Annual general meeting open. As you know, we always start these general meetings talking about staff, and I wanted to insist this year on something that we follow, which not many companies do, which is annual average length of service, and this year it has gone up a bit. When we talk to the young people about that, they look at us with wide open eyes. We are at 9.75 years, which is up on last year, which has probably got something to do with the arrival of Quilinox and C2AI, two companies which joined us in 2025, and they have a very loyal set of employees. I would like to thank all our employees, of course, for their loyalty, their expertise, and their dedication to the group.
We will continue to follow this indicator, even if we are the only people who do it, with the idea of getting above 10 years for that average, which is not easy, of course, because there is more and more of us. Please have a seat. As you can see on this graph, the number of people has increased substantially, even if we have taken out the two companies. If we remove those two new companies, the difference is actually plus two new positions. That reflects the stability in our turnover, and that has been the case for a couple of years. The consequence of this is the increase in salaries. We have been increasing salaries for three years now. To give you an idea, on average, you will find that on page 94 of the annual report.
We have had an increase of 3.2%, so stability in terms of headcount, increase in salaries. Some of our investors have identified that ratio, wage bill over turnover, which of course has increased, which is above 13%, which is unusual for us. We are going to have to work together to try and get back to a more reasonable level. in 2023, for example, we were at 11% for that ratio. Very quickly, milestones. Construction came first. You know that this is the main activity of Thermador Groupe, even though industry is growing. It was another difficult year in construction, both in terms of energy renovation and new building. The good news in energy renovation is as follows. I am not going to talk too much about MaPrimeRénov' because there has been ups and downs and lots of instability with this funding scheme.
In spite of this unreliable source of funding, we have been able to increase through heat pumps in particular, and has been stable for Thermador Groupe, and that is especially important for the group. A good indicator is Isocel's results, and they supply manufacturers of boilers and heat pumps. We think that this market is in for a good future. In terms of new housing, 2025 and 2024 were bad years, but 2025 was slightly better. Some figures, 275,000 building starts in 2025 compared to 228,000 in 2024. These are historically low figures for France. The idea of the authorities is to increase that number to 400,000. You can see that is a big difference. Building permits increased 15% up, so that would suggest that there is a better market ahead in 2026. The water cycle.
We've had differing fortunes in this market with some companies, negative figures and others, positive figures. We'll talk about Jetly and Odrea in the field of watering. They've continued to suffer from very wet springs. When we've got a lot of rain, the watering market suffers. We've had between stability, a slight decrease in activity for those activities. DPI had another bad year and a difficult year. We attribute this to instability in the sales team, and there were changes in the team, and that explains some of that loss, 15% over the year in terms of turnover. I'll talk about that in terms of projects because we've taken a number of measures at DPI to put things right. Alexandra is not yet here. Not here yet. Okay.
In terms of water cycle, good news on the swimming pool market because of Aello, our subsidiary, which has increased its turnover in spite of a difficult market, both in terms of innovation and in terms of products and volumes. Sferaco has been able to get back market share in the water cycle market because they're selling valves, for example, to companies like Leser. Is Olivier here? He's there. Olivier, at the cocktail, if you have any questions or during the question sessions, you can ask him any questions you may have about the water cycle. Industry now. Once again, this year, it was the most resistant in the group. It represents 29% of the group's business, and this will increase with the arrival of those two new subsidiaries, Quilinox and C2AI. It's developing in France and internationally.
That shows how important the industry activity is important for the group. As you'll see in the chart I show you later that this activity concerns nine subsidiaries from the Thermador Groupe. Moving on to retail. Another difficult year with customers. Please do come in. Those who welcomed all our guests here today are welcome. We were told last year that we should have mixed reception at the entry to the meeting. We've done that this time. You got both ladies and gentlemen. Come back to retail. Another difficult year because customers grouping together. Four major players, which cover 90% of market share. Adeo with Leroy Merlin, Kingfisher with Castorama, Les Mousquetaires, Mr. Bricolage, and some of them are in purchasing groups. That reduces further the number of customers, and therefore, that increases their buying power.
That's not easy to navigate for our teams. We had price pressure for Odrea. Pretty brutal changes on terms of pricing, and we're looking now at what we can do in the future, in the retail market, and we'll talk about that later. What I see in this market is that these actors are more and more interested in professional products. In France you'll see Screwfix coming to France, which is a part of the Kingfisher group. They're getting pro channel business, but we also see major increase in online sales. Our customers know how to do that. We also know how to do that, of course, but I think it's important that we should be able to accompany our customers on these marketplaces online or even via our own websites. Internationally.
I am going to hand over to Lionel, who is going to talk about this activity sector. You can take a microphone if you like.
Thank you, Guillaume. Welcome, everybody. You will see a slide soon, which you will see that we represent 17.2% of the turnover of the group, which is up on last year because it was 16.3%. That is with the arrival of Quilinox on 30th September 2025 , which allowed us to increase our business internationally because Quilinox sells in Spain and in Portugal products for the industry sector, the agro foods, pharmacy, and chemical, et cetera. Also good performance from Syveco and FG Inox, who seem to have won market share in Europe over the year. That is the positive side in terms of turnover internationally. More difficult for Sodeco on these markets, in markets of Belgium, Holland, and Germany.
Difficulty finding major projects because there were not any. They were able to consolidate some positions in a complicated industrial context. Difficulties also on the Spanish market for Odrea also, who suffered in its bathroom taps market because of the power of white brands on those markets. That is the state of the market, more or less internationally for the group. As well as that 17.2%, there is over 2% achieved in the region and overseas departments. That is part of the export zone. For those subsidiaries, we also rely on external growth. The first was Sodeco in 2017. Last year, we acquired Quilinox, and we will continue to make acquisitions in two major markets, industrial valves and water cycles.
To do this, we have decided to structure our approach more, to be more proactive, and so we have launched the recruitment of a strategy and acquisitions manager in Europe. We are in the process of recruiting somebody. We are looking for somebody who will be able to make this approach systematic and who will identify targets, approach them, approach the owners of those companies, and convince them to join us. We are starting that this year, and I think we will be seeing the first results in 2027. Thank you.
Thank you, Lionel. The presentation, which changed in the URD, page 28, more graphic representation of the group with the holding, which supports the group of our finance, IT, sustainable development, and supply chain. We have two specialized companies. Thank you for welcoming all our guests tonight, and we will leave you the time to get settled. But thank you for your work.
