Arnaud Lagardère uses heavyweights to strengthen its supervisory board. On the occasion of the publication of the group's 2019 results, a press release formalized the arrivals of the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy and the former President of the SNCF Guillaume Pepy in this instance. They replace Messrs Xavier de Sarrau and François David, who have resigned. Nicolas Sarkozy and Guillaume Pepy will both sit on the strategic committee of the group to be created and whose chairmanship will be entrusted to Guillaume Pepy.
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Arnaud Lagardère and Nicolas Sarkozy have never hidden their proximity. "Arnaud is more than a friend, he is a brother" declared the former President in 2005. Today, he comes to support his friend, a general partner in share sponsorship who locks control of the Lagardère group.
This particular structure ensures Arnaud Lagardère's power over the group in which he is also a 7.5% shareholder. This sponsorship is disputed by the activist fund Amber, which now owns 10.5% of the capital of the Lagardère group, making it the second largest shareholder behind Qatar, which owns 13%. Nicolas Sarkozy has long had good relations with the Qatari authorities. And the support of the first shareholder for Arnaud Lagardère's policy is a key element for the control of the General Assembly which should take place next May.
Refocusing of the activity
For three years, Arnaud Lagardère has undertaken to refocus his group around two activities, travel retail (stores in stations and airports) as well as publishing with Hachette Livre. He sold almost all of the media to keep only Europe 1 radio and the newspapers Le JDD and Paris Match. For the 2019 financial year, the group posted revenue growth of 4.5%, to 6.93 billion euros (excluding divested activities), mainly driven by the travel activity. And its operating profit increased by 5.6%, to 361 million euros. The group will propose the payment of an unchanged dividend at 1.30 euros per share.
