Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon and welcome to everybody. I'm delighted you're attending today's shareholders' meeting, even though this year, for the first time in 55 years, we cannot be together in one place. I very much hope that you and your loved ones are in good health, and that you have not had to suffer the most tragic consequences of the pandemic. The health of our employees and our partners and shareholders is naturally our number one priority. It is our duty to abide by all government health guidelines and to do our utmost to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result, we made the exceptional decision to hold a virtual shareholders' meeting this time, behind closed doors. As you know, our shareholders' active participation is very important to us.
Rest assured that we have taken all the necessary steps, not only so that you can remotely and securely vote in this meeting, but also so that it is as accessible and interactive as possible. Indeed, we are broadcasting this meeting live from our company's website, www.sodexo.com, our corporate website, where it will shortly be available for streaming in the coming few days. I would especially like to thank all shareholders who, despite the difficult circumstances, voted online for the resolutions we submitted for your approval, and which all were supported. That you can ask questions as naturally as you would have done at the Seine Musicale venue, where we originally planned to meet, we've set up a phone line for you to ask questions live. Those of you who want to may therefore call this number that is now appearing on your screen.
Voting shareholders club members, and registered shareholders can ask questions spontaneously. No prior formalities, in other words. Non-voting bearer shareholders must show evidence of their shareholder status before asking their questions, based on procedures that are specified on sodexo.com. Strictly adhering to social distancing rules, I am talking to you today alongside members of the company. We have Denis Machuel, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo, Marc Rolland, who is the Chief Financial Officer, the CFO, and Cindy Cario, our board secretary, who will also serve as meeting secretary today. Please also note that two meeting scrutineers are attending today: Nicole Huard, who represents Bellon SA, and Arnaud Bastien, who represents the FCPE Group Sodexo PEPS, a Sodexo staff mutual fund. These are shareholders with the highest number of voting rights, having accepted therefore the role of scrutineers here today.
I therefore declare this shareholders' meeting open, which I shall chair as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Like you, our board directors are attending the shareholders' meeting remotely. PwC and KPMG, our statutory auditors, represented by Caroline Bruno-Diaz from KPMG, will talk to us about their audit reports by video. I would also like to point out that some speeches aired during this shareholders' meeting have been prerecorded, given social distancing requirements. As we always do, I would like to begin our meeting by a safety moment. The video we would like you to watch now is particularly relevant in the current context. I will now hand over to the meeting secretary, Cindy Cario, who will present the agenda.
Thank you, Sophie. Hello, everybody. Before I do anything else, I'd like to recall that the contributions at this meeting will be made in French, but there is a simultaneous interpretation into English available. As usual, the shareholders' meeting is also accessible for people who have hearing impairments, thanks to the interpreters using sign language. I have before me all of the documents attesting to the regularity of the convening and deliberation of this shareholders' meeting. In addition, the documents required to be made available or communicated to shareholders have been made available in compliance with the legal conditions and deadlines. I would like to point out that the Sodexo's Social and Economic Committee in France has been made aware of these documents and has made no comments.
The agenda of the shareholders meeting, as well as the draft resolutions, were presented in the preliminary notices of meeting, which were published on the 2nd of December 2020 and on the 16th of December 2020 in the French BALO Gazette. As well as in the notice of meeting published in the French BALO Gazette and in the French Journal of Legal Announcements on the 23rd of December 2020. Please note that no request for the inclusion of points or draft resolutions on the agenda has been submitted by the shareholders. Furthermore, I would also inform you that we have received a written question from our shareholders, and as the regulations provide, the response to this question will be made available on our company's website in the coming few days.
This year, given that this shareholders' meeting is held behind closed doors, the final quorum and voting results were determined on Monday, January the 11th, 2021, at 3:00 P.M. I am therefore able to inform you as of now that a total of 1,943 shareholders voted remotely prior to the shareholders meeting or gave a proxy to the chairwoman or to another person of their choice. The quorum was established at 122,319,906 shares with voting rights, representing a final quorum of 83.8%. In accordance with AMF guidelines, I would also like to inform you that the number of invalid votes received was 803 for six voting forms. The reasons for these rejections was late receipt or lack of signature.
As a consequence, the shareholders' meeting has gathered more than the legally required quorum for an ordinary shareholders meeting, and the bureau committee has confirmed the validity of its deliberations on all of the agenda items. The attendance sheet has been signed by the members of the committee, the bureau, as we call it, and has ratified this quorum. I am therefore pleased to inform you now that all of the resolutions submitted for your approval have been adopted. As usual, we propose that you exempt the chairwoman from the exhaustive reading of the Board of Directors report. The full report can be found in the 2020 Universal Registration Document, which is available on our company's website. The main elements will be presented to you during this shareholders meeting. I now give the floor to Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, for her message to this meeting.
Thank you, Cindy. Dear shareholders, dear directors, dear employees, dear friends of Sodexo. 2020 will stay forever in our memories as an extraordinary year, to put it mildly. I don't think it's an exaggeration of any sort to say that none of us were sorry to see it go. The pandemic has affected all of us in a very real and tangible way, to varying degrees. Our health, our human and social ties, which to many of us seemed like a given, were threatened. 2020 was a pivotal year for Sodexo, too. Never before has our company been hit so hard. We are a link in the chain, and when our clients are brought to a standstill, it affects us directly. We lost nearly a third of our revenue in the second half of fiscal 2020.
We had to make some difficult, even painful decisions to compensate for the abrupt slowdown in certain areas of our business. Down 88% in sports and leisure, down 47% in education, down 29% in business and administrations. Every aspect of our development was affected. This is an unprecedented situation for Sodexo, which on a fundamental level has always been a growth company. My ambition is clear. We will continue to be a growth company. This brutal crisis is also an opportunity to accelerate the transformation of our traditional value creation models. Not only to secure the future of our company, but even more so, to open up new development paths. I'm convinced that we will bring our revenue back up to pre-crisis levels, but its nature and composition will be different. The pandemic and lockdowns have accelerated trends that already existed.
