Good afternoon and thanks for being with us this afternoon for this very important meeting in the life of your company. During this general meeting, we will obviously try to present the main points of this channel meeting resolutions and so on, but we will spend time explaining what happened last year. We will tell you about the outlooks the future and the in particular the coming year. So I officially declare open the general meeting, the combined general meeting, convened according to notices published in the bulletin of 4th March, 29th March, and in the official journal of the 30th March. Like to draw your attention on the fact that this meeting is a public meeting that will be partially broadcasted live or on a deferred basis on the internet site the company according to Article Nineteen of the articles of association, this general meeting will be chaired by the Chairman of the Board of Directors This is why I'm going to chair the meeting with me, Lerapotheca, Vice Chairman of the Board and its Lead Independent Director and Emmanuel Babaugh, V in charge of finances and legal affairs, the we also have the General Secretary of the Board.
The tellers will be Mr. Claude Bouygues, who chairs the supervisory board of the mutual fund, Schneider Action Aria, and Mrs. Frederic De Briel representing Amundi Asset Management. Thanks for being with us this afternoon and on stage in particular. The two members of the general meeting have, in fact, the largest number of voting rights Delfinjie will be the secretary of this general meeting.
Mr. Jean Yves, Gerald and Louis Valleiret, the such auditors of the company are present. I would like to welcome the members of the Board of Directors who are all with us here this afternoon, except Ms. Cecile Cabanis, who is attending the general meeting of Danone, has been organized today as well. Linda Nall, who is in the United States and Flora, who unfortunately couldn't be with us this afternoon.
Let me apologize on behalf of them. The members of the Board of Directors are on the 1st row here. I would also like to welcome the members of the Advisory Committee of Shareholders. In other words, we have Mrs. Pierre Felicier, who joined the committee a few weeks ago.
I'd like to thank all the members of this committee on your behalf for the work they do and the advice they provide all the time so that we can constantly improve our communication with our individual shareholders The necessary quorum for a valid meeting is 1 quarter at least of the shares with voting right. In other words, 1,431,856 because after the 15th resolution until 24th resolutions, the resolutions are related to an extraordinary general meeting. I would like to remind you that the resolutions are related to the ordinary general meeting. The quorum is 1 5th of the shares with a voting right. According to the attendance sheet, I can say that the number of shares present or represented is 1000000,571.
In other words, the quorum is 63.3%. So we have the quorum to organize a combined general meeting, a certain number of shareholders were able to vote by post the members of the committee will sign the attendance sheets. So I can declare that the meeting has been is duly convened and may act validly. I will ask the general meeting of shareholders the permission not to read out the full agenda of this session, maybe you can actually directly read the simplified which is on the screen behind me. During this session, we will go into the details of each subject.
So I will spare you the actual reading of this subject. So I will put on the desk here it's a physical exercise, isn't it? One copy of the articles of association, one copy of the a notice of meeting and registered shareholders documents, a copy of the Baloo of the 4th March 29th March and the official journal of the 30th March, the list of registered shareholders, the attendance sheet and a table summarizing the powers of shareholders represented here today and the counting of the ballots sent by post the reports among which the management report of the Board of Directors and the governance of the board of the company, the financial statements, the statutory auditors reports, the text of resolutions that will be submitted to the vote and information about the various candidates to directorship. I would like to tell you that the reports and the financial statements as well as the text of the resolutions, the list of shareholders and all the documents legal documents are at the disposal of each of you. Instead of reading the reports of the board, with Emmanuel Babu, we will comment the various slides we have prepared for you that to summarize the various our strategy.
Then I will give the floor to Louisa Poetaker, who is the Vice Chairman of the Board and its lead independent director, He will tell you more about the governance committee of your company and he will list the various resolutions that you will vote about later on. So I hope that we will then have some time to answer your questions. I'd like this I think it's a better way of explaining the life of the company of telling you more about the future of the company, about our future. So let me start with the strategy and vision. As always, I wanted to share our strategy and vision with you.
Our strategy is based on 2 major transitions: first of all, digitalization, if you remember what happened in the 1990s, we had the arrival of internet of people that actually changed the way we communicate, the way we work together, but for 10 years now, we have we entered 10 years ago, we entered a second episode, it's the digitalization of objects of things. We are at the beginning of this new resolution and this digitalization phase will create as many radical changes as many revolutions in the way we interact with our environment as the first revolution did in the way we communicate with one another. So we should also not underestimate the problem of electrification. All new technologies electricity is the only consumption vector of energy. It's the only way, thanks to which we'll have less CO2 emission.
It's the only way we have to produce energy as close to its point of consumption as possible. And after years of growth of electricity, This electricity consumption is speeding up under the pressure of information systems whenever you go to on the internet, whenever you use the net new consume energy electricity. 1 quarter of our communications are allowed, thanks to electricities, thanks to Schneider Technologies, under the pressure of this energy migration, it's starting now. It electric electrical mobility, cars that used to consume fossil energies will little by little be propelled by electricity. You also have air conditioning, air conditioning is works thanks to electricity and all sorts of different elements need electricity, for example, you have energy production on the roofs of your house in our factories.
And all these new things will replace more traditional energy. So we are putting this in connection with one another, we're fine tuning all this if you want. These digitalization electrification are in parallel. Obviously, there is quite a paradox here. We have to find a solution to these paradox.
We have to make sure that everybody on this planet has access to progress. To the 21st century. You must have access to digital world to energy. Energy is the first step towards progress. So we're and having access to digital tool is your first step to network creation to e commerce to modern world, but all this requires energy.
And we have we discovered over the past few years that this planet is facing the climate change. And in order to find a solution to these problems, technology should enable us to do all that we can or that we do, but in a more efficient way, this arrival of digital world, arrival of decarbonated energy will help us find a solution to this contradiction. And this is Schnader Mission. This is what we're going to talk about today. It's been our mission for years.
We have to we are leaders of digital transformation and of automation systems of energy management. So the end of 2018, 1,000,000,000 earnings or revenues, I should say, we we make constant investments in R&D more than 5% of our turnover is invested in R&D. 137,000 employees in more than 100 countries. And once something specific for us is that 42% of our sales come from emerging energies where cities are created, where factories, data centers are created, keep developing. Another specificity of Schneider in France and elsewhere is that we are one of the most global companies Asia Pacific number 1.
As far as sales is concerned, North America comes afterwards, then Western Europe number 3 and the rest of the world. But again, it represents a lot, a major turnover or sales in South America, in Africa, in Eastern Europe. And Schneider Electric here is one of the most balanced company. We are present in a very balanced way everywhere in the world in all sorts so we are present at global level. 2nd part of this picture of the 2 major activities First, energy management, which we use for this energy transition, And the main objective here is energy or energetic efficiency.
The other point is, save resources with better processes, more efficient processes with industrial automation systems, what we call the 4.0 industries, this merging between the IT World And Industrial World. So two activities 20,000,000,000 Energy Management, 1,000,000,000 Industrial Automation. And we have a balanced presence on the final market. We have business application, commercial application, data centers, 50% of the sales of Schneider Electric, and then you have the infrastructures industries, representing as well, 50% of our sales. So the objectives of our strategy over the past few years have been that whereas we were present in the tertiary sector in the past.
Now we have a much more balanced presence in various sectors in the industry in particular. Now let's talk about numbers. 2018 results. Something quite striking here is again, how balanced the performances are, 1,000,000,006,000,000,000. Both activities are growing by 7% or 8% per year.
Both activities have a profitability level, which is about 18%, so well balanced profitability level. These two activities grow by 20 to 28 basis points, 0.7 points in other words. And the whole group has a profitability level of 15 points, which is increasing in line with the indications given to the market, 50 basic points. So a very balanced performance Now let me explain a little bit more what we actually do. So in order to do so, we are present, as I said, all over the world.
So let's go to Egypt where we are extremely active 300 software engineers in Egypt, for example. We don't always imagine that Egypt is a country with is doing so much and so well in the software business, but we're going to show you an example of what we can do for our customers. With Carrefour, Egypt. Thanks to our technology. Carrefour has been able to save energy and to better control all their equipments and facilities.
