Veolia Environnement SA ($VIE)

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, welcome to each and every one of you. I am so happy once again to see you all here for our Annual Shareholder Meeting. This is the first time that we are meeting here in Aubervilliers, Veolia's head office, our home for the past 10 years. Here, we have all of our operational functional teams. And we wanted to create a space where everyone can feel that they can work together hand-in-hand, striving towards the same objective. It is this unique way of working together that makes Veolia such a strong company, at least for the past 10 years. I'd like to warmly thank all of our shareholders here in the room today and those who have sent in their votes remotely. I would also like to thank those people who are joining us remotely to follow this via the live feed. Here for the Bureau, we have Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO and Director. We have Ms. Emmanuelle Menning, Deputy CEO in charge of Finance. And we also have Mr. Helman le de Sécheval, General Secretary and Secretary of the Board of Directors. I suggest beginning immediately by handing over to Helman to introduce us all to the legal formalities for opening our meeting. Helman, over to you.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. Now before proceeding with opening formalities, allow me to just quickly give you some safety instructions for the room. Emergency exits are located at the top and base of our auditorium, as you can see by the green lights. In the event of an evacuation, security personnel will show you the way out to the assembly point, which is located just outside near the main entrance through which you entered. Moving on now with the formalities for opening our general meeting chaired by Mr. Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The combined general meeting was convened today, April 23, 2026, in accordance with Article 22 of our Articles of Association by notice of meeting published in the BALO on March 18, 2026, with summons issued also by the BALO on April 8, 2026, and by letters sent to registered shareholders. Here on the Bureau's desk, we have a copy of the Articles of Association. We have a copy of the journals containing the notice of convening and the summons, a copy of the summons to registered shareholders and the letter to shareholders also to statutory auditors. We have the attendance sheet -- provisional attendance sheet. I will give you the final quorum just before we go to voting on resolutions. We also have a statement of postal voting forms and proxies received by the company. We have various reports to shareholders, and we also have a copy of documents sent to or made available to shareholders at the company's registered office. These documents, as required by law have been made available to shareholders within the prescribed time limits, in particular, by the company's website in the section dedicated to general meetings. As such, we will dispense with reading in full all of the reports. I will now read the agenda for today's general meeting. As for the first resolutions falling within the competency of the Ordinary General Meeting, we have resolutions 1 to 14. First, the approval of parent company financial statements for 2025 financial year; second, approval of consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2025; third, appropriation of financial results for 2025 and payment of dividend. Resolution 4, approval of related party agreements and commitments. Resolution 5, renewal of term of office of Antoine Frerot as Director; 6, renewal of term of office for Estelle Brachlianoff as Director; 7, appointment of Mr. Mr. Jean-Christophe Taret as Director, representing employee shareholders; 8, vote on components of compensation paid during 2025 financial year or granted in respect of the same financial year to Mr. Antoine Frerot, Chairman of the Board. 9, components of compensation paid during '25 or granted in respect of the same financial year to Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO; 10, vote on the information relating to 2025 compensation of corporate officers, excluding executive corporate officers referred to in Article L22-10-9 Part 1 of the French Commercial Code. 11, vote on the compensation policy of the Chairman of the Board of Directors for 2026 financial year; 12, vote on the compensation policy of the CEO for 2026 financial year; 13, vote on the compensation policy of directors for the 2026 financial year. And last but not least, 14, authorization being granted to the Board of Directors to trade in the company's shares. Moving on to those resolutions falling within the competency of the extraordinary general meeting. This is one of financial results. And for resolutions 15 to 18, you are asked to delegate to the Board of Directors, the necessary powers to increase the share capital of the company or one of its subsidiaries by issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future with maintenance of preferential subscription rights, Resolution 15. Now 16, issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights by way of a public offering other than those referred to in Article L4012 of the French Financial Code; 17, issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights by way of a public offering referred to in Paragraph 1, Article L4112 of the French Financial Code. Resolution 18 issuance of shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future without preferential subscription rights for the benefit of one or more specifically designated persons. Resolution 19 is intended to enable the Board to issue shares or securities giving access to the capital without preferential subscription rights in consideration for contributors in kind. Resolution 20 is intended to enable an increase in the number of securities shares to be issued in the event of a capital increase with or without preferential subscription rights. Now moving on to Resolutions 21 to 25. You are asked to delegate to the Board powers necessary to; first, decide an increase in the share capital by capitalizing premiums, bonuses, reserves, profits or any other sums, Resolution 21. Resolution 22, decide an increase in the company's share capital by issuing shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future reserved for members of company savings plans with cancellation of preferential subscription rights in their favor. Resolution 23, decide on an increase in the company's share capital by issuing shares or securities giving access to the capital immediately or in the future reserved for categories of persons with cancellation of preferential subscription rights in their favor as part of the implementation of employee share ownership plans. Resolution 24, grant fee-free shares, whether existing or to be issued to employees of the group and to corporate officers of the company or to certain people therein and right the waiver by shareholders of their preferential subscription rights and thereby canceling where appropriate, treasury shares. Resolution 25. And finally, Resolution 26 provides to delegate ballots to carry out legal formalities. Now moving on to forming the shareholder meeting Bureau. With regard to formation of meeting Bureau in accordance with Articles of Association, the following are called to serve as scrutineers. Ms. [indiscernible], representing Amundi and employee shareholders, respectively. On the attendance list, these 2 shareholders present here today hold the highest number of voting rights and therefore, have agreed to act as scrutineers to whom we express our deepest gratitude. With approval from the Chairman and the scrutineers, I will act as Secretary of the meeting. I would like to inform you that the proceedings of this meeting are public and that this meeting is being recorded and filled with live broadcast via the company's website. Moreover, a number of non-shareholders are attending this meeting, including journalists and also a court officer responsible for ensuring the proper conduct of the general meeting. In accordance with the law, the combined general meeting is duly constituted when the shareholders present and represented on first call represent at least 1/4 of the shares having voting rights for the ordinary and extraordinary sessions, which is 180,345,784 shares. At this stage, shareholders present or represented or having voted by correspondence represent currently, this is the provisory quorum, 563,478,069 shares or in other words, 77.03% of all shares having voting rights. That is 12,594 shareholders present or represented here today. Therefore, the combined general meeting is duly constituted, and we may validly deliberate on resolutions falling within both the competence of the ordinary and extraordinary general meeting agenda. Mr. Chairman, I turn the floor to you.

