BIC launches its “Horizon” strategic plan
BIC launches its “Horizon” strategic
plan
Accelerated Growth
-
As we accelerate towards a mid-single digit annual Net
Sales growth trajectory, we are reframing our three core
categories: from
Stationery to Human
Expression from
Lighters to Flame for
Life from
Shavers to Blade Excellence
Improved Efficiency and robust Cash Flow
Generation
- On track to deliver “BIC 2022 – Invent the Future” operational
targets
- At least 200 million euros annual Free Cash Flow Generation
through 2022
Sustainability
- Taking our Sustainable Development journey to the next level
and transforming our approach to plastics
- By 2025, 100% of packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or
compostable
- By 2030, we will use 50% non-virgin petroleum plastic
in our products
Capital Allocation Policy
- Investment in operations to sustain organic growth (CAPEX)
- Targeted acquisitions to strengthen existing activities and
develop into adjacent businesses
- Sustainable Shareholder Returns
Clichy, France – 10 November 2020 - BIC today
unveils its new “Horizon” strategy, a comprehensive plan aimed at
driving growth and ensuring sustainable returns to shareholders.
This strategy, which is an extension of the ongoing "BIC 2022 -
Invent the Future" transformation plan, is focused on a set of
initiatives that build on BIC’s strengths, with an intensified
focus on consumer needs and sustainability.
The strategy is grounded in BIC's new vision of "We bring joy
and simplicity to everyday life," and Raison d’Être of "creating
high quality, safe, affordable, essential products trusted by
everyone."
"The goal of our Horizon plan is not only to amplify the
core capabilities that have propelled our company for the last 75
years, but to go beyond them into adjacent segments to ensure
our long-term sustainable growth and profitability. My vision is to
transform BIC from a manufacturing and distribution-led company
into one which is more consumer-centric and fit for purpose,
consistently seeking greater efficiency and reduced complexity in
everything we do. This strategy will accelerate growth and
prioritize sustained Cash Flow generation to
ensure sustainable returns to shareholders, and
value creation for all stakeholders, for many years to
come." said Gonzalve Bich, Chief Executive Officer of
BIC.
Reframing our three core categories through a heightened
consumer lens for an accelerated growth trajectory
The Horizon strategy seeks to deliver a mid-single-digit annual
Net Sales Growth trajectory. Boosted by advanced commercial
capabilities and Revenue Growth Management, the growth trajectory
will be achieved by:
- Significantly expanding total addressable markets in
fast-growing adjacent segments and evolving BIC’s business model to
capture an increasing value share of our markets, with a strong
focus on execution and return on investments,
- leveraging innovation capabilities and manufacturing excellence
to generate incremental revenues through new routes-to-market,
- capitalizing on the BIC brand in our core markets and building
on new lifestyles to grow a comprehensive portfolio of consumer-led
brands.
In Stationery, we are evolving our focus to
"Human Expression," which goes beyond writing
instruments and into creative expression and digital writing. Human
Expression is a mid to high single-digit growth segment, with a
total addressable market expected to reach 80 billion euros by
2025. Current examples of our move towards this new frame include
an extensive skin creative product pipeline for Bodymark, our
temporary tattoo marker. The recent announcement of the agreement
to acquire Rocketbook, the leading smart and reusable notebook
brand in the US, is the first demonstrative step in creating our
digital writing platform.
Lighters are expanding to "Flame for
Life," focusing on all consumer lighting occasions in and
out of home and on a more value-driven model to drive incremental
growth and maintain profitability. This will be powered by trade-up
and personalization, innovation, and a push toward sustainability
to enhance our competitive advantage. An example is the recent
acquisition of Djeep and the launch of BIC's new EZ Reach
multi-purpose lighter during the summer.
In Shavers, we will reinforce and grow our
one-piece core business with consumer-driven and sustainable
products, such as our new Sustainable Development (SD) Hybrid
range. We are capitalizing on our advanced Research &
Development and Manufacturing capabilities and leveraging our
“Blade Excellence” to best utilize these assets by
building a selective new business as a high precision blade
manufacturer to power other brands.
Improved efficiency, and robust Cash Flow
generation
BIC's “Invent the Future” transformation plan is on track to
achieve operational targets:
- Effectiveness - We will achieve 50 million
euros annual savings by 2022, with 80% of the target completed in
2020 and 2021.
- Innovation – We will increase the number of
new patent submissions by 20% per year.
- Consumer-Centric Brands –We will engage
directly with consumers by allocating above 2/3rd of total brand
support in Digital Media by 2022 in our top markets
- Omnichannel Distribution - E-commerce will
represent at least 10% of Net Sales by the end of 2022.
Focused on consumers, our operating model supports our Horizon
plan. To deliver sustainable and consumer‐driven innovation, we are
fostering an open, agile, and fast ecosystem.
We have redesigned our Global Supply Chain with an end‐to‐end
organization focused on simplifying processes and reducing product
complexity. These shifts will lead to cost reduction, and in turn,
cash optimization. In 2020, our focus on working capital management
will generate at least 15 million euros in inventory
reduction. Among the recent initiatives to improve our
manufacturing footprint, we closed our Ecuador factory in May, and
we will shut down one of India's facilities.
We are raising the bar on value‐driven commercial excellence,
building capabilities to scale our operations to drive profitable
growth. This includes implementing a market portfolio management
approach to allocate resources better, accelerate e-commerce, and
our new Revenue Growth Management capability, which will improve
Net Sales and profitability in slow or declining markets.
