Lyon Tennis Grand Prix “ a satisfying growth in a difficult context ”
2 3 A fter an exceptional year in 2000, specially with the Sydney Olympic Games and the European Summits in Biarritz and Marseille, Générale Location, Europe’s leading provider of engineering and logistics for <strong>events</strong> and in venue management, maintained its activity in <strong>2001</strong>. The Group pursued its growth under satisfying conditions of profitability despite a difficult international situation. Net sales increased by 9.8 % to reach 235m€. The recurrent share of the portfolio of activities experienced a significant progression with the signature of medium and long-term contracts. As for net profit, it comes to 9.2m€, while net profitability maintains itself at 3.9 % of net sales. With more than 1 800 employees working in twelve countries, the Group benefits from a good risk distribution and a strong protection against exogenous <strong>events</strong>, thanks to an improved and well-balanced breakdown of its net sales between three complementary markets : shows and exhibitions, <strong>events</strong>, fittings and museum fittings. To serve these markets, Générale Location offers a wide range of technical expertise to shows and <strong>events</strong> organizers, exhibitors, and local communities. Générale Location enlarged its market shares with the signature of several contracts. The Group, which realized more than 60 % of the installation of grandstands for the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, was selected this year for the organization of prestigious <strong>events</strong>, such as the Commonwealth Games, the Skill Festival of Manchester or the World Cup of Football. It will be present at seven Formula One Grand Prix compared to three last year. A three-year contract was signed for the Canada Grand Prix. Générale Location was also chosen for the building of a 17 000 m 2 temporary exhibition park at Le Bourget, and was entrusted with the management of the Convention Centers of Barcelona and Toulouse. The Group with 23% of its net sales from international activities in <strong>2001</strong>, consolidated its presence on foreign markets by opening offices in Barcelona and the United States of America. Besides its participation in the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, Générale Location accompanies French companies when they export their wellknown shows to America such as Preview and Expofil; The successful integration of the companies BS Vision, specialized in fittings and museum fittings, and Owen Brown, a leader in the <strong>events</strong> business in the United Kingdom, testifies to the Group’s ability to carry out external growths operations while creating profitable complementarities. With its share included since April 2002 in the SBF 250 index, and the benefit of a particularly healthy financial situation, Generale Location foresees for this year a 20% increase of its net sales, considering all the acquisitions already carried out as of today. The company will reach a new phase, a determining factor in the success of the coming five year challenge, focused on the regular progression of its different activities and on the sustained development of its network.