Mise En Page 1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
In this edition Chairman’s message — Key figures — Focus on… — Site Visits — Cooperation — Did you know? — Shareholder Information — Focus on shareholding — Diary — Contacts November 2006 Letter to shareholders & you Dear Shareholders, To face our strong commercial activity, an active management of human resources ALSTOM has achieved a strong perfor- has been implemented. 1,900 engineers mance during the first half 2006/07. The and managers have been recruited over level of orders registered over the period the Sectors in the past six months, mainly has been remarkably high, up 46%, as we in Asia and in Europe, accompanied with have managed to take advantage of reinforced training programmes. favourable market conditions in power. Sales, at €6.6 billion, increased by 8% The recovery of orders taken in the last compared to the first half of last year, driven years coupled with a record level of orders by the turnover growth in Power Turbo- received during this first semester should ᵬ We expect the Systems / Power Environment (+21%), translate into sales growing by more than reflecting the continuous increase in order 10% over the current fiscal year. The operating margin intake in this Sector over the last semesters. operating margin should continue to The continuing selectivity in contracts, strict improve in the second half of 2006/07 to exceed our management of our costs and improved and we expect it to exceed our previous project execution have contributed to an target of 7% for the full year 2007/08. previous target operating margin of 6.3% in the first half ALSTOM has now decisively entered into a 2006/07, compared to 5.3% during the new phase of profitable growth, that our of 7% for the full same period last year. Net income has fruitful cooperation with Bouygues will increased by 67% thanks to this better support, and which will benefit our operating performance as well as lower shareholders. year 2007/08. restructuring and financial charges. An exceptional level of free cash flow, at €747 million, has been generated as a result of further improvement in working capital, notably on the back of strong commercial activity. This has allowed net debt to significantly reduce over the six months to €611 million. Combined with the increase of equity at more than €2 billion at 30 September 2006, the balance sheet is Patrick Kron getting considerably stronger. Chairman & CEO Key figures Orders at Operating Free cash flow at margin of Net result at €9.7 €227 million billion 6.3% €747 up 67% up 46% million Focus on… ᵬ Focus on a project: Cartagena in Spain ALSTOM is continuing to improve its project management. One good example is the Cartagena power plant in Spain. With three GT26 gas turbines and a power output of 1,200 MW, this is the most important combined cycle power plant in Spain, and it is capable of producing 4% of the country’s electricity. Awarded to ALSTOM in December 2003 project illustrates what good team work can by Gas Natural, this contract represented a achieve. significant challenge; the deadline for the The Cartagena project also demonstrates construction of the power plant was short Gas Natural’s confidence in ALSTOM. (two years) and added to that, space limita- Following several years of commercial tions caused by the physical size of the site. operations at the power plants in San However, after more than three million man Roque and Besos, which are based on hours of work, the teams from the Power GT26 technology, Gas Natural has once Turbo-Systems / Power Environment Sector again relied on the expertise of ALSTOM successfully met this challenge, and the for the turnkey project in Cartagena. power station began operation nine weeks This confidence in ALSTOM was also confir- ahead of schedule. This performance was med last July, with a fourth order for a made possible by the cooperation between combined cycle power plant based on the different entities of the Group and the GT26 technology, to be built in Malaga. ᵬ A new product: the AGV While the TGV celebrates its 25th anniversary, ALSTOM and enable an overall reduction in operating and is already preparing a new generation of high speed maintenance costs. Furthermore the AGV will have the trains; the AGV or ALSTOM Grande Vitesse. This new technology required to achieve a commercial speed project aims at offering a modern transport solution for of 350 km/h, and will be equipped for the new the inter-regional rail links between medium-sized towns. European specifications for interoperability, to enable Unlike the current TGVs, which use locomotives, the it to operate on the different rail networks in Western AGV will be an entirely articulated Europe. and modular train with a distri- Around 100 ALSTOM engineers and technicians have buted traction. been specifically designated