France’s Framatome on 22 February released its financial results for its fiscal year ending 31 December 2020 reporting revenue of €3.295 billion ($4bn), an organic reduction of 3.1% compared with 2019. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was significant for the Installed Base Business Unit and the schedules of some component replacement projects; however, the workload with customers sustained the activities, Framatome said.
The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €561 million, an organic increase of 6.4% on 2019, “due to successful project execution and continued efforts to reduce costs”.
The Installed Base Business Unit improved its performance in the US market and continued equipment deliveries from Germany to the Angra 3 project in Brazil. The Instrumentation and Control Business Unit continued to grow its activities in the UK, Eastern Europe and the US for new builds and existing reactor refurbishments for customers’ operations.
Investments made in production processes and quality plans resulted in the Projects and Component Manufacturing (PCM) Business Unit improving deliveries of steam generators and heavy equipment for new projects. The growth in PCM was led by the Hinkley Point C EPR project in the UK and deliveries for the Flamanville 3 project in France. These projects were executed according to contracts.
The Fuel Business Unit benefited from well-maintained production levels and fuel assembly deliveries for US utilities and the Sizewell reactor in the UK. Framatome noted that “offsetting the adverse effect of COVID-19, the resilience of the fuel assembly manufacturing activities in France, Germany and the United States, enabled EBITDA to rebound”. This growth, and the execution of the plan to reduce operational and structural costs, reinforced the results.