Veolia Environnement SA (VIE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, hello to each and every one of you. It is once again a pleasure to be with you all here today in the Palais Brongniart for our shareholder meeting. I would like to thank all those shareholders here in the room today. I would like to also thank those who sent in their votes by mail and also those joining us online because as you are all aware, we are live streaming today's session. Here by my side, we have Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO, and I'm sure you're all quite familiar with her. We have Emmanuelle Menning, who is the deputy -- sorry, Deputy Director in charge of Finances and Procurement, and we also have Helman le Pas de Sécheval, who is General Secretary, and Secretary of the Board. I would now like to hand over to Helman, who will talk us through the legal formalities of today's meeting.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the formalities of today's proceedings, I would just like to give you some security information about the venue. The security exits are off the back of the room behind me, so on your right-hand side, and you should have green lights indicating the way out. If we have to evacuate the building, the staff of the Palais Brongniart will take you to the gathering point just out the front of the Palais Brongniart building. Today's session is going to be presided over by Mr. Antoine Frerot who is President of the Board. So we're meeting here on the 24th of April 2025 at 3:00 pm according to the articles of our association and we sent the official information of the meeting being held on the 19th of March 2025. The efficient summons were sent on the ninth of April 2025, and a letter was sent to nominative shareholders. You also have a copy of the letter of Association, we also have a copy of the bylaws of all of the draft resolutions for the meeting today. We will also give you a final count of the votes prior to the resolutions. We also have all of the votes sent in -- by vote, the proxy sent in by vote. We also have the various reports from shareholders sent in. We also have a copy of all documentation that was sent out to shareholders. All of the documentation was provided to shareholders predominantly via our website in a timely manner as such. We will -- because everyone had a timely -- enough time to read through the report, we will not read through them here today. We now have the resolutions for the ordinary shareholder meeting. We have resolutions 1 to 8 first. We have approval of the company financial statements for fiscal year 2024. We also have approval of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2024. That's the second resolution, Resolution 3, the preparation of net income for fiscal year 2024 and payment of dividend. Fourth resolution, approval of regulated agreements and commitments. Fifth resolution, renewal of the term of Mr. Pierre-Andre de Chalendar as Director. Resolution 6, appointment of the term of office for Mr. Philippe Brassac as Director. Resolution 7, appointment of Mrs. Elena Salgado as Director. Resolution #8, appointment of Mr. Arnaud Caudoux as Director; Resolution 9, appointment of Deloitte & Associates as statutory auditor responsible for certifying the financial statements. Resolution 10, appointment of Deloitte & Associates as statutory auditors responsible for certifying the sustainability information. We then have resolution 11. The vote on the compensation components paid during 2024 or awarded in respect of the same fiscal year to Mr. Antoine Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Resolution 12, vote on the compensation components paid during 2024 or awarded in respect of the same fiscal year to Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer; Resolution 13, vote on the information relative to the 2024 compensation of directors, excluding the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer, as mentioned in Article L22-10-9, 1 of the French commercial code. Resolution 14, vote on the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Compensation Policy, ex anti vote. Resolution 15, vote on the Chief Executive Officer's compensation policy ex anti vote. 16, approval of the annual compensation allocated to members of the Board of Directors. Resolution 17, vote on directors' compensation policy in respective fiscal year 2025. Resolution 18, authorization to be given to the Board of Directors to deal in the company's shares. Moving on to extraordinary items. We have items 19 to 21. We want you to provide power to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares and/or securities, giving access immediately or at a later date to the share capital and reserve for the members of company savings plans without preferential subscription rights. That is Resolution 19. Delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares and/or securities giving access immediately or related data to share capital and reserve for certain categories of persons without preferential subscription rights in the context of the implementation of employee share ownership plans, 20th resolution. And finally, authorization be granted to the Board of Directors for the purpose of granting existing or newly issued free shares to employees of the group and corporate officers of the company or some of them implying waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription rights, 21st resolution; 22nd resolution is to include the purpose in the company's Articles of Association by adding it to the preamble. And 23rd resolution is for powers to carry out formalities. As for the Bureau of today's meeting, we have Mr. Patrick Furnas as scrutator from Amundi and Jean-Yves Auzeby on behalf of the employee shareholders is also here. Both shareholders stand as the largest voting right and has also accepted to be a supervisory person, and we would like to thank them both for being here today. I will stand in as secretary for today's session. Discussion today is made public and all proceedings will be recorded and is being broadcast live on our website as our Chairman just said. A number of non-shareholders are attending this meeting, such as journalists and also a ministerial representative to make sure that all proceedings are going ahead as planned. When members who are present or represented here, when it comes to approving the resolutions, we need to have at least 1/4 of all shareholders present here. That is a total of 182,604,643 shares. We have currently met 539,000 odd shares which is 73% of all shares and 90,000 odd shareholders in all. So this means that we have met the quorum for both ordinary and extraordinary items. Chairman, over to you.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I take great pleasure in seeing you all today here for our Annual Shareholder Meeting. Your loyalty and your trust are the pillars on which we build the future of Veolia. You yourselves have seen that we are living in fascinating times, times where humanity is facing its greatest challenges, climate disruption, resource scarcity, geopolitical upheavals. These challenges are turning into opportunities for those who dare and to dare is to be Veolia. It is part of our DNA. Veolia symbolizes that desire to extend the boundaries of what is possible, to come up with the solutions of tomorrow, to demand excellence in everything that we undertake. The ability to adapt while facing the challenges of a ever-changing world. And sure, in the video, we will never give up, never given -- not even a face of doubt and skepticism. In a world of constant surprise with so many long-established certainties undermined being reactive is no longer an option. It is a vital necessity. We need to defy expectations, reinvent models, transform obstacles into springboards. And that is exactly what we do at Veolia. This strength is rooted in 3 core fundamentals, unshakable fundamentals that I wish to discuss with you here today. The first is our resilience, exceptional resilience. One, we chose nothing to luck. It is the fruit of our agility, our capacity to innovate and it's the fact that we have a perfectly balanced portfolio of business lines. As recent crises have underlined where others have wavered, Veolia has marched on and there are numerous examples to prove it. Take the COVID crisis. When the world was brought to a shuttering halt in 2020, Veolia remained upright, stronger than ever. This crisis highlighted something that we already knew, how essential our services are to people's daily lives, be it water, energy, waste collection, these vital services that we supply without disruption became in the eyes of one and all pillars of a resilient society. And despite the unprecedented situation that might have held us back, we took things to a new level with the audacious project to merge with Suez, again, highlighting our ability to reinvent ourselves even during the most difficult times. And when the septics were doubting, we fought for an integration process that was going to take place faster and was going to be more beneficial than even the most optimistic forecast would have had. When responding to the energy crisis triggered by the invasion of Ukraine, our views carried weight echoes of our ability to develop actionable real-world solutions, reusing wastewater, producing decarbonized local energy to boost regional energy independence. And in 2023, more recently, when faced with the challenge of PFAS seen in the United States and in France. We once again demonstrated our unmatched expertise and our ability to protect people from harm. Our response to these events led to a fundamental shift in how businesses are perceived. Veolia is no longer seen as simply a provider of essential services. But more as the guardian of health, well-being and economic prosperity of communities and their inhabitants. This is a vision that Estelle Brachlianoff was one of the first to champion. And now here we are in 2025 with new geopolitical tensions overturning global economic balances. We have never been more resilient. Our financial and nonfinancial results that will be presented to you in just a few moments are striking illustration of this. Because we are constantly listening to the needs of private individuals and businesses, because we move with our times, while always staying one step ahead. It is because we lead. That is why our model is so resilient and create so much value. Our ability to swiftly adapt to even the most abrupt changes in our environment, our operational excellence -- the reasons that we can not only just weather crisis, but we can come out of them stronger and more focused on the future than ever before. While Veolia's transformation into a resilient and powerful business, the one that you know today, it is also and perhaps even more so thanks to the invaluable compass that guides us forward, our purpose. And that is the second fundamental that I wish to discuss today. Our purpose, it is far more than just a statement of intent. It is a powerful driver for creating value. Since 2019, it has guided every one of our strategic decisions, every investment, every innovation. It accomplishes so much more than simply aligning our performance. It unleashes our performance. And the evidence is there every single time where we transform waste for our industrial customers into energy. We create economic value while also preserving natural resources. Every time we innovate to tackle a new form of pollution, we generate growth while also protecting public health. Every time we rolled out more energy efficiency solutions, we cut our customers' energy bills while also fighting against climate change. And given the uncertainty and complexity of today's current geopolitical situation, this makes this compass more precious than ever. It allows us to deliver economic performance while also making a positive impact on society and the environment. It gives meaning to the work that is done by our some 220,000 colleagues and employees. It protects the value that we create for all of our stakeholders. And so for you too, our dear shareholders. That is why today, we are breaking new ground by proposing that we incorporate this purpose into our articles of association. It is not just symbolic, but is a significant step forward, a milestone in our societal commitment by transforming our purpose, which has previously approved and implemented by the Board of Directors into a mandate that was given to us by you, our shareholders, we are setting in stone, a unique value creation model -- because we are convinced that in a fast-changing world, only those companies with prosperous and long-term futures are those that can reconcile economic performance with positive impact, but our purpose is not a constraint. It is our best ally for us to conquer the future. But for this purpose to deliver to the fullest, to unfold its full value-creating potential, it has to be supported by solid committed governance structures. And that is the third fundamental, which I wish to talk to you about today. Having a clear ambitious strategy is essential. But to have backing from top-tier investors, is also a key signal, a message that we can send. The arrival of Criteria Caixa and Bpifrance as shareholders in 2025, it represents a considered and decisive choice. These institutions are not your run of the mill investors. They are long-term partners who share our belief that ecological transformation is not a simple market trend but the greatest economic achievement of our century. The strength of this partnership also lies in shared values. A long history of local routes, in-depth knowledge of local challenges, a long-term vision of development. By asserting their financial power with our operational expertise and our close local relationships, we are not just creating economic value. We are building a more sustainable future. And to go hand-in-hand with this new momentum, we are changing our governance. So it is with great delight that I put to you today a recommended appointment, a number of appointments to our Board of Directors, 3 outstanding future members Elena Salgado, who brings valuable experience as President of the Alberts Foundation. Arnaud Caudoux offering strategic vision of an Executive Vice President of Bpifrance, and last but not least, Philippe Brassac, who is expertise as CEO of Credit Agricole will be invaluable to us. also recommend renewing the term of office for Pierre-Andre de Chalendar who makes a vital contribution to all of our work as well. I would also like to express my long outstanding gratitude to Marion Guillou and Francisco Reynes, who will be leaving our Board having provided so much precious assistance over the years. These changes will mean that our Board will achieve total gender parity, a perfect 50-50 split between men and women. We will also reach 36% of our Board members coming from abroad. This is of particular joy to me because this is the diversity that we see in our company. our customers, our communities that we serve every day. A diversity of outlooks and experience. It is also a formidable driver for future innovation. It means we can think differently. We can imagine new solutions, we can reinvent our businesses to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It will turn our purpose into reality. This new look given to our governance underpins a strategy that I'm proud to say, is exceeding all our expectations. In barely 1 year, the GreenUp plan that Estelle and her teams have been rolling out has already delivered far more than even our most ambitious targets, and it is just the beginning. Dear shareholders, your trust has made it possible for us today to innovate, to reinvent ourselves. Today, when others dared not to act when others stood by and waited, our group is useful and appealing to all. And this is giving us the strength we need to invent the world of tomorrow. I would now like to hand over to Estelle Brachlianoff, who has been a fantastic embodiment of Veolia's new era of Conquest. Thank you very much. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you all for your presence here today. My delight in seeing you all and my pride. I'm presenting you with our record-breaking results is accompanied by a more profound emotions. I sense that we stand at a critical moment, a moment when the course of history is accelerating. Moment when choices we make today will determine our ability to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. We know what these challenges are. Today's world is experiencing a period of unprecedented change. We face a succession of interlinked crisis, inflation stalks our economies. Geopolitical tensions are redrawing the map of the world and all over the world, the consequences of the climate crisis have never been more severe. Look around in Valencia, people's lives were devastated by flooding, only weeks after an unprecedented drought. Taiwan, the semiconductor industry is fighting for every last drop of water. Los Angeles, the skyline is on. The search for energy independence is now critically important. The scale of these challenges sees the old debate resurface is ecology the enemy of the economy? maybe a luxury available only to wealthy countries, a threat to our prosperity. Let's be very clear. It's not the planet that's under threat. It's our life on earth, our prosperity. What at stake is our health, our spending power, the survival of our industries and jobs. It's the independence and attractiveness of our cities, the competitiveness of our businesses, our well-being and our sovereignty. It's no longer a question of either identifying guilty parties or defending the planet. That's a vision that belongs in the past. The real question centers on understanding how to ensure our models stay resilient by delivering improvements to our daily lives. Today's innovations have a new tale to tell. Tale of an ecology that protects, an ecology that preserves our quality of life and strengthens our economies. Ecology is no longer a matter of choice or belief. It has become critical to our very security. That's right. Security, because when a city runs out of water, when an energy shortage prevents an industry from producing, when a region is threatened by pollution, it's no longer just an environmental problem. These are threats to air prosperity. Our independence, our health our lifestyle. Ecological security as strategically essential in today's world is energy security or food security. It is the key to our collective resilience. And this is where Veolia really stands out. We are not just a services and technology business. We are architects of ecological security. This is our mission. This is our responsibility, and we take great pride in this. It's a mission that demands more than a stand-alone solution. It demands unrivaled strength, unmatched capacity, the power that makes our competitors jealous. Power that they can never match. See in this strength lies in our ability to see and act outside traditional surface, to combine know-how what are differences where they see separate quarters, water waste and energy. We see a single unified mission to protect what is essential. Where others offer fragmented responses, we deliver integrated solutions backed by our single unified strength. This is our unique signature, our fundamental difference. Today, Veolia is writing a new chapter. What we are doing is no longer simply act now, we are multiples because our strength and is an ability to combine everything. Combining our professions with agility to avoid compartmentalizing, combing local routes with global strength to deliver unrivaled impact, combining innovation with excellence to make a difference, combining growth with performance. Veolia create outstanding value. Our model has demonstrated strength delivering remarkable results. The past 5 years have seen a doubling of our net income. This outstanding performance means that today, we can offer you a 12% rise in dividends. This is the concrete group of our ability to constantly create value no matter the upheavals in the world. And with GreenUp, we are ramping up the strengths, and this is Veolia's signature, a unique model that matches resilience with growth. A model capable of transforming every challenge into an opportunity. The results are there. They speak for themselves. We have the right to make bold strategic choices. This unrivaled power is something that we apply in every corner of the world every day. In Europe, we're giving a second life to electric vehicle batteries in Eastern France. In Valenton, we are transforming wastewater into a source of decarbonized local energy. In Asia, we are ensuring the giants of the microelectronic sector have the ultra-pure water they need to keep their factories running, while in Australia, we are supporting highly water-intensive mining industries. In the United States, we are removing PFAS pollution from water supplies and are treating the most complex types of hazardous waste. While, in Latin America, we are helping the food and beverage industries to decarbonize. In Africa, we are securing access to drinking water for millions of people. While in the Middle East, we are building the world's largest low-carbon desalination plants. The same signature around the world for towns, cities and industry, the Veolia signature, the same strength, the capacity to combine expertise and the same goal, ecological security. And the results are there. After barely a year, it's already more than a promise. It's a reality that has exceeded our ambitions. If you look at our successes in treating PFAS, forever chemicals. By combining our expertise in water, hazardous waste and new technologies, our revenue from this has risen from EUR 0 to EUR 250 million in just 2 years. And this is only the beginning. A revenue of EUR 1 billion is within reach. And this again shows Veolia's power to combine in action, transforming an environmental challenge into a growth opportunity. Look at Veolia Water Technologies, where our order intake is up 20% in just 18 months, in terms of ultrapure water technologies. Our main positions were clustered in Southeast Asia. But when American semiconductor regulations changed, we were able to pivot immediately. And today, we are the partner of choice for American's largest manufacturing corporations. This is Veolia's agility and action, the ability to anticipate changing regulations and to transform obstacles into opportunities. Look at our desalination plant, 4 new contracts that we won in just 12 months, each beating the record for size set by the one before. Above all, our innovations has delivered a fivefold cut in the amount of energy they use. The result is that costs for a cubic meter of water have fallen from EUR 2 to EUR 4, 20 years ago to under EUR 0.50 today. This, again, is the power of Veolia and these are not isolated success. There is really a simple equation. No resources equals no business activity, no business activity, no prosperity, no prosperity, no future. In a world where resources are becoming scarcer, environmental excellence is no longer an obstacle. It is the ultimate competitive advantage. When we talk about helping Veolia grow, we're not just referring to the numbers. We're talking about a virtuous cycle where growth and impact each boost each other because there is a compass guiding our power, our purpose. Every day, it helps us to remind us that a large business cannot seek only to create profit. It must also serve human progress. When we have the amount of energy used at a plant, when we save millions of cubic meters of water, when we recycle strategic materials, we're creating more than financial value. We're creating value that is stronger, more lasting, value that protects people. Value that strengthens regions, value that preserves industries, and this is what we call the multifaceted performance. The multifaceted performance is not just a vague ambition. It's a reality that motivates us, reality that drives engagement. The most elegant proof lies with our 220,000 colleagues worldwide. 