Unlocking our Potential, Accelerating Growth

Today, we held Sodexo’s first Capital Markets Day since 2009. We welcomed over a hundred guests from the investor and analyst community. Sodexo’s leaders from around the world shared our short- and medium-term priorities and outlined our plan to restore and accelerate growth, demonstrating how we’ll reach our ambition for the future. I would like to share with you some of the highlights of what was presented during the day.

Growth is in our DNA.

Sodexo is and has always been a growth company. From the very beginning, we have defined ourselves as the community of our clients, consumers, employees and shareholders, and we’ve always wanted to build a growth company because steady growth is the best way to respond to the expectations of all of these stakeholders.

Sodexo’s future is ripe with possibilities – the market potential for our combined activities is estimated at 900 billion euros, nearly 40 times current revenues. Global trends are also promising: The demand for service outsourcing is accelerating, and the need to integrate various services is set to follow. And the aspiration to improve quality of life is one that resonates strongly in both Western societies and in those of emerging economies.

At the same time, major social, demographic and environmental shifts coupled with accelerated technological progress are profoundly and irreversibly impacting our markets. These changes are affecting relationships both with our B-to-B clients and with and those who consume our services, requiring us to redefine our space and rethink how we create value.

Faced with these changes, we have identified priorities and taken very clear steps: 

1. We are renewing our focus on food services, our historical and core expertise. We have a fantastic array of food offerings at all price points for different client needs – from high-end venues like the Eiffel Tower, challenging environments such as the Tour de France, and schools and universities around the world.
2. We are strengthening the integration of our different services to further demonstrate our unrivaled expertise across all our segments. Whether at the International School of Beijing or at P&G sites across the globe, we have a keen understanding of our clients’ businesses and challenges. We also know our clients’ people. We understand what is at stake for our clients and what is most impactful for the end-user.
3. Lastly, we are progressively leveraging the increased power of our end-users. We want to be attractive in the eyes of our consumers so that they too influence our B-to-B clients to partner with us.

Our Ambition: 1 billion individuals.

Today, we are touching around 100 million consumers throughout the world. My ambition for tomorrow is that this number reaches over 1 billion individuals. We will achieve this by improving the quality of life of an ever-increasing number of individuals through various stages of life. But to achieve this ambition, we first need to restore our growth.

I have full confidence that the plan shared by Denis Machuel, Sodexo’s CEO, and our leadership team with investors is the right one. Our plan to return to attractive levels of sustainable growth will be achieved by getting back to the basics of the business, and to the culture that has underpinned our success, and by strengthening our focus on talent. This is how we will be in a position to reach our ambition.

Our ambition is rooted in strong fundamentals. When Pierre Bellon created Sodexo 52 years ago, his personal history had led him to believe that companies with a strong social purpose are the ones that stand the test of time. That’s why he gave Sodexo:

• Powerful values: team spirit, service spirit and spirit of progress.
• A forward-looking mission for the time: Improve the quality of life of our employees and the people we serve and contribute to the economic, social and environmental development the communities, regions and countries where we operate.

These fundamentals have not changed since 1966. For over 50 years, we have grown while making sure along the way that we actively contribute to progress and create social value for individuals, communities and society. 

As I told investors and analysts today: This will not change. The long term has and will continue to be the horizon we are looking at. But as Chairwoman, my immediate preoccupation is to make sure Sodexo is back on the growth path.