Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas S.A.

Type	Société Anonyme
Traded as	Euronext: BVI
Industry	Testing, Inspection, Certification
Founded	1828
Headquarters	Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France
Area served	Worldwide (140 countries)
Key people	Frédéric Lemoine (Chairman) Didier Michaud-Daniel (CEO)
Services	Testing, inspection, certification
Revenue	€4.6 billion (2015) [1]
Number of employees	66,000 (2015)[1]
Website	www.bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas S.A. is a global company in testing, inspection and certification services. Bureau Veritas offer services and solutions to ensure that their clients' assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility. At the end of 2015, the group has more than 66,000 employees in more than 1,400 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries.

Originally formed in Antwerp in 1828 as Bureau de Renseignements pour les Assurances Maritimes (Information Office for Maritime Insurance), the Bureau Veritas name was adopted in 1829.

The company has its headquarters in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris La Défense in France.

History

Formed in June 1828 in Antwerp by underwriters Alexandre Delehaye and Louis van den Broek, and insurance broker Auguste Morel. The Bureau Veritas name was adopted in 1829. This included the adoption of the figure of truth logo designed by Achille Deveria. The company was founded for the initial purpose of collecting, verifying and providing maritime insurance companies with precise and up-to-date information about the condition of ships and their equipment around the world. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bureau Veritas became involved in new activities: inspection of metallic parts and equipment for the rail industry and then for the whole industrial sector as well as construction. At the end of the 20th century, Bureau Veritas extended its scope to set up a merchandise inspection system for imported/exported goods before these are shipped and to set up certification of quality management. At the beginning of the 21st century, Bureau Veritas added 2 new business to its activity: consumer products testings and commodities testings.

Frank Piedelièvre took the lead of Bureau Veritas between 1996 and 2013, first as Chief Executive Officer (1996-1999), then as President & CEO (1999-2009), then as Chairman & CEO (2009-2012) than as Chairman (2012-2013). Under his leadership, Bureau Veritas has seen is number of employees multiplied by 7 (from 8,000 to 59,000) and its revenues multiplied by 8 (from EUR 455 million to EUR 3,902 million)(source: Bureau Veritas activity report, available on the company's website). Since March 2012, Didier Michaud-Daniel is the Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Bureau Veritas.

The company went public on the Paris Stock Exchange (Paris Bourse) in October 2007.^[2]

In 2007, Bureau Veritas released a video to launch its "Move Forward with Confidence" tagline. This video can be found on the company's website.

In 2013, Bureau Veritas launched a video^[3] to explain simply its main businesses and raise awareness on its Testing, Inspection and Certification activities. This video won the 2014 TopCom "Silver Award" in the External Audiovisual category^[4]

A detailed history of Bureau Veritas can be found on the company's website.^[5] One can also download the 150 years anniversary book edited by the company in 1978.

Business

The head office of the group is located in France in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris.

Bureau Veritas is a listed company on the Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 (Compartment A, code ISIN FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI). Its latest registration/reference document was submitted to the AMF (the French "Autorités des marchés financiers") in March 2016.

The capital distribution on December 31, 2015 is as follows:

• 40.08% : Wendel group;
• 56.94% : Free float;
• 0.77% : Managers
• 1.21% : Employees;
• 1.00% : Treasury shares.

In 2015, the group revenues reached 4.63 billion euros.

Bureau Veritas' organization comprises 8 global businesses/divisions:

• Marine & Offshore
• Industry
• Construction
• In-Service Inspection & Verification (IVS)
• Certification
• Commodities
• Consumer Products
• Government Services & International Trade (GSIT)

Logo

The Bureau Veritas logo has almost never changed since its origin. It has many symbols each with a specific meaning.

• The date 1828: the symbol of long-lasting of Bureau Veritas as it corresponds to its foundation
• The ship: the marine activities gave birth to Bureau Veritas at the beginning of the 19th century
• The seal: the endorsement, is the symbol of the activity accomplished by the group
• The torch: the knowledge, expertise, and know-how of the group
• The rooster: represents watchfulness, meaning the constant attention paid in the daily tasks of the employees hired by Bureau Veritas
• The mirror: reflects the impartiality that guides every act of the employees
• The scale: justice that alights the way of acting of the group
• The globe: the worldwide activity of Bureau Veritas
• The caduceus: the symbol that Bureau Veritas is a company with a business ambition
• The silhouette (sometimes also called "the lady"): shows both the human aspect of the people that constitute Bureau Veritas and the truth the group is aiming to reach

References

1. "Bureau Veritas website Finance section".
2. Fabio Benedetti-Valentini; Elisa Martinuzzi (October 10, 2007). "French goods-inspection firm plans IPO". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 2008-10-24. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
3. Bureau Veritas WebTV. "A day with BV - English Version - Bureau Veritas WebTV - EN". En.bureauveritas.tv. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
4. http://topcom.fr/data/TC-Corporate2014/palmaresTCCB14.pdf
5. "History" (in French). Bureauveritas.com. 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2014-08-13.

External links

Official website