What should I know before sell and buy Bouygues stock?
The Bouygues group is a French industrial group whose name is now familiar to all. However, its business can be divided into two main sectors. Indeed, more than 78% of its turnover is generated by the construction and maintenance of transport, leisure and urban development infrastructures, while the remainder concerns the well-known telecommunications and media activities with Bouygues Télécom accounting for 14.9% of turnover and the television channel TF1 for 6.3% of group turnover.
Bouygues makes most of its profits in France and Europe, of course, but profits are also made in North America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Oceania, Central and South America and the Middle East.
Originally, the Bouygues group's main activities were in the real estate and construction sectors. Over time, however, the company has diversified considerably and now operates in a wide range of businesses. Here you can find out more about the various Bouygues companies and subsidiaries and their importance within the group.
Construction: This remains the Bouygues group's main activity, with the subsidiary Bouygues Construction, which covers all the building and public works businesses, and also electricity with the subsidiary Bouygues Energie & Services. Through its construction activities, Bouygues has taken on large-scale projects such as the Stade de France, the Normandy Bridge, the Channel Tunnel, the Singapore Sports Hub, the Baluarte Bridge, the QP District real estate complex in Doha, the Velodrome stadium in Marseille and the First Tower in La Défense, Paris. The Bouygues group currently holds all the shares in this construction company and its subsidiaries. Through it, it achieves a turnover of almost 12 billion euros with a net profit of 320 million euros and 50,132 employees.
Real estate: This is the group's second largest business with Bouygues Immobilier, which is Bouygues' property development subsidiary. This company was created in 1956 and is responsible for carrying out various housing, office and commercial projects, as well as urban development projects such as the Ginko eco-neighbourhood in Bordeaux, the GreenOffice in Meudon and the IssyGrid intelligent electricity distribution network in Issy-Les-Moulineaux. Here again, the group holds all the shares in the subsidiary Bouygues Immobilier. This subsidiary generates over €2,500 million in sales with a net profit of €91 million and employs 2,059 people worldwide.
Colas: This company was acquired by the Bouygues group in 1986 but was originally created as a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and SGE. This company specialises in the construction and maintenance of transport, urban development and leisure infrastructures and is currently the leader in this field. It is also active in railway works through its subsidiary Colas Rail. Colas was also behind the creation of the company GTOI in the French overseas territories and the subsidiary GTR in Morocco. The Bouygues Group currently holds 96.6% of the shares in Colas. The company generates a turnover of 11 billion euros with a net result of 355 million euros and employs 54,837 people worldwide.
Media: The Bouygues group also holds shares in the media company TF1. This television channel was privatised in 1986 and has now become one of the main French media groups and owns several other channels such as LCI, TMC, NT1, Ushuaïa TV, Histoire, HD1 and TV Breizh. It also owns a 50% stake in the channel Série Club and the print media Metronews. The Bouygues group currently holds 43.9% of TF1. This subsidiary has a turnover of more than €2,000 million and a net profit of €42 million. It employs 3,107 people, mainly in France.
Telecommunications: In 1994, the Bouygues group entered this booming sector with its subsidiary Bouygues Telecom, which was the third company to obtain a mobile telephone licence. But this subsidiary also offers fixed telephony, Internet access and television services with its Triple Play offer. The group created the B&You brand, which was eventually abandoned in the face of strong competition from Free, which entered the market as the fourth mobile operator. The company will merge its customer bases on this occasion. Recognised for the quality of its fixed telephony and Internet access services, Bouygues Télécom topped the ACERP ranking in 2014. Currently, the Bouygues group holds 90.5% of the shares in Bouygues Télécom. This subsidiary has a turnover of more than €4,700 million and a net profit (group share) of €92 million. It employs 7,334 people worldwide.
Energy and transport: Although this is not one of its favourite areas of activity, the Bouygues group is also active in this sector thanks to the shares it holds in the Alstom group, which represent 21.03% of the total holding, making it its main shareholder since 2006. But the collaboration between Bouygues and Alstom does not stop there, as the merger between the two companies has also led to the creation of a joint venture in the hydroelectric power plant sector. This company, called Embix, was created in 2011 and specialises in the control and management of energy projects for eco-districts and smart grids. In 2014, Bouygues agreed to grant the French state a 20% buyback option on its shares following a successful bid by General Electric for Alstom's energy subsidiary. To date, Bouygues holds nearly 28.3% of Alstom's shares. Alstom generates €3,570 million in sales and net income (group share) of €128 million. It employs 31,000 people worldwide.
It should be noted that the Bouygues group previously owned other subsidiaries in various sectors of activity. For example, it owned SAUR, which provided services to local authorities and industries and which was sold to the PAI Partners group in 2014. He also owned the subsidiary Bouygues Offshore in the oil and gas construction sector. This company specialised in oil technology, supply, construction and installation and was sold in 2002 to the Saipem group, a subsidiary of the Italian group ENI.
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