We will maintain strong Cash Flow Conversion and deliver
at least 200 million euros of annual Free Cash Flow generation
through 2022. This will be driven by disciplined
management of operational investments, with a 1 to 1.2 CAPEX to
Depreciation & Amortization ratio target, and strict control of
our Working Capital levers (Inventories, Receivables, and
Payables).
Taking our Sustainable Development journey to the next
level and transforming our approach to plastics
In line with our “Writing the Future, Together” 2025 Sustainable
Development program, we will significantly improve our products'
environmental footprint and reduce our carbon emissions by
transforming our approach to plastics. Our bold new commitments
encompass both our packaging and our products:
- by 2025, 100% of BIC packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or
compostable
- by 2030, BIC will use 50% non-virgin petroleum plastic in our
products, with an intermediate target of 20% by 2025
Funding organic growth and acquisitions in adjacent
markets while ensuring sustainable Shareholder Returns
Consistent with our ambitions for accelerated Net Sales growth
and Free Cash Flow generation, BIC's capital allocation policy is
designed to enhance profitable growth and deliver long-term
sustainable value through:
- Funding Profitable Growth
- Investment into Operations to sustain and
enhance organic growth with approximately €100 million euros annual
CAPEX investments,
- Targeted Acquisitions to strengthen existing
activities and develop in adjacent categories, with an average of
€100 million euros invested annually
- Return to Shareholders
- Objective of Ordinary Dividend pay-out ratio
in the range of 40% to 50% of Normalized EPS
- Regular Share buybacks
The Board of Directors may consider adjusting
Return to Shareholders in the context of exceptional market and
business conditions.
Unveiling our new Vision and our Mission (Raison
d’Être)
The “Horizon” plan led us to reflect on our “purpose.” BIC’s
Vision and renewed Mission (Raison d’Être) are a lens through which
we evaluate business decisions and choices for our current
businesses and those to come. They were designed through a
collaborative process including BIC’s Board of Directors, the
Executive Committee, and BIC team members.
Our Vision
We Bring Simplicity and Joy to Everyday
Life.
Our ambition is to create a sense of ease and delight in
the millions of moments that make up the human experience.
It is this passion for bringing simplicity and joy to people all
over the world that drives our team members each day. We
reimagine everyday essentials, designing products
that are a part of every heart and home.We believe
we positively impact the world by offering
sustainable solutions that respect the planet through smart
design and the creation of products that
last.
Our Mission (Raison d’Être)
We create high quality, safe, affordable,
essential products trusted by everyone.
# #
This document contains certain forward-looking statements
concerning SOCIETE BIC. Such forward-looking statements
represent trends or objectives and cannot be construed
as constituting forecasts regarding the future SOCIETE BIC’s
results or any other performance indicator. Forward-looking
statements in this document include, but are not limited to,
financial projections and estimates and their underlying
assumptions.Although BIC believes its expectations are based on
reasonable assumptions, investors are cautioned that these
forward-looking statements are subject to numerous various risks,
whether known or unknown, and uncertainties and other factors,
including currency fluctuations, the ongoing global impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic, and the duration and severity of this
pandemic on BIC’s business and operations, all of which may be
beyond BIC’s control and could cause actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements. A description of the risks borne by BIC appears in
the section “Risks” in BIC’s 2019 Universal Registration
Document filed with the French financial markets authority (AMF) on
March 31, 2020. Any information relating to past performance
contained herein is not a guarantee of future performance.
Nothing herein should be construed as an investment
recommendation.
ABOUT BIC
BIC is a world leader in stationery, lighters, and shavers. For
more than 75 years, the Company has honored the tradition of
providing high-quality, affordable products to consumers
everywhere. Through this unwavering dedication, BIC has become one
of the most recognized brands and is a trademark registered
worldwide. Today, BIC products are sold in more than 160 countries
around the world and feature iconic brands such as Cello®, Conté®,
BIC FlexTM, Lucky Stationery, Made For YOUTM, Soleil®, Tipp-Ex®,
Wite-Out®, and more. In 2019, BIC Net Sales were 1,949.4 million
euros. The Company is listed on "Euronext Paris," is part of the
SBF120 and CAC Mid 60 indexes and is recognized for its commitment
to sustainable development and education. It received an A-
Leadership score from CDP. For more, visit www.bicworld.com or
follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.
CONTACTS
Sophie Palliez-Capian – V.P., Corporate Stakeholder
Engagement |
Investor Relations Contact: |
Press Contacts |
Sophie Palliez-Capian + 33 6 87 89 33 51
sophie.palliez@bicworld.com Michele Ventura +33 1 45 19 52
98 michele.ventura@bicworld.com |
Albane de La Tour d’Artaise + 33 7 85 88 19 48
Albane.DeLaTourDArtaise@bicworld.com Isabelle de Segonzac :
+ 33 6 89 87 61 39 isegonzac@image7.fr |
AGENDA – ALL DATES TO BE
CONFIRMED
Capital Markets Day |
November 10, 2020 |
Virtual event |
Full Year 2020 Results |
17 February 2021 |
Conference call and webcast |
First Quarter 2021 results |
28 April 2021 |
Conference call and webcast |
- PR_BIC_HORIZON strategic Plan_10NOV2020
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