Good morning. Good morning to one and all, and thank you for joining us in person here in the room. Thank you for those of you who are following us online. This is the combined annual general meeting of Accor to talk to you about the results of 2024. We'll also be talking about the present and the future. Before beginning with the formalities, we're going to show you a short video. This is a review of the last 12 months. I hope you enjoy this video, please.
Artists, empowered by their talent, 2024 took us on an extraordinary journey. As a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we celebrated our shared values of excellence, care, respect, and responsibility to welcome the world. As we came together for milestone anniversaries, we drew on our storied heritage to craft a daring vision for our future. Through unwavering creativity and passion, creating new connections and crafting unforgettable experiences. Throughout the year, fueled by our pioneering spirit, we continued to reimagine hospitality, opening the doors of unique places, launching bold concepts, enriching our portfolio, introducing innovative experiences, and establishing new standards. We pursued new ways to enhance our operational excellence while pushing the boundaries of what it means to travel and to welcome, creating places that inspire and connect.
These bridges we built every day between people, communities, and cultures have become the meaningful and inspiring stories we share with the world. Our values were imparted in the wealth of partnerships we forged, helping bring to life our responsible approach to hospitality as we strive to shape a more sustainable future. In every dimension of this journey, our Heartists embodied this vision, our vision of the art of hospitality.
Apologies, it's a little fast, but it certainly has pace and rhythm. I'll be dwelling on this in my presentation later on, as will Martine when she talks about the financial results. Of course, we'll have plenty of opportunities during the Q&A session. I'm sure you'll have ample opportunity to raise some of the points you saw in the video. Let me begin by asking Besma to begin with the legal formalities and to walk us through what's going to happen in the next few hours.
Thank you, Sébastien. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning and welcome to this combined general meeting. I'm going to begin with the legal formalities, beginning with the bureau which will be comprised of Sébastien Bazin, who will chair the AGM, Hugo Arzani, representing Qatar Investment Authority, and Tariq Malas, representing Kingdom Hotels Europe Limited.
Monsieur Arzani and Fontane will be today's tellers. They represent either by voting on themselves or the number of votes they have. They are accepted to act as tellers. I will be acting as secretary for today's AGM. As every year, this AGM will be webcast. It will also be available on replay on our website. As Sébastien said, the bureau will devote the last 30 minutes of today's AGM to a Q&A session and to questions submitted by shareholders before the AGM, as well as questions arriving directly via a platform available for those of you following the webcast. A notice of meeting was published in due course, respectively, on the 16th of April and 7th of May 2025. Notice of meeting was also published in a legal gazette on the 7th of May 2025.
On the desk here, we have at your disposal all the documents and reports put before today's AGM or provided for by law. Insofar as they have been at the disposal of shareholders before the general meeting, we propose that we dispense the bureau from reading them. Documents that shareholders were entitled to have also been at your disposal at the head office of the company or sent to shareholders who request them. They are also available on the desk here. As for the attendance sheet, it is currently being counted, but we know as of now that over a quarter of the shares comprising the share capital are represented, as a result of which today's AGM can truly conduct its business. I also propose that we dispense the bureau from reading the full agenda because you have already been sent this agenda.
In a few seconds, I'll be talking to you about the resolutions put before you for approval. I should clarify that there have been no additional resolutions submitted for approval for today's agenda. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Besma. I'm now going to give the floor to our Chief Financial Officer, the lovely Martine Gerow, if you would please take us through the accounts.
Good morning. Thank you, Sébastien. Good morning to one and all. I am very pleased to comment at the group's performance in 2024. Let's begin with the main highlights after a sharp pickup in 2023. 2024 once again saw solid growth, solid growth of our sales and income. Very solid RevPAR in the fourth quarter of 2024 was up 5.8% on a like-for-like basis, again by comparison with the fourth quarter of 2023. That was higher than anticipated.
Over the year, growth was also very strong, resilient, with annual RevPAR growth of 5.7%, which is higher than the guidance we gave of between 4% and 5%. Our network of hotels also expanded by 3.5% in line with the guidance of between 3% and 4% for 2024. This is an increase of one percentage point by comparison with the growth of the network in 2023. Our portfolio of hotels has expanded once again. The pipeline increased by 3.8% in volume, with a value increase that reached a record level. Strong dynamics led once again to good financial performance. The group's revenue rose to EUR 5.6 billion, up 11% on fiscal 2023. The revenue of managed and franchised hotels, M&F as we call them, was up 7% to EUR 1.39 billion. The margin also increased. Recurring EBIT rose to EUR 1.12 billion.
The operating margin of M&F also rose by one percentage point. The group's recurring free cash flow was up 3% to EUR 614 million. That is the equivalent of a cash conversion rate of 55% of recurring EBIT. Pre-tax profits of EUR 850 million was up 25% thanks to the big improvement in entities accountable with the equity method. Substantial capital gains on the disposals of Accor Invest in the income tax also increased quite substantially because of the tax basis and the taxes we activated. This has led the net result to decline by 4% at EUR 610 million. Diluted earnings per share rose 5% thanks to the share buyback program. In 2024, we continued to reinforce the group's balance sheet by means of several transactions summed up on this slide.
This enabled us to extend the average maturity of our debt with an average cost of debt stable at 2.5%. As you can see on the right-hand side, the return to shareholders has remained high within 2024, an annual return of 7.5%, 3.1% in the form of dividend and 4.4% in the form of share buybacks. That is a total of EUR 686 million return to shareholders in 2024. As in 2023, we achieved and even exceeded our guidance for 2024. Our results were in line with the guidance we gave at the investor day in June, and in the case of M&A, we were at the top end of the bracket. We were also confident about our ability to maintain, sustain strong dynamics in the medium term and to reach the guidance given at the investor day that are now summed up here on the right-hand column.
I now propose to review the main highlights of the first quarter of 2025. Revenue rose, as you can see, in a macroeconomic and geopolitical context that was somewhat turbulent. We continued our growth dynamics thanks to the diversification of our portfolio, both in terms of segment and in terms of geography. Sébastien will tell you more about that. RevPAR in the first quarter rose 5% once again on a like-for-like basis. That is over the first quarter of 2024. Growth is still strong. The network expanded by 2.7% over a sliding 12 months, and the pipeline grew by 4.9%, accelerating once again. This is on a sliding 12-month basis. These two growth levers have enabled Accor to post revenue growth of 9.2% in the first quarter of this year.
We are also strengthening our position in buoyant markets with acquisitions in Mexico, with the group with 3,200 rooms, Mexico being the fifth biggest tourist market in the world, but also a top-rate partnership in India, another market with very high growth both internally and internationally. We also benefited from conducive market rates early in the year to make a bond issue, HU bond issue for EUR 600 million. Finally, we completed the first share buyback tranche for EUR 200 million, ending on the 28th of May last year. If we now look at our performance by region and by division, now RevPAR for the two divisions is up. Stronger growth may be in luxury and lifestyle, which is less sensitive to the economic situation. Premium, mid-scale, and economy increased its RevPAR by 3.4%, largely thanks to a price component, with contrasting performance by region.
Europe, as you can see, posted weaker growth, particularly in northern Europe. The calendar effect was not as good or as beneficial in France, and trade fairs were not as favorable in Germany. That said, in April, that's the start of the second quarter, we found that the growth dynamics are stronger in Europe than in the first quarter. Middle East and APAC up 4.6% despite the weakening of demand in China. If we factor China out, the Middle East and Pacific Asia region would have risen 8%. The Americas continued to post double-digit growth, as was the case in the fourth quarter of 2024. As for luxury and lifestyle, RevPAR grew by 8.3%, driven by prices and occupancy rates, with good dynamics in both segments, namely luxury and lifestyle.
The combination of good performance and the keeping of our promises, that combination is in evidence in our share price, which since this time last year, the 31st of May last year, has risen by 17%. The share price up 17% after a growth of 24% announced at our last AGM. As you can see, the CAC 40 dropped 2% over the same period. Now, in pursuance of our dividend payout policy, which is to pay out 50% of the group's recurring cash flow, we will be proposing for 2025 a payout in respect of 2024, the payout of a dividend of EUR 1.26 per share. That's up 7% off last year. Let me now give the floor back to Sébastien. Martine.
Thank you. Thanks, Martine. Let's take a higher view of things.
