Compagnie des Alpes // 2021 Universal Registration Document
1 INTRODUCTION TO COMPAGNIE DES ALPES AND ITS ACTIVITIES Strategy and future outlook
1.2 Strategy and future outlook The 2020/2021 financial year is unique in the Group’s strategic trajectory. The Company was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which once again forced it to close all of its sites from the end of October 2020 and only reopen them in stages from May/June 2021 for its Leisure parks, and from June for the summer activities of its mountain areas. The fourth quarter demonstrated the attractiveness of all Compagnie des Alpes sites, the public’s appetite for the leisure activities it offers and the Group’s ability to take full advantage of the expected rebound.
Despite the sharp decline in activity recorded in 2019/2020 (-28%) and even more in the 1 st half-year 2020/2021 (-93%), i.e. nearly one year of revenue lost in 18 months, the Group focused on protecting its liquidity : l The Group’s financing has been secured: after setting up a State Guaranteed Loan (EMP, Prêt Garanti par l’État) of €200 million in June 2020, the Group took out a Seasonal EMP of €269 million in December 2020. The decision to extend the first EMP and to amortise it over four years, i.e. until financial year 2025/2026, was taken in June 2021; l In terms of expenses, the decrease in revenue was partially offset by savings on overheads and operating costs (nearly 41% of the loss in revenue), and an adjustment of its investments (€143 million invested, and €51 million received in the first half of the year in respect of the proceeds from the sale of assets as part of the early termination of the Deux Alpes Public Service Delegation, i.e. net investment of €92 million over the year); l The Group has also received subsidies in particular, a net amount of €168.3 million for the partial compensation of the fixed costs of the ski lift companies in France and of other aid and subsidies in France and abroad; l Finally to regain financial flexibility consistent with its growth ambitions, in June 2020 the Group carried out a capital increase with preferential subscription rights in the amount of €231 million. In the end, the Group’s net debt amounted to €664 million post-IFRS 16 at 30 September 2021, equivalent to €502 million excluding IFRS 16, i.e. a better situation than before the crisis. On the strength of a healthy balance sheet, Compagnie des Alpes intends to accelerate the development strategy of its sites, which creates value, by keeping the Very High Satisfaction of its visitors, its employees and its top stakeholders which include local authorities. The Group’s strategy is based on three pillars: l Securing its foundations: the impact of climate change is the subject of proprietary analyses on each of the mountain sites operated; these studies make it possible to confirm the business outlook for 2060, but also to direct our investments more effectively on mountain sites. The Company is also working to strengthen all the services it offers at its resorts, so as to improve the service provided to local authorities and end customers: digitisation is a major focus; the actions taken to increase accommodation and the number of hot beds in the resorts is another. The Company is also increasing its capacity investments in its parks, as well as the offering of shops and restaurants, in order to support the growth in volume and expenditure of its activities. Finally, actions aimed at strengthening human capital are at the heart of our strategy; l Deploy the growth drivers of tomorrow: the Company will roll out development projects with strong value creation potential that constitute growth drivers in the medium and long term. In
particular, this involves accelerating the development of sites whose growth potential can be developed more quickly: Futuroscope, Parc Astérix and Bellewaerde. In mountain areas, summer diversification is a potential hub of activity in the medium/long term; l Be an increasingly committed company: the Group will contribute more to the ecological transition . Last June, it clarified its “Triple Zero” environmental ambition for the year ( i.e. a triple objective: carbon neutrality, “zero non-recovered waste”, and a positive impact on biodiversity). It also wants to increase its contributions to the development of the regions in which it operates. This strategy applies to each of its business lines. Ski areas: improving the experience on all links of the value chain to retain and renew our customers The activity of the Ski areas Division recorded an average annual growth of more than 3.5% between 2014/2015 and 2018/2019 ( i.e. before the Covid-19 crisis) in a global context of slow decline in skiing in the French mountains and stagnation at European level. This increase is explained by a positive price effect but above all by four consecutive years of growth in skier-days since 2015, which is the result of a series of actions and a proactive investment policy (€734 million invested since financial year 2012/13 across our ski areas). The development strategy for the ski areas operated by Compagnie des Alpes is based on five areas: l Securing the business over the long term: in almost all of its ski areas, the Group has deployed its proprietary “Impact” tool, which makes it possible to model the proportion of natural and artificial snow cover until the end of the century according to various global warming scenarios. Beyond arriving at the conclusion that the winter activity of the Compagnie des Alpes ski areas is secure until at least 2060, this decision-making tool makes it possible to optimise the sizing of artificial snow-making structures, the quantity of snow produced and thus manage water resources in a sustainable way, but also to guide the choices in terms of upgrading the ski lifts, in particular their location and type (gondola lift versus chairlift), and the positioning of the snow fronts and learning areas; l Enhance the offer and the customer experience: Compagnie des Alpes’ approach to investing in its ski areas is based on a global development approach for each ski area that aims to both enhance the offer and improve the customer experience. While replacing and modernising its ski lifts, the Group seeks to make the most of each mountain area to boost certain sectors, better distribute flows, create learning spaces or relaxation areas, and offer new activities. Maintaining the slopes and improving snow cover are also key factors in ensuring skier satisfaction. Finally, digital applications make the customer experience more fluid throughout the stay;
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Compagnie des Alpes I 2021 Universal registration document
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