Suez SA (NYSE: SZE) is a heavyweight in global energy and environmental services. The Parisian powerhouse may be delisting its North American shares soon, but recent financial results affirm that you ought to keep this firm firmly on your radar. Whoa, sorry -- it seems I've contracted a bit of hyperfirmia today.
As to those first-half results, revenue clocked in more than 6% higher, and the company slightly beat last year's 10% growth in EBITDA. EBITDA gains came in across all segments, but were especially strong in the energy services and environment business lines. The energy services segment undertakes energy efficiency and emissions reduction projects, while environment covers waste management and water treatment and distribution.
The Energy Europe and Energy International lines also showed no lethargy. The former has become the top operator in European biomass, while the latter realized the biggest organic growth in sales and operating income of any segment, thanks to a flurry of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
If you haven't noticed by now, pretty much every element of Suez's vast business touches on a long-term global growth trend. If you think that buying a domestic industrial titan like General Electric (NYSE: GE), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), or Honeywell (NYSE: HON) is the only conservative way to play the worldwide energy and infrastructure boom, I hope that you'll at least consider venturing slightly farther afield.
I'm not prepared to come out with a valuation call on Suez, because I don't have a handle on all the moving pieces just yet -- especially in light of the recently confirmed tie-up with Gaz de France. The merger agreement, which is first and foremost a move to protect a French national asset from foreign takeovers, requires Suez to spin off part of its environment line. Oh, don't go making that face -- the U.S. did the same dance when CNOOC (NYSE: CEO) made a bid for Unocal, now part of Chevron (NYSE: CVX).
While I can't pinpoint the value of the shares today, I do know that over the past five years, the firm has trounced the Dow while growing its dividend per share at a healthy double-digit clip. Among the three firms mentioned earlier, only United Technologies can make the same claim. Even without the water services business, I expect Suez's shareholder returns to come in at better than a trickle for many years.
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Fool contributor Toby Shute doesn't have a position in any company mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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