Let's have a video.
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So this is one example of what we are doing. We connect all components, controlling energy and processes in the carrefour stores, we bring information to analytics software, giving indication on components, which might break down, for instance, if a fridge breaks down, consequences may be serious, you can do that throughout stores beforehand, we talk one strategy time. In that case here, we bring all day out to one center and the best experts really help people. And what is important is that this system is not just at the disposal of control room, but this data is at the disposal of the operators of the store on their mobile phone, a close to their facilities. So the coworkers can do their work in a more reliable and simpler way.
Second example, we're going to move towards the industrial automation. The automations in Italy for a water treatment plant, we had a very broad facility with water leakages and aqueduct and different water treatment plants in collecting everything in automating all systems, 20% of operating efficiency that was the target, which is rather easy to imagine when you're not connected. If there is a problem, you don't know where it is. If you're connected, we know exactly where the fault is and which repair part has to be used so you can save energy consumption and reduce water leakages by 10%. In the century, we'll have a shortage of water and everywhere we have the water experts to use the best technologies to reduce their losses.
Let me talk about 3 basic pillars of our strategy. As you know, and I've been talking about it every year, our strategy is based on sustainable development so much so that we centralized We focused the Schneider mission on efficiency and sustainable development. The whole company is working at the service of sustainable development in the communities we work in. Our commitment is extremely serious and monitored. We have we at 20 objectives, about 20 objectives in 5 fields, and we progress in those fields from ethics that has to development, the security and safety of our colleagues, environment, of course, social aspect.
We measure that. We assess that. And most of our colleagues have a part of their incentives related to our performance in the sustainable development and now the portion is related to the financial objectives in all what we're doing, we try to bring in a sustainable development aspect. This is true in our factories working in a circular economy. With waste, which we recycle ourselves and the Paris marathon, well, the nicest day in is of the year is the Schneider marathon day.
Paris becomes green and you have sixty thousand people runnings throughout the city and 6000 our customers and co workers of Schneider Electric. And it's the first maritime where we have carbon neutral footprint when we organize the marathon people come from all over the world. So what we did this year is to offset these carbon emissions because of the aircraft with a reduction in carbon emission in equipping villages in Kenya with ovens replacing the oven working with timber. This way, it was possible to offset and this was for this year in Paris. And this is one of the only marathon in the world where men and women do not start exactly at the same time and the arrival will take effect at the same time.
Last year, it was man winning just before the women. And this time, women has been the first one. So sustainable development is recognized everywhere and outside of what we like to do with is to benchmark ourselves and to be assessed by external companies and experts. And once again, in 2018, we were awarded several prices and especially we are the number 5 worldwide where you have a lot of investments of sustainable development funds. We're going to continue this effort and we're extremely proud of this.
The 2nd pillar of our strategy is the following one, we want to develop men and women at Schneider. People, our coworkers are really the wealth of our company, the only wealth of the company. And we want people joining us we want them to join us because our company has a mission, which is meaningful because what we are accomplishing allows the world to grow while preserving resources and it should be meaningful as well in seeing a way of doing business in line with the best global standards. We are one of the global companies, the most engaged in global compact and through our values at the best level. The second topic is to be one of the companies, if not the company, the most inclusive of the world, we work in over 100 countries and each individual in our company should have an equal access to all opportunities irrespective of the origin, irrespective of the way the individual has grown within the company and to make sure that our company is the most inclusive one.
And finally, make sure that each employee of Schneider may have an impact in being empowered as much as possible. And which led us by the way to choose a mode of organization and very specific engagements and commitments. For instance, for family holidays or for all employees of Schneider, a global policies against the harassment, all type of arrangements, fairness and flexibility commitments. And this organization of multi hubs where the leadership is not just at one place in the world, but scattered closer to customers and close to the best talents in Asia, in the U. S.
In France, of course, and in the Middle East. So what you also see is that the social body of Shandai Electric is well distributed throughout the world. Asia Pacific is 30% of our colleagues and keeping growing faster than the rest of the world. And 20% well, you see the figures for Europe and the North America. The 3rd pillar of our strategy, I wanted to share with you is the very clear definition of our mission statement I know I recognize a lot of faces here in this room and for those of you who attend the general meeting of Snedha each year, we always pay attention to specified a contribution of Snedha to the customers, but to the countries, communities and stakeholders, the companies, communities we work with, we have collected all slides we presented in the various general meetings and the children's meetings and you see that all this is quite consistent.
There is a lot of discussions on the so called Horizon Debt of companies, the mission statement of companies, we had not have not waited for this debate to deal with this theme and with the new pact law, which is and we have to understand all its consequences, we have the opportunity based on the work we've done in the past on our mission statement. We have the opportunity to work into more depth with all colleagues of the company to look at all aspects of our mission statement. And to come back to you during the next shareholders meeting, with a definition, which is even more precise of what we have submitted to you almost every year in the last 15 years. But as I said several times, what we're doing at Schneider Electric is to allow each of us to do better and more with less impact on resources anytime, anywhere in the world, and what we offer to our customers is to organize these conversions in digital solutions of energy and automation in order to succeed in making huge jump and to have an efficiency multiplied by 3. We're going to enter into of the matter and look at the details of 2018 a year ago, I talked about this strategy.
This strategy has not changed more products, more services, more digital and more performance in the systems. If you remember, one of, well, most of the electric transformation of most of the transformation was based on what is it was difficult, it was a lot of investments in our profitability, sometimes suffered from this transformation process. So in the last few years, we used those solutions better and we improve this performance in the systems. The learning of systems and solutions is now over and time has come to make out of it a profitable growth. So let's look at all these priorities, more products growth in 2018, a robust one.
Some of you took part in the innovation summit there was another summit last week in Russia lasting 4 days plus 56 innovation days and 30,000 customers shared with us the Schneider Technology in the world. We are very good at the residential aspects as well. About 15 years ago, it was not possible for us to carry out one deal to develop more rapidly in the residential field. It was a personal challenge. Now this business accounts for 1,000,000,000 and is growing at least by 5% each year and last year, almost plus 13 10%.
We wanted to have integrated solutions, high quality products with a design team coming from consumers, goods, and with Declaration solutions as well. And you'll have an exhibition hall so that we can better know the product in this field. 2nd priority, more services. Our company was selling our companies, but our products, but not services. Whereas now services account for 13% of our turnover and last year plus 89% of growth.
Let me show you one example, agricultural a cooperative in the Normandy region of an international size now. We work with them. We give them pieces of advice to in terms of energy consumption, they can save about 10% to 15% of energy and the cluster, their site order to progress more rapidly. 3rd priority, more digitalization has been talking about eco structures for many shareholders' meetings. This is a digital platform combining connected objects, control platforms, in places where we installed systems and a series of software enabling us to better manage facilities.
And last year, we exceeded the 2,000,000 threshold of connected objects on our cloud plus 35% compared to 2018. This is 17. This is the EcoStruxure plan, the solutions and the architecture. And 2, very striking elements in 2018 in the development in that field, the software. The first element was the creation of the company, Viveva.
We extracted from Cheniere, our software industrial software company, and we merged it with a British company called Aviva and this company, 60% of this company belongs to Schneider Electric, but it's remains a listed company on the British market. In 12 months, this company so its value multiplied by 2 and your shareholding in AVEVA had doubled its value because of the enthusiasm because of the excellent industrial performance 1000000 in 2018, a double digit growth in 2018. And when you merge 2 companies of It's always very complex. A lot of disturbances and when you succeed such a merger and at the same time, you continue growing, it's been started. It goes very well.
And to explain to you what we are doing with Alibaba, our goal is to carry out 3 integration, the integration of automation and energy, the integration of connected things, right up to analytics in the cloud and the integration of the whole life cycle of plants, the design, the digital twin of the plants right up to the operation of the site including maintenance and it's much better to see that through a video. So let's look at this video clip with 1 of our Brazilian customers. Okay.