A real estate company and a communications company called Opaline, which does the communication for all the subsidiaries and organizes events like this. Those are the support activities. Then we have divided our activities into four major activities: water cycle, retail, builds, construction, and industry. In the water cycle, three companies. In retail, also three companies. Construction, five companies, and in industry, six companies which specialize in those markets. Then there are others, three, which have crossover activities between different sectors. That illustrates the organization of the group around these major activities. We appointed a manager, if you like, for each of those groups. Therefore, four managers plus the transversal role of Syveco. We are not going to cut these companies up.
This is not our intention, but as soon as we can do so, we will bring you figures which correspond to the precise and audited figures for those companies. I think that will answer one of the questions that will be asked later on. Fortunately, Patricia will be here to answer. Major milestones. A stabilized price effect, which is practically zero, so -1.4%. We predicted zero at the end of the year, and it actually ended up at -1.4%. Dissociation of mandates. Why are we speaking about that? Separating the mandates, and we started thinking about that in the autumn of 2025, and we will come back to that later. But the idea is to separate the mandates of chairman and of the CEO. The reduction in absenteeism remains a major challenge for us. We will not go into too much detail, but we are doing okay.
But we are still way off our objective. In the environment area, we have been trying to modelize our carbon trajectory and particularly our transition time to reduce our impact in the future. It is something that we have done. It is a very big job, but will allow us in time to take the right decisions. In terms of turnover, in terms the whole retail activity, like last year, it was down. It represents 16.2% of our activity. The pro channel is more or less stable. That is good news for the profitability of the group because that is the most profitable section. We finished the year practically stable in terms of turnover, but to constant scope, a drop of 2.9% in terms of turnover. We will have a look now at our distribution channel. That is a pretty complicated diagram.
I will not be commenting on it today because it would take us too long. But I would just like to invite you to have a look at it in the URD. We are going to be focusing on a new company in Thermador Groupe, which arrived last year, and that is C2AI. It is here. It sells equipment to industry. Gilles is going to come up and answer some questions. First of all, we are going to have a look at a video which presents C2AI.
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Xavier Isaac, who is in charge of C2AI, who has been working hard to integrate the company into Thermador Groupe. Gilles, founder of C2AI. What synergies are you seeing already with the group?
First of all, I would like to thank Opaline for that video, which she has done in record time. It was really interesting for you, so thank you for the work you did for us. Synergies. There are lots in place, mainly in terms of industry, because that is our main sector. A lot with Sectoriel, because we already worked on major projects, which will be going into our catalog and has already had an impact in our markets. We have seen growth in those activities. We also work with the introduction of our new catalog, with Sectoriel, Distrilabo, FG Inox, Thermador, Jetly. We are working with a lot of the subsidiaries, not just in industry. As you have seen, this is a major challenge for us. We have already worked with Distrilabo and with Connectics, with Thermacome.
There have been lots of synergies, and there is lots more to do because we have a service activity in the company as well. We are on a working group on Connected Fluids, and we are involved in those meetings. It is important to say that C2AI, Odrea, and Sectoriel had a number of points in common, which have allowed us to optimize purchasing and for storage too, yes. For stock. What is more appropriate for Sectoriel's markets are stocked with them, and those which are better for us are stocked with us. How have you been integrated in Thermador Land? I like this name, Thermador Land. Nice image. Historically, C2AI has had to move, and so we built a site in Dordogne. It is very important for us in the manufacturing sector. Thely is renovating this building for us, so thank you to them, too.
In August, we should be able to move into a new building with great energy performance, more car parking, more space, et cetera. That is great. Most of the employees are looking forward to moving to Saint-Quentin-Fallavier. It is a building that is just opposite Sectoriel, so it is perfect. That is a nice coincidence. It is a real good opportunity for us.
Thank you, Gilles, for coming, and thanks for all of the C2AI personnel. I have seen your enthusiasm and the enthusiasm of your employees, and we look forward to you being involved in all our events. It is great for us in the future because we will be very much closer to you geographically. You can ask your questions to Gilles during the drinks afterwards. As you will see, Gilles can give you a lot of detail. He likes to give detail. The challenges.
I always insist on two pages in the URD, which is page 10, 11, where we outline the big challenges for us over the next five years. Human resources is a priority challenge. First is disability and our desire to better accompany people in that situation in Thermador Groupe. Over the last two or three years, we have done lots of training with the management teams, but also with the staff, so that we can better welcome disabled people into our companies. We have got more than 30 people in that situation in the group. Next year, we are hoping to create a new indicator so as to be able to follow that, to monitor it. Absenteeism is another point that comes back. It is now at 5.29%, but there is still a way to go because of our 21 subsidiaries, 13 have absenteeism under 4%.
I think we should be able to achieve that for the whole of the group. We are working on it to get that figure down. I remind you that, when absenteeism goes up, productivity goes down. Of course, those who are present, who have to do the work of those who are absent. Sustainable development, insisting on innovation and initiatives of the subsidiaries. Of course, we do lots of simulation reporting and so forth, but of course, work has to be done in order to develop our sustainability. In terms of repairs and supply of spare parts, we have done a lot of work in the past, so we will continue to provide these services and attempt to increase those services that we provide to our customers in those areas. We tested something which has not had any impact on turnover at the moment, which is secondhand sales.
We will be looking more closely at that in the future. Looking, putting secondhand products onto the market, which are functional. Thank you to those of you who are involved in that. We also want to automize extra financial reporting. It is a lot of work for our employees, lots of data, of course, which we have to be able to bring up to the holding in record time. We have to process all of that into a URD document very quickly. We have chosen a supplier to automatize that, which not only makes it more automatic, makes it more reliable. Amongst our medium-term challenges, we are looking at the internal price of carbon. Why are we looking at that?
It is because we think that that might allow us to determine our investments in terms of the carbon impact of our products, the footprint of our projects. Business, we remain convinced that we need to be more active with our customers both in B2B2C, talking to the final consumer, but also in the professional channel B2B, because we want to be prescribers of our brands and services. International development is also a major challenge, of course, and lots of work will be done in 2026. It has already started on the subsidiaries who are either facing difficulties or who have lost some money last year, or who are being integrated into the group. DPI, Thermacome, which is slightly in the red, Axelair also, and also operational work to accompany C2AI and Quilinox in their integration into our group. Finally, work on e-commerce for this business section.
We have made a lot of progress in this area via web sales, and we intend to continue that progression. Digital transformation remains a challenge for the 30 years ahead, certainly. With the objective of providing tools for our teams to promote e-commerce, but also the idea of gaining productivity via computer tools. 18 people now at the holding, working on those topics. For the subsidiaries who are never satisfied because they have always got a new idea before we finish the previous project, but the idea is to better satisfy their needs. A lot of work is being done currently in the holding and in the subsidiaries on AI and all the implications thereof for the group and of course, there will be more and more in the future. We are also working on cybersecurity to avoid that. We did have an incident last year which affected us.