The demand for increased flexibility enabled by digitalization, the demand for more healthy, organic, and local food. Also a boom in contactless economy. We were working on these beforehand, and now we've stepped up the pace even more. Developing direct connections with our end users was already essential. It has now become vital. Really putting consumers at the heart of our model involves structural changes to adapt our production modes to new consumption patterns, to offer game-changing catering services. Also, to modernize our facilities management offering, and to focus on the most promising markets. Our mission is to improve quality of life, and it's never made more sense as it does now. It's up to us to focus our efforts on the areas of highest value. It's up to us to make the right choices.
I want to highlight the board's steadfast determination to support the company's transformation in close collaboration and in a relationship of trust with Denis Machuel and the executive committee. Transforming our model also means developing more agile and decentralized ways of working. This involves combining global vision and strategy with the autonomy to execute at the local level. Faced with the pandemic threat, with support from our transversal teams across the company, our operational teams were able to find concrete solutions to meet unprecedented challenges. In the heat of the moment, we were able to refocus on our core priorities, work differently, and unleash personal initiative. Not only is there no going back, but I want to accelerate the rebalancing of our organization towards the local level with greater autonomy for our teams on the field.
After all, it is where we carry out our operations, and in the daily contacts with our clients, consumers, and suppliers that our true value is created. This is what makes our model unique. Our return to sustained profitable growth is closely linked also to the acceleration of our supportive approach, inclusive approach, in which generating wealth benefits all our stakeholders and ecosystems. While this goal has underpinned our business since 1966, it is now more relevant than ever before. Few corporations are able to address world issues and have a social and environmental impact as significant as Sodexo. We are present in 64 countries through our 420,000 employees, serving 100 million consumers every day. From this particularly tough year, I want to remember that 2020 finally shone the spotlight on the vital importance and the tremendous value of the activities we pursue, the jobs we do in Sodexo.
Our teams working in healthcare facilities and with senior populations have also been in the front lines. Our teams helped keep essential infrastructures running. Without them, there can be no economic recovery. Our own recovery requires that we forcefully reaffirm the virtue of these activities, these professions, which are often, in fact, too often ignored. These professions are suffering from the current context, but they were instrumental to the smooth running of schools, universities, offices, and hospitals, and even society at large. As the pandemic was rampaging out there everywhere around the world, our teams lived up to the values of team spirit, service spirit, and spirit of progress, which they exemplify every day. We managed to weather the storm thanks to their determination, their dedication, and their courage. Once again, I want to express my sincere gratitude to them for their exemplary engagement throughout this extraordinary year.
If we were physically meeting, I would now suggest that we all stand up and applaud them. I'm convinced that the key to our future success now lies in the implementation of an innovative management model that allows all our employees and clients to be both proponents of and players in our and the world's transformation. We uphold strong fundamentals. Our mission, the founding values that are the basis of our identity, and our financial independence. Sodexo is the world leader it is today because ambition, boldness, and the ability to adapt quickly in an ever-changing world are an integral part of who we are. I have every confidence in our ability to create the conditions that will support the future development and growth of our company. Thank you for your attention.
I'd now like to ask you to watch this video that pays tribute to the outstanding dedication and courage of our teams since the pandemic began, since the very start of it. Thank you.
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Thank you. I will now hand over to our CEO, Denis Machuel.
Thank you, Sophie. Good afternoon. As Sophie just said, the fiscal year that has ended has been an exceptional one. It was marked by the most significant crisis in Sodexo's history. With the crisis confirming the relevance of our businesses, the extraordinary engagement of our teams, and the resilience of our model, we are currently accelerating our transformation to seize the numerous market opportunities. Since 2018, Sodexo's teams have demonstrated their ability to strengthen our business model. Our focus on growth and strategic agenda delivered the first robust results with the highest organic revenue growth in seven years in fiscal 2019, as confirmed by a dynamic plus 3.2% growth during the first half of fiscal 2020. COVID-19 interrupted this positive momentum. Since February 2020, with the full support of Sophie Bellon and the board of directors, Sodexo mobilized in an exceptional way to respond on two fronts.
First, reducing health risks and protecting the health of our teams, our consumers, and our partners. Second, ensuring the continuity of our operations and those of our clients while preserving the group's liquidity. Of course, there have been business impacts from closing or reducing many parts of our business, including sports and leisure, schools and universities, and corporate services. To respond to the pandemic's economic consequences, we quickly identified all possible means to reduce costs, suspend non-essential investments, and protect our cash flow. We immediately sought solutions to preserve jobs and support our teams impacted by the crisis. For example, by forging partnerships with other industries under pressure, or by establishing an unprecedented global Sodexo Employee Relief Program, which was made possible by the contributions and support shown by the group's senior executives.
Our financial performance was inevitably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with annual consolidated revenues of EUR 19.3 billion, down 12%. Our operating margin was 2.9%, and the free cash flow stood at EUR 72 million. Through extremely disciplined management of the crisis, the fiscal year ended with a very robust balance sheet with liquidity of EUR 5.1 billion, allowing us to look to the future with great confidence. You saw it in the video just now. Our teams have been heroic. I'm extremely proud of that, and I want to sincerely thank them.
