how they can generate growth targets they hadn't necessarily thought about and shrink targets where they were spending pointlessly. We can connect all our media, make sure that we're doing the right investment when we produce an add-on TV on a website and maximize the impact and to see to what extent the investment reaps dividends. We have talent, technology, data, help them navigate this uncertain world. We're winning tenders with our pitch, we're recognized as their best partner in their transformation, particularly at a time when they are, as you've seen, prudent with CapEx declining, Sapient, Accenture and other IT companies but competitive because they need to seek out growth, continue to invest in marketing. We want to do that with the best. Those can reach individually people who are likely to buy their products, measure if they made the right decisions and to challenge rapidly. Question on AI recruitment, it is absolutely key. When we have a group for our side, both the strength and weakness for talents, the weakness in a creative, some people say, "Well, I'd be better off in a start-up." The strength is that we can offer greater opportunities, the way we leverage AI to recruit and to retain our talent. Thanks to AI, in 2017, we set up the Marcel platform, named after our founder, for every employee worldwide to have more than what they're doing in their office with their teams, share knowledge, learn new businesses, take part in work groups worldwide, also to have greater opportunities. I love it when a young creative in China can take part in the next Super Bowl in the U.S. because his talent in -- on the Marcel platform allow him to collaborate with people at the other end of the world and say, "I want to get involved. I insist on this." We're very proud of this platform. During COVID, we're able to retain thousands of jobs. We bounced back sooner. We are able to preserve jobs. We're able to reallocate our resources depending on the growth rate and where things were getting tougher and industry is more effective. It's key for us, and we've come a long way. Maurice?

Yes. Voila is a platform that we set up with Orange during COVID. The idea was to make available to companies an instrument that will allow them to establish events remotely, making sure that events could take place as if they were live in real conditions. COVID has passed and former habits came back into its way, and we see this with VivaTech that meeting of in-person sessions has come back to the fore and that our plan no longer found a market. It's unfortunately something that happens. And fortunately, we didn't invest a huge amount of money. And of course, we regret to have had that setback, but we do hope, we attempt such operations. Unfortunately, we continue to take risk, which allows us, fortunately, from time to time, to succeed very well. Thank you.

Question #6 in the room. It's Room 2.

[indiscernible], individual shareholder. I have a comment. First of all, congratulations with VivaTech, that really has helped the tech sector in France. You're a little bit modest because you have more editors than CES in Las Vegas. Now I have a question on AI, generative AI, in particular. With the generation of images and video that's upon us, how do you deal with intellectual property? In particular, we've seen many -- a lot of generation of images generated.

Do you want to talk about VivaTech? No. Well, okay, just a bit of -- a little bit of a push here for VivaTech. In actual fact, generative AI on content regarding advertising and creative agencies, we don't really have an issue with intellectual property because we design our own content and then we adapted as a product for our clients. The important thing is that we're coming at a time when everybody can produce content through generative AI. The idea is not to prune volume, but effective content. And why this thing I think is working well for us is because we have processes that enable us to comply with intellectual property, but above all, to produce content, to circulate it and to have an impact on our clients. The risk is that you fall into a logic where your -- in order for the machine of what it can produce, you can have a gorilla piloting an aircraft. But the real subject -- the real key thing is the efficiency connecting data to content and establishing whether we have the right contact for the right person and limiting production in order to make sure you reach the key target. To carry on, on that, there's a new tool, a new start-up that was set up by [ Gian-Luca ], who is one of the geniuses of AI, and this will enable us to discover whether in a work the traces that go beyond inspiration, it could be a problem in relation to copyright and intellectual property. So this is in the process of being drawn up. And some tests -- some are testing it. And the results are already quite spectacular because on work that was generated by AI, we are finding that there is inspiration drawn from [Foreign Language] which enable us to establish that such and such work of art may bring up intellectual property issues. So that's going to be the solution which will enable us to screen all the creative works that will be produced and to avoid, therefore, cheating on intellectual property rights. And we'll see that with VivaTech. Yes, that's what I was waiting for. So last year, we had 165,000 visitors. This year, there will be an extraordinary event because NVIDIA, without which there would not be any AI and we could not have electronic video games because the chip cards that enable the development of video games and AI are created by NVIDIA, that has virtually a global monopoly. And the founder of NVIDIA Jensen Huang will be in Paris and will deliver a presentation in Paris from VivaTech. So there's an awful lot of innovation. And this is part of the innovations brought about by successive governments that have enabled French start-ups and French tech companies to grow and in Paris and enabled Paris to become the showroom of tech, high tech and innovation. Very good publicity spot there. A gentleman who's been raising his hand for some time now with the white sheet of paper. Yes, sir?

