Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, together with the members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board, it's my great pleasure to welcome you to this annual general meeting of Solutions 30. This will be immediately followed, as you've been informed, by an extraordinary general assembly. By my side will be a scrutineer and a secretary. I suggest we appoint Katarzyna Kuszewska, Group Chief Legal Officer, and Mr. Degehet, counsel, as scrutineer. Without further ado, let us now listen to Pierre-Alexandre Degehet about the modalities of participation. Many thanks, Mr. Chair. Dear shareholders, welcome. In keeping with the Luxembourgish law of August 15th, 1915, about commercial companies, one must hold at least one share of Solutions 30 and have complied with the bylaws in order to attend and take part in this AGM.
In order to improve communication by Solutions 30 towards its shareholders, this AGM is streamed live online for all shareholders who are unable to attend in person. As an AGM is private by nature, I would like to inform the press, the analysts, and any other person attending this AGM that it is strictly forbidden to record any audio or video. Regarding the voting process, Solutions 30 has ensured that the shareholders could vote by mail, by proxy, and by Vot access. The corresponding formalities and procedures will be explained later on in the course of this AGM. As precisely detailed in the notice, only shareholders who are present in person may ask questions live. However, shareholders who are not present physically have been invited to ask their questions in advance, as soon as possible, or in writing to the company by June the 11th, 2024.
A Q&A session will be held in the course of this AGM. Today, two general assemblies will take place. The first will be the ordinary AGM, and the second will be an extraordinary assembly, which will be held before a notary. In keeping with the Luxembourgish law and the company bylaws, no quorum is required for an AGM. The law also does not require any reinforced majority for the adoption of resolutions as part of this annual general meeting, and therefore, the resolutions on the agenda shall be adopted by simple majority of valid votes. Each share gives right to one vote. Please note that the documents pertaining to the regularity of notice sent to the shareholders have been tabled. Documents and information under the law and bylaws of the company have been made available to the shareholders in keeping with local laws and regulations.
The notice of attendance was published on May 17th, 2024, in the electronic company registry at the Tageblatt of Luxembourg, and on the company's website at www.solutions30.com. Notices were sent by mail on 17th of May 2024. Any publication required by law and a copy of the letter of notice sent to the shareholders was also filed by the general assembly. Any documents pertaining to shareholdership at the date of registrations were also tabled. The registration date is the fourteenth day preceding the AGM, namely June 3rd, 2024, at midnight. Very well. In view of what has just been announced, I'm in a position to confirm, and the AGM has noted, that the shareholders of Solutions 30 have been appropriately given notice of this AGM according to the rules. The AGM can therefore deliberate.
Back to Pierre-Alexandre Degehet, who will read the points of the agenda of this annual general meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the agenda of your group's AGM. One, presentation of the management report and consolidated management report by the management board of the company, the audit reports on the annual accounts and financial accounts of the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2023, and observations of the supervisory board. Two, approval of the annual accounts of the company for fiscal year ending December 31st, 2023. Three, approval of consolidated accounts for the same fiscal year. Four, affectation of results. Five, discharge granted to the members of the management board and supervisory board. Six, approval of the renewal of PKF Audit & Conseil S.à r.l. as agreed approved auditor until the following AGM for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024.
7, appointment of an auditor for the assurance opinion about the sustainability report, including in the management report for 2024. 8, Compensation and Benefits Report for consultative opinion. 9, LTIP for consultative opinion, and 10, authorization to the Management Board for a maximum duration of 5 years to buy back company shares. Back to you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now present the key facts for Solutions 30 for 2023, and progress made by the group in terms of business and profit margin. Then we shall listen to Amaury Boilot, the General Secretary of the group, in order for him to comment further on the financial results 2023, and progress made in the field of CSR. We are a resolutely pan-European player. Our expansion outside of France is now very much a reality.
At end 2023, Benelux became our first geographical area in terms of revenues, but also profits. In the last quarter of 2023, it accounted for 39% of the group's revenues, versus 37% for France. Meaning that we successfully replicated our business model outside of France, and that we are now able to capture opportunities where they are, today in Benelux, tomorrow in Germany, so that our company may continue to grow. We are a group that offers a wide selection of technical services to its customers. We are not a telecom group, although the telecoms have driven our growth in the past few years. We are a group specializing in technical interventions, proximity, or so-called last mile.
We have the ability to perform such services, a great number of them, 80,000 per day on average, in a methodical, efficient manner, for private individuals or businesses across a broad territory. That is our know-how, based on the mutualization of skills and technical resources that can be involved and very quickly and all over. It is necessary for the telecom sector, but also the energy, IT sectors, and many other sectors which are being transformed by digital. This versatility has been fueling our growth for the past 20 years. This growth, as you can see on this slide, has continued uninterrupted since the foundation of the group 20 years ago. In 2023, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Solutions 30, while also reaching EUR 1 billion in revenues.