Our teams have also demonstrated their agility to seize each and all business development opportunities, such as selling additional cleaning and disinfection services, launching new food delivery service in Singapore and Brazil, or winning significant new contracts, like the reopening of the L.A. Surge Hospital in California in only 12 days to care for COVID-19 patients, and the deployment of rapid COVID testing centers in the U.K. Sodexo's innovation and responsiveness were fully demonstrated through the creation of Rise with Sodexo, which is our global program enabling our clients to revive their operations and meet health and operational challenges through our unique portfolio of services. Because we are convinced that trust is a key element in this new reality, we have strengthened this program by establishing a medical advisory board and a certification label for all sites was established with Bureau Veritas.
I invite you to watch this video, which was shot at our headquarters in Singapore, which illustrates part of our services and our commitment to recovery with confidence. Despite these many challenges, this crisis has revealed our strength, the resilience of our model, the relevance of our strategy, and the strength of our unique offer of integrated services, which has shown all its strength during this unprecedented crisis. This crisis is also teaching us that we must accelerate our transformation. This transformation, which was initiated before the crisis by strategic choices and targeted investments over the past few years, must be accelerated to build tomorrow's growth.
To move forward, we are focusing on three priorities: rationalize, enable, and transform. First, we are simplifying our organization by reducing our overhead costs on a long-term basis and bringing our teams closer to the field and our clients, while adjusting our resources to meet post-crisis needs. We're also continuing to optimize and streamline our geographic presence, as well our portfolio facilities management services. At the same time, we are continuing to invest in key target fields, marketing and sales, as well as digital data and IT systems. These investments, combined with sustainable and responsible food services offer, will allow us to be more focused than ever on consumer expectations. We have all it takes today to capitalize on the new expectation generated by the crisis, the increasing outsourcing of services, the growing demand for integrated services, and the challenges of flexible workspace.
Finally, we are also accelerating the transformation of our core business, food services, that is. With redesigned operational and business models, Sodexo has the ability to offer its consumers multi-model and multi-channel dining experience. This is reinforced by digital innovations and a unique complementarity of our employee benefit solutions, adapted to the new forms of mobility and working from home. These investments in new food services models, such as FoodChéri, Zeta, Meican, or most recently, Fooditude in the U.K., are fully aligned with the expectations and needs of today and tomorrow, and will be one of the engines of our growth. Because this crisis must not make us forget our pioneering commitments to responsible and inclusive growth, we are stepping up our efforts to promote healthy and sustainable food choices, to reduce our carbon emissions, and to fight against food waste.
To do this, for example, we renewed our partnership with WWF this year. The recognition this year again by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Carbon Disclosure Project, which rank us among the very few world leaders in reducing carbon emissions, has confirmed our approach. Today, despite the crisis, Sodexo remains true to its promises and commitments. I know that Sodexo will regain momentum for growth that is based on responsible consumption of resources and on putting people at the heart of everything we do. With our teams, we are creating collective dynamics and clear path forward to create value for all of our stakeholders.
To illustrate the strength of our offers, as I conclude my remarks, I would like to share with you a video which was shot at one of our new clients in Florida, for whom we have opened, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, a completely reinvented restaurant.
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As you know, the consumer satisfaction that you could see in this video makes us really proud. This pride in serving every day is what makes the beauty of our jobs and the greatness of our teams whom I would really like to sincerely thank once again. I now give the floor to Marc Rolland, our CFO, who will give you a summary of our financial performance over the past financial year.
Thank you, Denis. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon. I'm very pleased to be here with you today, even in a virtual meeting, and to report on our financial performance for the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our business and operations, and consequently, on our financial performance. Last year's revenue decreased by 12% to EUR 19.3 billion.
The exchange rate effect was a negative -0.8% and is mainly linked to the depreciation of the Brazilian real during the year. Acquisitions contributed 0.7%. As a result, organic growth was down 12%. On-site services decreased by 12.1%, and benefits and rewards business was down by 7.8%. It was a year with two contrasting periods. With a successful first half in line with our strategic agenda, with a total growth of 3.2%. On-site services growing and benefit of 3.2%, and benefits and reward services up 4%. There was a significant decrease of 27.5% in the second half, with on-site services and benefits and reward services down 27.8% and 18.8% respectively. Despite this significant loss of revenue, the group's strategic choices over the years and its investments have enabled our model to be the most resilient among our peers.
In the second half, the facility management services, which account for 40% of our on-site services business, only decreased by -1.4%. Global integrated accounts proved resilient too, flat on prior year. They account for some 10% of our on-site services revenue and have a rather favorable sectoral bias. The diversity of our geographic presence also helped. Our operations in Asia and Latin America proved very resilient. In corporate services, we benefited from a balanced 50/50 split of blue and white-collar consumers. Blue-collar workers in core industries continued to work even during the lockdowns. The fact that more than one-third of our contracts are cost-plus contracts also helped to mitigate the sharp drops are in revenue. As for the rest of our portfolio, we conducted negotiations with each of our clients with positive results. Finally, two segments were very resilient. Energy and resources and government and agencies.
These areas account for 13% of group revenue, and together they grew by 1.3% in the second half. Employee benefits, which account for 80% of the benefits and rewards business, were more resilient, with the issue volume falling by only 4% in Q4 after a 12% drop in Q3. The issue volume in Latin America held firm, down by only 6.9%. Digital conversion increased by 12 points, and we have significantly increased the number of partnerships with delivery platforms. Before reviewing performance by segment, I would like to say a few words about performance by region. Our operations in Asia, Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa accounted for 17% of revenues, and it helped us greatly as we posted growth of 2.5% over the year, while Europe and North America were significantly down.
