2025 was a real turning point for IBL. It has been a year of performing while transforming, despite significant local and international headwinds. All the work we’ve invested in over the past few years is starting to bear fruit.

The reason is simple: our model is clear, our strategy works, and we’ve stayed focused on what we do best. In recent years, we’ve made strategic choices to divest from non-core sectors and reinvest in areas where we lead, both locally and in the region. We’ve insisted on strong governance and leadership, and built a culture of excellence across all our operations. That groundwork is now starting to pay off in both top-line and bottom-line results, and in how the Group operates: with disciplined cost control, focused decision-making, agility and strong internal alignment.

Today, we have an IBL that is more cohesive and sharper in its execution. We’re increasingly operating as a connected Group. That shows up beyond the numbers: in the way our teams collaborate, share ideas, and drive change from the ground up. Holding our first Board meeting in Réunion this year - following our Board in Nairobi in 2024 - and soon opening an office on the island, is a meaningful milestone that reflects IBL’s growing regional presence and maturity.

In a nutshell, yes. Our international operations have truly come into their own. They accounted for 54% of IBL’s revenue and 72% of IBL’s growth this year, with particularly strong momentum across both the Indian Ocean and East Africa, which represent 15% and 37% of Group turnover respectively.

But Beyond Borders isn’t about entering new markets for the sake of it. It’s a roadmap for sustainable, long-term growth that builds on the expertise we’ve developed in Mauritius and elsewhere, while staying rooted in Mauritius. After a first phase of acquisitions and rapid expansion, we’re now in a stage of integration. The focus is on strengthening what we’ve built: improving the performance of our recent acquisitions, deepening synergies between operations, and consolidating our leadership positions in key sectors.

What we’re seeing now is a new phase of autonomy: operations that are increasingly self-driven, responsive to local realities, and able to scale without relying on direction from the Head Office. At the same time, our regional businesses are becoming more interconnected - and that’s where this cluster model really starts to show its strength.

So yes, our Beyond Borders strategy is delivering - not just because of the growth we are seeing in the Group, but in the transformation underway in our businesses, which are increasingly driving organic growth and becoming regional hubs.

I’ll give you a few examples. In Healthcare Distribution, HealthActiv in Mauritius and Harley’s now operate as a fully integrated regional hub, sharing logistics, talent, and digital infrastructure. This integration is helping us stay closer to our markets and make healthcare more accessible and affordable across the region.

In both Retail and Consumer Brands & Distribution, better use of data, loyalty analytics and AI-assisted planning is improving category management, pricing and supplier partnerships. Shared platforms are reducing costs and speeding up processes, while preserving local decision-making.

This means greater integration between our Kenyan retail chain Naivas, our Réunion chain Run Market - which returned to positive EBITDA for the first time since we acquired it thanks to the incredible efforts of its team - and our supermarket and hypermarket chain Winners in Mauritius.

In our Beverages segment, Edena secured the Coca-Cola bottling and distribution franchise in Réunion - a major vote of confidence from a global brand and one that strengthens PBL’s leadership in regional beverages. And PBL’s acquisition of Seybrew in the Seychelles has opened up new operational synergies and is setting the stage for stronger intra-island collaboration.

Everything we’ve done over the past 18 to 24 months follows the same logic: greater coherence, alignment, and strategic focus. The goal is to ensure that how we present ourselves, both financially and as a brand, accurately reflects the IBL of today, and the transformation that our Group has undergone over the past decade.

This year, under the leadership of our Group CFO and his team, we streamlined our financial reporting from nine clusters to four. Beyond making the Group easier to understand and read financially, this structure reflects where we’ve built real strength and where our long-term performance drivers lie. Take retail, for instance. Now a standalone cluster, it represents 52% of our turnover across three geographies and is a major contributor to cashflow. But more importantly, it connects us to millions of families every day across the Indian Ocean and East Africa - a perfect example of how our businesses combine scale with purpose.

The same thinking guided our brand refresh. It’s a reflection of who we’ve become: a Group that has evolved from a Mauritian champion into a regional powerhouse. We’re proud of and are embracing our heritage as a family business with world-class governance, and our dual role as both operators and active investors.

In many ways, we’ve shifted from a B2B mindset to a B2C one; from holding assets to building platforms that create meaningful impact; from passive value capture to active value creation. Whether we’re serving, healing, or shaping lives, our focus is on meeting real, everyday needs. That’s exactly what our purpose expresses: “Shaping better lives and better tomorrows. Together.”

We’re not trying to force uniformity. Instead, we focus on aligning operations through shared values, a culture of excellence, and by empowering local teams. We’ve always believed that our strength lies in being anchored locally, while staying connected globally. The regional hub model really helps us strike that balance; it creates common ground, without flattening what makes each business or geography unique.

Our growth enablers - Sustainability, Innovation, Technology & Transformation, and People - also help maintain this balance. They help our businesses move faster, stay efficient and maintain high operational standards across borders.

Of course, leadership plays a key role. Creating a culture that lives these values starts at the top. Patrice Robert’s appointment as Deputy Group CEO is an important milestone. Today, he’s taking on a more transversal role, overseeing not only operations but also strategy, governance and the IBL head office. It’s a recognition of his deep commitment, his proven leadership, and his ability to look ahead. On a personal level, it’s incredibly reassuring to have a strong leadership bench capable of driving the Group’s transformation in a sustainable way.