88% of them declare that they are proud to be part of Veolia, 88% of our colleagues feel that they actively contribute to ethnological transformation. These figures tell a story. They speak of committed teams who understand that there is more to their mission than just a job. And they are the group's largest single shareholder, holding nearly 9% of the capital in your business. Dear shareholders, look at what we have built together. Look at what we've become. In a world filled with uncertainty, Veolia is more than just a haven of stability. We are a rising force. We are strategic. We are essential. And we're not satisfied with surviving in a complex world. We are growing. We're becoming stronger with every passing day. Why? Because for us, ecological security isn't a concept. It's what we deliver every day at scale, impactfully. Dear shareholders. you have chosen ecological security. You've chosen a leader that protects and transforms, you have chosen a future that is safer and more sustainable. So let us continue writing this unique story together. Thank you for your trust in us. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, it is now the time for say on pay, and I will give the floor to Olivier Andreas, the Chair of the Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors. Olivier, over to you.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. It is up to me now to present the elements of the remuneration of our leaders for 2024 and 2025. These are the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th resolutions submitted to your vote during this general assembly. So everything is laid out very specifically in Chapter 3, Section 3.4 of the recording, the universal recording document for 2024. First of all, for the remuneration paid in 2024 or attributed for that fiscal year, the remuneration for Chairman of the Board, Antoine Frerot remained unchanged as compared to 2023. So set remuneration amounting to EUR 700,000 to which is added an additional retirement benefits and healthcare as applies to all employees of the company. And the President of the Board of Directors does not have any variable share of remuneration either in the short or in the long term. For 2024, the amounts for the Executive Director, applying a policy that has remained unchanged as compared to 2023. It is made up of set annual remuneration of EUR 1,030 million. And then secondly, we have a variable share which after observing fulfillment of the various criteria set by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the Board of administrators has led to a variable share, yearly variable share of EUR 1,487,372 for 2024, which is 144.4% of the set amount. The variable share for the long-term remuneration which is tied to a performance plan and with observation over a period of 3 years has led to attributing 47,331 performance shares for 2024. And lastly, the Director General also has social benefits, social protection and causes and departure benefits mentioned here on the slide, which remain unchanged from the beginning of her term in July 2022. Turning now to the remuneration policy for the leaders for 2025 for leadership. The Board of Directors suggests that the policy, remuneration policy applied in 2024 be continued in 2025. The set share of the Chairman of the Board's remuneration remains at EUR 700,000, which remains unchanged since the beginning of his term in 2022. The remuneration policy for the Director General remains as follows: a set share of EUR 1,330 million, which has remain unchanged since Estelle Brachlianoff became Director General in July 2022. Secondly, a variable share on a yearly basis, which represents where 50% is based on financial objectives, 30% is based on quantitative objectives, which are nonfinancial, but are linked to the company purpose, and 20% is linked to qualitative objectives linked to the strategic dimension to management performance and what is called the equity story. All of these objectives were reached. So the yearly variable share is set at 100% of the set share. And in case of overperformance, it is limited at 160% of the set share of remuneration. And these thresholds have also remained unchanged since the beginning of her term in July 2022. Thirdly, variable share for the long term in the form of performance shares, representing the equivalent value of 133% of the set share of yearly remuneration. This threshold was increased from 100% to 133% in 2023 to meet the expectations of a more important weighting of long-term objectives as compared to short-term perspectives as desired by the Board of Directors. So there's a 50% of the nonfinancial quantitative criteria and 50% of financial criteria with an obligation to preserve at least 40% of the total of shares attributed for each of the fiscal years until reaching a level which corresponds to 200% of the set share of yearly remuneration. Fourth, also suggesting that we maintain the social benefits, social protection, and the causes and severance packages to remain unchanged. General Director does not have a working contract but she resigned when she was appointed Director General on the first of July 2022, and lastly, the Director General does not receive pay as a Director of the group. Thank you for your attention.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. Thank you, Olivier. And I will now give the floor, ladies and gentlemen, to Emmanuelle Menning, our Deputy General Director in charge of Finance Purchasing for the presentation of our multifaceted performance on financial results and extra financial results.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, hello. It is an honor for me to be here at my very first shareholder meeting. We will be talking about 2024 results, not only to look over the financial results, but also our performance in terms of extra financial criteria. Our 2024 results are very solid. We not only achieved our objectives. We exceeded them. This shows one thing. Our group has the firepower and agility that we need to succeed whatever the circumstances. Yes, 2024 was marked by some challenging headwinds, economic slowdown, political tensions in Europe, repercussions of the energy crisis. However, we did more than just show our resilience. We excelled and we grew. Our strategic choices, our unique positioning on the market, our targeted efficiency plans and the ramping up of synergies all enabled us to stand out and ensure a competitive edge. Let us take a closer look at the numbers. Revenue has increased by 5%, excluding energy prices. Our booster activities are expanding rapidly, be it the 6.6% increase in number of our business lines. We have seen an 8% -- 5.8% increase in EBITDA to reach EUR 6.7 billion. The profit margin is now at 15.2% considerable increase. We have also seen a net operating result, up 14% to reach EUR 1.5 billion which is well above our EUR 1.5 billion target. Veolia now has EUR 45 billion in revenue across 3 key business lines. Firstly, water, 41% of our revenue and 50% of our EBITDA comes from our water business. It is where we stand as a world #1. Second, waste. Waste represents 35% of group revenue, with strong leading positions in Europe. But also in hazardous waste, the group is global #1. Lastly, Energy, our third business line, 25% of total business. This is where we produce and distribute heat and provide energy services to major commercial and industrial clients as we assist them through their own ecological transitions. So we have global footprint. We are present on all continents. France now accounts for just 21% of our business, Europe, not including France, is up to 42%. And beyond European borders outside of Europe, we have hit 37% of overall business with $5 billion of business in the United States. So it is a unique mix of geographical spread and business lines, which makes us a resilient company. So how do we now create value within Veolia? It's by combining 3 key value-creation pillars. First pillar, growth, outpacing what we have achieved in previous years, driven predominantly by our boosters. Second, operational performance. This is thanks to our efficiency plans, our savings plans and our synergies; third, capital allocation. We're focusing in on priority businesses that will create value. In fact, in 2024, we were faster and more agile than expected with EUR 1 billion in nonstrategic assets that we could invest in value creation plans. And when we look at our debt level, we have a 2.63 debt ratio and a post-tax ROCE of 8.8%. Just quickly about our outstanding performance of ROCE. This is an indicator of assessing our value creation. It is the most appropriate way of assessing our value creation. In just 2 years, we increased our ROCE by 120 basis points, which is exceptional, especially when compared to our WACC, 5.6%. So this puts us above our pre-COVID pre-Suez ROCE from 2019. And putting us on target for 2027. So as I said, 2024 was quite a good 5% revenue growth, excluding energy prices, supported predominantly by water and waste. We also had fantastic business with EUR 18 billion in revenue, up 5.6% for water. This is driven by Water Technologies, a booster which surged ahead, 7% growth. We also won 4 new desalination projects in the Middle East. Our EBITDA is doing even better, 10% growth. This is reflecting our operational excellence, predominantly in France and Spain. As for waste, we have had just as impressive development, EUR 15.7 billion in revenue, up 6.4%, with EBITDA climbing 11%. This is all thanks to increase in rates, calibrated price increases, 2.5% growth in volumes despite the economic context and outstanding performance in our hazardous waste business with 10% increase in Europe despite, again, a complex industrial environment. As for our Energy business, well, it too showed to be resilient. Despite the drop in energy prices and the mild winter that we just had, we held steady. Our second key growth driver is from operational excellence, predominantly through synergies with Suez. In 2024, we had a high level of synergies, EUR 120 million, which is well ahead of our target. And therefore, we said we were going to raise our targets for synergies from EUR 500 million to EUR 530 million by the end of 2025. As for efficiency gains, we also have EUR 398 million of savings compared to EUR 350 million. And all again, thanks to our agility. From the end of 2023, we planned ahead and launched targeted action plans in Spain, France and China. The results speak for themselves, spectacular improvement in EBITDA for those 3 countries in 2024. The digital world is a key example of exactly how we are constantly looking for new efficiency drivers. In fact, the new partnership that we have with Mistral AI, France's leading AI operator is just a perfect example. Digital today at Veolia is 15% of all efficiencies and all savings. So growth and performance are essential, but to sustainably create value, you need a third ingredient, strategic and dynamic allocation of capital. And here, again, we have set key priorities, EUR 2 billion of net acquisitions over 4 years. So this is in addition to our growth investments. 2024 perfectly illustrates this targeted strategy, especially when looking at our booster businesses. EUR 185 million in 5 new hazardous waste treatment facilities, which will be progressively brought online throughout 2025. EUR 127 million to accelerate the decarbonization of businesses in Central and Eastern Europe with again, double digit IRR levels. At the same time, we are maintaining strict discipline over our maintenance investments. Not only did they not increase in 2024, we even optimized them by shifting them down. So it is a combination of ambition and discipline that we are able to maintain investment. But it all comes to a head when we look at our free cash flow. Free cash flow reached EUR 1.156 billion, dynamic management of our portfolio. And what that meant is that our net financial debt was kept effectively under control at EUR 17.9 billion, a leverage ratio of 2.63 which is well below our target of 3. So our financial situation is robust. But in addition to that, into additional reduction of debt, we also have high level of cash, EUR 5.5 billion in cash, further strengthened by EUR 6.2 billion of available credit lines that have not yet been used. So this has been recognized by rating agencies. We have a solid ratings, Standard & Poor's and Moody's have reiterated our rating with a stable outlook. Veolia, your company in short, is a resilient company. It's a growing company. The proof is in the pudding. In just 5 years, we have doubled our net profit from EUR 0.42 billion to EUR 1.53 billion, and this is despite all of the unfavorable headwinds that we have had to face. Our commitment is quite clear. We need to ensure that our dividends will be paid to our BA operating profit. So this is to thank you, as shareholders, for being by our side. We want to propose increasing the dividend by 12% to EUR 1.4 per share, and is fully aligned with the growth of our earnings per share. So this is a continuation of our solid trajectory over these past few years. Our employee shareholder program is again part of our overall strategy. It will continue forward because it aligns the interest of upper management and operational teams. The market saw quite clearly that our GreenUp plan has been a success quarter after quarter throughout 2020, we delivered results that were right at the top end of our guidance. And yet our share price has had to contend with a rather complex business environment, political uncertainty in France, geopolitical tensions, giving a slight drop over the year, which is similar to that of the CAC 40 and the Utilities Index. But since the beginning of 2025, our stock price has resumed its upward trajectory, which is up 15%. Sorry, climbed 5% compared to the CAC 40 dropping by 4%. Let's now look towards 2025. We have faith in our ability to grow throughout the year. We know how to adapt to a changing and difficult environment. And we're going to continue not fighting for further operational excellence and for further synergies. Again, our target of EUR 530 million by the end of 2025. All of this means that we can set our eyes on robust revenue growth, excluding energy prices, organic EBITDA growth between 5% and 6%. Current net income up 9%. Leverage kept below 3 -- a multiple of 3. The dividend that continues to grow in line with our current earnings per share. And something new, we are kicking off a share buyback program to offset the dilution linked to our employee shareholding program. So in the future, as our net profit operating profit will grow and our current earnings per share will be aligned. Let us now talk about our multifaceted performance. As both our CEO and our Chairman of the Board has said, Veolia is not measured just by its finance. It is measured by all forms of performance. It is multifaceted, be it environmental, societal and social. It is a 360-degree vision which is what sets us apart. The GreenUp plan perfectly embodies our unique approach. It's about creating lasting value for all stakeholders, shareholders, clients, employees and the planet. Our objectives are ambitious, but concrete. By 2027, we want to have plus 30% emissions avoided for our clients. This is what we call our Scope 4 emissions. We want a net zero 2050 trajectory with clear milestones and even more so and even more for the company and for society. But it's not because it's just corporate social responsibility. It is a way of creating global inclusive value. Every day, we can show that economic excellence and positive impacts can go hand in hand. We have seen the perfect results of this in 2024. Talking about the environment. The figures speak for themselves, 1.45 billion cubic meters of freshwater saved. 14.5% reduction for our emissions and all of that thanks to roughly EUR 133 million invested in decarbonization. But our impact goes further afield. We have continued to improve our clients' carbon footprint with significant improvements also in terms of equal opportunity, employee engagement, safety and ethics. Let's take our climate trajectory. We took on ambitious promises with the 1.5-degree target aligned on the Paris Agreement, and we are the first company to have both approval by SBTi and Moody's. So we have measurable, ambitious targets, minus 50% reduction in direct emissions by 2032. We want to have plus 30% emissions avoided for our clients by 2027. and net zero by 2050. But to reach those targets, we are deeply transforming our energy and waste activities, phasing out of coal and methane capture are 2 key drivers for decarbonization. As said, our coal phaseout is a way of us improving our Scope 1 efforts. It currently represents 3.1% of revenue. And in 2030, it will drop below 1%. Fully pulling out of coal in Europe is going to require a lot of investment, EUR 1.6 billion put on the table. And it has already been put into fantastic programs. Branchviig in Germany. We invested EUR 270 million to replace coal with an innovative gas biomass mix. So 2024 has been a fantastic year. It reflects our underlying transformation and our drive to create value. When we say that environmental performance is part of our DNA, you can see that it is part of every decision, every investment decision, every point of innovation that we push through but our greatest strength are our employees. They are the largest body of shareholders. They're not just stakeholders. They are the -- those doers and makers of our success story. They are putting their talent, time, energy on the table to help us reach our shared vision. We aren't waiting for change. We are driving change every day with every project with every innovation. It just goes to underpin our vision. We want to be the global leader for ecological transition.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Emmanuelle. And I would now like to call upon our auditors, Eric Jacquet and Quentin Séné to present their report on our yearly accounts, conventions and the regulatory commitments, sustainability, and resolutions on financial authorizations.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, on behalf of the auditors, KPMG and EY, we will be reporting on our mission for 2024. And we'll be presenting the reports drafted for you for the ordinary and extraordinary general assemblies today. I now suggest as is customary for our meeting to summarize our yearly reports on the consolidated accounts and on regulatory conventions and engagements. And then my colleague will provide information around sustainability and all our financial operations. The goal of our mission as auditors is to provide you reasonable assurance that the consolidated and yearly accounts of your company on the whole do not contain any significant anomalies. And that the accounting methods are appropriate that all estimations carried out by management are reasonable and that all laws have been respected. The auditing approach is adapted to the activities of the various business lines in your group. And we have reviewed the current affairs, specific ones. The Audit Committee and the Board of Directors have been kept abreast of our progress and our works. The consolidated accounts of your company have been prepared with the IFRS standards and the yearly accounts respecting the French accounting standards. So these reports express our opinion and also the main risk audits that have been identified and all corrective measures to be brought. So all of this is detailed on Page 431 to 433 of the universal recording document for the report on the consolidated accounts on Page 463 to 465 for the report on the yearly accounts. In 2024, the highlights of the audit for any significant anomalies, identified given -- so any risks identified because of their significance in the accounts or perhaps their complexity or -- so there are 2 for the consolidated accounts, appreciation of the recoverable amounts for tangible and intangible assets and then the second for possible liabilities linked to lawsuits in the United States, so Flint and Antero and as well as in Lithuania. There's also a point on the participation in this strategy. So as for conformity of the yearly accounts, this has been checked with reference. So our conclusions that without any reserves, we certified the accounts of the yearly accounts of Veolia as well as the consolidated accounts linked to for the first and second resolution of your general assembly. Now on the special report on the conventions and regulatory commitments. We inform you that, we were not made aware of any conventions being signed over this fiscal year and we've been informed that within that, that the conventions have been executed. So the convention with Veolia to the European Works Council for the Veolia brand, a convention on the guarantees by the Veolia Environment to its subsidiaries in water and then the sponsoring and assistance contract with Terra Academia. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Auditors report for sustainability. In keeping with legislation for this period, the information for sustainability presented in the Chapter 4.1 of the universal recording document have been reported on by the auditors. You'll find this report in Pages 316 to 318. Our report looks at conformity for sustainability, so a process implemented by the company to determine all published information and compliance with sustainability given the requirements of the Code of Commerce and in respect of declarative duties to do with taxonomies. We've also mentioned all elements that we looked at in more detail. So identifying stakeholders, impact risks and opportunities as well as assessing the materiality of impact and financial aspects. All of the information has been provided for climate change. Based on the work we carried out, we concluded that we did not identify any errors, emissions or important inconsistencies for the 3 major work streams. We have 2 observations that do not in parallel our conclusion. First of all, there is the context for preparing the information on sustainability. There are some sources of uncertainty and then the methodological specifications. Second has to do with the taxonomy and is linked to uncertainty in interpreting some of the tests and the substances analyzed for preventing pollution and limiting the capacity of the company to collect all the necessary data. And lastly, on capital operations. For your extraordinary general assembly, we have 3 reports on the operations affecting the capital. And so these were the resolutions 19 to 21. So to admit ordinary shares for share employees admitting ordinary shares, giving access to the capital of the company for employees as well, and then authorization to provide free shares for some categories of beneficiaries, described in the report of the Board of Directors does not require any observations on our part. If necessary, we will provide an additional report. The price has been established. Shareholders, Chairman, thank you for your attention.

