(AOF) – Orpea announces that Jean Baptiste Roussille has been appointed Director of Investor Relations, with the mission of “structuring and organizing the relationship and dialogue with investors and financial analysts” as well as “supporting the refoundation plan of Orpea with these different audiences. He succeeds Benoît Lesieur, who has held the position since February 2021.
A graduate of a DESS in Finance, Jean Baptiste Roussille had been co-responsible for investor relations at Getlink (Eurotunnel operator) since May 2014. He also served as manager of equity and convertible bond funds at Barclays Asset Management France between 2002 and 2007, then as a “sell side” financial analyst at Société Générale from 2007 to 2014.
AOF – LEARN MORE
Key points
– European number 1 in comprehensive dependency care with more than 120,000 beds and nearly 2,000 establishments in 23 countries, created in 1989;
– Turnover of €4.3 billion, split between France-Benelux for 60%, Central Europe for 26%, Eastern Europe for 9%, the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America ( Brazil, Chile and Uruguay) for 5% then China;
– Value creation model based on an organization adapted to international development in locations with high purchasing power, 50% ownership of real estate (46% in 2021, for a value of 8.2 billion €);
– Split capital (14.5% for the Canadian pension fund CPPIB and 5% for FFP of the Peugeot family), and renewed governance in July with Guillaume Pépy as new chairman of the board of 14 directors, Laurent Guillot being retained as managing director;
– Tense balance sheet with €8.3 billion in debt against €1.1 billion in cash at the end of June, the group having signed a loan agreement accompanied by a program of disposals of real estate assets of €3 billion by the end of 2025.
Challenges
– Development of the 4-point transformation plan: quality of support and resident well-being, strengthening dialogue with stakeholders, ambitious human resources policy and renewed managerial practices;
– Strategy of innovation and anticipation of the management of human frailty:
– Open innovation with 108 projects around health & care, catering & hospitality, construction and processes,
– university research with nearly 30 innovative projects;
– 2023 environmental roadmap:
– 100% of tenders including a CSR assessment,
– 100% of suppliers signatories of the responsible purchasing charter,
– 100% of new constructions certified HQE,
– launch of a green loan;
– Growth reservoir provided by the 26,000 beds under construction (3,000 beds open in 2022);
– Continuation of the rise in the occupancy rate and spin-offs from recruitment and training efforts.
Challenges
– Strong impact of inflation on food and energy consumption, electricity purchases in France not being covered;
– Ongoing strategic review, the accounting consequences of which are not included in the half-year accounts;
– As part of the asset disposal program, questions about the quality of assets, after the impairments in Brazil and Belgium;
– Lack of financial visibility: after a 10.9% increase in revenues and a net loss in the 1st half, expectations for 2022 of a risk of deterioration in the operating margin which would lead to a renegotiation of financial covenants.
Find out more about the “pharmacy” sector
Loss of speed in European research
European research is losing ground to American and Chinese research. In twenty years, Europe’s share has fallen from 41% to 31% in global R&D. China’s share jumped from 1% to 8%. As for the United States, which supplanted Europe, in 2001 it devoted only 2 billion euros per year more than Europe to R&D, whereas now this gap has reached 25 billion! Some experts accuse the European authorities of not having deployed effective policies. The financing of pharmaceutical research should therefore have been better targeted via the “Horizon 2020” programme. France only comes in eighteenth position in European funding despite the quality of its research. Conversely, the United States concentrates funding on Boston and a few centers of excellence.