Good morning, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Sodexo call this morning. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by pressing star and one at any time. I advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Thursday, the 9th of October, 2025. I would now like to hand the conference over to the Sodexo team. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on such short notice. I'm Juliette Klein, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me on the call today is Sophie Bellon, our Chairwoman and CEO, and Gilles Pélisson, Independent Board Director, Chair of the Nominating Committee. After their opening remarks, we will open the line for a few questions. We kindly ask you to limit the number of your questions and keep them focused on today's topic. Finally, a reminder that fiscal 2025 results will be announced on Thursday, October 23. With that, I now hand it over to Sophie.
Thank you very much, Juliette. Good morning, everyone, and yes, thank you very much for joining us this morning. Yesterday, the board approved the appointment of Thierry Delaporte as Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo , effective November 10. Following our announcement, we felt it was important to give you additional context today around the key milestone in our company's journey. This decision is the result of a governance process the board has been working on for some time. Four years ago, when I stepped into the CEO role, our priority was to complete a deep transformation and reposition the group as a pure-play food and services company. Having completed this transformation, we are now entering a new chapter for the group, one that will focus on commercial acceleration and operational execution to unlock the full potential of our business. We operate in a dynamic, expanding market.
Our business model is resilient, and we provide essential services, benefit from recurring demand, and generate strong cash flows. We also have the financial flexibility to reinvest in growth while continuing to deliver value to our shareholders. We've made significant progress. Yet, our performance remains below our expectation and not up to the potential of the market. To bridge that gap, we need the right leader to take the company forward. I'm very confident that Thierry is that leader. Upon his arrival, I will serve as non-executive chairwoman of the board, working closely with him to ensure a smooth transition. Thierry will be fully empowered to make decisions, set his own strategy, priorities, and evaluate the organization. I will now hand over to Gilles Pélisson, Independent Board Director at Sodexo , Chair of the Nominating Committee, and who also will become our new Lead Independent Director from November 10.
Gilles will say a few words about the process that led to this important nomination.
Thank you, Sophie, and good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to join you today and share a few words about this important appointment. I would say, as President of the Nominating Committee, I had the privilege to lead a thorough and structured process, working closely with the Board to ensure we identified the best profile for this role. We hired a leading executive search firm and assessed both internal and external candidates. We were looking for someone who had already led, of course, a publicly listed company in an international environment, somebody who knows the U.S. market quite well, given the size of the business of Sodexo in the U.S., who has driven major transformation while delivering results in fast-changing environments, and somebody who could bring a strong B2B services background with a strong client-centric mindset. Somebody also accustomed to leading large organizations.
We're talking about, you know, over 400,000 people at Sodexo with sizable workforces. Finally, of course, somebody who had worked, if possible, in a family ownership structure, because this is one of the characteristics, of course, of Sodexo. From a very large number of people we screened, Thierry Delaporte stood out as the clear choice. He has spent more than a decade in the U.S., holding senior CFO and CEO roles at Capgemini. Then over the four years where he was the CEO at Wipro, about half of the business of Wipro was generated in the U.S., so he spent a lot of time there. He knows that market very well. He brings also proven experience in a large-scale company transformation, including a strong IT digital dimension, highly relevant, we believe, to Sodexo's future necessity to improve, you know, data, mining, and AI.
He has also extensive B2B experience driving international and people-intensive businesses. His leadership style combines strategic vision, operational discipline, and the ability to inspire and mobilize teams. Of course, beyond these credentials, Thierry embodies the values we hold dear at Sodexo, and you know, we inherited from Pierre Bellon: humanity, openness, and responsibility. His ethical standards and transparent approach are a strong fit with Sodexo's culture. Sophie, now I will hand it back to you to...
Thank you. Thank you very much, Gilles, and thank you for your involvement in this very important process. The timing is right for this transition, and I'm convinced of our ability to succeed. With our talented teams and resilient business, Sodexo is well-positioned to keep evolving with intent and to embrace the future with clarity and ambition. I really want to thank everyone who contributed to this process, and especially Gilles, who was very much involved. We are now happy to answer your questions.