Our ability to replicate our model across new technologies, new places, new sectors, has made our strength over the past 20 years, and will continue to ensure our development for the 20 coming years. Let us dwell for a moment on a few highlights of the year 2023. As I was saying, this was a landmark, our 20th anniversary. In those 20 years, we have obtained many successes, and we are most grateful to our shareholders, customers, partners, and employees for their support throughout. A few key moments, which you can see here on the slide. In France, we are currently installing the largest floating solar farm in Europe, in a partnership with Q ENERGY. Solar power will clearly become a growth driver for the group in the coming years. More about that in a moment.
Again, in renewables in France, we have finalized our acquisition of Elec ENR, which will contribute to improve our geographical footprint in the eastern part of the country and expand our service offerings in that sector. In Belgium, we have been extremely active last year, and we've managed to establish solid positions as a leader in the region. A number of landmarks were reached. More than 24,000 homes connected to fiber optics for Fiberklaar, and 30,000 smart digital meters installed. In Germany, we are now an important player in the deployment of the fiber plan for the country. We've signed major contracts, which we're rolling out. Germany will quickly become the third pillar of the group, along with France and Benelux. More about that, too, in a moment. Finally, we have launched the Femmes Force initiative, aiming to develop a program of in-house mentoring for women.
Let us now look at a few key figures. In 2023, we reached the threshold of EUR 1 billion in revenues, thanks to buoyant growth at almost 17%, driven by Benelux, where our fiber optics business was extremely fast to grow. But we also had formidable progress in our profitability. EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA increased by almost 60% versus 2022, and the corresponding margin at 7.1% is up 190 basis points. This is the result of a powerful improvement in the margin in H2, as we had announced, thanks to a number of initiatives, and which should allow us to continue to improve our margins in future. Our balance sheets remains extremely robust, with a net cash position, excluding IFRS 16, at end of year of EUR 5.7 million. The prospects are good.
Solutions 30 is driven by two powerful growth drivers, digital transformation and the energy transition. In 2024, we anticipate a continuation of profitable growth. Just a quick word about our revenues for 2023. They reached EUR 1,057 million. As I had said, we have now passed the symbolic threshold of EUR 1 billion of revenues for the group's 20th anniversary. It's an important symbolic landmark. It's also a testimonial to the success of our company and relevance of our business model. Growth of revenues in 2023 was 16.8%. It was almost entirely organic, +16.5%, and driven by Benelux, which grew by 72%.
In France, the rebalancing of our business mix is ongoing, with contraction in our telecom business, which is mature, while other activities in the energy sector have started to pick up in Q4 with organic growth of 31%. And finally, other countries registered a growth of 6%, with notably great growth in Poland at +47%. In 2023, Solutions 30 continued to diversify by reducing operational risks. Geographical diversification first. As you can see on the left here, our revenues in Benelux grew significantly in 2023, 72%. This area accounted for 36% of total group revenues in 2023, versus only 25% in 2022. It's even our top area in terms of revenues and margins since Q4 2023.
In other countries, Germany became the first contributor, with EUR 64 million in revenues, and should grow significantly starting this year to reach, in the medium term, a size that is comparable to that of France and Benelux. We've also continued our sectoral diversification. The connectivity business, telecom, remains the first contributor with 79% of total revenues. You can see on the right-hand side graph that the energy business is growing strong at +20% for 2023. Markets linked to the energy transition, such as the installation of solar panels, charging stations for EVs, upgrading of the power distribution grid, are gradually becoming significant growth drivers. Let us now move on to the group's margins for 2023. In 2023, a pickup in our operational margins has been confirmed. We posted a strong rebound in Adjusted EBITDA at EUR 74.6 million.
This is an increase of more than 59% versus 2022. The corresponding margin reached 7.1%, up 190 basis points. This performance is essentially the result of a great improvement in H2 at 8.8% versus 5.3% in H1, and 3.7% in H2 2022. This rise in our margin reflects significant progress in all of our geographical areas. In France, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 35.5 million, up more than 70%. This despite a contraction by 6% of our revenues, meaning that our margin has significantly improved at 8.8% versus 4.9% in 2022.
Against a background where volumes remain punished by mature fiber optics activity and the end of the deployment of Linky smart meters, we are working to the transition towards new markets in the energy transition. Let me remind you that the energy segment revenues increased 31% organically in Q4 of last year. In the meantime, we are considerably improving our process and organization, developing the versatility of our technicians, and optimizing our overheads by working with our telecom customers on improving our collaboration for the benefit of all. All of this is bearing fruit. You can see here on the right-hand side that we are almost at 10% in H2 2023.
Let me remind you, of course, that H2 is always better than H1 in our sector, and therefore, the improvement between H1 2022 and 2023 evidences the significant work put into improving margins in France. Work remains to be done to have a more balanced business mix. In France, the connectivity segment, which accounted for 71% of our revenues in France, should remain under pressure in 2024. We will continue to privilege margins over volumes and to be highly selective in our new contracts. In parallel, we will encourage the development of our business in energy, which accounted for 13% last year. In Benelux, our adjusted EBITDA rose 53.5% at EUR 43.6 million in 2023. The EBITDA margin dropped slightly, however, from 12.8% in 2022 to 11.4% in 2023.