In terms of logistics, we have always got the idea of protecting our people because physically, it is a hard job. We want to accompany our teams, including people who are 50 years and over, which work in these difficult jobs. Work also on automation and a project which has already begun. We talked about it last year for Sferaco. Part of the warehouse has been automated. The first, we are working on the extension of their building to include an automated warehouse, and this is going to be a big project over the next two years, and we hope that that will bring better operational efficiency to Sferaco in France and internationally because, of course, Sferaco is the number one supplier of Syveco who sells their products in Europe and a little bit in Africa and a little bit in the Middle East too. Finally, geopolitic.
We try to distribute risks. Of course, 2/3 of our suppliers come from Europe and 1/3 of that comes from Italy. A lot of the knowhow of the group is based on Italian knowhow historically. 33% comes from China and Taiwan. When you look at the geopolitical problems we face today, you can see the risks. I would like to emphasize that we do not have any suppliers coming from the U.S., and it is true that sometimes danger comes from unexpected sources, should we say. I would like to speak about our Chinese suppliers who are innovative and really listen to our needs when they are open to being challenged by our suppliers from other countries, and we are working on them, and we are seeing our Chinese suppliers being very cooperative and innovative in helping with us. If you would like to talk about China, I saw Ching earlier on.
She is over there. You cannot miss her. Please, do not hesitate to ask her questions about our Chinese suppliers. She can answer you in Chinese if you would like. In terms of the group strategy, we are not changing. Our ambition is to double in terms of turnover every 10 years. That goes for turnover and profitability. The objective is to make sure that our company remains independent and will last over time. It is not just about increasing turnover just for turnover's sake, but to increase profitability as well. As you can see, the last two years, we have lost a bit of ground compared to the 2019 strategy. All is not lost, as you have seen, and Patricia will comment on that later.
We still have a little bit of cash stashed away, and that will allow us to make acquisitions if we see opportunities. Levers of growth. Organic growth, of course, that is gaining market share. Increasing prices, potentially, which could come soon. International business, of course. Creation of subsidiaries. There are no projects in the short term, but that could be a lever of growth. External growth, of course. All that respecting our sustainability objectives. On this topic, once again this year, we overachieved in terms of our priority objectives. Amongst the 200 indicators in the URD, 19 have been chosen because we believe they are a priority for the group, and for those 19 indicators, we are ahead of the game. Even though some indicators have shown some weakness in the past year, we are still above the 100% mark.
We know that the regulations are going to change, and that we are going to have to adapt. That is a good thing because the rules before did not really reflect the realities of the group. EUR 686,000 is what we spent in time on sustainability, which is down from last year because, of course, there was less work to do on the CSRD, which, of course, in the first year demanded more investment. Absenteeism level is down compared to last year from 5.8% to 5.3%. Still 33% of women on the executive committee and the extended committee. 33% on the extended committee. Each time we make acquisitions, of course, the companies are more often than not managed by men. It remains a challenge in the future. This modelization of our transition plan is called ACT Step-by-Step.
You can have a look at that on the web, and it is validated by the French environment agency, ADEME. Finally, a drop in 7.7% in our emissions, not to do with any miraculous operations, but mostly a fall in turnover on our plastics piping businesses. We are going to look a bit more closely at governance. As you know, today, I have three mandates, board member, chairman, and CEO. These mandates end tonight. It was the opportunity for us, for the board members in the autumn, to decide whether we are going to propose keeping those mandates of chairman and CEO under the same. We found a candidate to replace one of those mandates. Olivier Villemonte de la Clergerie, who you know, he has been with us for a number of years. Also director of a listed company.
I will ask Olivier to come up and say a few words so that you can get to know him a bit better.
Thank you, Guillaume, for your introduction. 10 years that I have been an independent board member for Thermador Groupe. Some people know me through the company, LDLC, which I founded 30 years ago. I am here to talk about Thermador Groupe and the subject of changing governance. This governance change is part of a development over time, which has been spoken about tonight. When the board talked about this subject, we looked at different candidates, and my candidature was chosen. I am very proud and very happy to be able to allow this change to be made and participate in this transition in terms of governance. With my knowledge of Thermador, I will be able to help the group focus on operational issues.
That is part of the objective here. Thank you to all of you. I am available, of course, during the drinks session afterwards and will be happy to answer your questions then. I will hand back to Guillaume.
As Olivier said, there are a few advantages to this separation of mandates. That means the operation will be able to work more on operational issues. That is the main advantage. Also the accumulation of mandates can, in certain cases, lead to a certain abuse of power. When you are responsible for monitoring and managing, there can be problems. I do not think I have particularly done that, but we have to look to the future. The company will continue to grow, and we have to prepare for the management of a bigger company.
Another advantage is the proxy advisors, who are 100% American, and they systematically vote against the resolutions when we talk about renewing managers, directors who have the two mandates. We have had them voting negatively over the recent years. These Anglo-Saxon voters want this change, and we have brought that change. There is a bit more complexity, of course, and additional cost. That costs about EUR 80,000 a year, which should be acceptable for the group.
Thank you, Olivier, for being candidate, and I would like to say that we are going to vote for his candidature. Of the 11, he had 10 votes in favor and one abstention, so a clear majority.
We also looked a bit further ahead, thinking that Olivier will start this non-executive mandate for a period of four years, and I will do as much as I can to look after the major subjects of the group as CEO. During that time, we will look for the person who will take over the management of the group, internally or externally, but also the future chairman or chairwoman of the board for 2032. After this period, Olivier will have lost his independence. Logically, he will have to leave the board. I will certainly, if I am still alive, candidate to take the place of non-executive chairman to accompany the general management, which will be in place for two years. in 2032, I will leave the Thermador Groupe in terms of my operational functions and monitoring functions. Of course, I would remain a shareholder.
If you have any questions, please feel free later on. Patricia, she is going to tell us about the participation rate and before going on to talk about our figures.
We were looking to over 78% with 200 voters, 78.86%. That is the quorum, and it is not something I did alone. This year, I was accompanied by a full team of Arlette and Mathis from Opaline. We tried to encourage people as much as we could to vote. We are going to remain on the subject of figures, but more about the performance of Thermador Groupe. One last shareholder arriving. The performance we can describe as robust this year, stability in terms of turnover and stability in terms of profit. We consider that given the economic, geopolitical, and market conditions, we are fairly satisfied with these results. Turnover stable and a good level of profit.