Not that it was not the case previously, but let's extricate ourselves from the numbers. Okay, we have seen this slide every year, and what you saw is actually what is on left. The key figure was 1 ,4 59,000,000 l international travelers just prior to COVID. Colossal number that is normally growing between 2% and 5% per annum. That has been the case for 30 years. You saw the sharp drop of 1 billion in visitors for reasons known. We know that by the end of the year, hopefully by the end of summer, three months ahead of time, we will come back to 1.5 billion international travelers to grow far more. Why? Our industry is pretty simple to read. In fact, it is not that difficult to predict. We were able to answer the question, why are we this industry? The answer is that we depend on three growth drivers.
As long as the three growth engines are firing on all cylinders, we have no worries about the industry itself. We have to ask ourselves questions about what geography with what organization. The three growth drivers are the following. The first, fairly simple to remember, have we or not within the global population, growth of that population year after year. The number yesterday were not far from 8.3 billion people on this planet over the next 5 years-10 years will continue to grow in terms of global demographics. Second number, within that global population, do we have or not a growth of what we call the middle-class people who've acquired through their job, their skills enough to put money aside to travel? Answer is obviously yes, and it varies according to the geographies. It's very strong, notably in India. More about that later.
The third growth driver, do we have means of transportation? Are they growing? Are they more efficient year after year? We're talking about airlines, airports, trains, or cars. The answer is an obvious yes. Going forward, we'll see a growth in the number of travelers. Number of travelers, most important, domestic, 80% of hotels worldwide filled with people who live less than two, three hours away. 20% international travelers will have growth between 3% and 5%, more likely. It won't be uniform, but worldwide. Second question, since we know the industry is fairing well, what geography need we accentuate or present? Here you have something broadly dissimilar on the right-hand chart that we didn't have previously. You see the region growing the most in terms of level versus 2019 is Middle East. Why? It's a nascent destination. Clear-sighted governments have the wherewithal.
It's growing strongly, be it Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or in the UAE. Africa is growing well, notably North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa is beginning to build airports and benefiting the economic situation. Europe is almost in the dry dock, but be careful. Northern Europe between minus 1 and zero, not the case in Southern Europe, faring well. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal. America's - 3%. We should be able to return to positive growth over the next 12 months. Strong growth in Latin versus North America. ASPAC, it's a bit deceptive here. I should have made this one clear. It's above all China that's on the decline. Other ASPAC countries, notably Indonesia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, faring very well. That's broadly the picture. Who are we? Where is Accor? Sorry, this is a very crowded chart, very much an eye chart by region. Five, six regions in this slide.
We've separated China from ASPAC deliberately. First line, which, in fact, what's our current situation? That's to say number of hotels or number of rooms, and the fee is actually revenue. See that U.S., North America only represent 4% of Accor rooms. It's very little. Having said that, they represent 12% of Accor group revenue. Shows that the American business model, no surprise, our American peers are faring well. The RevPAR is highest. You see the pipeline, what we're currently signing and developing is in proportion with, unfortunately, what we've done. It's actually only 3%. I'd like us to grow faster, but it's the most competitive market where you have five American players dominating 80% of the market. Latin America, not hugely important for the group, even if being leader for a long time. We have 5% of revenue, 3% of future revenue.
What we need to look at closely here are the three geographies on the right. You see that China, 14% of the current pipe will move to a quarter going forward. That's where we're opening a quarter of hotels going forward. ASPAC, 21, that'll grow to 28. Middle East, 11%, 30% of the pipe. When you add up the three hotel opening numbers over the next 66% of hotels over the next three years to be open will be in China, ASPAC, or Middle East. That's good news. That's where growth is the strongest. That's where Accor's focused the bulk of its efforts for 10 years now. We're not going to leave aside Europe, Africa. We'll continue a quarter of hotels, 26% will be in Europe and North Africa.
We also want to show you a few shots, not necessarily the most iconic, but those are the ones we wanted to show you. You got the Agadir Sofitel, you got the Benin Cotonou Sofitel, great hotel, the Sofitel Raffles Luxury and Lifestyle, Mama Shelter in Nice. Go there this weekend. 24 Hours Hockey, Copenhagen, a new hotel signed a few months ago in Long Beach, LA. A new Fairmont, wonderful building dating back to the 1920s. For PME, premium, mid-scale economy, you've got Handwritten. That's a new collection brand. It's a soft brand, a brand that we can stick on existing hotels to be distributed by Accor and have Handwritten, a fine name devised. I think Maud came up with that. Swissôtel, Slovakia, you've got the Grand Mercure in China. Ibis Styles, Australia. You've got another Handwritten in Indonesia on the beach and Novotel in the Congo.
You saw in the video, but unfortunately, it was very fast. We opened almost 300 new hotels in 2024. There's just a dozen here, the 300. We'll probably open more, further 300 hotels in 2025 and an additional 326. That's the famous pipeline I mentioned three minutes ago. Now, you may not have seen this coming into the building this morning. I hope you didn't miss the flowers. There's a florist here, been here for some months. For those of you who are so kind to use their device, when you hand in your device, you'll receive a bunch of roses. Above the florist, there's a sentence in red or yellow, depending on the color of day, which really is the purpose of the group, the purpose, the raison d'être, what brings us together really is to understand and to ask ourselves a simple question.
We're present in 120 countries, close on 360,000 employees. We do a service business to welcome and look after others and differing cultures, different countries with different brands. We asked ourselves a question, what do we have in common? This sentence is the result of 56,000 inputs sent in by people who wanted to express what they felt about belonging to the groups. I'm going to read it slowly on the next slide. Pioneer, artisans of responsible hospitality. We promote dialogue between cultures with passion and generosity. Every word counts. That's why we have rolled it out in four pillars. Firstly, art of hospitality. We remain an artisan. It's a job that changes every day, where we improve every day. Number of unexpected things can happen, about 50 unexpected events that we need to address.
The art of hospitality, the sentence below, I've got to pick four out of eight. Engagement is the first in which we ask our 360,000 artisans to draw on their personality, their creativity, curiosity, and to ask without having to answer a question, without referring to anyone, to a customer who wants the service. Very important to empower our people and want to be empowered. Secondly, responsible hospitality. There's a paradox in what we do is that we know each and every time we open a hotel in the group, we have an energy footprint. We're going to consume electricity, water, many other things besides, very often in places where they're short of electricity, water, and other essentials. The second sentence here is that we strive to make every day a contribution to society and the environment. Simple to write, more difficult to deliver.
Before we open a hotel somewhere deprived of a few resources, how are we sure that the local community will want to welcome us with passion because we give them far more than we take from them? If we take something from them, we're going to take as little as possible and erase it by going net zero. I'll tell you how we're going to measure all that. Dialogue between cultures, strong commitment. Every day we strive to promote interculturality. I think that's the way it's written. Never mind. This idea of accepting a different language, accepting different privileges, education, and so the more these cultures interact, the better they get to know one another. Personally, I think it's probably the best medicine against all the wars if we could meet and listen to one another.
Passion and generosity, this question of equity, equal opportunities, hugely important, especially in a group, as you'll see in a moment, is hiring many people per year. Social, environmental goals. First thing to be done, I mentioned water earlier. Are we capable of measuring it? Once you can measure it, can we reduce the intensity of consumption? We pledged to find 80% of our hotels in the world must have a measure that we can track over time. We reached 92% last year. Wasn't easy because in many countries, there are no water meters. Secondly, franchise hotels were a bit further away. We plan to impose only 50% of our franchised hotels have to have the same metrics. We managed to get over a two-thirds, 60%, eco-certified criteria imposed by global and European organizations. Here again, the target was 30%.
We're at 36%, and we'll go far further to be north of 80% of all our hotels worldwide. Have to have this hallmark of eco-certification, a prime important for the younger generation. 70% of youngsters below the age of 30, when they pick a hotel destination, they'll look at the specific commitments of the hotel in terms of environment and social diversity, inclusion. The target was 39% of male-female diversity. We're close with all decisions. I think we'll go well beyond 39%. Heartist culture. This word was introduced, what, eight, nine years back. It's the contraction of two English words. The first is the heart, and the second is to be an artist. We conflated the two words to become heartist. We have 360,000 people worldwide working under an Accor Hotel banner. That's colossal.