Industry eyes. As we said, 2 industries come, petrol, oligas, mineralization, into the that's what I said. It was supposed to sync ones, put over with me to buy Alterra a form a disease zone, Eoperasondas plantas. Us is to consult Ateo Perazone, police canceled the song, complaining of the security case, at Asia, yet in Euclideach, this is in front of us. So this is what we need to do procedures in regards the the is secret thing, I think, was a concept of fluy, toad, the
This is the example of what Aleva does and helps customers do. You have the example, a very complex oil facility in this type of facility. If you do not use the digital twin, 30% of the cost is reconstructions. In doing so and in putting software optimization softwares in size presented here, you are able not only to improve the design, but on top of that, to optimize the design real time. Let me give you another example.
Last year, we carried out another decision from Toulouse Electric Design Software. What we're doing at Schneider, we help our customers build electric cabinet or control tablets. It's quite modular three d table. You have to include the electric, mechanical aspects and installation aspects and the XGO software, Excel software, digitalized the whole design so that the electricity solution may have design and installation of the system much more easily. So this is typical electrical installation and you have to combine not only our matures for the electric parameters, but you have to have the lining of the cabinet and air conditioning systems because electricity generates heat and you need to release this heat and the design is not that easy and corresponds to physical rules set by the standard very often or set by the experience.
And what the software allows us to do is to guide the person doing the design of veterinary attrition to make sure that the design of the facility corresponds to the standard strict consensus and the software will directly generate the list of necessary equipment, the customer will give this list to the distributor to place an order. And once the cabinet has been designed, it possible to bring additional debt components 1 after the other inside and to optimize the sizing and positioning so that it is simple to a cable, whether it's on a mobile, a tool or on a PC, you can do that. And therefore, it is more precise. It is in compliance with the standard and easier to assemble. Next slide.
I wanted to add something, when we talk about digitization, well, this digitization often is on the technical aspects, but at Schneider Electric, what is really important is to digit utilize this relationship we have with our partners. Schneida is the company in our field working the most with our So we don't do everything on our own. We work with a lot of electricians, integrators, automation experts, to develop their business and using our technologies and it is represents 100 of 1000 of customers and with them every day. And one way of identifying those exchanges with the partners is to use those digital platforms forms. And in Hanover months ago, we've just launched the exchange platform enabling our partners, the suppliers technology, the software developers to come and create applications on EcoStruxure.
And if you have developed an app and you are from the Toulouse region, we may have a customer in Brazil because he himself is connected to our platform. So our customers have more opportunities this way. And you had the example of a French startup company producing a soft for the industrial maintenance optimization connected to EcoStruxure applying their knowhow to a facility in the Dairy industry in order to speed up the cleaning time of the dairy facilities and gain in terms of productivity.
4th priority, improve the performance of systems past year was excellent. We were able to increase the operational margin by 70 BPS. In Schneider, things or sectors, we have medium voltage. It's not as as our other sectors. But when you look at what happened between 2015 2018, we constantly improved the profitability of that particular sector, it's now 4 points, organic or 400 points organic.
So it's getting into an acceptable profitability zone. So all that I've been describing so far is good for our customers. And this convergence of energy, automation in order to be more efficient, improves efficiency, reliability, security, sustainable development, and it means a better gains, gains in all sorts of different sectors for our customers. I will conclude and I will give the floor to Emmanuel Now we conclude saying that 2018 was extremely good as far as growth is concerned. We've talked about products.
We've talked about services, digitalization, softwares and systems. We've improved all our strategic priorities of our group. We've done better than our objectives. We've improved the global profitability of the company and in every of its in all of its components, among which the operating earnings plus 10% We've broken a record in net earnings. The benefit per share or profit per share is excellent for 0.21 and so on and so forth.
So this concludes 2018. Now what about the future? 2019, the organic growth of the, should be something of the sales number plus 3% to 5%. The margin should grow by 20 to 50 points BPSA BPA basic points, sorry, and we want to better visibility in the longer term as well. In the coming 3 years, we should be able to increase our profitability by 200 basic points, so basic using, we will have to simplify things, get out of some less strategic activity, for example, we are going to simplify things.
Did it be more efficient? And obviously, as any other industrial company we will try to improve our productivity. So this is it for 2018 and our future perspective or the outlooks for our for the coming years, sorry. Now, time has come to actually go into the details of numbers. Maybe some of you hope that I won't be too long or I won't give you too many details.
But anyway, I would like to explain the driving force of our performance in 2018, and I will explain the driving force behind our future performances. But before we do that, let's talk about something which is really the heart of our DNA. It's fundamental when we talk about sustainability sustainable development, when we talk about environmental, forces. This is what we call our principles of responsibility. What are these responsibility principles?
I'm talking here about all the principles that will be at the heart of all the actions developed by the group. We want to be an ethical company, the most ethical company ever. We want to have the best practices with people. We want to have a favorable impact on the environment. And at the end of the day, in order to be sure that we have a positive impact of things, we want to be able to improve society and improve the planet.
Today, we are constantly challenged on those responsibility principles. People keep asking how do you improve them? How do you progress? What customers keep asking us about that. Shareholders ask us questions on these issues as well.
But even within the company, we keep getting questions. Are you improving things? Do you have a positive contribution on these dimensions? And obviously, the regulations are such that we have to constantly progress. In we're not starting from scratch.
In 2002, we had a first definition of these principles of responsibility. This has been constantly evolving ever since. Now we have worked on things. We are We have investigated. We are developing new dimensions, and we have a better approach of things.
We have a more detailed approach of this. We today we can articulate those principles of responsibility on 5 pillars. Here are the 5 pillars I'm talking about. 1st pillar, human rights and human development. It means that how can we interact with our employees?
Are we in favor of diversity, for example, poll. Do we focus enough on well-being at work, on health at work? On safety and security of people. Do we have a 0 tolerance policy on harassment, for example, all sorts of harassment. Are we treating people with dignity and respect first pillar?
Second pillar, professional ethical behavior of the company, do we Wobe the talk, do we implement the best ethical principles that exist? Do we fight as much as we can against correction whenever we work with a 3rd party agencies, partners, do we have the right level of requirement? What about regulations? Do we implement the rules? 2nd pillar?
3rd pillar, reliability in digital, reliability and security. This is fundamental today. We are here to provide solutions to provide security connected to the digital tools. We are not here to create additional risks or difficulties for our customers and partners. And cybersecurity, for example.
We have access to more and more information for our customers and partners, we create more and more value because we get more and more information from them. So it's very important to process this this information in the best possible way, we have to guarantee confidentiality and private life and so on private data. 4th pillar work for the environment. How can we minimize the impact of our activities on the environment? How can we, give benefit, help customers have a better access to this sustainable development?
How do we guarantee total recycling of what we do, so 4th pillar the environment? Last pillar, which is a bit more general, we have to be a responsible company in society. We have to be citizens of society. We do it in a very impartial way. We are not we do not interfere with politics, for example.
And we're talking here about the impact we have on various communities and favored communities in particular, access to energy, for example, is fundamental. Training is mental education is important here. So 5 pillars, dense pillars who really cover all sorts of dimensions. So in order to do that, we have defined a very robust solid governance. We want to be sure that this policy exists and works well.
It starts at the top. There is nothing no principle responsibility principle works if Jean Pascal and the whole executive committee they do not represent themselves these principles of responsibility. So it all starts at the level of the executive committee. Then you have a legal power. It's what we call ethic and compliance committee.
They define plain communicate the rules. So we have to communicate the rules. We have principles on the anti corruption rules and gifts. We have a policy of our gifts about harassment and so on. And this committee here is in charge of drafting all these rules.
Then the fraud committee the full committee makes investigation whenever there is a problem. We have Justice represented. It's called disciplinary commentary when something happens when someone is not properly working properly according to the rules? Well, we have this committee. As far as employees are concerned.
We have people who help what we call ethic advisors. We have compliance agents as well, make sure that things are properly communicated and well understood by people and they are proximity agents for people. And we have an alert system or a whistleblowing system. We have a specific line. It's called red line.
