Message from the co-CEOs

2023 was a year of solid business momentum for JCDecaux leading to an improved financial performance.

Our 2023 Group revenue grew by +7.6%, +8.7% on an organic basis, to reach €3,570.0 million driven by digital, the continued growth of Street Furniture and the ongoing recovery of our Transport activities.

Our Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) revenue grew by +20.8% in 2023, +22.7% on an organic basis, to reach a record 35.3% of Group revenue in 2023. Analogue advertising revenue also increased in 2023, despite the conversion of some premium analogue sites to digital. Programmatic is a key growth driver for our industry and JCDecaux is at the forefront of this market transformation.

We are the only company in the industry with our own solutions covering the entire value chain in this strategic area. In 2023, the programmatic DOOH ecosystem continued to gain traction, driven by the dynamism and growing number of DSPs (Demand-Side Platforms) that are connected to VIOOH (the most connected SSP platform in the outdoor advertising industry). VIOOH is now active in 22 countries and has 42 connected DSPs including Displayce, a DSP that is connected in 53 countries. As a result, we recorded a strong growth of our programmatic revenue, which is mainly incremental, reaching €100.2 million in 2023, up +63.5% vs. 2022 and representing 8% of our digital revenue.

Our client portfolio is highly diversified, with the Top 10 clients representing less than 14% of our revenue in 2023. Our largest category, Fashion, Beauty & Luxury Goods, represents 20% of the Group revenue and continues its strong growth at +20% in 2023. Retail represents the second largest category as a percentage of our revenue, recording growth of +16% in 2023.

Our adjusted operating margin improved by €60.2 million to reach €663.1 million, representing a year-on-year increase of +10.0%. This positive operating leverage despite inflationary pressures on costs was driven by our street furniture division, benefiting from both a full revenue recovery and some contracts renegotiations linked to Covid, while transport business was still impacted by a slower pace of recovery, particularly in China, and our billboard segment was impacted by French regulations, while digital continued to enhance operating leverage within this activity. Our other P&L performance indicators improved accordingly including our net result Group share which increased by €77.0 million, i.e. +58.3% year-on-year, to reach €209.2 million. We delivered strong operating cash flows of €478.5 million increasing by €79.1 million, +19.8% compared to 2022. Our free cash flow was nearly breakeven at -€1.0 million, primarily impacted by one-off past rental payments for about €100 million released following Covid-related contracts renegotiations, implying a positive underlying free cash flow generation. Our net debt was broadly stable at €1,005.9 million at the end of 2023, leading to a decreasing financial leverage now at 1.5x.

The momentum of 2023 reflects the ongoing commitment of our employees to take on new challenges and drive our business forward, resulting in contract wins and renewals which have further strengthened our position this year. These include in street furniture, the cities of New York and Chicago in the United States, the Macau Special Administrative Region, Stavanger in Norway, Tallinn in Estonia and three contracts in Toulouse in France for the city's street furniture, the metropolis' bus shelters and self-service bikes; in Transport, Oslo Transport (metro, trams and buses), the largest advertising contract in Norway, the First Rail contract in the United Kingdom, the Salvador de Bahia Metro in Brazil, the Madrid Metro in Spain; in terms of airports, Singapore-Changi Airport, Bangalore Airport in India, and the new Lima International Terminal. In retail media, we signed a contract with Carrefour in France and Brazil, with Tesco in Ireland and in France with the world's largest wholesale market, the Rungis International Market.

Regarding our external growth, which is an integral part of our strategy, we completed the acquisition of Clear Channel in Italy, with the transaction finalised in May. We are also in the process of acquiring Clear Channel in Spain, subject to the approval of the Spanish regulatory authorities. Finally, in November, we announced a merger with the family-owned Grupo Publigrafik Group in Central America, to become the most diversified outdoor advertising platform in the region.

We have also invested significantly in such fundamental areas as products and services R&D, new digital sales channels, data, new technologies, cybersecurity, etc. and of course, above all in human resources, including training and well-being at work.

This demonstrates JCDecaux’s ability to reinvent itself, to innovate to strengthen performance and to continue to be the partner of choice for our customers, meeting their expectations. The same is true for our products and services, where our designers and engineers have developed over 30 new projects, 120 life cycle assessments and 40 patent extensions. As a consequence, the popularity of our products and services continues to grow as we provide new solutions for cities, public transport companies, airports and advertisers.

Our business was founded on a virtuous business model and in line with our teams we are committed to sustainable development, illustrated by the high share of our turnover, at nearly 50%, that is aligned with the European green taxonomy. In June 2023 JCDecaux announced its Climate Strategy that aims to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050. One year earlier the company had launched its ESG roadmap to 2030, in line with its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact. JCDecaux continues to demonstrate its determination to meet climate challenges and to make outdoor advertising an accelerator for the ecological transition. Our investment in this area is a clear demonstration of JCDecaux’s desire to assert its position as a useful and sustainable media and is an asset in a time of responsible public procurement. These include the new self-cleaning public toilets in Paris, which will begin installation in 2024 and which will reduce water consumption by two-thirds and electricity consumption by one-third, advertising wraps that are PVC-free and therefore low-emission, the new electrically-assisted bikes, which will soon be deployed in Toulouse and Lyon, as well as the upcycled bus shelter, designed using recycled materials and which emits 65% less CO₂ compared to a new bus shelter. To raise awareness among public and private stakeholders and to encourage them to take economic, environmental, and societal action, JCDecaux entered a partnership with the United Nations Joint Fund for the Sustainable Development Goals in January 2023. In the same spirit, we have also launched a major road safety campaign with the United Nations.

After a year of solid momentum in 2023, 2024 takes on a unique dimension as it marks the 60th anniversary of our company that was founded in 1964 by Jean-Claude Decaux. His innovative idea to provide and maintain free bus shelters to cities and citizens financed by fist-crlass advertising remains as modern today as ever. Not only did this pioneering innovation go global, inspiring many other service and communication solutions, but it also led to JCDecaux becoming the number one Outdoor advertising company in the world by 2011. 2024 will also be marked by two major sporting events, the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games and the European Football Championship in Germany, which will be important growth drivers for our activities.

In 2024, we will continue to develop our business by combining organic and external growth. In a fragmented advertising landscape where DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home) is the fastest growing medium, we believe that outdoor advertising will continue to gain market share and strengthen its position as a useful and sustainable medium.

While 2023 was marked by the continued recovery of our business and the improvement of our profitability, we are pleased to welcome 2024 with confidence, passion and determination, in line with our 60 years of shared success.

Thank you to our teams for their talent and commitment that ensure operational excellence, to our customers for their trust in our contribution to their brands’ development, to our partners for their loyalty in allowing us to provide them with the best quality of service and to our shareholders for their support.