Group CEO and Chairman Paul Hermelin on Capgemini's Full Year 2018 Results

It has been a really good year. Again, we beat the guidance, and we could jointly grow market share, grow more than the market, and improve profitability. So it's a demonstration of the strong positioning of the group in the market, and it's a good base to perform in 2019.

So, first point on the top line: revenue reached 13.2 billion euros. It's a published figure of 5.4%, but actually, if you look at constant currency, all growth reaches 8.1%. This is significantly above the guidance we gave last February, which was 6% to 7%. We raised it twice, and we even could overperform. So very good performance, and that was helped by the very accelerated rotation of the portfolio. The new digital and cloud revenue reaches 45% of total group revenue. This is quite impressive. We were in the low 20s three years ago, so rapid rotation, and we should strive and we will pass the 50% mark next year. Second point: some superb results. Proud of the US where we had solid double-digit growth, notably thanks to some acquisitions, but in the US we overperformed. In France, we outperformed the market, and in Germany, double-digit growth. A very good year indeed. As I said, we could combine that with good margin performance. We now reach 12.1%, which is what we had committed, getting nearer to the long-term objective of 12.5% to 16%. And last but not least, the free cash flow generation is excellent, reaching €1.16 billion, which is again above the guidance. So a very solid year.

So I listened to all news from all regions. The fact is we feel a strong appetite for technology investments. It's driven by the digitization of the economy, driven by cloud adoption—the cloud has become the new norm in technology—and it's also driven by something a little less positive, which are some fears about cybersecurity that lead to additional investment. So three big engines, to which I would add that some clients are concerned about the cost base, and technology is indeed a very strong lever to reduce the cost base and improve cost competitiveness. So that's the driver for what should be another good year.

We had a nice year ago that we have selected two main priorities. We mandated two COOs—one chief operating officer to take care of each of these two priorities. I manage IT, in charge of the go-to-market. We changed the organization a little so that today our account managers addressing one account have to sell and will sell all the group's ammunition, all the group's offerings to the same account, which is a growth driver—very dynamic, close driver. The second COO, Thierry Delaporte, is in charge of accelerating the portfolio rotation. So he has put focus on seven strategic offers, pushed for alliances, and he is certainly behind the strong momentum that we record on all portfolio initially. So that works pretty well. And I will not forget the wonderful energy and dedication of all 210,000 colleagues.

To attract and retain, I will just say being a global firm with a global reach is quite attractive. But what I think personally is that if you task them to deliver demanding work for demanding clients, these are the kind of engagements that build a curriculum, that build a career, and our people are sensitive to that. To which I would add the new energy we have put on our corporate social responsibility: three pillars—sustainability, diversity, and digital inclusion. I'd like to insist on that one because being a digital company pushing for digitization of the economy, we had to take the challenge of bridging the digital gap, the digital divide. So we want to make all our colleagues architects of a positive future by embarking them on many tasks to reduce that gap, to reduce that divide, and they are extremely sensitive to that, extremely motivating, showing a big enthusiasm on that priority. So a very strong 2018.