We achieved record-breaking net profit while simultaneously reducing our carbon emissions.
Véronique Bédague Yes, despite the prevailing uncertainty, we have the means to embark on a new growth cycle. At the end of 2019, Nexity’s debt stood at just over €900 million. It is now €600 million, thanks to the implementation of our strategic review, growth in operating profit and effective control of the working capital requirement. With a cash position of over one billion euros, Nexity can look ahead with confidence and ambition. This healthy financial structure also allows us to offer our shareholders a dividend that has increased by 25%.
Véronique Bédague The common thread running through our strategy will continue to be how we can best serve our clients. In the months ahead, we will continue scaling up our company culture focused on listening to our clients, and expanding our services platform based on their needs. Nexity is a company that embraces new ideas, and must continue building up its knowledge and opening itself up to the world in order to better understand it. Faced with the climate emergency, we will also quicken the pace of our climate and biodiversity initiatives, with an even more ambitious trajectory. The environment is a core component of Nexity’s business model and an area where we’re truly leading the field. In the current context of materials shortages and high inflation, we have the advantage of our size, as a major buyer, and our foresight: for several years now we have been working on how to reuse materials, optimise construction methods and integrate bio-sourced and carbon-neutral materials into our processes.
The environment is a core component of Nexity’s business model and an area where we’re truly leading the field.
My ambition is therefore to move forward with a growth strategy, and to bring all of our employees on board. Key focal points will be the Group’s sense of community, the meaning we give to our businesses and what makes us feel connected to one another. This focus on our people was reflected in the decision in 2021 to double the amount of the inflation bonus and the Group’s discretionary profit-sharing, in addition to the profit-sharing plans offered by each division. And this notion of connectedness and community within the company is also something we hope to promote on a wider scale throughout society. We will keep on fighting for inclusive cities and social housing, through the Group’s commitments and through the initiatives of Nexity Non Profit and the Nexity Foundation, whose work will shift to focus on women’s and children’s issues. We can’t change the world, but we can make a difference wherever we operate.
