Winners France The winners of the French awards are:
Publicis
Growth (Large Enterprises)
Publicis is the European leader in advertising and the number four player in the global communication market. In 2004 the company generated EUR 3825 million in sales, split between advertising (55%), media buying and consulting (22%), specialized agencies and marketing services (23%). Publicis is the world leader in the purchasing of advertising space, a segment with high growth potential. The strong growth of the company is largely explained by its geographic extension, facilitated by an ambitious external growth strategy. Organizational innovation (recruitment, staff mobility, multi-disciplinary teams) also played a large role in boosting the company's development.
Rodriguez Group
Growth (Medium Enterprises)
Founded in 1972 and introduced to the Second March é of the Paris Stock Exchange ( devoted to trading in small and medium-sized enterprise stocks) in 1998, Rodriguez is the world leader in the Luxury Yachting industry. The business, in which the founding family still holds a 44% share, has seen amazing growth in its turnover (quintupled in six years). While the company has not yet broken into the Asian market, it is present in eight European and American countries and in South Africa.
The sale of new boats makes up 57% of total sales and a global turnover of EUR 368 million. The average turnover growth rate between 2000 and 2004 amounted to 34%. The very selective character of the Rodriguez clientele insulates the company from the volatility of the business cycle. The efficiency of the sales team and the efforts to increase customer loyalty are also key to this strong growth.
France Telecom
Value Creation (Large Enterprises)
France Telecom is one of the top business leaders in the European telecommunications industry. In 2004 it generated a turnover of EUR 47,157 million and has progressively grown by 9% on average since 2000. Telephone services constitute the largest part of the company's turnover (52%), while mobile phones and the internet represent 42% and 6% respectively. Today, the company has more than 206,000 employees. The operating profit reached 22% of overall turnover in 2004. This performance translates into higher cash-flows and a strong position of the company in the leading segments including broadband and mobile phone technology.
Neopost
Value Creation (Medium Enterprises)
Neopost was created in 1992 by a group of investors, taking on the postal division of Alcatel.As Europe's leading mailroom company, Neopost produces postage meters, letter balances and envelope insertion and folding devices. In 2004 turnover was EUR 756 million divided across postage metering systems (65%) and document creation systems and logistics (35%). Operating profit reached 23% of total turnover in 2004. The capacity of the group to create value results out of an ambitious growth policy linked to a strict system of margin control. The growth strategy is founded on two axes: first, intense efforts in the R&D section to develop new solutions and secondly, geographic expansion.
Sanofi Aventis
Innovation (Large Enterprises)
Created in 1973, Sanofi took over its competitor Synthelabo 1999 and Aventis in 2004 to form the Sanofi-Aventis, Europe's premier and the world's number three pharmaceutical group. Pharmaceutical products make up 95.5% of the company's sales, while human vaccines amount to only 4.5%. Sanofi-Aventis benefits from a large product portfolio and remains largely protected from the competition in the generic drug market: 5 out of 8 patented medications are not affected by this threat in the short term. Innovation lies at the heart of the Sanofi-Aventis strategy: the company devoted EUR 4 billion to R&D in 2004 (the world's third largest pharmaceutical industry budget). To sustain this emphasis on innovation, 11,500 researchers are employed by the group. The product portfolio in R&D is among the most substantial and innovative in the entire global pharmaceutical industry.
Dassault Systèmes
Innovation (Medium Enterprise)
Founded in 1981, Dassault Systèmes is the world leader in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software solutions. Software accounts for 84% of the company's turnover of EUR 797 million in 2004; the remaining 16% are brought in through sales and services. A large part of the turnover is recurrent business, due to the steady income through software licensing fees. Important resources are allocated to R&D, which engages almost half of the company's employees. Innovative and visionary software in 3D revolutionized the computer-aided design (for the concept of the Boeing 777, for example). The company's efforts are equally based on the constant adaptation of its commercial offering as much as on the development of products for small and medium-sized enterprises and by reinforcing the compatibility of integrated software systems.
Lafarge
Prix Européanité (Large Enterprises)
Founded in 1833, Lafarge is world leader in construction materials. The EUR 14436 million turnover in 2004 is generated out of four components: cement (47%), aggregates and concrete (33%), roofing (11%) and plaster (9%). Benefiting from a sizeable geographic diversification the group is solidly anchored in large growth regions (Asia, Eastern Europe). Its position is particularly strong in Europe, as the company covers 29 of the 33 countries in the European economic area (28% of its turnover is generated outside of France). Given that logistical costs in this industry are quite high, Lafarge has chosen to place production sites in all markets it conquers.
Guerbet
Prix Européanité (Medium Sized Enterprises)
Founded in 1901, Guerbet specializes in products for medical imaging. Its skill level in the production of X-Ray and MRI technology is unparalleled. Radiology (Xentix) makes up 72% of Geurbet's annual sales. MRI, contrast agents and nuclear imaging make up the rest of the company's turnover. With a growth of 6% on average since 2000, turnover reached EUR 248 million in 2004. Guerbet realizes more than half of its sales in European countries outside of France. Although all of its companies are located in France, internationalization has been placed at the heart of its business strategy.
Société Générale
Strategies for the New Europe (Large Companies)
Founded in 1864, Société Générale is the third largest French financial group. Its turnover of EUR 6,161 million is divided between its bank of deposit (58.2%), its financial and investment bank (28.2%) and its current accounts (13.6%).The company's development in central and eastern Europe after 1999 is based on a number of acquisitions in Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Russia. Using a selective development strategy and putting forward products that are specific to the individual countries is key to the company's success.
Belvédère
Strategies for the New Europe (Medium Sized Enterprises)
Founded in 1991, Belvédère produces and sells wines and spirits throughout eastern Europe. Its turnover of EUR 460 million is composed of 89% sales of spirits, while wine sales make up 6% of the total. The creation and production of luxury bottles represents 5% of the company's total revenues. The quality of the products, the good marketing position and the strong growth of the Polish market explain the success of the company (sales have been in the double-digits since 1991), which is vodka sales leader in Poland.
Schneider Electric
Grand Prix
Founded in Le Creusot in the Bourgogne in 1838, Schneider Electric is the current world leader in electricity and automation management. The group, which has offices in 130 countries – 42 of these European – employs 85 000 people. Its turnover, which is split over two core activities – electricity management (69%) and automation management (31%) - amounted to EUR 10,365 million in 2004.
Schneider has a global product portfolio on offer, adapted to the different kinds of markets it caters to (residential, industry, energy). The international development of the company is built on a series of acquisitions: Lexel (1999) in electrics, Crouzet (2000), TAC (2003) in the area of automation and Elau in 2005. This external growth strategy has been crowned by success, as sales improved by 2% on average between 2000 and 2004, while remaining debt rates are low. In addition, Schneider Electric shows particularly strong growth in emerging markets, especially in eastern Europe.