Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning and welcome. We're very pleased, together with Élisabeth Badinter, Maurice Lévy, and all board members, to welcome you to our general meeting. Thank you for being present in person today. Delighted to interact with you on the highlights of 2025, also our excellent results. As you know, as you've just seen, Publicis celebrated its centenary in 2026. This film illustrates the essence of Publicis' ability to anticipate the major changes of our industry, to weather crises, embrace technological revolutions, constantly reinvent itself whilst remaining true to our values. At Publicis, we've always had two priorities, our people and our clients. Thanks to our growth model driven today by artificial intelligence, we're beginning our second century stronger than ever. We're now going to form the bureau of the meeting.
As Chairman and CEO, I'll chair this meeting, propose you appoint as scrutineers Madame Élisabeth Badinter, Madame Sophie Dulac, present in the room, who've agreed to accept this function. Madame Céline Fronval, legal counsel, will act as meeting secretary. Madame Mathilde Rialland will support her in the second room. Shareholders in the second room will follow the meeting, ask questions, and vote from their seat. Meeting is webcast live and available on the group website. Here is the agenda of our meeting on screen. As is customary, I won't read the documents that were already made available and put on our website. I formally declare the meeting open and give the floor to Madame Céline Fronval.
Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
The attendance sheet indicates that shareholders present, represented or voting by correspondence, hold 199,000,342,142 shares on the 249,707 shares making up the capital with voting rights and represent 219,000,250,291. Consequently, the meeting is quorate, a fifth of shares with voting rights for the ordinary meeting. That's 49,941,588 shares and a quarter of the shares with voting right for the extraordinary general meeting. That is to say, 62,426,935 shares. The meeting can therefore deliberate validly as an ordinary and extraordinary meeting. All the documents required by law are placed on the desk of this meeting. Let me add that the board proposed the addition of resolution concerning the appointment of Madame Jaime Teevan as an independent director. Information pertaining to that resolution were made public on our website by press release. This resolution will be the subject of a detailed presentation during the meeting. That's it from me, Chairman.
Thank you, Céline. We will now move to the moment that you've all been waiting for, especially those of you who are here in person. The speech of our emeritus chairman, my boss, will now deliver.
Really, here at the lectern for such a moment all the more. I did not think for one moment that I would still be around to talk to you about the centenary of Publicis. Its the sole purpose of my intervention. You saw quite an extraordinary film, made thanks to AI, and gives a taste of what Publicis can do. I have to say that it's extremely difficult in a few minutes to summarize 100 years of history, 100 years of boldness, of ideas, and success.
I have to say that I was extraordinarily fortunate and with some emotion to have shared just over half of those 100 years at Publicis. I thank Élisabeth Badinter and Arthur Sadoun for allowing me to share with you three fragments of this history of Publicis and its truly outstanding founder, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, without which nothing would've been possible. I was fortunate enough to spend 25 years at his side, learning with such a teacher. I was never bored for a moment. Marcel was very humane and could be absolutely charming, and he wanted everyone to live up to his exacting standards. He loved advertising ideas, innovations, and making his clients win. His clients were always in the number one slot. I think we've kept that, and Arthur has gone even further on that front. He gave this business its credentials and never compromised on its values.
His life was a novel. You saw some excerpts. He left school at 14 to sell furniture in his father's store. He wanted to make advertising his job. His father didn't believe in that for a moment. As you saw in the film, advertising is hot air. It's just wind. Marcel says, "Well, it's thanks to wind that windmills turn." He found Publicis at the age of 20. Today, we'd call it a startup. He invented ads as we know it still today. Great many innovations over the years. A flurry of advertising ideas. The creation of commercial radio, whose format still works to this day. Innovation is at the heart of everything. The slogan, the jingle, the introduction of market surveys, or even opinion polls. In 1940, as you saw in the film, when the German troops entered Paris, he doesn't hesitate for a second.
He scuppers Radio Cité, shuts down his company, joins the resistance, and later on, Charles de Gaulle in London. After the war, thanks to boundless creativity with fizzing innovations, success will be there. He achieved his dream of being right up there at the top of the Champs-Élysées and opened the drugstore that will soon become iconic. Our first encounter goes back to the 2nd of March 1971. Many of you were not born there, or Arthur was probably only just born, and it was a magical encounter.
It actually got off to a very bad start because I wasn't able to articulate a single word. I was petrified to find myself in the presence of the Pope of publicity as he was known. It was an incredible setting, valuable furniture, masterpiece works of art. I was unable to speak a word. He was able to break the ice, asking me questions about the only thing I could talk about today. No, more today, as it happens, computer science. There with passion, I sketch out a future, and a discussion occurred between two passionate men, and he ended the meeting by saying, "Young man, you'll one day run this company." Of course, I didn't fully believe it, and my wife even less. I think we were wrong. Unfortunately, the devastating fire that burnt everything and could have destroyed Publicis on the evening of 27th of February 1972.
A crowd was massed in front of our building that was on fire. Marcel was there watching stoically the fire destroying his building, the dream of his life. It was impressive to see how much he resisted stoically and seeing how the flames were engulfing the building. I was really there just almost by accident. I was very soon worried for my team who were working shifts. In those days, we really did work. I managed to get into the building right in the dark of night, in the stifling smoke, and with the burning embers and wading through the water. In fact, everything that wasn't destroyed by fire was destroyed. I saw the sorry sight of the destruction of everything we'd built.
Driven by some intuition, I decided to rescue everything that hadn't burnt in the hope to restart the company, which was the case. Marcel entrusted me with the task to put the company to rights after the trauma, the damage created by the fire, and at the age of 33, to run the agencies in France. United by passion, the taste to win back business, the urge to prove to all that Publicis is open for business. We embarked on a frenetic race for growth, all those who thought we were dead, and there were many, were really given the lie by the win of many accounts and a rich crop of awards. The following decades were hectic times, rich in innovation, surprises, and innovation. We saw the advent of triumph of TV, digital revolution, social media, data, AI, and video conferences.
Who would have thought that one day we would create ads in our slippers in front of a webcam? First passing of the baton occurred when Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet appointed me President of Publicis Conseil. It was a tremendous honor. It was the agency that he created and from which everything occurred. I didn't, of course, have time to relish such an honor that it was already time to fight to keep our accounts that were attacked internationally. A few years later, in 1987, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet decides to entrust me with the reins of the group. My first decision is the international strengthening of Publicis. With the encouragements, I have to say, rather doubtful of the founder, who nevertheless, and he had that great quality, gave me a free hand.
I set about building our global future whilst keeping an eye on all technological developments, and Publicis became, at the beginning of the 1990s, the first web agency in France. Alas, Marcel passed away in 1996. His daughter, Élisabeth Badinter, assumes the chair of the supervisory board, and together we formed a singular couple between the left-wing philosopher, writer, feminist, and the entrepreneur manager for the market economy. We continued the work of the founder by taking it even higher and becoming a global company. The biggest challenge was to impose a French agency in this Anglo-Saxon world. We managed that through frenetic acquisitions by cultivating our difference rather than erasing it
Success was there with the acquisitions of Saatchi & Saatchi in 2000, and then after 9/11, Bcom3 with its jewel, Leo Burnett, Starcom, Mediavest, and lastly, the masterful coup of Digitas when nobody believed in digital after the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Each of these acquisitions was a risky gamble. At this stage, I'd like to emphasize the key essential role of Élisabeth Badinter, who never thought of her share ownership in terms of assets, but as the heritage of a company that needed to be preserved, grow, and prosper for the good of all. This was done with talent. Publicis become a company that was apart from the others. Family, profoundly French and global, also paradoxical. How can an advertising company born in France, in a country that is wary of advertising and anti-capitalist, become such a company under the leadership of Arthur Sadoun?
It became number one in the world. I don't believe the answer lies in any form of reasoning or logic or AI. No, because Publicis Groupe is a company whose energy has its roots in the fuel of passion that gives us the boldness of change and the acquisition of Sapient, following that in 2015, the intuition of Power of One that put us out in front thanks to an innovative model that is now the template of the industry. Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet ran the company for 60 years and made this fine company the flagship of French advertising. I had the honor of leading it for 30 years and building the new Publicis Groupe Global, digital, and tech. Then the time came to hand over.