Two subsidiaries, Quilinox and C2AI, who brought turnover as well and some profit as well. Together, we can be happy about the achievements of everybody in the group with its difficulties, with its successes in their respective market. That is, of course, all part of being part of this group that works together. We can say that everybody has worked very hard, and we thank them all for their work. Great solidarity within the group, which we must maintain. This was turnover and profits. Now we are going to look at operating profit compared to capital employed. That is 11.8%. Return on capital employed, 16.4%. That is the operational and financial management of our finances. Getting back to the idea of profit, what allowed us to have this level of profit?
It is commercial margins which were maintained. That is a real challenge for our teams in terms of purchasing and sales. Changes amongst our customers meant that it was which allowed us to maintain this profit margin. The dollar effect this year helped us, but we obviously had to manage that. There are also costs, transport costs, so that is part of our commercial margin. Those were elements that contributed to maintaining our commercial margin. Then in terms of cost structures and costs, 75% of fixed costs, approximately. We have big teams, which are competent, of course, and therefore we have know-how, and that costs. Those are fixed costs, which are obviously high. In our warehouses, resources for logistics and so forth are all also fixed costs, which remain a high proportion of our costs.
Also, I would like to talk about personal costs in relation to turnover, which is high, of course, and which increased compared to last year. We chose to maintain our staffing levels and work on the remuneration of our teams because we need their skills and their know-how. Those are major challenges for you, and we decided to work on our talents and maintaining them. Okay, moving on to financial structure. We have a strong financial structure, as our results have shown. We have got stock, which is obviously a big part of our success, and so we obviously need large amounts of stock. In terms of numbers of days, we have gone down from 213 days to 203 days of stock. That is thanks to the purchasing team and logistics organization, which has to be tip-top to allow us to achieve those results.
Stocks, we have maintained them at those levels in order to ensure quality of services. We have a working capital requirement, which is a proportion of turnover. We are, of course, in the distribution business, so it requires those levels of WCR. With stock that we have been able to keep at a high level and manage our working capital requirements, we have been able to generate a lot of cash this year, EUR 97 million this year. We have never ever reached that level before, so it is a really good job by our teams, both operationally and in the financial teams. In terms of debt, of course, bank debt is primarily to finance our operations. That is in line with our external growth strategy. This was the choice. The question was, why do not we use our equity to purchase the new companies, Quilinox and C2AI?
It was a choice that we made strategically, and we decided to go with bank loans to finance those. We will see in the future whether we use cash in the future for acquisitions. After allocation of results and equity, that leaves us at a high level, and that allows us to stay independent and work on the challenges that we have ahead of us. In terms of investments, Guillaume talked about digitalization, AI, optimization of logistics, and so forth. We continue to invest. Our real estate investments are made from our own funds. The cash we have generated allows us to carry out works, like, for example, acquisition of buildings, the one that is for C2AI. We also projects in Alsace, in particular. We have to think about the value of the real estate of the company. It is EUR 14 million.
That is on the balance sheet, and financially, it is part of the solidity of the group. Thely will continue to look after all of those activities and to ensure that the buildings continue to be in good condition and that works are done as they are required. In 2026, we are announcing a EUR 12.3 million investment. That is a maximum amount. The projects, we have got the logistics in Sferaco, automation, that will be over 2026, 2027. There is a second project, which is the construction of the new building for Distrilabo in Alsace. This is a major project, was to get an environmental performance certificate, and that will allow us to capitalize on this type of competence in the future. Once again, it creates value, of course. Then we are going to continue. We talked about digitalization in our investments.
There is a lot of investments linked to digitalization. Warehouses, but not only warehouses, but there is also electronic invoicing. We are going to be working on those subjects. Lots of productivity gains to be achieved in that section. Also in AI, it is also important for us that it respects the competence of our team. We need to go quickly, but respecting the knowhow of our staff and making sure they continue to work efficiently. We have named ambassadors in each subsidiary to be able to work together for better operational efficiency in terms of AI. Guillaume, I think Guillaume is going to talk to you about shareholding. I am going to pass you over, hand over to the next part.
Excellent news with the level of participation together, over 78%. That is fantastic. We are very attached to that in Thermador Groupe. Thank you to everybody who has organized the event.
I think it's a record. Maybe one day we'll get over 80%, so that will be absolutely fabulous. Good news. There are more of you. There are a lot of young people who are interested in our shares directly, cryptocurrency, ETFs, some of them, and then others have purchased shares directly, and that's a fairly new phenomenon in France, and we hope that we'll be a part of that, even though we're not maybe super well-known or super tech, but there's hope for us. You see that the balance of this graph is almost perfect in terms of the balance between institutional investors and private investors and 10% held by employees and directors of the group. What I'd like to point out here is the increase in the proportion of capital held by our employees, 6.9%. We are hoping to take that up to 8.5% by 2030.
It seems like a real challenge, even though the FCPE mutual fund, it seems to work quite well and is massively invested in by the employees. The biggest shareholder is Norman Rentrop, so a private investor. Then you've got the founders and the family of the founders, who are very present, and then, of course, employees. Thank you to the founders who are with us today. I think Geneviève is here. Patricia, is that right? Oh, yes, I can see you. Thank you for being here with us. Marc de Sereys, too. Thank you for being with us, Marc. It's always a pleasure to have you. Institutional investors, so some changes this year. As I said to you before, Fidelity likes our level of English because they've increased to 7.82% through several funds. Crédit Mutuel Equity is still there.
Lazard still present at the same level to last year. Then Amundi, which is a well-known French institutional investor, went above the 2% mark. That was the subject of a press release we put out. 21% for foreign investors, plus the 9% of Norman Rentrop, so that's 30% is foreign investors. What I didn't say earlier on, which is important, in terms of private shareholders, 25% of the capital is held by a shareholders pact that you'll find in the URD. It's a short term pact because it ends at the end of this year, 2026. A quick look at the share price. So you can see over recent years have been pretty chaotic in terms of the share price as, of course, the markets have been.
We've never decreased the dividend, so we continue to do that, and we are now this year proposing a slight increase on last year to maintain that promise. From my point of view, what's more interesting is to look at the return on the dividend reinvested over a long period. Over short term, doesn't mean very much, but over the long term. We compare that with the CAC 40. So we're still slightly above the performance of the CAC 40, in spite of the recent fall because of the war in the Middle East. A few words about outlooks for 2026, even though it's very difficult to be able to predict what's going to happen. New housing, we've got some good news from the public authorities because they are intending to do more.
I'm sure we won't be able to build 400,000 units in France, but at least the intention is there. If we see an increase in interest rates, that will, of course, slow the market down, and it's not impossible, of course. This chart you know very well, which shows the new builds started, as well as new construction permits that get handed out by the state. We seem to be in a positive cycle, which is, although slightly chaotic and slow, of course, it's going in the right direction. Of course, there is always the problem of the war in the Middle East. Energy renovation next.
