Annual report 2001 - GL events

3
Other services
The Group offers other services such as floral decoration, green space set-up and up-keep, and a hospitality service of
hosts and hostesses.
3-4-2 Rental activity
3-4-2-1 Investment policy
The comparison of the amounts invested in the course of the last four years in relation to net sales and net cash flow
excluding working capital movements is as follows :
(data in K€) 1998 1999 2000 2001
Net investments (1) 11 452 11 633 18 277 23 200
Net sales (2) 129 996 146 655 214 083 235 043
Net investments / Net sales 8.8 % 7.9 % 8.5 % 9.8 %
Net cash flow excluding working capital movements 13 934 18 436 24 323 24 574
Net investment / Capacity of self-financing (1) 82.2 % 63.1 % 75.1 % 94.4%
(1) Sources : consolidated tables of financing (addition of the lines : acquisition of intangible assets, tangible fixed assets and rental equipment and disposal of
tangible and intangible assets)
(2) Source : consolidated income statements
The relative stability of the ratios shown in this table
may be slightly modified according to markets for which
some of these investments are intended.
For the exhibition market, the major portion of the
investments was realized mostly at the beginning of the
1990s and most of them are listed now in the accounts
as a regular expense of service and maintenance. One
exception to this tendency is that the equipment
dedicated specially to certain shows (textile industry) is
renewed every 4 or 6 years in accordance with
corresponding contracts.
Regarding the events market, however, the company has
carried out major investments in particular in 2000 on
the activity Structures & Grandstands to respond to
demands from the Sydney Olympic Games and the
market of events of tomorrow. Moreover, the activity of
long-term rental realized by the subsidiary SFP calls for
recurrent investments.
The investments of Générale Location and its subsidiaries
are either self-financed or backed-up by the
establishment of medium-term reimbursable loans with
an average period of about 6 years. These medium-term
loans are subscribed either directly by the subsidiaries or
by Générale Location who verifies each year the
appropriateness between each subsidiary’s equity and
the needs linked to their development.
3-4-2-2 Principal buildings and logistics tools
In France, the Group operates from different sites which it mostly rents. Principal rented sites and the surface of their
warehouses are as follows :
• Brignais : proximity of Lyon (registered office and principal commercial companies, 47 000 m 2 )
• Châtillon : proximity of Porte de Versailles (GL Mobilier, 21 000 m 2 )
• Chilly Mazarin (Ranno Entreprise, 32 000 m 2 )
• Ivry (Décorama, 4 600 m 2 )
• Mitry Mory (GL Espace & Décor, 37 000m 2 )
• Flixecourt (SF Protection, SFI Gauthrin, 40 300 m 2 )
• Nantes (ISF, 27 000 m 2 )
Moreover Owen Brown owns its own buildings in Castle
Donnington (28 000 m 2 ).
Générale Location has also a fleet of transport and hoisting
vehicles to handle the delivery on the sites in the shortest
time periods, and depending on the season and the location
of certain projects, Générale Location subcontracts to
independent carriers.
The industrial tool is made of in-house research and
design departments, production sites of modular elements
and repair units linked together through networking.