What's even more striking is that we need to hire over 110,000 new people a year. Why? Because 20% of our existing people leave because they want to do another job, maybe another brand, or at least to recover their freedom. That's about 72,000 people to be hired. Since we're opening 300 hotels a year, we need an additional 50,000 for the hotels. You add the two, you're close to 111,000. What's great about this ability to attract talent is that two-thirds of these people, and it's better done than said. Two-thirds haven't had the privilege that I've had and therefore never had this opportunity to have a secondary education, and very few have completed their higher education. Two-thirds have never worked before. So it's a school of life, and we hire every year 70,000-80,000 people who've never worked before and have a robust educational baggage.
That's why many of them tend to leave after three, four, five years because they've got the self-confidence, the self-belief to move to more adventures. 80% of heartists undergo training, if only to offset their educational shortcomings. To put all that in place, we're one of the biggest partners worldwide for schools and universities with 250 partnerships across countries. Now, once we've defined who we are, what our purpose is, that we can reach out to a number of people while we look at what we can do. We are privileged to have a job who are in the Accor environment. We put in place a year ago with the Social Care and Impact team and Sophie Bérault, we put in place a volunteering program to all our people.
Can you give us, give us, donate an hour, a day, four days of your time to programs, volunteer programs that you'll contribute to, share who you are and what you've learned with your close friends and relatives on two themes. We tried to be as focused as possible. One's quite legitimate is social mobility, and the second one is shelter and protection, especially for youngsters and women. We put a platform to guide everyone. We need to supply some information. After barely a few months, we already have 70% heartists and 30% of hotel owners who've pledged to sign up to be available on the platform. The initial results, as you've seen in the head offices, Paris, London, Germany, 53% of employees signed up in the main global capitals listed here. Those who've done it, 97% are absolutely delighted, which leads me to believe they'll return year after year.
What has surprised me and what pleases me no end is the diversity of missions. 1,800 missions available worldwide on the platform with 360 different associations too. You can understand how it works. You go on the Accor website, single click, you can pick your topic, your social mobility, shelter, protection, other associations or initiatives. That is what was put in place. Congratulate all those who contributed to this effort to define the program. Let me tell you that it is probably one of the differentiating factors versus our peers. Accor is recognized, especially since COVID. As you know, thanks to you all, we are able to set up a fund, an endowment fund with the Heartist Foundation. We are able to donate to 180,000 people worldwide, over EUR 37 million, people for want of food, access to healthcare. We are able to have that over the past four or five years.
Accor's recognized probably the only group, the group in which the human factor makes a difference and acceptance of various cultures and privilege. That's what I wish to say. Back to Besma, who's going to talk to you about governance.
Merci, Sébastien. Thank you, Sébastien. We're going to begin with the composition of the board of directors. In 2024, the board was comprised of 13 directors, including two ladies representing the employees. That's 64% of independent directors, and 55% of the directors were women. The self-representatives being factored out of this calculation. This year we'll be asking you to re-elect Asma Abdulrahman Al-Khulaifi, Hugo Arzani, Hélène Auriol-Poitiers, Conguer Tiong, Nicolas Sarkozy, Isabelle Simon, and Sarmazok.
Just to remind you, the board, as on the recommendation of the Nominations and Compensation Committee, has decided to appoint Isabelle Simon as Lead Independent Director to replace Iris Knobloch, counting from today's Annual General Meeting and subject to her re-election by the shareholders. You're also being asked to re-elect Sébastien Bazin. His term of office was to end in next year's AGM. Finally, the board of directors has decided to ask you to elect Catherine Fleming as an independent director. As Catherine Fleming can't attend today, she'd still wanted to speak to you by video.
Good morning, everybody. My name is Catherine Elizabeth Fleming, and I am Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the J. Paul Getty Trust based in Los Angeles. This is quite a huge institution that supports the world of art.
We have two museums, a research center, a preservation center, and a foundation. By way of my work, I am constantly traveling. I live in New York, between New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Athens. What that means is that I live either in a hotel or in a plane. I love everything that has to do with the world of art, culture, the human imagination, and the future. I really apologize for being unable to be with you today, but I hope that with this short video, you will have the opportunity to know a little bit more about me. Thank you.
I'd like to add a word or two to what Catherine has just said. Catherine was in Los Angeles, but wanted to say these few words in French. Catherine Fleming is quite an extraordinary woman.
She has a tribal nationality, American, as you can hear from her accent. She's also British and Greek. She has spent part of her childhood in Greece. She has a number of PhDs and other university qualifications from Berkeley and elsewhere. She was dean of one of the largest universities in New York between 2016 and 2022, managing a budget of $6 billion in New York. She was asked to join J. Paul Getty Trust, which is probably the biggest trust in the world in the field of art, the Arts Foundation, with a presence in 120 countries, 1,400 people, $9 billion. This is the foundation that supports innovation in research and culture in a lot of underprivileged countries. She told us that she would be delighted to join a European board of directors, particularly as we are involved with the underprivileged.
If this can help, particularly as far as we have a good understanding of the future. In innovation and research, she's very much an expert in artificial intelligence. But her triple nationality, her role as an academic, her knowledge of Southern Europe, her access to the world of art, are such that in the very near future, possibly 50% of the people traveling in our hotels will be seeking experiences. The experience is very often the reason people come back. It is absolutely essential to have somebody with an international culture, with a good understanding of the world, who having traveled extensively and who accepts to put her knowledge, experience at our disposal, the fact that she speaks at least four languages. I think you'll be surprised by how energetic she is because she is in Paris three to four days a month.
You'll see her alongside us, and we hope she will be very present at our board meeting. We are very, very happy that she chose Accor over quite a number of other companies that would have been delighted to have her.
Thank you, Sébastien. After today's AGM, and subject to the approval of the resolution, the number of directors will have been increased to 14, including two ladies representing employees. The proportion of independent directors will be 58%, and the same for the proportion of women. I propose now to move on to talk about the board's committees. First of all, the board itself. In 2024, the board met 12 times. The attendance rate was an average of 88%.
At the board meetings, the board in particular authorized the partial contribution of assets from luxury to our subsidiary, Accor Luxury and Lifestyle SAS, that you approved on our last AGM. We also set up a process for the dry-up and asked information on sustainability and authorized the buyback of a block of shares from a minority shareholder. Now, as you know, the board has five specialized committees. First of all, audit, compliance, and risks, which met four times an average attendance rate of 58%. In particular, this committee prepared the board of directors' work in examining the annual and half-yearly accounts, but also the sustainability report, the materiality, and the whole analysis of information on sustainability. Also, the measures taken by the company in the field of cybersecurity and personal data protection.
The commitments committee, which were open to all directors, met twice in 2024 with an attendance rate of 75%. This committee examined the various proposals in the field of acquisitions and disposals. The international strategy committee discussed geopolitical international issues and their impact on the group's activities. The attendance rate was 100%. The ESG committee met four times in 2024. The average attendance rate was 88%. This committee examined and recommended CSR objectives and the annual variable and long-term compensation of the CEO. It also examined the sustainability report and discussed the group's CSR strategy. Finally, the nominations and compensation committee, which met three times in 2024 with an average attendance rate of 95%. Let me now give the floor to Bruno Pavlovsky, the chair of the nominations and compensation committee, to report to you on the work of his committee.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning.
Thank you, Besma. I'm very happy to be here again this year to talk to you about the work of the Nominations and Compensation Committee, as well as the compensation of the executive directors. In 2024, the Nominations and Compensation Committee examined in particular the criteria governing independence of directors. It discussed the gender mixity policy. It also discussed talent management. It reviewed the results and the working of the board and its committees and proposed a plan of action. The committee also examined the composition of your board and recommended the appointment of an independent director, Catherine Fleming, that we've just heard, whom we've just heard from, and the early renewal of Sébastien Bazin as Chair of your group.
The committee would like to underline the excellent strategic work carried out by Sébastien Bazin, which changed the group in depth and also requested that the roadmap for the period 2023-2027 be approved. Thank you for helping us with these very ambitious objectives. Concerning the compensation of the executive directors, you're being asked to vote, as every year, on the information concerning compensation and advantages paid or attributed to the executive directors for the year just ended, but also more specifically, the compensation and advantages or benefits paid for this same period for our Chairman and CEO, Sébastien Bazin. This is what we call the CEO pay ex post. Concerning the directors, for 2024, an amount of EUR 1,365,862 was paid to the various directors based on their attendance rate and the number of board and committee meetings they attended.