The public authorities have no more money, as you know, so they're transferring these funds from MaPrimeRénov', which is from taxes, to CEE, which are energy saving certificates, which are provided by energy suppliers and it works very well, except when energy prices go up. The risk is almost a political problem because the public authorities may put the brakes on that particular market because of the increases in energy prices. Some indicators from our historic customers, our wholesalers in heating and electricity. You see that the most recent figures are negative, so over a very long period, but these are monthly figures. We had a sort of a lighthouse moment in December, but then it's gone back down into the negative again, and this, of course, mostly affects our construction subsidiaries. We follow the PMI index.
On the right-hand side shows the manufacturing industry indicator for Europe and on the left for France, and as we remain on 50, in France there's a slight decline. In terms of that line of 50, because that's the guide, we see that industrialists are increasing the payment periods. They're reducing their reordering processes, and we know, therefore, that if this war continues, then this will have a very negative effect in Europe. It's a fragmented market, so we will do what we can to gain market share, but it remains a difficult situation. With the integration of our new subsidiaries, they will be bringing us EUR 50 million turnover in 2026 approximately. That's Quilinox and C2AI. Retail, still in the red. These are monthly figures again. No revolution. French people continue to save, and the current chaotic situation in the world will not change that.
Our subsidiaries are innovating, of course, being able to differentiate from competitor brands and also be able to supply different retail channels in an attempt to rebalance their books and the power relationship with those suppliers we talked about earlier. Moving on to the water cycles. Our water stocks are full, and if we have some nice weather from now on, of course that will help Sferaco and Odrea for their watering activities. We're not just depending on the weather, but we're working on new projects, of course. A word about DPI, which is having difficulties in terms of - EUR 30 million of turnover, linked partly to the departure of Grégory Urpi, who's not with us today because he's working on the operational problems of DPI. He will leave the company at the end of 2027.
Of course, we've put together a succession plan for the governance of DPI. We've looked for and found within the group, the future manager of that, and that's Alexandra Stratulat, who's administrative director at Odrea, has been with the group a few years. She's taking up the challenge and moving to the south, and she'll be taking over DPI, and she will be there full time from September. She's already working on it, of course, but she will take over at the end of 2027 from Grégory Urpi. We've also named a commercial sales manager to reinject some life into DPI.
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It's a difficult market, it has to be said.
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There are direct consequences from the Middle East war. I learned that most of polyethylene comes from the Middle East. So we're facing major increases in price, 15%, 20%, 30% in some cases. I don't think that's going to stop there if the war continues, and even shortages maybe of these materials. Here again, we're facing real problems for pipeworks, but also Jetly's polyethylene tanks. Jetly's tanks are made in France. There's a bit in stock, but these are medium and long-term challenges. International, okay, we've already talked about that quite a bit. This year, I won't be making any forecasts in terms of prices for this year. At the end of last year, I said the increase would be between 1% and 2%. It could be more than that.
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We're imagining substantial inflation. Okay? I won't be guessing any numbers with you today, and we'll be making calculations, and I'll communicate that on that in the future.
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It's always interesting to look back.
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We thought we would be going into positive cycles at the end of last year. Slightly disappointing this last quarter, the last quarter of 2025.
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Slightly positive for the third quarter.
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We know now that there's going to be impacts from the Middle East war, which doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Isabelle Lhoste, she's our auditor and responsible for our sustainability statement, and will be giving us some information about the results of her work or her audit work.
Hello, everybody. Yes. This year, we worked on checking your sustainability statement, to determine the specificity of our report is in three parts. We'll be able to conclude on double materiality, environmental, societal, and governance, and also taxonomy. I don't know if you remember last year, we talked about the group because the durability statement is very complicated, and you had to work from the DPEF, and we made no reserves, and there was just an observation about double materiality, because if you worked right through the value chain, we were expecting a slightly more precise conclusion.
Those were the conclusions last year. This year is, once again, with no reserve, so well done to your teams, but no observations also, and that's a real performance. That means the materiality doubt was lifted. There was a focus, particularly on a greenhouse gas effect. We obviously have to refer to a standard and your result was of very good quality. We've already said that. We noticed there was a problem in relation to the standard because you didn't take into account growth. The group explained the reason for this, but we couldn't say it was compliant because it had to be set against the ESRS standard. This is really a best practice because the effort has been obviously made. The work has been done subsidiary by subsidiary. Given the complexity of the work, the idea was to work on volumes.
I am lucky enough to work for a number of groups, and so well done on that because it is real best practice. The third conclusion concerned taxonomy. It is a particular case for you because indeed, Thermador is a trading company, and the trading part is not applicable for taxonomy. So had you been a manufacturer, you would have had to report on that part. So you went for voluntary taxonomy declaration. That is best practice in relation to what we have seen. We have got certain bank groups that have done that exercise, and I think the conclusion is verification. Our audit produced no reserve, so congratulations and thank you.
Thank you for your work. So we are going to now move on to finance, and we are going to invite up here Jean-Marie Le Jeloux and Serge Guillot from Deloitte and Royet.
Good evening, all. We are going to present our conclusions on the audit work, financial in our case.
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From the accounts and consolidated accounts from Thermador Groupe, and we will report our findings on the regulated conventions. We would like first to say that our work was carried out throughout the financial year under good conditions according to a schedule which was pre-established, and they were subject to a detailed report to the audit committee on 24th February, 2025. Then a report to the board on 27th February. So we would like to thank the management and the management team from the holding and the subsidiaries for their accompaniment and their help with our work. So if we start with the annual accounts. The annual accounts, our report is on page 220 of the URD. It will be subject to the first resolution, which will be voted a little later.
We certify that the annual accounts in respect of the regulations are sincere and complete and reflect the work of the financial year ended and represent the financial condition of the company. We approve those without reserve. We have a technical observation to make relating to the first application of the accounting rules 2022-06, that is included for Thermador Groupe. No significant impact as a result of that. The key point of the audit that was worked in more detail concerns the valorization of shares. That is EUR 179 million for the subsidiaries. We spent a lot of time on that aspect. Finally, we would specify that we have no observation to make on all the documents that were sent to us, in particular the management report and the report of the board for the governance of the company. We will move on to the consolidated accounts.
