Sodexo S.A. (SW.PA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

In the name of the whole team. I'd like to wish you welcome. As you know, Sodexo Live operates this wonderful place, which was opened in April 2017. Siene Musicale is an auditorium. It's a huge thing. 35 studios for practice. Our teams are in charge of the commercialization of the spaces, welcoming production, safety, security, and maintenance, as well as restaurant services. Please look at our programs. Let me cite a few shows that are currently being run. original creation, the ran by [ Marco Casowitz ]. There's still a few dates available starting on the 4th of January. Nutcracker suite by Tchaikovsky from the 7th to the 8th of January or... [ STING ] Musical, the first in France starting on the 18th of February. Ladies and gentlemen, before we start our general assembly. I'd like to remind you a few important bits of information for your event. In case of a fire alarm, we invite you to go back to -- from the emergency exits that are located on either side of the stage. If you need to, we will also inform you that the physician is present on site. And lastly, to conclude, I'd like to invite you to make sure that your telephones are off or on airplane mode. In the name of the whole team at the Siene Musicale, I would like to wish you a wonderful general assembly. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon to everybody. Welcome to La Seine Musicale. It's a great pleasure to meet you in this exceptional place again this year for our Annual Shareholders' Meeting. I'm speaking to you today alongside Thierry Delaporte, who is our Chief Executive Officer. He's been the CEO since the 10th of November; Sebastien De Tramasure, our Chief Financial Officer; and Florence Negrel, who is Secretary of the Board of Directors, who is handling the General Meetings Secretarial duties. I would also like to inform you of the presence of the general meetings to scrutineers. François-Xavier Bellon, who represents the holding company, Bellon SA; and Jean-Michel Cayol, who represents FCPE Groupe, Sodexo Peps, one of the mutual funds for Sodexo employees. Who are the shareholders with the largest number of votes having accepted the role of scrutineer. I will now officially open this annual meeting, of which I am the Chair as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the company. The members of the Board of Directors and Sodexo leadership team who could attend are also present, either physically in this room or remotely. The audit firms Ernst and Young Audit, represented by Madam [ Sara Ganem ] and KPMG, represented by Mr. Nicholas Chy will share their reports with us during this meeting. I would now like to hand the floor over to Florence Negrel. Now she's the meeting secretary, who will present the agenda.

Thank you, Sophie. Hello, everybody. I'm delighted to be with you as secretary for this meeting. First of all, I'd like to remind you that this shareholders' meeting will be held in French and that simultaneous translation in English is also available. As usual, this meeting is also accessible to the deaf or hard of hearing, thanks to sign language interpreters. I also remind you that this meeting is being broadcast live from our website www.sodexo.com, and will also be available for replay in the coming days. I inform you that the number of shares mentioned on the attendance sheet in the name of the shareholders present, represented or having voted by correspondents amounts to 126,690,573 shares. That's 87.24% of the shares bearing voting rights. The legal quorum is 36,306,708 shares. So the shareholders meeting, therefore, can deliberate validly. If fleet commerce come to attend the meeting before 4:15 p.m., this provisional quorum will be modified, and the final quorum will be taken into account when we vote upon the resolutions. I have before me all the documents which attest to the regularity of the convening and the deliberations of this meeting. And also the documents that must be made available or communicate to shareholders have been made so under the legal conditions and deadlines. Please also be informed that [ belif ] is present here in the room. The agenda of the shareholders' meeting, as well as the draft resolutions were presented in the preliminary notice of meeting published on October 31, 2025, in the French BALO publication. The notice of meeting was published in the BALO and in journal of legal announcements on November 20, 2020. Please note that following the publication of the preliminary notice of meeting, [ the ] request with the inclusion of points or draft resolutions on the agenda has been submitted by the shareholders. As usual, in the interest of the debate, we propose that you exempt the Chairwoman from the exhaustive reading of the Board of Directors' report. The full report can be found in the fiscal 2025 universal registration document available on our company's website. And its main elements will be presented to you during the shareholders' meeting. I now give the floor to Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.

Dear shareholders, dear Board members, dear colleagues, dear friends of Sodexo. The year 2025 was marked by significant progress and many challenges. It also marks the end of a cycle of profound transformations that began in the aftermath of COVID with the ambition to reposition Sodexo as a pure player in food services and facilities management. This objective required numerous structural changes aimed at building a stronger Sodexo. We've streamlined our portfolio, divesting our child care and home care services followed by the successful spin-off of Pluxee in 2024. Today, Sodexo operates in 43 countries where we have strengthened our presence through acquisitions in key markets notably in China in 2024 and in Spain this year with Grupo Mediterranea. This acquisition will allow us to double our size and strengthen our positions in key segments, particularly in Corporate Services in health care and in education. Food services now represent 66% of our portfolio compared to 62% in 2022. We have modernized our offers, leveraging our consumer insights and enhancing the culinary digital and sustainable dimensions of the experience that we provide. Our food offers such as Modern Recipe now account for more than 50% of revenue compared to less than 20% 3 years ago. With nearly 6 million active consumers on our digital ecosystems up from EUR 1.2 million in 2022, we have a more direct and personalized relationship with those we serve. Improving their experience is at the heart of our strategy, and I'll come back to that. To drive greater efficiency, we have reshaped our organization so that P&L accountability now sits at the regional and country levels. At the same time, we've transformed our operating model. This has resulted in significant progress in supply chain management with compliance with food catalogs rising from less than 70% in 2022 to 78% in 2025. On the technology front, we have once again invested EUR 500 million this year in data and digital tools. Artificial intelligence is now embedded across all our operations from kitchen management to procurement and workforce planning, thanks to attendance forecasting at our sites. While enhancing our efficiency, we're enabling our teams to focus on what matters most. That is culinary excellence and the quality of the experience that we offer our guests. Finally, our shared service centers in Porto, Mumbai and Bogota the efficiency of our support functions, while more than 40 standardized processes have improved service quality throughout the year. All the progress we've made this year has also enabled us to strengthen our positive impact and consolidate our leadership in sustainability within our sector. Our ongoing focus on employee safety is reflected in the historically low lost time injury rate of 0.45 in 2025 compared with 0.65 in 2022. Continuing our efforts to get even closer to zero accidents is an imperative for all of us. Our commitment to an inclusive environment remains unwavering. For example, 42% of Sodexo's senior executives are women. Our global benefits program, Vita, is now effective in more than 70% of the countries where we operate. We're also committed to developing our talent, and we've increased the average number of training hours per employee by 5.1%, now reaching 12.4 hours per year. Nothing would be possible without the constant commitment of our teams around the world, which we measure every 2 years in our voice survey. I remind you that we were the only ones in our sector to do so. And this year, again, it reached a rate of 80%, demonstrating the relevance of the employer policy that we're developing. Finally, on the environmental front, 2025 marks the successful completion of our sustainability road map. That's better tomorrow. Thanks to the mobilization of our team, significant progress has been made in reducing our carbon footprint promoting healthy and sustainable leading, developing local partnerships, responsible sourcing and fighting food waste. As an illustration, I'm proud to announce that we've exceeded our greenhouse gas emissions reduction target that scopes 1 and 2 with minus 37.7% compared to 2017. With our new "Better Tomorrow 2028" road map, we are now entering a phase of acceleration. Our ambition is to further integrate sustainability at the heart of our operations at every site, in every action of our 426,000 employees. Because it is they who every day in the field work to improve the lives of millions of consumers and support our clients in their own sustainable transition. Let's look at this in more detail now with the video. [Presentation]