It's within the company. And we have an external line as well for our suppliers, customers, the green line, red line, green line. So we have, we are doing all that we can to face potential problems. We've finished with this specific topic, which is very important with a concrete example, what we call the vigilance or duty. We have to make sure that we all share the same values.
We all have responsibilities. So we work with our suppliers in particular to define what they should do in order to be able to work with us. It's a human rights, health, safety, at work and so on and so forth. We have audit missions that make sure they check that the suppliers in question are in charge with our in line with our specifications And we have, obviously, so that we can correct the situation if it's wrong. So we have 1000 suppliers, rank 1 suppliers.
It represents a lot of work, but this is an absolute prerequisite. We must all follow the same rules. These rules are very important to us all. That's it for these principles of responsibility, but I have to start talking about the performance of your company. It would be wrong to think that ethics that these principles of responsibility are totally disconnected from the financial performance of the group.
We perform well because we have all sorts of values and we represent those values vis a vis our customers and investors where the major assets of this group and Schneider Electric will go on will go further into this these principles of responsibility. We will contribute to the progress of this company. Let's go into the details of the performance for this year for last year, sorry. Our turn or sales, 1,000,000,000, objective plus 3+5, we actually did 6.6% plus 6.6%. Adjusted EBITDA margin, 15.1%, we've been able to actually improve it by 50 basis points, operational earnings, adjusted EBITDA, 1,000,000,000, we our objective was plus 4% plus 7%.
It grew by 10%. And then Schniedel Sustainability Index, it's point 1 out of 10, sorry. So we've reached, we've done better than our objectives. The objectives we had decided at the beginning of the year, it's a clear illustration of our strategy of fact that we are doing well, we innovate well. Our portfolio is extremely strong.
We have a portfolio of technologies, which is absolutely great for all our customers to help them create value. Our geographical coverage is also obviously very powerful another major asset. And obviously, this strategy succeeds only when it's well implemented. And we've done extremely well. Now a few moments, so a few minutes on the P and L account of the group.
It's absolutely fundamental for the group. The margin and the gross margin, the gross margin obviously is the sales minus the cost of product solutions and services. This gross margin represented 1,000,000,000 in 2018. And the gross margin rate is constantly improving. It's been improving for 3 years now, plus two points.
It was 37% in 2015. It's 39%. So we are going on we are still developing Schneider Electric, more added value for our customers, more technology more differentiation. And this is why we can improve this gross margin. Jean Pascal talked about priorities like product digital softwares, more services.
We have worked on industrial productivity, obviously, and having this gross margin, This gross margin is fundamental because it will help you invest in innovation. Invest in people in the field, invest in better services, recruit more talented people in the software business, for example. And this is why we can improve our cash flow, cash flow necessary again to invest and share dividends with our shareholders. So our margin is constantly improving. The operating margin constantly improve over the past 3 years, plus 200 basis points, plus 2 point in combining this with the growth of the sales, the growth has been speeding up for 3 years now and this is why we can now generate an average growth of the results of the company by 8%.
Excellent growth rate. It's very high. The EBITDA is growing of 8% and the net earnings are constantly improving. This is why we can increase our the dividends So we've improved the free cash flow as well. The cash flow generation is still extremely high 2,100,000,000.
When the sales number of the group increases, it means you can meet the demand in a much better way. You have more customers. So you keeping cash flow as at that same level in point of the activity was a great performance, and this was possible, thanks to the improvement of the margin. The results of the company are extremely good. We had this Aviva operation in 2018.
We finalized a buyback share buyback program, we will suggest an increased dividend So we can, at the same time, invest reward our shareholders while having excellent results. Now let's look at let's look at this year. So net earnings plus 1,000,000,000. I said we organized the share buyback programmed. So, profit per share, 4.2 So we are going to have a dividend paid to you this year of per share plus 7% compared to last year.
This is something we want to give to our shareholders. We want to provide to give them constant performance. We want to go on improving year after year. We want to prove things every year. And it's obvious when you look at the evolution of the dividend, which we've been paying so far to all our shareholders, Over the past 5 years, we've gone from per share to per share this year.
Average growth rate of about 5% per year. So regular growth rate as far as the dividend is concerned.
Nice financial performance, and this is translated, of course, in the share price. As usual, if you look at the short term from the beginning of the year, you see that our share has grown by 30% versus 18% for the CAC 40%, so nice performance, reflecting our results of 2018 and the big of 2019, I'll come back to it in a few seconds. And if you look in the long term over 10 years, if you had invested 100 in 2009, I know most of you are loyal customers, you have 405. If you had invested a in a mid value of the CAC40, you would have 266 100 in 2009. So Schneider did much better than the average of the CAC 40 over 10 years and we are delighted to have generated this performance to our shareholders.
This is it for the past. Let's look at the future. Our strategy. And the strength of this strategy is clear. It works well, and we are going to pursue this strategy, as Pascal said, we're going to focus our company on 2 major growth drivers the energy transition and the future industry, our obsession is to strengthen those 2 pillars.
And this is what we are doing through acquisitions. We took over ASCO some quarters ago with a new leadership position in low voltage in the U. S. We work in the energy management. So we invested in the at all Aviva for the Industrial Automations, the EGX AO for Energy Management.
This is for the portfolio, the acquisition portfolio, but we're also working on the existing portfolio when there's a weakness we improvise plus 400 basis points for the mid voltage technology, but we can also dispose of assets not performing well, which is the case of a number of businesses or activities which are not strategic activities. In the last 3 or 4 years. We disposed for 1,000,000,000 of non strategic businesses and we are going to review 1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 of sales of businesses, which are not care businesses underperforming and for which we're going to find solutions in order to focus your company on the strengths. And of course, it goes through more research and development 1,000,000,000 and it's on the increase. These amounts will keep on increasing.
This is good for innovation. We talked about the innovation summits And we are also on the lookout for innovations for the future technologies. We want to be at the source of innovation and we created Schneider Electric Ventures, this we want to find the future famous startup of tomorrow. The unicorns is Licon Valley in France and so on, which technology is merging on what do the startup companies work in order to be the owner later on and we want to be in the avant garde in order to have the disruption of the future. Give us a lot of confidence in the future of your company.
We want to keep on delivering this combination of a strong growth of our sales and organic growth between plus 3% 6% on average for the 3 years to come, we want to keep on improving the operating margin of the group plus 200 basis points, excluding currency effect, So keep on improving the added value created by your company. We want to keep on rewarding our shareholders with share buyback plan announced from 1,000,000,000 to 1000000000 to give back money to our shareholders and the 80 percent of the free cash flow was given back either in the form of dividends or share buyback. So it shows that we want to have a return for our shareholders. Let me finish with a few words on the first quarter. It's nice to have a long term vision, but how do we work?
How do we start on this new journey for the quarters to come and the years to come, well, we have started very well. This year, 2019 with an organic growth of plastic percent, strong growth throughout the areas, geographic areas that is just on North America plus 10% remarkable, almost Asia Pacific, plus 7% quite dynamic. Management Activities And Industrial Automation doing well. So and we confirm our guidance, organic growth of the revenue between 3% and 5% and organic improvement of your operating margin between 2050 basis points. This is it for my presentation.
I will finish in repeating how important it is for us. So to have a continuous dialogue with our shareholders and our individual committee of our shareholders in the 2nd row, I met them some months ago. I'm going to see them again soon. A lot of things are happening in your company. A lot of visits, a lot of contacts are invited to the Innovation Summit do not hedge state come and see us.
All those contacts are interesting for you and valuable and it's a dialogue the opportunity and we want to keep on improving this dialogue. This is it for the information, and I'm going to hand over to Jean Pascal. Thank you, Emmanuel. So before giving before to Leila Poetaker, who's going to talk about the operation of the works of the board of governors and the various committees and he will report on his mission as Vice President And Lead Independent Director. I would like to show you on the next slide, Board of Governors.