Good evening, all. The second report which we issued was on the consolidated accounts, which we issued on 2nd March, 2026. You can consult that on page, sorry, 207 - 209 of the URD. The second resolution of the OGM concerns the approval of the consolidated accounts. Therefore, we certify that these accounts are sincere and reflect the operations of the financial year ended and all of the financial activities in the consolidation of the company. We make no reserve and no observation. We have added a report on the substantial risks which we believe exist for 2025. Those are the elements of the audit which identify potential hotspots. As for the previous year, we mentioned the depreciation, the stress tests for unlimited periods in terms of goodwill, which had a value of EUR 90 million.
We also declare that we have respected our independence rules in terms of the European regulations and the ethical statutes of our profession. Also, in our report, we talked about the specific verifications. We have no observations to make about the group's management reports in terms of the presentation of the reports and the electronic reporting. We conclude that the presentation is included in that reporting is completely compliant from every significant point of view. No observation to make, and congratulations to the financial management of the group. The final report that we issued for 2025 is our special report for regulated conventions, 2nd March, 2026. It appears on page 222 and 223 of the URD. You will be asked to approve the 17th resolution, which concerns these conventions.
In our report, we state that there is no convention to be authorized this year for 2025. Also, this report talks about two conventions which will continue, which were previously approved by your OGM. First, a lease of business as an ongoing concern and storage premises with Jetly, Sferaco, and Thermador SOS for EUR 3,103,000 for the rent and EUR 3,827 for lease on turnover and EUR 1,000 for the other. Then there is a retirement convention. There is a charge of EUR 4,000 for that, and no amount was paid. There is the result for the last report that we completed. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you for the work. Thank you for your presentation, which is very concise, even though it is a little technical. The important thing for you is to see these independent auditors who guarantee that everything is done correctly in the financial and extra-financial spheres.
Thank you to them. If everybody has understood what taxonomy is, I would not be surprised, but do not hesitate to ask questions during the drinks. If you need any more details on that, we have some experts in the room. It is not an English word, by the way. Best practice, you understood that, yeah? That is best practice, of course, in English. Now going to move on to the questions. I imagine that our first shareholder, through his representative, would like to speak, as is usually the case.
Hi, good evening. Thank you for giving me the microphone. My name is Jacob Masmoudi, and I am representing Norman Rentrop, the biggest individual shareholder of the group, who says hello from Bonn on the Rhine. I am replacing him. I am representing Thorsten Hans, who normally represents Norman Rentrop.
He has been investing in Thermador for 17 years, first through a long-term investment firm, and then since last year, personally, directly as a shareholder. We invest in the long term in global companies that we support according to three criteria: quality of the company, first of all, the integrity of the management, and reasonable price for the share. Over the past 17 years, Thermador has met these three criteria, mostly through the exemplary work of the management and by the commitment and perseverance and determination of the team. First of all, I would like to congratulate all the employees of the group for their work over the year 2025. It is your corporate culture based on trust and transparency, and the excellence of the economic model that you use that gives us confidence in the group. We are happy to be part of this performance community, as we say in English.
We would also like to thank the management team for the quality of their communications and for the way that the group is steered. In this respect, we would like to thank Guillaume Robin, Patricia Mavigner in particular, and Xavier Isaac, as well as all the managers of the subsidiaries for their work over the year. In this context, we say welcome to Olivier Villemonte de la Clergerie as a new chairman of the board. We congratulate him and wish him all the success in his new job. We would also like to emphasize the performance of certain subsidiaries of the group who have succeeded in growing their turnover in spite of a difficult market context.
In particular, Aello, led by Jérôme Chabaudie; Alto Metering, led by Thierry Dupont; Axelair, led by Lionel Grès; Isocel, led by Fabienne Bochet; Distrilabo, led by Anne-Sophie Bultey; PBtub, Eric Mantione; Sectoriel, Xavier Isaac; Sferaco with Christophe Arquillière; and Syveco, led by Lionel Monroe. Those subsidiaries show the example to all of you, all the other subsidiaries. Now, I would encourage you to learn from each other, to remain vigilant, to continue your efforts in terms of innovation and digitalization, and to continue to develop internationally. We would also welcome the new subsidiary, C2AI, led by Gilles Marchand and Thermador with Quilinox. We wish them all the best in their integration into the group. 2025 was a very difficult year.
Market conditions were difficult and with a lot of economic uncertainty, and of course, unfortunately, profitability went down. That is why we cannot approve an increase in the dividend. Therefore, we will vote against the third resolution. Together, we hope that 2026 will see an improvement in turnover and an increase in profitability, and next year we will be able to approve an increase in the dividend. We know that we are participating in a long-distance race, and tenacity and perseverance will pay in the end. To wind up, I would like to thank the auditors for the quality of their work, which is essential to maintain shareholders' trust. Thank you all for your attention.
You see when I say that dividend does not make the shareholder necessarily richer, and so that is proof. He says they do not want a dividend. They are looking forward to a long-term return on our investment.
I appreciate your words today, given that Patricia and myself and Xavier, when we talk to Norman Rentrop, the exchange is very cordial, but very direct and very frank. We get real questions about real issues with them. Are there any other questions for today? We can take questions remotely also.
Hello, everybody. I would like to ask a question to Mr. Alain Balland. We see you every year at the OGM. He was not able to be here today, so he asked me to ask the question on his behalf. Thermador has particularly grown through active and controlled external growth policy. You have more than 20 subsidiaries today, which makes the accounts difficult to read sometimes. The distribution of turnover is represented in the URD around our five major markets.
Without questioning the autonomy of the different subsidiaries, and we are very attached to that, would it be possible to imagine continuing this more by including the operational result of operational profits of those five groups of companies?
I can see our auditor smiling because that is one of the questions he asked us. They said to us, "Couldn't you make grouped information and present, for example, turnover for that segment and profitability for that segment?" But we have to make sure that those figures match up to the subsidiaries. Patricia's teams will have to work on this very pertinent question from the shareholder. But for the financial analysts who follow our share, they like to be able to drill down to the subsidiary, to the company itself, and to be able to analyze the work of that group.
Those who have got time and the ability to analyze things in that way, I am sure we will be able to publish results to that level of detail in the future. Patricia, would you like to give us an idea as to how long that will take?
No. We will be cautious about that, I think. When we are working on figures, it is very important to return a perfect copy. It is not something I can do on my own. We will be committing to that altogether. It is with the directors of the subsidiaries, and how we will be able to group that financial data into not only subsidiary units, but also to groups of companies in those pools of activity that we talked about earlier on. We need to know from you how you see your result.
You have worked on those issues quite a lot in the future, and we will have to work on that in more detail in order to be able to get those kind of figures. So 2027, should we say.
Another question.
