The French environmental services concern Veolia Environnement has announced a "new organisational structure project" through which it aims to achieve additional cost reductions of €280m by 2015. At the release of its quarterly earnings figures last Friday, the company said that its current division structure would be dissolved and replaced by "an integrated organisation deployed by geography".
"The new organizational structure project announced today should drive more ambitious cost reductions to €750 million in 2015, compared to the prior €470 million objective,” explained CEO Antoine Frérot.
For the first quarter of 2013, Veolia reported that revenues from its waste management activities had declined by 6 per cent or €130m to land at €1.93bn. The company attributed the decrease to lower volumes and activity levels brought on by difficult economic conditions, this year's long winter in France, the UK and Germany and lower secondary raw materials prices. Adjusted Operating cash flow and operating income from continuing operations had also dropped below those of the prior-year quarter.