In business and administrations, organic growth fell by 12.1% as a result of very contrasting situations. Sports and leisure was the most affected segment since operations shut down very quickly in mid-March and have scarcely rebounded since then. Corporate services, and particularly catering, suffered from site closures during the first wave of lockdowns, with recovery since then only very slow and gradual. Energy and resources and government and agencies combined were up. Let's move on to the health care and senior segment, the most resilient segment, down by only 6.6% due to the decline in elective surgery in hospitals, excluding COVID-19, and dropping retail sales as visits were prohibited. The loss of some contracts as well as a significant contract exit also impacted growth. We benefited from additional cleaning and services with rapid testing centers in the U.K.
Finally, the education segment recorded the largest drop of 18.9%, greatly impacted by the closure of most sites around the world. Despite these closures, schools were more resilient than universities because of efforts made by the authorities, particularly in North America, to provide meals to families in need. Now, let's move on to the benefits and rewards business, which accounts for 4% of group revenue. Organic growth declined by 7.8%, adversely affected by the spread of the pandemic worldwide in Europe in the third quarter and in Latin America in the fourth quarter. In Europe, Asia, and the U.S., the decline was 4.8%. The decline in paper voucher production affected issue volumes, while the closure of restaurants led to a decrease in reimbursement volumes and consequently in revenues from clients and merchants.
This revenue gradually caught up as the migration to digital progressed and restaurants reopened in the fourth quarter. In Latin America, issue volume deteriorated throughout the second half. Low interest rates and Brazil's highly competitive environment worsened this impact. The on-site services margin came to 2.6%, with a solid margin of 5.5% for the first half and a negative margin of -1.9% for the second half, representing an annual decrease of 240 basis points at both constant and current rates.
This decrease is entirely due to reduced revenue in the different segments. The flow-through was 19.3%. Several measures have been taken to mitigate this impact. The transfer, sale, or donation of food, applying for government support and relief programs where they existed, immediately stopping temporary employee contracts, especially in North America. When all alternatives were exhausted, employees were transferred to other segments, or they were laid off as a last resort.
The benefits and rewards services margin came to 26.2%, down 480 basis points at current rates and 300 basis points at constant rates. The gap between the two stems from the weakness of the Brazilian real. It is a result of a strong margin in the first half of 30.2% and a smaller margin of 20.8% in the second half. This decline is also entirely attributable to the decline in revenues. The group's underlying operating profit margin after management expenses and intercompany eliminations was 2.9%, down by 260 basis points at current exchange rates and down by 240 basis points at constant rates. The cash generated by operations was a negative -EUR 243 million for the first half, falling further to -EUR 309 million in Q3.
After a very difficult month in March, with a collapse in all our cash sales, even though payment from suppliers continued, we recovered positive cash flow momentum from April onwards. We posted an excellent fourth quarter at EUR 624 million. To achieve this, the teams mobilized to collect receivables and strictly control payment delays. We also managed to push back some EUR 200 million in social contribution and tax payments through government support programs. The benefits and rewards business also performed very well in the second half due to lower reimbursements, among other things. As a result, our free cash flow was positive in the second half and reached EUR 72 million over the year. As you can see on the right-hand side of the slide, both of our businesses prove resilience and cash generating in the second half, proving the strength of our business model.
As the crisis hit our business, investment was pushed back, with the exception of a few key investments. With this strict control, investment fell by 50% in the second half compared to the first and end up at 2% of revenue. This ratio is expected to rise gradually to 2.5% over the medium term, with a different mix towards the new food models that are emerging post-crisis and to take advantage of growth opportunities. I would now like to highlight the strong liquidity of EUR 5.1 billion at the end of the worst year the group has known. After a decrease in liquidity of EUR 725 million over the first month of the crisis, due to the closure of the commercial paper market, we had a dynamic second half, issuing two bonds in euros, one for EUR 1.5 billion in April and another one for EUR 1 billion in July.
We decided to pay back the U.S. private placement for EUR1.4 billion. The free cash from the second half contributed positively to ending the year very solidly. This brings us to our debt indicators. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio is 2.1, slightly higher than our target range of one to two. Our gearing ratio, which corresponds to the net debt to equity ratio, also rose to 67%, due to both the increase in net debt and a reduction in equity. However, our balance sheet remains very strong, as evidenced by financial rating, which was confirmed in November. This year was an exception to the group's habitual policy of paying out around 50% of underlying net profit.
The board of directors decided not to propose a dividend for the 2019-2020 financial year in support and solidarity with our employees and also to protect the balance sheet against the severity of the slowdown in business activity and the uncertainty of the recovery. Over the last five years, the Sodexo share declined by 24%, while over the same period, the CAC 40 has grown by 6%. Between the 31st of August 2015 and the 31st of December 2019, the share performed better than the CAC 40. Since January of 2020, that performance has reversed. In fact, in the last year, and because of the pandemic, the share fell by 42% compared with a 10% drop for the CAC 40. Our entire industry has been particularly affected by the health crisis.
The travel and leisure sector weighs very little in the CAC 40 index, which is mainly made up of luxury, healthcare, and industrial goods and services companies, which are sectors which have been comparatively less affected by the pandemic.The long-term performance is still robust. Since the shares were first listed, the value of the share has increased 38.7-fold, while in the same period, the CAC 40 has only increased 13.3-fold. Sodexo's growth, therefore, is almost three times higher than that of the CAC 40 index. I would like now to conclude with a view of the group's share capital. Bellon SA's stake slightly increased to 42.8% of capital, which represents 57.1% of the exercisable voting rights. Our employees hold almost 1% of the share capital. Our individual shareholders own 4.1% of the share capital. Institutional investors hold 51.1% of the group's share capital.
I hope I have given you a clear overview of Sodexo development and performance over the past year. Thank you. I now turn over to Denis to review our outlook.
Thank you very much, Marc. We recently reported our revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Obviously, we are still impacted by the current crisis. However, the trend has been improving constantly since the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Our first quarter fiscal 2021 revenue came to EUR 4.4 billion, i.e. organic growth down 22.7% or down 21.5% if we exclude the Rugby World Cup base effect, and this is in line with our assumptions. The decline in on-site services was 23.3%, while benefits and rewards held firmer, only down 5.6%.
