Chief executive Bernard Fontana also told Reuters that due to cost savings, the company expected to book 2018 core earnings of around 396.62 million pounds($525.15 million) compared to about 176.27 million pounds in 2017.

Cash flow is expected to double to about 200 million euros this year while revenue is to "increase slightly" from last year's 2.82 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; Writing by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Matthias Blamont)