This is entirely due to a very sharp increase, and much sharper than anticipated, of business in Belgium in H1, driven by deployments and fiber optic connections and the deployment of smart meters. This hyper growth resulted in additional costs in engineering, in process preparation, recruitment, and training, which temporarily weighed on the margins in H1. As you can see on the right-hand side graph, the margins normalized in H2 as these additional costs were better absorbed and stood well above 10% at 12.9%. In other countries, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 5.5 million, with a major difference in profitability between H1 and H2. Low profitability for this geographical area in 2023 essentially comes from Italy, where we were faced with a deterioration of sales conditions with the country's main telco.
In the face of this situation, we deliberately postponed our activities in fiber optics rollout. To date, discussions with our customer to normalize the situation are going well, and we anticipate that the business will pick up in the course of H2 2024. Now over to Amaury Boilot, Secretary General of the Group, who will comment in more detail the financial results for 2023, before commenting the report of the auditor and presenting our progress in the field of CSR. Amaury, over to you. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, greetings. As for the consolidated P&L of the group for 2023, Gianbeppi Fortis has just commented revenues and adjusted EBITDA, so I won't go into that.
Slightly lower, you will see, after taking into account depreciations and operational provisions for EUR 22.8 million versus EUR 18.9 million in 2022, after amortization of the right to use rented assets, according to IFRS 16, in the amount of EUR 29.2 million, i.e., EUR 52 million in total for operational amortization. As you can see, the adjusted EBIT reached EUR 22.6 million for 2023, sharply up versus 2022, when it was close to zero. The financial result improved, minus EUR 13.1 million versus minus EUR 17.1 million in 2022. Although interest rates were higher, with higher rates, the improvement is caused by a much lower variation of the fair value of, price complements that we may have to pay for acquisitions made in the past.
We shall see in a moment that we paid a significant amount of that in 2023, and that the potential remaining debt for these price complements is very limited. Non-recurring elements reached -EUR 11 million in 2023, essentially restructuring costs, EUR 8.3 million. These costs were related to the end of our operational transformation plan, initiated in France in 2022, the organizational transformation of Germany to prepare for the acceleration of business in the fiber optics sector. This allows us to be operationally ready to handle high volumes in Germany in coming years. And finally, exiting a non-profitable consortium in the fiber optics business in Belgium, where we shall continue to operate directly in better conditions. Finally, the tax on profits was low in 2023 at EUR 1.8 million, thanks to the activation of deferred losses.
All of this leads us to a net result, share of the group of EUR- 22.7 million. A loss indeed, but halved versus 2022, and with a net improvement in the course of the fiscal, because the loss for 2023 was entirely materialized in H1, and that we reached a breaking point in H2. Let us now move on to our cash flow generation. The cash flow generated by operations almost doubled from EUR 60.3 million to EUR 31.1 million in 2022. This reflects the significant growth of our EBITDA. The cash requirements increased by EUR 26.2 million.
In addition to the underlying increase due to our growth, we were negatively impacted by unfavorable timing of advances received by customers, which we cashed in, as we had cashed in significant advances in 2022, which we consumed in 2023, while the associated contracts were ramping up. But we did not have significant advances at the year-end 2023. It was more early 2024, notably for fiber optics in Germany. We also suffered the impact for work in progress with the significant rise in fiber deployment in Benelux, because invoicing is done less frequently than for connection. The impact was around EUR 2 million. Net investments were very similar to the previous year, standing at EUR 20.9 million, i.e., 2% of revenues versus 2.3 in 2022.
These investments are essentially designed to our proprietary IT platform, which forms the backbone of our organization. By adding these three elements, the available cash flow reached EUR 13.4 million, lower than the 37.2 reached in 2022, owing to an exceptional increase in the cash flow requirement, which should not be repeated this year. Cash outflow for acquisitions was also exceptionally high in 2023, at EUR 20.7 million, essentially for the payment of price complements, which, as I was saying, should not be repeated this year because the potential remaining debt is now very limited. The net cash flow from financing reached EUR 32.5 million and included-...
an increase of the gross debt of EUR 43.1 million, interest paid on financial debt for EUR 5.1 million, interests on rent for EUR 1.7 million, and a distribution to minority shareholders for EUR 3.8 million. Rents paid for our vehicle fleet reached EUR 30.4 million, in line with 2022. This leads us to a cash position of EUR 118.2 million at end of the year. Although we consumed, we burned cash in 2023, EUR 48 million, this was caused by non-recurring impacts on the cash flow requirements and exceptional payments for price complements. In parallel, the significant increase in the cash flow from operations, which should continue in future, while as we're continuing to improve our margins, paves the way to a positive net cash generation in the very near future.