Helman, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, once again, it is with a great pleasure that I welcome you here today this afternoon to Veolia's headquarters for our general meeting. Today is a key moment in our history because it embodies what makes our company strong, open dialogue, a shared ambition and results that speak for themselves. We meet today in a time where challenges are piling up against us, persistent geopolitical tensions, economic pressure and environmental issues and considerations that are becoming ever more pressing. And yet despite these challenges, Veolia maintains a solid trajectory forward. Our results stand to prove that. Our group continues to progress to grow stronger and to create value. Our resilience comes not just by chance. It comes from what makes us so unique at Veolia. We are useful. We serve a purpose. In a world of uncertainty, we provide tangible solutions to the fundamental needs of local communities, industry people. Our calling is to do things that are useful, that things that truly matter, things that are essential. It's not easy to do them, but they have real lasting impact. When a community has waste to be managed, when industries need to shore up their water or energy supplies, when local communities need to depollute soil to preserve resources, Veolia is their go-to company. We don't provide just services. We are there to protect the environment, to protect the health of people. We fight against emerging pollution. We strengthen communities through energy and raw material and commodity sovereignty. There are very few industries out there that can have such a positive impact on people, communities and the environment. It is through this purpose, this usefulness that Veolia becomes attractive to its clients and customers. We fuel the engagement of our employees. It is what underpins the loyalty of our shareholders. And this is wherein we find the source of all of our success. It can be seen in our environmental, social, societal performance as well, of course, through our commercial, economic and financial performance. But let there be no mistake, our growth is not just of natural causes. It is a direct result of our usefulness. The more useful we are, the more people will call upon us. The more clients will turn to us to shore up their water energy, raw material supplies and the more we can grow. The more we can make our businesses more reliable in an unstable world, the more people will turn to us because they see us as a source of stability. It's a virtuous cycle that benefits us and it benefits you, our shareholders, because the more useful we are, the more we can prosper. We don't seek primarily to just maximize shareholder value. We seek to maximize Veolia's usefulness. All our financial performance mechanically follows on from that. The stronger we are, the better we can be, the more efficient we are, the better performance we have. But this usefulness, it doesn't come from our offices. This is something that we make day in, day out there in the field by working so closely with all stakeholders. No operator, however powerful they may be, can truly overcome all economic, social and environmental challenges that we are facing in our current time. As you know, Veolia was one of the first companies within the CAC 40 to outline its purpose, its corporate purpose and mission. In doing so, we said why we are useful, for whom we are useful and how we can be useful. For example, for whom are we useful? For all those who stand by our side, who contribute to our smooth operation as a company, they can find interest in what we are doing. You, as shareholders, for our clients, our employees, our suppliers and contractors, but we are also worth everyone's while, be they the future populations, future generations, the communities in which we operate. As we embody this purpose on a daily basis, right back in 2023, we created a committee of critical frames made up of individuals, people who challenge us on our strategic guidelines, people who helped us better refine our environmental goals and our circular economy programs. In 2020, you may remember, we took a new step forward into the future by implementing what we call multifaceted performance, a way of assessing our impact through 15 criteria, environmental, social and societal in addition to the more traditional financial indicators that we have. Then in 2025, just last year, most of you were there again. We enshrined our purpose in our Articles of Association. This year, in order to strengthen our ties with all those people who work with us and stand by outside to have a more positive impact for them, we kicked off a new initiative, our stakeholder assembly. And during its first edition, we brought together some 30 representatives from all age groups across all continents from our representatives from our main stakeholders, elected officials, experts, industrial representatives, not-for-profit organizations. And this group of people sat down with our Executive Committee and our Board of Directors to look at a major issue, reuse of wastewater. Together, they helped us identify how this solution can benefit each individual stakeholder, accelerating its rollout with better ways to tackle water shortages, which are an ever-creasing problem, affecting millions of people. So this is how we, at Veolia, we can pull together, we can channel together various sources of energy, allowing certain compromises when legitimate, but bring people together. Because in the long term, having it is in the interest of everyone of all of our stakeholders. It makes us strong, resilient, and it helps us grow our company. Veolia's usefulness, our purpose, our multifaceted performance, our stakeholder assembly, all of this is tied together by a unique bond. It shows continuity between these various parts because this is our definition of success. This is our vision of a shared action. Dear shareholders, I deeply believe that this notion, this vision is what makes Veolia's prosperity long term. This approach is also reflected in our governance, where we combine strategic vision and operational continuity. To bring this ambition to life, the Board is putting to you the renewal of Estelle Brachlianoff's mandate, who has been a fantastic CEO, fantastically talented lady who's led this company quite well for the past 4 years. Under her, we have boosted our international growth. We have taken on new markets. We designed and fantastically launched our GreenUp strategy. We perfectly integrated Suez. We have solid sustained growth. And that is why she's rightly seeking the renewal of her mandate. At the same time, you will also be asked to renew my term of office as Board Director, which, if you allow me, will give me the opportunity to continue to serve as a non-Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors, obviously, in accordance with the governance principles that lie at the strength of our group. In accordance with our Articles of Association, my function as Chairman will end in 2028. We are already thinking about how to prepare for that transition to ensure continuity and stability of our company's governance. Moreover, you will be asked to ratify the appointment of Mr. Jean-Christophe Taret as Director representing the employee shareholders as well as Mrs. Sandra Cortés as her ultimate. Jean-Christophe Taret is VP in charge of Impact and Development within Veolia Stakeholder and Communications Department and Sandra Cortés is HR Director for Latin America. Combined, they have extensive knowledge of Veolia's operational and functional business lines, and the Board will benefit greatly from their input. They will stand in from [indiscernible]. I would like to thank them both quite warmly for their contribution over the 4 years of their term of office. Their input, their commitment to our work has been so important. It has added to our overall reflection. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to each member of our Board of Directors for their loyalty, their availability as well for the quality, in-depth conversations that we have had for their valuable insights that they bring to our group. Dear shareholders, we are at a decisive moment in our journey. The first quarter of the 21st century is coming to an end with an undeniable observation to be made. Environmental, ecological health challenges have never been so pressing, so complex or so urgent. Faced with these challenges, Veolia has made a choice, not one to stand idly by or to just wait and see. but one to take action. We have not chosen isolation, but rather collaboration, working with all stakeholders. Our conviction, our belief is clear. A useful company is one which faces the challenges of its current time and climate. We don't just observe, we act. It's not a company that promises, it's a company that delivers. It's one that doesn't suffer, it transforms. This is a philosophy that we put into practice every single day. But this philosophy would mean nothing if we didn't have the unwavering support of you, our shareholders, who I hope will be ever more numerous in the future so that we can apply our philosophy even more in years to come. But nothing of this would be possible if we didn't have the 220,000 employees who day after day act through dedication across all continents. From their hard work, we have been successful. It is their relentless pursuit of excellence that we have been able to overcome obstacles and better serve our clients. So therefore, before handing over to our CEO, our Chief Executive Officer, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of our shareholders and to all of our employees. Thank you for your attention. And above all, thank you for the trust that you have placed in us. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am truly delighted to welcome you today to Aubervilliers to our head office, which we have done [indiscernible]. It's a place that has been the heartbeat of our group for the past 10 years. When Antoine Frerot chose to establish Veolia's headquarters here a decade ago, it was bold bet on the future. We chose to settle in a community in the midst of transformation, but it was also a very tangible expression of our model, global reach. And this gives us the power to innovate. And this is combined with deep local voice. And today, that choice speaks for itself. This is your home because this is where we take action alongside our teams to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time. And those challenges have fundamentally changed. 10 years ago, the energy transition or sustainable development were just part of the conversation. And today, we have clearly entered a new era, an era where these issues are no longer simply environmental concerns, but matters of economic survival and long-term prosperity. The truth is, for too long, we treated water, energy and raw materials as mere commodities as costs that needed to be managed as variables to adjust, but reality has caught up with us. Those so-called commodities were in reality, the invisible foundations of our world. And today, those foundations are starting to crack. This is a brutal, irreversible realization. This is no longer a matter of choice. It's no longer an environmental debate. It is a strategic imperative. And that is what I call ecological security. It's a new deal. I'm referring to the ability to guarantee access to vital resources for everyone, irrespective of the crisis. It's a form of security that cannot be declared. It must be built. It can be theorized. It must be delivered through resilient infrastructure, cutting-edge technologies and real-world solutions. We at Veolia are the builders of that security. For decades, we have been acting on 3 strategic fronts; water, energy and raw materials because those are the pillars that underpin both the stability of our societies and the competitiveness of our economies. Let me start with water. Both in Africa and the Middle East, where up to 95% of drinking water depends on desalination, our teams keep critical infrastructure running 24/7. They operate in environments where every single drop of water counts. And today, I would like to pay tribute to their commitment because without them, millions of people would have to do without water. Industries would grind to a halt and local economies would be thrown into crisis. And Europe is not immune. Successive droughts have pushed entire regions into emergency measures and restrictions, exposing just how vulnerable we all are. Water is no longer just another resource. In a world of rising geopolitical tensions and accelerating climate disruption, water has become a matter of national sovereignty. It's every bit as critical as oil, if not more so. Next, energy. If water is the foundation, energy is the engine. And the 2022 crisis was a stark reminder when energy runs short, the whole economy runs to a hold. In Poznan, Poland, we have replaced coal with circular heat sources, capturing energy from wastewater and recovering unused heat from nearby automotive plant, cutting 80,000 tonnes of CO2 every year. And this is just the beginning. Across Europe, the local energy we can harness represents a potential of 400 gigawatts of untapped energy. That's the equivalent of 400 nuclear reactors. That local energy can become a powerful driver of resilience. And finally, critical minerals, lithium, cobalt, rare earths; without those, there are no electric vehicles. There are no wind turbines, no advanced technologies. Europe relies on imports for 98% of its supply, a critical vulnerability. So what's our answer? Turn waste into a local resource. This is what we call the circular economy. In the city of Metz in France, we recycle batteries to 99% purity, and we are even extracting lithium from wastewater because these minerals are not commodities. No, they are the keys to our industrial autonomy. And this ability to regenerate resources to secure water and build resilient energy systems by unlocking local circular sources of supply makes Veolia a cornerstone of global ecological security. It's an unmatched industrial platform that combines deep technical expertise, breakthrough innovation and large-scale multi-local deployment. And it is that strength, that ability to turn challenges into real-world solutions that our teams bring to life every single day in the field. They don't just operate infrastructure. They secure access to essential resources, make those resources reliable, affordable and available. Our teams design and deliver tailored solutions to meet the most critical needs with tangible results. This means more competitive industries, safer cities and healthier communities. 2025 marked a decisive turning point. We have proved that our model is not just resilient. It is truly transformative. We're now halfway through GreenUp, our strategic plan. And I can say this with confidence. We have never been better positioned to address the critical needs of our time and to maximize our impact. The numbers speak for themselves. Organic EBITDA grew by 6.3%, exceeding our targets. Our margin has improved by 150 basis points over 2 years as we continue to move up the value chain. Net income is up 9%. All this in an economic environment still full of uncertainty. And for the first time at Veolia, we carried out a targeted share buyback to offset the dilution linked to our employee share ownership plan, a plan itself that's a major success with employees now holding 9.4% of the capital. 2025 also saw the arrival of 2 new long-term cornerstone shareholders, la Caixa and Bpifrance. I would like to thank them both for their trust. And I am particularly proud to announce today a 7% increase in our 2025 dividend, up 20% over 2 years, bringing the dividend to EUR 1.50 per share. These results are no accident. They are the direct outcome of our strategic choices, our GreenUp road map and above all, a disciplined execution in the field. First, we have rolled out new offerings in high-growth markets where our differentiation is extremely strong. And PFAS treatment is a perfect illustration. In 2024, we strengthened our leadership in this segment, delivering 25% revenue growth last year alone. I am confident that we will reach our target of EUR 1 billion in revenue by the end of the decade with this new offering. In 2025, we launched Ecothermal Grid, it's a new offering that is already reshaping energy management across Europe. In the U.K. alone, we already have a [ GBP 1 billion ] pipeline in place. At the same time, we ramped up the transformation of the group, making it more international and more technology-driven. This acceleration took shape through 2 major acquisitions in 2025, one acquisition in water tech in the spring and another in November when we bought Clean Earth. And once this acquisition is complete, it will double our footprint in the U.S. hazardous waste market. So it's a fast-growing market driven by strategic sectors such as pharmaceuticals and microelectronics. With this acquisition, we will operate across all 50 states in the U.S., giving us the scale to roll out our full range of solutions across North America. In just 4 years, we have fundamentally reshaped our asset portfolio, EUR 8.5 billion reallocated with a clear focus on our priority sectors and 90% of our investments now directed toward these key areas, ensuring sustainable growth fully aligned with our strategy. Now Emmanuelle, our CFO, will come back to these figures in more detail in a moment. But what matters most to me is what these results tell us. After the many stress tests we've been through, record inflation, the energy crisis, geopolitical tensions. Our model doesn't just withstand crisis. It comes out stronger. Our group is now more international, more innovative. It's even more essential than ever. Dear shareholders, today, the world is finally catching up with something we have long known. Resources are no longer just an environmental issue. They are the invisible foundation of our collective security. Whether water, energy or raw materials, these are the pillars of our stability and our prosperity. Their availability shapes the competitiveness of our industries as well as the resilience of our regions and the health of our citizens, not forgetting the security of our societies. This is not the reality that we passively endure. It is one we actively build on the ground every day, our teams push back the boundaries of what's possible. They're turning constraints into drivers of innovation, turning challenges into real tangible opportunities. Our teams innovate not only to anticipate tomorrow's challenges, but also to ensure that essential services remain accessible to as many people as possible. And this approach is rooted in a deep conviction. It's embedded in our DNA. A company only prospers if it is truly useful. This vision was shaped by Antoine Frerot. We've inherited this, and it positions us as an indispensable partner in a world where resources have become a strategic priority. 2025 marks a pivotal moment for our group. Our solutions help secure supply chains in an unstable environment. Our model proved its resilience. And at the same time, we made bold investments in the future to build an even stronger company. And this is only the beginning. In 2026, we will continue to pick up the pace. Already, we are rolling out our new data center and AI offering, which we launched just last week in London, while strengthening our strategic partnerships and investing in the technologies that will define the next standards of our industry. You were among the first to believe in this vision, long before it became self-evident. And today, as these issues take center stage worldwide, we will continue to address them with determination and agility guided at all times by the compass of our purpose. Thank you for your trust, one and all. [Presentation]