[Interpreted] Thank you, gentlemen. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] Yes, that deserves a round of applause. Ladies and gentlemen, now I suggest that we look at Veolia's relations with its stakeholders. This year, we will have an intervention that we thought of for the 20th birthday of the Veolia Foundation. We will have Ele Asu, if she would join us here on the stage.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Antoine Frerot. Hello, everyone. Yes, indeed, Veolia Foundation celebrated its 20th birthday in 2024 in support of populations with partners, nonprofits, humanitarians, environmental agencies to help to repair to accompany local populations. Over 20 years, the Veolia Foundation has supported over 1,500 projects carried out over 200 missions for philanthropy and skills. So this is orchestrated by the foundation, which is baptized Veolia Force, which puts expertise of Veolia at the disposal of humanitarian actors, access to drinking water, sanitation, waste treatment. These are all very important topics for NGOs and their leaders. And today, we will be receiving one of them. Thank you very much to welcome Claire Megan, who is Director General of [indiscernible] France. Please have a seat. So MSF is one of the organizations that receives support from Veolia. So this is a commitment that is part of the multifaceted performance commitments by the company. Claire, thank you very much for being here with us. So to give you some background, MSF has been in existence for 54 years. They have a presence in over 70 place around 2 major work streams, which is to treat and then to testify. And let me also say that you received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. So let's look at some of the images from the ground, and then we'll talk with Claire just after. [Presentation]

