Aiman Ezzat et Paul Hermelin échangent sur le passé, le présent et l'avenir du Capgemini Groupe

Hello and a very warm welcome to all of you. My name is Louise Eklund and I'm absolutely thrilled to be here today at the head office of Capgemini with Paul Hermelin and Aiman Ezzat. We're going to be talking about the great performance and the progress that was made in 2019 and will be also looking ahead at why this is a singular moment in the history of Capgemini. Hello to both of you, first of all how are you? This is a really remarkable moment. Today marks the beginning of a new governance structure for the group. Mr. Hermelin, can you tell us a little bit more about that to start with?

I imagine that taking the role of CEO is a momentous moment after 20 years of experience in the group. Is that right?

Yes, more than 20 years. Of course it's a very important moment in my career, in my life as you can imagine. First I'd like to thank the older Board of Directors and of course Paul for the confidence they are putting in me in terms of leading the group in the coming years. Paul has marked more than half of the group's history, and stepping behind him is a tremendous honor and also a big challenge, but I'm sure that as chairman he will continue to support me and we will continue to work together. The group is lucky because it is in an industry that is very important today for our economy and also for our society. We have to play a big role in helping to transform and grow the economy, but we also have a big responsibility as a group with digital in the transformation of society, and we have to be careful of its impact on society. This is something we are very conscious of. 2019 was a good year. Let's talk about the performance and the achievements: solid progression on all fronts, growth of 5.3 percent, margin progression for the ninth consecutive year reaching 12.3 percent, so a sign of solid financial health confirmed by record cash collection reaching 1,288 million, and for the future we grew bookings by 11 percent and signed a splendid deal at the end of the year with buyers, showing the ability and the trust clients put in us to transform themselves. So a good year of progression that will help us go further in 2020.

A little bit more complicated obviously. There are a lot of people around the world, businesses around the world have to deal with this crisis. How did you organize things at Capgemini?

The important thing was a very quick reactivity from the group. From day one we put in place a crisis cell involving all the functions and all our businesses across the world to be able to prepare for the crisis and to deal with its evolution. First and foremost, our priority was the security and health of our people, and we have dealt with that in a great way. I'd like to thank everybody for ensuring that and following the group guidelines to make sure our people remain safe and healthy and moved to working from home. The second part, very important, was to ensure business continuity for our clients and to be able to maintain the level of service expected from them at all times. We have been able to achieve that, and I'd like to thank all the talent and all the people in the group for their dedication. Beyond that, we have also done a lot of contribution from a CSR front. Our teams have been involved in projects in a number of countries across the world with governments, NGOs, and other companies to ensure we are able to contribute to society in this very difficult period. I am very proud of what they have done.

I imagine that the crisis called for you to rethink the way you work. It's always strange to think that a period of anxiety has also allowed us to lay a foundation for new models. It's really a disruptive moment for digitization. So working from home, as Aiman just mentioned, but also if you think of online medical care, online retailing, it's a period where we have learned, strangely enough, notably new models of people management because when people work from home you need to support them, you need to be close to them with different models. We have learned how to work through video conferences and all the new technology methods. I think this will probably help push the group a little further. I'm sure the efforts that the teams have made around the world have been considerable.

Yeah, a tremendous effort by the team. First, as I said, people's health and safety was number one, but then the dedication in terms of what people have done to ensure client services has been tremendous. I mean, we had people configuring laptops and delivering them door-to-door for people who are confined to ensure we are able to provide that level of service that our clients expect and to maintain their health and security. But beyond that, it was also how to try to maintain business activity. Our teams continue to work with clients to help find solutions, continue to sell, to expand the level of business we have, providing solutions and value to our clients. It has been absolutely tremendous. I'd like to thank all the dedication of the people of the group for what they have done to ensure that Capgemini remains a great place.

Capgemini is also expanding. At the beginning of April, Altran became part of the group. What new prospects does this acquisition open up?

And it is a real accelerator for the group. Definitely, it's a big operation, a 5 billion euro bet for the group, but it is well positioned. We have carefully thought about our strategy in terms of intelligent industry and how to expand the scope of the group in terms of what we can do for our clients, notably bringing that big convergence between information technology and operations and R&D and engineering to be able to create new opportunities. We are really stepping into a growth industry where there is a lot of demand from clients, and that is important because it's a strategic transformation for our clients around their operations. With Altran, the group is very well armed to take the leadership position in intelligent industry in the future. So for us, it's a tremendous move, with Paul, to be able to take advantage of that and provide a new growth opportunity for the group.

Let's look ahead now. It's difficult to anticipate the future, of course. Can you tell us the principles that will shape your efforts?

Are you feeling confident to face the challenges that 2020 will bring to us?

I'm feeling confident after Paul's words. But really, the last few weeks have revealed the strength of the group. The group has very strong culture, very strong values since its foundation, and in a crisis this really shows up. I'm very proud of what the teams have been doing, and I'm very confident in the talent of this group. This group is made of people, and these people are talented, and that gives me confidence, in addition to a very strong leadership. So with people, with the leadership in the group, with the talent in the group, I am very confident about the future and the fact that we can take Capgemini to new highs.

Thank you very much to both of you. Thank you, thank you.