Thank you very much, Estelle. I will now hand over to Emmanuelle Menning, our VP in charge of Finance, who will give us a presentation on the multifaceted performance, our financial and extra financial results. Emmanuelle, you have the floor.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, 2025 was a pivotal year for Veolia, not only because we met our targets, but we actually moved beyond those targets on multiple accounts. It proves that our ambitious GreenUp strategy provides the results -- tangible results that we were expecting much later on in the game. In addition to our financial performance, our societal impact, we have shown that they go hand-in-hand, a strong year where we -- we overcame our objective with revenue growth up nearly 3% and EBITDA growth up 6.3%. 2025 year was a year finished with a very robust fourth quarter. We build our group upon growth performance and capital allocation. First, let's talk about growth. The group's growth remained very strong at 4.3% in our booster businesses, so Water Tech, Bioenergy. Second, through multifaceted performance, we continued improving our operational performance through top line growth, but also through efficiency and synergy plans. This meant that our EBITDA grew above top line growth at 70 basis points, improving our margin quite well. 70 basis points. So we are now close to 16%. Operational leverage is strong with our net income growing at 9% in 2025. Third, talking about capital allocation. While we resumed external growth in 2025, we were able to maintain a very solid balance sheet with leverage ratio below 3x at the year-end and high growing free cash flow. But in terms of value creation, thanks to GreenUp, we reached our targets 2 years ahead of schedule. We had return on invested capital at 9.4%, which is our highest level ever. Let's talk about growth, focusing on various geographies. We now have international presence in various markets with a large portion of business outside of France, 80% in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East, 10% in Water Tech, which is one of our global businesses. Growth is even stronger in our international markets, predominantly outside of Europe, where not only are they growing faster, but they are more profitable. Take the United States. The strategic acquisition of Clean Earth, which we will finalize mid-2026, is our largest and our most transformative acquisition since the merger with Suez. So organic growth has been very strong, predominantly in hazardous waste and in municipal contracts. Let us now look at growth of our core businesses, our boosters. As you know, we have 3 key business lines; water, waste, energy. Within those 3 key business lines, we have core businesses, our strongholds, they make up 70% of all turnover, municipal water contracts, solid waste and heating networks. We also have high-growth business lines, our booster businesses, roughly 30% with Water Tech, hazardous waste and Bioenergy. These business lines go very well hand-in-hand, making up 30% of overall business, combining at least 2 of these key business lines. Our boosters had 8.3% growth, doing quite well. That is twice as fast as what we saw elsewhere in the group. Our core businesses are resilient with growth of 2.2%. What is particularly noteworthy is that these businesses [ suffered ] at very high levels, and they have proven their ability to continue growing profitability. So these figures show that we have ongoing demand for our solutions because they address critical needs, be it ensuring up water supply, treating pollution or protecting public health. This top line growth also shows EBITDA growth, 4.8% for our core businesses and plus 12.1% for our boosters. Let us now move on to our second creation of value, so performance and efficiency. As part of our annual efficiency and savings plans, we have achieved EUR 399 million in savings, which is well above our annual target of EUR 350 million. And these gains made predominantly through digital solutions and AI as they make up a large portion of all operational performance and efficiency, 23%. Synergies with Suez have been fully completed, EUR 100 million in savings in 2025, bringing the cumulative total to EUR 534 million of savings, which is well above our initial target of EUR 500 million. Our performance here is quite remarkable because it highlights our ability to successfully integrate new companies from a people, culture, business point of view. It clearly shows the success and the rationale behind the merger with Suez because it changed our group. Going forward, we are going to see new synergies with external growth and transactions, but I'll talk about that in a moment. 2025 year was a year that was important because it was a major year for our GreenUp strategy, where we focused our priority on highly innovative, tech-driven activities and business lines outside of Europe. We had 2 major acquisitions that we're able to finalize and sign off, strengthening the group's growth profile for years ahead. We had a major EUR 1.5 billion investment in Water Technologies to acquire a minority interest, fully merging our entities, streamlining its organization, but we're able to also extract some EUR 9 million in additional synergies, increasing our growth capacity and our dynamic nature in a global market. External growth in hazardous waste was also ramped up with a number of key targeted acquisitions in the United States, Japan, Brazil. We also had the major acquisition of Clean Earth, a $3 billion acquisition, which doubles our hazardous waste business in the United States, placing us as the #2 player in the local market. With the growth of Veolia with investment in 2025, all of this falls in line with our financial criteria, and they were never made at the expense of Veolia's financial strength. Our balance sheet is extremely robust. We apply a rule very strictly where we manage our investments, our working capital requirements and all of our costs so that we can generate every year net free cash flow that funds both our dividend policy and external growth opportunities. We thus generated net free cash flow of EUR 1.2 billion with perfectly managed levels below the target leverage ratio of 3. Our strong credit rating was reiterated this year at the beginning of 2026. These strong results just show how we have had a first half of the GreenUp plan, which has been fantastic despite the geopolitical climate, which had an impact on exchange rates, fiscal stability, production costs, especially in terms of energy. Despite that, in 2 years, this plan bringing resilience and efficiency together, proving its worth in terms of our strategic rationale. We had average growth of profitability at 11.8% of net income. Combine that with remarkable improvement in our post-tax return on capital employed, reaching a record level of 9.4%. As such, we are hitting our targets. We are hitting our targets 2 years ahead of schedule, which just goes to show how we can create value in Veolia. Given our strong results, the Board of Directors is putting to you today a dividend of EUR 1.5 per share. This is up 7% on 2024, and this is in line with our growth of earnings per share. Since the launch of GreenUp, we have increased our dividend considerably, which shows our commitment to you, our shareholders, with a uniquely appealing policy. We also shored up our shareholder return by complementing our dividend policy with a multiyear share buyback program in order to offset the impact of our employee share ownership program. But before talking about our nonfinancial performance, I would just like to quickly talk about our 2026 targets for finance. We expect solid sustained organic revenue growth, excluding energy prices, EBITDA organic growth between 5% and 6%. We also have current net income of at least 8%, excluding Clean Earth. As for our dividend policy, we're going to keep that in line with our growth, especially in line with our current earnings per share. GreenUp is very much the solution we've been looking for. Now I'm sure you're quite familiar with our stock price, which is up 30% despite the fact that the CAC 40 was not up anywhere near that. So we've had remarkable performance, which has really picked up pace ever since the beginning of 2026, and the stock markets are really showing that the early results that we've had this year are bearing fruits. Let us now turn to our environmental performance because at Veolia, it's not just about finance, it's also about the nonfinancial aspects. And I'm particularly proud to say to you here today that once again, we are not just on track, we are ahead of schedule. Two out of the 3 GreenUp objectives have already been achieved 2 years ahead of schedule. For example, regeneration. We were able to save 1.57 billion cubic meters of freshwater. That is enough to supply a city like London for 1 whole year. Our coal phaseout plan is progressing well. In 2025, we pulled out of Poznan in Poland by commissioning a new facility that combines a gas-fired power plant, heat storage facilities and biomass. With EUR 786 million invested with 5 out of 9 plants already converted around the world, we have already passed the halfway point of our coal phaseout plan. There's one figure actually, which illustrates our progress. The share of businesses or coal-related businesses has decreased from nearly 4% of revenue in 2023 to 2.6% today. And we will be below 1% by 2030. We provide cities and industries with water, billions of cubic meters of water while ensuring efficiency through our services. And that is why our Booster businesses grew by 8% and EBITDA by over 12%. It is a virtuous cycle where we are useful, usefulness drives growth and growth creates value for our clients, for our employees, our shareholders with real impact on improving the quality of life for people and the economic health of communities. We at Veolia are a unique company. We provide environmental safety, long-term solutions for our clients. And we are facing real issues with water scarcity, pollution, supply chain disruptions. And for cities to be able to provide essential services for industries to be able to produce for economies to grow, environmental security is nonnegotiable. Our value creation is global. And every single day, we can show that performance can be both profitable and responsible at the same time. Thank you.

