The Board of Directors of Capgemini SE, chaired by Paul Hermelin, convened on February 13 in Paris to review and adopt the accounts of the Capgemini Group for the year-ended December 31, 2023.
Aiman Ezzat, Chief Executive Officer of the Capgemini Group, said: “2023 was another year of growth for the Group with improving profitability and a strong cash flow conversion, despite a slowdown in our industry. Our results illustrate the strength of our positioning, our agility and our resilience.
Our clients recognize the value we bring as their business and technology transformation partner. In 2023, the Group continued to invest in building the capabilities and solutions to help them transition to an increasingly digital and sustainable economy.
This was notably the case for generative AI, which is top of mind for all large organizations. We are positioned as a leading player enabling our clients to explore, test and scale solutions for tangible business impact. Through our €2 billion investment plan announced last July, we continue to strengthen and upskill our teams, invest in solutions and leverage a broad ecosystem of technology partners including Microsoft, Google, AWS, Salesforce and Mistral AI.
In terms of sustainability offerings, we also stepped up our efforts in 2023. We continue to help our clients accelerate their transition towards Net Zero through strategy definition, business model adaptation and design of sustainable products and services. 2023 was also an important year on our own ESG roadmap, with major progress achieved towards a more sustainable and inclusive world.
The Group is well-equipped to improve its performance in 2024, while the environment is expected to remain soft in the first half. This year again, the Group expects to grow, with the trough in Q1, improve its operating margin and maintain a superior free cash flow conversion.”
Capgemini delivered a solid performance in 2023 despite the weak economic environment, with results exceeding or in line with its financial targets for the year.
After two years of record growth, persisting macroeconomic challenges and rising geopolitical tensions led to a gradual market slowdown in 2023 that came in line with Group expectations. Capgemini reported revenues of €22,522 million in 2023, up +2.4% vs. 2022 published figures. Constant currency growth* was +4.4%, within the 2023 target range of +4% to +7%. With acquisitions contributing +0.5 points to growth, organic growth* (i.e., excluding the impact of currency fluctuations and changes in Group scope) reached +3.9%.
Bookings totaled €23,887 million in 2023, a year-on-year increase of +2.6% at constant exchange rates, representing a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06 for the year, and 1.18 in Q4. This reflects sustained commercial momentum despite lengthened decision cycles.
While large corporations and organizations hold firm on their digital and sustainability ambitions, they are increasingly prioritizing operational agility and cost efficiency. This translates into strong demand for transformation programs with short payback, which leverage the Group’s high value-added service offerings most notably in Intelligent Industry, as well as in activities driven by Cloud, Data & Artificial Intelligence.
This ongoing shift in Capgemini’s offerings portfolio towards more value creating services, combined with strengthened operational efficiency, generated a 40 basis points increase in gross margin, despite the rising inflation and market slowdown.
As a result, the operating margin* increased to 13.3% of revenues, or €2,991 million, up +4% in value compared to 2022. This year-on-year improvement of 30 basis points exceeds the target of 0-20 basis points set for 2023.
Other operating income and expense was a net expense of €645 million, compared with €474 million in 2022. This increase is mainly attributable to higher restructuring charges, which increased by €97 million, and to a change in French accounting practices as set by the French National Accounting Council (ANC), which resulted in an additional €63 million non-cash expense related to the annual employee share ownership plan.
Capgemini’s operating profit was €2,346 million, or 10.4% of revenues, compared with €2,393 million in 2022.
The net financial expense was €42 million compared with €129 million in 2022, this evolution being mainly driven by higher interest income in a context of rising interest rates.
The income tax expense was €626 million compared with €710 million last year. The effective tax rate was slightly down at 27.2%, compared with 28.1% in 2022 (excluding €73 million tax expenses related to the impact of the US tax reform).
Taking into account the share of profits of associates and non-controlling interests, the Group share in net profit rose by +7% year-on-year to €1,663 million. Basic earnings per share increased also by +7% to €9.70. Normalized earnings per share* was €12.44, compared with €11.09 in 2022 and €11.52 excluding the tax expenses related to the impact of the US tax reform.
Organic free cash flow* amounted to €1,963 million, above the target of “around €1.8 billion” set for the year. Capgemini invested €343 million in acquisitions during the past year. The Group also paid dividends of €559 million (€3.25 per share) and allocated €883 million (net) to share buyback programs. Finally, the 10th employee share ownership plan, which proved highly successful and thus contributed to maintaining employee shareholding between 8 to 9% of the share capital, led to a gross capital increase of €467 million.