As far as the outlook is concerned, given the revenue performance in the first quarter and the fact that there will be a third wave of lockdowns in many countries over the next few months, as we are seeing in the U.K. today, we maintain our first-half organic growth guidance at between -20% and -25%. Given the strict cost control, given the solid contract negotiations, and the ongoing restructuring effort, we are now targeting an underlying operating profit margin of at least 2.5% above the original estimated range of 2% to2.5%, which is encouraging. For the second half, it is far too early to foresee the way things will play out in our business, as it will heavily depend on the equilibrium between the new waves of contamination and the speed of the effects of the vaccination on the pandemic.
Over the longer term, considering that the pandemic ought to largely be curbed by year-end 2021, we aim to return to sustained growth and rapidly increase the underlying operating margin back higher than the pre-COVID level. I will now yield back to Sophie Bellon.
Thank you, Denis. Thank you, Marc. Let's continue now with the agenda of our meeting, and I'd like to share with you an overview of the activity of our board of directors and the board committees. I'd like you to watch this short corporate governance video.
Sodexo's board of directors is chaired by Sophie Bellon. There are 12 directors. Pierre Bellon, the founder of Sodexo, is Chairman Emeritus. The board reflects the group's values in many ways. At the end of the fiscal year, as of August 31st, 2020, the board had seven women directors out of 12 members. The international profile of the board of directors reflects the company's global footprint, with four nationalities represented. Directors are chosen for their ability to act in the interests of all shareholders and for their expertise, experience, and understanding of the strategic challenges in the markets where the group operates.
Sodexo's board of directors can thus draw on the varied and complementary expertise of its members, including executive management of international companies, finance, sustainable development, societal commitment, and human resources, innovation and digital, marketing and sales, strategy and mergers and acquisitions, as well as their overall knowledge of the services sector. During this annual shareholders' meeting, shareholders are invited to reappoint Sophie Bellon, Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, and Françoise Brougher as directors for new three-year terms. In addition, Soumitra Dutta, whose term of office also expires at the close of this annual shareholders' meeting, has stated that he does not wish to stand for reappointment. The shareholders are invited to appoint Federico J. González Tejera as independent board member for a three-year term.
At the close of this annual shareholders' meeting, and subject to the approval of the proposed resolutions by the shareholders, the board of directors will then comprise 12 members from four nationalities, including seven independent members and two directors representing employees. In addition, Sophie Bellon will continue to chair the board of directors and serve as a member of the nominating committee. Nathalie Bellon-Szabo will continue to serve as a member of the nominating committee. Françoise Brougher will continue to serve as a member of the nominating committee and the compensation committee. In fiscal 2020, the board met 10 times with a 97% attendance rate.
This year, the board worked on the following topics: corporate governance on various subjects such as an external evaluation of the board of directors, the appointment and reappointment of directors, the assessment of the directors' independence, the review of the charters of the specialized committees, the review of employee engagement and corporate responsibility issues. Compensation policy, specifically this year, the review of the compensation of board members, the evolution of the compensation policy for corporate officers, the review of gender pay equality. Financial statements and management, in particular, the review of the group budget for fiscal 2020. The share buyback program. Regular updates on the management and impact of the COVID-19 crisis, including its effect on liquidity and the Employee Relief Program.
The group's business and its strategy, notably the regular review of the various business activities and segments of the group, in particular in the United States, their growth outlook and competitive environments. An update on facilities management services. The review of strategic opportunities, especially in terms of external growth. In making decisions, the board relies on the preparation, advice, and recommendations from its three committees. All committees are chaired by independent directors. The audit committee is chaired by Sophie Stabile. It has five members, including one director representing the employees. 75% of its members are independent. The committee met five times during the year with an attendance rate of 100%. During fiscal 2020, in addition to the review of the financial statements, the committee notably reviewed the internal control process, updated the internal audit charter, monitored the impact of COVID-19 on the annual audit plan, and monitored the group's financing.
As of October 28, 2020, the composition of the audit committee has been modified with the replacement of Soumitra Dutta by Véronique Laury. The nominating committee is chaired by Cécile Tandeau de Marsac. It has four members, of which 50% are independent. The committee met four times during the year with an attendance rate of 95%. During the fiscal 2020, the committee, in particular, reviewed the resolutions submitted to the annual shareholders meeting, reviewed succession plans, acknowledged the reappointment of a director representing employees, examined the group's talent retention strategy, and reviewed the board's diversity policy. The compensation committee is also chaired by Cécile Tandeau de Marsac. It has four members, including one director representing the employees. 100% of its members are independent. The committee met five times during the year with an attendance rate of 96%.
During fiscal 2020, the committee notably studied recent developments and new regulations concerning executive pay, examined the alternatives for the implementation of a new supplemental pension plan, which will be applicable to the Chief Executive Officer. Assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the compensation of corporate officers and members of the Executive Committee. Reviewed the restricted and performance share plans. All of this information on corporate governance can be found in the universal registration document available on sodexo.com.
Thank you. I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Soumitra Dutta on behalf of the board, as his term of office expires following this shareholders meeting. Since 2015, Soumitra has greatly contributed to the board and the audit committee discussions, particularly in relation to technology, digital innovation, and strategy matters. The fact that our board comprises gender balance and international experts with diverse and complementary backgrounds means that it is really equal to the task of helping Sodexo make the choices that will enable us all to step up the implementation of our transformation. In keeping with this, I would like to introduce Federico González Tejera, whose appointment is a draft resolution today. Federico is CEO of Radisson Hotel Group. He will bring to the board his strategic vision and in-depth consumer knowledge.