In 2025, we also continue to invest in our commercial strengths, notably through strengthening our teams, deploying training programs and new motivation and recognition schemes for our salespeople. In both development and retention, we achieved encouraging successes this year. including GSK, MSD, AtlantiCare, [ U.S ]. Health, the schools of Marseille, [ Santos ] as well as the next ree Rugby World Cup, Men's and Women's and the [ Todos ] with Sodexo Life. Finally, our net growth is positive again, which was not the case in the pre-COVID years. Thus, despite the demanding economic and geopolitical context, these transformations have paid off, and our trajectory of profitable growth is confirmed. In 2025, our revenue reached EUR 24.1 billion, up 1.2% driven by organic growth of 3.3% or 3.7% on an underlying trend. Our underlying operating margin increased by 5% and by 10 basis points at constant exchange rates to 4.7%. Our business development amounted to EUR 1.7 billion, with a very strong first half followed by a more moderate second half. Underlying organic growth increased by 3.7% to EUR 785 million, our adjusted net earnings per share of EUR 5.37. On this basis, as [ in ] line with Sodexo's 50% distribution policy, the Board of Directors proposes an ordinary dividend of EUR 2.70. You will be able to vote on this proposal during the resolutions. Our Chief Financial Officer, Sebastien De Tramasure, will present the details of our financial performance in just a moment. 2025 brought challenges also for our group. The results of this [ you ] reflect both the progress made and the operational challenges that we faced, particularly in the United States. These have affected Sodexo stock market performance and Sebastien will return to this in a moment. Nevertheless, we have many reasons to be confident about the future. We operate in a global outsourced food services market that is vast, resilient and growing. It amounts to EUR 300 billion worth 10x our size with immense potential, since 50% of this market is still self-operated. Sodexo has strong assets to capture part of this market's growth. Its financial independence, diversified geographical presence, strong values, recognized ethical principles, leadership and sustainability, and a mission driven by the commitment of its 426,000 employees. With these solid foundations, we're ready to open a new chapter focused on commercial acceleration and operational excellence. Our ambition is clear. We want to be the leader in food and services, shaping better everyday experiences at every moment in life. Concretely, this means continuing, as I mentioned earlier, our investments in improving the consumer experience. For example, by strengthening our value proposition for employees in the workplace, developing new culinary concepts in line with consumption trends and continuing to deploy technologies that improve the guest journey. In health, education, the workplace or sports and leisure we continue this momentum, always mindful of our commitment to have a positive impact on people and to progress with purpose in line with the mission defined for our group nearly 60 years ago now. Shipping better everyday experiences is indeed our ambition. I'd like to invite you to watch a video that demonstrates this. [Presentation]

A new chapter is opening now for Sodexo. This new phase of our development will be led by Thierry Delaporte, who joined us as Group CEO on November 10. Thierry brings solid experience to support Sodexo in this new stage. He fully embodies the human values at the heart of our identity and to which we will always remain faithful. I'm convinced that our new governance structure will strengthen us and make us more efficient. And I have full confidence in Thierry's leadership to guide the next stages of our growth and write a new page in Sodexo's history. As Chairwoman of the Board, I will now devote all my energy to leading the Board and its committees and to maintaining strong and sustainable governance. With my family, we remain deeply committed to Sodexo's financial independence and to preserving the long-term vision desired by our father, Pierre Bellon. Our shared ambition will be to sustainably support the group's growth, the margin improvement and the market share increase and to strengthen also our positive impact. Before handing over to Sebastien, I'd like to express my sincere and warm thanks to all of our employees. Throughout this year, they've mobilized to support our clients, our consumers and our partners in an increasingly complex and demanding environment. I see it day after day. And on each of my visits, I see their commitment, their passion and their spirit of service that are the driving force behind our collective success. I'd also like to thank our clients, our partners around the world and, of course, our shareholders for their trust, their support and their loyalty. As Sodexo approaches its 60th anniversary, it has strong fundamentals. More than ever, we're ready to continue our growth and innovate and keep shaping the future of food services and facilities management. Thank you for your attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am pleased to present you the financial highlights for fiscal year 2025, which ended on the 31st of August. For the full year, the consolidated revenues reached EUR 24.1 billion, representing organic growth of 3.3%. This growth rises to 3.7% when excluding base effects from the previous year, which was marked by major sporting events and a leap year. The underlying operating margin stands at 4.7%, up 10 basis points at constant currencies, driven by procurement efficiencies, benefits from the implementation of our shared services centers and operating leverage from higher revenues, which offset investments made to support growth. Underlying net profit reached EUR 785 million or an increase of 3.7% at constant currencies. Free cash flow totaled EUR 459 million, helping to maintain the net debt to EBITDA ratio at a moderate level of 1.8x within our target range of 1 to 2x. The Board of Directors will propose a dividend of EUR 2.70 per share, a slight increase from last year, in line with our policy of distributing 50% of underlying net profit. All of our geographic regions contributed to the group's growth. North America, representing 46% of group revenues, delivered organic growth of 2.8% supported by price increases, a strong momentum in Sodexo Live and the corporate segment, but impacted by contract losses in education. In Europe, accounting for 36% of group revenues, saw organic growth of 1.7% or 2.7% when excluding the impact of major sporting events in 2024. As to the rest of the world, which represents 18% of revenues, recorded organic growth of 7.5%, with excellent performance in India, Australia and Brazil, where we are gaining market share. On margins in North America, the underlying operating margin was stable at constant currencies, standing at 5.8%. In Europe and the rest of the world, margins increased by 20 basis points at constant currencies, reaching, respectively, 4.3% and 4.9%. After analyzing the operating performance, let's move on to our financial position and our balance sheet to continue investing in our strategic priorities. Free cash flow generated was EUR 459 million, including an exceptional outflow of around EUR 160 million related to the finalization of the Sodexo SA tax audit. Excluding this one-off item, the cash conversion remains very high, standing at 91%. As of 31st of August 2025, the net debt stood at EUR 2.7 billion with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.8x within our target range of 1 to 2x. We continued proactive debt management with the early repayment of a EUR 700 million bond in April and the issuance of a new USD 1.1 billion bond. In May, these operations extended our average maturity and preserve our financial flexibility. Our balance sheet remains solid, enabling us to keep investing in our strategic priorities while maintaining disciplined capital allocation. In this slide, we are presenting you with our proposal for dividends from 2025, as well as changes in the share price for 2025. The proposed dividend for fiscal '25 is EUR 2.70 with a payout ratio remaining at 50%, as is our usual policy. In addition to the ordinary dividend, EUR 2.65, we paid an extraordinary dividend of EUR 6.24 per share, redistributing the entire proceeds from the sale of Sofinsod–Bellon SA. In fiscal 2025, the share price declined by 36%, while the CAC 40 Index rose by 1%. This evolution mainly reflects the drop in March after our guidance revision followed by the adjustment period through to the end of the year. we naturally understand the questions raised by the current share price level. Our priority remains operational performance and sustainable value creation. This last slide summarizes our fiscal outlook for the upcoming year and our approach to capital allocation. For revenues, we anticipate organic growth between 1.5% and 2.5% with an operating margin slightly below that of 2025. This reflects our decision to accelerate investments to strengthen the group's foundations, especially our sales forces and systems. Our ambition remains to bring CapEx to around 2.5% of revenues mainly in order to support client investments, particularly in the most complex contracts and to continue investing in systems and technologies. We also aim to maintain our financial leverage with a range -- within a range of 1.2x EBITDA to ensure a solid balance sheet. Regarding the dividend, we confirm our policy of distributing 50% of underlying net profit. Our M&A strategy remains focused on small- and medium-sized transactions with an average budget of around EUR 300 million per year to support our development while maintaining strict financial discipline. In summary, we continue to follow a balanced approach investing for growth and competitiveness while preserving our financial strength and ensuring regular returns to shareholders. Sodexo enters fiscal 2026 with a solid financial base, enhanced execution discipline and a targeted investment plan to support strategic priorities. I would like to thank all teams for their commitment and professionalism and you, share shareholders for your trust. Thank you for your attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, a little over a month ago now, Thierry Delaporte joined our organization as Group Chief Executive Officer. Through numerous meetings, there are teams and clients, he's already begun to immerse himself in our culture, our challenges and our priorities. It is with great pleasure that I invite him to speak for the first time before our assembly. Thank you. Over to you.