As for the compensation of our Chairman and CEO, the fixed component of Sébastien Bazin's compensation is unchanged since the 1st of January 2016 at EUR 950,000. His annual variable compensation was based on the achievement of the objectives that we set together. Just for the record, the quantitative objectives concerned every EBITDA, free cash flow, the net growth of the number of rooms, and the three following ESG criteria. The percentage of hotels managed and franchised that had defined a reference value in water consumption by year-end 2024. Second criterion, the percentage of hotels of all types eco-certified by the end of the year. Thirdly, the percentage of women occupying a position at least equivalent to Vice President according to the group's internal classification, again at year-end 2024.
To this, we added qualitative objectives concerning the finalization of the turbo organization, talent development, and the implementation of the CSR plan. After appraising the level of achievement of each of these objectives, the board decided that the variable compensation of Sébastien Bazin's compensation package would be EUR 1,813,893 gross. That's 129.6% of the reference amount, the potential being a maximum of 150%. Your Chairman and CEO in 2024 was also attributed performance-based shares and compliance with the compensation policy, subject to vesting rights. In addition, within the context of the ex-ante CEO pay, you're also being asked to vote regarding the compensation policy for executive directors in the future. Concerning the policy for directors, it will be unchanged in 2025. Concerning the compensation policy regarding our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, I should add that we are discussing this matter with shareholders that have been since the last AGM.
After hearing the comments and suggestions from the shareholders and after taking into account the votes at the last AGM, your board, at the recommendation of the committee, has decided to adjust the compensation policy in 2025. Let's begin by what hasn't changed. The fixed compensation for 2025 will remain unchanged. Indeed, the reference amount for variable compensation for your Chairman and CEO will remain at EUR 1.4 million. The variation is between 0-150% of this reference amount, depending on the level of achievement of the criteria decided by the committee.
The quantitative objectives, which represent 80% of the annual variable component, are financial, every EBITDA and free cash flow, but also extra financial, non-financial, namely the net growth of the network and the three ESG criteria as follows: reduction of our water consumption at year-end 2025, the percentage of hotels of all types eco-certified by year-end 2025, and finally, the percentage of women in a position at least equivalent to vice president according to the group's internal classification. The qualitative objectives, which represent 20% of the annual variable compensation, are based on communications and the implementation of the roadmap for 2025-2028 and the talent development. Finally, Mr. Bazin can receive up to performance shares up to 280% of his gross annual compensation. The level of achievement and mechanism have been made more stringent, particularly if these conditions are not achieved. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Bruno. I now propose to hear from Jean-Christophe Goudard from Ernst & Young to report on the annual accounts. Secretary ordered to report.
Thank you, Besma. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we have eight reports to talk to you about this year. As is customary, I propose to sum these up on behalf of the College of Statutory Auditors. There are three categories of reports. The first two concern or come under the authority of the ordinary AGM, concern our report on the annual accounts, the statutory accounts, and consolidated accounts, our special report on related party agreements. The third category concerns our reports on resolutions under the authority of the extraordinary annual general meeting. These resolutions concern authorizations and delegations to be accorded to the board to carry out transactions concerning the share capital. Let me give you our conclusions straight away.
Report on the annual accounts for the period ending December 31, 2024. This is the first resolution. Our report is on page 460 of the universal registration document, at least of the French version. The annual accounts are in compliance with French generally accepted accounting rules. They are true and sincere and give a sincere image of the activities carried out during the period and indeed of the financial situation of the company at the end of the period. In the second part of this report, you will see our evaluation of participationary shares representing 7.6 billion shares at 68% of the total of the balance sheet. We will go into that in greater detail. Concerning specific evaluations, this concerns information given in the management report and other financial documents submitted to you.
They also concern the corporate governance and information concerning the acquisition of participations of stakes in the company and the identity of shareholders. We have no particular points to draw your attention to. The second report concerns our report on the consolidated financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2024. This is under resolution number two. The report is on page 429 of the French version of the universal registration document. Our conclusion concerning the accounts is that we certify that the consolidated accounts are, in respect of IFRS principles as adopted in the European Union, they are true and sincere and give a loyal, true reflection of the activities carried out during the period and indeed of the financial situation at the end of the period. This is by all parties concerned by the consolidation question.
We are talking about the consolidated accounts, which is all the entities held or controlled by the group. Third report concerns our report on related party agreements. This concerns the 11th resolution and can be found on page 353 of the French universal reference document. May I remind you that we are asked to report to you on the basis of information we've received and the reasons for these conventions. It is up to you to appraise the relevance of this. We have not been informed of any such related party agreements during the period. As for related party agreements previously approved by the AGM in the past and still in effect, may I refer you to our report for those?
Finally, third and final point concerning the resolutions under the extraordinary AGM, concerning the 24th resolution, which proposes that the board be authorized to reduce the share capital by canceling all or part of ordinary shares, we have no observation to make. As for the general delegation of powers from resolution 24 to 28 and resolution 30, which proposes a delegation of authority to the board of directors for a period of 26 months to carry out capital increases to the issuance of ordinary shares or securities with or without preferential subscription rights. Let me give you our conclusion directly. Subject to subsequent examination of the conditions of any such issuance, we have no observations to make regarding the determination of issuance price for the 25th and 26th shares.
Furthermore, as this report does not specify the conditions on which these shares will be valued, this is for resolution 24 to 28, we cannot form an opinion on how these share prices will be calculated. The final conditions for these shares have yet to be determined, so we cannot at this point in time express an opinion. As a result, the proposed suppression of the preferential subscription rights 24 to 26 will give rise to an additional report when and if these delegations of authority are applied by the board of directors. Concerning the 31st resolution, which authorized the issuance of free shares or performance-based shares, we have no comments to make. Concerning the 33rd resolution, which proposes that delegation be given to the board to decide the issuance of shares reserved to employees with members of the share ownership plan, subject to subsequent examination.
At this point in time, we have no opinion to form concerning the issuance price. The final conditions, when and if these issues are to be carried out, we will draw up an additional report if necessary, when and if these delegations of authority are applied by your board of directors. Thank you for your attention.
Don't go too far, Christoph. I'd just like to share with the meeting the fact that it's the last presentation by EY that has been at the company side for close on 25 years without a break. Jean-Christophe, I just wanted on behalf of the board, the management, to say a couple of things that are important that we've all lived through.
Firstly, in the role of the statutory auditors, a very difficult one, which is to bring its rigor, discipline, a new perspective on what is done, put in place, and the financial statements to be drawn up. At the same time as you apply these exacting standards with your team, you've seen multiple transformations of the group, many people, great many executives, sometimes a lot of tooing and froing, and it's fairly uncommon to have an auditor's team been able not to deal with the contradictions, but the fact that these policies were adopted by management, accepted by shareholders, but required a considerable fleet-footedness on your part so as to have a sufficiently wide perspective so as not to run counter to prevailing legislation, and that you were able to support us, even guide us to put in place things more efficiently.
Without that agility, benevolence, the group wouldn't be where it is today. Thank you for undertaking all these tasks. I hope that you'll sail through calmer waters in the next 12 years for Jean-Christophe. My thanks to your team. I know that you're going to leave for a few years, but you can always return after a break. Big thank you.
Thank you, Sébastien. My big thanks to you for your trust.
Now, I'm going to ask another firm, PwC, to come talk to us about another topic that's hugely important, a bit more recent, the sustainability report.
Merci, Monsieur le Président.
Thank you. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. As part of this first year of application of CSRD, we've issued a sustainability report included in Chapter 3, Corporate Responsibility within the company's registration document.
On the basis of verifications undertaken, we've noted no error, omission, or major inconsistency regarding compliance of the process put in place by Accor with prevailing legislation, be it as part of the double materiality review, presentation of sustainability data, and disclosing indicators in line with the taxonomy. On the basis of our assignment, we've issued limited assurance without reservation on sustainability. Our report comprises a comment regarding the presentation of sustainability info without challenging the conclusion of our report. We want to draw the attention of the reader to some information in Section 311, Introduction to the Sustainability Report, covering the reporting scope and principles for preparing environmental and social indicators. Thank you.
Et nous passons à la présentation des résolutions.
We now move to the resolutions to be presented by Besma. It's very short for something that's hugely complicated. Thank you.
