(Bureau Veritas, 23.Oct.2024) — France-based Bureau Veritas provided an update of its third-quarter 2024 financial and operations details.
Hinda Gharbi, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“We continued the execution of our LEAP |28 strategy in the third quarter, and we are actively managing our portfolio. We have completed three acquisitions, representing a total cumulative annualized revenue of c. EUR 40mn for the transactions signed this quarter, and of c. EUR 80mn for the total seven acquisitions signed this year. We have also entered into an agreement to sell our food testing business. The transaction strengthens our balance sheet and gives us greater flexibility in implementing our acquisition plans.
In Q3, we maintained a strong growth trajectory with an organic growth of 13.0% driven by the entire portfolio. Year to date this equates to an organic growth of 10.5%.
For the rest of the year and in light of our strong 9 months growth, our robust backlog and our focused operational execution, we are upgrading our 2024 revenue outlook for the second time this year.”
General highlights
— Revenue of EUR 1,547.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, up 8.8% year-on-year and up 13.0% organically,
— Strong organic growth from all businesses compared to the third quarter of 2023: with Industry at +23.8%, Certification at +17.7%, Marine & Offshore at +13.2%, Buildings & Infrastructure at +9.3%, Agri-Food & Commodities at +8.5% and Consumer Products Services at +7.5%,
— Positive scope effect of 0.5% in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting the accelerated pace of acquisitions with multiple bolt-on deals (+1.1% contribution) realized net of disposals (-0.6% contribution),
— Negative currency impact of 4.7%, resulting from the strength of the euro against most currencies.
3Q:24 highlights
— Active management of the portfolio in line with the LEAP | 28 strategy,
— Consistent growth in every region (Americas, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific), outperforming respective underlying markets,
— Growth momentum maintained for sustainability services, both for Transition services and Green Objects,
— An acceleration of the Group’s M&A programs with three transactions signed for a total annualized revenue of c. EUR40mn in line with the LEAP | 28 portfolio strategy: the first one to expand leadership in the B&I stronghold, the second and third ones to create new strongholds in Renewables, and in Sustainability,
— As the Group optimizes value and impact of some of its businesses it has signed an agreement to sell its Food testing business (EUR 133mn in revenue in 2023) to Mérieux NutriSciences for an Enterprise Value of EUR 360mn and net proceeds from disposals of around EUR 290mn. The deal is expected to be broadly neutral on EPS.
2024 outlook upgraded
Based on the 9-month performance, leveraging a healthy and growing sales pipeline and strong underlying market growth, Bureau Veritas now expects to deliver for the full year 2024:
— 9 to 10% organic revenue growth (from “high single-digit” previously);
— Improvement in adjusted operating margin at constant exchange rates;
— Strong cash flow, with a cash conversion2 above 90%.
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MAIN PHOTO CAPTION: Hinda Gharbi, CEO Bureau Veritas. Source: Bureau Veritas
