EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Euronext, the leading Pan-European market infrastructure, is holding today its investor day to present its three year strategic road map called “Agility for Growth”. Stéphane Boujnah hello.You are the Chairman of the Managing Board and CEO of Euronext, we are two years after the IPO, six months after your arrival, I would imagine that expectations are higher than ever?
Stéphane Boujnah: Expectations are high because the company has achieved a lot, over performing and delivering one year ahead of schedule all the objectives that were committed for at the IPO. So it’s quite natural that the investors, the clients are expecting to know what is going to be the next frontier for Euronext. Expectations are high also because a lot of work has been done internally with the teams, in talking to clients, in talking to investors, in talking to intermediaries, in talking to all the stakeholders to make sure we shape the right strategy going forward.
EBM: What more can you tell us about your strategic road map called “Agility for Growth”?
Stéphane Boujnah: Agility is all about making sure that Euronext in the coming years is capable to capture all the opportunities arising from a changing environment, be it the regulatory changes, the technology changes, the changes in the market landscape. So in order to achieve that, we want to attract the best talents and the best entrepreneurs to be part of Euronext. We want to upgrade significantly our technology platform and our IT. We want to make sure that we have a very disciplined M&A framework to capture those opportunities. We want to make sure that we are in a situation everywhere, at any time, to be reactive. That’s what Agility is. And, above all, we want to manage all costs in a very disciplined manner. Cost management is not a phase of the story of Euronext. It’s a fundamental part of the DNA of Euronext and we are going to continue implementing very strong cost discipline.
EBM: Yes, we understand profitability will be high on the agenda, but what about growth?
Stéphane Boujnah: Growth is important for two reasons because we have a very profitable core business which we want to strengthen, in terms of cash trading, derivatives, listing, market data. This core engine of profitability - which is generating 55% of profitability in 2015 - must be protected and strengthened. But in addition to that; we have selected six areas of growth, pursuant to very long analyses and discussions with shareholders, with investors, with clients and with all the stakeholders and these are the areas where we believe we can take the company to the next level.
EBM: Precisely could you list some of these growth initiatives?
Stéphane Boujnah: Firstly, we want to become the leader in technology listing in Europe, whether the technology companies come from Euronext founding countries or outside Euronext founding countries. Second, we want to make sure that we become a leader in market data analytics provision to clients. Third, we want to become the leader in ETF listing in Europe. Fourth, we want to offer to our clients Euronext branded indices. Fifth, we want to make sure that we can deliver to clients in the commodities space a new set of agricultural specialist content information. And sixth, we want to make sure that over the coming years we can offer optionalities to clients in terms of clearing solutions.
EBM: The environment is changing. Two of your main competitors are contemplating a merger. What does this mean for Euronext?
Stéphane Boujnah: Well, as everyone who has been in this industry knows very well, this type of large scale transformational deals always take longer than expected and never end up as initially anticipated. So we are monitoring the situation very closely. We want to make sure that we can capture the opportunities arising from that situation, but what we owe to our shareholders, to our employees, to our clients, is a strong, steady stand-alone Euronext strategy for the years to come. So we are going to deploy our strategy, we are going to look at the alternative optionalities that may arise from the combination or the attempted consolidation between Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange and we’ll see what will come out of it.
EBM: Can you give us some guidance going forward?
Stéphane Boujnah: Our guidance is relatively straightforward. We expect to grow our top line by 5% per year until 2019. We expect to continue a very strong cost discipline with an incremental €22 million of growth efficiencies for the coming years and all that will translate into an EBIDTA margin of between 61 and 62% before the end of 2019.
EBM: Before closing this interview, are there any concluding remarks that you would care to make?
Stéphane Boujnah: Euronext is small but it is ambitious. Euronext can and wants to power Pan-European capital markets to finance the real economy while delivering value to our shareholders.
EBM: Stéphane Boujnah, Chairman of the managing board and CEO of Euronext, thank you very much.
Stéphane Boujnah: Thank you
