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SGF in 1999: investments up 280%, earnings up 47%
Québec City, May 11, 2000 - Claude Blanchet, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF), announced SGF’s results for fiscal 1999 at a press conference after SGF submitted its annual report to the National Assembly.
In 1999, SGF’s net earnings increased 47% from $78.7 to $115.8 million while invested capital soared 280% from $400 million in 1998 to $1,525 million in 1999.
These highly satisfactory results show that SGF earned an annual return of 8.4% and 15.0% over five years for its shareholder, the Quebec government. If SGF calculated its return in terms of the market value of its assets, as other financial institutions do, its return would be 21.3%.
Fifty‑two projects were initiated this year which will involve, on the part of SGF and its private partners, investments totalling $1,525 million, will create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in the operating phase, and will generate the equivalent of 5,900 person-years in direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase.
Projects in the development phase also increased significantly, from 58 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) valued at $5.8 billion as at December 31, 1998 to 80 MOU equivalent to $8.6 billion at year-end 1999. The SGF pipeline, which comprises all the investment projects reviewed with its partners, is well stocked for 2000.
"We have now reached our target operating level, namely about $2 billion in investments per year. On the strength of the diversification of our investments and the size of our portfolio, we will continue to apply sound asset turnover management practices in order to improve our return and participate in Quebec’s economic development for the benefit of all Quebecers", said Blanchet.
SGF’s portfolio also shows a positive increase in regard to businesses in the knowledge economy. "In 1998 and 1999, said Blanchet, 68% of the jobs SGF helped create were associated with knowledge-intensive industries."
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Source :
Jean-Yves Duthel
Vice-President, Communications and Public Relations
SGF
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