Emmanuel, thank you very much. It is now over to our statutory auditors for the annual report, the related party agreements and regulated commitments for sustainability as well as all resolutions concerning financial authorizations. Gentlemen, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, on behalf of the statutory auditors, Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Associates, I am pleased to present the reports we have prepared for you in respect of the financial year ended December 31, 2025. With regard to the resolution submitted to your approval at this combined AGM, our reports relating to the ordinary general meeting cover the financial statements and related party agreements, while those relating to the extraordinary general meeting are required by law in connection with the proposed transactions affecting the company's share capital. We also have issued a report for certifying sustainable information. These reports have been made available to you by the company and are included in the 2025 URD. Let me now briefly outline the key findings and conclusions. Let us start with the parent company consolidated financial statements of Veolia, which corresponds to Resolutions 1 and 2 of the Ordinary General Meeting. We certify that the annual and consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, are prepared in accordance with the applicable accounting standards and presented to review the results, financial position and assets of the company and the group at year-end. As part of our audit, we focused in particular on certain key audit matters, which we consider to be the most significant informing our opinion as they involve material estimates and judgments. For the consolidated financial statements, I'm referring to the assessment of the recoverable value of intangible, tangible and financial assets. And secondly, the evaluation of contingent liabilities relating to certain litigations. Regarding the other financial statements, we identified the valuation of equity investments as the key audit matter. In addition, our report on the parent company financial statements includes an emphasis of matter drawing attention to the impact of the first-time application of E&C Regulation #2002-06 on the modernization of financial statements as described in the notes to the accounts. We also verify the consistency of the management report prepared by your Board of Directors, in particular with respect to the financial and accounting information presented therein, the disclosures relating to the compensation and benefits granted to corporate officers and the information relating to corporate governance. All of our work and detailed conclusions were regularly shared with the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors of the group. Now turning to our special report on related party agreements. With respect to Resolution 4 of the Ordinary General Meeting, we have issued a report on related party agreements and have no observations to make on that front. We inform you that no new agreements authorized by the Board of Directors during fiscal 2025 were brought to our attention. However, 4 agreements previously approved by the general meeting continue to be enforced during the year. These relate to 2 agreements with Veolia Eau relating to the licensing of the Veolia brand and the remuneration of guarantees granted by the company and 2 agreements with the Terra Academia Association. relating to a sponsorship agreement and support services provided by the company. These agreements involve Ms. Brachlianoff, Director and CEO of Veolia Environnement, who is also Co-Managing Director of Veolia Eau and Founder and Board member of Terra Academia as well as Mr. Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Veolia Environnement and Founder and Board member of Terra Academia. Now regarding the Extraordinary General Meeting, we have issued 5 reports relating to resolutions authorizing transactions that may affect the company's share capital. These reports concern the authorizations and delegations of authority granted to your Board of Directors to carry out various transactions involving the company's share capital. None of these reports contain any comments from us as the proposed transactions comply with the applicable legal framework and all required information has been duly disclosed to you. Where appropriate, we will issue additional reports should these delegations be exercised by your Board of Directors. Regarding sustainability information, this is our last report. It's a report that certifies the sustainability and taxonomy information disclosed by the company. This report is not subject to a resolution submitted to your AGM. Our work consisted in providing limited assurance across 3 specific areas. First of all, the compliance of the process implemented by the group to determine which sustainability information should be disclosed in line with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards or ESRS. The compliance of the sustainability disclosures included in the management report with the ESRS and lastly compliance with the disclosure requirements relating to taxonomy as set out in Article 8 to Regulation EU 2020/852. Based on our procedures, we did not identify any material misstatements, omissions or inconsistencies in relation to these 3 areas. We'd like to attract your attention to Paragraph 41264 entitled methodology of the Sustainability Statement, which describes the group's analysis of taxonomy aligned operating expenditure during the year. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.

Thank you, sir. Now I'm going to hand over to Olivier Andries, who will discuss say on pay.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, the items relating to the compensation of executive corporate officers. As I was saying, the items relating to the compensation of executive corporate officers for 2025 and 2026 are covered by resolutions 8, 9, 11 and 12 submitted for your approval. These elements are described in detail in Chapter 3, Section 3.4 of the 2025 universal registration document. Let me begin with the compensation paid in 2025 or awarded in respect of that financial year. The compensation paid to the Chairman of the Board, Antoine Frerot, unchanged since 2022, consists of a fixed salary of EUR 700,000, supplemented by pension arrangements and benefit schemes in line with those applicable to the company's employees. The Chairman of the Board of Directors does not receive any variable compensation, whether short or long term. The compensation paid or accrued in respect of 2025 to the Chief Executive Officer comprises a fixed salary of EUR 1,030,000 per year, a short-term variable component which following a review of performance against the relevant criteria by the Remuneration Committee and approval by the Board amounts to EUR 1,406,259 per year. That's a short-term variable component. And lastly, a long-term variable component in the form of performance share awards, subject to performance conditions measured over a 3-year period, resulting in the grant of 44,478 shares under the 2025 plan. The Chief Executive Officer also benefits from social benefits, protection schemes and termination provisions as detailed on this slide, which have been unchanged since the start of her mandate in July 2022. Turning now to the compensation policy for executive corporate officers for fiscal 2026. The Board proposes to maintain the Chairman's fixed compensation unchanged at EUR 700,000. For the Chief Executive Officer in connection with the renewal of her mandate, in so far as her fixed remuneration has not changed since the beginning of her term in 2022, the Board proposes adjustments to her fixed compensation. So it is proposed to increase it to EUR 1,133,000 from EUR 1,030,000. So that's a 10% increase exactly. Now long-term variable compensation, the Board proposes to increase it to 150% of fixed salary from 133% previously. These proposed changes are based on a thorough benchmarking analysis against the 2 panels. CAC 40 companies on the one hand and a peer group, a peer group of 13 European companies. The proposed changes also reflect feedback from investors gathered during governance roadshows, which supported increasing the weighting of long-term equity-based compensation. If you approve the relevant resolution, the Chief Executive Officer's 2026 compensation will comprise a fixed salary of EUR 1,133,000, an annual variable component based 50% on financial targets, 30% on quantitative nonfinancial targets and 20% on qualitative criteria linked to strategy, leadership performance and the equity story. At target, this variable compensation represents a 100% of fixed salary annually. And in the event of overperformance, it will be capped at 150% -- capped at 150% of fixed salary. Also a long-term variable component in the form of performance share awards representing 150% of annual fixed salary. Performance criteria is split equally between financial and nonfinancial metrics, so a 50-50 split. And this performance criteria is subject to a holding requirement of 40% of awarded shares until a total shareholding equivalent to 200% of annual fixed salary is reached. If you agree to adopt this resolution, the CEO's 2026 compensation will also comprise the benefits of social protection and termination arrangements, which have been unchanged since 2022. I would like to remind you that the Chief Executive Officer does not hold an employment contract with the company, having resigned from her employment contract upon her appointment on July 01, 2022. And as such, she does not receive any compensation as a director. Thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you, Olivier. Now ladies and gentlemen, let's take a closer look at the stakeholder assembly that I mentioned earlier. And to introduce this segment, I will hand over to Estelle.