Arthur Sadoun is chosen to lead the change and grow the group, and the tandem that we formed with Élisabeth became a trident, so to speak. The shareholder custodian of the temple, Élisabeth , watches over the direction of the group and the independence. As for me, I become a bit of help where I can. Some services here and there, some minor things, and Arthur Sadoun propels the company with new, powerful energy. The acquisition of Epsilon with the country leaders completes the profile of the group that emerges as global number one without losing any of its values. The ordeal suffered by Arthur with his cancer shows the fragility of life and his strength of character. Now? Well, now we must continue. We must quite simply continue to dream, to invent, to dare, and to surpass ourselves.
Publicis will be still and ever reinvented tomorrow, such as with this bold acquisition of LiveRamp that places us at the heart of the galaxy of the future. With the fair emotions and the share of humanity that belongs only to us. Yes, AI will be at the heart of tomorrow's world, but at Publicis with heart. Today, I'd simply like to say thank you. Thank you to our clients for their trust. Thank you to all our valiant teams. Thanks to you, shareholders, who've supported us for so long with your faithful support. Thanks to Élisabeth , to our vigilant board. With you, we'll write new glorious pages. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Maurice. I will now move on to present an activity report for the FY 2025 and outlook for 2026. I'd like to begin, by your leave, with highlights. They are not on the screen. Never mind. Here they are. Bit of a lag, but we'll manage. Good news. We are the industry leader for the sixth consecutive year. We have this mantra every year, but we never tire of it. We're number one for net revenue, organic growth, operating margin, new business, market capitalization, despite IPG being bought up by Omnicom, and ESG as well. Let's dig down a little bit. One key indicator is organic growth in our industry. This testifies to the health and the momentum of the group. 5.6% in 2025, much better than Omnicom and better than WPP, the former leader.
This shows the fragility of companies in this sector and the need to gain market shares. We have a unique revenue mix. Connected media, 60% of our revenue and growing fast. 26% for intelligent creativity, middle single-digit growth. Technology, 14%, almost flat. One thing that's interesting to look at is our operating margin that's better than competitors. It's at a historic high, 18.2%. We've got value shared well with average wage increase of close to 7% after 6.5% in 2024, and a bonus pool and variable remuneration, which is the leading level for the industry and represents close to 4% of net revenue because we want our workforce to benefit from our success and to feel truly involved. We're number one for new business and by far new business billings, you can see here. Whether it be media or creation.
New business ranking, once again, for the sixth year in a row, we come first as defined by the seven leading rating agencies. Let's take a look at a little film about our success in 2025.
100 years ago, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet created Publicis in Montmartre. In 2026, Publicis continues its good performance financially and with non-financials. Number one in the industry with ESG ratings for the last six years. We want to make the difference in three areas: the environment, social equity, and health. Our environmental commitments are in line with the Paris Agreement and 1.5 degree scenario. In our sector, we're the only group to have medium and long-term reduction objectives to reduce our carbon footprint and validated by SBTi. 80% of renewables. For 2030, we hope to get to 100%.
Thanks to proprietary tools like A.L.I.C.E, Anti-Greenwashing AI, and others, our teams can help our clients in their energy and environmental transition. We have compulsory training for all of our staff, and we have a no-impact program. Our conviction is that everybody of our 150,000 people in the workforce must help to have the company move forward and have the same opportunities. We open the doors of our agencies to train the new generation. We continue to invest in our talents. Thanks to our internal platform, Marcel, we have the best tools for meaningful development and talent growth. Generative AI is changing a paradigm in our business. We can scale up. We are continuously innovating. Publicis is advocating for gender equality. We have the Women's Forum for the Economy & Society of the last 20 years, which promotes the contribution of women to the economy and society.
This is an international platform for equality. We bring together leaders, universities, companies, and associations. In Publicis, we got to our objective of 46.5% of women in key positions in the company in 2025. We joined various networks like enABLE, which are open to all. Our third pillar is health. In a world where one person in two is likely to get cancer, we need to change the approach. A serious illness is an ordeal for everybody, the person themselves and their family. We advocate for working with cancer to remove stigma of working with cancer. 500 companies have joined this movement. We've made commitments for the people who are affected to provide security, to accompany them, to support and provide care for them. Since 2026, an international study has shown that health will improve if the workplace is right.
If you have a supportive workplace, then they will do better. Publicis was designated Best Company 2026 for working with cancer. For us, making the difference means moving into the new century differently with a positive impact for our workforce, society, and environment.
Thank you very much indeed, and thanks to our teams. Now we are going to look at the financial details for 2025. Net income was EUR 14.5 billion. That's up 5.6% in organic growth and 4.2% reported growth. The operating margin, EUR 2.6 billion, that's up 5.1%. Our free cash flow before our working capital requirement variation reached EUR 2 billion for the first time as compared to EUR 1.8 billion in 2024. We saw an active policy of acquisitions together with an unfavorable development of the dollar. This led to a slight increase in our net debt, on average EUR 1 billion. Operating margin has increased slightly.
It's at a record level of 18.2% in 2025. This is the highest of the industry. As I said, this is a historic performance. At the same time, we continue to invest in talents with more than 5,000 net recruits, a bonus pool which is the highest level of the industry, and significant investment of EUR 150 million in artificial intelligence. That's up 15% compared to 2024. Once again, the group has demonstrated its ability to generate good cash flow of more than EUR 2 billion in 2025, up EUR 200 million compared to the previous year. Thanks to careful management of payments, change in WCR remained under control despite sustained growth of our business. We maintained targeted acquisitions, EUR 700 million in 2025. To that, you have to add earn-outs, Captiv8 and Lotame, for instance. Our net cash situation fell slightly by EUR 227,000 in 2025.
The macroeconomic context is uncertain, our situation is very sound. Our average net debt was EUR 971 million. That's EUR 400 million up, of which EUR 300 million is related to the negative currency translation effect because of the dollar. Net financial debt at year-end, EUR 548 million. Rating agencies, S&P and Moody's, confirmed our credit rating at the beginning of this year. On the basis of those figures. Thanks to those outstanding 2025 results, we're suggesting that we pay out dividend of EUR 3.4 this year. That's an increase of 4.2% as compared to 2023. The distribution rate is 50.1%. That's the highest level of the industry, we have chosen this year, once again, to pay out all of the dividend in cash. EUR 3.75.
Just to wind up, these are excellent results, but there's also something else that's very dear to our heart and at the heart of Publicis, it's creativity. This is the engine of our growth. It's the fuel of our company. The agency was recognized for the second consecutive year as the best agency in the world at Cannes and founded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. We are very proud of this and proud of all of our teams. What's amazing at Publicis Conseil is that they have huge campaigns with big accounts which change the trajectory of the brands, and we're going to show you a film that we made for AXA to illustrate this.
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Thank you very much. The cherry on the cake, Publicis, according to Time, is one of the 100 most influential companies in the world. Maurice and I love this because this puts us alongside Anthropic, Meta, Nvidia. Obviously, our market value is not the same, but it certainly puts us in the right league, and it's excellent recognition in the U.S. The 2026 outlook now. 2026 is a year of major challenges. When I showed Maurice this chart, he said, "You say this every year." I had to admit that that's true, but I said it's particularly true this year. The macroeconomic climate is tough. We have many fears and uncertainties surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence that weigh on our ratings, and we have a completely transformed competitive landscape. Number two bought up number two, et cetera.
All of this is having an impact on our clients. The good news is that we got off to a good start with organic revenue growth in Q1. That was 6.4%. Net revenue growth, 4.5%. Above all, we can confirm all of the 2026 guidance objectives, despite the uncertain macroeconomic context. Net revenue organic growth of 4% to 5% with a very solid floor of 4%. We're sure of doing that. We hope to do better, and we're predicting a slight improvement in Q2, which is great, especially in this context. Operating margin rate, slight improvement, and free cash flow of more than EUR 2.1 billion. All of that looks pretty good given the climate. By way of conclusion, I'd like to come back to the three reasons for our confidence in our ability to continue delivering objectives and to outperform in 2026 and beyond.
