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

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

So first point on the top line: revenue we have reached 13.2 billion. It's a published figure of 5.4%, but actually if you look at constant currency, organic growth reaches 8.1%. This is significantly above the guidance we gave in 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 reaches 45% of the 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 a solid double-digit growth, notably helped by some acquisitions, but in the US we overperformed. In France we delivered more than the market grows. 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 for getting nearer to the long-term objective of 12.5 to 13. And last but not least, the cash flow: the free cash flow generation is excellent, reaching 1.16 billion, which is there 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 the 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 a strong driver for what should be another good year.

We had announced a year ago that we have selected two main priorities. We mandated two co-chief operating officers to take care of these two priorities. I managed 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 and start to sell all the group's offerings to the same account, which is a growth driver, very dynamic growth driver. The second chief operating officer, Thierry Delaporte, is in charge of accelerating the portfolio rotation. So he has put some focus on seven strategic offers, he has pushed for alliances, and he is certainly behind the strong momentum that we record on all of the portfolio initiatives. 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 the 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, lots of opportunities ahead, exciting times. We are approaching 2019 with solid optimism.