This is Chairwoman, members of the Board of Directors. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, it is a true honor to address you today for the first time as Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo. And I do so with great humility. Joining Sodexo, a group with a unique history, a French flagship and a world leader in food services and facilities management is both a privilege and a great responsibility. So Sodexo is a company whose values and commitments resonate deeply within me. From my very first interactions with the group, I felt their strength. The teams I have met, everywhere where I've gone embodies these values. I've spoken with many clients who fill them in every interaction. This is also the legacy of Pierre Bellon, the founder of Sodexo. I would like to acknowledge his human and entrepreneurial vision which continues to inspire our employees' actions every day. His book to serve and to grow remains a true compass serving our clients, helping women and men to grow and contributed positively to society. This legacy guides us. It remains a foundation upon which we will build the future. I warmly thank Sophie Bellon, the Board of Directors and the Bellon family for their trust. A few words now about my background. I've had the opportunity to live and work in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America for 14 years. I've worked with high-growth industries, where people are at the very heart of priorities. Services first, at Capgemini for more than 20 years than at Wipro, an Indian digital services group. In these global companies undergoing major transformation, I learned that performance always relies on three key aspects. First of all, customer obsession. The customer has to be at the very heart of all of our decisions. We correspond to the expectations innovating at their side. It is by cultivating this proximity that we create value and that we build a relationship of trust over the long haul. Secondly, constant investment in developing our teams giving them the means to make progress to commit and to exceed themselves. This is absolutely indispensable condition for excellence that our customers are expecting from us. And lastly, rigor and discipline acting within a demanding way quickly in a determining fashion is to transform challenges into performance and to enroll our performance in the long haul. In each of my travels in the last weeks were in Hong Kong and the U.S., in Spain, in France, in Great Britain. I witnessed the same energy, commitment and pride across our teams and partners. Same pride. Our customers see us as a trusted partner committed, attentive and able to create solutions tailored to their needs. I have also witnessed Sodexo's societal impact. We're working one of the most human professionals -- professionals there is, nourishing, supporting and improving the everyday experience. I'd like to salute as well the transformation and progress made in recent years in an environment marked by profound economic social and geopolitical changes. My priority is clear, to enable Sodexo to continue and to amplify its value creation for their shareholders and all stakeholders. My actions, we'll focus on three areas. First, further strengthening our customer focus and accelerating the conquest strategy in any new market. Every decision should start with one question. What value does this bring to our clients? Next, improving our operational efficiency and talent. Our force depends on the quality of our commitment and the commitment of our teams. All customers that I met said the same thing, developing staff is at the heart -- our difference in our performance. Lastly, accelerating with determination our operating model to make it ever and ever more adaptable and agile. Sustainable performance of the company [ been ] expected by our shareholders. To move forward in this direction, I believe in something very simple. Listening to teams, understanding their realities and acting alongside them. It is in that spirit our -- I wish to emerge myself fully and I'm going to take over the direct responsibility of North America for a certain amount of time. I have a great ambition for Sodexo because I'm convinced of our potential. We must become the global reference in our field. The path will be demanding, but we have the ability to meet challenges, to anticipate changes in our environment, and to continue to progress time and again. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for your commitment. Let's write together this new chapter in Sodexo's history.

Thank you. Thank you, Thierry. Thank you for this first message. We now come to the presentation of our corporate governance. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Board of Directors for their work, their commitment, their invaluable support. And once again, to acknowledge the collective intelligence that drives the Board. The Sodexo Board of Directors, which I have the honor and pleasure to chair is at the end of fiscal 2025 composed of 12 members, including 6 independent directors and 2 directors representing employees, and 4 representing the family. The proportion of independent directors stands at 60%, well above the 30% required by the [ FF MEDEF ] code for a controlled group. The Board's composition reflects the group's values with gender balance in line with best market practices and international profile with four nationalities represented and the complementary mix of experience and expertise that enables us to address all the challenges that the group phases. You'll find the full details of all the topics discussed in the [ addressed ] by your Board in Chapter 7 of the Universal Registration Document. And I'd like to just give you a brief summary of this. The Board met 9 times with an attendance rate of 99%. Thank you to our Board members. It's work focused in particular on the renewal and selection of directors. My succession plan as Chief Executive Officer, the review and definition of executive compensation policies, the monitoring of the group strategy and reviewing its various activities across all geographical regions and strategic opportunities. Also overseeing the implementation of the CSRD reporting and, of course, reviewing and approving the financial statements, as well as all matters related to monitoring the group's financial performance. Let me also remind you that in making its decisions the board relies on the work of its four specialized committees, which are responsible for making recommendations and each committee is chaired by an independent director. During fiscal 2025, the Audit Committee chaired by Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon, notably review the financial statements, monitor the group's financing, establish the risk mapping oversaw the group's nonfinancial reporting obligations and the implementation of CSRD reporting and ensured the review of the auditor's independence. The Sustainability Committee chaired by Véronique Laury was created during fiscal 2024. It focused closely on the review of the "Better Tomorrow 2025" plan. the implementation of CSRD and the development of our new sustainability road map, which is "Better Tomorrow 2028". It also reviewed the Stop Hunger program and the responsible purchasing policy. In addition to our joint meetings with the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee on cross-functional topics. During the year, and in addition to matters relating to the renewal and appointment of new directors, the nominating committee chaired by Gilles Pélisson focused, in particular, on my succession plan and the recruitment of our new Chief Executive Officer. Finally, the Compensation Committee chaired by Cécile Tandeau de Marsac focused, in particular, on defining the compensation policy, reviewing the free share and performance share plans and confirming the delivery of the 2022 allocation plans. It also played a key role in matters relating to the compensation of executive officers as part of the succession plan and the separation of the roles of Chairman of the Board and CEO. I will now hand over to Luc Messier, who as Lead Independent Director during fiscal 2025 will present an overview of his work during the year. And the key decisions that have reshipped our governance.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, Board members, employees of Sodexo. It is a great pleasure for me to speak today and share with you an overview of my work during fiscal 2025 and to take this opportunity to revisit some of the changes made to our governance, namely the reasons behind the separation of the rules of Chairwoman of the Board and CEO and the decision to maintain the role of Lead Director despite the separation. As you know, the role of Lead Director is to ensure the independence of the Board and in this capacity to be consulted on the agendas of Board meetings to organize executive sessions to maintain dialogue with our main shareholders, investors and proxy advisory firms and ensure the prevention of conflicts of interest and safeguard the independence of the Board's decision-making. To ensure a full oversight of the Board's activities, I'm a member of the Audit Committee, the Nominating Committee Sustainability Committee. And I also attend the meetings of the compensation committee, the only committee, of which I'm not a member. By contributing to the committee's discussions, on governance matters, I have been closely involved in the recent governance changes, which stem from the Board's reflections and the work of the nominating committee during fiscal 2025. Throughout the year, the Board's activity has been particularly rich and intense. And I would like to thank all directors for their full commitment. As Lead Director, I have monitored the follow-up actions taken based on the Board and committee evaluations carried out in 2023 and 2024, which notably led to holding a strategic similar in the United States, organized around workshops, site visits and expert presentations in developing a training plan for directors, covering governance, sustainability and cybersecurity, including two sessions dedicated to sustainability issues and the new internal evaluation of the Board and its committees work. I also organized three executive sessions following Board meetings, as well as a fourth at the end of the strategic seminar in the United States, part of which was held exclusively amongst independent directors. As your point of reference on governance matters and as a member of the Nominating Committee and the member of the Nominating Committee, I'd like to revisit the separation of the roles of Chairwoman of the Board and CEO and the recruitment of Thierry Delaporte. The Board considered that after the ball structural changes, courageously taken by Sophie Bellon in the last years, such as the spinoff of proxy and the sale of Sofinsod to Bellon SA, the time had come to strengthen Sodexo's leadership for a new phase of growth and development. The recruitment process for the new Chief Executive Officer was led by the Nominating Committee chaired by Gilles Pélisson. This process began several months ago and involved all members of the committee, the Chairwoman and CEO the independent directors and the Bellon family members. I would like to thank them all for their availability and unwavering commitment during this period. this process. This process, which began several months ago, resulted in a unanimous decision by the Board of Directors to dissociate the function of Chairman of the Board and General Director. And by dissociating the function of Chair of the Board, the Board of Directors by a decision which was unanimous, wish to on the best standards of governments to maintain the function of Lead Director of an independent lead director. I therefore handed over this role to Gilles Pélisson, who succeeded me as Lead Director on November 10. Thank you for your attention. And then I give the floor back to Sophie Bellon.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Dear shareholders on my own behalf and on behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank Luke for his valuable and essential contribution to Sodexo's governance as Independent Lead Director since March 2022. Luc, thank you very much. Now as our custom, I invite you to welcome Cécile Tandeau de Marsac, so she may present you with a summary of the compensation committee's work.