Hello, Edouard Poulle. I represent HOMA CAPITAL. Guillaume, Patricia, it is for you, and the question is, can you give us a quick review of your exposure to oil and all the results from oil? We know what is going to happen tonight, of course, overnight. But my theory is that even if these immediate problems will be resolved, the problem will remain with us forever. So how are you going to be impacted? That is my question. You talked about DPI and their products, but what about transport? We know that when the results were published, we know that you had agreements on transport costs. But in this changing context, is this still the case?
Yeah, in terms of oil, the direct impact is on polyethylene and plastic. As we said last year, but I will say it again now, plastic materials in terms of weight, it is what is the heaviest for Thermador's purchases. Of course, price increases will have an impact, and we will pass them on if we can. But the real problem will be if we had shortages in the short, medium, and long term. And of course, I cannot give you an honest answer to that. The turnover at DPI, you know. That is laid out and, of course, is highly exposed to those problems. DPI is the same. Sferaco to a lesser extent. But I see, frankly, also Jetly's stocks are substantial. French stocks of polyethylene are, should we say, substantial.
But if this goes on for a year, well, of course that is going to create a problem. As for oil. In terms of transport, Anaïs Der Hagopian-Virieux, who you have heard speak here, she has done work internally to negotiate the price of containers for 1/3 of our supplies. So that protects us to some extent from price fluctuations upstream, and that is work that was done by that team after the COVID period. In terms of transport prices to our customers, we have contracts too, and we have to accompany the transporters who are our partners, who will of course impose price increases on us because of the price rises for fuel and so forth. But that is all detailed in the information we sent out to our customers. Does that answer your question?
I have a question for you. I think you were one of the companies that voted against resolution number 12. I am pulling your leg a little bit, but it is a resolution which involves asking the shareholders if they agree with the idea of a remuneration policy. Export. It is one of the mechanical resolutions, legal resolutions that we do every year, and we saw people vote against that last year, so we wonder why that is. Maybe it was not you. So we will wait for an answer from you. You voted in favor of resolution 12.
Ah. So Edouard, everything is fine. It is okay, you voted for. Okay. Thank you, Patricia, for that information. I thought I had seen it in the list, but I must have got it wrong. Any questions? Any remote questions, Arlette?
Yes, a question concerning the impact for Quilinox in terms of the fraud affecting that company.
That cost us EUR 400,000 because of this fraud to Quilinox. It appears in our URD. We are quite transparent about it. In terms of the measures we have taken, simple measures. In terms of cybersecurity, we do not communicate too much because the more you communicate, the more you are targeted. But here, it is important to say that the director of Quilinox fell into a trap, which is really a fairly basic sort of trap and no IT could have protected him against that kind of trap. The measure we have taken for the future acquisitions, clearly, is to have cybersecurity training for anybody who has signature for any company we purchase in the future. The mistake we made was that we thought that the manager of Quilinox had the same knowledge of this sort of thing about the other directors of the group.
Other managers from the group, faced with this attempt, rather laughed about it than falling into the trap. We continue to work on these subjects, but we wanted to be completely transparent about what had happened. Patricia said that from time to time, we might be able to get back a small amount, a small part of that EUR 400,000, but I prefer to say that it is lost completely. If we get any back, that will just be a bonus. Any other questions? We tried to limit the time, and we were criticized last year for running over to two and a half hours. We are going to try and keep within the two hours. If you have no more questions, we are going to move straight on to the resolutions.
I forgot to mention the presence of Guy Vincent's family, so I would like to mention that because two of his grandchildren and his daughter are here to represent the Vincent family. Thank you for being with us today, and you know that it is a great pleasure for us to see you here. We are going to move on to the resolutions. Please take hold of your box. The red button is no, and the green button is yes. We will just do a little test to make sure it is working correctly. 78 point something percent is a new record. Well done to Patricia and the team for this exceptional attendance result.
Ladies and gentlemen. This is just an explanation of the use of the voting box that all the people have in their hands. Just to explain how the box works. Corresponds to an abstention vote. The red button corresponds to a vote against. After the reading of each resolution, there will be immediately proceeded to the vote, and it will be declared: "The vote is open-
Every time the chairman says the vote is open,
you will see a rectangle on the screen indicating the countdown of the seconds remaining.
Then there's a countdown on the screen to tell people how long they've got to vote. Then that's when the people vote, and it will be closed, and the vote will be closed.
The display of the results will be on the projection screen a few moments after the close of the poll. One last point, thank you for turning off your mobile phones during the vote and for returning them to the exit of the room.
People are asked to turn off their phones during the voting process, so as not to interfere.
GPS, so we will find you if you leave with it. Arlette, did you have any questions at this time?
Arlette, any other remote questions?
Yes, I have the mic.
Yeah.
I have a question.
No question.
So we will after, it is very broad. It is, what is your main risk?
What is your main risk?
I told the shareholder to refer to Chapter four, but
I invited the shareholder to read Chapter four. I would say the social risk is the biggest. Employees of the group, if everybody leaves, well, there is no company, so I would say that is the biggest risk, and that is why we look after our social indicators. Because for us, it is the management teams and, of course, all the employees of the group are crucial. If the management teams are not apt, then that is a risk, which is, of course, not the case today. So in the URD, there is chapter number four, where we have a fairly thorough way classified all our risks. You will find all the major risks of Thermador Groupe there. This year, we did have a check from the AMF, an inspection from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, which investigates, in a random manner, listed companies.
The person who checked it said to me, "Why do you still put the risk of a pandemic being a risk for the company?" I said, "Because it could happen again." We are able to explain how we risked the previous pandemic and how we would handle it in the future. The person insisted that we remove it, and so we had to do it. So you will see that pandemic risk is no longer included. Okay. Resolution number one, approval of the annual accounts for the financial year ended December 31st, 2025. The vote is open. The vote is closed. So adopted, 99.99%. Resolution two, approval of the consolidated accounts for the financial year ended December 31st, 2025. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted at 99.99%. Resolution three, allocation of the profit for the financial year and fixing the dividend. The vote is open.
The vote is closed. Adopted, 88.29% for the reasons you know now. Resolution number four, appointment of Mr. Jean-Philippe Paul as board member, replacing Mr. Peter Wartel. Oh, he is looking, giving me murderous daggers. So thank you, Peter, but also Frank, for their work on the board of directors over these two years. Thank you for your work, for your active participation. I would like Jean-Philippe to have a few words with you so that you know who you are voting for or not. Jean-Philippe.
Hello. I will be quick because it is very hot and we are all very thirsty. I am 55 years old. I am from a sales background. So I have done trading throughout my career. So Facom, first of all. I am sure you know the tooling company, for the DIY people amongst you. I joined the group in 2006.
