Shareholders' Meetings for the Group and for SICAME, SM-CI, DERVAUX DISTRIBUTION, CONNECTION PROTECTION, CATU, CEGERS, DERVAUX SA, MECATRACTION, CEGERS TOOLS, DERVASIL, FRANKLIN FRANCE, DUVAL MESSIEN, and ENERGIE FOUDRE were held on 29 June. Group Chairman Vincent ROY summed up 2017 as a year full of contrasts, with growth partly masked by a depressed transmission market, particularly in the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin.

Overall sales increased by 9% compared to 2016 and are stable on an equivalent basis. It is worth highlighting organic growth of more than 20% in Asia and North America, the main targets for the Group's development, not forgetting very good performance in Europe with more than 3% growth in a mature and highly competitive market. In terms of external growth, the Group acquired SEIFEL and its Spanish subsidiary CLAVED in March 2017. This is the biggest operation ever undertaken since Sicame was created.

The Group also entered new markets with strong future potential, such as RES with solar farms thanks to a first contract won in Australia.

The Group also continued its transformation process, started in 2016: innovation policy, purchasing optimisation plan, improvement in industrial productivity, launch of new products – all with a view to effective dialogue, in particular the joint worker & management implementation schemes providing health and personal protection insurance for all the Group's French employees.

These are all signs of confidence in the Group's continued development.