And I would like to ask the camera to zoom onto the first row of the room to see the members of the board of directors. So each member you see here on the slide, each member was chosen for their expertise, experience, personal qualities, mindset and his or her contribution and personal engagement in the NADA Electric Project. And we work in the team, the complementarity we have with each other because of our origin experience we may represent and the way we are working together. And I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to 2 members who are going to leave the board this year, but he at Kince, who is in the meeting Thank you very much for those many years. She helped us in the digital field and in developing in North America.
And Antoine Gosset Grandil, who could not make it and who contributed very strongly as well to the development of our group. And I would like to thank Betsy at Kim's and not wanting to support their contribution. I would like to welcome The new, commerce, let me start with Carolina Diebeck Happer. You can stand up here. Thank you.
Kahorina has an impressive experience in the industry field Marie Suijang Ma. Mary, could you please stand up? Mary was part of 1 of the industrial and technological adventure, very impressive one in China, Den Wu and Liputan, Lipup, could you please stand up as well? Thank you. Lipup is having an experience on Asia coming from Malaysia and Singapore and a complete career in the Silicon Valley event Digital Venture And Industrial Software.
So welcome to you all, and we are delighted to work with you. I'm going to hand over to our Vice Presidents, a Lead Independent director, Leo Apotika. So good afternoon to you all and welcome. I would like to show you my report and the governance of the company briefly. Let's start with the activities of the board of that what do we do?
What are we doing as, as our title says, our board manages the company. Our main activities may be broken down into 4 categories. In 2018, we worked on all topics except for the appointment of managers fortunately. 1st, follow the performance of the group and sure that there is a good redistribution to the shareholders. It is 1 essential and recurring mission of the board.
And then the strategy of the group in, in 10 to 15 years vision, we look at the possible opportunities and determine the strategic opportunities. The risk risk control, we follow-up and we control risks, we must risk and you saw this map in the yearly report. And board of directors is also relinquished the governance, choosing the mode of management, pointing and assessing the co operate officers determining the compensation of managers and carrying out a self assessment on a yearly basis. After those works, the board inform the shareholders through the management report you all read, of course, in the registration documents and put forward decisions. We submit to you for your approval.
In 2018, the board focused on the performance of the group in a volatile and difficult environment difficult to predict in order to really strengthen the energy efficiency. The board is informed of all dossiers, and we have a dedicated plat form for our preparation of the meetings, we have a periodical information letters the members act with the various people in charge of the businesses inform all the exchanges are organized regularly with external personalities who are expert in the field and among the functions of the Vice President Lead Independent Director have the privilege to meet shareholders and to exchange with them on the governance. In order to prepare those decisions, the board hears the reports of these 5 specialized committees before each meeting. We met 9 times in 2018, the average duration of a meeting is 5 hours and the absence are always I apologize, the attendance rate is 95%. On top of that, there are committee meetings each director takes part in the works of 1, 2 or 3 specialized committees.
The decisions submitted to your approval this year on foreign fields. Among the resolutions, I would like to comment, you have the proper dividends because the board suggests that the dividend of per share be distributed plus 7% in 2018. And we would like to approve the conversation of the corporate officers for your company in 2018 as displayed here on the screen. And it is in full compliance with the policy approved last year. The board wanted the bonus of managers be the strict reflection of the interject sector performance of the group and the perception that shareholders may have and reduce decided to reduce by 18 points with the mathematical results.
So to reduce the yearly bonus by 18 points and the compensation of Jean Pascal Tricoire has decreased by 5% versus 2017 and the 1 of Emmanuel Babble by 2%. Those graphs show you that because of the structural compensation, depending on the results of the group to a large extent and the value of the share price, the developments of the concession of Jean Pascal Castoir Emmanuel Banou reflect the performance of the group in all points in time. And based on this observation, the board suggests for 2019 to maintain the compensation structure of the managers unchanged. And the board suggests, however, to change the performance conditions determining 80% of the compensation to serve in the form of shares measured on 3 years. The variable portion, the bonus the board suggests to reduce the number of criteria to 4 increasing the portion linked to the sustainable development to 20 percent.
The portion attributed to shares will be submitted to the same criteria approved in 2016, but awards strengthen the objectives. In 2020, if you approved the resolutions, the acquisition of performance shares will be submitted to 3 criteria instead of 4, 70% financial criteria, a yield for shareholders and earnings per share and 30% based on the sustainable development, the profitability criteria and the eval Development criteria will be relative. In order to guide the performance of the group, the board pays attention to the fact that the performance criteria correspond to the strategic priorities of the group, let us say, continuous growth, profitable growth, delivering value for customers and shareholders and making sure that we observe this sustainable development in all its components. Among the 4 resolutions submitted to you on the Board of Directors. The first one is on the renewal of the mandate of Gregory Birkull, former CEO of Ingram Michro, expert in digital digitization, the first mandate is expiring and he's chairing the digital committee.
Since its creation a year ago. In order to offset the departure of Betty, Abkin, we suggest to appoint the 3 new directors, Carolina Deepakapa, she will provide her expertise in finance to the audit committee and the knowledge in industry. She comes from Sweden and she has been the financial manager of Edemolar Hollesk. Mrs. Marie Ma, Joinsha Ma, has performance in finance and in Digital Technology as she acquired within the TPG funds and she will be part of the audit and digital committees, and she has an extremely good knowledge of the Asian markets.
And finally, Lyboutan, he's American, general manager and the Director of Cadence Design Systems. He he was president as well. He's joined the board as a nonvoting members apart from his technological knowledge and his experience as investor. He contributes to the digital committee and the investment committee and he's a candidate as a director full director. We do hope that you will support those candidates and if so, the board of governors will have 14 members, 2 representing employees, 82% of independent directors and 14 6% of women according to the calculation prescribed upon us by law.
In order to take into account the growth of the board and the number of meetings and the specified specific committees, 5 of them, and without increasing the individual conversation of directors depending on their attendance rate, 80% the board, suggest to bring the envelope from 2,000,000 to 2,500,000, and we could have an other representative of the employees according to the packed law. The following resolutions relate to the yearly financial authorization in order to carry on the number of programs like the share buyback program, from 1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000. The savings program enabling the employees of Schneider Electric to to benefit from the profits of the company and to share your experience of shareholders. Thanks to this employee our company settings plan, very much awarded, almost one employee in 2 is a shareholder and this is really quite good and it deserves your support. And then from resolution from 15 to 20, the financial support for various financial deals.
So financial authorization on several years. Resolution 21 will allow our group to pay part of the composition of the managers in the form of shares linked to performance, 100 percent of shares attributed to the members of the effective committee, including the 2 corporate officers are submitted to performance conditions and for the other business fisheries, which would be 70%. In all cases, performances are measured over 3 years. And as I indicated earlier, on 70% of shares attributed, according to performance criteria, financial criteria, relative profitability and 30% according to and ability criterion on behalf of the Board of Directors. I hope that you're going to support all these resolutions.
Thank you very much, and I'm going to hand over to Jean Coutra.
I'm going to give the floor now to our statutory auditors who will make their presentation on the financial statement and regulated document and special report to granting free shares based on performance in increase of capital, with the, while keeping or getting rid of the preferred subscription rate, the allocation of free shares, the increase of capital in favor of the profit sharing plan and increase the capital of issues of shares issued for employees. So I'm very happy to give you now the report we have been able to establish, for the ordinary and extraordinary general meeting. All our reports are obviously at your disposal. You have a copy in the registration documents you got when you entered this room. And I will try and summarize these reports.
I'm not going to read them all. First of all, the financial statements, our report on financial statements are page 348 and 328 of the document of reference. Consolidated accounts have been calculated according to European rules, and they're presented according to French accounting systems. We want to get a reasonable guarantee on the sincerity and regularity of the accounts, we checked that there was no significant anomaly in those financial statements. We focused on the various activities of your group.