[The interpreter cannot hear the speaker.] Very happy to be here. Well done for this wonderful energy that we feel with your duo, everything that you've said is growing. Three questions. First of all, the ingredients of success. What is the major ingredient in Publicis' success? And conversely, what would be the main weaknesses of the competition? Second point, allocation of capital, of equity. The two largest investors, American Capital grew 15%, for BlackRock, 5%. How do you account for the fact that notwithstanding the 1,450 meetings with institutional investors, you have been unable to attract more French investors? Is this a communication problem? And third question, I -- to get to know you a bit better, who inspires you the most? We're not #1 by pure chance. What would be your choices, entrepreneurs, investors, politicians? Who are the people who give you the most inspiration day to day? And to conclude, I'd like to award you a new prize. The prize, the most easy to read annual report. Why -- the best presented one, why don't you offer this to other CAC40 companies who really do need it? You're the best.

Thank you for all those comments, your questions. Thank you for what you've said about the annual report. We provide annual reports to many clients. We're very happy to produce more. Thank you so much for that. I'll answer the question on those who inspire us and to the question on the ingredients for success. I've only been with Publicis for a relatively short space of time. And the reason why I joined the group and wanted to join Maurice Levy and what drives us every single day in the management team and the teams is our culture. And culture is very important at Publicis and Maurice could tell you much more about this. It's no chance -- it's not by chance that we're still here on the Champs-Élysées. We're very deeply attached to our French identity and based here on the Champs-Élysées, and it's no chance -- not by chance that Maurice Levy has made the boldest acquisitions over the past 20 years. Our strength is our culture. And this is something that we cherish, for which we fight to preserve sometimes. This is our strength. And this is what gives us the boldness that you need to make the next bet. And thank you very much for what you said. And this comes back to what inspires us. Now what inspires us are those people who can inspire us with those values. If you read what Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet wrote decades and years and years ago, I still quote all the presentations I do when I talk about AI to our clients, I start off with a quote from Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, something he said in 1958, if I remember correctly. And he said a very simple thing. He said, "It's not creativity that changes. It's still the same. It's everything that surrounds it." And that's exactly what we're seeing today. We continue to find a wonderful creative ideas as we did 90 years ago, but data, AI have changed everything, and that's our biggest strength. Well, yes, U.S. and French investors. Well, yes, we need to do better. I agree. There's room for improvement, but we're doing -- anything to say about that? 1/3 of our shareholders are French, which is not so bad. And just to conclude on that, we have, notwithstanding the challenges of the market, we've regained investor confidence, in particular, our Anglo-Saxon investors. We've shown that we have a differentiating model, and we need to continue working on that. Maurice, would you like to add something?

If I may, after you. First of all, regarding share ownership, we have to recognize that we are in the average bracket of CAC40 companies. The major share of capital the CAC40 companies is held by overseas funds, mainly American. This problem can only result when we have pension funds that will invest in French companies. My second point, on what separates us from others. And we won't talk apart from the weaknesses of others, but this goes back to what Arthur was saying regarding Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. He instilled in us something that's very simple, which is surpassing oneself. And earlier, I was speaking about the lesson of the Olympic Games, where we're in a competition. And the Olympic Games are every 4 years, whereas with us, it's every day. And this surpassing oneself is a culture. He had it himself, he has instilled in us, and it's been handed down, whereby every day, every single day, there's a hill to climb, and we have to do it even faster than the day before.

Sir, a question there. I think these are the two last questions.

We have huge respect for your -- what you've done for your values. The -- we have the two of the big 4 who have merged. And on the other hand, we have the listing of Havas. And Publicis is able to deliver record figures. On the other hand, we have the GAFAM. I'm referring to Meta, Google, who are growing in AI even this morning, and this is posing big problems for the broadcasting industry, where all advertising revenue is absorbed by these platforms. So how do you see the advertising market in the future, especially everything that's distributed by the networks? Do you have a market share there? Or is it something that's going to be beyond your control?