I wanted Federico to introduce himself, so I would now invite you to watch a video.
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Thank you, Federico. Dear shareholders, as is our usual practice, I would like the work of our compensation committee to be shared with you also. I suggest that Cécile Tandeau de Marsac should take the floor. She is the chairwoman of the compensation committee. She'll give you an overview through a video message.
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Thank you, Cécile, for making this very comprehensive presentation. Dear shareholders, we will now hand over to Caroline Bruno-Diaz from KPMG, who will present the joint auditors' report.
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Thank you, Caroline. Thank you for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I now suggest that we begin the Q&A session. I'd like to remind you that we are open to your suggestions and that ours is a continuous progress approach. This is an integral part of our values, even in the current health situation, and even though our shareholders' meeting is virtual this year. As you know, every year, as shareholders, you have the possibility to send us written questions prior to the shareholders' meeting. This year, we have exceptionally extended the question receipt period. Note that the investor relations team can also be reached throughout the year. In the run-up to the shareholders' meeting, we contacted the shareholders club members, who sent us some questions that we will now answer. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for maintaining a vibrant shareholder dialogue.
Lastly, as I said at the beginning of the meeting, a phone line is available for you to ask your questions live. Those of you who want to can call the number now that's appearing on your screen. Again, please note that for technical reasons, only shareholders who voted, registered shareholders and Shareholders Club members may ask spontaneous questions live. Seemingly, there are no questions coming in on the telephone line at this point in time, so feel free, of course. We're available to answer your questions. Feel free to use the telephone line, but in the meanwhile, I would suggest that Cindy Cario should read out the questions received in writing before the meeting.
Thank you. Says Cindy. The first question sent by email comes from Mr. Claude Aroche, a member of the Shareholders Club. The pandemic created upheavals in the ways in which companies organize their activities.
Almost 8 million potential home workers in France, that's four jobs out of 10, have been counted. That many people working from home. How will Sodexo, as a major player in on-site food services, adapt to this new situation, which will no doubt continue after the pandemic as well?
Thank you, Mr. Aroche. Says Sophie Bellon. Thank you for your question. It's a very relevant question, very much to the point at the moment. The pandemic did speed up the trend of working from home. On our side, it mainly affects our corporate services business segment, and we've calculated that it would have an impact on 10% of that business activity. That represents between EUR 400 million and EUR 500 million worth. Indeed, as you said, the proportion of employees working from home is going to go up.
In certain countries, it was already fairly prevalent, like in the U.S. or the U.K., for example. Obviously it will go up, the number will go up in countries where it was not done so much traditionally, like France or Brazil. We've calculated that given the differences from one country to another, it would correspond to two days of home working on average. This crisis has actually demonstrated that it's not just the place of work that Sodexo will link up with the consumer in, it's the whole product offering, the value proposition that counts. Because consumers will want to be able to eat where they are, when they want, and eat what they want. Sodexo has a multi-channel offering, we could call it. A multi-channel offering in corporate food services or restaurant passes or the delivery of meals to the home or the office.
This is a unique positioning for Sodexo, such that our different business activities that we have in our portfolio are all available. They span quite a palette of service offerings. We'll be able to bolster this unique differentiator we have and widen our service offering and indeed provide complementary offerings in the future, thanks to those multi-channel offerings that we have within the group.
The second question from Mr. Aroche is the following. FoodChéri, a company that delivers meals that Sodexo acquired four years ago, in the recent past, embarked on an involvement in the Eco-Score initiative, an indicator that informs people about the environmental impact of the dishes that are made. Now, home working coupled with the ongoing quest for protecting the planet, will they be able to work together?
Homeworking, trying to protect the planet, can we actually give a new impetus to this alter foodist who wants to actually have meals delivered to home or office? What is Sodexo doing in this context?
Well, yes, you've made quite a valid point here again. Of course, there are more and more meals being delivered these days. The context we've had recently has shown that in the past, of course, we did invest in FoodChéri, and we need to keep on adapting to consumer needs. I'll let Denis give you more details, perhaps, at this point on FoodChéri in particular.
Thank you, Mr. Aroche, and thank you for emphasizing this year again our innovations, FoodChéri. You spoke about Eco-Score. The environmental positioning of FoodChéri is a real differentiator. Working from home has boosted business development as well. The growth posted by FoodChéri over many years has been double-digit growth. We are highly satisfied with its performance and the way it's positioned is a good complementary fit. When some sites were shut down, we were able to deliver our clients with FoodChéri, the same continues when the sites reopen again. There is geographical development. We've allocated the right level of investments. With respect to our geographical development, we are targeting new cities in France, where we open new FoodChéri services. In parallel from FoodChéri offerings, we have a new offer called Seazon.
It is a subscription-based home delivery service, which is unique in France as it is the single offering of delivering fresh meals across all of France, across all of the French territory. Giving us great growth and development prospects for Seazon and FoodChéri. We are allocating the right level of investment.
We've received questions from Mr. Roger Tran, who is a member of the shareholders club. First question: To what extent has the state helped the Sodexo company? I think you've asked Mr. Bruno Le Maire, the minister, for help in terms of paying furlough pay, short-term working pay to your employees. Is that correct, Mr. Tran?
Thank you, says Sophie Bellon, for your questions. You've asked actually several questions. It'll be a pleasure for us to answer these questions, of course. Yes, indeed. In France, just like other eligible companies, we availed of the short-time working possibilities, the furlough possibilities when they were available. We did not utilize the loan extended by the state, that is guaranteed by the state that was made available in this country.
Another question from Mr. Tran, says Cindy Cario. No large company from the CAC 40 has highlighted the members of the board of directors fulfilling their role as CFO during this pandemic period. Ordinary shareholders need to know the current situation of the company. What do you think?