We checked current operation and very specific operations. And we have put in place a no diligence according to our rules, rules applicable in France. According, apart from the fact that we sampled a certain number of operations and information in order to check them We worked on the environment, internal controls, the accounting principles you followed you, you, and the picture in general. After this work, we've been able to certify without any reserve the financial stake of the group and the consolidated accounts. We have a report on consolidated account and we would like to draw your attention on the fact that for the first time this year, a new IFRS rule is being used, the IFRS 615.
We would like to remind you that our reports in, have a specific part on the key points of the audit relevant to the significant anomaly risk according to our professional judgments that were a bit more important this year compared to the previous year. So we have the answers given to our questions. 4 key points on this audit. First, the assessment of the acquisition gaps And, and determined the goodwill in general first, we've checked the development costs then we've checked the recoverable characteristic of a certain number of taxes And then last but not least, we have worked on the identification of risk and evaluation of provision for risk. In our report, we talk about the evaluation of a certain number of debt connected to participations.
Last, and then we have checked according to French law, we have checked information relative to the group given in the report of the Board of Directors and we have nothing to say about any we have nothing to say about any potential problem. We can guarantee it's a sincerity. Then from page 406 to 408 of the registration document, we are explaining that we have not been communicated any specific point. All the points we have checked have been approved by the meeting. And everything has been done according to the rules.
So nothing specific to say about all this. Now as far as all the other operations on capital that will be part of Resolution 15 to 24 extraordinary regional meeting of shareholders, reproduced page 4.09to4.13 of the registration document. I'm not going to read them all, but there is no specific observation to make on these resolutions apart from 1, Resolution number 20 on the issuing on shares and and values with the subscription rights of shares and securities with the subscription rights It's a technical observation on the price at which they will be issued. We cannot give our opinion because this price has not yet been decided, but we will make additional report when these authorization are actually used by your board of directors. And that's it as far as my reports are concerned, and I would like to thank you very much for your attention.
We are at your disposal. If you have any question before we start answering your questions, I would like to say that we have received no written questions. So we will directly move to the to your questions in the room. If you want to ask any question, please use a microphone. If you have various questions, please ask them all when you have the mic.
I'm going to give the floor to Marie France Amick, Marguerite Marie Denis and Patrick De Bordeaux, who represent the shareholders' committee And they have shortlisted a certain number of questions asked by shareholder on the internet site. Good afternoon. I would like to ask you a question on your recent debt, I would say. But I guess you have anticipated my question So would you like to add anything to what you already said? The Patent Law is going to be was voted, but, it hasn't been implemented yet.
So any question on this? Any answer on this, sorry, the resondent, we've talked about it already, but we tend to talk about our assignment not the result yet. We are we work on this on a constant where we've been working on this for 15 years. The pact law was voted beginning of April, We're still in April, so we have to understand the consequence of the law before we move on. And we have to seize an opportunity here to work even more on what we're doing.
And for 6 months, we have been working with a certain number of people in this company of different stakeholders. We are going to deploy this in the company next this year and next time we meet, we'll probably explain our thoughts about this. But this is something we've been doing forever in Schneider. We are constantly working on this Resolute. We do it on a daily basis, but you have a second question, haven't you?
Yes, question on governance, Mr. Lip Bu Tan, He's part of the Board of Directors as a censor. What is his role? What is the objective of the board when the board recruits candidates that become sensors? What's well, in a very practical way, let me say that We made a proposal we made a proposal to participate to our board.
We had to vote today, but we wanted him to be part of our work before this general meeting. So his part has been part of the board as a sensor now, if you if the vote is positive, obviously, if you so decide it will become a full member of our board from today onwards. So Schneider Electric is focusing on the internet things. Some systems of the group have been questioned as far as cyber security is concerned, the treatment malware, for example. How are you protecting your assets?
How are you protecting your customer's assets? This is obviously 1 hour of our main priorities. It's the priority of all our technical teams, of all our operational teams. First, a connected world? Is it more dangerous than a non connected world as far as cyber security is concerned?
Probably no. In today's world, what's important is not to build walls. It's you can bypass the wall. You have to keep an eye on what's happening on the network in systems. So all systems whether they come from Schnida or competitors, whatever, are constantly attacked cyber attacks.
They're more and more sophisticated. Those attacks are more and more sophisticated and more complicated to avoid. So it's daily work. We have to develop our defense. We have to work on this.
5% to 20% of our R and D efforts today are on cybersecurity, in various activities, in all our activities. We're working on this on a daily basis. First of all, the fact that we all converge on the EcoStruxure platform means that we only have one platform, so it's easier to organize protection on one platform. Several companies have different platforms. We only have 1.
Then we multiply alliances with big companies and startup companies in order to be able to improve the defense of our systems. 3rd point our internal services are developing every year because they're working more and more on these complicated issues. And we work hands in hands, obviously, with our customers. It's our cybersecurity business, by the way, and we work with our customers in order to design architectures that are more adapted to their needs needs in cyber security. It's one of the new parameters of the world in which we live.
It's a threat obviously, but it's also a priority but it can be a major opportunity. So back to your question, maybe, and then we'll give the floor to the room, sorry. Something radically different. Your acquisition strategy in China and India. Could you tell us more about it?
We never talk about our acquisition strategy. In China and India, well, our development most of our development is organic in China and in India. We've recruited. We've invested. We've trained.
We have developed and on. So these countries have become very important parts of Schneider. China is our 2nd country as far as business is concerned. It's close to the United States. In India, if we finalize an acquisition, we're working on at the moment, it will become the 3rd country of the group.
So this shows how international we are. Our main countries will be U. S.-China and India. So we can say really that we've done something great. So this is not surprising.
China and India are part of those countries in which you have more than 1,000,000,000 inhabitants. So it's normal that our revenue is, is, you know, fairly high. Now, we have made the acquisition of a loss and Toubro one of their branches in India. It's a major it's a significant development for us in India. The leaders in energy management, for example.
If you think that you've, last and 2, it's a discussion I started with, the owners 16 years ago. So if you want to test your patience, it's really quite an exercise. Believe me. We don't know yet the details of big news. The main point of this acquisition is our ability to meet the demands of the antitrust, Indian antitrust commission.
And last week, this commission gave a favorable opinion to this potential acquisition, but we are still waiting for the formal letter formal authorization, but everything's positive, I would say. We'll need a few months before we actually conclude. We need a few months before we can actually conclude this operation. But anyway, anyway, our priority everywhere, but mainly in those emerging countries is to grow with our own ability, we invest, we train, we recruit. That's how we grow.
So number 4, question. Good afternoon. Thank you for managing your company's so well. I'm very happy of that. I'm a shareholder.
I'm very happy of your the way you manage things and the way you you organize this meeting. Being here at this meeting is always very pleasant. Anyway, I need a few explanations. You live in Hong Kong, you're a Cat40 manager living abroad outside France, and it's I heard that you're saying you want to be close to your customers, but people would like to see you in France, pay your taxes in France. I think a CAC 40 manager should be in France, but I understand the fact that you are in Asia because after all most of your customers are in Asia.
2nd point, you're talking about acquisitions. But you're organizing this buyback, the share buyback operation. But when you buy your own shares back, it means that you don't have ideas. When you don't know what to do with your money, you buy back your own shares. So the price of the share increases, obviously, But I'm bothered by that because last year, you talked about batteries.
Nobody can make batteries in Europe. We say, oh, it's chemistry and so on. But your customers are making that the know how exists. Why don't you acquire this know how? I don't understand that you're not investing in batteries.
And sales and so on. We need autonomous cars, don't we? We need that. So you didn't convince me last year. So tell me more.
Let me try again. Okay. 2nd session of explanations. Asia, 1st of all, well, I think that in Schneta, we're very pragmatic. So 15 years ago, 1 third of our size today.
And compared to our international competitors, American and Japanese, whatever, in Schniedel, we were not as international as they were. This is the reality of Schniedel 15 years ago. So we were running risks because we were far too small compared to the rest of the industry. And our growth rates were flat. They were not up to what we wanted.
And then you realize that 90% of the world population 9 people out of 10 live in what we call emerging countries where people need energy. They have to build new factories, new cities and so on and so forth. And I had that problem with my team. What do we do? That's what we said.