to the development of this This new design will increase the project, with contributions from almost 500 employees capacity of the trains to a range overall. The first certification tests should take place at between 280 to 460 passengers, the beginning of 2008. Cooperation ᵬ Commercial cooperation with Bouygues ALSTOM will be in charge of the production and maintenance of ALSTOM and Bouygues have many activities in common, such the CITADIS trams and the infrastructure of the line. as engineering and tramway infrastructures and concessions. Two recent projects in transport and energy illustrate how the two The second example concerns the EPR nuclear power plant to be companies complement each other. A consortium formed by the built in Flamanville (France). For this project, Bouygues will be two groups will build the first tramway in the city of Reims, responsible for the civil works on the site, while ALSTOM will France. Bouygues will be responsible for the civil works, whilst produce the conventional island for the power plant. Site Visits ᵬ ᵬ La Rochelle A responsible September 2006 Around 50 shareholders visited the Transport site in Aytré, La Rochelle. company They were able to observe the TGV Duplex and the CITADIS tramway assembly lines. FOCUS ON SECURITY In less than one year, the programme “Site IN THE WORKPLACE Focus on Safety” has encouraged new For many years, ALSTOM has operated a behavioural practices, which have contribu- voluntary policy aimed at improving safety ted to the accident frequency rate in the ᵬ Valenciennes in the workplace. In September 2005, Group falling by 27% over the year April 2006 Patrick Kron launched a programme called 2005/06. The objective is to further reduce “Site Focus on Safety.” The objective was to the number of accidents in the workplace A group of 25 shareholders were significantly reduce the number of work- by 15% over the next three years. taken on a tour of the Transport site in Valenciennes where metros, regional place accidents in the Group. FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL trains and double deck inter-urban trains are manufactured. Ten pilot schemes were put in place; at each RESPONSIBILITY site, a diagnosis was made by the site Environmental responsibility for ALSTOM is, above all, linked with the nature of its general manager and the site safety mana- ᵬ Belfort ger together with the help of an experien- products and activities. We are aware that ced manager from the Group. Using this 30% of greenhouse gases come from power January 2006 diagnosis and according to the types and generation and that these gases contribute Around 50 shareholders were invi- causes of the accidents observed, an action to global warming. It is, therefore, funda- ted to see the site in Belfort, which plan was developed for each site, which is mental that the R&D within the Group focuses produces steam turbines, generators, regularly monitored. on improving the efficiency of power stations: magnets and superconductors, in addi- to produce the same quantity of energy with tion to TGV motor coaches and freight less fuel and by doing so, reduce emissions locomotives. of greenhouse gases. The Group is also actively working towards capturing pollu- 13 tants, most notably carbon dioxide (CO2), 12 11.2 to reduce them to a minimum. ALSTOM is 11 10.9 11.0 10.3 10 10.7 9.7 very much involved in the European 10.1 9.3 8.6 9 9.5 8.2 9.0 Community’s projects on these subjects and 8 8.4 7 has an objective to produce “zero emission” mar apr mayjune july aug sept oct nov dec jan feb mar 2005 2006 power plants by 2015. Did you know? ᵬ ALSTOM will build a pilot plant to test its CO2 capture process. ᵬ Congratulations to Virgin for their record- The plant will be located in the US and breaking run from Glasgow to London. used in collaboration with the Electric On 22 September, Virgin Trains’ Pendolino train, Power Research Institute (EPRI) and manufactured by ALSTOM, travelled the 645 km the American utility,We Energies. which separates the two cities, in 3 hours and 55 minutes. The previous record stood at 4 hours and 14 minutes. Diary Shareholder Information ᵬ • ORDERS AND SALES FOR What the analysts think… THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF THE FISCAL YEAR The opinion of analysts on ALSTOM 2006/07 is mostly favourable. 55% of analysts 18 January 2007 Share price (Base 100) who follow ALSTOM’s share price give a positive recommendation, 25% have 220 • ANNUAL RESULTS FOR ALSTOM a neutral recommendation and 20% a 200 negative one. According to a study publi- THE FISCAL YEAR 2006/07 CAC 40 14 May 2007 180 shed in September by Crédit Suisse, ALSTOM offers the best growth profile in 160 its sector, not only in terms of growth rate 140 but equally in terms of the visibility of its • ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 120 activity profile.