Paris-based waste and water management giant Veolia on Monday reported higher revenue for the first half of 2017, while the net income picture was mixed based on whether net capital gains are included. Revenue spiked even higher for the company’s “Rest of the World” segment, which includes its Veolia Nuclear Solutions subsidiary.
Total company revenue landed at 12.35 million euros for the first six months of the year, up 4.4 percent from 11.84 million euros in the same period of 2016.
Veolia reported 295 million euros in net income, down by 8.6 percent from 323 million euros in first-half 2016. However, the company’s capital gains plummeted from 40 million euros in 2016 to zero this year, Chief Financial Officer Philippe Capron noted Tuesday during Veolia’s quarterly earnings conference call; taking out net financial gains, the net income figure is up by 4.4 percent. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) took a small 0.4 percent step up, to 1.65 million euros.
“First half numbers are, from my point of view, very satisfactory,” Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot told financial analysts during the call. “The two pillars of our strategy are functioning well: growth and efficiency. Regarding growth, revenue increased 4.4 percent. Second-quarter growth was as good as the first despite a less favorable comparison base. Europe, excluding France, and mainly the Rest of the World, drove this growth.”
Rest of the World revenue rose by 11.3 percent: 11.8 percent in the first quarter and 10.8 percent in the second quarter.
Veolia did not break out data for its Nuclear Solutions business in its earnings press release, per company practice. Executives did not discuss the segment during the conference call.
Nuclear Solutions was established this year to house three formerly individual businesses, including U.S.-based nuclear cleanup technology provider Kurion, which Veolia purchased in 2016. The segment offers services including remediation of nuclear sites and treatment of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
In the first half of 2017, the business snagged separate deals to treat radioactively contaminated water at four nuclear power plants being decommissioned in the United Kingdom and to deliver a cleanup system for radioactive waste at Canada’s Whiteshell Laboratories.
Nuclear Solutions also continues to look for additional business in cleanup of the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup complex, announcing late last year that its GeoMelt waste glassification system (which Kurion brought with it) was being tested on reactive metal waste from the Idaho National Laboratory.
The company this week was reported to be finalizing acquisition of Ohio-based Wastren Advantage, a DOE contractor currently doing work at the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
For all of 2017, Veolia intends to focus on increasing revenue and stabilizing or moderately boosting EBITDA, along with cutting costs by 250 million euros. Its aim for 2018 is more ambitious, calling for continued revenue growth, more sustained EBITDA growth, and over 300 million euros in savings.
By 2020, the company intends to produce $250 million in annual revenue from low-level radioactive waste treatment and roughly $150 million annually in nuclear technology decontamination.