As Maurice has said, and this is in the genes of Publicis, and our founder always said this, we're 100% focused on clients. That may sound like a very simple message, but it makes all the difference. Our transformation is behind us. At a given point in time, it was difficult. We restructured. We took bold decisions, with Epsilon, for instance, when growth wasn't what was expected, but we have turned out to be right. That was the vision of Maurice, the same for the Power of One. We said we need to simplify structures, and Maurice in 2014, 2015, initiated the Power of One, and we were pioneers with AI, first movers with Marcel. This means that we have won market shares, and we're number one position in the media billings in the U.S., despite the fact that the leading American firm bought up the second one.
That counts. It's a market where scale counts. We move into becoming one in China. The two main markets are China and the U.S. We are well ahead of others in new business, and we will continue to outperform in 2026. If you look at consensus reports with a margin that continues to improve, and we continue to forge ahead and outdistance our rivals. The second message I want to get across is that artificial intelligence is a driver of growth and profitability for Publicis. Some people are skeptical and have doubts about that. There's a debate about AI losers and AI winners. I would like to make one point quite clear, and that is that we are the winners. These are not just words, hollow rhetoric.
If you look at the last three years with the arrival of Gen AI, we have got growth of 20%. We've added EUR 2.3 billion in additional revenue. We've accelerated our difference with the rest of competition because we were first movers, because we've moved fast, and we focus on our clients. The same is true for margin. Since, EBITDA has increased twofold, and we've added 270 base points to our margin. We're not going to stop there. We're going to continue to accelerate growth thanks to our clients, because AI helps to identify new consumers for them. It helps to create more intelligent and better-adapted content and to do better every day. We're going to be using artificial intelligence to improve intrinsic Publicis performance, thanks to agentification of operations.
The third reason that we are confident is because there is a scissor effect in our favor. There is less competition. I am talking about the big competitors. There were four. There is only three now. We have reduced the competitive field, and we continue to invest in new addressable markets that are growing with influencers or with trade, with sport. As Maurice has said, we are going to continue with this, with LiveRamp. LiveRamp is a global platform for data collaboration so that companies can unify, manage, and activate their data through the whole of their digital ecosystem in a completely secure manner, because that is what our clients expect. It is an acquisition that is worth about EUR 1.8 billion enterprise value. It is growing fast, 13% on average annual net revenue growth over the last five years, good operating margin, and which will be accretive to the group's headline EPS.
It's just the beginning. We need to get approval for LiveRamp for shareholders, and we need to get regulatory approvals. We hope to be able to close by year-end 2026. Once finalized, there are three major key advantages for our company. First of all, it will mean that we have new key expertise that we can make available to clients, data co-creation. It has to be understood that AI without data is worthless because AI is huge sources of data that speak to other sources of data. 93% of our clients today can't make the most of AI because they don't have the right data. With LiveRamp, we'll be able to use their data to aggregate it, to organize it, to aggregate it with other sources of data in a secure environment, to give them a competitive advantage.
We always think in terms of how is this going to help the clients? How will it help them to have a competitive edge? The second point is it really fits into our growth model. Epsilon, Sapient, and Marcel, we are now building a new model, increasingly innovative with, we hope, ever-stronger growth. This brings me to the third point. We think that LiveRamp will help us to continue our trajectory that we started with Epsilon. Most of you will remember in 2019 when we made that gamble, that was a bet, and it's in the genes of Publicis, as Maurice told you. We have always invested in the best talents on the market and in innovations that help our clients to grow and to progress. This has always helped Publicis itself.
Since 2019, when we bought up Epsilon, our net revenue increased by almost 50%, our operating margin almost 60%, headline diluted EPS by 50%, dividend per share by 226%, total shareholder return since 2019 of 226%. 158%, sorry. This brings me to the end of my presentation. It remains for me to thank you, shareholders, for believing with us, standing by us. I'd also like to thank our clients who are maybe not in the room but may be listening. It's the confidence and trust of our clients that supports Publicis. It's easy to stand here and present these outstanding results, especially compared to the rest of the industry. But on a day-to-day basis, it's a tough market for our workforce, for our teams, who work unstintingly to make sure the company does well. I'd like to thank the board, especially Élisabeth Badinter, for her unfailing support.
That makes all the difference since I was fortunate enough to be CEO of the group. Of course, it goes without saying almost, I would like to thank Maurice Lévy. Maurice, I have been fortunate enough to work with you for 20 years. I learn something new every day. For me, everybody in the room would agree, you are always there for us, for our clients. We are very fortunate. Thank you very much indeed.
We're now going to move to the reports of the board of directors and of committees for 2025. Before I hand over to the chairs of the committees, I suggest we watch a short video on the functioning and the work of your board in 2025. As at the 31st of December 2025, there were 13 members on the board, with 45% women and 73% people that were not French nationals. In 2025, the board convened eight times with attendance rates of 97%. The lead director, Mr. Kudelski, also convened two meetings with independent directors only. To support him in his work, the board is supported by four specialist committees, the committees of Audit and Financial Risks, chaired by Mr. Thomas H. Glocer and supported by permanent assistant Mr. [Gleisser]. Mrs. Élisabeth Badinter chairs the Nominating Committee. The Compensation Committee chaired by Ms. Antonella Mei-Pochtler, supported by permanent expert Mr. Michel Cicurel.
The strategic environment and social committee, chaired by Marie-Josée Kravis. All in all, 16 meetings and two common sessions between the different committees in 2025. Throughout the year, the board paid close attention to the activities and the results of the group. It approved the financial and corporate statements of 2025, reviewed the proposed dividend of EUR 3.75. In terms of governance, the board reviewed the membership of the board. It closely looked at the appointment members in the search for new members in order to strengthen its independence. Besides, the board worked on the strategic and sustainability priorities. It also devoted its annual seminar to AI, reviewed the cybersecurity systems, looked at the main mergers and acquisitions operations, looked at climate change and renewable energy challenges. The board also consulted all questions and comments by investors and shareholders and included them in its work.
Like every year, it reviewed the main takeaways of the general meeting of the previous years. Thank you very much. Now, over to Mr. Thomas H. Glocer, who will be addressing you for the very first time to present the activity report of the Audit and Financial Risks Committee, for which he took over the chairmanship last May. Over to you, Thomas.
Thank you, Arthur. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. On the 27th of May 2025, I succeeded Mr. Jean Charest as Chair of this Committee. I would like to warmly thank my predecessor for his contribution during his chairmanship and for agreeing to continue participating in our work. As every year, the Committee reviewed the Group's statutory consolidated financial statements that will be submitted for your approval under the first and second resolutions. The Committee examined the accounting methods and analyzed the cash position.
The committee ensured the independence of the statutory auditors and of the proper conduct of their missions. It reviewed and approved the fees for additional assignments entrusted with the auditors who presented their methodology, the scope of their audits, and detailed work to the committee. The main disputes, which are limited in number relative to the group's size, as well as ongoing investigations, are presented at each meeting. The committee informed the board of the results of the evaluation procedure for agreements entered into by Publicis Groupe SA that cover routine transactions conducted under normal conditions. The committee monitored the evolution of the group's internal accounting and financial audit system. This system is based on a quarterly self-assessment process and on dedicated teams that are responsible for testing the effectiveness of key checks. The conclusion is that the level of internal audit for the 2025 financial year is deemed satisfactory.
The group's internal audit department executed the 2025 audit plan exceeding the set objectives. The committee approved the 2026 internal audit plan and closely monitors the implementation of the recommendations. In April 2026, the certification of the internal audit department, which has been regularly obtained since 2017, was renewed for three years by the French Institute of Internal Audit and Control. This recognition attests to the sustained quality of Publicis' internal audit, which the committee welcomes. The committee is regularly informed of alerts, fraud, and attempted fraud reported to the group. A summary of anti-corruption checks identified within the agencies is presented semi-annually in accordance with the Sapin II Law. No cases of proven corruption have been identified. Your committee reviewed financial risks, both actual and potential, as well as off-balance sheet commitments. It examined the group's cybersecurity framework in collaboration with members of the strategic, environmental, and social committee.