A few words about the balance sheet, which remains very robust. One, a net cash position, excluding rent IFRS 16 of EUR 5.7 million, down EUR 48.3 million, as I've just mentioned. Two, very limited debt with a net debt IFRS over EBITDA ratio adjusted of 1.05 times, and a net debt on capital on equity ratio of 62.8%. At end 2023, the gross banking debt was EUR 112.6 million versus EUR 118... Sorry, of EUR 118.2 million. The total debt net was EUR 78.4 versus EUR 38.9 million one year earlier, including EUR 76.4 million of rent, according to IFRS 16, and EUR 7.7 million of financial debt on future options.
The factoring debt as part of the group's program amounted to EUR 109 million at the end of 2023. This is a recourse-free factoring program that has a deconsolidating effect. We use it to finance, for very limited costs, our cash requirements for recurring activities that have reached cruise speed. That was for the accounts of 2023. I shall now tell you about the auditor's report. The auditor certified the consolidated accounts and the corporate accounts of Solutions 30 without reservations, after due diligence, according to the rules and standards applicable. The auditor's report is available on our website and in his annual report. It is suggested that this AGM should renew PKF's mandate as an auditor for a new period of one year.
Let us now talk about CSR, which is a crucial field in which we have consolidated our progress in 2023. Since 2019, Solutions 30 has made a very firm commitment to corporate social responsibility. In 2023, we intensified our commitment by implementing a number of measures, aiming to improve our ability to monitor and manage our progress. 1. Membership of the SBTI Initiative, Science Based Targets initiatives to fight against climate change. Drawing up a full carbon balance to measure our carbon footprint, evaluation of key ESG KPIs to ensure alignment with sustainability targets, and integration of an ESG risk management tool to identify, assess, and mitigate risk. With the ESG awareness-raising sessions of last year, we have now developed ESG training modules for our online learning platform, which are available to all of our employees.
We have strengthened our policies, procedures, and codes of conduct as a result of the GRC project, initiated in 2021, with a focus on stronger ethics and compliance within the group. Finally, we have implemented a whistleblowing platform. The group's focus on ESG has always been to recruit and support talents for the jobs of tomorrow. For a number of years, we have been rolling out a recruitment, training, and professional development policy. When we recruit, as we are currently doing in Belgium, to sustain the ramp-up in deployments, we are giving a chance to young people, some of whom dropped out of school, an opportunity for a first job. We also offer opportunities to people who are changing careers in order to prepare them for the jobs of digital and energy of the future.
In 2022, people under 30 accounted for 40% of our new recruits, and we dispense on average 25 hours of training per employee. We also leverage a Supervisory Board, members of which are all independent and now with stronger expertise in 2022, notably in the field of ethics and compliance. In 2024, we established new targets aiming to improve our environmental impact by reducing the intensity of our carbon footprint and by increasing our supply in green energy. In addition, we are focusing on improving safety at work by reducing the severity rate of occupational accidents and by promoting lifelong learning with an increase in training hours. In addition to this, we are committed to promoting gender diversity by increasing the representation of women in management positions, and to have at least 95% of our subcontractors registered on our MySupply platform.
Many thanks to you, and now back over to Gianbeppi for the future prospects.
Merci, Amaury. Thank you, Amaury. In the first quarter of 2024, we considerably gained in visibility on two uncertainties that we had at the end of 2023. The first one is the situation in Italy, where, as I've said, activity should return to normal on a better footing in the second half. And second, good visibility on the acceleration of growth in Germany, thanks to fiber optic broadband activities that are currently rolling out. Besides, 2024 is an election year in Belgium. Whilst our visibility on our ability to mitigate the impact from external events has improved, we need to remain cautious in this context. Now, if we look at the first quarter in detail, revenue growth continued at +3.8%, but it could have been +6.7%, if we had factored out Italy.
These dynamics remained strong in Benelux, with growth nearing 22%, and energy transition-related activities have confirmed their status as powerful growth driver with +35.9% in the first quarter. Of course, we are keeping a close watch on the evolution of the French political situation. Of course, it's too early to make any predictions, but we are remaining extremely vigilant. Last, as we announced, we will be holding an Investor Day in Paris on the sixth of September. The objective will be to share with you our vision of opportunities in the near and medium term. Before I wrap up, I'd like to tell you about Germany, where this year we are starting our activities in optic fiber broadband. We discussed this many times in the past. Germany is a country where the market potential in these activities is huge.
A country with nearly 43 million homes, only 4 million were connected to optic fiber broadband at the end of 2023, which is less than 10%. Just for your information, France is rather in the region of 60%. And Germany has actually decided to invest massively, nearly EUR 50 billion, to connect to fiber. This is underway. Telecom operators are now fully involved, and we landed major contracts in 2023. You can see our main customers at the center of the slide. The ramp-up of our interventions is being scheduled for the second half of this year. This should lead to a strong acceleration of our growth in Germany, where we should reach this year, revenues of approximately EUR 100 million and continue to grow strongly in the coming years.
