The rapid spread of the epidemic in Continental Europe, (in Italy as of February, followed by France and Spain), and more recently in the United Kingdom and the United States - with the notable consequences of governments’ decisions to close schools and universities, and to limit travel by imposing working from home – is impacting our activities.
Elior’s activities in the Healthcare sector are in high demand for catering in every country, and equally for the Services activities in France. The current crisis underlines the essential nature of our missions’ in support of public and community services, particularly in hospitals, clinics, residential care homes, facilities for people with disabilities, isolated elderly and in support of vital activities (army, police, firefighters…)
In the Business and Industries sector, although strongly impacted by the widespread use of working from home, we offer solutions tailored to the specific demands of our customers – particularly industrial – to provide them with all the necessary support they need to implement their Business Continuity Plans, under the best health and safety conditions.
Our central kitchens are also mobilized to provide meals, notably for healthcare professionals currently on duty, upon request by the authorities.
To mitigate this situation, Elior is making use of all existing measures to rapidly adapt its organization, including use of vacation days, training, internal mobility and partial unemployment, based on governmental plans to support their national economies.
With the sale of Areas, in July 2019, Elior has exited the tourism sector and reinforced its balance sheet. At September 30, 2019 Elior Group’s leverage ratio[1] was 1.8x, which is significantly below the covenant requirements[2].
Elior Group has – at the end of February 2020 – a liquidly[3] of around €800 million.
Given the ongoing evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic, its current acceleration in Continental Europe and its start in the United Kingdom and the United States, we are not in a position to accurately determine the net impact on our full-year 2019-2020 objectives[4].
Elior will provide an update on the impact of this health crisis on its activities with the first half 2019-2020 results publication on May 27, 2020.
[1] Leverage ratio: Net Debt/EBITDA without IFRS16 impact.
[2] Elior’s Senior Facilities Agreement stipulates that the Group's leverage ratio must be less than or equal to 4:1 at September 30 and less than or equal to 4.50:1 at March 31.
[3] Liquidity: undrawn credit lines + cash deposits + authorized overdraft lines.