Portfolio Manager at Exane Asset Management
Laurent Runacher is a Portfolio Manager at Exane Asset Management, specializing in European long/short equity and market-neutral strategies with a focus on large French and European corporates. He has significant coverage on companies such as Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, leveraging his deep expertise in macroeconomics, econometrics, and financial analysis. Runacher began his career in the early 1990s at Crédit National, and subsequently held analyst roles at Oddo Securities and Exane SA before moving into portfolio management at Exane Asset Management from 2004 to 2023. He holds an ENSAE engineering degree, the SFAF (French Financial Analyst Society) certification, and an ESG analyst diploma from EFFAS, reflecting a robust understanding of financial and sustainability analysis.
Laurent Runacher of Exane Asset Management asked for confirmation on the historical rule of thumb for operational leverage, specifically the EBIT margin contribution from a 1% volume increase in the Distribution and Industrial divisions.
Pierre-Andre de Chalendar deferred the question, stating that the topic of operational leverage would be addressed during the H1 results presentation in July, as the current call was focused on sales performance.
Laurent Runacher from Exane Asset Management inquired about the company's ambition for retaining the additional savings from the revised Transform & Grow target as operating profit.
CFO Sreedhar and CEO Pierre-André de Chalendar confirmed that savings from the Transform & Grow program are structural and intended to flow directly to the operating profit, unlike general operational excellence savings that often offset other cost inflation. COO Benoit Bazin added that €35 million in savings was already reflected in the first-half P&L.
Ask complex financial questions and get precise answers in seconds. Fintool scans millions of documents to surface insights beyond timely human analysis.
Trusted by leading investment firms and analysts