Now, before we move to Q&A, I'm going to briefly present our resolutions, starting with first to third resolution approval of the financial consolidated statements for FY2024, allocation of profit and distribution of a dividend of EUR 1.26 per share. Fourth to twelfth, a renewal of mandates as directors, appointing of a new director for statutory term of three years. I won't return to the nomination of Mrs. Catherine Fleming. Presented thirteenth to sixteenth resolution aimed at appointing Deloitte as statutory auditor, sustainability auditor for a period of six financial years, as well as the renewal of PwC Audit as statutory auditor and also sustainability auditor for a six-year term. Seventeenth to twentieth resolution concerned what we now the Say On Pay exposed compensation 2024 of directors and Mr. Sébastien Bazin, presented by Mr.
Pagloski, as well as the Say On Pay ex ante that concerns compensation policy for Chairman and CEO and directors for FY2025. The twenty-first resolution asked that you note the conclusions of the auditor's special report on the absence of new related party agreements and related party agreements concluded during prior years that continue to be in effect during FY2024. Twenty-two, twenty-three, to renew the authorization to cancel treasury shares, a maximum of 10% of the share capital, at a maximum purchase price of EUR 80 per share. Twenty-four to thirty, aimed at renewal for 26 months, the authorization to the board to increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares or securities giving access to the share capital with or without preferential subscription rights.
Ceiling is planned within a limit of a total cap of 50% of the share capital and a subcap of 10% of the share capital for capital increases without preferential subscription rights. These authorizations cannot be used during a public tender. 30th resolution authorized the board to allocate performance shares to employees and corporate offices within a limit of 2.5% of the capital. 32nd limits the number of shares to employees at 15% of allocated shares. 33rd resolution asks you to authorize the board to issue ordinary shares or securities giving access to the share capital without preferential subscription rights for an employee share ownership plan.
34th resolution proposes that you amend the bylaws in the case of staggering terms of office to reduce the director's terms of office to one or two years to allow the board, if it wishes, to take certain decisions by written consultation, including electronically, to increase to 68 the age limit of the CEO and deputy CEOs, and to amend certain provisions. Lastly, resolution 35 concerns powers for formalities. Thank you for your attention. Let's now open the Q&A session.
Besma, merci. Merci beaucoup.
Thank you, Besma. Let's start with written questions, the advisory shareholders' committee. I'll have them, I'll read them and try and provide some answers. The first question will follow: What role for AI today and tomorrow? It's more than relevant that we address every day the answer following what we're doing today. First thing is, mustn't be afraid of AI. It will be predominant.
It'll be important, be present. We must not only accept it, but factor it in, roll it out within the group. There are two facets that are totally different. AI, there are at least two. There are probably well over 102 that are important for you, for me. First thing, it's going to promote the customer pathway, how you interact with your customer before he arrives in the hotel. To track that relationship will be guided far more efficiently, far more personalized in the customer journey whilst the customer is staying in the hotel. The tools linked to AI are automation enablers that will allow our people, as long as they've had them and are up the learning curve, to be far more efficient, swifter to break from administrative tasks that had no added value. Will give comfort and efficiency in the human interaction between our employee and the customer.
To assess all that, it's very complicated, probably very impactful, a number of things put in place by the group. First thing, led by Alex Benoit here in the room, put in place an AI Gen Excellence Center led by François-Xavier 18 months ago to take all this knowledge of what exists today to measure the impact, the validity, the importance, and thereby to allow us to assess these tools and not be behind the curve. Center of Excellence spends its time with a team to have kind of a watch or sell and make it more efficient. Second thing put in place by the group, you probably, many of you already use ChatGPT. We got a ChatGPT agreement that is our own instrument. Accor will field questions, won't make us too dependent on outside enablers.
Accor GPT is used by our people either in hotels or at head offices. We got chatbots that are also AI-driven to answer very efficiently to queries that are less important for our customers before or after their stay. Lastly, Accor signed many major corporate partnerships with key international players, notably the latest with IDeaS, a US partner on pricing changes thousand times a day. Salesforce, Opera, IDeaS, Hadese, all these big software systems are based on AI. We decided, one, not to be afraid, two, to factor it in, thirdly, to roll it out, and fourthly, to not be dependent on it. That was the first question on AI. We can return to that later. Alex is in the room. She's far more knowledgeable and can follow that up. Second question, how do you assess the geopolitical risk when Accor invests?
Here again, it's a hugely important question. We assess them as best we can in a context that has never been so volatile. First thing that's important is to remember decisions taken by your group for 10 years now to exit real estate and paying rent, Accor service, these risks are less and less impactful for the group because we don't have rent obligations. We don't have dozens of billions invested in real estate. So what we can lose is 5% of revenue of a building. The other 95% are no longer borne by Accor. The activity transformation to asset light is a big shock absorber when it comes to legislative risk. Second thing, we never talk about it. It's a good opportunity this morning within the group. We've got a division for safety and security, and Xavier's in the room that has a specific tasking.
It's kind of a watch tower that analyzes through the embassies worldwide, international organization, all political, macro, economic, social, and climate risk. This unit must provide us real-time all the information we need so as to take a valid decision on investments. Third factor is that we have a board, and the board, there's a committee for international strategy chaired by Nicolas Sarkozy. This committee is tasked with assessing closer the governments, the leaders, the geopolitical context, the group's commitments, countries, need we exit, need we accelerate, meet with the leaders. This committee assesses all these issues and kind of plays the role of devil's advocate on decisions we've taken in the past that are no longer relevant today. Those are three ways of responding to something that's not going to disappear anytime soon.
Up till now, in the context we've seen for 10 years, the group has been able to maneuver so as not to get bogged down in risk and our records sufficiently strong to meet those risks if it were to persist. Third question, can you tell us the group's core development strategy in India? This is a nice one. I could talk to you about it for 35 minutes, but I won't do that. India is, without a doubt, the most important market of after tomorrow. Yesterday's market was the U.S., that is 1960, 1990. Yesterday's market was Europe, 1970 to 2000. Today's market, China, starting at the end of the 1990s, going to continue to 2025. The market of after tomorrow is India that started out five, six years, probably become the biggest hotel market worldwide by 2050 for loads of reasons.
It's the most populated country with 1.45 billion people, fourth largest global economy. It'll move to third place in five years, has the strongest continuous growth for five years between 6% and 7%, largest tech infrastructure, highest number of engineers where you've got a mega health, financial economy, many others, the middle class growing strongly. A third of the country today is ranked middle class, and they'll move to two-thirds in six, seven years. Country that has the least hotel infrastructure, you take the five biggest hotel operators together, they have 1,500 hotels. You take the top five hotel groups and together, they have 25,000 hotels for an equal population. You're well below 1,500. It's again 25,000. There's not the slightest doubt that in five, seven, ten years, there will be one or two dominant players in India. We decided not to miss the boat.
I think we missed the U.S. boat. Of course, we didn't miss the European boat. We didn't miss the Chinese boat. We're not going to miss the Indian, but we have to entrust part of the strategy, at least the execution, to Indian players. There's an Indian player we know well because he's been our partner for over 20 years. InterGlobe, when we started out together, was a tech partner, knew the hospitality world well, but had not set up what is today the largest airline in India, IndiGo Airlines. And InterGlobe is the major shareholder and the founder. IndiGo is 62% market share of air transport in India, and it's the number one client for Airbus in terms of number of aircraft. They have 130 million passengers over 10 years. Air France-KLM has barely crossed the 5 million mark in 50 years.
Quite probably, IndiGo Airlines is set to become the world's largest airline in the next 20 years. We forged a partnership between InterGlobe, IndiGo Airlines, a tech player, Tribo, that's going great guns to combine the skills and the leadership, all the various companies that I've just mentioned, is such that it's pretty likely that Accor will become one of those two leaders in India. It'll take time, hugely complex. It's a wager we must take. We made it public precisely two months ago in Bangalore. There you have it. Now we can move to questions from the room.
Moi, d'abord, comme je ne sais pas lequel de vous d'abord, mais. Gentlemen here in the front.
I would like to ask two questions. My first question concerns the creation of a new booking platform. My second question concerns the group's new profits.
Recently, Accor announced that it was developing a new digital ecosystem devoted to the booking of meetings and events. This platform will centralize 6,500 hotels worldwide with easier access to 2,500 meeting rooms and over 8,000 bedrooms. This initiative is aimed at harnessing the growth of a very high-growth market valued at several billion dollars, according to the press release announcing the launch of this platform. My question is, what share of this market do you propose to harness? My second question concerns the group's new profits. S&D, the former real estate business, is changing its name and becoming S&D, which I think it means a way of being. It is still owned by its former parent company, which would like to dispose of it by the summer of 2026.
