With a multibillion euro business to manage, it's safe to say that Antoine Frérot doesn't have a lot of time for hobbies. Yet when he's off work, he indulges in a spot of oil painting. When he puts brush to canvas, he prefers the abstract form over still life and portraiture.

Abstract is not a word that fits Veolia Environnement, the French environmental services giant that recently reported a 15.6 per cent rise in revenues to €7.16 billion in the first three months of the year.

Frérot has responsibility for group's Irish unit, which runs the Luas tramway and has numerous waste, water and facilities management interests.

With annual revenues in the region of €180 million, the Republic contributes just a minor part of Veolia's revenue. Frérot won't disclose the group's profitability here, but suggests the business is going well. "You could imagine that we are not losing money," he says.

Small as Veolia's Irish presence is, Frérot has big plans for the unit. "I think to multiply by three or four our turnover in Ireland in the next 10 years would not be impossible," he says.

Such an expansion would bring turnover above €700 million, no mean feat. Still, Frérot believes initiatives such as Transport 21 and the forthcoming instalment of the National Development Plan (NDP) will provide plenty scope for growth. A tall order it may be, but delivery will be crucial if the Veolia group is to meet its target of doubling its overall turnover by 2016.

"Ireland is for us a quite new country in Europe because two of the four divisions are present for a small time. So I think we could grow quicker even in Ireland than in the rest of the world," he says. "We will be present for all opportunities in our four divisions."

Frérot was in Dublin yesterday to mark the rebranding under the Veolia marque of the group's Irish interests. This means that brand names such as Connex, which runs Luas, and Onyx in the waste market are now consigned to history.

Utilities deal more in long-term than in short-term spurts, so Frérot says it is more useful to speak in terms of a five or 10-year timeline than to look at a one-year horizon. Interviewed in advance of his Dublin visit, he indicated that one of the group's first steps on the road to growth would include the acquisition of a private bus company in the Dublin area.

Such a deal would provide a platform from which Veolia could bid for public-service bus contracts as the market in Dublin liberalises, he says. Veolia has yet to conduct a detailed evaluation of its potential acquisition targets, but Frérot says the subject is very much on the group's agenda.

"We have two ways bidding for growth in [ this market]. The first is bidding from nothing. The second would be also to buy a small or medium-sized company to use it as a leverage to upgrade the type of service to grow through tender processes with this acquisition," he says.

Veolia will also be in the running for light-rail contracts when Luas is expanded, he says. If an underground metro is built, Veolia will be knocking at the door to run that business as well.

Veolia may best known in the public mind for Connex, but the transport business is actually the group's smallest division in the Republic.

Frérot says its turnover last year was €24 million. Up from €15 million in 2004, the year Luas was introduced, the turnover reflects income from the Railway Procurement Authority (RPA), the public body that owns the system. Ticket revenue goes directly to the RPA.

Formerly known as Onyx, the newly renamed waste unit, Veolia Environmental Services, had a turnover of €69 million last year. An employer of 283, the business handles more than 300,000 tonnes of industrial commercial waste throughout the State. With environmental concerns looming ever larger, Veolia believes it is a business with big growth potential.

Frérot doubles as chief executive of Veolia's global water unit, which has an annual turnover in the Republic of €30 million. With the NDP in mind, this too is an area of expansion for Veolia.

In this sector, the group concentrates on design, build and operate contracts with municipal authorities for water, wastewater and sludge treatment plants. Metering is another activity.

Veolia's biggest operation here in terms of employees is its energy unit. With 420 staff and a turnover of €48 million, the unit provides facility management and combined heat and power (CHP) to industrial users.

Frérot says he sees particular opportunities to expand this business in the public health sector. "We are not a producer of energy. We are a manager of energy. Our added value is not to produce cheap energy. Our real added value is to manage it for clients in a clever way."

A man who wants to win numerous public contracts, Frérot has no criticism to make of the Government's stewardship of public infrastructure. The Republic's recent economic performance has been like a dream for Veolia, he says. There's nothing abstract about that remark.