CGG becomes Viridien
After shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting on May 15, 2024, our name has changed from CGG to Viridien.
At the Annual General Meeting on May 15th, shareholders approved the change of the parent company name from CGG to Viridien. Following this historic decision, our new brand will be unveiled on 10th June, coinciding with a launch at the 2024 EAGE Annual Conference.
Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, introduces the new company name to employees with this internal message to employees on April 10th.
“I am delighted that our organization's new name, Viridien, was approved at our 2024 Annual General Meeting this week. This momentous occasion marks a pivotal moment in our timeline, linking our distinguished 90+ years of history as CGG to our forward-looking trajectory as Viridien.”
In 2018, CGG launched a strategy to transition into a technology company. The strategy had three key pillars: First, become asset light, ensure an efficient cost base, and enable the Company to better generate cash. Second, focus on technology differentiation in our core profitable businesses and third, develop new areas of profitable growth.
Since that time, it has divested all its data acquisition services, structured the Company to organically generate cash, and, with the end of its contractual vessel commitments in early 2025, it will become fully asset light.
It has also increased its differentiation in Geoscience, Earth Data and Sensing & Monitoring. Its technologies across these core businesses, from its over 500 petaflops of High-Performance Computing capacity, to its OBN technology and advanced Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI), are clearly in the industry leadership position.
Today, it has New Businesses ideally placed for growth in the Low Carbon markets of CCUS and Minerals & Mining, as well as the Infrastructure Monitoring and High-Performance Computing markets outside of oil & gas. In 2023, these New Businesses generated US$90 million in revenue.
With the successful implementation of its strategy, together with the macro market trends of increasing global energy demand, a growing commitment to take care of the planet we live on, the ongoing energy transition, and the continued acceleration of digital technology, the name Viridien makes a clear commitment of who we are today, and who we want to be in the future.
The Company has therefore changed its parent company name to Viridien, connecting the Company’s 93-year history to its future and confidently positioning it for growth.
Our new brand will be unveiled starting 10th June, coinciding with a launch at the 2024 EAGE Annual Conference in Oslo. We are excited to share this momentous event with you! If you're at the conference, please visit our EAGE booth, and keep an eye out for social media updates and the launch of our new website on this historic day !
Q&A
What is the timeline for the name change?
The change of the parent company name from CGG to Viridien was approved at the Annual General Shareholders' Meeting on May 15, 2024, and takes effect from that date.
When will the new logo and brand be launched?
The new brand, logo and website will be unveiled on June 10th, coinciding with a launch at the 2024 EAGE Annual Conference in Oslo. Until June 10th the current CGG logo and brand will continue to be used.
Is the name change linked to a change in our strategy or organization?
No, the change of name, to Viridien will reinforce the continued successful implementation of our existing strategy and current organization.
How does the Company's listing on the Paris Stock Exchange?
Euronext Paris has approved the change of the current stock ticker symbol from CGG to VIRI, and this will be effective from May 21st.
The ISIN code remains the same: FR0013181864.
Does this change have any implications on existing contracts and agreements?
Despite the change of parent company name, the legal entity name remains the same.
Therefore, in general terms, a change of name of a party is not a variation of contract as such, so, contracts remain in force and valid, including all their rights and obligations. The only reason to amend a contract to reflect the new name is if, unusually, the agreement makes express provision to that effect.
In addition, the names of our subsidiaries (example: CGG Services SAS and CGG Services (US) Inc.), did not change at the General Meeting on May 15, 2024, and their contracts are also not impacted by the name change of their parent company.
This change does not affect our daily operations, and all aspects of our business are continuing as usual.
Does this change have any implication for contractors and suppliers?
This change does not affect our daily operations including contracts, purchase orders, invoicing, bank account details, contact details, etc. All aspects of our business including supply chain and accounts payable services continue as usual.