Hello, everyone. I'm pleased to be with you today to present the work carried out by the Compensation Committee. During fiscal 2025, in addition to its usual topics, the Compensation Committee focused in particular on the impact of the succession plan for the Chairwoman and CEO, and on the decision to dissociate the rules of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. This year, six resolutions relating to the compensation of corporate officers are being submitted for your approval. For each one, I'll briefly review its components and focus also on highlighting the proposed changes, which, as you will see, largely stem from the dissociation of rules. The compensation elements received by the Chairwoman and CEO for fiscal 2025 are in line with the compensation policy approved by shareholders at the 2024 Shareholders' Meeting. This compensation consists of fixed remuneration of EUR 900,000, a variable remuneration and a long-term remuneration, which I will detail shortly. It also includes benefits in kind amounting to EUR 1,431. Regarding variable compensation for fiscal 2025, the achievement rate stands at 41.5% of the target variable remuneration, representing an amount of EUR 448,200. This achievement rate reflects the demanding nature of the objectives set by the Board of Directors. As a reminder, these objectives were defined by the Board in October 2025, and were not revised during the year in line with the policy. As you can see, the targets were ambitious, and the financial objectives relating to organic revenue growth, client retention, operating margin and group net profit or not met. The objective for cash flow generated by operations was largely achieved, demonstrating rigorous cash management. As for the achievement of nonfinancial objectives, which account for 30% of the targets, health and safety objectives partly achieved. The go linked to the near misincident rate, the NMI or aimed at fostering a culture of accident prevention, and that was largely met. Although this excellent result contributed to a further 4% reduction in the lost time injury rate, the LTI or, as we call it, it was not sufficient to meet the very ambitious target of a 17% reduction that have been set. The sustainability objective achieved as measured by the deployment of the internal food waste monitoring program, WasteWatch. This, therefore, was achieved. This program now covers nearly 85.4% of the cost of food stuff, food raw materials. Finally, the talent management objective, which consists of two indicators relating to the group's senior executives, the rate of departures considered regrettable and the gender balance in operational positions, this was achieved. I would also like to remind you that the acquisition of annual rights under the supplementary pension plan is subject to achieving a minimum annual bonus attainment rate of 80%. Therefore, Sophie Bellon does not require any entitlement to a lifetime retirement pension for fiscal 2025. In addition, regarding long-term compensation, the Board of Directors granted 40,000 performance shares to Sophie Bellon in accordance with the compensation policy for fiscal 2025. The performance conditions of the plan aligned with the 2025 strategic plan are displayed here on the screen. At the grant date, these shares were valued at EUR 1,589,360. This grant represents 80% of the target annual fixed and variable remuneration below the target level for free share award set out in the policy and down 20% compared to the grant for fiscal 2024. The Board of Directors consider the recent evolution of Sodexo's share price and reaffirmed the importance of maintaining a rigorous and balanced approach in determining the grant. The compensation policy for corporate officers for fiscal 2026 is consistent with the 2025 policy. It's a continuum aiming to strike a balance between short-term and long-term performance. The compensation policy applicable to Sophie Bellon is divided into two periods from September 1 to November, the 9 inclusive. Sophie Bellon served as Chairwoman and CEO; then she became Non-Executive Chairwoman of the Board on November 10, 2025. Similarly, the compensation policy applicable to Thierry Delaporte part is divided into two periods. From this appointment on November 1, and following this shareholders' period. That's this shareholders meeting. That's the second period. So regarding the compensation policy applicable to the Chairwoman and CEO from September 1 to November 9, 2025 inclusive, the policy remains unchanged from the previous compensation policy approved at the shareholders' meeting on December 17, 2024. It will apply on a pro rata basis. Furthermore, Sophie Bellon will not receive any grant of free performance shares for fiscal 2026. Regarding the compensation policy applicable to the nonexecutive Chairwoman, it reverse to the policy that Sophie Bellon received 4 years ago. That is before she assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer, namely an annual fixed remuneration of EUR 675,000, which will be paid on a pro rata basis. This amount was in fact the same as what Sophie Bellon had received since 2018, no variable remuneration of granted free performance shares coverage under the welfare and health insurance plan and a company car. Regarding the compensation policy for the Chief Executive Officer, I would like to point out that it has been defined in line with Sodexo's existing policy. The peer groups used to determine the CEO's compensation policy have remained unchanged. The annual variable component equals 120% of fixed remuneration when targets are met and can reach up to 170% in the event of outperformance or overperformance. That's been our policy since last year. As for fixed remuneration for the period from November 1 to December 15, the fixed remuneration remains at EUR 900,000. No change. And subject to approval at today's shareholders' meeting will increase to EUR [ 1,150,000 ] with these amounts applied on the pro rata basis. Ultimately, the CEO's overall compensation, consisting of fixed remuneration and annual variable remuneration and the grant of performance shares is largely based on variable components subject to demanding performance conditions. The fixed portion of the remuneration, thus represents only 23% of the target package and 17% in the case of outperformance. The amount of this remuneration falls between the median and the upper quartile of the peer groups in line with Sodexo's positioning within these panels. Regarding the objectives for annual variable remuneration, the client retention objective has been replaced by the criterion of net sales growth in order to better capture the dynamics and the overall commercial performance. They have a safety criteria has also evolved in favor of more mature indicators. The total recordable case rate, the TRCR replaced the lost time incident rate, LTIR, and the number of safety visits carried out and recorded replaces the new MIR incident ratio. To take into account the change in governance on this transitional year, our qualitative criterion representing 20% of the nonfinancial objectives has been introduced. The Board of Directors will thus have the flexibility to assess Thierry Delaporte's strategic choices in all the dimensions. In particular, regarding the turnaround of the North America region, Investor Communication, managerial transition and the effectiveness of implementing Sodexo's operational strategy in line with the group's strategic pillars through 2028. Regarding the other compensation elements, Thierry Delaporte will receive some that will remain unchanged. They will consist of the at least the elements will remain unchanged. The assume will consist of the grant of free performance shares with acquisition measured over 3 years and subject to the achievement of performance conditions a supplementary pension plan, collective welfare and health insurance plans and a benefit in kind, which is, in fact, a company car. It should be noted that no sign on our relocation allowance was paid upon Thierry Delaporte's appointment as Chief Executive Officer. Now let us turn to the remuneration of directors. As a reminder, the total annual amount that may be allocated to Sodexo directors is EUR 1.3 million. It's been that some since 2024. The scale for fixed and variable remuneration of directors applicable in 2026 remains unchanged. The only change is the increase in the flat travel allowance paid to directors residing in North America from EUR 1,500 to EUR 4,500. This allowance is paid for each actual attendance at the meeting of the Board of Directors. To conclude, I'd like to thank all the members of the Compensation Committee for their active participation and unwavering commitment throughout the past year. I also like to invite you to consult the Universal Registration Document for fiscal 2025 for more information on the compensation of corporate officers. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Cécile. Ladies and gentlemen, before we continue and because they will step down from their roles as directors at the end of this Annual Shareholders Meeting. I'd like to warmly thank on behalf of the Board and myself a couple of people. Firstly, Cécile Tandeau de Marsac for her unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions over 9 years of service. Dear Cécile, you've successfully taken on the roles of Chairwoman of the Nominating Committee and Chair of the Compensation Committee at a decisive time for the group. A group and a team that you have guided through the COVID crisis and through its transformation also notably with the spin-off of Pluxee. Your sound advice and energy were critical at these key moments. And this year again, you remain fully engaged until the very end. Thank you. I'd also like to thank Véronique Laury, who couldn't join us today, but who has served as a director for 6 years and as Chairwoman of the Sustainability Committee since its creation in 2024. Dear Véronique, your work and setting up this committee and reviewing all the CSRD related matters has been outstanding as has your broader contribution to the Board's work. I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks. Thank you. At this Annual Shareholders Meeting, we're proposing the appointment of two new directors. [ Genevieve Bish ], they're with us here today, by the way. Genevieve Bish and Francois [indiscernible], whom I warmly thank for joining us. Let's watch a short introduction video of Genevieve Bish.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you, Janie. We've also asked Francois to introduce yourself and here is her video.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you to both of you for these fun videos. Ladies and gentlemen, as Patrice de Talhouët term is coming to an end, we're proposing to evolve our governance and to appoint Bellon SA, the holding company and controlling shareholder of Sodexo as a new director. In this context, Bellon SA would designate Mr. Patrice de Talhouët as Managing Director, as its representative allowing him to continue to bring his expertise and strategic vision to the Board. Finally, we invite you today to renew Luc Messier's term as an independent director. Ladies and gentlemen, to give you a complete overview of the changes to your Board and subject to the approval of the resolutions you will be voting on shortly. Adjustments will be made to the composition of the specialized committees. For example, Geneveieve Abish will succeed Cécile de Marsac as Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee. And Luc Messier will succeed Véronique Laury as Chairman of the Sustainability Committee, which will then have five members compared to seven previously. Patrice de Talhouët, representing Bellon SA, we joined the Audit Committee, along with Francois [indiscernible] Dear shareholders, we will now give the floor to the statutory auditors so that they can present to you the -- their different reports. Madame [indiscernible] floor is U.S.

