The French environmental services concern Veolia was able to increase both revenue and profits in 2018. Its "solid and continuously profitable growth" had continued, said CEO Antoine Frérot at the presentation of the concern's financial report in Paris on Thursday. "All of the figures are excellent," said CFO Claude Laruelle.
Veolia's consolidated revenue reached €25.9bn last year. Worldwide, waste management activities brought in €9.6bn, and organic growth of 5 per cent. On its home market of France, Veolia posted revenues from its waste division of €2.6bn, up 3 per cent at constant scope on the back of growth in waste volumes for incineration, sorting/recycling and landfill. For Northern Europe, including Germany, revenue from this business area stood at €1.4bn. According to Veolia, good integration of tuck-in ac-quisitions made in 2017 was among the factors contributing to the revenue growth of 17 per cent at constant currency achieved in the region. The unfavourable developments in recovered paper prices, which mainly affected the French and German operations, had been offset to some degree by good activity levels in plastics recycling.
Veolia does not release earnings figures for individual business areas. Consolidated earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) improved by 7 per cent year-over-year to €1.6bn. The net income group share rose to €439m and with that lay 10 per cent above the prior-year figure.