So there we had just some interesting footage of everything that doctors without board is doing around the world. So Claire, let's talk about the current climate. Humanitarian aid has been right on the back foot. The UN just opened up a new bunch of aid, EUR 100 million in emergency aid to compensate and to offset that drop. Tell us about the situation.

Yes, humanitarian aid has been on the back pedal in quantitative and qualitative terms. Quantitative, simply since Donald Trump was elected, we have seen a whole slew of decisions, which have had a considerable impact on international solidarity as a whole. Because USAID was broken down into almost nothing in just a few weeks. Their budget was roughly $40-odd billion that was given to aid, $15 billion of which was given specifically to humanitarian aid, and it was entirely cut out. I think there was only some $9 billion left as of the end of March. So what that means is that all of those NGOs who relied on that American or U.S. federal funding had to shut down. Now it hasn't directly impacted Doctors Without Borders. And I would always like to thank the founders and the creators of Doctors Without Borders for what they did when they built our organization because we predominantly rely on private funding. We also rely on private companies such as Veolia for our funding. And over 90% of our funds come from private sources. So therefore, we are protected from the direct brunt of the disaster that is unfurling. But everywhere we operate is in spaces where centers are shutting down, institutes are shutting down, there is no longer assistance in terms of water or electricity. Now when I was saying that the U.S. aid system or the international aid system was being entirely dismantled, here, we're talking about all people who operate in the health space. Those people who are there to ensure the survival of some millions of people who are affected by HIV AIDS, chronic disease, malnourished children, so what is happening is a real disaster. And that is the space in which we operate. But that's just in terms of funding. In terms of the quality of aid, we're also seeing a pullback. Millions of people are seeing their fundamental services drying up and disappearing. But in addition to that, all sorts of services are being dismantled. Again, because the United States are pulling out of multilateral efforts for humanitarian sanitation aid. I mean they were a key stakeholder. They pulled out of the WHO, for example, World Health Organization. The guiding compass for the health center, the Atlanta-based CDC, they were entirely purged of all of their staff. So because of that we are losing our capacity to prevent epidemics.