I'll try to answer in not too technical terms. There are two factors here. The reason why we have a more competitive model than the competition is that we reconcile the two universes, the world of agencies and services, our capacity to serve our clients to understand their needs to be with them. And on the other hand, the world of platforms, technology, with data. I've spoken about the platform, Marcel platform, the platform, core AI, where clients can work with us. And the strength of Publicis in relation to all these competitors is that we're the only ones who can recognize both of these things. We have more technology, more data than our clients than the Big 4 you've referred to. And on the other hand, in relation to Google and Meta, we have the services and the strategy that they don't have, but we also have the data. So everything that we're trying to do today, to answer your question, is to connect the whole of this ecosystem, saying that we're starting from U.S.A. and complying with all the privacy rules, we are going to be -- make sure that we deliver messages at the time and place when you want to see them, and we're going to connect those messages to other platforms. And to talk about price, this could be Google, Facebook, but I mean, it could be the [indiscernible] or TF1. And the future of our business is being able to understand people in an individual manner, which is what we do in the best of our -- in our industry. And to connect this with all the media because -- which the GAFAM can't do. Facebook sees you differently from Google and sees you differently from TikTok and Facebook. So to give you a short answer, the strategic issue for Publicis now and in the future is to understand the consumer better than the others, to connect the consumer to the appropriate media environment, to measure the performance is to be able to move forward every day. I see one last hand. So two more questions.

[indiscernible], I've been a shareholder for a few months. I have two questions. In the United States, 50% of revenue is in America. And now we have -- there's a risk of recession and decline in growth with the advent of Trump 2. You gave an overall figure of 5% growth, but we didn't quite understand whether this would be in Europe or the United States. And my second point on the United States, they have -- Trump has an anti-CSR policy. Major world universities like Columbia, Harvard have lost large amounts of federal funding. Have you received the letter that companies have received in France requiring them to abandon the CSR policy of major groups? I see that with you, you have a very sincere and well-developed CSR policy. And second question on AI, I see that we're going to invest EUR 300 million over 3 years. Many fear that AI will destroy jobs. Now 5% growth and 5% job creation is a good sign, but is that not an approach whereby jobs may be destroyed at Publicis? And the next question is this expensive in terms of electricity consumption?

Well, Loris Nold, our CFO, can tell you more about that. But I imagine -- I doubt whether it's a huge cost. Turning the question -- on your question on AI and jobs, is very important. By definition, AI will create jobs and will destroy others, but that's progress in general. If you look at Publicis, we started using AI via Marcel in 2017. There were 70,000 employees at the time. And we have introduced AI everywhere since then, we haven't waited to the last innovations. There are over 100,000 of us. So this has enabled us to create jobs. On the U.S., you've asked two important questions. Number one, we have a unique model in the United States. We're outperforming the market. We've been outperforming for many years and a bit like the rest of the world. But trends that we're seeing in the first quarter, which were very good, are being confirmed. For Publicis, we're continuing to gain market share. We're very confident on the first quarter, on the second quarter, and we're confident on the whole of the year because we didn't roll out the whole strategy on the basis that things will be better in the second half. Quite frankly, we don't know. We'll just have to see what happens. But our group, given the growth that we had in the first quarter and given the number of wins that we have then, mean that we're on a winning trend. We're confident notwithstanding the lack of visibility for our clients. Now CSR, that's a very important question, particularly in the United States. Well, we haven't received the letter. That's the first point on DEI, no. On CSR, two comments. First of all, of course, we fully comply with the laws and regulations of the different countries in which we operate and in particularly in the United States. So we're fully in line. We comply with the law in the United States now. And you've seen -- and this is why we showed you that little video on CSR. And that's why I talked about culture earlier. Our vision is [Foreign Language] long live the difference. We think that being different is -- creates wealth. So there's nothing that's more important than continuing to build our country. [Foreign Language] is an important part of that, and we'll continue on that path.

[indiscernible], an individual shareholder. I would just like to know, when it comes to the change in working capital requirements, what explains this debt degradation from EUR 9 million to EUR 161 million between 2023 and 2024?

Thank you very much for the question because it allows me to give the floor to Loris Nold, who is our CFO. He's been our CFO for 18 months, and he was in charge of operations in Asia and in Europe successively, and he's my daily operational partner. Loris, you have the floor.

