Veolia, in the midst of the battle to acquire its rival Suez, saw its net profit fall by 86% to 89 million euros in 2020 under the effect of the health crisis in particular, but was optimistic Thursday for 2021. The figure business fell by 4.3% to 26 billion, penalized by the Covid-19 crisis.
"
From the third quarter, the group's activity returned to its level of 2019, a trend which was amplified in the fourth quarter
", and Veolia "
should therefore record in 2021 better performances than those of 2019
", assured the CEO of the services group. to the environment, Antoine Frérot in a press release.
Read also: Suez loses a legal battle against Veolia
For this year, the champion of water and waste thus forecasts a turnover exceeding the level of 2019 and a gross operating surplus (EBITDA) of over 4 billion, i.e. a growth of more than 10% compared to to 2020. Regarding the dividend paid to shareholders, Veolia has an “
objective of returning to the pre-crisis distribution policy
”.
Veolia launched on February 8 a hostile takeover bid for the 70.1% of the capital of Suez that it does not yet own, for a total of 7.9 billion euros.
Since October, the group has already held 29.9% of the capital of its competitor, sold by Engie.
Discussions with Suez management "
have not resumed since we submitted our offer,
" said Antoine Frérot during a conference call with journalists, while reiterating that he was ready to present his project to the board of directors. of its target.
"
This project is progressing exactly as we had wished
", he assured.
“
We have lifted and have been lifting in an accelerated fashion over the past month all the legal obstacles that had been raised in the way of this project.
The management and the unions of Suez oppose the merger project, which they believe is synonymous with social and industrial destruction.
The battle between the two groups has been going on since last summer and is punctuated by numerous appeals before the courts.