[originaltext] Our company is active in world markets and we employ just ove

Our company is active in world markets and we employ just over thirty thousand people worldwide. We have production facilities, agents and subsidiaries in all five continents and we are increasing our share of the world’s cosmetics markets.
    Let’s begin by looking at the different activities of the group. This chart shows last year’s sales when we had a turnover of 37.57 billion French francs. If we look more closely, we can see that the largest part of our revenue comes from Consumer and Salons activities. This market segment accounts for forty-nine percent of the total turnover. It includes skincare products, make- up, fragrances and hair care products where we are a world leader.
    Moving on to Active Cosmetics, this division has dual objectives; firstly to develop new, technically advanced cosmetics and secondly to enhance our close relationships with pharmacists -- a key channel of distribution. It achieved a turnover of 3.7 billion French francs last year.
    Then we come to Synthelabo, our pharmaceutical subsidiary, which accounts for 16.8 percent of our total revenues. It regularly invests twenty percent of its turnover in research and development.
    In addition to these four major areas of activity, our company also owns Artcurial, a contemporary art gallery, we hold a major stake in the Marrie-Claire publishing group and we have increased our stake in Paravision International, a film production and distribution company. Together these activities account for 1.8 percent of our turnover, or 0. 7 billion francs.