(AOF) – Vallourec, specialist in premium tubular steel solutions, announces the successful completion of the Vallourec Invest 2023 employee shareholding offer. 5,115 group employees in France, Brazil and the United States have chosen to participate. participate and subscribe to Vallourec shares with a 20% discount and a contribution. This represents almost one in two eligible employees. This offer reflects Vallourec’s desire to involve the group’s employees in the creation of value in recognition of the progress made to date in the deployment of the New Vallourec Plan.
It results in the creation of more than 490,000 new shares (i.e. 0.21% of Vallourec’s capital) and brings the number of shares making up the capital to more than 237 million as of December 13, 2023.
AOF – LEARN MORE
Key points
– Global co-leader, with Tenaris, of the seamless steel tube market (12% market share) and global leader in premium tubular solutions;
– Turnover of €3.4 billion, 95% generated by tubes, with a strong positioning in the oil-gas sector (73%), ahead of industry;
– New economic model in 2 pillars: grouping of production capacities in the 2 Americas, and in Asia and transformation plan towards better competitiveness;
– Non-operable capital due to the presence of the BPI (14.56% of the shares and 14.82% of the voting rights), the employees being 2
th
shareholder (3.03% and 3.30%) Edouard Guinotte, general manager, chairing the board of 9 directors
– Cleaned up balance sheet with equity of €1.7 billion and, at the end of June, cash of €1.5 billion compared to €868 million in net debt.
Challenges
– “New Vallourec” strategy:
– transfer of production sites to North America, South America and Asia and total control of their ownership, only 5 factories being maintained in Europe, including 4 in France,
– improvement of €230 million per year in operating profit,
– total debt reduction in 2025;
– Innovation strategy supported by 5 R&D centers aimed at capitalizing on technological advantage (VAM® threaded connections) and digital solutions distributed to customers via the Smartengo Vallourec.smart platform:
– services and solutions: solutions for energy storage and mobility. grouped under the name Vallourec New Energies and digital solutions within the VAM DATA department,
– industrial market: lightening of cable structures,
– oil and gas: solutions to reduce the total cost of ownership or TCO,
– new energies: solutions for geothermal energy, transport and storage of CO2 and hydrogen with the objective of contributing 10 to 15% to operating income;
– Environmental strategy in 2 stages;
– 2030: 30% reduction compared to 2021 in CO2 emissions for scopes 1 and 2,
– 2035: 35% reduction vs. 2021 in CO2 emissions for the entire value chain;
– Productive quality of the 3 major industrial sites: Youngstone in the United States, hence a competitive advantage for the group favored by the increase in customs duties on steel, VSB in Brazil, and Tianda in China;
– Control of supplies via iron mines and forests, mainly Brazilian for steel processing.
Challenges
– Sensitivity to crude oil and iron ore prices and to the euro versus Brazilian real and dollar parity;
– Completion of the 2 extension projects of the Brazilian iron mine, the finalization of which is expected in 2024 and 2027;
– Strong positive impact of price increases on turnover growth;
– After a 31% jump in sales and a doubling of the operating margin in the 2nd half, 2023 objectives of growth in operating profit between €950 million and €1.1 billion, positive free self-financing and ‘a reduction in debt;
– Return to dividend distribution in 2025, i.e. 85 to 100% of cash generation.
An ecological transition that drives metal prices
The ecological transition is driving demand and causing prices to rise. Lithium prices jumped 100% last year, supported by sales of electric cars. The need for metals such as aluminum, copper, graphite, or nickel is expected to soar by 2050. The war in Ukraine has reinforced the rise in prices because Russia is a major producer of mineral raw materials. , in particular aluminum, palladium, nickel and titanium. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently warned of the risk of shortages of several metals necessary for the energy transition. Europe has mobilized on strategic metals with the objective of strengthening its sovereignty.