Germany is a large, sound market where prices are high and where connection and cabling works should continue over more than a decade. We believe that in the medium term, Germany should become the third pillar of the group in Europe with France and Benelux, and enable the group to maintain high levels of organic, profitable growth. Now, let me hand over to Thomas Kremer, who is going to give you an update on the group's governance. Thank you very much, Gianbeppi. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, greetings. My name is Thomas Kremer. I'm the Deputy Chair and independent member of Solutions 30 Supervisory Board. On its behalf, I'm now going to be telling you about your group's governance and about the work we carried out in 2023.
Solutions 30 governance is based on a dual organization with a supervisory board and a management board. This mode of governance allows the group to be agile and responsive in its decision-making. The supervisory board is comprised of seven members. Let me remind you that Mrs. Paola Bruno joined the board last year as independent member and as member of the Strategy and ESG Committees, and the Nominations and Remuneration Committees. She replaced Mr. Francesco Serafini following his resignation. Besides, the terms of the Chair of the Supervisory Board, Alexandre Sator, and of the Chair of the Audit, Risks, and Compliance Committee, Yves Kerveillant, were renewed. The board is comprised of three specialist committees: the Nominations and Remuneration Committee, the Audit, Risks, and Compliance Committee, and the Strategy and ESG Committee. The supervisory board and its committees convened 22 times in 2023.
So that's 6 meetings, that's an extra 6 meetings relative to 2022, with an attendance rate of 97%, just for the Supervisory Board and 100% for its committees. This is a testament of our very strong commitment to the group. Now, let's talk for a few minutes on the characteristics of the Supervisory Board. First, it is a diverse Supervisory Board with 43% of women, which enables the group to comply with the European Directive Women on Boards.... Second, and this is crucial, this is a Supervisory Board where all members are independent. Third, this is an international Supervisory Board. Four countries are represented in it, which is particularly relevant considering the diversity of the group's geographical footprint. The members of the Supervisory Board have rich experiences, diverse, and complementary skills. We constantly seek to strengthen these skills.
Of course, they relate to the group's business lines and markets, but also the human capital, finance, M&As, ESG, and internal audit. So we do believe that we have the right profiles in place to supervise and support, in an effective and committed fashion, the development of the group and the action of its Management Board. So specifically, what did we do in 2023? Let's start with the Supervisory Board in its entirety. It convened seven times in 2023, with a very high attendance rate, 97%, as I've already mentioned. You can see on this slide the main topics that were reviewed or on which the Supervisory Board came to decisions. As usual, all details are available in the group's annual report. Of course, we ensured that the group's governance should remain of high quality and in compliance with the best standards.
In the Supervisory Board itself, which was strengthened with the appointment of Paola Bruno, and which provides a range of very interesting skills and experiences. At the level of the Management Board, which was reorganized with Wojciech Pomykała, who's right there, who joined the Management Board as COO, and Amaury Boilot, who was appointed Group Secretary General and CEO for France. We have reaffirmed our trusts in him. We also actively took part in the group's strategic thinking as regards the establishment of its medium-term plan. Its outlines will be presented by the Management Board during the next investors day on the twenty-sixth of September. In the financial year 2023, the Supervisory Board held meetings without the Management Board. For example, the meeting of the Audit, Risks, and Compliance Committee, which was held on the twenty-third of March, 2023, with statutory auditors.
These meetings allow the Supervisory Board to carry out an independent assessment of the management's performance, to discuss strategic issues, and to issue recommendations. This is a best practice that will remain going forward. Ladies and gentlemen, let's now move on to the work of your group's specialized committees, which are three in total. Their task is to assist the Supervisory Board by preparing its decisions on specific issues. In 2023, committees met 15 times. The attendance rate was 100% every time. This shows the commitment of members to the governance and development of the group. The Nominations and Remuneration Committee met 5 times under the chairmanship of Alexandre Sator. It worked amongst others, to strengthen the skills of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board as part of the progress plan that has been underway since 2019.
The board has also devised the succession plan for the Management Board. As for the Audit, Risks, and Compliance Committee, it convened seven times under Yves Kerveillant's chairmanship. You can see here a detailed list of our work on this slide. The Strategy and ESG Committee convened three times under the chairmanship of Jean-Paul Cottet. In 2023, it worked among others on the review of acquisition targets, on the development of the strategy and the business plan, and of course, on supporting ESG initiatives and on how to integrate them in Solutions 30 overall strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, let's now move on to the remuneration of the Supervisory Board, on which we ask you to take a vote. This remuneration for 2023 results from the stringent application of the remuneration policy that was approved by the AGM of the 16th of June, 2022.
This policy makes the remuneration of members contingent upon their actual attendance to board meetings and to committee meetings. This results into a variable share, which stood at, in total, EUR 198 thousand for FY 2023. If you include the fixed share, which is EUR 270 thousand, the board, Supervisory Board's overall compensation for 2023 stands at EUR 468 thousand. As regards to the remuneration of the Management Board, let me remind you that the objective is to align the group's executives' interests with those of the company and of its shareholders. The remuneration report, including the Management's Boards, the Management Board's remuneration, will be subject to an advisory vote by shareholders. Today, there are two components in the Management Board members' compensation: an annual base salary, which varies depending on the role and responsibilities of each member.
