Strategy
The Group's strategy
The Bouygues group works to create value over the long term and share it with its stakeholders. The Group has defined a framework through which its business segments roll out their operational, financial and sustainability strategies. As a result, thanks to its innovative products and services, it can offer practical solutions to changing user behaviour and to the current challenges facing society.
The Group can exhibit sustained resilience and is well-placed to steer through business cycles for the benefit of our stakeholders thanks to our diversified businesses that can drive growth over the long term coupled with our sound financial management.”
Three questions for...
How would you sum up the activity of the Group and of its six business segments in 2024?
In 2024, the Group and its business segments proved their ability to adapt to their environment and keep pace with developments in their respective markets.
The record backlogs in our construction businesses offer good visibility on future activity. Bouygues Construction secured a succession of major contracts last year that demonstrate the very good momentum in its civil works and building activities in France and in rest of the world. Colas enjoys a particularly robust backlog in its Roads activity thanks to the usual strong momentum caused by the run up to municipal elections due to be held in France next year. The Rail backlog continues to benefit from an increase in the number of rail and tram projects, which are both forms of low-carbon transport.
Bouygues Immobilier, meanwhile, streamlined its structure in France, which is now better adapted to the prevailing conditions in its sector and does not require redundancies. In a property market that continues to show little sign of a robust recovery, it will draw strength from its membership of our diversified Group.
In energies and services, Equans continued to roll out its strategic plan rigorously, and is determined to capitalise on all the performance drivers it has identified to boost its profitability and cash generation. Today, even more than two years ago, we are convinced of the strategic value of this acquisition and are very happy with the progress achieved by Equans in its markets driven by the energy, digital and industrial transitions.
On the media front, the successful roll-out of the TF1+ free streaming platform signalled a step change in TF1’s transition to a digital-first business model, as well as demonstrating its ability to adapt to changing customer behaviour.
Last but not least, Bouygues Telecom oversaw a number of game-changing developments in 2024, such as the acquisition of La Poste Telecom, which was completed in November, and the roll-out of innovative and distinctive new products – “B.iG” and “B&YOU Pure Fibre”.
What are the Group’s strengths and how does the parent company support the business segments in their activities?
Firstly, the parent company Bouygues SA defines a general framework, in terms of ethics and business conduct, human resources and sustainability, within which the business segments carry out their activities. The parent company also provides the Group’s strategic vision to the business segments in terms of operational and financial priorities. Bouygues SA helps them deliver on these priorities, while of course taking into account their individual structures and distinctive features.
Our resilience lies in the diversity of our businesses, which operate according to different cycles. We use the value created by our six business segments, primarily expressed in the form of cash flow generation, in a way that enables them to grow and capture external growth opportunities in target geographies. We can also draw on a robust financial structure because a healthy balance sheet is what allows us to maintain our financial and operational independence for the benefit of our business segments, our employees and, more widely, our stakeholders no matter what the circumstances. In that respect, we aim to maintain our robust credit ratings. We share the value created by our Group with our shareholders in the form of a regular dividend. Our ambition is to steadily increase this dividend over time once the conditions for future viability are met.
How did you approach 2025?
Given the complexity of the global geopolitical environment, and uncertainties around the political and fiscal situation in France, we approached 2025 cautiously. As we have always done in the past, we will remain nimble and continue to adjust our business activities as market conditions evolve. But we also entered this new year with energy and confidence, because the fundamentals of our Group are good in terms of backlog, cash flow and debt. Lastly, I will underline the fact that our businesses are based on stable macrotrends that serve as sources of long-term growth and differentiation.