ISABELLE POSTH, VP FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

You just organized your first Investor Days, how was that event?

This year, we once again showed innovation by offering our financial audiences a new meeting format for the Group. Our goal was to move away from the financial context to offer regular interlocutors a new approach with regard to the Group’s strategy and to provide them with the necessary tools to better understand its organization, issues and growth drivers.

We also wanted to give them the opportunity to enter into dialogue with the Group’s managers, whom they had not had the opportunity to meet before, to thereby benefit from their expertise.

I believe we can say that these days were a real success. We have had very positive feedback. For our part, this event was extremely enriching as it allowed us to show another facet of the Group and to spread awareness as to the breadth of its businesses. The question and answer sessions were particularly rich, reflecting the level of audience interest along with their high standards and desire to learn.

Aside from these days, what is the Group’s approach to financial communications?

The Group has always shown a true willingness to communicate and maintain openness. We are committed to maintaining an open dialogue with all of our interlocutors through frequent contact throughout the year. Our aim is above all to build and maintain a trusting long-term relationship with our partners – shareholders, financial analysts, institutional investors, and economic journalists.

We are implementing several information channels. Press releases and financial reports at the end of each quarter naturally – sales, results – but also a certain number of publications such as the business and sustainable development report, calling card, or more specifically, letters to shareholders or the shareholders’ guide. The web-based tool and mobile internet – have also been particularly developed in recent years, allowing us to provide rich and dynamic content.

And lets not forget the meetings. Apart from the annual general meeting, which constitutes a central event in the life of the Group, we also maintain regular direct contact. Either face-to-face or in the context of the road show, we meet frequently financial analysts following share value, along with French and foreign institutional investors, to answer their questions, and they naturally have many questions to ask in these volatile times. For shareholders, we also participate all year round in information meetings in various French cities, with other companies.

Last year we met almost 1,000 shareholders and around 400 investors, in addition to the dozen analysts closely following SEB share value -and about 10 occasionnal-.

What will your next steps be?

We’ve just published the half-year results. The agenda for after the summer break is already busy. We are planning several road shows in Europe and shareholder meetings in the later part of the year, notably in Lille on September 27.