In 2023, the only increases that took place resulted from the automatic statutory indexation applicable in Luxembourg, namely 7.7% in 2023. Besides, since last year, the Management Board has been downsized with only 4 members against 5 in 2022, which of course, has generated savings. A variable remuneration based on annual objectives recommended by the Committee of Nominations and Remuneration, and reviewed by the Supervisory Board. In 2023, 98.25% of the variable remuneration was allocated, and this is more than in 2022, when the allocation rate was 29.2%, because in 2023, all objectives that had been set were reached. These 2023 objectives were demanding and much higher than the results that were reached in 2022.
This improvement is reflected in the amount of the Management Board's 2023 annual bonus. Besides, the calculation principles for the 2023 variable remuneration remained unchanged against 2022. Particularly, the variable share remains capped at 50% of the base salary. The Management Board's remuneration includes normally a third pillar, the long-term variable compensation, but this component was not applicable in 2023, as the last LTIP, Long-Term Incentive Plan, expired two years ago. You can find all details in the group's annual report. Which leads me to the last topic, the proposal for a new LTIP, a Long-Term Incentive Plan. You will be requested to take an advisory vote on the establishment of a new LTIP for your group's executives.
There are many different objectives: encourage executives to contribute to the company's long-term success, motivate and retain these executives, attract and retain highly qualified executives, align their interests with yours. This plan includes a share subscription plan for the Management Board and the executive committee, and an incentive scheme in each country, which is more traditional and, which targets a wider population. These components will remain in force for three years. They will be subject to stringent financial and extra-financial criteria. I shall not go into further detail, as all information is available on the corporate website. Let me just say that the establishment of this plan seemed essential to the Supervisory Board, as Solutions 30 is now entering a new profitable growth phase, which will be more diversified, more international, and that the group is now making a fresh start after difficult years.
In this context, the group needs more than ever to rally its executives in the long term to best serve your interests. Thank you for your attention. Let me now hand over to Pierre-Alexandre for the vote on resolutions. Thank you.
We have received three questions in writing just before the AGM, so I'm going to address them now. The first one: What is the potential in terms of revenue for PV panels in France? We have figures that have been published by agencies or organizations that keep track of this market. We installed, or France installed 3.2 gigawatts of PV energy or solar energy in 2023, and an installed watt is approximately worth EUR 0.50. So France invested approximately EUR 1.6 billion last year in solar energy.
Let me give you a few reference points. So the telecom market in France is worth EUR 4 billion. Enedis has been investing five or six billion in the power grid. Charging stations are not so important, but when you add up photovoltaic EUR 1.6, EUR 1.5 billion , and the five or six billion invested by Enedis, that gives you a total of six, seven, eight billion EUR, which is nearly the double of the telecom market. So the energy market is bigger than the telecom market and is growing. Enedis increased investments into smart grid significantly as from this year, and at least for the next decade. Second question: Do you intend to resume sustained organic growth policy? The answer is, yes, we do. External growth... The interpreter apologizes.
We don't want to embark upon large scale, risky acquisitions. We rather want to target small companies where we can set foot in a country, in an area, and to acquire new skills, particularly in the energy market, which, as you have understood, is the new industry where we are forecasting great opportunities in the coming years. So we'll be starting with small bolt-on acquisitions in many different countries. So we do this quite seriously. We have approximately 200-250 potential targets, and we have a scoring system that allows us to see what targets are a priority and that we can then do different deals. We don't want a too high price tag. We don't want to raise capital to pursue this strategy. It will be quite similar to what you already saw in the past.
So we've paused this recently, given the context, which is quite intricate, also considering the rise in interest rates. So I think that things are going to be improving as regards the macroeconomic dimensions. So we'll resume acquisitions. Third question: What country outside your current scope is of interest? Answer: In the short term, we don't have any plans to open up new geographical areas. We really want to focus on current ones, current geographical areas, to drive them, grow them, and to reach a critical size. You know that in this industry, it's very important once in your country to reach a critical size. If you have a critical size, there's a lot of volume, so activity is very concentrated.
But if you're not dense enough, our technicians have to travel too much, and you don't earn a lot of money. So the objective is to stick to current geographical areas and densify them, like Germany, which is our priority. In 2023, we generated about EUR 60 million. It will be about EUR 100 million in 2021, and we shall invest further because there's a huge potential there. We believe that the German market is comparable to the French and Benelux markets. Right. There haven't been any other questions in writing. We now have to... What shall we do now? Are there any questions here in the room, or is everything fine? Maybe we were exceedingly clear, or...
There seems to be a question. Fortunately, Anne. You mentioned the diversification of our activities.
You only talked about solar energy and about optic fiber broadband. Answer:
Yes, that's a good point. When you look at our group today, so we are about 75%-80% in telecoms, and the rest is 50/50 between energy and IT and all other activities. Now, when you look at the group, and we'll discuss this again in September, but if we—when we make forecasts, three or five years down the line, we believe that energy is going to grow, particularly in a mature market like France, where in a few years from now, energy will be probably as substantial as the telecoms. Now, within the energies industry, we do three things.
