Naval Group Press Conference: assets for company's future.

On February 21 2020, Hervé Guillou, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Naval Group has featured the assets of Naval Group's future during a press video conference released on Twitter and Youtube.

Naval Group (Picture source: Adrien Daste/Naval Group)

"We are benefiting from a positive market dynamic and, despite the ever-increasing competition, we have won tenders for more than 20 vessels in five new countries," said Naval Group CEO Hervé Guillou, who will leave the office at the end of March.

In 2019, Naval Group recruited 1,500 new employees, bringing the company's total workforce to more than 15,000, an increase of almost 10% compared to the 2018 workforce. This dynamic will continue, in particular thanks to numerous initiatives such as the opening of the school of integrator-designers on the Cherbourg site and the Naval Industries Campus, inaugurated in November by the Minister of National Education.

Naval Group is also accelerating its investments dedicated to open and collaborative innovation, the development of international trade as well as investments in industrial and IT equipment, which amounted to nearly 480 million euros in 2019.

Finally, thanks to the strengthening of its capacity to invest in the conquest plan, Naval Group will continue to internationalize its activity. This deployment will be based in particular on its joint venture with Fincantieri, Naviris, which will make it possible to jointly respond to certain calls for tenders and to pool R&D activities in the surface building sector.

The outlook for 2020 is solid, building on previous years. Sales growth of 5% and an increase in the group share of net profit of around 10% are expected in 2020.

At the end of the conference, Hervé Guillou welcomed Pierre Eric Pommellet, the current Director-General of Thales Group, who will be soon its successor at the head of Naval Group.

In any case, several major projects await the new CEO of Naval Group. Among them: the construction of the third generation nuclear-powered vehicle submarine from 2023, the delivery to the French Navy this year of the Suffren attack submarine, launched last summer and the 'important project for a new aircraft carrier expected for 2038.