Veolia aims to bulk up profits by a fifth after Suez takeover

(Reuters) -France's Veolia said on Thursday it should see its current net income grow by more than a fifth this year, after the water and waste management firm finalised the takeover of its top rival Suez.

The group, which won EU approval for the 13 billion euro deal in December after months of bitter wrangling with Suez, expects to increase its 2022 current net income to around 1.1 billion euros ($1.21 billion), from 896 million last year.

Veolia also expects to add close to 10 billion euros to the 28 billion euro revenue it posted for 2021.

The group, which closed its tender offer for Suez shares at the end of January, is still awaiting antitrust approval from the UK market regulator.

Chief Executive Antoine Frerot told journalists the regulator had given itself until summer to finish the investigation, as the authority deals with post-Brexit backlogs.

Suez in the United Kingdom represents just under a billion euros in annual revenues, he said.

Alphavalue analyst Nicolas Bouthors said the outlook matched an "aggressive consensus" and hailed good signals on the Suez integration.

Bouthors added the main impact from the war in Ukraine should come from a global economic slowdown.

Veolia said its forecasts, which also include a core profit growth of 4% to 6%, assume the war will not extend beyond Ukraine, and no significant changes to Europe's energy supplies.

The firm employs 350 all Ukrainian staff - in operations spanning Kyiv, Ternopil and Chernivtsi - who Frerot said were continuing to collect waste.

Its Russian business meanwhile counts close to 2,000 all Russian staff.

"Veolia must respect sanctions," said Frerot. "We produce essential services with Russian staff and completely on-site resources."

The two countries together bring the group around 120 million euros of revenue.

Veolia proposed a 43% dividend hike to one euro per share.

($1 = 0.9074 euros)

(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Dagmarah Mackos in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)