On behalf of the group of statutory auditors, Ernst & Young and KPMG, I'm pleased to report our engagement and the reports we issued for fiscal 2025. We have issued several reports and in keeping with the practice of this meeting, I propose not to read them in full but to provide you with a summary. Our report on the consolidated financial statements and our report on the annual financial statements have been made available to you as part of the shareholders' meeting and appear on Pages 245 to 248 and 267 to 270 of the universal registration document, respectively. Our work aims to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free of material of the statements, comply with the applicable accounting standards and that give a true and fair view of the consolidated financial statements of the assets and liabilities of the group's company's operations for the year [indiscernible] ended. We carried out our work in accordance with the professional standards applicable in France. At the end of our engagement, we presented our conclusions to the finance department the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors of your company. In summary, we issued an unqualified opinion on Sodexo's annual and consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2025. Our reports on the annual and consolidated financial statements highlight the key audit matters. For the consolidated financial statements, the key audit matters are measurement of the recoverable amount of goodwill and tax risks. For the annual financial statements, the key audit matter is the valuation of equity investments. Our reports on the financial statements include for each of these key audit matters, a description of the risks identified and the response we provided. Our reports on the financial statements also include the description of certain risks and the responses that we provided. Our reports on the financial statements also included the conclusions of certain verifications provided by law -- required by law, which we performed on information contained in the management report, notably in its section on corporate governance. We have summarized the nature and scope of these specific verifications in the table currently displayed on screen. In summary, we have no particular comments to make following these specific verifications. I now propose that we move on to our special report on related parties agreements, which appears on Page 271 of the universal registration document. No new agreement has been submitted for approval by this shareholders' meeting. report refers to the management support and services agreement between your company and Bellon SA, which was already approved by the shareholders' meeting in previous years. The amount recorded as an expense for fiscal 2025 amounts to EUR 4.6 million, excluding taxes. Finally, as part of the extraordinary portion of the shareholders' meeting, we have issued four special reports concerning resolutions that may have an impact on your company's share capital. Our conclusions are as follows: on the 15th resolution, we have no comments to make on the methods used to determine the issue price of the equity securities to be issued as provided in the Board of Directors' report. As the final conditions under which the issuance would be carried out have not yet been determined. We do not express an opinion on them. On the 17th resolution, we have no matters to report as to the information provided in the Board of Directors' report relating to the proposed free allocation of shares. On the 18th resolution, we have no comments to make on the methods used to determine the issue price of the equity securities to be issued as provided in the Board of Directors report as the final conditions under which issuance would be carried out have not yet been determined. We do not express an opinion on them and consequently on the proposed cancellation of preferential subscription rights. On the 19th resolution, we have no matters to report as to terms and conditions of the proposed reduction in capital.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to present a summary of our assurance report on sustainability information, which appears on pages 172 to 175 of the universal registration document. The objective our engagement was to express a limited assurance opinion on three distinct areas as required by the provisions of the French Commercial Code in the guidelines of a high audit authority. The first area concerns the compliance of the process implemented by the success of Sodexo Group to determine the information to be published including the obligation to consult the Social and Economic Committee. The aspects that received particular attention from us relate to stakeholder identification of impacts, risks and opportunities as well as the assessment of impact materiality and financial materiality. The second area addresses compliance with the ASRS standards and the French commercial code for sustainability information presented in the group's management report. In this context, the -- the aspects that received particular retention related to information published under climate change ESRSE1 standard and under social standards and workforce information under ESRSE1 standard without calling our conclusion into question. And in the context of the first year of application of the CSRD, we draw your attention to the basis of preparation of the sustainability statement which specifies in particular, quantitative information or presented or presented in a partial scope or subject to estimates and extra operations. Finally, the third and last area of our engagement concerns compliance with the publication requirements on taxonomy as provided for in Article 8 of the EU regulation 2020/832 -- 852. In summary, and based on the procedures and verifications we performed, we did not identify any material errors emissions or inconsistencies in of these three areas of our engagement. Ladies and gentlemen, the shareholders, I'd like to thank you for your attention. And I'll now hand the floor back to the Chairwoman.

Thank you to both of you for your presentation. Dear shareholders, before we move on to the Q&A session. I suggest that Florence Negrel should present the resolutions that will be submitting to you for the poll. Florence Negrel will now present the resolutions.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are 20 resolutions submitted to the vote today. 15 is ordinary resolutions and 25 is extraordinary resolutions. Through the first 2 resolutions, there's ordinary resolutions, we propose that you approve Sodexo's [ statutween ] consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2025. showing, respectively, a net profit of EUR 777 million and a consolidated net profit attributable to the group of EUR 695 million. Under the third resolution as an ordinary resolution, we propose that you approve the allocation of earnings and set the dividend at EUR 2.70 per share for fiscal 2025. This dividend will be paid on December 23, 2025. In accordance with the bylaws, a 10% increase on the ordinary dividend will be granted for shares registered in nominative form for at least 4 years as of the payment date. On to resolutions 4 to 7 as ordinary resolutions, we proposed the appointment of three new directors for a term of 3 years. That is Bellon SA represented by Patrice de Talhouët, [ Genevieve Bish ], Francois [indiscernible], as well as the renewal of Luc Messier directorship also for 3 years. Under the eighth and resolutions as ordinary resolutions, we propose that you approve the compensation components paid or awarded to the Chairwoman and CEO for Fiscal and approve the information relating to the compensation of corporate officers as provided for in article L22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code. These components were presented by Cécile Tandeau de Marsac, Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee and are included in the 2025 universal registration document. Under Resolutions 10 to 13 as ordinary resolutions, we propose that you approve for fiscal 2026. The compensation policy for directors, the compensation policy for the Chairwoman and CEO for the period from September the 2025 to November 9, 2025, inclusive for the Chairwoman of the Board as from November 2025 and for the Chief Executive Officer as from November 10, 2025. These components were presented by Cécile Tandeau de Marsac, Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee and are included in the 2025 universal registration document. On to the 14th resolution as an ordinary resolution, we ask you to renew the authorization granted to the Board to allow the company to trade in its own shares. Outside the period of a public offer, and under the 15th and 16th resolution as extraordinary resolutions, we ask you to renew the authorization granted to the Board to allow the company to carry out capital increases with retention of shareholders' preferential subscription rights to set the overall ceiling for such capital increases and to carry out capital increases through the capitalization of premiums, reserves, earnings or other amounts eligible for capitalization. Under the 17th and 18th resolution as extraordinary resolutions, we ask you to renew the authorization granted to the Board to allow the company to grant free shares of existing stock and/or issue shares to employees and/or corporate officers of the group and to carry out capital increases reserved for employees who are members of company savings plans. Under the 19th resolution, as an extraordinary resolution, we ask you to renew the authorization granted to the Board to allow the company to reduce its share capital by canceling treasury shares. Finally, under the 20th resolution as an ordinary resolution, we invite you to approve the powers necessary to carry out the legal formalities. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to remind you that you have the option to receive your notice and vote electronically via the vote access platform. We encourage shareholders who have not yet done so to contact their financial institution to subscribe to this service, which will allow them to exercise their rights more easily and quickly. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Florence. I suggest that at this point, we open the Q&A session. Before taking questions from the room, I'd like to inform you that the company has not received any written questions from any shareholder. So ladies and gentlemen, there were host and hostesses at your disposal in the room. So please identify yourself if you have a question, and you'll be handed a microphone so you can speak into it to ask your question. Number four over there, please?