The committee took note of the group's insurance policy. Finally, your committee monitored the results and mechanisms implemented for the first sustainability reporting within the group. It reviewed the work of the auditor responsible for certifying sustainability information for the 2024 financial year. It examined the conclusions related to the update of the double materiality matrix, as well as the analysis of the most significant IROs Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities for the company. It also reviewed the scope of the 2025 sustainability audit, the update of the group's climate risk mapping, and the revision of the climate transition plan. With a new climate trajectory that will be submitted to the SBTi in 2026. Ms. Marie-Josée Kravis, the Chair of the Strategic, Environmental, and Social Committee, will provide further details on this shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Tom. Thank you very much indeed.
I now hand over to Ms. Élisabeth Badinter, the Chair of the Nominating Committee, who's going to be presenting the work of the committee in 2025.
Thank you, Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. As Chair of the Nominating Committee, I shall now report on the work of this committee in 2025. The committee reviewed the membership of the board and of its committees and issued several recommendations. In just a moment, I shall present the proposed evolutions relative to the membership of your board that will be put today to your approval. As for every year, the committee has reviewed the level of independence of board members against the AFEP-MEDEF code criteria. Last, the committee carried out in-depth work on the succession plans, and more specifically on the succession plan for the CEO, taking into account both the needs of the group and the expectations expressed by our stakeholders.
The Chief Executive Officer was involved in this work in compliance with criteria that ensure the independence of the committee's decision. The Lead Director ensured the smooth conduct, objectivity, and quality of this process. Now let me address the changes that we propose today. Following this general meeting, the terms of Mr. Simon Badinter and Mr. Tidjane Thiam as directors will expire. Simon Badinter has decided not to request the renewal of his term, which therefore will expire at the end of this meeting. On behalf of the entire board of directors, I'd like to express to him all our thanks for his constant involvement and for his contribution to the development of the governance of Publicis Groupe over the last 26 years. The Nominating Committee proposed to the board the appointment of Mr. Benjamin Badinter as director to succeed him for a duration of four years.
That is until the general meeting that will deliberate on the financial statements for the year ended on December 31st, 2029. This proposal follows the group's governance approach, which seeks to preserve the foundation of our core values in the best interest of employees, shareholders, and all stakeholders. Benjamin Badinter spent most of his career within the outlets and agencies of Publicis that he joined in 1995. He has developed recognized expertise in media and communication, specifically in the field of cinema advertising. His knowledge of the group and his deep experience of this industry make him a natural and legitimate candidate to serve on your board. Let me now hand over to him so that he can introduce himself directly to you.
Good morning to all. First of all, I'd like to thank the board for its trust, particularly Maurice Lévy and Arthur Sadoun.
I've known Arthur Sadoun for a number of years already as we went to school together. Maurice Lévy, of course, to all of us, is an authority. He taught me a lot. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Most of it has been said. I spent most of my career at Publicis, so I know this company fairly well. I have expertise in the media advertising agency, especially cinema advertising in all its forms, in theaters or in digital networks today. There's another activity which hasn't been mentioned, tennis, which is quite hot at the moment. The [inaudible], but that's for connoisseurs, of course. The Italian players will probably shine at the end of the week.
Rest assured that I will strive to defend the interest of all stakeholders, and I will do my level best to ensure that our performance can remain as outstanding as it has been in the last years. Thank you very much for your trust. You can count on me.
Thank you, Benjamin. As regards the directorship of Mr. Tidjane Thiam, the committee has recommended his reappointment for four years, that is until the general meeting that will be called upon to deliberate on the financial statements for the year ended on December 31st, 2029. Mr. Tidjane Thiam contributes to the board recognized expertise in financial, governance, and risk management aspects. Expertise that he has gained throughout a distinguished international career in the private and public sectors.
His in-depth knowledge of Asian and African markets, as well as his experience within major financial institutions and international organizations, are major assets for the board, specifically as regards the assessment of strategic challenges and for the group's investment decisions. His reappointment on the board will enable us to benefit further from his essential perspective and his valuable contribution to the quality of our governance. Unfortunately, Mr. Tidjane Thiam could not be with us today. He wanted to personally address you with a short video message. We're going to play it now.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. Four years ago, you granted me your trust by appointing me as director. I'd like to thank you for this. This term was extremely rewarding as far as I'm concerned.
It was very important for me to contribute to the work of the Board, especially on the Audit and Financial Risks Committee and on the Strategic, Environmental, and Social Committee. I used my international experience that I gained in consultancy and banking. In the last years, I've been able to witness the transformation of Publicis, the uniqueness, and strength of our model. Today, I'd like to continue this commitment. Therefore, I'd like to apply for the renewal of my term. I'd like to thank Élisabeth Badinter, as well as members of the Nominating Committee and of the Board for their trust. If you place again your trust in me for the next four years, rest assured that I will be fully involved to work for Publicis Groupe and for all its stakeholders. Thank you very much indeed.
We do hope that you will approve these proposals. Apologies, I made a mistake. I skipped a page, apparently. Apologies. Finally, just one word about the additional resolution that will be put to your approval today. With the support of the Nominating Committee, the board of directors has been fully committed to strengthening the independence of your board and has pledged to appoint a new independent director before the end of 2026. Work was initiated as early as late 2024 to identify the profiles that would have recognized expertise in artificial intelligence and in technologies which are of strategic importance for the group
In the last days, this work has led to the selection of a highly qualified candidate, Ms. Jaime Teevan. She's the Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow at Microsoft. She's a recognized figure for her work in artificial intelligence. A resolution was added by the Board of Directors in order to propose the nomination of Ms. Jaime Teevan. This will allow us to strengthen the independence of the Board, its AI expertise, and to reach perfect gender diversity. Let us now discover Ms. Teevan with a short video.
Bonjour, and thank you to the board and shareholders for considering my candidacy. My name is Jaime Teevan, and I'm a chief scientist and technical fellow at Microsoft, where I focus on how advances in AI improve how people work, create, and collaborate. What draws me to Publicis Groupe is the company's leadership in combining creativity, data, and emerging technology at a global scale. If elected, I would bring a perspective grounded in state-of-the-art technology, responsible innovation, and long-term value creation while supporting the board in its oversight of strategy and risk. As Publicis Groupe enters its second century, I would be honored to contribute to its long tradition of reinvention and help shape what comes next. Thank you.
We do hope that these proposals will receive your approval. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.
I'll just add a few word. We're absolutely delighted of the arrival of Jaime on the board. With that, she will bring a great deal. She knows AI inside out in companies most in vogue at the cutting edge of AI, and it's going to be a very useful adjunct too. We're very pleased to welcome Benjamin. We were at school together, a year older, natural authority over me. I'm sure he'll preserve that. We're delighted. Benjamin said we need the right balance between people who know Publicis. We want to remain true to our values. One of the reasons why we're going from strength to strength, and he, like Jaime, who will take us on new routes. Great balance. Lastly, thanks to Simon Badinter because his role on the board was key.
You need to know that Simon, great activities in the U.S., not going to talk about it, to doing things that are truly impactful. When he can't be present, he's up at 2:00 A.M., very active, very challenging. Did a great job. Personally, as I said, I got here 20 years ago, Benjamin, Simon, part of the people who welcomed me, helped me to grow, to understand better the Publicis. They helped me a great deal to understand Maurice Lévy, not always easy, and I'm particularly grateful to Simon today. Since as is customary, secretary of the meeting will read the resolution. Céline.
Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to read to you the motion for a new resolution appointment of Madame Jaime Teevan as independent director. This resolution will be put to the vote after resolution six under the title Resolution A. Resolution appointment of Madame Jaime Teevan as director. The AGM on a quorum basis for ordinary meetings proposes that you appoint following this meeting, Madame Jaime Teevan as director for a four-year term until the end of the ordinary meetings that will approve the accounts of 2029. Madame Jaime Teevan has indicated she'd accept this appointment, exercised no duty or any measure preventing her from exercising this position. Thank you. If you've got any questions regarding this appointment, I invite you to put those during the Q&A session later on.
Let's move on with our agenda and hand over to Madame Antonella Mei-Pochtler, Chair of the Nominations Committee , who'll give her report.
Thank you, Chairman. Ladies, gentlemen, 2025, the Compensation Committee met on five occasions. Its work focused on compensation of the Chair and CEO and Board members, as well as provisions applicable to all employees. I'd like to say a word on the key points of the resolutions put to your vote. In respect, first of all, of the compensation of Board members, the annual package of EUR 1.5 million that you approved last year, and the compensation package of Directors remains unchanged. For Directors who have not yet taken up their duties at the 1st of January 2026, it's proposed to calculate their compensation on a pro rata basis in accordance with the start or end date of their term.