I'll not spare you the details, but first, the first thing that we do, which is the most important in terms of size, is that we work for, the power transmitter or distributor, EDF or Enedis. We try to help them strengthen the power transmission network. The grid was built, decades ago with really concentrated production facilities, just a few plants, but it's fully changing because now there are wind farms, solar farms, and people use energy in a different way. And sometimes they produce their own energy with wind farms and PV panels. So the grid is being strengthened, and investments are considerable. I was saying that Enedis is now spending between EUR 5 billion and EUR 6 billion.
Up until quite recently, Enedis would spend EUR 3-4 billion, including Linky, but it's now over. So as I was saying, 3 billion euros into the network, 5 years ago, now it's EUR 5-6 billion in terms of investment. So it's the first activity which is very important for us. It's something that we started a few years back, where we're continuing to invest in France and all over the place. That's our first activity in energy. The second activity in solar energy, we set it on EUR 1.5 billion of investments in 2023 in France. At European level, it's more or less the same, depending on, well, in line with the population. This is an activity which is growing significantly all over Europe, where we are well-positioned.
So a second activity which will be important for us, and the third one is the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles. Now, there aren't a lot of electric vehicles, I agree with you. We'll see what happens. We know that one of the obstacles today for the purchase of electric vehicles and that is that there aren't enough charging stations. So we're involved in this all over Europe, and these three activities represent a lot of potential. Now, back to telecoms, which is our legacy market. Within the telecom industry, the largest business line is the rollout of fiber. France rolled out, started to roll out fiber in 2017. France has spent approximately EUR 25 billion, and French homes are connected to optic fiber broadband up to 70%.
A lot of homes still have to be connected, but there are countries which are today where France was back in 2017, like Germany, for example. Germany is currently rolling out its plan. We're well-positioned, and the challenge for Germany is to have enough qualified employees or staff to do this job. So we're well-positioned, and we'll try to cash in on this. There's also 5G and other activities within telecoms, but fiber is the most important activity at the moment. Another activity which is growing in size, that will become important going forward, is that once fiber has been rolled out, there's a lot of copper in the French underground and in other countries. Hundreds of millions of copper cable kilometers, hundreds of millions of kilometers of copper cables underground in France.
If you look at what’s happening on the commodity market, the ton of copper is becoming extremely expensive. So a project is starting in France, it will be starting in other countries. It’s meant to recover copper, and it’s something that will gain significantly in the coming months. I hope I’ve answered your questions. Are there any other questions? Do not hesitate. Very well. I think we’ve said it all. So I think we’ve answered all questions. All presentations have been given. The Q&A session is now over, and we are now going to give you explanations about the additional formalities and the votes. We go.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. According to the list of persons present, we have approximately 33.23 million shares represented here today. For the shareholders who are present in the room, I'm going to read out each of the resolutions, give you time to vote on them, then we shall briefly suspend the AGM to count the votes. Then we shall resume, we shall state the results, and the AGM shall be over. First resolution: Approval of the annual accounts of the company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. After reading the report, the management report from the Management Board, the auditor, and observations by the Supervisory Board, the AGM approves the accounts for the fiscal year closing at December 31st, 2023 in their entirety, establishing a net profit of EUR 18,941,022.97.
The vote is open. Second resolution: Approval of the consolidated accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. After hearing the management report from the Management Board, the auditor's report, and the observations from the Supervisory Board, the AGM approves the consolidated accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023, in their entirety, establishing a net consolidated loss of EUR 17,544,108. The vote is open. Third resolution: The allocation of results. The AGM notes a net profit of EUR 18,941,022.97, with a profit for the fiscal year of EUR 18,941,022.97. Carried over results, EUR 114,905,242.92.
Reserves, distributable reserves, EUR 133,846,269.89. Results to be distributed, EUR 18,941,022.97. Carried over profit, EUR 18,941,022.97. Distributable reserve, EUR 979,265.89, and a remuneration for members of the board, EUR 468,000. The vote is open. Resolution 4: Discharge granted to members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board. The AGM decides to discharge the members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board in the performance of their role for the fiscal year ending December 31st , 2023. You may now vote...
Resolution 5, approval of the renewal of the mandate granted to PKF Audit & Conseil S.à r.l. as approved auditors for the AGM, for the approval of annual accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024. To follow the expiry of the current mission of the current auditor, the AGM decides to renew the mandate granted to PKF Audit & Conseil S.à r.l., with registered offices at 76 Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Company Registries under number B222.994, as approved corporate auditor until the AGM that will vote on the approval of accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024. You may now vote. Resolution 6, appointment of an approved auditor for the assurance opinion on the sustainability report appended to the management report for the year 2024.
As may be, in the hypothesis where Luxembourg law, in a transposition of the CSRD Directive 2022/2464, December 14th, 2022, should require the explicit appointment by the AGM of an agreed auditor for the assurance opinion on the sustainability report included in the management report for the year 2024. The AGM decides to appoint PKF Audit & Conseil S.à r.l., with registered offices 76 Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg, registered in the Luxembourg Company Registry under number B222994.