Now I hear that they're being heavily impacted by how are you responding to that, so I understand that financially, you're not directly affected by that for the time being. But all of the work that you are doing, that's changing. So how do you adapt to that change?

Well, 90% of our funds come from private funds. So that is a privilege for us at Doctors Without Borders, but it also is a considerable amount of responsibility on our shoulders because we work with a lot of partners and partnership organizations who are now going to have to call upon us to try and offset their financial loss because we have some EUR 2.5 billion. It's not a lot, but it may help. So how do we adapt to this changing world? Well, in the very -- in the short term, what we try and do is we just try and patch the gaps where, for example, in Haiti, where there were water supply issues, we worked with a French NGO because that French NGO, they had to shut down because they no longer had funding. So we took over from where they had to leave off. But Doctors Without Borders, what we can really do is we can be there to try and protect our ability to respond to serious crisis. And the crisis that we're seeing in the current world are taking up a lot of our time.

Now there's climate change and the disastrous effects of climate change, how is that affecting the way you operate?

Climate change isn't necessarily affecting us directly or in a very tangible way. If I could speak to your question, at Doctors Without Borders, we predominantly operate in spaces of considerable conflict, wars, so predominantly right now in the Gaza Strip. And I don't think we have ever had to deal with a situation that is as violent as drastic and as destructive as what we're dealing with right now in the Gaza Strip. Nearly the entire region has been destroyed. The entire health system and water system has been destroyed. So Doctors Without Borders, I mean, it has nothing to do with climate change, but this is a major health crisis that we're dealing with, having access to drinking water is near impossible. So what we are trying to do between January and March, I mean, again, it's not our fundamental domain of expertise, but we provide some 36 million liters of drinking water to the Gaza people. So Sudan, Sudan is in a state of total war. So that faces -- that means people are facing huge issues in terms of what is happening in Darfur, the water issues, access to emergency care, it's all quite dire. But to answer your question of climate change, aside from the fact that it is impacting the general environment in which we operate, it's not having a direct impact on us. But what Doctors Without Borders, what we can do, we want to try and have as much tangible an impact as possible for local populations. So when we look at the issue of climate change, there are a few things that we can do. For example, we can see the rise in deaths during heat waves. So it is going to be an increasing issue in coming years. So it's going to require more medical support and flooding, flooding is the other issue because as we've seen, every year, there are more and more floods that cause health crisis. So aside from the climate change issue, but I guess it ties into it somewhat. There's, generally speaking, beyond climate change, just the environmental crisis in which we currently live. And that's why we want to always look at our responsibility as a health operator, health provider. So we want to look at our own role in the -- in our environmental impact. So we look at our own carbon footprint, and this ties into the partnership that we have with Veolia. But generally speaking, we always want to look at environmental health. How is the environment impacting people's health. And for that, we're still doing a lot of work, which is still in the very early stages, exploratory stages. Even for us as a major health operator, we're looking at issues of air pollution -- poisoning through air pollution, poisoning through water pollution. We're looking at all sorts of diseases that come from that and from mercury poisoning, the list goes on.

Well, actually, with the partnership that you have with Veolia, how are you working together? How are they helping with what you do on the ground?