For Mr. Sadoun for 2026, the board proposes a revision of base compensation. No change is brought to the overall package or the performance criteria. Given the disproportionate gap of the compensation of the CEO of Publicis with those of his direct competitors, after a detailed analysis based on the lasting outperformance of your group, its sustained growth, the strategic transformation undertaken, the internal team, the board, upon recommendation of the Compensation Committee, proposes that you increase by 20% the annual fixed compensation of Mr. Arthur Sadoun that has remained unchanged since 2022, and to increase it to EUR 1,404,000 .
You'll also be asked to approve the variable compensation of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for 2025, based on exacting criteria that are predetermined. The committee carefully scrutinized the attainment of the targets to be reached by Mr. Sadoun, and issued the following recommendations related to Board to approve the total compensation of Mr. Sadoun. The maximum target of organic growth of the group's revenue was exceeded. Publicis has exceeded all expectations in terms of growth. The maximum target of operating margin was also exceeded. In respect of CSR, the impact and equity, and fight against climate change targets were also exceeded. Given the outstanding performance of the group in 2025, and the remarkable work of Mr. Sadoun, the Board proposes to pay him the maximum amount of his annual variable compensation. Thank you.
Thank you, Antonella. We're going to welcome Madame Marie-Josée Kravis, Chair of the Strategic Environment Social Committee, who'll deliver her report. Thank you.
Thank you, Chair. Ladies, gentlemen, shareholders. The Strategic Environment Social Committee is tasked with reviewing all aspects of the group strategy, including its environmental and social commitments. In 2025, we held two joint sessions with the Audit and Financial Risks Committee that allowed us to work together on updating the major risk map and the group's cybersecurity setup. We also were informed of a scenario planning exercise designed to assess the group capability to respond to extreme events. Feedback on the Ukraine-Russia conflict illustrated the group's resilience, its ability to steer a crisis situation. Publicis demonstrated that its governance model has adapted and can operate in an unstable geopolitical setting.
Lastly, the committee was informed of the M&A policy undertaken since 2019, the key sectors deals underway, the pace of acquisitions, as well as the M&A plan for 2025. The committee was informed of the main actions implemented in the three areas of the vigilance plan human rights, health, and safety of individuals, the environment, as well as risk tracking measures for the most serious items. Regarding compliance, the committee reviewed the risk map of non-compliance and ethical breaches, and no high risk was identified. The committee also discussed the new targets in terms of gender equality. In terms of CSR and sustainability, the group reviewed the revision of the climate risk map, incorporating two global warming scenarios, one at plus four degrees centigrade and one at plus 1.5 degrees. The work did not highlight any significant new risk for Publicis.
We also reviewed the update of the double materiality analysis that showed no major variance between 2023 and 2025. The committee also reviewed the international deployment of the program, No Impact For Big Impact, a proprietary ecosystem there to change marketing and responsible and sustainability practice. We tracked legal changes that occurred in 2025 regarding European directives on sustainability reporting and the duty of care. I'd like to share by sharing this visual that illustrates the change in the group's tri-mid trajectory. The outstanding growth of the company sometimes masks efforts at reduction undertaken these past few years. Since 2019, these emissions are down 11% in absolute terms when the group experienced a growth of 48% of its revenue. The carbon intensity per capita is down 33%, which clearly demonstrates that reduction actions were implemented.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Marie-Josée, and a very big thank you for your ongoing support in the U.S., which is, of course, the number one market. That's extremely valuable to me. Let's move now to the Lead Director, Mr. André Kudelski, who's key for the quality of our governance. Over to you, André.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Arthur. During 2025, as independent Lead Director, I held regular and in-depth discussions with the management and in particular on group governance matter. I met with the heads of the various corporate functions so as to discuss with them the key matters of topical interest to ensure close coordination between the work of the board and the management teams.
As regards the board's work, I was consulted for the preparation of each and every agenda and took part in all meetings of the board, as well as those of the committees of which I am a member. Like last year, the assessment of the board and its committees in respect of FY 2025 was undertaken under my supervision. I examined the questionnaire put to directors and discussed individually with those who so wished before reporting to the board in early 2026. The conclusions of this assessment confirmed the smooth functioning of the board and its committee. No situation regarding the risk of conflict of interest was addressed during the board session over the past year. Furthermore, I organized and led two executive sessions reserved for only independent directors, whose conclusions were shared with all board members.
I was closely involved in the discussion on the succession plan of Chairman and CEO and of key executives, both in the Nominating Committee as well as beyond the formal governing bodies. I contributed to shareholder dialogue on matters pertaining to governance, was kept informed of the conclusions of meetings organized with certain institutional investors. In the discharge of my duties, I reached the conclusion that the board operates in a spirit of openness and rigor with a true balance between management and independent directors. The quality of this dialogue, in my view, is a bedrock for good governance, serving the group's performance and sustainability. Thank you.
Thank you. We now move to the report of the auditors available on the group. KPMG up next. Over to you, Marie.
Thank you, Chair. Shareholders, it's a pleasure for me to present on behalf of the College of Auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, the reports that we have drawn up for your attention for fiscal year closing 31st of December 2025. The reports refer to the annual accounts and the consolidated accounts, regulated agreements, and resolutions relating to movements of capital. All of these reports have been made available for you and are included in the universal registration document 2025 and/or on the internet site of the company. I would now like to summarize the main terms of those reports.
Regarding our reports on the annual and consolidated accounts, which are the subject of the first and second resolutions, we certify that those accounts are addressed in an accurate and fair manner relating to the accounting benchmarks and give a faithful reflection of the results, the financial situation, and the assets of the company and the group at the end of fiscal year 2025. Regarding the annual accounts of the company, we have no reservations, but we do have a technical comment relating to the application for the first time of a new regulation intended to modernize financial statements as of the 1st of January 2025. Within the frame of our mission, we paid particular attention to some key points of the audit, which we consider to be more significant and to help us form our opinion.
For the consolidated accounts, this is recognition of revenue, evaluation of goodwill, accountancy and evaluation of provisions for risks and litigation, other provisions, and possible liabilities. For the annual accounts, it is the evaluation of holdings held by the company. Regarding the fourth resolution of the shareholders meeting, we have drafted a report on regulated agreements. We inform you that we have been informed of no authorized agreement reached during the past fiscal year, and therefore not needed to be submitted to approval by the shareholder, nor have we been informed of other agreements that might have continued during the fiscal year and negotiated beforehand.
Regarding the extraordinary part of the shareholders meetings, we have drafted three reports that relate to a delegation to the board of various issuances of ordinary shares or marketable securities that might have an impact on the capital of the company, and therefore, we ask you to vote on these. This is the issuance of ordinary shares or marketable securities with the maintenance or cancellation of preferential subscription rights as set out in resolutions 12 to 15, and then again, resolutions 17 to 19. Issuance of ordinary shares or marketable securities for members of a corporate savings plan, this is resolution 20, and the issuance of ordinary shares or marketable securities with cancellation of preferential subscription right to benefit certain specific categories of beneficiaries as under Resolution 21.
We have no observations to make on this subject. Some of the conditions of issuance are not yet known, and we will draft a supplementary report if required when these powers are availed of by your board. Finally, regarding the work on information relating to sustainability and taxonomy published by the company, we have issued a report relating to compliance with the process to determine information regarding sustainability in keeping with the European sustainability reporting standards, compliance with ESRS of the publication of this information in the management report, and compliance with the taxonomy. We did not note any material error, omission, or inconsistencies relating to compliance with information published regarding sustainability. These are therefore compliant with the ESRS standards. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much indeed. This brings us to the end of the presentations. We will move on to question and answer session.
We have received a series of written questions, and we have answered those, as in keeping with the usual provisions. The written questions and the answers have been published on the internet site of Publicis Groupe under Shareholders' Meeting. We are now available to answer any questions. Who would like to start off? We can't see you very well, but I can see a hand at the back there.
Hello, Charles-Luc. I'm a retail shareholder. I'm very proud to be a shareholder of the number one advertising agency worldwide. Especially, it's a French company. Your values are amazing. You have a lot of passion and energy. Warren Buffett, who's my mentor, would be delighted. I'm a bit disappointed with the share value on the market over the last year. I have a question to try and understand.