Since 2010, Accor Services, which has become even red, has taken off and has removed itself from the group, followed by Accor Invest, which has become S&D. So Accor is no longer what its founding members, Paul Dubrule and the later Gérard Pélisson, imagined way back in 1963, which begs the following question: How do you see the group's profile over the next five years? Is it going to focus on its luxury and lifestyle business, which is probably the most dynamic and most profitable? Will it become just a player in the luxury industry, people playing in the big league alongside LVMH, Hermès, and Kering? Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Concerning the launch of this platform you've mentioned, the business has changed, but changed about five years ago, probably since COVID.
The Accor group was 60%, almost two-thirds a business in which ours was business-oriented and the remainder being leisure-oriented. COVID has completely changed the way we work. A lot of people work remotely. A lot of people take extended weekends. The balance between the two, between families, between employers and employees, all that has changed. There is no going back, but that is not really what we are talking about here this morning. We have found that the leisure side of the business, which was a minority, is now closer to 50%, and all the better. Even though people who were in leisure on Mondays or Fridays, it is hard to know.
What we do know is that business travelers with their groups and events and congresses were always the more profitable, both in terms of occupancy rate and banquet teams and repeat business from these large groups that use Novotel, Ibis, and so on. In the current state of affairs, to accommodate these people, it was essential that we have onboard technology to ensure that everything was as agile and simple as possible, including invoicing. Because of this change in market share, the very least we could do is to preserve our market share in terms of the number of rooms that we have in each country. It is approximately one-third, a little more in Europe. We are aiming at at least one-third of the pie.
As we are the leaders in Europe, we are targeting half of that pie, and we're not leaving more than necessary to our American counterparts. In the mid-scale, Novotel and Mercure are very good large-scale hotels that can meet the requirements of these clients. We have not spent, and largely my fault, we have not spent enough time on Pullman, Mövenpick, and Swissôtel. We're also large hotels. We have left too much room to our American competitors. In mid-scale, we will have more than our share of the market. In premium brands, we're going to have to eke out what we seem to have missed. That's moving on now to your second question. Nothing doesn't compare. That's not very kind of you. Mr. Dubrule and Mr. Pélisson constantly accelerated the growth. They were audacious. They took risks. They bought out Carlton Wagon Lille and restaurant vouchers.
They did a lot of things. Sometimes not everything worked. Not everything will work for us either, but this idea of winning over share, of challenging our ideas, this is a mindset that has never changed back in the 1960s. I believe that our two founders, Gérard Pélisson, said so before his death. I think they fully understood the need to eliminate risks from the balance sheet and in the property ownership, better off that they be in the hands of others than our listed company. Paul Dubrule said only recently. He said this only recently. S&D will be leaving the group, but this has always been something we said we would carve out. S&D is a very good company, a very well-managed company, and the biggest hotel owners in Europe. We are finishing the task. It was not possible during COVID, but we completely refunded S&D.
Its balance sheet is now completely healthy. The performance is just as strong as Accor's group. Quite naturally, by next summer, we will have disposed of this entity. I wish long life to S&D. We'll be managing hotels on their behalf. I do not think this in any way reneges or is any departure from what we have undertaken in luxury and lifestyle. It is not the most profitable because Jean-Jacques will be giving out to me. It is the most dynamic, yes. It is the segment with the strongest growth, but it is also the easiest because it was the least present, so growth is easier to achieve. It so happens that the mid-scale has low growth, but it is more profitable. Good cash flow and market share in mid-scale. There is no real eagerness to have a preferred segment. We do not.
Luxury and lifestyle is not our favorite segment. That would be unfair. Another question. I've kept the mic.
Please. I just had an additional question just to add to what's just been said concerning the external outsourcing of woods. I was involved in the franchising of Mercure and Ulice Courtabeuf, probably at a difficult period in time. At the time, this outsourcing, the franchisee experienced certain difficulties. So at what point in time do you take over when it's necessary for the group's reputation?
Now, it's not our intention to take back or take over. We listen to any difficulties that any of our franchise or managed hotel owners experience. It's important to understand their risk, but if they want to share the situation with us, fine. Nor do we wish or have the ambition to take back hotels, even if there's any fragility. We're not going to backpedal.
Now, as far as helping franchisees with dealings with the banks or disposals to another party, yes, that is something we can do. Where things get very difficult is that we are not bankers, and we're not going to jeopardize for bankers or real estate companies. We have fewer such cases now than we had three years ago. If franchisees or hotel managers are in difficulty, it's true that they invest less. If they invest less, the brand will deteriorate. Customer experience will deteriorate because bedrooms or bathrooms have not been renovated. That is something that people sense. This is a downward spiral that is very complicated for hotel owners to manage because they have not got the means, and they know that if they do not do this, things are not going to improve. It's a downward spiral.
When we need to preserve the standards, we need to talk among adults with our franchisees and say, "Look, we can maybe help you find a solution, but if you don't find a solution, we will not be able to stay alongside you in the next five years if you don't solve the problem." There are, unfortunately, such cases. Gentlemen here.
Jacques Bongrand, my name. Earlier on, you mentioned problems that occur every day in a hotel. I'd like to refer to two problems I had recently. In Châteauroux in 2024, I wrote to a hotel explaining that I had a problem with my bank card. I was told I'd be refunded in September. October arrived, still unpaid. I wrote to the head office. I wrote to the hotel. Likewise, in November, December, January. In February, I wrote a registered letter to head office.
Finally, the money was refunded eight months later. Second, more recent experience in Châteauroux just a week ago at 8:30, I was told, "Oh, you didn't see the email we sent you today. The hotel is full. Your booking," dated back five weeks, "was canceled." I was told that I could book. I was sent to another hotel 304, 400 m away at half eight at night. What happens to emails that we are sent to them? Is there a bill? I received a check-in. Nothing happens. What's happening with your email? I have questions about the safety of my bank card because despite booking five weeks in advance, I still don't get a room. What's happened? I'm not sure there's any connection between your bank card and the room. I don't know much about this. I don't know if anybody here can answer that.
First of all, it's not acceptable. Secondly, I don't know if it's the hotel owner's fault. I don't know if it's the booking platform's fault. What I can say is that it's not acceptable, and we have to find a solution. Bear in mind that we answer over a million clients a day. So mishaps occur. There is no bin. We have people who receive all messages. There are probably hundreds of you every day with similar experiences every day. What we do is we strive to ensure that there are as few as possible and that the number is being reduced. It's unacceptable that you wait seven months to be refunded. That's absolutely unacceptable. I'll talk with Alice about this. Alice, could you stand up, please? Alice, if you would.
I'd like the gentleman to see your face if you'd turn around to face the gentleman with the pale blue shirt. I really apologize for this experience. Please come and see me in person, and we will deal with the matter together. Gentlemen over here.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I have a question concerning your franchisees. What percentage of the franchisees do you have in your portfolio? Do you sometimes ask franchisees to leave the group? And are there franchisees who leave you because they found a better franchise elsewhere? There are the two questions. Also, a question about your competition. How are you faring by comparison with your competition? Now that you're venturing further into the luxury segment, how will you be tackling the competition that's already well-established?
45% franchisees in terms of number of rooms and 75% in number of hotels.
Very often, the hotels have fewer rooms. In France, it's close to 70%, between 70%-80% are franchised. We decided to accelerate the development of franchisees or franchise business, particularly for destinations where we are leaders, particularly in Europe. This is because development is a lot faster, because we have the skills and the money available. A lot of demand for franchisees because in other parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, we continue to work on a managed basis. So far, we're talking about a very large hotel in a global capital. We would like to secure a better-paid management contract. If we're talking about a smaller city or provincial city far from capital cities, then we prefer franchisees because the owners tend to be more agile. It depends on the size of the hotel and the location of the hotel.
We don't have one business be better than the other. In both cases, we are well-compensated. In both cases, the work is the same. It's to ensure that the brand does well and to enhance the booking system. As for the competition, we have lively competition. We are the world's fifth hotelier group. We are the foremost hospitality group. If you leave aside the U.S. and China, we'll never be the biggest in the U.S. and China. We need to preserve what's been wonderfully put together in the last 45 years. It's our stronghold in Europe. We're also number one in the Middle East. Asia-Pacific, we are number one in Southeast Asia. We need to preserve Latin America, which we're number one. We want to become number one in India. It happens that hotel groups have great respect for one another.