Thank you, Antoine. As you reminded us earlier, engaging with our stakeholders has always been part of Veolia's DNA. But today, in the face of critical ecological security challenges, we needed to go further. We also want to move faster in order to remove barriers and scale the solutions that the world urgently needs. We need to go further, faster, higher, stronger and expand in more geographies simply because the world needs us to move faster. And that is why we created a stakeholders assembly. So on April 9, we brought together 34 participants from countries such as Jordan, Chile, China, the United States, Lebanon and across Europe. So around the table, there were ministers responsible for water management, but also field engineers, financiers, civil society representatives and captains of industry, all brought together to tackle a concrete real-world and strategic challenge, the reuse of wastewater. It's a key solution to secure access to this vital resource, but it is a solution that still faces significant barriers. And for 2 days, participants examined the barriers, whether they be regulatory, technical and financial in nature and jointly developed a clear actionable road map to accelerate deployment. On June 5, this work will culminate in a call for action setting out concrete commitments to overcome these barriers. And before we hear from 2 of the participants, I invite you to take a behind the scenes look at this first edition. [Presentation]

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Francisco Silverio Marques. I'm the Chief of Staff for Estelle Brachlianoff, and it is my pleasure to run this -- or to co-run that first stakeholder assembly session. It was in Paris 2 weeks ago. It was exactly as you saw it. It was lively, exciting, a lot of energy in the room that really brought everyone together. And it's fantastic to have 2 of those people here today, and they'll tell us a bit about what they felt from their own point of view. First, we have [indiscernible], who is Deputy CEO of [indiscernible] in charge of local communities [indiscernible], which is a professional organization Veolia is an active member of. Denis, you are one of our stakeholders and you fall within the client and customer category. You have much experience, over 25 years of experience providing water services to some 700,000 people. So thank you very much. Also with us here today, we have [indiscernible] Milan, who is a post-doc student at Imperial College of London, telecom negotiator for the Lebanese delegation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [indiscernible], to some extent, you are a bridge between the world of academia, public policy, industry, future generations and all with a unique regional international perspective on matters. So therefore, quite naturally, you fall under the planet category of our stakeholders. Thank you also for that. Denis, starting with you. You are one of those members who started out by joining us with a very tangible project that you're talking about. It's already bearing fruit. We saw a few examples of that just in the video, the Jordan project. Can you tell us about it?

Well, Francisco, thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me here for such a fine event. Before I talk about the Jourdain project, I would just like to say, I mean, we've got a fantastic stage here, a lot of green colors, but I can give you a bit of [indiscernible] as well because that's what we have out in Vendee. Roughly 700,000 people, citizens that we serve. And I'm sure you're aware that we're on the coastline, we're talking about 1.5 million people who use our services. We've got kilometers upon kilometers of fine white sand beaches. So a lot of tourists come to our region. It provides a lot of economic support, a lot of food and beverage, construction industries. If you're familiar with the Vendee Globe. look at all the sponsors that you have on that, fine, a lot of people in our local economies. So it may seem like all is well, but we have a real issue with water in our local area. There are very -- there's very little water in our water table, very granite heavy soils. So drinking water in Vendee is predominantly provided by dams, small dams that we put along our waterways and numerous constructions for water processing facilities scattered throughout the region to process and treat all of that water. For over a number of years, well, Vendee Eau was created back some 60 years ago. But bit by bit we started thinking about the future. And we realized that in the 55 million cubic meters of water, we would lack about 8 million cubic meters of water by 2040, 2050. So we said we need to find solutions. We started focusing on water savings plans. We work against leakages. So we do a lot of work with Veolia. And just very quickly in that video there, I saw that we did a lot of leak detection and that type of work. Water storage. We also do a lot of work with local quarries. And now we have unconventional water treatment facilities. We actually put to tender, Veolia won the contract, and that brought to life Jourdain, that's the name of the project. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll just quickly tell you about if we've got it up on the screen, there you go. It's very simple. It's all about wastewater in the local area along the Olonne beach and dunes. So we take it from there. We send it some 30 kilometers away into our water pipes, and we put it through a planted water basin. And then that cleans it, it purifies it, but we can then send it back through the circuit. It's all reused water. It's quite a leading project. We're a bit -- we're pioneers, but we really believe in it. And ever since March of 2025, we have been operating, and we can produce some enough water for about 15,000 homes. And by 2030, we want to expand it even further so we can reach some 60,000 homes.

Well, brilliant, it is a pioneering project, but it is already working quite well. So the question I have for you is, what motives you at the outset to join the stakeholder assembly?

This project is somewhat of a first for us, but it's also the same case for Veolia. And if the Chairman for Vendee Eau was here instead of me, he would speak of Veolia, not just as a service provider, but a true partner. And it's because we believe in the same things. We believe in water reuse, particularly wastewater reuse. There's also a fantastic assembly with people from very different backgrounds, different cultures. And something I didn't realize beforehand, but I realized once I was there, is that all of these different points of view coming together, it made something even much more than just the mere sum of those different points of view. I think we all had quite unique experiences. I mean, our project, it's not just a technical project that we're talking about. We're able to speak about other parts of it, other aspects. And I think that information was really beneficial for us.

Thank you very much. Moving on to you, Elsie. Now we actually saw in the video that you are part of the Council of Future generations for Veolia. So can you tell us a bit about that?

Thank you very much for the question. I'm really excited to be able to talk about the Future Generations Council because it is an unheard of initiative for a major corporation, industrial company like Veolia to do. It's quite unheard of. Some would say it's just for marketing or communication purposes, but not at all because we need, within that, not just to rubber stamp all of Veolia's programs, but to really challenge them to give them a new take on it. And actually, at a very first meeting, Estelle said, be bold. And that's what we did. We tackle all sorts of issues, energy and water issues, but thinking about it in the new time of AI and what that can mean in terms of governance. So that's why we need future generations to take part in that decision-making process. So we can take Veolia's vision that they have for future generations to bring it to life.

Okay. Same question for you. What pushed you to join the stakeholder assembly in addition to what you're already doing with the Future Generations Council?

Well, as a member of the Future Generations Council, I realized that decisions that were made in-house really do have a major impact outside of that. But as members of that, we always ask who and for whom. And then we wanted to ask how and for whom. So we want to have a form of inclusive commitment with major impact. So as a Lebanese woman myself, in these very crucial times, there's war afoot, we realize that water is the crux of a lot of major conflicts nowadays. So I said, I need to have a platform where we can talk about how we can better manage that resource, which is a source of wealth for everyone.

Thank you very much for your very touching comments there. Let's now quickly talk about ecological security, which is something we saw in the video. And this was -- the event was the first opportunity to talk about water and water reuse. Denis, as you said, this is a major issue for you in your local community, how you manage your water resources. So is water reuse? Is it a key way to shore up ecological security? And the second question I have, a follow-up question is, is the collaborative approach something which was very beneficial for you in your own project?

Ecological security. This very much goes hand-in-hand with water reuse. Whenever you start really getting involved as what you have been doing with Veolia in reusing wastewater, firstly, you need to make sure that you have quality water as an output because water is what people drink. So you obviously need to be mindful of their health. You need to focus on quantity. That was our first target. But you also need to make sure you have continuity. You can't have breakages in the system or you can't shut off the system. We also need to think about the environmental impact of everything that we do. So earlier, we're talking about this circuit. We're talking about this ultrapure water that we put back into the water systems. I mean, here, we're having ultra-pure water that we're putting into river water, which isn't necessarily at the same level of purity. So you need to figure about the impact that you will have on the freshwater systems, but then also on the ocean as it goes out into saltwater. So we're always thinking about the environmental impact of our activities and of what we do. And I think that is why we're so much part and parcel of this discussion about ecological security.

From a stakeholder point of view, what did it give us? What did the assembly give us?

