La Bourse et La Vie TV - VRIDIEN - Jérôme Serve

Hello.

For us, the last important point was at the end of March with the refinancing of our billion debt, which was a successful refinancing. There were quite a few doubts about this refinancing in the markets with an overhang on our share price associated with this successful refinancing. And so I think the fact that we raised 475 million euros, 450 million dollars at very acceptable coupons, combined with a credit rating upgrade, meant that some investor concerns were lifted. So this was part of the roadmap we established in early 2024. Now the last point of this roadmap, before starting a new one, is the generation of 100 million in free cash flow this year for the group, which will allow us to continue this deleveraging trajectory we started 18 months ago.

So we are still 90% of our revenues in the O&G market, 10% in our new activities. So 90% very dependent on the CAPEX invested by our clients, the oil companies, and therefore on the price of oil. Today the price of oil is around 60 dollars, so before the crisis in the Middle East. And the question we have from many investors, does this drop in oil impact our activity? Today no. The answer is clear. The companies continue to be very active in exploration, have not cut their CAPEX, have not delayed their investment programs, and we consider that if oil stays in this zone between 60 and 80 as it has been for several months, Viridien is capable of generating 1.1 billion in revenue and achieving this target of 100 million free cash. So for now yes, a lot of uncertainty as for many companies, but for now the business is holding up.

So it has stabilized around 60 dollars for some time. Then, if we look a bit more long term, the fundamentals are positive for us. If you look a few years ago, there was this strong emphasis on the energy transition with potentially the programmed end of the oil industry. I think there is a real realization today that in the future energy mix, O&G has a predominant role to play. That doesn't mean the transition won't happen, but we need to provide energy that is both reliable and affordable for customers, and today only O&G can provide that. And so every day, current reserves are depleting at a fairly steady rate, 10% per year for an oil reserve, and so oil companies need to replenish their reserves, and to replenish their reserves they need exploration, and our group is very well placed to help them optimize the success of their exploration. So for us, the mega trend is a supportive market that will fluctuate a bit day to day with the oil price, but the long-term underlying is very positive.

Yes, so we really have all types of oil clients, from the majors you all know, European, American, through national companies in Saudi, Middle East, Brazil, Indonesia, but also smaller companies, independents that use our services. I remind investors that we are really leaders in these exploration businesses. We provide the highest resolution subsurface images that help in decisions for the development of oil and gas fields.

So last year, we generated about 10% of our revenues, 120 million, on these new activities. They are on three markets. The first is the carbon storage market, which is very adjacent to what we do, using our imaging technology to help with carbon storage. It has been used in the mining industry as well. So that's the first pillar. The second pillar is infrastructure monitoring, monitoring bridges, nuclear plants, railway lines, using the same sensors we manufacture for the O&G exploration industry. These sensors can be placed on these infrastructures and be very useful for monitoring these structures. And the third pillar, which is very specific, is that for these seismic studies, we need enormous computing capacity, high-performance computing, and we are trying to develop outside of O&G with clients in the life sciences, materials science, and even video games, which need these computing capabilities, with an offer that tries to differentiate from hyperscalers like Amazon or Azure, where we are more on a tailor-made solution rather than just renting capacity. So to answer your question, yes, 10% of revenues. Last year we reached the break-even level, and as we grow on these high-growth activities, we will absorb the fixed costs we put in place to grow in these markets, and thus contribute positively to the profitability and cash flow of the group.

We, as I told you in the introduction, the next milestone is to generate these 100 million in free cash in 2025 and then in the following years, and use these 100 million to continue the deleveraging trajectory we started last year. So yes, indeed, we are really very clear on the capital allocation.

Thank you very much.