The Board of Directors has decided to recommend the payment of a dividend of €3.40 per share at the Shareholders’ Meeting of May 16, 2024. The corresponding payout ratio is 35% of net profit (Group share), in line with the Group’s historical distribution policy.
OPERATIONS BY REGION
At constant exchange rates, the United Kingdom and Ireland region (12% of Group revenues) maintained a robust momentum in 2023 with revenues growing +7.9%. This performance was primarily driven by the Public Sector as well as the Consumer Goods & Retail and Manufacturing sectors, while activities in the Financial Services and TMT sectors were roughly stable year-on-year. The operating margin reached a record level of 18.6% compared with 18.0% in 2022.
The Rest of Europe region (30% of Group revenues) also performed well with revenue growth of +7.6% fueled to a large extent by the Public Sector and the Manufacturing sector. The Energy & Utilities sector was also buoyant while growth in Financial Services was limited. The operating margin was 11.7%, up from 11.6% a year earlier.
France (20% of Group revenues) revenues grew +6.1%, mainly supported by strong growth in the Manufacturing and Consumer Goods & Retail sectors. TMT was the only sector to contract in 2023. The operating margin further improved by 50 basis points year-on-year to 12.6%.
Conversely, revenues in North America (29% of Group revenues) decreased slightly by -1.3%. The Manufacturing and Services sectors showed good growth. Revenue decline was particularly visible in the TMT and Consumer Goods & Retail sectors, but more limited in the Financial Services sector. The operating margin was 15.6% as in 2022.
Finally, revenues in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America region (9% of Group revenues) grew +4.6%. Growth was mostly driven by the Asia-Pacific region where Consumer Goods & Retail, Services, Manufacturing and the Public Sector enjoyed double-digit growth rates, whereas Financial Services remained virtually stable, and TMT contracted visibly. The operating margin improved substantially to 12.2% compared with 10.6% the year before.
OPERATIONS BY BUSINESS
At constant exchange rates, Strategy & Transformation consulting services (9% of Group revenues) reported a +8.6% growth in total revenues* in 2023. This sustained momentum illustrates the strength of the Group's strategic positioning as a partner for its clients' digital and sustainable ambitions.
Applications & Technology services (62% of Group revenues and Capgemini’s core business) reported a +4.5% increase in total revenues.
Finally, Operations & Engineering services total revenues (29% of Group revenues) grew +2.8%.
OPERATIONS IN Q4 2023
As expected, the progressive deceleration in Capgemini revenue growth observed since the beginning of the year continued in Q4. Group revenues totaled €5,616 million, virtually stable at -0.2% at constant exchange rates, and -0.9% when adjusted for Group scope and exchange rate impacts.
At constant exchange rates, revenues in the United Kingdom and Ireland region grew +2.7% at constant exchange rates, underpinned by fairly broad-based growth but weighed down by sizeable contraction in the Financial Services and TMT sectors. Revenue growth in the Rest of Europe region, which also stood at +2.7%, was driven by solid momentum in the Energy & Utilities and Public sectors. In France, the Manufacturing and Energy & Utilities sectors fueled revenue growth of +2.5%. With revenues down by -6.6% year-on-year, the deceleration in North America compared to Q3 growth rates (-4.0% year-on-year) was in line with Group average, with the largest revenue declines in the Consumer Goods & Retail and TMT sectors. Finally, revenues in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America region grew by +1.1% despite the visible decline in the Financial Services and TMT sectors, thanks to solid growth in most of the other sectors.
Bookings rose +1.7% in Q4 at constant exchange rates to reach €6,643 million, corresponding to a book-to-bill ratio of 1.18.
HEADCOUNT
At December 31, 2023, the Group’s total headcount stood at 340,400, down by 5% year-on-year.
The onshore workforce decreased slightly at 145,800 employees, down by 2% year-on-year, while the offshore workforce was down by 7% to 194,600 employees, i.e., 57% of the total headcount.
BALANCE SHEET
Capgemini continued to strengthen its financial structure in 2023 on the back of its strong cash flow generation.
At December 31, 2023, the Group had cash, cash equivalents and cash management assets of €3.7 billion. After accounting for borrowings of €5.7 billion and derivative instruments, Group net debt* is €2.0 billion, down compared with €2.6 billion at December 31, 2022.
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