(Boursier.com) — Schneider Electric camped at the historic peak of 200 euros this Friday, up 1%. After a 2023 turnover of 35.9 billion euros, the group generated a gross margin of 15.012 billion euros. It is up organically by +18.1%, an increase of +200 basis points, with the gross margin rate standing at 41.8% in 2023. The organic improvement in the gross margin rate is due to a strong impact on net prices mainly linked to the carryover effect of price actions carried out in 2022, an improvement in the Systems gross margin and an improvement in industrial productivity, particularly in the second half.
Adjusted EBITA for 2023 reached €6.412 billion, which represents organic growth of +24.5%, while the adjusted EBITA margin increased by +180 basis points organically and reached 17.9% thanks to good levels. volumes and the strong improvement in gross margin, combined with cost control for support functions (SFC) while investing for the future.
Net profit (Group share) amounts to €4.003 billion in 2023 (E3.477 billion in 2022), which represents an increase of +15% compared to 2022, including losses relating to the withdrawal from Russia.
The group generated free cash flow of €4.594 billion, thanks mainly to the performance of the income statement which made it possible to generate a record operating cash flow of €5.529 billion. This includes ‘R&D’ costs of €2.016 billion, up to 5.6% of 2023 turnover.
Solid balance sheet
As of December 31, 2023, Schneider Electric’s net debt stood at €9.367 billion (down from €11.225 billion in December 2022).
The proposed dividend is 3.50 euros per share, up +11% compared to 2022. The Group is maintaining its progressive dividend policy for the 14th consecutive year.
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2024 objectives
The Schneider Electric Group sets its 2024 financial objective, as follows: Organic growth in 2024 adjusted Ebita of between +8% and +12%. This performance would result from organic growth in turnover combined with improvement in margin: organic growth in turnover between +6% and +8%; organic growth in the adjusted Ebita margin of between +40 and +60 basis points.
These performances imply an adjusted Ebita margin of between approximately 18% and 18.2% (including a scope effect including transactions completed to date and currency effects compared to current estimates).
In the longer term, the group sets the following objectives:
– Organic revenue growth between +7% and +10%, CAGR (CAGR) 2023-2027
– Organic increase in adjusted Ebita margin of around +50 basis points, CAGR (CAGR) 2023-2027.
Among the latest broker opinions, JP Morgan is overweighting the file by targeting a price of 220 euros, while Morgan Stanley is at ‘market weighting’ with a cursor raised to 184 euros. Finally, Citigroup is ‘neutral’, but with a target raised from 175 to 200 euros.