Thank you. This is the conference operator. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The first question is from Jamie Rollo, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. First question is, could you just confirm that 2025 is in line with your guidance? Are you still expecting to provide some guidance with the 2026 results? Sorry, 2026 guidance with the results next month. On today's discussion, are you expecting the new CEO to do a review of the business? If so, how long might that take? Finally, you talk about new commercial acceleration and better operational execution. What sort of needs to be done, do you think, to get there? Do you think margins need to be taken down with further reinvestment? Thank you.
Hello, Jamie. Thank you for your questions. Regarding business performance in the fiscal year, we are referring to the guidance framework we gave in July, and that's it. Today is not a call. We are in a quiet period. We cannot give any information on guidance on results. It's about the CEO nomination. The same thing for the financial 2026 guidance. We cannot discuss any of that today. It will be part of our call on the 23rd. The review of the business of the new CEO, yes, of course, he will be, he will start, he starts to have a meeting today, actually, with a member of the team. Even before he starts his role on November 10th, he will start getting to know the team and visiting the team in countries. He will start on November 10th.
Of course, as any new CEO, especially one coming from outside with his expertise, he will take a few months to make his own diagnosis. I think he will be able to come back to the market before, in the spring or in June 2026. On the fourth question, on the new commercial acceleration, it is a continuing intent. When I took over post-COVID, the net development was negative and had been negative prior, not because of COVID, but prior to COVID. Since then, I think we have made a lot of progress. We're doing a very good job in Sodexo Live in Australia, in India, in Brazil, in France. We've done a good job also in the hospital this year in the U.S. There are still some countries where our net development is too weak.
Some countries in Europe, in the U.K. also, it's a little weak, and some segments in the U.S. that we have already discussed with you before, like education.
Thank you very much.
I would like to say, you know...
Sorry.
Yeah, it's a call on the governance. I'm just repeating what was already said before, but let's meet in two weeks to discuss the results.
Thank you. I apologize for asking that question. I was just wondering how you could guide on next year if the CEO subsequently went on to take action that could affect that guidance. I understand. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Jaafar Mestari, BNP Paribas S.A. , please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. I just wanted to come back on the selection process, please. In terms of how would the Board present the track record of Mr. Delaporte? Today, he spent some time at Capgemini. He then led Wipro, which you mentioned. I don't think anyone on this call is an IT services expert, but it looks like Wipro was a story of catching up with peers and accelerating growth and reweighting to maybe large, larger clients. A lot of these themes will be familiar for people at Sodexo. I guess, how do we assess the track record and what were the main achievements in these mandates that made Mr. Delaporte the right fit, please?
Maybe I will take this answer. I think the way we looked at it was really that, you know, having been for over 20 years at Capgemini in the leading team under Paul Hermelin, he was like a number two but in charge of very large businesses. He accomplished the booster plan, which was really when, you know, Capgemini decided to stay in the U.S., which was a major and significant move for them at the time where they really, you know, were asking themselves whether they should pull out or not. Building on this, we're talking about somebody who has tremendous experience coming from more of a CFO background and moving into sales. You know, we discussed with him and we saw how client-oriented he is.
Over the recent years, he has really been involved both in Capgemini and in Wipro with clients and being very, very, you know, just focused on client development. At Wipro, my understanding and the read we made was that, you know, it's one of the IPPs. He took it, the company was at $8 billion in sales, took it to $11 billion. Significant improvement between 2020 and 2024. Growing the sales, upgrading the management team, internationalizing the team. Making sure that, you know, Wipro could evolve part of the five or six IPPs and really make a significant jump ahead under his leadership. Under his leadership, not only the sales grew up, of course, the workforce went from 150,000 people to 250,000 people, and the market cap was doubled.
These were significant achievements that, as the board, we assessed to be a tangible transformation performance that we like very much, which may be very relevant for Sodexo because we know that, as you mentioned in the previous question, there is certainly to be a focus on margin in the future. Targeting excellent performance in margin delivery. Of course, also the consolidation of certainly the IT is an issue. We know that we need to invest in those, you know, in this field. With this technological and digital background, we think it will be a real help.
Thank you.
The next question is from Estelle Weingrod, JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. I have two questions, please. The first one, I just wanted to understand when did the process start? Also, again, on his background, could you tell us more about his U.S. expertise and what it can bring to Sodexo's overall competitiveness more specifically, or is it more about him having worked in a large organization in this emergence before? Thank you.