When you have a water reuse project like ours, as I said, it's not one of technical matters. I mean there is a technical aspect to it, but it's really a matter of governance. It's a matter of having a proper business plan -- business model. It's an issue of regulation. And it's very much an issue of local communities. So what we were thinking about within our stakeholder experience is, well, actually, there are 2 things that really came through. First, from a business model point of view. You can't just say we reuse wastewater, which is going to come at a much higher cost than your traditional water. But if you tackle it not from a technical point of view, but from a value point of view, you realize that it's actually the final cubic meters of water in the calculation that cost the most. So you have to think about, well, what is the cost of no water. I mean just imagine what would happen in our region in Vendee if we hadn't put this program in, where in September, October comes around, and we say, well, tourists, it's time to go home or maybe you have to tell heavy industry locally, well, reduce your scale of production or maybe come September and October, we tell our locals, stop drinking water. So really, value, the value of water takes on this whole new shape. And in terms of having this multifaceted point of view, the other issue that we see coming through is acceptability. How can you get people comfortable with the fact that they are drinking and using reused wastewater. So there's a lot of work that we can do with sociologists to understand the sociology of this. When you no longer have control over the risk, you have to hand over your faith to those people who do manage that risk. So when it comes to reusing wastewater, people, they have to have faith in companies like Veolia or like Vendee Eau, our company. They have to have faith in us. And that changed our way of viewing the whole situation because we don't have the right to make a mistake. We can't make mistakes. And I actually found it quite interesting to see that, that was in the speech that we heard a little earlier, there's this notion of being very strict with one's own actions and very rigorous with what you do. So we manage the risk. And in doing so, we ensure security and safety of the water that we are providing to people drinking and using it. And that is a key way of boosting acceptability. So it's a collaborative approach, which is essential to be able to come up with a business model and make sure that what you are providing is acceptable, and it's all built upon trust.

Elsie, are there key things that stood out for you where the assembly helped you move forward or helped you remove key barriers?

To answer that question, I think there are both stylistic and substantive ways of answering it. We live in a world that is politically divided. It is broken. This assembly was a way where almost by magic, we got people sitting down around the same table, a minister, someone representing you, someone from Europe, a professor, all talking about topics which are ultimately highly technical, highly bureaucratic issues. So we broke down these topics, very challenging topics, very challenging issues, into topics that we could talk about. In terms of natural content, we came back to a definition. We came back to a definition of what it means to have access to water, reused, repurposed, recycled water, how we can give people access to water because water belongs to everyone. And I think there was something quite unique in how we were able to bring everyone together to speak quite open and simply and authentically. We weren't just talking about Excel spreadsheets. We found something behind all of this technical side of the topic. There was something quite unique because we're talking about water, which belongs to everyone. Actually, just talking quickly about democratic processes. Just yesterday, we had -- we drank some Erko, which is beer made using recycled water. It's a partnership with Veolia in Czech Republic, I believe. And it was fantastic because I got to taste the beer and give that beer to everyone within the assembly of future generation -- the Council of Future Generations and they loved it. And they said, look, if the young kids, they love the beer, then we're doing something right.

Thanks very much for your comments. Actually, thank you to both of you for everything that you have been doing. All of this will give rise to a white paper where we talk about our key commitments and a call to action. So we are looking forward to all of that on the 5th of June.

Thank you very much, Elsie, Denis, Francisco. We're now going to move on to our Q&A session. For that, I'm going to hand over to Helman. Maybe we can start out with the written questions.

Yes. The company has received written questions from the forum for responsible investment as well as from an individual shareholder, Mr. [indiscernible]. The responses as approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting earlier today are available in the section dedicated to this AGM on the company's website. Mr. Chairman, Madam Chief Executive Officer, ladies and gentlemen, I now suggest we move on to questions from the floor. To facilitate this, [indiscernible] positioned in the side aisle are available with microphones, and they will pass along the row to those wishing to speak. [Operator Instructions]

My name is [indiscernible]. I have a question regarding the advisory committee of shareholders. We're halfway through the GreenUp strategic plan, which focuses on ramping up international expansion. To what extent is Veolia being impacted by the current international situation?

Well, clearly, this is a question for our CEO.

Thank you for volunteering me and thank you for your question. I love to think about that. There are many recent geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine and a lot of other crisis that come to mind. So it's been one process after another these past few years. So regarding Veolia, what matters the most to us is the safety and security of our people in those areas. We have 9,000 people in the Middle East, in particular, who are on site. That's the first priority. Second priority, we provide essential services. We meet critical needs. So we need to make sure we continue to operate. So we can continue to provide the essential services, keep providing water, keep providing the strip heating when winter is harsh, keep providing essential services to the local communities and the countries where we operate.

Now let's take a step back from the [indiscernible] Yes, it's been one crisis after another. Does that mean we should stop investing in specific countries? There are more and more constraints because there are more and more crisis.

Well, most experts will say that a lot of crisis could not be anticipated and have not been anticipated. So rather than doing that, rather than stopping ourselves, we decided to ramp up our international shift. We've made bold strategic choices. And basically, these are 2 sides of the same coin. First of all, we need to derisk our group's approach. And obviously, if we operate in one country, it's because we really want to be there. First of all, what does that mean hedging our risks for the group. This means that the funds we employ are the money that we invested in the country. We don't want it to exceed the group's equity in that country, irrespective of the country. Now one exception is the U.S. because it's more of a continent, so we allow ourselves a little bit more money. And so the other side of the coin is, we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. We don't want to do that. That's not what we go for. So we want to rank among the top 3 in every country where we operate because if we decide to go there, we want to do things that matter. In case of inflation, for example, we'll be able to pass on the increase in costs. We'll be able to rely on the market. So we are having a highly operational response, and we're making strong strategic choices in order to derisk our approach as a group.

Next question. Go ahead.

My name is [indiscernible] representing ANA, the National Association of Shareholders in France. Here's my question. Which share of Veolia's revenue is actually secured using long-term index contracts?

That's another question for you there, Estelle.

Overall, you're absolutely right. Veolia's model is based on both resilience and growth. And we have shown our extreme resilience in recent years. So how do we build our own resilience? We do a lot of different things. We make investments internationally, and this ties in with your question, sir. But we have a lot of long-term contracts. The average term is 11 years. That's the average term of our contract and we renew our contracts all the time. But this means we have a lot of time on our hands to build long-term solutions. Also, 70% of our contracts are to inflation. In other words, if prices increase, this means that our costs are going to increase. But our revenues increase as well, this protects our profit margin. And this is true the other way around. There may be a lag as much as 1 year, 1.5 years. It takes a while before indexation to actually be reflected in the revision formula. Now the remaining 30% of the contracts are not indexed. I'm talking about waste collection, collecting waste from industries, et cetera. So it's up to our salespeople to actually pass on the increase in cost depending on our needs when our costs increase, for example. So we usually do this once a year. But whenever the situation warrants it, sometimes we increase our prices 2 or 3 times a year simply to protect our profit margins. And this means that inflation is something that we're handling well. We prefer to have a little bit of inflation rather than 0 inflation for various reasons. By and large, we're able to protect our profit margins. Sometimes it takes a little while. Look at our performance in the past few years. If we look at 2022, 2023, inflation surged and then went back down, we were able to increase our revenue quarter-on-quarter.

Next question.

My name is [indiscernible], Advisory Committee of individual shareholders. Here's my question. Could you please tell us again what you've done for shareholders, particularly in terms of dividend payouts and share buybacks?

I'll take this question, if I may, Estelle. Well, what are we doing for our shareholders? We're paying our dividends. As you know Veolia is improving its performance constantly and regularly. And that means our net income keeps increasing year-on-year. And as a result, the dividends that we pay out per share increase as well year-on-year. So that's our plan. We would like to continue doing that. We're going to stay on track. Regarding our Green Up program, the idea is to increase our net income by 10% every year over the past 4 years, and that's what we did in the previous 4-year period and the previous period as well. So constant increase of our net income. So dividend pay dividend payout for this year is EUR 1.5. Estelle showed us the progression in EPS and the share price has increased quite a bit in recent weeks. So excellent yield, excellent shareholder return. That's what we want. That's our priority, provide our shareholders with regular reasonable shareholder returns. So we're both reasonable and ambitious when it comes to increasing the dividend payout year-on-year. However, there's one thing we're not planning to do. We're not planning any share buybacks unless the goal is to offset the dilution caused by the employee share ownership plan. Otherwise, no share buybacks are in the books. Why? Because we're very fortunate. The operating businesses across the world that provide so many different opportunities. So we have -- we can take our pick. We can choose the best opportunities. We know what we can and want to do with our monies. So sometimes we decide not to return that money to shareholders because we prefer to invest. We are very fortunate. Every single year, we are able to find plethora of project that actually meets our performance and profitability criteria. So every year, we invest in new projects, and that's why our income and our performance is improving year-on-year, and that's why our dividend payout is improving year-on-year. So improving shareholder returns. And also, well, we're making it possible for our dear shareholders to be part of this amazing adventure. As shareholders, you are investing into the company and you're helping the group to meet those key challenges across the group. You're supporting population, cities, future generations, you're helping to protect the planet. You are part of this adventure. You are part of this endeavor. And I hope this is a huge source of satisfaction for you all.

Next question.

Quick question, very down to earth question. What role does Veolia play when it comes to upgrading a separation of wastewater from rainwater.