I was recruited by Hervé Le Guillerm, who is here today, and who I say hi to. The historic leader of the group. I worked 17 years in Sferaco, in different jobs in the sales. Work as a traveling salesman, then sales manager, and ended up director of sales alongside Christophe Arquillière. Then I was given responsibility for running FG Inox when Philippe Bernadet retired. I am very ambitious for FG Inox, and we hope to be part of the short list because I think we are in the list of those who were not mentioned today. I hope next year to be part of that list, mentioned by the shareholders.
Okay, I hear your challenge. It is not an easy one, Jean-Philippe. Well done. He is someone who has worked in construction and in industry. He has a very broad view. Thank you very much for your presentation.
The vote is open for the appointment of Jean-Philippe Paul as a board member replacing Peter Wartel. The vote is closed. Adopted 98.32%. Thank you, Marion, who was with us on the board for four years, as really committed, who was really involved, and she even had time to have a child during that time. That required massive organization, and she wanted to hand over to somebody else to allow them to live this experience. Claire, who was elected by fellows. Her candidature was accepted. She is here today, and she is going to say a few words to introduce herself so you know who she is and who you are voting for.
Hello, everybody. I am going to be as quick as Jean-Philippe. I am 37 years old. I will be in a few years' time.
I joined the group five years ago, part of Thermador as a marketing manager, marketing officer, and then marketing manager. I presented my candidature to represent the employees on the board, and I was accepted. Thank you, Laurence, for accepting us on the committee and by the board afterwards. If you are in agreement tonight, I will succeed Marion, who has been in that position for the last four years. Thank you to all of you, and I understand the opportunity that Thermador Groupe is giving to the employees of the group to be represented. I am very proud to be able to commit in a different way in the group.
That is nice to see young people like that coming through, dynamic. You will have plenty of work to do, Claire, don't worry. The vote is open, on resolution number five. Approved 99.99%.
Bertrand, would you like to say something?
No, no.
We know Bertrand, of course. He proposed to continue his work on the board of directors. That was validated. He is now standing for a renewed mandate of four years. The vote is open. The vote is closed. 99.5% approval. You know that I have just passed the 60-year-old mark, and I think I will be operational for the next four years. I am putting myself forward as a new mandate as board member for four years. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Resolution set adopted, 99.58%. Thank you sincerely for your trust. We get into the large number of resolutions on remunerations. First, 2025, to say whether you agree with what was given. Two resolutions on the policy, and then we will talk about 2026.
In terms of my remuneration, 2025, the vote is open. The vote is closed and adopted 98.04%. Resolution number nine, exactly the same thing, but for Patricia Mavigner. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted at 98.07%. The same thing for the Deputy CEO. This was divided into two, one for half Xavier Isaac and half for Lionel Monroe. The vote is open. That is why we speak about the role and not the people, because there are two people holding that position. The vote is closed. Adopted 97.59%. The remuneration policy now. Resolutions 11 and 12 are proposed by almost all listed companies. It is required by Commercial Code, Article L. 22-10-8. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.71%. Resolution 12. We saw a few negative votes arrive by correspondence, and we do not know why.
The vote is open for resolution number 12. The vote is closed. Adopted 91.88%. Resolution to have a chairman in the group, we have to approve his remuneration policy, as explained on page 45 on the URD. It is a budgetary amount of EUR 100,000, and you are asked to vote on that remuneration. Vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.67%. That is a message that says that you are in agreement with the separation of mandates. Same exercise, 2026, remuneration proposed for the directors of the holding. For me, the vote is open. Vote is closed. Resolution adopted, 99.60%. Same for Patricia Mavigner. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 98.07%. Same exercise for Xavier Isaac, who we introduced to you last year as Deputy CEO. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 97.56%.
The regulatory conventions detailed by the auditors earlier on. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.99%. Your authorization to intervene on the market to purchase our shares through this resolution. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.94%. We also ask your authorization to increase capital if necessary. This is valid for 26 months. Not a resolution we have ever used, but it is always good to have your authorization. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.5%. Resolution 20. This is about adapting our articles association in terms of the appointment of shareholders representing employees. Employee shareholders, of course. This is because the regulations have changed and the company is getting bigger, so we have to align with both the legal side and also the size of the company in order to be able to continue to have two representatives of employee shareholders.
10 years that we have had employees on the board, and we are very happy with it. Of course, we think that two out of the 11 places is a good ratio on the board. We prefer to stay with two, and we want to guard against it going up to, for example, three. Resolution number 20, the vote is open. Adopted. This is a legal resolution. If we modify the articles association, we have to introduce this resolution, which would potentially allow a third employee to join the board, which seems disproportionate in terms of the group, but we would invite you to vote against this resolution. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Resolution is rejected. 77.34% against. Finally, the powers for legal formalities. The vote is open. The vote is closed. Adopted 99.71%.
Before moving on to a little something to drink, we're going to hand over to Claire, who's going to give us a summary of the votes of the employees, because you know that every year before the AG, we have a vote from the employees who own shares in the FCPE. They give their point of view on the resolution. It gives us an idea of what employees are thinking. So Claire.
First of all, to talk about the FCPE campaign, which went from 26th February to 23rd March. It's proposed each year to the employees to promote indirect shareholding for employees. Thanks to this mechanism, which is really advantageous for all employees, you're able to get a top-up from the company, which can be up to 300% for investments of up to EUR 700.
An employee who's invested EUR 1,500 this year will get a top-up of EUR 2,800, which is up EUR 50 from last year. 88% participation in this campaign, and especially from the new subsidiaries. This is traditionally followed by the presentation of the resolutions to the employees before the OGM. Then those who invested in the FCPE are then invited to pre-vote. Unfortunately, only 54% of them voted. Some of the conclusions that we can draw, we can see that there is broad acceptance of the resolutions, with a few slightly mixed results. For example, the payment of dividends, where 78.5% voted for. Also, all the resolutions concerning remuneration of the managers, which got between 78% and 85% favorable votes, and the resolution on voting against a third representative of employee shareholders on the board of directors. An additional employee representative.
I think that we've got some work to do, Bertrand and myself, in terms of communication to explain these thresholds are, and also to better explain what our role is as representatives of the employees. I think we can say that there's been a good progression in terms of investment in the FCPE and an increase in the global shareholding of employees. That's a positive result. Thank you.
Thank you, Claire, for your summary. Thank you for all of you, for your patience and your attention during this vote. We'll be having a drink downstairs, so I think we'll be leaving bottom left. I'd like to thank also the organizing team, led by Adrien and his team of young people who are really positive in terms of their attitude, and they always find solutions, and it was perfect as usual.
A few technical issues, but no problems. Thanks to all of you, and see you for a drink downstairs. Thank you. Goodbye.