The French environmental services company Veolia is targeting higher profits in the near term and will continue to focus on asset sales and cash generation, it said today as it posted better-than-expected 2009 earnings.
The world's biggest listed water group, which also runs waste management and transport businesses, said net profit rose 44 per cent from last year to €584 million.
The group maintained its dividend at 1.21 euros per share.
Veolia said it was targeting an average annual increase in its recurring operating income of 4 per cent to 8 per cent over the next three to five years.
It also kept its target for €3 billion worth of asset sales from 2009 to 2011 and raised its 2010 cost savings target to €250 million.
Veolia added that it was reiterating its commitment to generating positive free cash flow.
Last year, the company announced plans to merge its Veolia Transport division with the Caisse des Depots' Transdev arm.
Veolia chief executive Antoine Frerot told reporters that the new transport group created by the Transdev deal could be listed on the stock market during the first half of 2011.
Reuters