Well, Mr. Tran, says Sophie Bellon, it is true that the financial situation and the role of CFOs during the pandemic were key. They were very active, the CFOs of companies and our company, of course. They've all been very active and I'd like to thank Marc and his teams for all the work they've been doing. I'll give the floor also to Denis, because in the last few months, we've seen, well, I would say just intense workload. To try and keep on adapting to the situation that evolved.
Yes. Thank you, Sophie. Well, indeed. Thank you, Mr. Tran, for giving us the opportunity to pay tribute to the great work conducted by Marc and his team during the crisis. This was said already. All of the company employees engaged and mobilized to respond to this huge crisis with great talent, with lots of drive and energy. I want to pay tribute most specifically to the finance teams, which were orchestrated under the leadership of Marc. Work on collecting receivables, securing our cash was extremely significant. Marc shared the numbers with you. We posted liquidity management performance of an excellent level given the magnitude of the crisis.
The finance teams next to operations worked hard and extremely precisely on forecasting and planning in the early part of the crisis in March and April, so as to forecast what would be our landing at the end of the year so that they could manage the company as precisely, as finely as possible. Marc mentioned it before. Thanks to the hard work made by all the teams, we shored up our balance sheet with two bond issues in the midst of the crisis. This has been remarkable work. I would add also that the finance team supported our operations teams with respect to renegotiation of contracts, with respect to the big calls for tenders, and this teaming up between finance and operations, which is one of the strengths of Sodexo, demonstrated that it was very effective and very powerful during the crisis.
A big thank you to you, Marc, and a big thank you to all the finance teams I'm paying tribute to.
Thank you, Denis. Thank you, Marc and all of your teams. In listening to your question, Mr. Tran, I realized that you were also talking about the CFOs members of the board of directors. In Sodexo, we're lucky to have two CFOs as board members, I mean. Sophie Stabile, who is in charge of the Audit Committee, and Emmanuel Babeau as well. I can tell you that there were talks, close, thorough discussions between Marc and our board members, in-depth discussions that is, and fruitful discussions during the board meetings and during the committee meetings. That of course helped us a lot. It helped to fuel our thinking process, so as to react as best we could to the crisis. I think our financial status, the financial situation that Marc presented to you earlier is the best proof of that.
I would like to thank, in passing now, the board members who are also CFOs. Thank you for your help.
Next question from Mr. Tran, says Cindy Cario. With this pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, the group issued on the 27th of April, 2020 and the 17th of July 2022 bonds. There were two bond issuances. The nominal amount, EUR 2.5 billion face value. Was it opportune to actually make whole private U.S. investments $1.6 billion value? I'm just wondering if the shareholders are a negligible quantity. Are the Americans more important in your eyes?
Thank you, says Sophie Bellon. It's a rather technical question, so I will give the floor to the expert on this, that is Marc.
Thank you very much, Mr. Tran, for your financial questions. It's quite rare that we have such questions in shareholders meetings, and thank you for your appreciation. I will pass them on to the finance teams. What you need to know, Mr. Tran, and this is what I explained in my review of the slides. The commercial paper market really closed as early as March. To shore up our financial situation at Sodexo, with the board, we decided to issue two bonds back in April of 2020. The first for EUR 700 million, a five-year term, 0.8% yield. EUR 800 million was the second bond, nine-year with 1.1% rate. This was the first episode. Then we approached our U.S. private placement bearers, as the USPP had covenants we had to comply with.
Our concern was that with the pandemic, we might have an issue with the net debt to EBITDA ratio. Not that the net debt would increase, but the EBITDA would go down because our revenue was going down. We tried to negotiate with these bearers of USPP, and our negotiations, in fact, was not conclusive. The terms they demanded to relieve the terms of the covenants were just not reasonable. With the board, we decided to pay them back. The best to do to pay them back was to borrow EUR 1 billion, and this is what we did in July. We paid this back in July and August, on the close of 31st of August. We borrowed again EUR 1 billion, EUR 500 million at 0.5% rate, and another EUR 500 million to 2028 at a rate a bit higher than 1%.
We made it possible to circumvent the covenants, and we wanted to keep our freedom. Our financial independence is very dear to us, and we didn't want to be controlled by these USPP bearers. This is the reason why we borrowed EUR 2.5 billion, and we paid back $1.6 billion to these bearers. I hope I answered your question. Thank you again.
Fourth question from Mr. Tran. No senior manager in the CAC 40 has answered my question about inviting some of the pillars, including yours truly, to the venue where the meeting is being held behind closed doors. You know, when shareholders ask questions at shareholders' meetings, it's very often just a random selection of such shareholders, ordinary shareholders, then the meeting is over. That's all the exposure we get to being able to ask questions. Well, thank you, Mr. Tran, for your longstanding support. You're very faithful to Sodexo. It's stimulating to have such a faithful presence with us. Thank you for asking us your questions. This is, of course, a meeting behind closed doors. We have Denis, Marc, Cindy, and our two scrutineers here. We're, as you can see, we're in a studio where we're not even in the head office.
We're not even in the head office of Sodexo. We're in a studio. We're not far from the head office, but we're in a little studio here to do the broadcast. That's all. They're all the Sodexo representatives. Even the board members aren't with us here today. They're also attending virtually. As I was explaining, we really want to put our shareholders' health and safety first and, of course, our employees' health and safety as well. Our employees can, of course, attend the shareholders' meeting. As we attach importance to everybody's health and safety, all of our friends, we prefer not to let them run any risks. It's a virtual meeting this time. Hopefully, in the near future, we'll be able to meet in a more, let's say, user-friendly environment at La Seine Musicale, which is a nice venue.
