Bureau Veritas’ businesses

Bureau Veritas is a global leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has around 52,000 employees in more than 940 offices and 340 laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructures, and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection, and social responsibility.

MARINE

Through its Marine business, Bureau Veritas is a ship classification society. The business of ship classification consists of verifying the conformity of ships to the classification rules or standards issued by the classification society. Classification societies certify the conformity of a reference level for ship quality by delivering a “class certificate.” The classification activity is most often carried out together with the regulatory, or statutory, certification mission conducted under delegation from the maritime authorities of the ship’s flag administration. Most flag administrations require verification of the on-board application of technical standards defined by the international conventions on marine safety and pollution prevention to which they belong, and a large number of administrations delegate these checks to a classification society.

Class and regulatory certificates are essential for using ships. Maritime insurance companies require such certificates to provide insurance, and port authorities regularly verify their validity when ships come into port.

The Marine business generated revenue of €318.7 million in 2011 (10% of the Group’s revenue for 2011) and had an adjusted operating margin of 29.5%. The fleet classed by Bureau Veritas is the second largest in the world in terms of number of ships and the sixth largest by tonnage.

INDUSTRY

The Industry business encompasses a vast range of services related to the compliance of assets with applicable international standards on a mandatory basis and with Quality, Health, Safety and Environment - QHSE policies implemented on a voluntary basis. Clients need the certification that their assets are built in conformity with pre-established standards and are able to meet the defined performance in terms of QHSE and availability when in operation. To address this market Bureau Veritas has developed a worldwide network of engineers, inspectors and supply chain experts with core competencies in design approval, risk analysis, sourcing and material selection strategies, quality assurance and quality control, reliability studies, maintenance optimization and asset preservation policies during the asset life cycle.

In 2011, the Industry business generated €715.1 million in revenues (21% of the Group's 2011 revenue) and an adjusted operating margin of 11.5%.

IN-SERVICE INSPECTION & VERIFICATION

The In-Service Inspection & Verification (IVS) business verifies conformity of technical installations to regulatory requirements applicable to the technical installations of buildings and infrastructure. The Group offers a comprehensive service offering covering all the regulatory requirements for periodic inspection applicable to the Group’s clients. The technical installations covered by the business’ inspection services include electrical installations, lifting equipment and other work tools, gas and vapor pressure equipment, fire equipment (rescue equipment, fire safety systems), elevators, heating equipment (particularly furnaces and aerothermodynamic equipment), automatic doors and ionizing ray equipment.

In 2011, the IVS business generated revenue of €440.5 million (13% of the Group’s 2011 revenue) and had an adjusted operating margin of 11.0%. The Group is one of Europe’s leaders in this market. The IVS business has historic key positions in France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Benelux countries and has more recently developed its position in the United States, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

CONSTRUCTION

The Construction business assesses the conformity of construction projects, such as buildings, civil engineering projects or works of art, with different technical standards of stability, water tightness, safety, comfort and zoning codes. Conformity assessment is performed through review and approval of plans, assignments to establish and monitor project-specific quality organizations during the design stage and inspections, tests and/or product qualifications during the construction stage. The Construction business also offers complementary services such as asset management and technical due diligence, as well as services linked to the post-construction life of a building (maintenance, adaptation rehabilitation, and demolition) which allow its clients to control the Quality/Safety/Environmental issues of their real estate assets under construction or in service.

The Construction business generated revenue of €413.9 million in 2011 (12% of the Group’s revenue for 2011) and had an adjusted operating margin of 10.9%. The Group is a world leader on the market for conformity assessment applied to the field of construction, with key positions in France, the United States, Spain and Japan.

CERTIFICATION

The Certification business certifies that the quality, safety, health and environment management systems utilized by the Group’s clients comply with international standards, usually ISO norms, or national and/or sector standards. In addition, the business offers assessment services to large companies that wishes to audit and/ or certify certain elements of their organization or network, such as their suppliers and/or franchises.

The Certification business generated revenue of €321.6 million in 2011 (10% of the Group’s 2011 revenue) and had an adjusted operating margin of 20.7%. The Group is the world market leader for certification with key positions in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Brazil, India, Japan, China and Thailand.

COMMODITIES

The Group provides a wide range of inspection and laboratory testing services for all type of commodities: Oil and Petrochemicals, Metals and Minerals and Agriculture.

A new Commodities business has been established since January 1st, 2011, regrouping all the activities of Inspectorate acquired in September 2010. Bureau Veritas’ Mining and Minerals activities reported under the Industry business and oil inspection services reported under the GSIT business until December 31, 2010.

The Commodities business generated revenue of €542,1 million in 2011 (16% of the Group’s 2011 revenue) and had an adjusted operating margin of 12.7%. The Group is one of the three world leaders in Commodities’ testing.

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

The Consumer Products business provides inspection services, laboratory testing and certification services to retailers and manufacturers of consumer products. Services are provided throughout the clients’ manufacturing and supply chains to ensure that products offered to the market comply with regulatory safety standards or voluntary standards of quality and performance.

The Consumer Products business generated revenue of €379.4 million in 2011 (11% of the Group’s 2011 revenue) and had an adjusted operating margin of 25.6%. The Group believes that it is the principal player in the Toys and Hardiness products (such as home repair tools and equipment, household equipment, etc.) segment and the second largest player in the “Softlines” products (such as textiles and clothes) segment.

GOVERNMENT SERVICES & INTERNATIONAL TRADE - GSIT

The GSIT business provides merchandise inspection services (finished products, equipment, commodities) in connection with international trade transactions. These services are targeted at governments (customs authorities), exporters, importers, trade intermediaries, banks, and international organizations managing development aid programs (the European Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund).

The GSIT business generated revenue of €227.3 million in 2011 (7% of the Group's 2011 revenue) and had an adjusted operating margin of 18.5%. The Group believes that it was the global leader in Government" Services in 2011.