We can do when you do things in a conventional way, obviously, you are not going to to do better than those who started 50 or 100 years ago. Those who were already developing technology and so on, so long such a long time ago. So the only way out is to do things in a different way. So in Schneider, we were present in China. And I started developing emerging countries.
The center of gravity of those countries is in In Asia, I started doing it from Paris, but 7 or 8 years ago, I realized it was not passed I realized it was not possible anymore, so I moved there. I wanted to be at the front line of things. And the result, well, today, three times the size we were 15 years ago, and Asia has become our first market, our first zone. And Asia will go on developing more than us. It's 50% of the global population.
Many, many things are happening. They're developing technology and so on and so forth. So I'm pragmatic. I like common sense and I like numbers and numbers prove that I'm right.
Now
where should a CEO live? 2nd topic And what about the taxes? Where are the taxes paid? 3rd question, I live where there's a business and where the responsibility lies good news. We have a lot of customers in France.
We like them and we keep growing with them, but 90% of the new things to be developed are in Asia and it's better for the company and for the shareholders in this room that I am there. In Asia and have been now for 32 years in Schneider and I was mainly in the operational fears and in the trenches and not in the head offices. And I do not really believe in the head offices. I think that the company to be close to the customers and colleagues and I'd rather be over there than be trapped in an ivory tower in France. That's the reason why I'm over there.
But before you applaud me, let me talk about my taxes. So taxes, Schneider, as a company, pays taxes where we do business and we comply with the international taxes are complicated, but we comply with all international roles. As I left, I did not set my conversation, I did not set the place where I am paid by the board of directors and the governance board, your committee, set the components of the elements of my conversation and I pay tax is in Hong Kong where I live with my family, my children go to schools there. So I pay for the infrastructure, the schools I use, the roads I use, the hospitals, and the place where I pay more taxes remains France. And I believe and I'm sure and I'm sure that we comply with international rules as a company and as an individual member of the society.
You know, what is missing we dream a lot of countries like Germany exporting a lot and strongly dynamic countries, but we have the necessary resources to be like that in France, we have the capacity for that, but we should stop reasoning in a conventional way we should adapt to the world as it is and not as it was. Each industry is different, but in our industry, the technology the world is global, the development takes place in Asia. And if you are lagged behind, if you have to go among the front runner among the pioneers, you have to do something not conventional. Share buyback now. Let's start with batteries, okay?
To answer the second question. Well, the success of Schneider deeper lies in the fact that we didn't do everything. Which was electrical. Some of our competitors have disposed of large portions of the electricity field because invested in the bad electricity facets. A company has to invest in the strengths, not in the weaknesses.
Battery is has to do with chemistry and we are not a chemical company. We are integrator of technologies and we create systems, platforms, software. So we use and let me show you, we use a lot of batteries, not only Chinese batteries, batteries come from all place. And our job is to adapt to all those batteries and you have batteries good for the stationary storage, batteries good for the car industry. We don't want to do a battery for the car industry, and we don't want it have the onboard battery.
This is a strategic choice and we stick to it. We want to do batteries because it's not our core business However, we'll continue making efforts and try and be the best integrator of batteries in the electrical systems. And one of our strengths is not to do everything. We manage energy and we do automation as what we do well, we'll continue doing that well, but we'll not do all elements. We won't make a panel solars solar panels, but we will integrate them.
This is a strategic choice. Have I convinced you a bit more? Shall we start again next year? Okay. Last point, the share buyback is not the lack of ID we keep on growing and we ask our shareholders for their help for the acquisition of APC, for instance, and as we integrated those companies, once we have integrated those companies, we give this money back to the shareholders.
You, our shareholders, we do not want you to be diluted by share issuance. And each time we issue for our employees to develop the employee shareholding, and we pay a lot of attention to that. We neutralize this so that the existing shareholders are not penalized by these issuance for the employees. And we've been quite reasonable. Emmanuel, maybe, yes, to add to this and it's a financial vision, we fully agree on the fact that it's not a strategy to do some share buyback, but this kind of financial plumbing there is a real interest for our shareholders.
And one of our mission is to enrich our shareholders is to have a good debt level in our balance sheet, especially when the gas is not costly. For several years, we raised loans at 1% of fixed cost on a yearly basis. So when you can allow, when you have a robust balance sheet, there is an interest in buying back shares, we give money back to the shareholders. The pie remains more or less the same because that is almost equal to 0. And you there's financial interest over the share buyback, but it's not the strategy, yes.
Next question. Number 1. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for this very clear presentation.
I don't mind you are in Hong Kong provided the company is well managed. Security. Oh, regarding the clouds, in your presentation, you talked about digitization and the use of the cloud Schneider. My question is simple. Do you have your own servers, the data of your customers, are they host it on your own servers or do you work with service providers like Google, Microsoft knowing that most of those service providers are American?
And what about the storage of this data? Are they stored in the U. S. In Europe? It depends on the customers, I suppose.
And we know very well that, well, there might be a problem in terms of if I'm a Chinese customer, I don't I'm not sure I would like to have my data stored in the U S. So in my French, Customer, very good point, very good point. We do what the customer wants to do. We work with external service providers. You mentioned a number of them on the cloud.
It's either our choice if the customer wants us to decide or if the customer stores the data on his own server, it's really up to the customer. We are working with more and more customers by from services rather than the physical infrastructure cloud, the buyer from us, the analytic value, the value of the software. And but this is an important matter. The Chinese customers would like the data to be stored in China, the American are a bit more open and in the rest of the world, you have different choices, many choices, but data the ownership of our customers, the use of the data is under the responsibility of the decision of our customers, and we adopt to the desire of our customers. Any other questions?
Number 2, Good afternoon. Louis Mart, registered shareholder there's a problem with the shareholders meeting. They are held at the same time. This afternoon, I had 3 of them that are non Bouygues and you. Dannon is offering a very nice buffet to the shareholders and it might be tempted some of the shareholders.
So maybe you should agree with your peers to make sure you do not hold all shareholders' meetings on the same day. Why do I come to you to your shareholders' meeting? It's because you are really excellent. You belonged to a former you were part of a former company, a Belgian French companies in Haldelberg. This company became ENGIE.
Both of those companies were in the nuclear and the electricity and there's a huge difference. So all you look at the share price, my portfolio has been multiplied by and has been divided by 3 as well with ENGIE. So I'm very proud and very glad. And at the next shareholders meeting of ENGIE Can you give me the floor? I will say to him, just go and see what Schneider is doing.
And 25 years ago, between the Generali Berjik and Auntierge the choice would have been made very easily. We would have chosen the Shinj Khaljik. So it's just an anecdote or comment. I went to the States, to Florida. And in the supermarkets, I saw that there were terminals of kiosks No, to recharge batteries, it was very practical.
The instructions were in Spanish, French, and American. I was very much amazed and I said to myself, maybe Shenida is more French than what we think even in the U. S, in a supermarket, there were recharging stations and in French. What do you think of it, this electric car, what do you think of this electric car from your viewpoint? What is the future of this electric car?
Or is it just a gimmick for the taxpayers? I'm not going to comment on the remarks, but do not ask your question in the other shareholders meeting each company has a different journey. So electric cars It might take some time, but it seems to be that this energy migration is the largest or the most significant migration to come in the last 2 to 2 centuries. So this is going this is about to come transportation accounts between 30% 40% of the energy consumption worldwide. And when you take an electric car, the electric transmission simplifies the drive transmission.
You do not have a lot of mechanical parts so less mechanical breakdown. If you generate electricity on a renewable basis, your energy is green, I have an electric car in Hong Kong and I divided my energy bill by 4. So it is less costly. And you will there will be an acceleration. China is betting on electric cars a lot and in some cities, All public transportation, including tax caps, are having electric cars, Shenzhen, not far away from Hong Kong and the same will take place in Shanghai by 2020.