Thank you, Estelle, for your question. The process really started quite a few months ago. I'm not going to give you, but early in the year. It was very much something very much planned. Why that? When I took over as CEO post-COVID, I really took over to make some structural milestone changes. I think it's what happened in the last four years, with the spin-off of Pluxee in February 2024, with the simplification of the shareholding structure last summer, also an active management of the portfolio, selling the childcare business, selling the home care business, rationalization of the country. As soon as I took over, I simplified the authorization, changing from a world business unit segment organization to a country-based P&L. We worked on the operating model. We refocused on food and accelerated on food and also other services, but a strong acceleration of food.
We did some investment in our market, in our brands, in our tech and data, in the supply chain. I really think that the big structural changes that needed to happen happened during those four years. Now we realize that 2025 is the end of a cycle. We have a three-year plan, 2022- 2025. We are starting a new phase. With the board, with the family, with the nomination committee, we anticipated that new phase. That's why we decided to launch that process. As Gilles said, we looked for internal candidates, but very quickly, we didn't think that internally we had anyone ready for this role. That's why we quickly looked outside. I'm very confident that Thierry is the best person to open this new chapter.
I can tell you that personally, I will really change my hat and become a non-executive chairwoman, and he will be fully empowered to continue the journey, make his own diagnosis, and build the best team around him. Maybe, Gilles, you can answer on the U.S. expertise.
Yes, for having discussed with him extensively and myself having lived in the U.S. for eight years, he knows very well the U.S. in terms of geography. You know, it's not the same thing doing business in Texas than in California or in New York City. He knows the U.S. business structure, the way, you know, corporations make decisions, are organized, etc. Even the administration also, although it's changing a lot recently, but you know, he has this approach, so he's not going to have a long learning process to how to do business in a U.S. environment. As you know, Sodexo's business in the U.S. is very diversified. It goes from universities to health to corporate to Sodexo Live with lounges, with managing stadiums.
We wanted somebody who was able to take over quickly, had a good grasp on the business, and then lead the team, you know, in a significant way because, you know, this is, you know, important for the company and important for our growth. This is why, you know, we felt very much at ease with his knowledge, capitalizing on experience with Capgemini and also with Wipro.
Thank you, Gilles.
Thank you.
The next question is from [Leo Carrington, VD]. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. I have two questions. Firstly, what was Mr. Delaporte's rationale for leaving Wipro? Secondly, the release does draw attention to his acquisition experience. Does that suggest more of a focus for Sodexo on M&A? Thank you.
I'm sorry, I didn't hear your first question, Leo. Can you repeat, please?
Yeah, sorry. The first question was just around his rationale for leaving Wipro in 2024.
Thank you.
The second?
On M&A.
All right, great. The second question is, what the release does draw attention to is M&A experience. Is this indicative of more of a focus for Sodexo or just highlighting what his experience is?
Yeah. First, on the rationale for leaving Wipro, I don't think it's something, you know, that we want to answer. What we know is what he has done there. What we know he has done there is that he has been transforming in four years. He has been transforming significantly the company. As Gilles said, he also increased the revenue by 40% in four years, which is significant. He doubled the share value of the company, the capitalization of the company also in four years. He has, and that's what matters for us, you know. Also, as Gilles said, you know, coming from a tech background, transforming an organization, and having done it with many clients, I think we will, in the journey we are going through at Sodexo, it will be very helpful to get that expertise.
On M&A, when I first took over, clearly, I said, you know, M&A is not the priority. Since then, you heard us with Sébastien, you know, we said that now it's time to go back to M&A and to increase our market share, you know, work on, or also be more present in convenience, especially in the U.S. Also, look for the right targets in our GPO business. We have a clear capital allocation that reflects our near-term needs at Sodexo. You've seen that we just announced a quite significant acquisition in Spain, where we are going to double size and become number one. We continue to have an active pipeline. As I said, you know, a year ago, that now we were more ready for M&A. He will, of course, make his own diagnosis on that topic.
