Offer for Areva T&D unit 'competitive', says Alstom

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Offer for Areva T&D unit 'competitive', says Alstom

Alstom CEO has said the company has made the most competitive offer for Areva's T&D unit. A win won't result in job losses, he says, but adds a split in the business would be rational.

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Q: How are you seeing Europe recover economically at this point in time because that would mean significant amount of business for you as well?

A: Looking at infrastructure is different than looking globally. To answer the global situation, we see in a number of countries in which we are operating in Europe that we probably have passed the low point.

For me the key question is, are we going to move up gradually and remain at some unpleasant and mediocre level or are we going to see a rebound which is going to bring us back to the nice levels we had pre-crisis? That is not yet clear. But I think that there is a common view that the worst is behind us.

Q: In the past you have spoken about assessing whether it is a V-shaped recovery or a U-shaped recovery or an L-shaped recovery. You were undecided on what this looks like at this point in time. Have you figured it out? The worst case scenario is an L-shaped recovery as far as you are concerned.

A: I think unfortunately we have seen the V-shaped, but the V-shaped didn't occur. But I hope that we are more going on the U-curve than an L-curve. But this is to be seen.

Q: You faced a fairly tough time when you took over as Chairman and CEO in 2003. That period was a tough one where you saw a fair amount of restructuring and reorganisation within Alstom. Globally as well as internally, how different is this current situation from the one that you faced then?

A: We had a very significant and very specific problem at that time. So this is nothing to do. As a company we face what the other companies are facing, which is an uncertain situation, uncertainty related to the crisis.

So we address it as any other company? How do we do? By being flexible and by being a little bit more cautious in the decision we take, and the spending and the capital expenditures etc . But nothing to do with the crisis we had. Today, the company is in good shape, its balance sheet is strong, and it's profitable.

Q: You are generating free cash flow I believe also in terms of capex. You are looking at only investing where you really need to. You are prioritising that very carefully?

A: We will. But just to put the global picture in perspective, in terms of research and development, which is the core of our business as well as in terms of capital expenditure to expand and modernise our footprint, we have never spent as much as we are currently doing.

So we are making a lot of effort and these efforts are targeting the new opportunities that we discussed. There are plenty of opportunities in our industry, and we need to be well set to benefit from them.

Q: So there is light ahead of the tunnel?

A: Definitely.