So this is going to accelerate your transition. Of folks who have infrastructure, a problem of infrastructure will, we have enough recharging stations There are some problems of cost, cost of batteries, but the estimates is that the costs should be lower than the traditional cars very soon. And in that case, yes, the electric cars will grow it will be less, producing no particles and less noise. If the generation is renewable in our case, the car would be low carbon, the acceleration rate is incredible. And acceleration is spectacular.
No transmission loss on the transmission and it becomes a way of a storage when the car is not used to drive a car is not on the road at 96% of the time. So this you can better manage well in France saying that consumption peaks, but if you introduce digital aspects and storage aspects in the chain, you can reduce the peak and improved performance. So yes, at Schneider, we believe in electric cars And we have charging stations, as you saw, with multi language instructions, including French, because in North America, you have Quebec as well, and they are from speaking, and so we monitor this market very closely. But what is interesting for us is upstream of the charging station So each house being equipped, each facility being equipped has to review the electrical distribution and Schneider is very present everywhere in the world on that. Number 2, Yes, arguably, individual shareholder.
Congratulations to the managed of your company. Just one observation on your on your speech. It was a bit long. I was a bit tired after a while is unfortunate because in the past, you showed your products I don't know why. Well, you fell into sleep three times, so I had a 3 video clips.
So you probably slept Next time, I'll make sure that it is a bit well. You have more noise. I showed you with 3 video films. Any other questions? No good.
Next sequence, you very much for your questions. Thank you for this exchange. Okay. So if I'm going to put to your provider resolutions, we're going to come to the vote, please stay till the end of the votes. We do not offer the same gifts as Danone, but we'll be delighted to offer you a multi socket extension cord in spite from the range of a purchase called Odas, you'd be able to coordinate our multi sockets to your ODAS parameters, it would be possible to recharge electrical, traditional electrical devices, you have USB ports, you have illuminous status light to have savings and you have a protection against a surge.
This gift will be given to you Against the exchange of your voting box, Delvinjie, you're going to extend to us the way to proceed. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, your shareholders, good afternoon. The number of shares held by the number is 162,000,211,211,711 that is to say a quorum of 65.63%. So the quorum, therefore, for the ordinary and extraordinary meeting has been reached and the meeting may validly before proceeding to the voter resolutions, we invite you to watch the 4th film presenting you the way the electronic voting box works.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, box given to you is a strictly personal to have or your present is loaded in the box and displayed on the screen. You just have to use the 3 colors, green corresponds to vote in favor yellow, Ascension and red against. After the reading of each resolution, we will proceed to the vote immediately and we will say the poll is open. And then you will see on the screen a rectangle indicating to you the counting the number of second have at your disposal to vote and when the counting is over, we say the poll is close and it will no longer be possible to vote and results will be displayed on the screen. Just a few seconds after.
And thank you for switching off your mobile phones during the moment of about and to give back your voting boxes afterwards. Okay. So We're going to proceed to the vote and you have to validate your choice within fifteen seconds once the vote the poll has been open rather than reading all resolutions, we're going to summarize them before moving to the vote. Slack?
1st resolution approval of corporate financial statements. We have to approve the financial statements for 2018, obviously. The vote the poll is open.
Both Paul is closed.
Resolution 1 adopted Second resolution approval of consolidated financial statements for this 2018 financial year. The Paul is open.
Nepal is closed.
2nd resolution approved. 3rd resolution creation of profit for the financial year and setting the dividend dividend will be per share. It will be paid on the 3rd May 2019.
The poll is closed
3rd resolution is approved. 4th resolution, information regarding regulated agreements and commitments undertaken during previous financial year, The poll is open.
The poll is closed.
4th resolution is approved. 5th resolution approval of elements of the compensation paid due awarded in respect of the 2018 financial year to Mr. Jean Pascal Cricoire. The poll is open.
The pawn is closed.
The 5th resolution is approved. Resolution, approval of elements of the compensation paid due awarded in respect of the 2018 financial year to Mr. Emmanuel Babu. So Paul is open.
The pole is closed.
The 6th resolution is approved. 7th resolution, approval of principles and criteria for determining, allocating and granting the elements of the compensation and benefits of all types that may be granted to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in respect of 2019 financial year. Call is open.
The poll is closed.
7th resolution is approved. The 8th resolution approval of principles and criteria for determining, allocating and granting the elements of the compensation and benefits of all types that may be granted to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in respect of 2019 financial year. The poll is open.
So the call is closed.
8th resolution is approved. 9th resolution, the board of directors. So the 9th resolution renewal of a directorship Mr. Greg Spierkels for a period of 4 years expiring at the close of the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2023.
The poll is closed.
The 9th resolution is approved. 10th resolution, appointment of a director, Ms. Carolina Diebeck Happer, as a board member for a 4 year term expiring at the close of the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2023. Mrs. Carolina Diebeck Happe will be a non executive board member.
The poll is closed.
10th resolution is approved. 11th resolution, appointment of a director Ms. Swe Zheng Ma, as a director, for a full year term expiring at the close of the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2023. Mr. Ma'am will be a non executive board member.
The poll is closed.
11th resolution approved. 12th resolution, appointment of a Director, Mr. Lip Bu Tan, as a director for a full year term expiring at the close of the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2023. Mr. Lip Bu Tan will be a non executive board member.
The poll is closed.
12th resolution approved. So 13th resolution, it's the determination of the amount of directors fees to be allocated to the Board of Directors. This these fees will go from 2,000,000 to 2,500,000. The call is open. The poll is closed.
13th resolution is approved. 14th resolution, authority granted to the Board of Directors to buy back company shares, maximum purchase price per share, The poll is open.
The poll is closed.
14th resolution is approved. Us to increase the nominal share capital within the limit of 1,000,000, 34.53 percent of the capital by with the shareholders' preferential subscription rates, the poll is open.
The poll is closed.
15th resolution is approved. 16th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors during increase the share capital by capitalizing reserves, earnings, premiums or other amounts for which capitalization may be allowed.
Paul is closed.
16th resolution is approved. 17th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the nominal share capital within the limit of 1,000,000, 9.93 percent of the share capital without shareholders preferential subscription rate through a public offering
the poll is closed.
17th resolution is approved. 18th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the amount of an initial issue as approved pursuing to the 15th 17th resolution, with or without shareholders' preferential subscription rate, the poll is open.
The poll is closed.
18th resolution is approved. 19th resolution, delegation of powers to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital within the limit of 93% of the share capital for the purpose of paying the contributions in kind. The poll is open. So 19th resolution is approved. 20th resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to undertake the capital to authorize the capital increase up to a nominal amount of 1,000,000, it has 4.96 of share capital with, without subscription rights.
So the vote Paul is
closed. 20th resolution is approved. 21st resolution authorization to the Board of Directors to make grants of free shares to corporate officers and employees of the company up to a limit of 2% of the share capital without the shareholders preferential subscription rates. Annual,
the
annual granting should be limited to 3.3% of the capital. This is all this will be submitted to performance. It will be to corporate offices and employees of the or of companies affiliated, they are with subject to performance conditions as the case may be. And the minimum amount of time during which you can keep the shares is 3 years.
The poll is closed.
21st resolution is approved. 22nd resolution, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to undertake capital increases reserved for participant in a company savings plan up to a limit of 2% of share capital without shareholders preferential subscription rate. There will be a maximum count of 20% on the average share price or even 30% if law lower permitting.
The pole is closed.
22nd resolution is approved. 23rd resolution, delegation of powers to the Board of Directors to undertake capital increases reserved for a category of beneficiary in favor of employees of foreign companies of the group, up to 1% of share capital, with a maximum discount of 20% or even 30% lower permitting.
The poll is closed.
23rd resolution is approved. 24th resolution authorization to the Board of Directors to cancel shares of the company if, up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital. The poll is open.
The poll is closed.
24th resolution is adopted. Now the last resolution, 25th resolution powers for formalities. The poll is open.
The poll is closed.
Resolution is approved. All resolutions have been approved. Thank you very much for your participation to this shareholders meeting, and we will meet again next year on 23rd April here in Paler de Congraim. And now let's have a brief moment of discussion around the drink. Thank you and see you next year.