Well, the partnership dates back some time now. We started working with the Veolia Foundation in 2011, 2012 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Veolia Foundation helped us provide drinking water to people in the city of Kalemie, and they were being hit by a color pandemic. So that started back then, and we've continued to work with them over the years in a number of ways. So first, Veolia has provided support in emergency situations. In the past, Veolia has actually helped us with Aquaforce. Aquaforce, which is a way of providing drinking water in emergency situations. And actually, MSF, so Doctors Without Borders, we continue to use that. It's part of our standard practice now. using that technology. So that would be part of the operational partnership that we have. The other part of our partnership is when it comes to research and development. The way we work is with the Veolia Foundation. They provide us with skill sharing programs with expertise to co-construct and build solutions for water, for sanitation and for waste hazardous waste management. I think the most recent example that I could give you that just comes to mind is an interesting program for sanitation and disinfection of wastewater. So we have worked with your experts out in Yemen, Haiti and the Central African Republic.

So you said it started back in 2011 and a partnership, which has continued on and is set to continue in the future. So what is your view of the future?

We want our partnership to continue. We want to see it gain in strength and size. Quite simply, we want you to do more, quite simply, but in a whole range of areas. I think this is -- it's a sort of partnership, which is really a win-win partnership. So we've got the Veolia Foundation. They provide us with experts who help us on the field, and that actually helps the foundation get feedback from that field experience. And that interplay between experts is really interesting for and very useful for both the foundation and for us because our teams on the ground, they get access to some really interesting expertise. Now in terms of innovation, there's still a lot that can be done. There are currently a number of projects for pasteurization, which is going to be a very major issue given the changing environment, weather patterns where sanitation is going to be a fundamental issue. But where we want to take things a step even further and where we want the Veolia Foundation to step up a bit more. And when it comes to waste management, hazardous waste management, so I was talking about our responsibility as a nongovernmental organization, a medical organization. We need to reduce our carbon footprint, but also our environmental footprint. But something, which is a fundamental pillar of anything medical, it is this notion of do no harm. So we have to preserve the health of local populations as much as possible. And hazardous waste is a fundamental part of the puzzle. There's a recent project I was thinking of where we were able to get the technical expertise from Veolia, who actually came out to the DRC to work with local operators for some hazardous waste facilities. Now for that, it's actually not innovation that we need. It's your operational expertise, it's your business line expertise because it's a sense of general interest. It's a general interest that you serve and can help us. If the international authority really comes into play, we need to be able to not only identify solutions locally, but also understand that some of these solutions can be found further afield. And maybe we could kick off Waste Management Without Borders. All thanks to you.

Claire Magon, thank you so much for joining us today. A round of applause, please. And we are now going to head back off stage.

Claire Magon, thank you very much. Élé, thank you so much as well. This now brings us to our Q&A session. But before that, I would like Helman le Pas de Sécheval to read out the written questions that were sent in prior to the meeting.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have received some written questions, which came through the Sustainable Investment Forum, as is held every year. And there's also an initiative for Citizen Shareholders, [ IPAC ]. So these were sent in by -- in written form, and they have since been added to the website for today's meeting. Madam CEO, Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we have ushers in the room here today with the spotlight on them. They have microphones for you with numbers as well so that we can identify you. Please try and only ask 1 question at a time so that as many shareholders who would like to ask a question as possible can do so. We don't want to stop you from asking a second question once everyone else has had a chance to ask a question. The floor is yours. Is there a question, please? Number three.

So I am here as part of a shareholder representative body. You presented your debt ratio in the financial report, which is improving. So you have room for improvement, meaning potential future acquisitions. So what are your priorities for that? And how are you going to allocate available capital?

Well, I think that's one for our CEO.

Antoine, thank you very much. I'll take this one. So you're right. The company is doing well. We have good financials. We are below the 3 -- the multiplier of 3 for debt ratio, which is doing well, which means we have room for maneuvering. How are we now going to use that? Well, if we have an opportunity, if there's a good opportunity, we need to look at that there are certain financial ratios that we don't -- that we must apply. Now in terms of strategy, our priority is going to be on boosters. Because that is what is laid out in black and white as part of our GreenUp strategy. And when I say investment, I'm talking about investing in new facilities or M&A, mergers and acquisitions. They are the 2 key areas of our booster innovation. Now boosters. So here, we've got hazardous waste, water technology, bioenergies. And in terms of geographies, it's predominantly outside of Europe, in the United States, Middle East and Australia. There are 3 key areas. In terms of figures, this is something that we outlined in the Green Up plan. Again, this is going to be spread out over 4 years. We want to have 30% of turnover in our boosters currently, which should be a large 50% of investment and 70% of our overall growth. Now that says that there is money to be made elsewhere in our stronghold positions. But we're going to continue working on those other areas, but the focus is going to be on our boosters. And we saw it throughout 2024. And you saw it in our financial results that it was really there for boosters in terms of growth and turnover.

Another question, please. Once again, #3.

[ Nicole Sablanc ], I am a member of the CCA IA. In terms of boosters, what is your view of the booster businesses and new markets?

I guess that one is for you again.

Again, so for boosters, it's going to be spread out over 4 years, but the good news is that as of the very first year, our boosters have boosted company growth. So we're looking about a twofold increase, a twofold increase over our stronghold businesses. Now is there anything new? Because within the boosters, there are going to be some new business lines. Some of the boosters will have picked up pace earlier and faster than others. And one example that I could give you is PFAS. In our water technologies and hazardous waste, we process pollution. We deal with pollution. And we saw that there was a potential business with PFAS, and it really picked up speed very quickly. It went from almost 0 to 100 overnight. So we now have beyond PFAS, which I think we kicked off back in October, if I remember correctly. So it's not too long ago. We've already seen our PFAS business really gaining solid traction. Now in terms of new offers, it's not necessarily something brand new. But in terms of our new offers, we have a lot of data center businesses. Data centers, I'm sure you're fully aware, we need them for AI, and we need data centers to process all of the data that comes through all of our devices, our smartphones. That's brilliant. But the bad news is that requires a lot of energy and a lot of water, water to cool down the facilities. So Veolia can provide a really unique offer that we are currently building for data centers. I mean we had the intuition a few years ago, we went out and met with the Googles and Amazons and Facebooks of the world, met with them to see if they were going to buy it. And we were very happy to see that, yes, they were quite interested. There was a really good working group that looked into that. And I think it should come to fruition in the very near future.

Thank you. Any other questions? Looking to my left, to the middle, to the right. And another one over here, same number once again.

Congratulations for the financials. I have a question about the -- what is going to happen at the end of your term, Mr. Frerot. What are your thoughts on the future? Is it going to be a 2-headed management or a single-headed management?

Well, thank you very much for the question. I'd like to answer that one. So my new term as Chairman of the Board. Well, I started 3 years ago. And I have another year ahead of me. I believe that the Board is wanting to tackle that question of what the future holds in the coming year. And I will think about it along with the Board throughout the coming year. And there will be the temporary -- or the key director will be able to come up with an answer for you by the end of the year, by end of '25. But I can't give you any further information today. Any other questions? I believe there's one over here.

[indiscernible] from the Shareholder Consultative Committee. So there's an interesting question about BPI and Caixa. Could you tell us a bit about that? And just a bit more color.

So to let you know, Bpifrance is a French sovereign fund. CriteriaCaixa is a large Spanish investment fund of general interest, and they invest heavily in Spanish companies, and now they're investing in Veolia. So they are financial investors, but also they're a little unusual. So they have put significant money on the table to invest in Veolia. And I think and actually confirm this, it's because they share our growth forecast, our growth vision. And as investors, that's what they're looking for. They are looking for growth. But at the same time, they also said quite clearly that they fully back our strategy, the strategy that Estelle outlined. And they are there to back and support and comfort and reiterate their support for our strategy. So in addition to being financial investors, they are rather unique. So they are either a sovereign fund or long-term investors. Having them as part of our company capital, I think it sends a clear message of what Veolia means in terms of sovereignty and in terms of what we can do for our 2 large European countries. So Veolia is a private company, but we serve public interest. We serve local communities. We serve the over 100 million people living in our 2 fine countries. So it is seen as an opportunity to develop wealth, but wealth in the broader sense in the long term. So build within Europe and now we can spread out beyond European borders. And I think that's the message that comes with the arrival of these 2 new investors. And again, if there are other investors of the same like, then I can only rejoice at seeing such long-term sound investors wanting to join Veolia's capital. Any other questions? Okay. Still in the same place.