However, if such an appointment were not to be required by Luxembourg law of transposition, or if a more flexible solution were to be chosen, the AGM shall delegate, insofar as possible, to the supervisory body, the power to appoint an auditor in order to provide the assurance opinion on the sustainability report, with a potential ratification by the next AGM, according to whatever legislative solution is chosen. You may now vote. Resolution seven, the remuneration report is subjected to the AGM for a consultative opinion. The AGM decides, through a consultative vote, to approve the company's remuneration report for the fiscal year 2023. You may now vote. Resolution eight, submission of the remuneration report for consultative opinion.
In view of resolution 3, which allocates a total remuneration for the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2023 of EUR 468,000, the AGM approves the annual proportions per member of the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2023 as follows: Alexandre Sator as President of Supervisory Board, EUR 79,000. Thomas Kremer, Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board, EUR 69,000. Caroline Tissot, member, EUR 53,000. Jean-Paul Cottet, member, EUR 57,000. Yves Kerveillant, member, EUR 78,000. Pascal Morvillier, member, EUR 69,000. Paola Bruno, member, EUR 29,901. Francesco Serafini, former member of the supervisory board, EUR 33,000.099. In total, EUR 468,000. You may now vote. Resolution 9, submission of the long-term incentive program for your consultative opinion. The AGM decides, through a consultative vote, to approve the LTIP.
Voting is now open. Finally, resolution 10, authorization granted to the Management Board for a maximum duration of five years to buy back company shares. The AGM accepts the intent of the company to potentially acquire its own actions in order to use them for the payment within operations of external growth in general, and if need be, to restore the portfolio of actions held by the company. The AGM, therefore, and the Management Board, as, as, set out by Articles 430-15, 430-16 of the law of 10th August, 1915, for commercial companies, authorized for a maximum period of five years, the, Management Board to buy back shares of the company at any time, and when it deems opportune by any means authorized by law. The number of...
Maximum number of shares that can be acquired by the company may not exceed a total of 1,339,100, and in any case, the number of shares held directly or indirectly by the company cannot reduce its net asset to below the amount indicated in paragraphs one and two of the law concerning commercial companies. This may be reflected either in the fiscal year balance sheet, or on the free reserves, or on issue premiums. The corporate shares can be sold pending decision by shareholders in an AGM, an extraordinary AGM, canceled at a later date, pending compliance with all laws and regulations. Maximum purchasing price for the share cannot be higher than EUR 28 nor lower than EUR 1.
These, as the selling and buying may be performed in order to hand out shares of the company as an exchange or payment as part of external growth in general, or to reconstitute the portfolio of shares held by the company. All powers are granted to the Management Board with a faculty to delegate in order to ensure the implementation of this authorization. You may now vote. This now closing the voting procedures, and if you allow me, allow me, Mr. Chairman, we shall temporarily suspend this session so that we can count the votes. Very well.
... Bonjour, voilà, nous sommes revenus. Merci.
So we are back. Thank you for your patience. We have counted the votes. I shall now give you the results for each resolution. Resolution one: approval of the annual accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2023. In favor: 22,876,694 shares. Against: 134,752. The resolution is carried. Second resolution: approval of the consolidated accounts for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2023. Voted in favor: 22,872,912 shares. Against: 135,187. Resolution carried by a majority. Resolution three, the affectation of results. 22,809,686 in favor, against 246,359. The resolution is carried.
Resolution four, discharge granted to the members of the management and supervisory boards. In favor, 22,097,872. Against, 790,755. Resolution carried. Resolution five, approval of the renewal of the term of office for PKF Audit & Conseil as auditor for the coming fiscal year. In favor, 22,758,403. Against, 280,164. The resolution is carried. Resolution six, appointment of an approved auditor for the assurance opinion on the sustainability report appended to the management report. In favor, 22,716,649. Against, 274,010. Resolution is carried. Resolution seven, submission of the remuneration report.
In favor, 21,819,532; against, 232,958. The resolution is carried. Resolution eight, submission of the remuneration report for a consultative opinion. In favor, 22,033,451; against, 904,408 shares. The resolution is carried. Resolution nine, submission of the LTIP for consultative opinion. In favor, 22,117,356 shares; against, 861,888. Resolution carried. And finally, resolution ten, authorization granted to the Management Board to buy back shares for a maximum duration of five years. In favor, 22,077,237; against, nine hundred and ninety-three thousand, three hundred and four. Resolution carried. Mr. Chair, back to you.
Thank you, Pierre-Alexandre, which closes the annual general meeting. I would like to ask the AGM to dispense us from reading out the minutes. Thank you very much for your participation in this AGM, and thanks again for your renewed confidence. This AGM is now finished and closes at 4:00 P.M. precisely. In keeping with applicable legislation, directly after this AGM, the results of the vote shall be published. Let me remind you that after a short break, the extraordinary general meeting shall take place in the presence of a notary.