On two topics. The first will have to do with the location in North America of Sodexo. The second point about the 60th anniversary in 2026 of the creation of Sodexo. The U.S. was the #1 market in Sodexo because they represent 47% of our activity. But since a few years, they become our weak point. In the last few months, significant contracts were lost in American universities due to the [indiscernible] the growth in hospitals, is not as good as we had expected. Outside to the American giant Europe and particularly France, look are somewhat dwarfed. France only represents 12% of consolidated sales. Have you never thought? This is my question about having a more balanced geographical approach to raise -- raises foot off the gas in the U.S. and to reinforce our presence in Europe and in France. After all, Sodexo was not born in Connecticut. It was born in Marseille in France, I would like to bring up the second topic. The 60th birthday or anniversary of the foundation of Sodexo. It was on the ninth of March, 1966 that Pierre Bellon created Sodexo was to become the worldwide giant in collective osteration. And this is my suggestion. Why not organize an assembly of all the shareholders at the San [indiscernible], why not with a stance in animations and to present the recipe recipes and meetings with corporate staff and to around the whole, a wonderful banquet and the cocktail by [ lent ]. And lastly, at the end of this party, everybody could say like your father would, Madam -- Chairman. I had a great time. Thank you.

Thank you for your question. Thank you very much for your question. I'll let Thierry answer the first question, and I'll answer the second one.

Thank you so much for your question. About the strategic choice of deployment of our activities in development throughout the world. Sodexo, our intention was to be present in all markets where our services, whether it be in restoration or wherever there is a need. And where we have an ability to grow and to develop. Sodexo is a leader -- an undisputed leader in France that you spoke about. But it's also a huge leader in the United States. There are two big markets. And we have the ability to orient our growth to these two markets, in particular. The American market is the biggest world market these days, and we're one of the leaders. We are very strong in the United States, and there's no reason to be afraid of continuing our development in the U.S. as to the French market, it's obviously an essential and fundamental and historical market for us in which we are having good growth and more potential for development is still there and that we will continue to invest in.

I'll just add to what Thierry said that well, we're #1 in France. We're not #1 in the U.S., but we're not in France, we want to stay in that leading position. Some of our competitors are investing in France, too. And we want our main leaders in France. We've got to also continue investing here. Now regarding the 60th anniversary of Sodexo, well, thank you for your suggestion. Well, if we want to invite all the shareholders, it would be very pleasant, but the thing is we've got lots of shareholders to our friend, but we've managed shareholders from outside of France, too, would be kind of complicated to bring everybody together in one place. And on geographical location, while we'll be celebrating the event, of course, we will be celebrating it locally as well in the different countries where we have a footprint and the [ Notre ] cuisine, well, you'll be able to appreciate some of it after the meeting outside here in the lobby, and we'll be keeping you posted about the celebration events that will be organized for the 60th -- organizing for the 60th anniversary. There's a question over there towards my left, number one, I think.

Association for the heritage of individuals. I have an observation in five short questions. First of all, congratulations of having made it possible for students who are present here today in the [indiscernible] University participate in the general assembly and to understand that humans are at the heart of companies. They've been doing this for several years.

It's not the first time they've been coming for several years at this point. Maybe not the same students, but, students have been coming for the last number of years. We do encourage students to come and understand the governance of companies.

Leasing numbers of companies are asking their staff to be physically present in the office and the impact of that trend. What effect does that have on your business? Second question. I congratulate for the separation of functions. It's a sign of good governance. The extension of responsibilities of Thierry Delaporte, the new Chief Executive Officer in the U.S. seems to be a good initiative since he knows the practices and culture of management in the U.S. Why do you keep the same President a strategic counselor because the performance wasn't apparently satisfactory? Could you give us some feedback on the application that was started in the U.S. in 2024? Fourth question, the European Commission approved our acquisition of control the Mediterránea Group from Catarina in Spain. Do you continue -- do you intend to continue to invest in this country to reach a critical size. And lastly, apparently, you have many contracts with oil companies such as Shell or gas company [ Santos ] in Australia. Are there any specific things at Sodexo that would make it possible for you to have a plus in these sectors?

I'm not certain I fully understood your second and third questions. On the presidency are the chairmanship of the Strategy Committee was in the U.S.? Was that your -- question number two. Well, the current President in the U.S. and the company seems to be stepping down from his post but staying on as an adviser. So maybe, Thierry can answer that question. Given the unsatisfactory results you achieved, why is he staying on is my question?

I'll take the first two questions. The first was concerning the need or not first half, what we thought was due to the fact that employees work from home or for the offers. I think that was the question. I think it's Sodexo for some years now, there have been changes in the way of working. And our employees are quite attached to a certain form of a hybrid solution, which enables them to work one or two days a week from home. But that means the rest of the time they work in the office. We are particularly attached to the fact that they do come indeed regularly to the office. We believe we're a company of people, a human company. It's very difficult to develop a collective culture and the collective feeling if we don't know each other. And if there's no better way to know somebody than to work together to meet and to be in the same place. So the physical presence in the office is very important for the development corporate culture, but also so that this talent can grow and develop their own careers, we believe that's important for that they be regularly present in our walls. As to the second question, having to do we're the former Chair of Sodexo in North America. We made the decision. So just several days ago to change our governance structure, and I took the decision to hire directly the management of the region, which makes it possible to be much closer to the field and to better understand the reality. It's also for me a wonderful way to base in the culture and the reality of the field of the contextual company there. And in this framework, we set up a transition period, which is over time, and what you are referring to is simply part of the transition. We should not envisage that this is a permanent role is slated to your last.

I'll let Sebastien answer it.

Thank you for your question. Now about acquisitions and Mediterranean in Spain, Acquisitions are part and parcel of our strategy for -- mergers and acquisitions in the existing market. So Mediterránea will help us double our size. EUR 300 million in revenue. So we double the size in the market in Spain in this way, which will enable us to be co-leaders in the market, and we will be able to generate a pretty different -- a pretty significant effect of scale.

For your fifth question on the oil company contracts, you mentioned mining contracts too. Indeed, we do have teams that are specialized in that kind of contract. We're very active on those contracts in the U.S., in Canada, in Latin America, in Brazil and also in Australia. Santos is a contract, which is -- in the mining sector, we renewed Rio Tinto, which is our largest contract at the end of the calendar year of 2024. And yes, all of these geographies apart from the U.S. and Canada are indeed under the responsibility of John Paldimik, who is in charge of ATMEA, but also Latin America and Brazil. So clearly, there are synergies and a lot of exchanges that go on between them and our teams because they are specialized in these areas. For those contracts, we operate for mining contracts, for example, we're in the middle of a desert in the north of Australia. For Rio Tinto, you're isolated from the rest of the country and customer proximity is really important then. And just to crystallize that concerning the uniforms, you haven't got the Sodexo people and the Rio Tinto people, we have uniform with Sodexo Rio Tinto together on the uniform. So we work in close conjunction with the Rio Tinto people. So there are specialists here working on those contracts. And when we signed Rio Tinto, that contract, we utilized know-how we gleaned in Chile with central cooking facilities called Colinas and the Rio Tinto client went to see in Chile, what we were doing down there to understand the know-how we had, they were -- they found their attractive, they're convinced buy it, and that's what we set up for them in the new contract we have with them now. that will be starting shortly. And regarding our oil company clients, we have a very large client in the United States, Chevron. We've grown the business with them. And in the last year. We're big with Shell to we're present with Total in France, but Thierry thinks we should continue developing our business with Total in the rest of the world, too, a French company. And in the world of our people, it would be great if we could be supportive of each other. That would be one of the objectives going forward for 2026. So thanks for your question on that. Also, did I forget a question, question number three. I didn't hear properly perhaps -- I'm not sure if I answered it or not. Could you repeat it? Would you mind? I had lots of questions. I let you ask five, but I'm sorry, I forgot one of them, but maybe you could repeat it. Well, they were short, but they needed appropriate answers to. We're learning.