Hyatt, Hilton, Hyatt, Intercontinental, and others. All healthy relationships. We're all growing. The difficulty comes from new technological platforms. We have higher costs with online agencies, with Airbnb. There will probably be a positive or negative impact because of artificial intelligence. The competition really comes from new tools and technologies and new alternative forms of hospitality, including Airbnb, than from the competition between hotel groups. As I said earlier, the growth drivers are strong enough for each of us to be able to eke out sufficient growth. You didn't answer my question about the franchisees who leave the group because they've found better alternatives or with whom you go separate ways because the contract. My apologies. I overlooked that. Concerning employees who leave to find other folks, there are very few who leave the group to go elsewhere. Less than 2% per annum. It's terribly small.
In the other way, we have much more. A lot of franchisees who join us from other hotel groups because our distribution is better in certain regions, particularly in Europe. Accor Group's distribution capacity is much higher than other groups, except in the case of Paris, where Hyatt only has three hotels. They can distribute three hotels, no problem. There are no concerns about employees leaving for other brands, as long as our brand identity is strong and our well-sold. As for franchisees that we ask to leave, the percentage is also very low. It is less than 5%. It can and should increase. That is what I said earlier on. We spend more and more time on the brand identity, the brand's promise, the experience, customer relations. We have to be increasingly demanding.
If in particular cases these standards are not met, and over time for a period, let's say, more than two years, we have no alternative but to ask the franchisee to leave. We have the means in the contract to terminate our franchise agreement. In many ways, Accor has been probably too lenient over the years in this respect. Let's say not demanding enough.
Accor is the ambassador of know-how, French refinement. What are your ambitions in the luxury segment and with the top-end palace and so on? Do you intend to go more upscale? My second question concerns the U.S., which you said is a highly competitive market. The group has left Motel 6 a few years ago in the lower end. What is your position in the U.S. at the moment?
A lot of tourists will be boycotting the United States in the foreseeable future and will be spending more time in Europe and probably in France. Finally, in Africa, indeed in certain countries in the north of Africa, France isn't always very welcome. Is that reflected in the occupancy rate of your hotels, or is it just a matter of foreign policy? Thank you.
Extra Luxury. No, excellent. Thank you. Extra Luxury. No, we like Extra Luxury. Firstly, we weren't there because we decided that it was a growth opportunity. Thirdly, to be active, responsible. We didn't have the brand, so we had to come up with the right brands, acquire them, to pass on the expertise that we didn't have. All that, over seven years, we decided to dive deeper into Extra Luxury with Orient Express, the brand Orient Express. I told you about it last year. It's expanding.
No revenue because it's just started with the new Orient Express Hotel, the Minerva in Rome, downtown Rome. An amazing hotel opened five weeks ago. Another one in Venice, the Palazzo, set to open in December. Trains will arrive in 2027. The ship that's being built, the Atlantic Shipyards at the PM visit on Monday, that's today, fully assembled, 226 m, 26,000 tons. Masts the size of this building. The water will enter the dock soon, and it will be ocean-ready in May 2026. We'll be at the Cannes Festival early May 26. We're entering something that's important in the U.S. In this Orient Express, we've teamed up with LVMH, and we couldn't find a better, finer partner. The U.S., you're right. We were with Motel 6, Red Roof 25 years ago. It wasn't an outstanding success for loads of reasons, good or bad.
Unfortunately, Accor lost a lot of money in the U.S. It's the world's largest market ahead of China. It's the most profitable market in the world because it was the biggest, the most profitable. That's where our U.S. friends are the most present. 85% of hotels' number of rooms in the U.S. are in the hands of five U.S. companies. 85%. The 15% remaining, maybe 5%, will come to us, but 10% never. We have to sometimes take a cold shower, a really cold shower, and you realize that you can grow in the U.S. with the firm brand with Sofitel, both very strong reputationally. Sofitel can expand faster in some ten cities in the U.S., but maybe we can do it on Denis Small, Hoxton, Mama Shelter. A lot of discussions with Jean-Jacques Morin.
It's sad to recognize that the risk is too high for results that are too low to go today with our midscale brands to the United States. The time was probably right. Twenty-five years ago, we had the right timing. We didn't have the right execution. Let's accept that the territory is controlled by people stronger than us. Let's conquer other territories where they're not as good as we are. Third question, Africa, North Africa? Not at all. It's true. There's been a number of conflicts or at least disagreements between governments, notably European governments. We don't sense that at all in the expansion of Accor in North Africa. Not at all. We're growing in strength in Morocco.
Don't at all sense that in Sub-Saharan Africa where the leading investor with the Qatar Sovereign Fund, Qatar KASADA, sorry, forgive me, KASADA, we have deployed EUR 1 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa, the biggest investor. The exclusivity of Accor brands is such a demand from the local population and develop the economic fabric. Accor is welcome across all African countries, including those that have disagreements with our government. Barely three minutes left. We have a gentleman in the center there. If you could give him the mic. Yes.
Just to pick up on the customer experience. When you say that the customer, there are no the revenue, the RevPAR is changing. I mean, what's that due to? I mean, by how much the RevPAR? And secondly, what are you doing to collect the maximum amount of feedback regarding the customer experience?
Have you already put in place in terms of AI, in terms of tech? Can you tell us a bit more about that?
You're going to meet Alix Boulnois for the second part of your question. Poor Alix. You were right to come, but I can't see you. I don't know who you are. You're in the dark. Oh, there you are. Okay. Light blue shirt, green jersey. That's easier. To ask the first part of your question, we can do that with the NPS, loads of ways of measuring customer satisfaction, and that's as it should be. Daily revenue, RevPAR, very much linked to simple maths. I'll keep it really simple. Accor receives on average 5% of the revenue of a hotel, and that, whatever the brand.
When you have a Formula 1 hotel or Ibis Styles, you can have an Ibis budget, say, a room at EUR 100. You'll get 5% of daily revenue of EUR 100. When you're in a Raffles Hotel, you've got a room at EUR 2,000, and I'll receive 5%, but 5% at EUR 2,000. I'll get 10-15 times more as I go upscale. Same quality of service, even the services there involve more human capital in terms of revenue per room. The more you go upscale, the higher the revenue in absolute. Doesn't mean the margin's higher. Less human resources services in an Ibis budget than in a Raffles. When you go upscale, you make far more money in absolute terms on a higher room rate. That's how it works. NPS relations. I hope there are croissants and pastries left afterwards, but don't begrudge me. We'll get back to you.
Question from a gentleman over there.
Chairman, good morning. I represent Accor employees who are shareholders. I'd like to have your viewpoint on your vision, ambition, and strategy on our Accor brand portfolio that's pretty significant and sizable. The Accor brand portfolio comprises 47 brands. As of last night, there'll probably be a few more going forward.
I tend to say that we're fully satisfied with the diversity of those brands in terms of customer response, positioning, price points, and customer relations, geography. There are no gaps in our setup. I thought 12 years ago when I arrived, we were too present in Europe in low and mid-scale. We wanted to support our expansion of crunchy. We moved from 14 to 47 brands. It was done deliberately in a focused manner over 10 years. There are no gaps. No countries where we didn't want to be.
India, we want to move faster to India. Otherwise, that place will be taken by someone else. We can take that place with our 47 brands. Maybe just to answer your point more specifically, in the 47, you've got about 20 that are global brands. You've got Novotel, Mercure, Pullman, Sofitel, and these brands are set to expand across continents, countries where we can be present. You've got other brands that are solely local. A brand, Sybil, you never heard about, solely present in Australia, but New Zealand. Above all, leave it in Australia. New Zealand, they know it well. It's very strong. Don't take the risk of expanding it regionally, far less globally. Other brands that are regional but are not set to become global. The way we assess that, 80% of the revenue is achieved on those 20 local. Focus your resources on 20 brands.
Let the local players in the countries decide to protect a brand that exists and meets the customer's needs. That's our attitude. I'm surprised myself. We're not seeking other existing brands on the market and that we'd like to target. Maybe it'll happen. People will be to pass to our door, but we're not seeking that. Thank you all. Let's now move to the vote on the various resolutions.
Avant de passer au vote des.