Publicis and your acquisition checklist, what are the three key criteria when you buy up a company? I have another question. AI and Publicis. You said Publicis is a winner, the clients are also winners, especially those who are well-informed and inquisitive. What is the best way to convince even the shrewdest client to continue to use your services? A third question, Publicis and the rest of the world. In order to better understand the specificity of Publicis, could you quote one or two services that you're the only ones to offer? That'd be good for your publicity as well. Thank you, thank you to VivaTech, who's the best tech fair in Paris.
Thank you very much indeed. Well, there's a lot in there. Let me begin with the first point. You're a bit disappointed by the share price. So are we.
Let's try and step back a little bit. If you look at share price, dividends or TSR over the last six or seven years, we are doing best in the whole industry, and we're doing very well compared to the rest of the French stock exchange, the leading companies, CAC 40. That said, it's frustrating. To be honest, it's very frustrating. We are outstanding in performance, yet it's not fully recognized by the market. Let's put it as bluntly as that. Who would have thought that we were to outgrow Accenture, for instance? Many other agencies. There are two factors behind this macroeconomic situation, of course. The drop in the dollar. That sort of goes hand in hand, and that has impacted us. You saw the figures. There's not much we can do about that for the time being.
The perception that AI is going to have a negative impact. I look back over the years, it's a bit similar to 2019. We had internal difficulties related to Meta, Google, and the like, and we were able to demonstrate quarter by quarter that we could do better and outperform, and our share price rose, soared. I don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. We are very confident about our capacity to continue to deliver growth and profits and continue to innovate, I'll come back to this, and to gradually get financial markets to recognize our performance at a high level compared to a few years back. That's the first point. Acquisitions. I said this earlier on.
One of the reasons I joined Publicis 20 years ago, maybe the main one, well, also the joy of working with Maurice Lévy, we are obsessed by what's coming next. We want to remain independent, we want to remain strong in troubled times. We're always looking at what's going to come next. The best way to succeed on that score is to have talents. We invest in talent. We are very proud of this. We recruit people, we increase salaries, we pay out bonuses. Our competitors are firing thousands of people. It's a people-first line of business, and it's our greatest asset. The future of AI, the men and women who are going to succeed to get it working better than in other firms. We continue to invest in this, and we continue to invest in acquisitions. Three criteria when you have an acquisition.
Does this meet a client's need? Does it really help clients? Will it help them win? Second, does it fit with our strategy? Does it add another brick that gives more value within Publicis than if they're not in Publicis? If you look at our acquisitions, you can see growth around 20%. Epsilon at 10%, it was less than 3% when we bought it, and it has to help improve our financial performance. It's the case with LiveRamp, and it's been the case with past acquisitions. AI, well, and what we have that's unique for our clients. There are really two, maybe three pillars. Our talents and creativity they bring, and technology.
If you look at companies all over the world, the ones that are likely to succeed tomorrow, there are a lot of high-tech companies that are losing value at the moment, but those that will really succeed are the ones who have the best technology and the best talents. Make sure that that technology will work for our clients, and that's the great strength of Publicis. We have been courageous in our investments, in line with Maurice's vision in data technology and AI, so that we have tools that our competitors don't have. We've also got people in Publicis who know how to implement that, who know how to go out and look for new growth segments for our clients to invent the media of the future. Influencers, for instance, to have customized measurable tools.
This is just a reinvention of the company, which is something we've been doing for the last 100 years, as you saw in the film. I could go on for a half an hour or so, but we don't have clients in the room.
I don't need to continue on that score. Are there any other questions? Well, we'll be winding up earlier than expected. No. Come on, they're just being a bit shy.
Hello, Laurent Patty. I'm a visionary and a committed shareholder. In 2026, Publicis is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Viva Technology, 50 years. You have got a more immersive, more decisive tech approach. You've got Viva Technology is the 17th of June in Porte de Versailles. We've got a wall, European sovereignty. There are different attacks, assaults on companies, their leaders, and the whole planet. There's Fortress Bodyguard, which is a cybersecurity tool. Because we're here at Publicis Cinema, this would be Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, A Single Sovereign, and Minority Report, anticipating threats. My question is simple. How can Publicis, through Publicis Sapient, access disruptive technology through Viva Technology?
Is Viva Technology still an agile tool to challenge these projects with your teams? Thank you. I'll answer the first question. Viva Technology. I'll hand over to my boss afterwards. Everything you've just said justifies the role of Sapient. Sapient is engineers and consultants who help clients to navigate a complex world and to take on board these new technologies and integrate them into their business. That's why we're frustrated by the slowdown in investment in CapEx of our clients at the moment is because it's hard to predict what's going to happen. We're confident because all of our clients experience what you've just described. They're going to need engineers, like the engineers of Sapient, so that they can build the technological platform they're going to need. They will need the data that's the fuel of AI and all of the services we can provide. Maurice, regarding Viva Technology.
Well, for Viva Technology, I would just like to give you a VIP pass so that you can get access to the next session and see for yourself all of the innovations there. European sovereignty is something you've mentioned. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity. One of the roles of Viva Technology is to open up new possibilities in a world that's dominated by the Chinese and Americans at the moment. It's very important for us to find our place for the future. Come up, give me your name and address, and I'll send you the VIP pass.
A question in hall two.
There's a question in room two, and then we'll come back to you, if you don't mind.
I'm a retail shareholder, Jean De Rex. Your revenue in Asia is quite low. Your EUR 8.9 billion in America, EUR 5.3 billion in Europe, and EUR 1.2 billion or EUR 1.3 billion for Asia Pacific. Do you think that's going to stay that way, or are you going to focus more on Asia? Congratulations, by the way, on what the Lead Director said, that you've organized meetings with independent directors. I don't think other companies do that, and I think it's a great idea. Regarding the compensation and comparison with other groups, page 116 of the annual report, you compare with Havas, for instance, WPP. Is that the right set of companies for comparative analysis? Things are changing a lot. Should the Compensation Committee not change the panel? WPP, for instance, should it be in there? Yeah, WPP. I got it wrong the first time around, sorry.
Antonella, perhaps you could answer that question. André, do you want to add anything? I'll begin perhaps with the question about Asia. It's not a major share of our revenue, you're right. Please note that Asia, and especially China, is the number two market or the number one market for many of our clients. It's not a big share of our revenue, but it's strategic. We are now number one in China. That's significant. WPP held that position for years. Through rapid acquisitions, we succeeded with organic growth to become number one. Loris Nold is a financial director at the moment, but was the architect of everything that we've achieved in Asia. Thank you. We've got a leader in the region who's outstanding, who was recruited by Maurice.
We are confident that we'll be able to develop in Asia organically rather than through acquisitions. We've got a good head start technologically. We want to succeed in terms of excellence, not necessarily in terms of size. André and Antonella, perhaps you'd like to come in.
Thank you, Arthur. Just like to specify one point. Those executive sessions with just the independent directors are really good. It means that you get a sense of what it is they feel and what they are thinking. What we note is that there's strong identity in Publicis, so the directors are keen for the company to do well, to develop, and this helps us read between the lines, which is not always expressed perhaps in the official board meetings. Very useful. Antonella.
Thank you for suggesting that we have reconsider our benchmark. We do reconsider the companies regularly in our benchmark panel. We look at companies that are directly comparable, but this is something that's uppermost in our mind, and thank you for reminding of that. It's something that needs to be done regularly.
There was a question in the room, I believe.
Thank you. Good morning. Well done for the results. I've got two questions. The first, internationally. Situation is very complex and is becoming increasingly so. I'm not just talking about France, although there's a lot of tension in France as well. How are you going to navigate tomorrow? How are you going to organize Publicis so to navigate, I don't know if we can call it a crisis. There's a whole series of crises. Secondly, my daughter is studying as an engineer in data. Publicis is 100 years old now. What would the founder of Publicis tell my daughter?