Our People teams are also making a real difference. Through structured recruitment, mobility, and engagement programmes, they’re helping us attract, retain, and grow top talent. GREAT, the IBL Academy, has become central to this ambition - equipping teams with skills and driving a culture of excellence and a mindset of continuous improvement.

What stands out most is their ownership and adaptability. Transformation has demanded new ways of working - on new businesses, with new technology, across borders, and often outside comfort zones. Our teams have really stepped up, taking the initiative and going beyond what’s expected of them. It’s an encouraging sign of their trust in the Group’s vision.

As I mentioned, GREAT has been key, by laying the foundations of a common culture of greatness and leadership and helping us get the best out of our teams.

Our Technology & Transformation teams are also driving the connectivity that is central to our cluster model and regional hubs. A strong digital foundation - with a Group IT framework and governance - is bridging people, systems, and data across borders, and enhancing operational visibility. Our operations are using tech and data to make smarter decisions, adopt new business models and transform their existing activities, moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive, strategic thinking.

When I look at IBL today, I see a team that is rowing in the same direction. We’re working together, thinking together, and solving problems together.

It’s been a tricky year for some of our activities. Our labour-intensive businesses in Retail and Industrials were impacted by rising wage costs following recent regulatory changes. Our Seafood operations had a particularly tough year, with challenges including, among others, a management transition at Princes UK, affecting Princes Tuna Mauritius (“PTM”). As the entity that sits at the top of the value chain, disruptions at PTM had a cascading effect on Cervonic, MBP and FDM.

In our Agro-Industry segment, Alteo’s profitability declined after an exceptionally strong performance in FY 2024, mainly due to weaker sugar prices and production. MIWA, too, faced headwinds in Tanzania and Kenya.

In Healthcare Services, Life Together continued to navigate a highly competitive market and is carving out a niche in proximity care through its network of medical clinics. In 2024–25, it acquired Nouvelle Clinique Bon Pasteur, a well-regarded facility with a long history and strong following in the centre of Mauritius, thereby strengthening its presence and capacity to deliver quality care to communities across the island.

Sustainability remains at the heart of our transformation, but what’s changing is how we’re approaching it. We’re bringing the same rigour, structure and discipline to sustainability as we do to every other part of our business. It is becoming more data-driven, better aligned to our operational realities, and focused on the areas where we can make a measurable difference.

A key example is the Nexus Project, our Group-wide carbon accounting initiative. It will enable our businesses to measure their emissions, identify the main drivers, and build targeted action plans to reduce their footprint. To date, around 70% of our businesses have been onboarded, and our goal is to extend it across the Group. This will give us a comprehensive view of our environmental impact and the data we need to define a long-term, science-based carbon reduction strategy.

Fondation Joseph Lagesse (“FJL”), which has always been close to my heart, is evolving as well. We’re reorganising and restructuring the foundation to make sure its impact is meaningful, strategic, and aligned with our long-term goals. We look forward to sharing more on this next year. Among the major projects FJL delivered this year was Horizon 2024, a four-year programme focusing on teenage pregnancy prevention through sexual health education and community support. FJL not only met the targets it had set for itself, but demonstrated that the model can be replicated in other underserved regions. This is the kind of impact we’re looking to make: solving real-world challenges and building resilience in communities, helping them become less reliant on external support over time.

Finally, in March 2025, we hosted the Responsible Business Summit, the culmination of several years of work initiated by IBL and in partnership with other major economic players in Mauritius. The aim of the conference was to identify and start implementing meaningful, coordinated responses to the pressing social and environmental challenges facing us today. It reflects our recognition of the responsibility that comes with our role as a leading private sector player — as employers, taxpayers, and contributors to national and regional development. But we also know that real change can only happen through collective leadership and collaboration across sectors.

The context, both globally and locally, remains complex. From geopolitical shifts to inflationary pressures and budgetary and fiscal changes in Mauritius, we have to stay agile and attentive. Vision and disciplined execution matter more than ever.

At the same time, the momentum we are creating in Réunion, Seychelles and across East Africa, with many of our businesses expanding into the region, is encouraging. Our position as the second-largest private shareholder in Air Austral also offers us a valuable opportunity to support deeper regional integration through real connectivity. IBL intends to continue to build bridges across the Indian Ocean and East Africa to benefit not only the business community but, more importantly, the region’s populations.

Our work to transform the Group, through the concerted efforts of the operational teams and with the support of each of our Enablers and the Head Office teams, continues to remain a priority. Our approach is clear and actionable, and we’re now working to make our strategy and our performance more visible and understandable, both internally and externally.

One area we’re watching closely is the attractiveness of Mauritius as a hub. The recent Moody’s downgrade is a signal we cannot ignore. It underscores the need to keep reinforcing the country’s long-term competitiveness. We must channel more capital towards productive sectors – those that create jobs, strengthen local skills, and generate long-term value. The private and public sectors must work more closely together to ensure that Mauritius continues to be a land of opportunity for its youth, for foreign investors and for generations to come.

As we close this exciting year, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to every person who has contributed to our journey - our partners, customers, shareholders and 40 000 team members.

The insights and guidance of my Chairman, Jan Boullé, of the various committees and their respective Chairpersons, and of my Board of Directors, continued to steer us through this transformative year. Their collective experience and diverse perspectives have helped us seize new opportunities with confidence.

To the IBL family across all markets, I am continually inspired by your fighting spirit, passion and ingenuity. This year has tested us in many ways, and I’ve seen people embrace challenges, grow, and come out stronger. Thank you for bringing our values to life each day - it’s what gives me confidence that we can truly live our purpose.