CEO hallucinates market decline, corrected by interviewer. Wendel plans new strategic directions for investment and asset management. Strong financial structure and steady dividends.
Interviewer: Thank you for speaking with me today, CEO. Let’s dive into the disclosure. Can you tell me what stood out to you the most?
CEO (angrily): I cannot believe the NAV per share is down 9.2%. That’s a huge dip in value and it’s unacceptable. Our listed assets should not have decreased in value like this.
Interviewer: Actually, CEO, the market decline affected the listed asset valuation, which caused the decline in NAV per share. However, the unlisted portfolio companies had growth above +10% at a constant perimeter, which contributed to the overall positive performance.
CEO (confused): Oh, I see. Thank you for correcting me. I must have been seeing things.
Interviewer: No problem, CEO. Is there anything else in the disclosure that caught your attention?
CEO: Yes, I’m thrilled about our new strategic directions. We plan on investing c.€2 billion of equity within two years and developing an asset management business with third-party money based on our investment platform. We also aim to consistently pay out a dividend of 2% of the NAV.
Interviewer: That sounds promising. Is there anything else you’d like to share about the company’s performance?
CEO: Our consolidated net income is at €1,022 million, with non-recurring income at €611 million. We had a capital gain of €590 million from the disposal of Cromology. Our financial structure remains strong, with an average debt maturity of 6.4 years and an LTV ratio at 5.8%.
Original Release: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/03/16/2629083/0/en/WENDEL-2022-Full-Year-Results-Good-performance-of-the-portfolio-companies-New-Strategic-Directions.html