So a second question from me on the remuneration and the variable share. Could you explain why for the long-term objectives, the nonfinancial part of 50% and then the short-term incentives is then 30%. Is it because reaching nonfinancial results is more complex?

So if I've well understood, just to reformulate to make sure I've understood. So for the yearly bonus, as it's called the short-term bonus, it's 50% due to financial and 50% nonfinancial criteria. For the long-term incentives, it's 50% financial and 50% nonfinancial, but then for the short-term bonus, out of the 50% of nonfinancial, 30 is associated with multifaceted performance indicators and 20% that really depends on the management quality. It's qualitative, but in both cases, it's 50% financials. But the Board of Directors and for top management, it's exactly the same thing. There has to be something that's linked that isn't just quantitative. And the yearly bonus, we still have qualitative elements, whether a manager -- and my pay, well, it's the same system for all management of Veolia. So 20% qualitative, 30% quantitative with actual KPIs, but they're nonfinancial ones and then 50% financial. I hope I clarified.

So let me explain the reasons behind all this. Why 50% financial and 50% nonfinancial. Well, just like the company purpose says, our company works on behalf of all of those who work with her. So all of our stakeholders, shareholders, obviously, but also our clients, our employees. And the 50% non-financials, these are performance indicators do with the society, the environment. And why 20% of qualitative, why isn't everything quantified with KPIs and numbers to reach within a year, within 3 years. Well, this is because, unfortunately, humans aren't only governed by figures. And there are things that you can't foresee as well. So sometimes it cannot be translated into KPIs ahead of time. So it's really a capacity to be agile to react to take necessary measures that we still have this qualitative share within the pay package. And this is true for all management in Veolia. Any other questions? Yes, #2.

Hello, everyone. So I'm a small shareholder. I've worked for a major French group internationally. But I came here thinking, okay, I'm coming to the shareholders' meeting and then I'm going to sell my shares. So for the mindset. Looking at a well-known website, actually, the share for the very first time, the price reached the price that I had bought it at a very long time ago. So at least your program is bearing fruit. But if you look at the financial committee, there were very positive views of the future of the Veolia share price.

Well, first of all, so for share prices to come back up to the price that you bought them at. Well, thank you very much. That means you bought them a very long time ago. And so you've been loyal for a very long time because that must have when we were very first listed on the stock market, so in the year 2000. So thank you very much, first of all. For the perspectives by financial analysts, Estelle is more familiar with this than I am. But I can say that a majority of them are very positive as to Veolia's value. And a lot of them think that our share will probably reach EUR 36, EUR 37, EUR 38 per share, whereas currently, it's at EUR 31.5 about today. And just a few weeks ago, they were all productive. Since the events in the United States, some are negative, but very few actually, most of them are being very productive. So the first idea, well, to trust the financial analysts. And then the second, yes, you're right, that was to come to the general meeting. And you heard how we are going to bring our company into the future and how we want our financial performance and our economic performance to accompany our performance in being publicly useful. It's because we're useful that we will be prosperous, not the reverse. And I'm sure you've seen that we have -- there's a lot of trust in our ability to carry out our strategy.

And may I add a few suggestions. Third suggestion, well, we do have 2 major shareholders who have invested hundreds of millions of euros. So after their due diligence, and this shows that they do believe that our value will be growing in the coming years, okay, over a lot of years in the future because these are long-term investors. And I think you can also see what they've done. This does show that they believe there is value in our company for the future. And then #4, from the beginning of the year, I think this is some -- we've gone up 15% since the beginning of the year. So about 14.5% more than CAC 40. But for everything else, well, out of the 4 arguments, you could take your pick.

And it would be too bad to have been so patient for so long and now to lose all the fruits of that.

And before you've gotten your dividend since we said that we've increased them by 12%.

Any other questions? Number 2.

[Interpreted] So Veolia has 3 major sectors requiring research and development for wastewater treatment, for waste, and for producing electricity. So my question is to know if you can give us some information around what you're doing for in-house research and your relations with various research centers, universities and other research institutions.

[Interpreted] Yes, you're right. Research and innovation is essential for us. Just a few figures. We have 11 research and development centers around the world, in France, in Spain, in the United States. We have in quite a few places. Generally, we try to set up shop where there's a local ecosystem of universities and start-ups working on the same themes that we want to invest in. In Spain, it's research and development around water. In the United States, it's more around certain pollutants, and then secondly, we have 4,400 patents in Veolia, and we have the most in Europe for our industry. And so we have new patents every year and I'm very proud of this performance and when you are Veolia and you have our ambition, it's always difficult to make choices, we could launch all sorts of things in all sorts of directions. So we've chosen a few major themes for our research and innovation. You will be surprised, it's decarbonization, resource regeneration and depollution of course. Just a few examples. On pollutants, there are pollutants, we know how to process and there are others where we're trying to see if we could treat them differently. We've invested to take care of microplastics and water or endocrinian disruptors, pesticide residue and many other things, I can't give you the chemical details myself but 5 years ago, we wouldn't have been able to say what we were doing about PFAS. Now we know how to deal with them. And this is thanks to research and innovation within our group. That's for pollutants. For decarbonization, we're currently trying to invent and we'll say if we get there. So a circular economy of CO2, because CO2 is a form of pollutant like any other carbon capture, carbon storage is one thing, but what can we do with the CO2. So with kerosene or e-methanol, we're saying we could maybe store it in rock, we're exploring a variety of ways to try to almost recycle CO2 and all of the ideas that I mentioned, some things will work, some things won't. That's what happens with innovation. It's not because it doesn't work the first time that you give up either. As Antoine was saying in his speech, we pretty much never give up. So we'll try things a little differently. And everything I've just described very often, there's a lot of Elabe, but they're also our partners. They can be start-ups. It can be academics and it really depends on each project, each project is different. And in the room, we have the head of innovation of the group as well as the head of our research centers. They're both here in the room. Yes, question 3?

[Interpreted] So I'm an individual shareholder. So what's your -- what do you believe your turnover will be in 2030?

[Interpreted] Well let me answer this differently. Sorry. Do you want to answer Antoine? I should just let you answer this one. Currently, it's EUR 45 billion in turnover. In the world's reality, the world needs Veolia to have EUR 100 billion, EUR 200 billion, EUR 500 billion in turnover, if you really think about it because these are solutions we're trying to deploy. What are the obstacles? Well, there are quite a few. It can be legislation. They can be legislation that exists and it's not applied. It can be areas where there aren't the necessary means to do things cleanly. And so all of this adds up, and this is where we can grow more or less quickly. Our ambition to grow is there. You're completely right. I'm not going to give you a figure, but it's much more than today, because more than today, this means that we'll have a bigger positive impact and millions of people who will benefit from our services. We'll have clean drinking water straight from the tap who will be producing less CO2 in their industrial activities. We want to have a positive impact. We want to virtuous cycle. And we won't -- our turnover won't be going against the environment. It will be for the environment. And this will also create jobs. You need 8x more jobs to recycle a plastic water bottle than to just put it in a landfill. So it's also a way of creating wealth for the territories where we operate. So let me -- okay, I will say, well, let's see each other again in 2030 to see what the figure is. So right now, 60% of our activity is in Europe, as we said, so EUR 28 billion pretty much and for me, I hope and I will even bet on it that our turnover will be between EUR 36 billion and EUR 37 billion in Europe in 2030. So that's in 6 years. So I have to give the figure for outside of Europe. So is there one last question, two, at the same time. We're supposed to only have one. So number two, okay, 2 and then 1.

[Interpreted] Hello. So I'm from Pforzheim, which is about 100 kilometers east of Strasbourg. About 15 years ago, I was a municipal counselor. And in 2008, I voted for Veolia. Thank you very much. So this is transport for buses, but then we did away with buses by Deutsche Bahn. And instead of that, we have roads, and water and waste collection and all that's working very well. So I'm a shareholder, since 2008. So now I have a question. So in Braunschweig.

[Interpreted] Yes, we will explain what we've done in Braunschweig, and it's extremely interesting.