Before moving on to the vote on the resolutions, 5,492 shares are present or voted by correspondence. That's over 172 million shares represented. The final quorum is 71.73%, as a result of which the AGM can conduct its business accordingly. Since 2019, abstentions and blank votes are no longer counted. They are factored out of the calculation by virtue of the legal dispositions in place. Shareholders have been able to vote by internet.
Over 205 million votes have been expressed accordingly in this way. We propose that the Bureau be dispensed with an extensive reading of the shares, given the presentations that have already been made. Before voting, let me draw your attention to the voting system with our devices. I propose to show you a short video just before we begin our votes. To vote on these resolutions, you will have received a tablet. Each tablet is strictly personal and can only be used for today's annual general meeting. When voting begins, the voting window will be displayed automatically on your tablet, even if it's in sleep mode. In order to vote, it's very simple. Press the button corresponding to your choice: in favor, abstention, or against. Press okay to confirm your choice before voting is over. Once your vote has been confirmed, it cannot be changed.
Please return the tablet as you leave the room. We can now move on to the votes. First resolution concerns approval of the statutory company financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. Voting is underway. Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. The second resolution asks you to approve the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. Voting underway. Voting is over. Resolution approved. Third resolution concerns the allocation of profit for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, and determination of the dividend. Please vote now. Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Fourth resolution, renewal of Sébastien Bazin's mandate as director of the company. Voting underway. Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Fifth resolution. Fifth resolution concerns the renewal of Madame Asma Abdulrahman Al-Khulaifi's mandate as director of the company. Voting underway. Voting is over.
Resolution approved. Sixth resolution, renewal of Hugo Arzani's mandate as director of the company. Please vote now. Voting is over. Resolution approved. Seventh resolution, the renewal of Madame Hélène Auriol-Poitiers' mandate as director of the company. Voting is underway. Voting over. Resolution approved. Eighth resolution, renewal of Madame Kyung-Ah Jiang's mandate as a director of the company. Voting underway. Voting is over. Resolution approved. Ninth resolution, renewal of Nicolas Sarkozy's mandate as director of the company. Voting underway. Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Tenth resolution, renewal of Madame Isabelle Simon as director of the company. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. Resolution carried. Eleventh resolution, renewal of Samad Zuck as director of the company. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos. La résolution est adoptée. Douzième résolution, nomination de Madame Catherine Fleming en qualité d'administratrice de la société. Le vote est ouvert.
Twelfth resolution, appointment of Catherine Fleming as director of the company. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. Resolution approved. Thirteenth resolution, appointment of Deloitte, a statutory auditor in charge of certifying the financial statements for a period of six financial years. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. The fourteenth resolution, renewal of PricewaterhouseCoopers' audit mandate as statutory auditor in charge of certifying the financial statements for a period of six financial years. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Fifteenth resolution, appointment of Deloitte as statutory auditor in charge of certifying sustainability information for a period of six financial years. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved.
Sixteenth resolution, renewal of PricewaterhouseCoopers' audit mandate as statutory auditors in charge of certifying sustainability information for a period of six financial years. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. Voting is over. Contrary to what the screen said, voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Seventeenth resolution, approval of information concerning the compensation of all corporate officers referred to in Article L221091 of the French Commercial Code. Voting underway.
On a un problème. Bon, on retourne à la seizième résolution.
I think there's a little technical hitch. We may go back to the sixteenth resolution. If we could have the sixteenth resolution on the screen again, we're going to vote a second time. Sixteenth resolution, renewal of PricewaterhouseCoopers' audit mandate as statutory auditor in charge of certifying sustainability information for a period of six financial years. Voting is now underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Seventeenth resolution, approval of information concerning the compensation of all corporate officers referred to in Article L221091 of the French Commercial Code. Voting underway. Voting is over. The seventeenth resolution has been approved. Eighteenth resolution, approval of the fixed, variable, and exceptional components of the total compensation and benefits in kind paid during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, or granted for the same fiscal year to Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Voting is underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Nineteenth resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Voting underway. Le vote est clos. Voting is over. The resolution has been carried. Twentieth resolution, approval of the compensation policy for directors. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting now over. And the twentieth resolution has been carried. Twenty-first resolution, statutory auditor special report on related party agreements governed by Articles L225-38 et sec of the French Commercial Code. Voting underway.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is over. The resolution has been approved. Twenty-second resolution, authorization for the board of directors to trade in the company's shares. Voting is now underway.
Le vote est clos.
Over. And the resolution has been approved. Twenty-third resolution, authorization for the board to reduce the share capital by cancelling treasury shares. Vote open.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolutions passed. Twenty-fourth resolution, delegation to the board of directors to carry out capital increases with preferential subscription rights by issuing ordinary shares or securities giving access to the share capital. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolutions passed.
Twenty-fifth resolution, delegation to the board of directors to issue ordinary shares or securities giving access to the share capital without public an offer with preferential subscription rights. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Vote closed. Resolutions passed. Twenty-sixth resolution, delegation to the board of directors to issue ordinary shares or securities giving access to the share capital without preferential subscription rights. An offer governed by Article L411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. La résolution est. Resolution is passed. Twenty-fifth resolution, delegation to the board to increase the number of securities to be issued as part of a capital increase with or without preferential subscription rights. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolution adopted.
Twenty-eighth resolution, delegation to the board to carry out capital increases by issuing ordinary shares or securities giving access to the share capital in payment for contributions in kind granted to the company. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolution is adopted. Twenty-ninth resolution, delegation to the board of directors to increase the company's share capital by capitalizing reserved profits or share premium account. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolution is passed. Thirtieth resolution, limitation of the total amount of capital increases that may be carried out under the above delegations. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolutions adopted. Thirty-first resolution, authorization for the board to grant performance shares to employees or executive officers. Vote is open.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. The resolution is adopted.
Thirty-second resolution, restriction on the number of free shares that may be granted to executive officers of the company. Vote is open.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. The resolution is passed. Thirty-third resolution, delegation to the board to issue ordinary shares or securities without preferential subscription rights for an employee share ownership plan. Please vote now.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. Resolution is passed. Thirty-fourth resolution, amendments to the bylaws. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Vote closed. The resolution is adopted. Thirty-fifth and final resolution, powers to carry out legal formalities. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting. We're getting there. Just when we're coming to an end, I have to redo it. Powers for formalities, second try. Thirty-fifth resolution, powers for formalities. Please vote.
Ça ne marche toujours pas. Still not working. Commencez encore une fois.
Okay, third time. Vote is open.
Non, toujours pas. Bon, alors on va faire une petite pause. On va.
Short break, let's wait for things to settle down.
On peut y aller? Non, ben... Le vote est ouvert.
Vote is open. Le vote est clos. No more voting.
Je tente. Le vote est clos.
Vote closed. Resolutions adopted. Thank you.
Avant de clôturer la session.
Before we close this meeting and to let you on your way, I'd just like to say a few words. There are important people in your life, important people in my life, and a person present in this room that has never really stepped forward, not his style or his design. Madame Iris Knobloch, Iris. Next to me, was at my side for 12 years as a role that's very ungrateful, not an easy one.
Vice Chairman, Lead Director, which is the role that requires being an orchestra conductor to manage the deliberations of the board, to review the agenda, to make sure the various board members are heard or at least listened to. Above that, it's a task that's important for me because the person that I can confide in, it's very difficult to confide in one's employees and also to express one's doubts to 10 or 12 board members. There comes a time where we need a shock absorber, someone with an attentive ear, someone who's going to pooh-pooh some suggestions or tell me it's not the right time to make suggestions. The group's undergone a lot of changes, challenging times with COVID, and will know other difficult times. Iris, unfortunately, 12 years doesn't allow a Lead Director to continue to exercise that function.
She's wonderfully replaced by Cybel, who's next. She's not leaving. It's vital that she complete her term, which ends next year after the AGM. I'll miss you, Iris. Important period of my life. I've told you a lot of things. You never betrayed me, never disclosed things said in confidence. Thanks for ensuring this link. There was probably the red thread, so as not to lose the trust and confidence forged between us. There were misunderstandings, that's as it should be. You kept everyone on board sailing in the right adventure, and you also were an attentive ear to shareholders who could reach out to you without going via management. We need to express their doubts. Dear Iris, I know that I've freed you from the 15 years.
You may not know, Iris also chairs the Cannes Film Festival, so she hasn't slept a lot during the last fortnight in Cannes. It's good that the government appointed a German citizen at the head of the Cannes Festival. It's great to have you with us. Privilege. Thanks so much.