I think that's for you, that second question. It's maybe for Élisabeth. It's certainly not for me. I'll let you think it through. I'm going to answer the first question. How shall I put it? It's too early to assess the impact of the crisis. We don't really see it in Q1 results at the moment or for the April figures. As a shareholder of Publicis, two things to bear in mind. We have been able to demonstrate time after time that we managed crises better than other companies, we also emerge from a crisis strengthened. The second point is we managed to deliver. That's why I stressed our teams. We outperform our markets and related markets, although the situation is grim generally. It's worth noting that let's put 2021 to one side because 2020 was really bad. In 2022, we had 10% growth.
Things were going well then. Today, we have the same difficulties as our competitors, the CapEx cuts. Despite those difficulties, we are managing to deliver record growth and record value for the shareholders. We manage crises well, and we managed them well before COVID. 2008, for instance, Maurice mentioned that and others before. You saw the history of Publicis. It's part of our DNA. Secondly, despite the difficulties, we are outperforming well, and even very well, and that's very reassuring.
You have enough time now?
Yes. Has that given you enough time to think about the answer? Yes.
I keep thinking about my first meeting with Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. I talked about computers. He stopped me and said, "If I put something there, will I get a result there?" I said, "Yes." That was his approach, that's the amazing talent he had. He was always inquisitive, curious about new technology. He always wanted to find out more, get to know people who had a slightly different mindset. He wanted to attract them to Publicis. That's why we had a kaleidoscope of amazing skills and personalities. What he would probably tell your daughter is, "Come along and see me.
Thank you very much. Four, and then we'll take room two.
Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, Philippe Chaunet, a retail shareholder for many years now of Publicis. I'm very pleased to be a longstanding shareholder. I don't want to compare myself to Maurice Lévy, but I had IT responsibilities in various companies, some small, some larger, some international, for 30 years or more, and I'm still fascinated by this, although I retired 10 years ago. I'm beginning to have a nagging doubt. While I was working, I managed to understand how computers worked, even though they changed a lot. Now I can't. I can't keep up because with artificial intelligence, and I know you have amazing specialists and experts, but can they stop fake news and data theft? How can you stop that? I have this nagging doubt.
Even though you have experts, you say you're developing in China, but in all businesses, the Chinese are very good at one thing, and that is to understand the product or the service they bind, to suck the juice out of it, and then to do it cheaper and better back home. Then they flood global markets. One of the strengths of Publicis is data. Don't you think that you're running a risk if you share that data with the Chinese, even if you take a lot of precautions? Aren't you afraid of data theft? Don't you think that sooner or later, they will steal your special skills and lines of business from you? I have a brief comment regarding the organization of the shareholders' meeting. Publicis is the leading communication group in the world.
I'm looking around the room now, and I'm not the only elderly person in the room. Probably not the only person in the room who doesn't see that well. The slides that you showed are using the Publicis colors. A white background and light beige, it's very hard for us to read. A second question. I'm very keen on environmental policies in the company, but given the relatively low number of participants compared to other companies like Air Liquide and Sanofi, who hand out a little leaflet that you can look through. Is that not something that Publicis could do as well? I don't think that would be too damaging for the environment.
First of all, regarding the organization. Maurice is head of artistic management, and I'm his assistant. You're probably right. We'll reconsider this.
Regarding leaflets, yes, we are always very careful about environmental concerns, but we take note.
Securing data is of paramount importance. I will not dwell on this. Of course, we do have processes, infrastructures, and technology that enables us to make sure that our proprietary data and our clients' data is fully secure. There are very few leaks. Actually, there aren't really any leaks, and if there were, we would be able to protect ourselves against them. The world has changed a great deal on this. Actually, the Chinese are really ahead of the rest of the world. It's the opposite now. In terms of marketing, the platforms they've created, e-commerce, the way you communicate, you buy things, loyalty programs across all the ecosystem of marketing and commerce. They are way ahead of the Americans. Actually, we have American clients that we send to China to show them what we do with global clients in China.
The problem of intellectual property is not an issue for us, and I think that's one of Publicis' strengths. We are a French company. We are, so to speak, at the center of the world geographically, as we are located in Europe. We attach the same importance in all countries to this. Of course, adapting this, trying to be mindful of the local context. In China, we try to do things the Chinese way. It's the same in France. We've had outstanding results recently, 40% growth since COVID. We adapt to the markets. We do have local data. We have global markets, but we do have local data, and we have teams that work locally. As far as China is concerned, we are ahead of the rest of the world because we are the leader on that market. Thank you very much.
We have a question in room two.
Good morning. Thank you very much for giving me the floor. My name is Maxence Azou. I am an individual shareholder. I study political sciences and international relations. I have two questions for you. Intermarché secured or obtained great results with the Copain Copain commercial, which was without AI at all. Do you think that going full on or going 100% for AI is a good idea considering the very negative feedback and very negative reviews for major brands following commercials that were fully designed with AI? Also, lots of jobs might be at risk. Not all of them, but a substantial share of these jobs. Have you planned any arrangements to support people who might lose their jobs?
These are two very good questions. First, as regards AI, and that's the way we see things at Publicis. We consider that technology, digital, everything that we've done with social media and today with AI are means and not an end in itself. The importance that we attach to talents. If AI enables you to create some of the scenes of the six-minute film that we've shown at a reasonable cost, well, it allows you with great actors to direct a spectacular movie, something that would not have been able without AI. If you use AI to design things that do not meet consumers' expectations, it will backfire. I think that Lucy is doing great work there. We use AI to make creative ideas stronger, not to replace them. In English, people say hyperhuman. AI is there to make you stronger, not to replace you.
To this end, that's why I highlight this point, you need talent, and you need the technologies, particularly data, because again, AI is large sources of data that are aggregated with other sources of data. Coming back to your first question, we never let AI take over in terms of ideas. We just use AI to augment these ideas. You've just asked a question about the future of work. It could take hours, but let me tell you what we do. Something that's really encouraging. We started to put AI at the heart of our work in 2017. We were 70,000 at the time. Today, we are 110,000. Still, we do use AI everywhere. Now we can replace not jobs, but tasks. Maybe 20%, 25%, sometimes 40% of the tasks carried out by our employees can be done now by AI.
Our work is to help them be more efficient, to harness AI to help us progress individually and overall, and to be able to advance people's careers in the company. We clearly said that the most important for us is our employees. We have kept hiring, but we're very careful in our recruitment policies because the only way to turn Publicis into something new with AI at its heart is first to generate growth because growth generates jobs, and once you generate jobs, you can reallocate tasks. We need to be on top of attrition. We need to keep good control or manage attrition pretty well. Up to 40% of people will leave in the coming years. Our priority here, again, is our employees. We have two levers here. First, we need to have a growing number of tasks carried out by AI whilst protecting jobs.
Another question from the room.
Good morning. I've been a shareholder for one month. It's the first time I go to the Publicis general meeting on this centenary. I quite enjoyed the first film at the beginning. It was very inspirational. Now, as regards the shareholders' clubs, I don't know whether you are considering to create one. I thought that a bit of promotional advertising for Publicis would be a good thing. Also, have you ever considered organizing a buffet so that shareholders can enjoy themselves? One last question. Would it also be possible to obtain tickets for the VivaTech show? Right. Well, I think I'll start with this. I think that Maurice has no choice but to give you a ticket. We haven't thought of the buffet yet. That's quite new. We did it in the past. Yes, but it was much better in the past, wasn't it?
Right. However, as regards the shareholders' club, we have our activity leader, Gabrielle Bonin, who could say a few words about this. Right. We will not start a shareholders' club. For us, the priority, first and foremost, is to have a value-creating strategy that yields great value. We do it thanks to our performance with the dividend, which has been up 4.2% after 6% last year, 17% the year before. We put all our energy into this. Thank you for your understanding. Right. Okay, question there in room one and then in room two. The third one is there.
Good morning. We can see that AI is disrupting all industries, all economies. Audit, for example, or even in advertising companies, because investors think that AI will be developed directly within clients. Well, you may buy a racing car, but you don't become a racing driver yet.
Data is controlled by GAFAM, that have huge financial firepower. Don't you think that going forward in the long term, the GAFAM, don't you think that they will dominate the entire advertising industry? I don't know what share of their business advertising accounts for. We can see that a large share of the media business is sucked by the GAFAM. Thank you very much for this outstanding question. You're quite right. Today, 95% of what is developed for our clients with AI doesn't work. Only 5% works. When I mean our clients, I mean overall across all large companies. Why? It's just like you said, if you give a Ferrari to an organization that is not ready, the people that still work in silos, they don't have the data, the infrastructure, they're not ready. This is a huge opportunity for us. Why?