Yes, I saw a very long report on that on German TV, and that's why I know of this example. So there are several cities in Germany that should have the same thing because it's a very ecological system. And in Pforzheim where I live, in our municipal council we voted for a new boss who will be starting at the end of the year, a new leader for our energy company and also to manage water and all the rest. And maybe this is a chance to ask Madam Emmanuelle Menning to maybe come to Pforzheim, is that possible? So that's my question. Could you maybe ask several cities in Germany because your solutions are very ecological.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much for your question. I will answer. First of all, thank you for speaking French. Because if I've understood correctly, you're German, I don't have much practice speaking, French, but wonderful. Thank you very much. We are touched. And also thank you for being a shareholder of Veolia and as member of the municipal council, thank you for championing our country. And of course, Mrs. Menning, before she worked in Paris, worked Veolia in Germany for many years. And yes, and we would be very happy to find all German cities who would like to use our services just like we did in Braunschweig -- so and Emmanuelle will be available to receive your proposals. There's another question over here. So one more and then we'll stop. No more? Yes, there's one.

[Interpreted] Chairman, I'm delighted to see you. I haven't been here since COVID And so I thought -- I wonder if he's still going to be here. Yes, he's still here, and I'm delighted. So I have a question about water. I saw a show on TV, where they're saying that there is a lot that could be done to treat water, but that we couldn't currently remove medical residue from water and has any progress been made? Are you doing research on this topic? Because for me, this is very worrying, all these medical residue and the chemicals in the water.

[Interpreted] Brachlianoff will answer you and we'll reassure you.

Yes, you're perfectly right. That's an exact link with the previous question on what are we doing in research and innovation. When we talk about pollutants, there are always new pollutants that aren't necessarily new, but people have only suddenly realized that they exist and that they should be removed. So when I talked about endocrinian disruptors, this can also be due to residue from medicines and other elements. And so as we -- they thrown into the water, that's also found in wastewater. We can process most of them today as far as we know. But research is constantly advancing, and we continue to innovate. But for all the medical residue that we have identified, we know how to process it. And we have a wonderful project that we showed earlier around water in the Paris region, the SEDIF contract. We're currently investing to have an updated version of our treatment plants. And 5 years from now, in all of the SEDIF water plants. So if you're in the Paris region and you come into this contract, we'll be removing PFAS, the residues from medicines, from pesticides, from microplastics, all of that, that will have been removed from the water, and this is what you'll be getting straight out of your tap. We know how to do everything in Veolia to depollute water. For example, the ultrapure water used by the Singapore plants to produce microchips come from Veolia's treatment plants. The question is to be able to dose the efforts you put into treating the water, depending on what it will be used for. But it's certain that removing medical residues, removing PFAS requires techniques that we didn't have before we are aware of these pollutants. So we have to continue investing in our plants, continue innovating. And all of this will also have an impact on how much water services cost. We have to -- but the ultrapure water, as Antoine said, it can't even be drunk. It's too pure. It needs minerals and other things in the water. So we have to remove pollutants but not remove everything, and this is where it's a true profession. Sometimes you have to remove very small things and leave larger elements and you have to be extremely selective. And that's what our patents are for. I said we have 4,400 of them and we continue to add new ones every year.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your questions. We will now move on to the votes on our resolutions. And for that, Helman will be telling us how we use the voting machines. And actually, we have a quick video, if you could please show it. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] Okay. So we now vote on the resolution, so they were presented earlier, and you also have it in the information brochures, so Helman, over to you.

[Interpreted] Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So our general assembly has an electronic voting system that was just was just presented present in the room, is in charge of ensuring all the information contained in your tablet. So number of shares and the number of votes each person present holds or represents, and all this will be monitored throughout. So before we vote, first of all, let me communicate with the present shareholders or having voted over there. So 538,988,000,000 for 990 shareholders, which is a quorum of 73.67%. So just a little bit less than when the general assembly started is because luckily some people were counted twice and we corrected that. So now the vote of resolutions to begin with the competence of the generalist -- the ordinary general assembly. So first resolution to approve the company financial statements for fiscal year 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] The vote is closed and the resolution is adopted. Second resolution, approval of the consolidated financial stance for fiscal year 2024. The vote is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] The vote is closed. And the resolution is also adopted by a broad margin. Third resolution, appropriation of net income for fiscal year 2024 and payment of the dividend. So at EUR 1.4 per share, which will be paid starting from the 14th of May 2025. The voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. And the resolution is adopted by a very wide margin. So now fourth resolution, approval of regulated agreements and commitments for 2024 and previous exercises, and as our auditor said, no convention was concluded before the General Assembly of last year in 2024. The voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution also adopted. Fifth resolution, renewal of the term of Mr. Pierre-Andre de Chalendar as a Director, President of the Appointments Committee. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is very broadly adopted. Sixth resolution, appointment of the term of Mr. Philippe Brassac as Director. The voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution adopted. Seventh resolution appointment of Mrs. Elena Salgado as Director. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution adopted. Eighth resolution, appointment of Mr. Arnaud Caudoux as Director. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution very widely adopted. Ninth resolution, appointment of Deloitte and Associates as statutory auditors responsible for certifying the financial statements for 6 years, ending after this general assembly 2030. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is adopted. Tenth resolution, appointment of Deloitte and Associates as a statutory auditor responsible for certifying the sustainability information for the same period of 6 years. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is adopted. Eleventh resolution, vote on the compensation components paid during 2024 or reported in respect to the same fiscal year to Mr. Antoine Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors as described earlier by the President of the Remuneration Committee, Mr. Andreas. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is adopted. Twelfth resolution, vote on the compensation components paid during fiscal year 2024 or awarded in respect of the same fiscal year to Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff as Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution is also adopted. Thirteenth resolution, vote on the information relative to the 2024 compensation of the directors, excluding the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution is adopted. Resolution fourteen, vote on the Chairman of the Board of Directors compensation policy for 2025. The vote is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is adopted. Fifteenth resolution, vote on the Chief Executive Officer's compensation policy for 2025. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution passed. Sixteenth resolution, this is a vote on the directors' compensation policy for the full fiscal year of 2025. This has not been changed since 2018 from EUR 1.2 million to EUR 1.5 million in light of the number of members. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution has been adopted. The seventeenth resolution, vote on Directors' compensation policy in respect of fiscal year 2025. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution has been adopted. Resolution 18, renewal for 18 months, the authorization to be given to the Board of Directors by today's shareholder meeting, so that they can deal in company shares. The maximum price will not precede EUR 40, and the total amount cannot exceed EUR 1.5 billion. This is not applicable during a public issuance of shares. Opening the vote. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution is adopted. We now move on to the extraordinary items. Resolutions 19 and 20 are on Veolia's compensation policy to further encourage employee shareholdership, as of the 31st of December 2024, the percentage of overall capital owned by employees was at 8.9% of overall capital. The 19th resolution provides the Board of Directors with the power to increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares and/or securities giving access immediately or at a later date to the share capital and reserves for the members of company savings plans without preferential subscription rights. The nominal amount for that increase is limited to a maximum of 2% of overall shares. The duration of this power is for 26 months, and will bring an end to the previous authorization from the 2024 shareholder assembly. So the 23rd resolution from our past shareholder assembly was actually utilized throughout the year on the 13th of September for 11 million new shares, roughly 1.56% of total shares, total amount of EUR 11 million. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution has been adopted. Resolution #20, is to allow for those people in a country where, for various reasons, be it legal or tax reasons may benefit from the 19th resolution so that they can get equivalent benefit. So this will be limited to 0.6% of overall capital. It will be an authorization available for 18 months. And will actually replace the 24th resolution from our past year's resolution, the 24th resolution. We actually utilized that authorization on the 13th of September, 2,564,000 shares, roughly 0.35% of overall capital. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. Resolution has been adopted. Moving on to the 21st resolution. This is for the authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors so that they can grant existing or newly issued free shares to employees in the group and corporate officers of the company or some of them implying waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription rights, this would put an end to the preallocated authorization that came through in the 2024 Shareholder Meeting, which was the 25th resolution from the 2024 meeting. It was an authorization that was utilized for 1.8 million shares. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed, and the resolution has been adopted. Resolution 22, this is to amend the Articles of Association to include in the preamble the Veolia Purpose. This is what the Chairman discussed in his opening remarks. The vote is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed and the resolution has passed with a resounding success. Resolution 23, delegation of powers to carry out formalities. Voting is open. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Voting is closed. The resolution has passed even more so than the company purpose.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, we have no items left on today's agenda. Therefore, we will bring our joint -- general assembly to an end. And for those who can, you are invited to join us at the grand floor in the -- under the Skylight room for a drinks session. And I'll happily see you all there. Thank you so much for being such a loyal shareholder, and I wish you all the best for the rest of your day. Thank you very much. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]