I'll take this one quickly, if I may. Now for many years, the existing sanitation systems in city would collect a mixture of rain water and wastewater. That was true, for example, in because Hoffmann built that sanitation system. And so wastewater and rainwater were mixed. That wasn't a good thing because we're talking 2 different kinds of water, obviously. So wastewater appeared more polluted than rainwater and would trickle down the streets and would run off as well. So 2 different sources of pollution, 2 different kinds of water. Later, we started building 2 separate systems, one for collecting rain water and the other for collecting waste water. And the wastewater would be sent directly to water treatment plants before they could be purified, treated and discharged into the natural environment. So Paris 2024 was an opportunity to actually hold some of the events on the river Seine. So that [indiscernible] and visitors alike could actually bath in the river waters. And this meant upgrading the system, upgrading the rain water storage system so that at least in dry weather, it would be possible to bathe in the river Seine because the water had been treated. So it was quite a challenge. If we look at our history, we've gone from one technology to another, from one project to another. And the Paris 2024 Olympics was an opportunity as well to set up a major rain water storage reservoir near the Bievre. So that's what we do. We collect and operate wastewater storage and treatment facilities.

Yes, we have a question here.

The shareholder advisory body. I would just like to know about major political upheavals in France. Are they impacting Veolia?

Estelle, I thought that one is for you.

Well, actually, I thought you were going to take that one, Antoine. Well, it's going to be an interesting one to figure out what's actually happening. So Veolia, we have major international footprint. You saw the figures. The beating heart of our company, nevertheless, remains in France. So when I say political upheavals in France has had a major hit for us in France, where we had dissolution of parliament. We used to see in the past a major impact on our stock price, completely unjustified for many reasons. First and foremost, because Veolia, despite the fact that we are very present in France, it's only 20% of our overall sales. Veolia, we work with local communities. We don't work with national level contracts in place. We don't depend on subsidies. So while you may have major budgetary cuts coming in place, they don't really have an impact on our business. The people who pay us are end users or industrial clients. I mean the list is long, but this really shouldn't have an impact on our share price. It is already having a less of an impact on the share price. And I certainly hope that, that is going to improve in the future. That's me as Head of Veolia speaking. Obviously, in the coming year, there are going to be new discussions, let's put it that way. About how important it is to think about strategic autonomy as about access to efficiency of purchasing power. All of these tie into each other, and we can see it in all sorts of polls and all sorts of surveys. And for all of these topics, Veolia has solutions, technical solutions to provide. We don't provide political solutions. We provide technical solutions to make sure that our country is stronger, is more independent, more autonomous, more sovereign with healthier people. And I certainly hope that next year's conversation, next year's discussion is going to be one where we can talk about our full -- all can vote here in the room. So obviously, we all have our voice to be heard in the elections. Any more questions? Yes, number 4?

Individual shareholder. If I understood you right, we are talking about a potential 400 gigawatts, which may come through at European level. Now with that, that we should have greater independence. We should be able to tap into that energy. We will be able to, therefore, reconcile environmental concerns with energy access on the other, especially for our industrial clients that we can provide them with more cost-effective or more affordable energy. In Europe, I think energy costs 3x more than the United States, for example. So it's a fundamental issue, especially when you have industrial companies wanting to develop their own business because it is a major item when thinking about the future profitability of these companies. Now because you spoke about it, what can Veolia do to help tap into that potential to make sure that people can have low carbon or carbon-free energy, reliable energy, affordable energy so that our countries -- our companies can just be more competitive as a whole?

So 400 gigawatts within Europe, it's a lot. It is roughly 30% of all fossil fuel imports in Europe. So it can't replace everything. It is not going to provide a perfect solution for our energy mix at a national or European level. But it is a significant contribution, predominantly through local energy provision. What does this mean? This means that we are going to be focusing on waste energy coming off the industrial facilities. So production facilities, they produce and emit a lot of heat, heat that is not used. Just take a look at smoke stacks of all sorts of facilities. There are companies out there that produce gas, methane, the exact same sort of methane that we would use or up until 2022, we used to import it by our gas lines. Electricity that we can produce through cogen facilities. When, for example, you incinerate nonrecyclable waste. Obviously, we recycle what we can, but everything that can't be recycled, we burn it, and we can use that to generate electricity. All of this energy, it's electricity, it's heat, we can reuse it. It's fantastic because it ticks all boxes. It's renewable. It makes us more independent from a strategic point of view, not just in France, but in Europe. We don't have to import our energy. But this is a sort of energy which is not just affordable, but it is also energy which comes at a surefooted price. So whenever you plug in an urban heating network into these types of systems, we can guarantee for the next 10, 15 years, an energy bill. So you can say to local inhabitants, this is how much it's going to cost for the next 10 to 15 years. No matter what happens, even if the Strait of Hormuz was to close again, we can guarantee these prices. So this is energy security. No matter what is happening around the world, all of the upheavals that we're talking about. We spoke about this just a second ago. This is fantastic foreseeable future for people. And it's not just for local communities, it's also for industries. It's what we're doing in Dombasle [indiscernible] where we have a [ Solvay ] facility. We're currently replacing what was once a coal-powered facility with nonrecyclable waste incineration. We have plenty of examples out there of what we can already do. So maybe I can tie this back to the previous question about French politics. Now because you seem to have seen this how interesting these sorts of solutions are, I think it's up to us, it's up to you, and it's up to me to go out and convince all of these future political candidates that they need to roll out these types of solutions, again, not just in France, but around the world because this can apply to all countries, especially in Europe.

Thank you very much. Moving on to any more questions. I think there's one more question maybe. No, I can't see any hands. Yes, there is one. Sir, over to you.

I'm just going to stay because I am suffering from [indiscernible] I would have a question about energy savings. I think there's a fantastic example of light bulbs. You replace an all-incandescent bulb with an LED light bulb. While providing the same amount of light, it uses less energy. I think it is absolutely clear that for all of us, 90% of energy is not properly utilized. So with fossil fuels and fossil fuel-powered electricity, we need to take into account the cost of that, especially when faced with a growing military threat, of course. So given the current climate, can you give us some key advice on what can be done. I have seen [indiscernible] students who talk often about the circular economy and there are plenty of examples that they provide that can be used at an individual level.

Sorry, what was your question?

Well, my question is, can -- is it possible? Can we utilize their inputs? And I would just like to say, I think it's fantastic that Emmanuelle Menning is now also in charge of business out in Germany. Congratulations.

If I remember rightly, you attended our shareholder meeting last year. Now I know that you live in Germany, so you've traveled from afar. You are quite clearly a Veolia shareholder because otherwise, you wouldn't be in the room. So thank you so much for making the trip once again to attend this year's shareholder meeting. Now as for your question, Estelle, over to you. Or maybe Emmanuelle, you would like to add something?

Now if I understood your question quite well, I think what's good is that at Veolia, nothing is wasted. Nothing is ever lost. There's no such thing as true waste. Now if ever you feel that there's absolutely nothing you can do with something, we will find a way of using it. Obviously, first and foremost, we want to avoid waste. That means not throwing things out that you find one day and didn't even realize that you still had it and just get rid of it. So we want to reduce waste. Second, we can recycle. And we can do what we call mechanical recycling. So you take bottles of water and we turn that and we use it as water bottles once again. We already have the technology to do that. We have the ability to recycle electric car batteries. Now there are other items where sometimes it costs -- it takes more energy to recycle than it would to either make or costs more to do things using machines. So for example, in the U.K., I love using the example of packets of chips because we see a lot of them and they eat chips a lot. Take a chips packet. Once you get rid of the chips on the inside, you've got multiple layers. You've got metal then another layer on top of that. So you have to pull each of those layers apart, bit by bit to find something that you can then recycle and reuse. For the time being, we -- that's not what we're going to do with that type of waste. So you go through the list of priorities. And that's what we do at Veolia. We go through that list of priorities. And thanks to our innovation, we can get rid of one of those layers of priorities. So in the past, there are certain things that we would have burned because we didn't know what else we could do with it. There are all sorts of mixed plastics. And through innovation, there are plastics which in the past were nonrecyclable, but now they are, maybe in autumn, in [indiscernible]. There's a facility out there where we will be able to recycle all of regular trays that you use for food, like when you buy some meat, it comes in a polystyrene or a plastic type tray, we'll be able to recycle that. In the past, we used to think that the only thing that we could do with it was to burn it to turn it into energy. But now bit by bit, we can take things up a notch where we will have more recycling in our facilities. Emmanuelle, if there's something that you would like to add? Recently appointed in addition to your position as CFO, you're now in charge of Germany.

Thank you so much for traveling all the way up from Pforzheim because it is so good to see you here for the second year running, you're exactly right. Energy is a major issue in Germany. Veolia is currently a unique company out there because a lot of our business is currently tied up in energy businesses. We do a lot of heating network type of contracts throughout Europe. We were one of the first companies to go carbon-free at [indiscernible], going away from coal into gas and biomass, so there are certain things that we can do and roll out elsewhere. We can copy that. But there's a lot that we can do in terms of energy efficiency. I think that's what we're talking about there. But the other main thing that we can do out there is because of our multiple business lines, we can handle different sources of energy and synergize and pull together our experience. We have waste, nonrecyclable waste, different energy sources. And we can tap into all of that because we are at Veolia.