The third one was, could you give us feedback about the application that was rolled out in the U.S. in 2024?

You rolled out an application -- additional application, you mean? Okay, yes. Well, it's working very well. we rolled out in the enterprise segment, the business segment where our teams are pushing forward the use of that application and also on the University segment where students are really -- they really go for that kind of mode of consumption. Everything that's digital can facilitate consumer lives these days, and it increases the average spend. And there's are manager over their as, [ Alice ], you can talk to the cocktail reception afterwards, if you like the figure actually is not just the U.S. but it's driven by the U.S. In 2022, we had 1.2 million consumers directly interacting with our digital ecosystem. Now there are 6 million. Now on the -- out of the 80 million consumers, it's not it's not a big enough proportion, but we're continuing to go forward on this and speeding it up fast tracking it, investing more and more, and especially in the U.S., where our consumers really love those applications. So thank you for that question. There's number two over there on the left, I think.

Charles [indiscernible] questions. First about Lenôtre, the icon of the brand of French gastronomy. What I read recently that it was too expensive, not as good. we're closing 3 out of the 11 sites. What's going on? That's my question. What's your communication policy about this superb brand and how can you fix it? The second question has to do with the Sodexo policy with respect to additives and colorants of which we talk about so often. What's your position on food eyes, do you avoid using them? Are you the friend of [ UCA ] Third point, having to do with the stock market values, there's a contrast between this beautiful company and the change over 1 year or over 10 years. we got minus 31% over 10 years, minus 43% since 2025, but there are results. How can you explain that? I'd like to ask you if there's -- why are you not trying to develop the shareholder ship on the part of staff. There's only 1.5% of our shareholders and the company very often in [ Bouygues ] associate. This is a very large portion of their shareholders are working there, and they're doing well in the stock market.

I'll let Sebastien answer your last question.

I'll start by the stock market values. I understand your frustration. The decrease in the listings occurred subsequent to the revival of our guidance for 2025. We reviewed our guidelines downwards in March and reduced our growth but it's between 3% and 4% with a margin between 10% and 20%, which we confirmed at the end of 2025, this revision of the guidance. But nonetheless, this is -- it was a disappointment, it perceives as just either in a waiting position. We have expressed our guidance for 26 million transition year in organic change between -- and the pressure on margin. These have to invest. So the situation is that of expectation is a waiting period the cost has to reflect the feeling of the market at a given point in time. And it's up to us to rebuild that trust with the new [ shopper ] that's opening, so as to be able to give a positive inflection to the stock market prices. Thank you.

Concerning the neutral answer, if you don't mind. So regarding lent, we keep on reviewing the business network. We try to meet customers' expectations. The stores that were closed down weren't servicing their customers, as well anymore, but we opened in Galeries Lafayette, a corner, a [indiscernible] corner in Galeries Lafayette gourmet [indiscernible], that is the idea is to focus on locations that are most relevant and to have better conditions to continue developing Lenôtre in the future, and we do remain very committed to the Lenôtre company. They really provide exceptional quality products in their stores. And we want to be in line with the standard of excellence that's always led to the fantastic reputation of Lenôtre and we're working on improving that experience year in year out. Regarding your question concerning transparency on the ingredients and our know-how on that. What we have know-how that respects nutritional standards. And I'd like to recall that we're cooks and chefs we try and work as much as possible using raw materials that have not been processed, additives and color and that you're talking about coloring agents, that's where products produced industrially by the food industry, usually, that's much less our case. So we respect nutritional standards and health and safety when it comes to food products, we work mainly with fresh produce, not processed products. So obviously, in selecting our food stuffs, our procurement people are very attentive to all of these matters. And as we explained, as has been shown through the videos through [indiscernible] was said, and as you know yourselves, were leaders on sustainable food services these days. We've given the strongest commitments. If you look at our French and non-French peers, we are the ones who want the furthest in all of our countries and with the commitments we've given for 2030, 2035 and 2040 as well to be borne in mind. We've gone further than our peers and our competitors, we're really attentive to this, and we want to be a step ahead of others, and we are a step ahead of others right now with "Better Tomorrow 2025" and the new commitment we're making with "Better Tomorrow 2028", our new plan, we want to continue maintaining our lead and manage all of the dimensions, you mentioned the additives and such like. So thank you for those questions. There's a question over there -- there are lots of questions. I see a lot of hands going up towards the back of the room, microphone number six perhaps.

Hello, Mr. [ Jean Bars ], my name. I have a question. Well, firstly, well done on separating dissociating the post of Chairperson and CEO. You still have a contract between Bellon SA and Sodexo to provide services. I think last year was EUR 5.1 million. Now it's EUR 4.6 million. Why has that contract gone down? And could do the members of the Board look at that? Does this service contract need to exist because the company Bellon SA, I think, received dividends, EUR 167 million in the previous fiscal year, I think. So whilst the advantage of having that agreement with our company? Secondly, on long-term incentives and long-term remuneration. The only place I see variable compensation index to potential development of the stock price is -- there's just one 1 place. So it should be more, I think, because for us as shareholders, it's a really important criteria. And what I see in the TSR is that you have a panel and you give a list of the companies and the panel. Well done on that Sophie.

Well, answer on this service agreement with our [indiscernible] Bellon SA are shoulder to the tune of 43.8% of Sodexo. So they have 58.8% of voting rights. And this agreement bolsters the structure and the leadership role of Belllon SA. This leadership will consist of defining jointly the long-term strategic guidelines for Sodexo. And the variation in the amount, as you mentioned, I won't go into the mathematical details, but there or people who work for Bellon SA that are cross-charged built to Sodexo. And it depends on the salary of those persons. So it's normal for to vary from 1 year to the next. Then the second question was both the LTI, yes. And the TSR portion and the importance of the stock price. Yes, the indexing is using a TSO with the benchmark of peers. In our industry or similar industries. And I think the percentage is already 30% if I'm not mistaken. So it's already quite a large percentage. And we chose that relative with because we did benchmarking with what's done in other companies. And it's a fairly conventional way of doing things actually. So thank you for those questions. There is another question. I think it's microphone number one down there. We'll just take -- we'll do two more questions if you don't mind, because we're going to have to move on. And well, maybe number four over there. The gentleman towards the middle microphone number four, I think? It was one and four, I think. This gentleman is right in the middle of microphone number four first.

In the food -- any risk is big, whether it be bacteria or salmonella or [ steri ] or whatever or some kind of the new virus. And the portage is a matter of health. On the other hand, you have -- the rupture of the cold chain. What are the processes that you use to make sure that you won't have a gastroenteritis vehicle and a lot of industrials have had problems with contamination. You also work in hospitals or schools. There could be a significant risk, and it could be really too bad for the group. That's an issue.

