Nicolas Sarkozy on January 16, 2020. – Kommersant / SIPA
The Lagardère group announced Thursday the cooptation of the former President of the Republic to its supervisory board
Nicolas Sarkozy and the former boss of the SNCF
Guillaume Pepy, on the sidelines of the publication of a net loss of 15 million euros in its 2019 financial year.
The two cooptations, which had been revealed this week in the press, were validated “unanimously” by the supervisory board meeting Thursday morning but “will be submitted to the ratification” of the shareholders at the next general meeting, specifies a group press release.
So that they can now sit on a new strategic committee, of which Guillaume Pepy will take the chairmanship, Xavier de Sarrau, who left the chairmanship of the supervisory board in December, and François David, whose mandate expired in 2020. , have announced their resignation.
Chess game against Amber Capital
In a partnership limited by shares (SCA) like the Lagardère group, the supervisory board supervises the strategy implemented, but has little power vis-à-vis Arnaud Lagardère, general partner and third shareholder in a personal capacity with 7, 33% of the shares, but 10% of the voting rights.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the appointment of Nicolas Sarkozy, intimate of Arnaud Lagardère and very close to Qatar whose sovereign fund is the largest shareholder in the Lagardère group with 13% of the shares and 20% of the voting rights and of Guillaume Pepy , also very involved in economic relations with the State of the Arabian Peninsula, aims to strengthen control over society before the activist fund Amber Capital before the general meeting. Now the second shareholder (10.58%), the latter criticizes the management and the statutes of the group.
Optimism for 2020
Refocused on publishing and distribution in places of transport, the Lagardère group achieved in 2019 a turnover of 7.2 billion euros, an increase of 5%, but 400 million euros lower than the consensus. Bloomberg analysts.
It recorded a net loss of 15 million euros in 2019, attributed in particular to the change in scope, the Lagardère Sports subsidiary, whose sale to the HIG Capital fund was announced in December, resulting in a negative result of 207 million euros. euros. However, non-recurring and non-operational items, adjusted net income amounted to 200 million euros, stable over one year.
The group forecasts for 2020 an increase in its operating profit between 4% and 6% at constant exchange rate, excluding the impact of the coronavirus which will weigh in the first quarter 20 million euros according to its estimate, an amount which it intends to make up for half during the year thanks to cost limitations.
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