With a legacy spanning nearly two centuries, Bureau Veritas is working with businesses to explore their potential to the fullest and aim higher
Published: Fri 27 Nov 2015, 11:22 AM
Updated: Fri 27 Nov 2015, 1:25 PM
With more than 187 years of experience, Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection and certification. In an interview with Khaleej Times, Didier Michaud-Daniel, Chief Executive Officer, and Tony Mouawad, Chief Operating Officer, Africa Middle East Asia and Pacific, talk about their presence in the Middle East, and more. Excerpts:
Tell us about your operations.
Didier Michaud-Daniel: Bureau Veritas was created in 1828 to provide expert and independent information on the state of ships and equipment. The group has dramatically expanded its services to address a wider range of industries and it progressively expanded its operations worldwide. Today, Bureau Veritas is a global leader in Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) and has over 400, 000 clients. The group is present all across the world with a vast network of around 1,400 offices and laboratories and more than 66,500 staff. We now have a large portfolio of services structured in eight global businesses, ranging from the Marine & Offshore business, through Construction, Industry, Commodities and Consumer Products.
Reducing risk, improving performance and promoting sustainable development are the common threads of these different businesses and major challenges for our clients. We provide essential services that respond to critical societal concerns worldwide.
What were the growth drivers behind your strong H1 results.
Didier Michaud-Daniel: This performance was principally driven by the rebound of our activities in Europe and the excellent performance of the Marine & Offshore business. External growth was also a key driver, notably thanks to targeted acquisitions in China. The group further implemented a global key account strategy to reinforce its penetration with large corporations. In H1 2015, we began to benefit from this commercial initiative, particularly in Europe. In parallel, we have pursued diversification of our business portfolio and the deployment of Lean Management, and reinforced our sales and marketing organisation. These initiatives aim at accelerating growth and drive operational excellence within the group.
How can companies benefit by partnering with you?
Didier Michaud-Daniel: Our role is to help companies meet their challenges of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility and operate with confidence. We create value for clients in four ways: provide a licence to operate, reduce risks, improve supply chain performance and help companies enter global markets. We develop a growing number of innovative solutions that go beyond simple compliance with regulations and standards.
When companies choose Bureau Veritas, they know they are partnering with a group that has strong technical expertise, a worldwide footprint and resources they will not find anywhere else.
Bureau Veritas has been present in the Middle East for almost 40 years. Tell us about your interests in the region.
Tony Mouawad: The Middle East is one of our key markets offering constant growth opportunities. We have a strong presence in all countries of the region, particularly in the GCC. This region is traditionally reliant on hydrocarbons and we have accompanied all major international and national oil companies in their capacity building while helping them reduce risks through compliance assessment services. Heavy investments are being undertaken in infrastructure, rail, green power, utilities and the petrochemical sectors, among others. Bureau Veritas has a solid experience in those fields and we are playing a key role in sharing our know-how and expertise with major stakeholders to improve the quality, health safety and environmental performances.
Oil and gas sector is undergoing challenging times. How has this impacted Bureau Veritas' regional performance?
Tony Mouawad: The oil testing business is benefitting from the current environment for refining and trade-related activities, and only drill core related testing activities are negatively impacted.
Bureau Veritas is obviously impacted by the slowdown in capex projects, and launched initiatives to reduce costs on the oil companies. But on the other hand, it has strengthened our relations with these companies as it showed that Bureau Veritas is a reliable partner.
What are your future plans?
Tony Mouawad: We will pursue reinforcing our local presence and diversifying our service portfolio. We will focus on asset integrity management services that will bring value to duty holders and clients. In parallel, we will deploy innovative solutions for the safe development of new offshore and onshore fields.
Bureau Veritas is also closely collaborating with local authorities to enhance consumer protection by establishing tailored programmes aimed at verifying that the imported products and goods meet national and international standards for quality health safety and environmental aspects. Several countries in the Middle East have already adopted these programmes and entrusted Bureau Veritas in their implementation.
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