Today, if you are a client and you think to yourself, "Okay, I'm really going to look seriously into AI." We're all going to need it, and it will affect all of us, I think, in the longer term. It's going to revolutionize everything we do. The first thing you need for this is a functioning energy infrastructure, or rather a functioning infrastructure. We have this with Sapient. Second, data that allows you to look at people on an individual basis, exactly like the GAFAM do. That's what we have with Epsilon. The third thing we need is that you cannot be content with your own data, because by definition, you don't have enough data to win. You need to collaborate with partners that can aggregate data and do it securely. I hope that we can do this with LiveRamp.
Last, you need a platform to make sure that each and every one of your employees can use AI in a simple and functional way in an advertising agency with a partnership with it. That's what we do with Marcel. The reason for our success today, despite the current global economic crisis, that we can deliver this. Now, coming back to your question, no one else can do this. The GAFAMs, they can deliver data, but they cannot deliver this technology, and even less so the technological collaboration, because data remains in their midst. The data is with us. Sorry, it's a bit technical, but it's all very important. Now, what you need to see is that GAFAM will keep thriving, for sure. Our clients today understand one thing: They need to own their data, to build their own models.
It doesn't mean that they won't work with the GAFAM, that means that they will need to know their clients better inside out, and even better than the GAFAM. That's what we provide at Publicis. Again, as we have seen, we don't have the market cap of these companies, in a market of several billion EUR, hundreds of billion EUR to thousands of billion EUR, we can have a unique position. We can be the company that supports businesses in technology value creation, co-data creation to create within their companies the model that will help them to best harness AI. We're not against the GAFAM. We are an alternative, smaller, I give you that can help its customers. That's why we're so confident about the future. Thank you. Third question. Question number three, then question in the room two. Maurice calls the shots here.
Yes, someone needs to have eyes on the room.
Good morning. My name is Jordan. I'm 25. I've been a shareholder for 30 years, like everybody else here, of course. I'm joking. You have highlighted the outstanding performance of the group for the last years. Is it true across all of the group's subsidiaries, or do some offset the weaknesses of others? I work in the events industry, so of course, I'm interested in the dynamics of PublicisLive, its growth, its competitors, whether in France or internationally. I'd like to know what the answer is. Of course, if it's positive, it's a vibrant company. I'm here. I'm interested. I'd like to apply for a job. We love that. We do love that. That's great. That's how you should go about things. We're very fortunate today.
I'm going to give you a very global overview of things. We're fortunate enough to have all our operations that are successful. It's like the so-called Chinese plates game. One of them will maybe be weaker. Well, if everything went fine, we'll be rather in the region of 7%-8% growth instead of 4% or 5%. That's all due to the fiscal custom we can see everywhere. All of our business lines have redelivered strong growth in the last years. We also strongly believe in the events industry, and I think that the world will polarize. On the one hand, you will have ultra-customization. On the other side, large events, sports events, mainly. We invest in sports, as you may have seen. We'll invest further. Of course, we'll follow Benjamin's advice.
Just to give you an idea, 97 of the largest viewerships out of 100 are live sporting events in the U.S. We do believe that the events industry will be increasingly important, especially in a highly digitized and customized event. Please don't forget to give us your resume before you leave. Over to room two now. [Foreign language]
Hello, Chair. My name is Richard. I'm an individual shareholder. Some people have preempted my questions on the share price, but that's all right. Anyway, we do know that share prices fluctuate as they please, and do not always take into account reality. Now, people talk a lot about Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa. You mentioned China. What is going to happen? There are currently two wars raging, but this one is a dormant conflict. What happens when the situation deteriorates? What will you do? One last question.
No one has mentioned it, but you've created an amazing atmosphere in this company, and that's probably what impresses me most. Of course, the results are outstanding, but the atmosphere is quite incredible. It probably comes from the family. Mr. Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, I heard him talk some time ago. I suppose the company picked the right successors who have created this great atmosphere. Please keep it up.
Thank you very much. The chief atmosphere officer is Maurice Lévy. You're absolutely right. That's the way it works. About Taiwan, we do have the solution. It's Maurice Lévy. If there's a problem, we'll send him there. He'll sort it out. Maurice Lévy, over to you.
First, let's deal with Iran. Joking aside, I cannot answer this question. I think we all have our personal views on this, but I think what really matters for us today is to remain flexible.
Whenever there was a conflict in the world, our priority was our employees. They were our priority with the Ukraine conflict, also with Russia. When the war started, all our competitors closed their agencies overnight and fired everybody. We realized that some people were working for Publicis. It actually echoes what you said about the atmosphere and about other things that you said. I think that beyond the atmosphere, what makes us strong is our legacy, our values. Our people are really at the heart of our concerns. Even when things went badly in Russia, we found solutions so that people who had been there for 20, 30, 40 years could have a future despite the decisions made by the government. The same will apply, we'll have the same policy for Taiwan if anything happens going forward.
We decided that we'd not try to manage what is unmanageable. For now, we are preparing for all options, all contingencies. Every time we manage to weather storms by giving priority to our employees.
We've answered the question in room two. Is that the last question? Right. Last question, please. Is the question in room one or room two? No more questions. Right. We'll stop it here. We are now going to present and vote on the resolutions, and I hand over to Céline again, the secretary of the meeting.
Let me start by passing the final figure for attendance. The shareholders who are present or represented hold 201,712,293 shares out of the total of voting shares that constitute the share capital. I can confirm, therefore, that the quorum has been met on ordinary and extraordinary matters.
Before proceeding to a vote, I remind you that the full text of the resolutions has been subject to regulatory disclosure, except the additional resolution that was presented during the meeting by Ms. Élisabeth Badinter. I suggest we now watch a short video that will present the resolutions that you are already familiar with. It will present the voting device. I suggest we now move on to the vote on the resolutions. First resolution, approval of corporate statements for the financial year 2025. The vote is open.
No more voting. It's adopted. Resolution 2, approval of consolidated accounts for fiscal year 2025. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 3: allocation of result and definition of dividend. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Fourth: special report of auditors on agreements as under Article L225-38 of the Code de commerce. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution five: renewal of the mandate of director Mr. Tidjane Thiam. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution six: nomination of Mr. Benjamin Badinter as director. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution A: appointment of Mrs. Jaime Teevan as director. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution seven: approval of the report on compensation for fiscal year 2025. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution eight: approval of components of compensation to be paid out under fiscal year 2025 to Mr. Arthur Sadoun, CEO. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 9: approval of the compensation policy for the CEO under fiscal year 2026. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 10: approval of the compensation policy.
directors under fiscal year 2026. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. 11: authorization to intervene to trade own shares. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 12: delegating the power to increase capital by issue, maintaining preferential subscription rights of shares which give access to capital. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 13: delegate to the possibility to increase capital by issue without preferential subscription rights of shares which give access to capital through public offerings other than private investments. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 14: delegating the power to increase capital by issue without preferential-
subscription rights of shares which give access to capital through private investment. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 15: delegating the power to increase the number of securities to be issued in the event of an increase in capital decided by application of resolutions 12 to 14. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 16: delegating the power to increase capital by incorporating reserves, profits, premium, bonuses or others. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Without preferential subscription right in the event of a public offering initiated by the company. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Delegation to issue shares or marketable securities without preferential subscription rights with a view to compensating provision in kind agreed by the company. Please vote now.
Voting closed.
Delegation the power to issue shares or marketable securities without preferential subscription rights to benefit one or several people who have been designated by name. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Resolution 20, delegating the power to increase capital to benefit members of a corporate savings plan. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Resolution 21, delegating the power to increase capital in favor of certain categories of beneficiaries located abroad with the possibility of setting up a shareholders or savings plan to benefit them. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Resolution 22, granting powers for formalities. Please vote now.
No more voting.
Adopted. Thank you very much indeed, Céline. We have reached the end of our agenda. This shareholders meeting is closed at 12:19. A gift will be given to you in exchange for your voting device. I'm afraid there is no buffet, but maybe next year and have a very pleasant day. Thank you for your attendance.