Investor Relations

114INVESTOR RELATIONSRaise return on equity (ROE), return on capital employed (ROCE);Lower the cost of capital; Offer attractive shareholder remuneration policy, via regular dividendpayments, share buyback programs, rights issue, and othernondilutive instruments;Operating and strategic levers:Create value for customers;Grow with mergers and acquisitions (M&A);Steady organic revenue growth;Tight cost control;Best-practice–driven corporate governance;Human resources and compensation policies.In addition,the company will want to stress that it has developed proactive InvestorRelations program and made shareholder value creation an intrinsicpart of its corporate culture;communicating on shareholder value creation truly becomes powerfulwhen quantified targets are associated: “We are increasing our return onequity (ROE) target, in the range of 33–36%”;In order to curb excessive communications in this area, certain legislators,in France, for instance, have decided to formally require thatit bebased on a consistently applied and clearly explained methodology;reviewed by the statutory auditors if the information is to be part of theissuer’s legal documentation (in a prospectus, for instance).Lastly, investors need to be able to reconcile indicators used to track shareholdervalue creation with the company’s consolidated financial statements.