My understanding was that at Capgemini, there was a lot of M&A activity. We wanted somebody with that kind of agility so that if we have opportunities to do so, he could be familiar with the process and the way we could handle those situations.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
The next question is from Karl Green, RBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good morning. I've just got one question. If Thierry identifies a scenario where more radical action is the most logical strategy to close the performance gap versus the margin, and I'm thinking, for example, accelerated contract shedding, investments into sales, account management technology, etc., possibly large-scale M&A, would Bellon S.A. contemplate taking the group private and moving to a voting or economic minority?
We did not hear you very well. Can you speak a little louder? I'm not sure I heard very well the question.
Apologies. Can you hear me a bit better now?
Yeah, a little better, yeah.
Okay, yeah, thank you. The question was, if Thierry identifies a scenario where more radical action is the most logical strategy to close the performance gap, would Bellon S.A. contemplate taking the group private and moving to a voting or economic minority?
Yeah, I think the good news here is that we manage as independent directors to have an ongoing discussion with the Bellon family and a good understanding of what was right for the company and for the group. As major shareholders, of course, they are the most interested in the success and the growth of the company. Of course, they are not satisfied at this stage with our recent performance, especially on the share side. Making sure that Thierry is in an environment where the decision and whatever he wants to implement in the company can really happen is key to everybody. As Sophie mentioned, she will step down as a non-executive chairwoman. We are going to make sure that we have a new governance which can function and operate in the best interest of all shareholders.
I think this is what you should keep in mind, that we have definitely the intent to put in place that kind of governance to make sure that we can deliver results and that if he needs to take whatever actions he recommends and that we agree, he will have the full support of the entire board, including the family.
Thank you.
The next question is from Kate Xiao, Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Great. Thank you for taking my questions, two from me. First, just if you could elaborate on kind of the task that the board has given to the new CEO in terms of timeline and geographies. You know, you kind of mentioned earlier that you expect him to kind of first come to the market after the initial diagnosis in about six to eight months, around June. I just wonder, you know, what's the kind of multi-year timeline like with the task? You know, is there a time limit to the term of the CEO? You know, what is he looking to accomplish in the first couple of years? If you could lay out that timeline. In terms of geographies, we've talked a lot about the U.S. It sounds like that's where he has a lot of expertise. Is he going to be based in Europe or the U.S.?
What are some of the other geographies that he'll also focus on? I guess, what are the priorities there? My second question is, I think one of the things he was known for when he was CEO at Wipro was he was making big, you know, big and bold moves, transforming the organization, which is exactly what Sodexo needs. He was also more focused on growth than margins. Just wondering if that's the thinking of the company now, that you know you're willing to kind of be focused more on growth. You talked about investments, but maybe, you know, the thinking of, you know, investing growth and then margin will come later. Thank you.
Yeah, we are really looking at profitable growth, so to speak. It's growth, but combined with profitability and margin. To go back to your first question, I think what the board is looking at, and this is also going to be fine-tuned in the coming months as Thierry goes around the world and meets the team and sees the challenges, etc. It's really about setting up a very strong ambition to strengthen our market share because we have been losing some in the past month. We have to be really on top of that. Mobilize the right leadership team, which, as anybody who joins a new team, I'm sure he will make his own assessment and his own choices. Accelerate the commercial momentum because this is critical, of course, as Sophie mentioned. She has always been very focused on that, what is called in Sodexo language, the new development.
Reinforce disciplined operational execution to improve margins. That's really your question. This is really something where we all believe there is margin for improvement. It's based on the systems. It's based on the discipline, on the execution. We do believe that Thierry can bring something here, which would be important. Of course, regarding geographies, I think definitely the U.S. needs to be addressed. Maybe there are some other geographies that you have in mind.
As I said, you know, I think we are doing, we are performing well in the U.K., for example, in terms of margin. We definitely need more development. We need more growth, more new contracts, certain countries in Europe. I think that we can discuss in two weeks because it's not the topic of the day. I think you asked where will Thierry be based. He will be based in Paris, but he also has a home in the U.S. He will travel very easily to the U.S. I think that's it.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Okay, gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time. I turn the conference back to you for any closing remarks.
Thank you very much, everyone, for joining the call today. Don't hesitate to reach out to our Investor Relations team, to Juliette and her team, if you have any follow-up questions. We will speak again at the fiscal year 2025 results on Thursday, October 23. Thank you again and have a very good day.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephone.