“All activities earn money,” welcomed Jean-Pierre Farandou on Thursday. Facing the press, the CEO of SNCF announced that the company had spectacularly recovered its accounts in 2022 thanks to the return of passengers to its trains and the dynamics of logistics, with a record net profit, multiplied by 2.7 to 2.425 billion euros, according to figures released Thursday. “This money will be used 100% to prepare for the group’s future by financing its development, investing in the national rail network and reducing the debt burden,” added Jean-Pierre Farandou.
For the financial director Laurent Trevisani, the 2022 results are “solid”. Excluding exceptional items – in particular the sale of its stake in the locomotive rental company Akiem – the profit amounted to 2.1 billion euros, according to him. The turnover of the public group reached unprecedented levels at 41.45 billion euros in 2022 – of which 37% was achieved internationally – against 34.75 billion in 2021 (+19%) and 35.12 billion in 2019 before the health crisis (+18%).
“The financial structure is sound”
This rebound in activity is due to the impressive growth of its logistics entity Geodis – qualified by the management as “the group’s second economic lifeblood” – and the recovery of TGV traffic, now higher than its pre-crisis levels. .
In detail, the turnover of SNCF Voyageurs – the company that runs the trains, TGV, TER and those in the Paris suburbs – increased by 26.7% (at constant scope, accounting standard and exchange rates) to 17.38 billion euros and that of Geodis by 19.2% to 13.72 billion. SNCF Voyageurs is now 3.4% above its 2019 level, before the pandemic, while Geodis has grown by 67.6% in three years.
The turnover of the TGV-Intercités branch remains however 3% lower than before the crisis despite record attendance, a consequence of the rise of the low-cost TGV Ouigo and the effects of discount cards. The gross margin (Ebitda) returned to 16% of turnover, its 2019 level, a performance that Mr. Trevisani considers “satisfactory”. Rail freight, long in deficit, is even making money.
Recall that the SNCF had lost three billion euros in 2020 due to the pandemic, and 801 million in 2019, due to the strike against the pension reform and unfavorable accounting effects. Very affected by the Covid-19, the SNCF came out of the red in 2021, but only thanks to the sale of the wagon rental company Ermewa, which had enabled it to post a net profit of 890 million euros; without this exceptional product, it would have posted a loss of 185 million euros.
The debt was reduced from 36.30 to 24.44 billion euros during the year 2022, including ten billion taken over by the State on January 1. In accordance with the commitments made to the government when adopting the 2018 railway reform, free cash flow is now positive.