Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBLB) Q3 2024 & Strategy Update earnings summary

Executive summary

• Strategic focus on increasing private asset allocation to 50% of the portfolio by 2027, with a balanced approach between listed and private investments and a proven value creation playbook.

• Emphasis on disciplined capital allocation, maintaining conservative leverage, and opportunistic investments as market conditions improve.

• Commitment to growing NAV per share, increasing annual dividends, and continuing share buybacks while trading at a significant discount to NAV.

• Strong family and permanent capital DNA differentiates the investment approach, enabling agility and long-term partnerships.

• Portfolio rotation has increased the weight of private investments from 17% in 2021 to 36% as of September 2024.

Financial highlights

• Portfolio valued at €17 billion, with NAV at €16.3bn as of September 2024 and NAV per share up 3.8% to €117.99.

• €2 billion spent on share buybacks over recent years, with 2.8m shares repurchased for €190m in 9M 2024.

• Recent divestment of €1.7 billion in Adidas shares, generating a 2.9x MOIC and €1.1 billion capital gain.

• Dividend per share proposed at €5.00 for FY 2024, up 82% year-over-year, with a yield of 7.1%.

• Market capitalization at €9.7bn, with a 40.7% discount to NAV.

Outlook and guidance

• Targeting double-digit total shareholder return (TSR) per annum through 2027, driven by NAV/share growth and increasing distributions.

• Portfolio allocation by 2027: ~50% listed, ~30-35% direct private, ~15-20% indirect private, and profitable asset management.

• Commitment to steady dividend growth from the new €5.00 base and continued opportunistic share buybacks.

• Plans to redeploy and return ~€7bn over FY 2024-2027, split between new investments and shareholder returns.