Preparing for growth

Addressing some of the world’s great challenges

Our business is built to help tackle some of the world’s great challenges. That starts with water scarcity and water management and extends to rapid urbanisation and climate change. We are here to create sustainable, innovative solutions for water, fluids and energy that meet the evolving needs of our customers every day.

Protecting people and our business

In the context of COVID-19, we are proud to have supported our colleagues in every way we can, while all our teams have gone the extra mile to keep serving our customers this year.

New protocols and ways of working were efficiently introduced, safeguarding both our teams and operations. We also reached out to our people and kept close to our customers to help them through the individual challenges they faced as a result of the pandemic.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our colleagues for their professionalism and dedication this year. They worked hard for the benefit of all our stakeholders. Thanks to them, we achieved solid results in 2020.

Delivering a solid performance

Revenue for the year was €2,9 billion, a decrease of 6.7% but an increase of 1.6% on a like-for-like basis*, thanks to the second half rebound. Our current EBITDA of €461 million represents an increase of 4.8% and of 11.3% on a like-for-like basis*. Net profit was up 8.2% to €199 million, including gains from divestments, and net financial debt was €437 million at year-end, down €333 million vs 2019.

Overall, these results were affected by contrasting dynamics in our different geographies. All regions were impacted by the pandemic shock in the first half. Europe, Australia and New Zealand were slower to recover in the second half. However, the Americas and India showed accelerating growth over the second half.

Stepping up for growth

Our resilience demonstrated the underlying strength of the Aliaxis business model. We can build on that solid base to continue to improve our performance.

The challenge now is to step up and accelerate profitable growth.

As Chairman and CEO, we are both determined to capitalise on the opportunities in our market, via internal and external growth. We want to take Aliaxis to the next level as a high performing and growing organisation.

Safety, our top priority

Safety is our most fundamental objective. There have been improvements this year, such as better ‘near misses’ reporting, further implementation of our global standards, and a reduced number of incidents. However, we have still much to do.

We are committed to push ourselves to proactively identify risks throughout Aliaxis, to protect the health and safety of our people over the long term.

Providing sustainable solutions

The drive for innovative technology is core to the way we manage our business. This has enabled our teams to provide more sustainable solutions for our customers and even the wider community. By opening our new research hub in Bangalore, India, we have increased our capacity and speed to solve more complex problems.

Moving from products to full solutions must become an important part of our growth story. We aim to go the extra mile to provide world-class customer service.

Setting priorities for 2021

In 2021, we are refocusing on our key priorities: safety, sustainability, customers, growth and operational excellence. In other words, that means safety as our top priority, making a positive impact on society, ensuring customers come first, improving our cost effectiveness, and launching Aliaxis on a growth trajectory.

Of course, challenges lie ahead, but so do tremendous opportunities, and we are excited to lead the business at this crucial moment. Now, more than ever, our teams offer specific, sustainable solutions for water management and many other critical challenges that our customers and communities face.

We see real potential for profitable growth for Aliaxis, while making a meaningful and positive contribution to society. Working closely together, we are confident we can unleash that potential.

Olivier van der Rest
Chairman

Eric Olsen
Chief Executive Officer

* 2019 and 2020 adjusted to exclude impact of divestments. 2019 adjusted on a pro-forma basis to reflect the full year impact of the acquisition of Silver-Line Plastics in November 2019. Impact of FX excluded to reflect underlying performance at constant exchange rate.