France’s Orano, releasing its financial results on 26 February, said activity had been preserved and operational performance improved despite the Covid-19 pandemic. CEO Philippe Knoche stated:
“We have demonstrated our ability to adapt to an unprecedented health crisis. Thanks to the mobilisation of its teams, Orano has maintained its operations to ensure the continuity of its services to its customers for the supply of electricity. While our growth has been halted, our operational performance target has been achieved and we have continued to strengthen our financial structure.” He added that 2020 “will remain the year when the world realised that it needs nuclear power to meet the climate challenge of the future while saving resources.”
The results showed:
- Order intake of €1.9 billion ($2.3bn) and no impact of the crisis on the backlog;
- Revenue down by -2.5% (bps) compared with 2019 due to production stoppages and postponements of activities, in connection with the pandemic;
- EBITDA of €931 million compared with €900 million in 2019 (rate up to 25.3% compared with 23.8% in 2019)
- Net cash flow of +€144 million (compared with +€219 million in 2019) and maintenance of a coverage rate of 100% of end-of-lifecycle liabilities;
- Net debt down to €2.15 billion.
The group intends to achieve the following in 2021:
- a recovery in revenue growth;
- a consolidation of the EBITDA rate between 23% and 26%;
- a continuing positive net cash flow.
Orano said this outlook remains dependent on the evolution of the pandemic in France and in the countries where the group operates.