Thank you. We fixed brackets for 2024 between EUR 100 million and EUR 200 million in terms of deterioration. So finishing at EUR 161 million, we're right smack in the middle of what we planned for. You have to understand the daily changes in working capital requirements are very significant because we purchase spaces. So from 1 year to the next, it can change completely just because one or two payments of big clients have moved on from 1 month to the next, which is why what we look at is average net debt, which gives -- paints a much better picture. There's no real issue with working capital requirements currently, and we -- our goal for 2025 is neutrality.

Any last questions in the room before we move on to the resolutions? We will now present resolutions and vote upon them. I give the floor to Celine, the Secretary for the AGM. Celine, you have the floor.

First, I will start by giving you the final numbers for participation. Present shareholders or represented shareholders have 212,231,057 shares over the total of shares for the corporation's capital, which means that the quorum has been met both for ordinary and extraordinary resolutions. Now let's move on to the vote of the resolutions. The vote will be made with the remote that has been given to you, and I will explain how this works. I would like to remind you that for your vote to be registered, you must vote in the room that corresponds to the remote that was given to you when you arrived. Your remote can only work if the chipset is properly inserted. Then to choose, you press the corresponding button. 1, for; 2, against; and 3, abstain. A message will appear on the bottom of the screen of the remote. Acquitted simply means that your vote has been recorded, but you can still modify it. The integral text of resolution has been published according to regulations. So first resolution, approval of the corporate financial statements for fiscal year 2024. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is now closed. Resolution passed. Second resolution approval for the consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2024. Voting open. [Voting]

Voting closed. Resolution passed. Third resolution, allocation of the net income for fiscal year 2024 and declaration of a dividend. Voting open. [Voting]

Voting closed. Resolution passed. Fourth resolution, approval of related party agreements concluded with Ms. Sophie Dulac. Voting open. [Voting]

Voting closed. Resolution passed. Fifth resolution, noting of the expiry of the mandate of Ernst & Young and others, an appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as statutory auditor responsible for certifying financial statements. Voting open. [Voting]

Voting closed. Resolution passed. Sixth resolution, noting the expiry of the mandate of Grand Thornton and appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as statutory auditor responsible for certifying sustainability information. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. Seventh resolution, appointment of KPMG as statutory auditors responsible for certifying sustainability information. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. Eighth resolution, approval of the information on the compensation of corporate officers for the fiscal year 2024. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. Ninth resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Mr. Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board until the 29th of May 2024. Voting open. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. Tenth resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Mr. Arthur Sadoun, Chairman of the Management Board until May 29, 2029 (sic) [ 2024 ]. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 11th resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Ms. Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, Member of the Management Board until May 29, 2024. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 12th resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Mr. Loris Nold, member of the Management Board from February 8 to May 29, 2024. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 13th resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Mr. Michel-Alain Proch, member of the Management Board until February 8, 2024. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 14th resolution, approval of the components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid or awarded with respect to fiscal year 2024 to Mr. Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO, as of May 29, 2024. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution approved. 15th resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman and CEO with respect to fiscal year 2025. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 16th resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the directors with respect to fiscal year 2025. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 17th resolution, authorization to the Board of Directors for a period of 18 months to allow the company to trade in its own shares. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 18th resolution, authorization to the Board of Directors to decrease the capital via the cancellation of all or part of the company's share capital. Vote open. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 19th resolution, authorization to the Board of Directors for a period of 38 months to grant stock options entailing the waiver by shareholders of their preferential subscription rights and/or rights for all or part of the employees and corporate officers of the company. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 20th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to issue ordinary shares in the company without preferential subscription rights. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 21st resolution, delegation of authority in order to increase the capital in favor of certain categories of beneficiaries in the context of employee share ownership plans. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 22nd resolution, amendment to Articles 12, 13, 19 of the Articles of Incorporation. Vote now. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed. 23rd resolution, powers to carry out formalities. Vote open. [Voting]

Vote closed. Resolution passed.

Thank you, Celine. I would like to thank you all for your support and for your presence here today at our AGM. There is nothing more on the agenda. So I conclude the AGM at 11:54. It was fast. Thank you very much and enjoy your afternoon. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]