If possible, it won't be even next year because the next shareholders' meeting will be in December. Let's hope that by the end of this year, we'll be able to meet in person once again.
Fifth question from Mr. Tran, says Cindy Cario. How is Mr. Thierry Marx doing? He's in the Eiffel Tower restaurant. That's where he works. Given the different lockdowns, I'm sure his morale must be flagging. I see him on the TV screen regularly when the chefs come to complain to the French state. I haven't heard much from Thierry Marx. Three years ago, I was asking you may recall-About Thierry Marx's cocktail recipe for the end of the shareholders' meeting. Can you tell me how he's doing, please?
Thank you for your fifth question, Mr. Tran," says Sophie Bellon.
Like all restaurant operators, Thierry Marx and Frédéric Anton, who work on the Eiffel Tower, they obviously are impacted by this crisis, but they are, of course, respecting the guidelines and the measures set up by the government. What they really want to do as soon as possible is exercise their talents once again. We do hope that in the near future, we will have some kind of easing up of the restrictions so that they will be able to resume their activities. Obviously, in Sodexo, we're lucky to work with Thierry Marx and Frédéric Anton, but we also have lots of other chefs. Maybe Denis could talk a little bit about the conditions in which our teams are working these days in the company, given the pandemic.
Yes, indeed. Our teams, as I said earlier, and you said so, Sophie, put in great work, heroic work. This has been a very tough call and situation for many, many people. It's been tough for all who are on a short-time work arrangement. They are also very difficult for our teams who are operating under conditions which are different from the pre-COVID situation, for those teams who worked in some extreme situations where you had to be extremely responsive. I told you about the Surge Hospital in Los Angeles, USA, or I have in mind those teams who deliver food for families in need in the U.S. All this was done with incredible dedication and great talent and great energy. We do have chefs who are on short-time work today, and it is a situation which is very difficult for them.
I have no doubt, as you said, Sophie, and we can see this when the sites are reopening and our teams and the chefs are back in the restaurants serving consumers and guests with great talent. I have no doubt that as soon as the two restaurants on the Eiffel Tower reopen, we will have Thierry Marx and Frédéric Anton doing marvels to offer a great experience to the guests and customers. What is true for them is true for all our chefs who every day work hard and harness all their talent and capabilities to bring joy and quality of life to our customers.
Thank you, Denis," says Sophie Bellon. Dear shareholders, at this stage, we don't have any questions coming in over the phone, so I suggest we conclude the question and answer session now. I would like to give the floor therefore to Cindy, who is our meeting secretary, who will tell us the outcome of the voting on the resolutions.
Thank you, Sophie. As was indicated at the beginning of this shareholders' meeting, this year, given the fact that this shareholders' meeting is organized behind closed doors, the voting results were determined on Monday, January 11th, 2021, at 3:00 P.M. I will therefore inform you of the voting results of the ordinary shareholders' meeting. First resolution, adoption of the individual company financial statements for fiscal 2020 ended August 31st, 2020. This resolution was adopted with 99.9% of the votes in favor.
Second resolution, adoption of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2020. This resolution was also adopted with 99.9% of the votes. Third resolution, appropriation of net income for fiscal 2020. This resolution stands approved with more than 99.9% of votes. Fourth resolution, reappointment of Sophie Bellon as a director for a three-year term. This resolution stands approved with 92.6% of votes in favor. Sophie Bellon will continue to chair the board of directors. Fifth resolution, the reappointment of Nathalie Bellon-Szabo as a director for a three-year term. This resolution stands approved with 94.5% of the votes. Sixth resolution, reappointment of Françoise Brougher as a director for a three-year term. This resolution is approved with 99.8% of votes. Seventh resolution, appointment of Federico González Tejera as new director for a three-year term. This resolution is adopted with more than 99.9% of votes.
Eighth resolution, the reappointment of KPMG S.A. as statutory auditor for a six-year term. This resolution stands adopted with 97.5% of votes in favor. Ninth resolution, approval of information related to compensation paid during or awarded for fiscal 2020 to corporate officers. This resolution stands approved with 99.9% of votes in favor. 10th resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid during or awarded for fiscal 2020 to Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. This resolution is adopted with 99.8% of votes in favor. 11th resolution, approval of the components of the compensation paid during or awarded for fiscal 2020 to Denis Machuel, the Chief Executive Officer. This resolution is adopted with 99% of votes. 12th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Board of Directors for fiscal 2021. This resolution is adopted with 99.9% of votes.
13th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors for fiscal 2021. This resolution is adopted with 97.7% of votes. 14th resolution, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chief Executive Officer for fiscal 2021. This resolution is adopted with 96.6% of votes. 15th resolution, authorization for the Board of Directors to purchase shares of the company. This resolution is adopted with 98.3% of votes. 16th resolution, powers to carry out formalities. This resolution is adopted with more than 99.9% of votes. Finally, I would like to remind you that last year, we set up the possibility for our shareholders to receive the notice of meeting and to vote in a digital manner by the VOTACCESS platform.
This initiative was greatly appreciated, and we would like to encourage those shareholders who have not yet done so to subscribe to the service, which will allow them to exercise their rights in a simpler and faster manner. Thank you for your attention, and I'll now give the floor back to Sophie Bellon.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Cindy. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm grateful for the trust you have shown in the board of directors by your votes. Since all the meeting agenda points have been addressed now, I hereby declare the session adjourned. Sorry, we won't have a cocktail reception today. We do apologize. Thank you for attending this shareholders' meeting, and I sincerely hope we'll be able to meet physically for our next shareholders' meeting, that we'll be able to meet safely and in a more friendly manner, therefore in December 2021.
Until then, please stay safe and take care of yourselves and your families. Thank you.