7:42 AM on BFM Business and live. Today's major interview is with Florent Menegaux, answering questions from Nathan Cocampo in Andalusia.
Good morning, Florent Menegaux, president of the Michelin group. Thank you for this interview today. First, let's talk a bit about the location. SEMA is where you test specialty tires. So that can be the huge tires used in mines or aircraft tires. 17% of your revenue, it's an ultra-strategic domain for the Michelin group.
Absolutely, because these are products where excellence in innovation and performance is summarized in our products. They involve extreme conditions, either in usage or type of equipment. So these are non-standard machines. An aircraft isn't common, but civil engineering machines are trucks carrying 600 tons of load, agricultural machinery that allows working soil without impacting it. We have several types of technologies that express themselves in these tires under extreme conditions. Sectors growing at about 2 to 3% each, approximately.
Yes, these are sectors because the underlying factors: mining extraction will continue to rise because human development requires more materials. Agriculture will continue to develop because the population keeps growing, and we'll need more agricultural materials in the future, with only weak growth in arable land, so we must increase productivity. For aviation, the need to move is life for humans. So aviation will continue to develop, and our racing activities will also continue to develop because it helps us understand extreme uses and quickly test new technologies.
Regarding the defense sector, you also test tires that will be used on the battlefield. Specifically, do you see an increase in orders? For example, Renault is starting to develop a drone in its factory, a ground drone. Will you equip this drone with Michelin tires? And above all, could you potentially switch to a war economy and produce massively for the French army?
Michelin has already had in its past the need to participate in war economies. So we've done it, and we'll do it again if necessary. Now, in defense activities, Michelin has always been alongside armies that defend, so we are always present and will be at Eurosatory next week. Michelin will be present in many stands because our tires are very useful for allowing our armies and soldiers to go to the battlefield and return safely.
There are many crises now, but we have the impression that the group is doing quite well compared to others. You announced in France a voluntary departure plan for up to 1,500 people, which is quite substantial. How do you explain this decision?
Actually, this voluntary departure plan is over 3 years. It concerns 1,500 positions, but it's classic business activity adapting to different circumstances. Technologies evolve, jobs change, and at certain times, some people aspire to do other things in their professional life. So the combination of all this means we want to offer people who wish to develop another professional future the opportunity to do so under good conditions. That's why we made a voluntary departure plan. There are no forced departures. Indeed, some positions evolve over time. Accounting ten years ago isn't the same as today. You have artificial intelligence, new technologies arriving, so we need to anticipate all this and allow people not to be stuck in professional development.
To what extent does artificial intelligence push you to perhaps re-evaluate your very large workforce in France, 17,000 employees?
At Michelin, artificial intelligence is used to increase individuals' capabilities, not to remove jobs. However, the evolution of jobs isn't solely linked to this AI technology. It's a continuous process that exists. It's technological progress, human progress. It's existed for centuries, since companies exist. So we shouldn't be afraid that jobs change and shift. What we do is accompany all people with training to help them transform and adapt to market transformations and mutations.
A few months ago, you announced the closure of Vannes and Cholet sites, 1,250 employees. We have the impression that it's increasingly difficult for you to keep industry in France. So this question, what is, in your view, France's place in the coming years for the Michelin group? Does it remain a priority?
What I said is that at the time of closing the Vannes and Cholet factories, we were no longer able to export from France, but we are still able to produce in France to serve the French or European market. And that's what we continue to do. We continue to invest. Michelin will have invested 4.5 billion euros in France over the last ten years. France is several thousand jobs. We have nearly 17,000 people employed in France. France is the heart of our research and development. France is also the global headquarters. It's where many activities are born and create other activities. We opened a new factory last year that manufactures a new generation of materials. So we're far from the simple idea that Michelin is leaving France. It's not at all on the agenda and won't be for many years, if ever.
Regarding the replacement of employees from these two sites, can you tell me roughly where you stand?
