Download the file. - Groupe SEB

1
Chairman’s
message
A BUSINESS MODEL BASED ON PROFITABLE GROWTH
Our business model is, first and foremost, focused on achieving growth
through innovation, continued global expansion, powerful brands and
diversified distribution. It also relies on our ability to be competitive,
which springs from our industrial strategy and strict management of
invested capital and costs, with a constant eye on the goal of financial
stability.
2010: A RECORD PERFORMANCE
After a decade of exploits and steady progress, which saw our sales
double and our operating margin rise uninterruptedly to almost triple
its level over the period, Groupe SEB put in a record performance
in 2010.
This achievement was built on the sound fundamentals that form the
bedrock of our enterprise, underpinned by a stable shareholder base
favourable to a long-term outlook, and by the founding values that we
put to work each day to meet our obligations to all our stakeholders.
To ensure growth, we use innovation – a mainstay of our strategy
and a motive force behind our development. Indeed, innovation is built
into our genes. The Group’s history is dotted with market triumphs,
innovative breakthroughs, clever ideas and novel solutions that offer
benefits to consumers and create value. Two recent examples are the
minimal-oil Actifry and the Silence Force low-noise vacuum cleaner.
Our international expansion, pursued over the last 40 years, has
given us the most far-reaching global presence in our industry today,
with number 1 positions in many countries. Our comprehensive product
offer, spanning most market segments, is built around a large
portfolio of powerful brands with high-profile regional or global
impact. selling through all distribution channels, both modern and
traditional, gives us access to a broad spectrum of consumers.
The coordinated deployment of all these vectors of growth can only
continue to add to the status of Groupe SEB as a global benchmark
in the small Domestic equipment sector.
To ensure profitability, the Group’s competitive performance relies on
its industrial strategy, based on the expertise of our working teams,
unique industrial processes, constant adaptation of our manufacturing
base, and a balanced geographic spread of production between
mature and emerging markets. Keys to boosting profitability include
rigorous management of our plant investment and of the working
capital requirement, and strict control of costs.
The Group’s performance in 2010 was also thanks to the dynamism
of our business model and our resolutely long-term strategy.