2017 Yearly Overview | Prysmian Group

Once again, results for 2017 confirmed the technological and market leadership of the Group. We met our target, profitability was up, with a good increase in adjusted EBITDA and a significant improvement in margins for the high-tech, high value-added businesses of Energy Projects and Telecom. A robust order intake for submarine cables and systems is mirrored in the important contracts won – the cabling of the first offshore wind farms in France, and the IFA2 interconnector between Britain and France, for example. Our Telecom business has continued to witness strong growth in demand for optical cables, supported by the development of broadband networks and the initiation of investments in 5G. 2017 also marked a further acceleration in Prysmian's acquisition-led growth, confirming our determination to act as an aggregator on a global scale, raising the quality and competitiveness of the entire cable industry. The merger agreement with General Cable represents a major step in this directionandfollowsinthewakeofaseriesofotherimportanttransactions, including acquisition of the assets of Shen Huan Cable in China, that of Corning's copper data cables business area in Germany and, less recently, the acquisition of Gulf Coast Downhole Technologies in the USA and Oman Cables Industry, now both at an advanced stage of integration. The Group has continued to develop its growth strategy by concentrating investments in high value-added, tech-driven businesses and by focusing efforts in R&D, a commitment rewarded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) with €110 million funding for Group programmes and to help us step up our level of investment. Valerio Battista CEO of Prysmian Group