I think if there are no more questions, it's time we move on to our resolutions, just double check, making sure there are no questions out there. I can actually see a hand up, a gentleman at the back. And I think that will be the last because we can move on to the vote for resolutions.

I've got a very short question. For companies like ENGIE and the like, they rather have individual shareholders that after holding those shares for shares for 2 years, they're given additional dividends. It's a way of creating more loyal shareholders. And I think Veolia is the sort of company who could learn from that, maybe copy and adapt, could you implement something of the sort, thereby rewarding those shareholders who are long-term shareholders?

Well, I think Veolia is a much more interesting company than the one you just mentioned. We have greater potential and more long-term potential. And that's why every year, we have new people buying into our share pool.

Do you know who -- do you know how many people -- how many shareholders we have who have been with us for more than 2 years?

Emmanuelle, do you know?

I think over 80% of shareholders have been with us for more than 2 years. So I mean, if you want to give those shareholders an advantage, then you're giving everyone a bit of a benefit, a bonus. Nevertheless, it's an interesting idea, and I'll talk about it with the Board to see if there is something that we can do, whether it would make a real change in having loyal shareholders.

Without further ado, it's time to move on to resolutions. And let us quickly take a look at a short video so you can see how the voting devices here in the room work. [Presentation]

Now that you've watched the video, I will now proceed to put the resolutions to the vote. As a reminder, the resolutions are described in detail in the information and notice of convening brochures distributed in the room. And these documents have been published and made available to shareholders in full compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. I'm going to ask Helman to please introduce the resolutions.

Of course, it will be my pleasure. As our general meeting uses a personalized electronic voting system, I would like to inform you that [indiscernible], present in this room has been appointed to verify the information recorded in the tablets, namely the number of shares and voting rights held or represented by each shareholder in attendance and she will oversee the technical integrity of the voting process and ballot on the resolution. So please press okay to confirm your vote. I'd like to clarify that an abstention is not counted as a vote cast. Before proceeding with the vote, let me confirm the final quorum. Shareholders present or represented or who have voted by mail or online represent and there are 12,668 bring together 563,565,231 shares or 77.04% of the voting rights. We may now proceed with the vote on the resolutions. Resolution 1, approval of the parent company financial statements for fiscal 2025. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution 1 approved. Resolution 2, approval of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2025. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 3, appropriation of net income for fiscal 2025 and the payment of the dividend for fiscal 2025. As the CEO rightly said, the dividend comes to EUR 1.5 and will be paid out starting May 13, 2026. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution 3 carried. Resolution 4, approval of related party agreements and commitments as described in the special report from statutory auditors regarding fiscal 2025 and previous years. As the statutory auditor said, Mr. [indiscernible] related party agreement has been approved or entered into during fiscal 2025. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution number 5, renewal of the term of office of Antoine Frérot as director. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Congratulations. Resolution 6. Renewal of the term of office of Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff as director. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Congratulations, Ms. CEO. Resolution 7, appointment of Jean-Christophe Taret as a Director representing employee shareholders as well as Ms. Sandra Cortese as his alternate. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Congrats, Mr. Taret and Congratulations, Ms. Sandra Cortese. Resolution 8, approval of the compensation paid in respect of the fiscal 2025 award over that same year to Antoine Frérot, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 9, approval of the compensation paid in respect to fiscal 2025 award over that same year to Ms. Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution #10, approval of the information relating to the 2025 compensation of corporate officers, excluding executive corporate officers. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried as well. Resolution # 11, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors for fiscal 2026. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution #12, approval of the compensation policy for the CEO for fiscal 2026. The changes were detailed earlier by the Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Mr. Andriès. Please vote. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution carried. Resolution 13, approval of the compensation policy for directors for the 2026 financial year. Please vote. [Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution is passed. Moving on to Resolution 14. This is the authorization to be renewed for the Board over 18 months to operate on company shares. Unless during a public offer, the absolute price can only go over EUR 44 and buyback cannot go over EUR 1 billion. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has also passed. Moving on now to the 15th resolution. This is a delegation of authority to the Board. We need a qualified majority for this. So this is a delegation of power to the company so that the Board can increase the capital on one or multiple occasions with preferential subscription rights. The upper threshold for share capital increase, again, according to these resolutions 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 is set at 30% of overall share capital. A delegation of competence will be granted for a period of 26 months. For information, authorization granted by the AGM of April 25, 2024, so 2 years ago, was not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution was passed. Resolution 16. Again, this is not applicable in an IPO to increase the share capital without preferential subscription rights with an upper threshold is set at 10% of overall capital. The approval time is for 26 months. And again, in the 2024 AGM, the rights were provided and not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 17, again, not applicable during an IPO. This provides the Board with the power to increase the share capital of the company or another company by issuing shares without preferential subscription rights. Again, this will not go above the threshold of 10% of overall share capital, 26-month approval. In 2024, approval was given, but it was not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. Sorry, I was waiting. I didn't see the results up on the screen, but obviously, I didn't say that voting was over. There we have it. Voting and the resolution has passed. 18th resolution. Once again, not applicable during an IPO, provides the Board with the power to increase company share capital with no subscription right, professional subscription rights reserved for one or more named persons. And this is a new type of resolution for us. This actually comes from the 2024 law known as the [indiscernible] law. Once again, we will not go above 10% of share capital. And unlike the other resolutions, the duration for this is set at 18 months. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. Which is again not applicable during an IPO or public offer period. This is to increase share external growth financed by the sale of shares -- the amount cannot go above 10% of share capital. The time frame is set at 26 months. And again, delegation for the same process granted by the general assembly on April 25, 2024, was not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has been passed. Resolution 20. This is to give the Board the authority when increasing the number of shares with or without preferential subscription rights to introduce option to go above the overall number, 15% of overall initial capital increase. The time frame for this is 26 months. And once again, this authority was given back to the Board in 2024, yet it was not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is over. Resolution has passed. 21st resolution, again, not applicable during public offer, it provides authority to the Board to increase the share capital within a limit of EUR 400 million by tapping into bonuses, reserves, profits or any other sums. This will have an upper threshold as referred to in the 15th resolution. The time period for this is at 26 months. For your information, delegation was provided back in 2024, yet it was not used. Voting is open. [Voting]

Time's up. Resolution has been passed. Resolutions 22 and 23 are part of the company's policy to promote employee shareholdership. You heard from our CEO that as of the 31st of December 2025, the percentage of capital held by employees and foreign employees is set at 9.35% of the company's overall share capital. So for Resolution 22, the aim is to provide the Board with the power to increase the company's share capital by issuing shares and/or transferable securities for members of company savings plans without preferential subscription rights. The upper threshold is for 2% of overall share capital. The duration is for 26 months and would put an end to the previous authorization that was given in the past. In the past, it was provided to the Board on the 24th of April 2025. It was used for a total of 1.52% of overall share capital. And it was followed by a capital reduction for the same amount to offset the dilutionary effect -- the dilutive effect of that. Voting is open. [Voting]

Time is up. Resolution passed. Resolution 23, this is to provide the Board with the power to again increase the share capital so that employees located in countries where for regulatory tax or other reasons cannot tap into the traditional shareholdership program, which was what we had in 2020 in the 22nd resolution. This is so that they can have a similar plan. The upper threshold is 0.6% of overall share capital available for 18 months. And this would put an end to the previous authorization given in 2025. For your information, back in 2025, the power was not utilized. Voting is open. [Voting]

Time is up. Once again, vote passed. Resolution 24, this is for the Board to provide free allocation of shares to employees of the group and to the company's corporate officers, pending performance criteria not to over to supersede 0.35% of overall share capital with sub ceiling of 0.02% of overall share capital for Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff. The vesting period would be for at least 3 years with acquisition rule applied to the CEO and members of the Executive Committee. This is for a 26-month period. Once again, this was a power that was utilized last year. Voting is open. [Voting]

Time is up. Resolution passed. Resolution 25 is to authorize the Board to reduce the share capital once or multiple times with the absolute threshold over 24 months to not exceed 10% of overall share value. Voting is open. [Voting]

The Resolution was adopted. Last and likely the 26th resolution is to provide the Board with the necessary powers to go ahead with any formalities. Voting is open. [Voting]

Time is up. And the Resolution has also passed with flying colors. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no more items on the agenda. We can call today's session adjourned. For anyone who would like to join us, we have food and drinks waiting for you outside the auditorium at the back of the room, and we have started to show you the way there. Thank you all for attending. Thank you, especially for your loyalty, your ongoing support. I wish you all the best for the rest of the day. Thank you very much.