You're quite right. This is something we're quite aware of. It's something we've been working on since the very start of the group since the inception of the group. It's part of our job really, it's the prime risk you've got to try and fight against in this business line. So what do we do? We train our people first start. We train them, retrain them, reskill them and refresh skill them and so on. And that's really in the center stage of our priorities. We've got protocols for what we produce because it might be a cold chain. It might be a site in a hospital, it might be in the company is not quite the same mode of production. So we've got protocols each time a very strict ones that must be adhered to depending on the sector, depending on the activities we have in each site, the type of site didn't -- I mean there's a whole set of protocols as a function of the typology of the site. So as to make sure that we abide by all those protocols, we do regular audits in our restaurants, but also on the side of our suppliers because we've got quite a lot of purchasing power, and we work closely with our suppliers, and we try and work hand-in-hand with them and keep them over time. We're long-term partners for our suppliers, and we try to, therefore, make sure they make the commitments we want them to make. And that we make ourselves so that we can trust their protocols. So that's really in the forefront of what we do. It requires training. It requires management overseeing their teams that their direct reports are doing the right thing, and we do conduct these orders as well. And the whole town, we keep on challenging ourselves. And if there is a problem, we immediately escalated to group level and I can tell you that the slightest problem is escalated in the space of the day on the same day. And we have a whole protocol set up to understand what's happened and to use this as a learning experience, maybe just a small problem, but we still have to learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again. The percentages, oh it's tiny. Gastroenteritis, that's -- it's a virus. And it's very difficult. I mean, we start identifying there's a problem if in the side, there are several cases are a very serious case, but gastroenteritis can come -- doesn't come from what we produce. It can be in the year around us -- kind of just maybe at the cock [indiscernible] all over the price these days. So we can measure like that. We've got to measure the number of cases reported on the site. And then sometimes there may be cases but it may not be due to our activities at all. So then we do an investigation, but we doesn't happen every day. The EUR 18 million of meals served per day. It's pre-reassuring. We don't have this problem often. Is there a last question? Have we exhausted your questions. There's a question over there. At microphone number one, perhaps no? Is that all then? No more questions? There is a gentleman there who wants to ask a question, I think, towards the middle, if he could be given the microphone, microphone number 5. One last question then. And we've got to vote on the resolutions and then go to the cocktail in that order. Otherwise, it won't be on the cocktail, if we don't vote on the resolutions.

I have a question, Sodexo's a proximity or a local group. Providing local restoration. You spoke about an application deployed essentially in the U.S. apparently. I would like to know a bit more about your ambitions in digitalization or digital services. Why combined humans with a digital approach, which you haven't lots of movies. But I mean, why do you in your business that you have digital ambitions in new technologies?

Thank you. With that question kind of projecting us into the future. Firstly, smile will never replace a real smile. That is a conviction I have myself that I think is defended by many people by all of our employees anyway. And yes, of course, we have an application, but -- we also have people in a restaurant in the company, in a hospital doing the job. And if we use connected tools is to bolster the links we have between the consumers and our teams. So it's an augmented experience for the consumer. But if you want to use the tool you can use if you don't want to use it, you don't have to use it in other words. You can continue interacting directly with our staff members. And a few weeks ago, there was a major form, adapt AI at the Grand Palais and people tended to say, look, AI is going to be used, how many people are going to make redundant. No, that's not the issue. We've got 426,000 people right now. We're not going to make any but redundant. We are going to utilize AI to make sure that our teams we'll have fewer repetitive tasks to do. I mean I'll give you an example. The menus and AI, if you have to change your menu because you have a change in product or product cost, very expensive. You've got to change the menu got to put the new product down to the menu instead got to adapt things because sometimes clients don't want exactly this new product. But this tool enables us to do what you say. In the past, it could take days and days to make the change, and it will take just a couple of hours, thanks to AI. So that's the kind of tool that will be useful for us. And -- we have our foresight to, let's we call it. So we can identify with our clients the population that will come to dine at a certain point in time. And the people on the site using the tool. Instead of spending hours and trying to anticipate it's a Friday. So how many people will come and dine in Monday or Wednesday, how many will we plan for? We use all the data that have been entered into the tool, and they will realize upfront how many people they should be prepared for. And they use this tool, they realize is very reliable and the time that they will save, they don't have to do forecasting much, they will spend that time then with their teams talking to the clients when the meals are being served to see if the consumers are satisfied and so on. So to free up time for them to do more higher-value activities. So we want to enhance the customer experience also improve the interactions we have with clients, with diners as well so as to therefore as I say, make for a better experience, and we'll also be able to measure our carbon emissions better. So with this tool, we can provide all this information to our clients and help them in their own transition to reduce their carbon emissions and improve the experience for our team members who will spend less time on repetitive tasks that prevent them from focusing on the consumer experience. I hope that's an answer to your question. It was a very good question, though. It's indeed a very exciting topic for the future. You can go and talk to Alice. Lots of people who want to see here during the [indiscernible] she's the lady expert on this subject, Alice. So I think that runs off our Q&A session. Thank you. for all of your questions. I suggest we should close this Q&A session at this point. And the team in charge of Shareholder Relations is available as they are throughout the year, of course, to answer your questions. And we've got many of our senior managers with us, lots of the French teams, the procurement manager, HR manager, communication manager, the demand for France. So we've got many of our senior managers here with you that you can chat to as well. And I'll give the floor now to Florence Negrel to vote upon the resolutions.

We're at the final quorum. We'll be taking into account the number of shares currently in a number of shareholders present represented or having voted by correspondence [ 126,759,02,206 ], 87% of shares entitled to vote. In the legal quorum or the ordinary reading and the extraordinary meeting has been reached. And the voting of the resolutions can therefore be validly carried out. We will now proceed to the vote on the resolutions. As you look at a short video explaining how to use the tablets that were handed to you when signing the attendance sheet. [Presentation]

The first resolution adoption of individual company financial statements for fiscal '25. I open the vote. Those has been adopted by 199.98% second resolution. Adoption of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2025. The vote is -- and I open the vote. [Voting]

The vote is closed. The vote is adopted by 99.98% of votes. Third resolution, appropriation of net income for fiscal 2025, determination of the dividend amount and payment dates. I open the vote. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.99% of the votes. Fourth resolution, appointment of Bellon SA as a Director for a 3-year term. I open the vote. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This is adopted by 82.54% of fifth resolution, appointment of Genevieve Bish as Director for a 3-year term. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. The resolution has been adopted by 99.97% of the votes. Sixth resolution, appointment of [ Francois Copa ] as Director for a 3-year term. I open the vote. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.99% of the votes. Seventh resolution, reappointment of Luc Messier as a Director for a 3-year term. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This was a 98.22% of the votes. Eighth resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid during or awarded for fiscal 2025 to Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman and CEO. I open the vote. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This vote has been adopted by 76.73% of the votes. Ninth resolution, approval of the information related to the compensation of corporate officers and directors paid during or awarded for fiscal 2025 as referred to an article L22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted at 99 of the votes. Tenth resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the directors. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.71% of the votes. 11th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chairwoman and CEO for the period from December 1, 2025 to November 9, 2025. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 91.22% of the votes. 12th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors as from November 1, 2025. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 88.65% of the votes. 13th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chief Executive Officer from 10 November 2025. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 97.72% of the votes. 14th resolution, authorization for the Board of Directors to purchase shares of the company. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.74% of the votes. 15th delegation of powers to the Board of Directors to increase the company's share capital with preferential subscription rights for existing shareholders, by issuing ordinary shares and/or other securities carrying immediate or deferred rights to the company's capital. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.23% of votes. 16th resolution, delegation of powers to the Board of Directors to increase the company's share capital by capitalizing premiums, reserves, profits or other sums eligible for capitalization. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.74% of the votes. 17th resolution, authorization for the Board of Directors to grant existing and/or newly issued to restricted shares to all or certain employees and/or corporate officers in the group with automatic waiver by shareholders of their preferential subscription rights. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 98.46% of the votes. 18th resolution, dedication of powers to the Board of Directors to increase the company's share capital without preferential rights for existing shareholders, by issuing ordinary shares and/or other securities carrying immediate or deferred rights to the company's capital reserved for members of employee share purchase plans. The vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 99.60% of votes. 19th resolution, authorization for the Board of Directors to reduce the company's share capital by canceling treasury shares. Vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is closed. This resolution has been adopted by 98.79% of the votes. And the last resolution, powers to carry out formalities. The vote is open. [Voting]

This resolution has been adopted by 98.99% of the votes. Thank you for your attention. I will now hand over the floor to Sophie Bellon.

Thank you. Thank you, Florence. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for placing your trust in your Board of Directors through these resolutions. We shall now adjourn this session. And thank you for attending, and I would invite the shareholders with us here in the room in Paris to move towards the cocktail prepared by Lenôtre. So we'll meet at the cocktail reception in a very short while. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]