Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Constantinos, your conference call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Ellaktor Group conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the Ellaktor Group's Q1 2022 results. All participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session for institutional investors and analysts via audio conference. Please refer to invitation received if you wish to connect to the audio conference for your questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone.
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Thimios Bouloutas, CEO, Ellaktor Group, Mr. Dimos Revelas, CFO, Ellaktor S.A., Ms. Aphrodite Avramea, Head of Strategy, and Mr.
Yannis Mamacos, Investor Relations Officer. Mr. Revelas, you may now proceed.
Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Ellaktor's conference call regarding the Q1 2022 results. Mr. Thimios Bouloutas, Ellaktor Group CEO, Ms. Aphrodite Avramea, Head of Strategy, and Mr. Yannis Mamacos, IRO, are participating in today's call. A press release announcing Ellaktor's financial and operating results for Q1 2022. The interim consolidated condensed financial information as well as a presentation were issued earlier today before market open. For those of you who haven't seen those, they are available on the investor section of our website, www.ellaktor.com. On our call today, we will share with you the business update and review of financial results, which will be followed by a Q&A session. Let me now turn over the floor to Mr. Bouloutas, our CEO.
Dimos, thank you very much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for your participation in Ellaktor's conference call. I'm gonna refer to pages in the first Q presentation, Q1 2022 financial results, as that was published in our website earlier today. If you can turn your attention to page number 5. Our first point is that the Q1 group revenue came in at EUR 220 million, posting a healthy gain of 14% higher versus the same quarter of last year. This is a material gain, especially considering the global economic conditions.
The first Q group EBITDA comparable result came in at EUR 67 million, up 65% versus the respective figure of first Q of 2021, with an EBITDA margin at 31%, higher by ten percentage points versus the first Q of 2021. The reported EBITDA for the period is EUR 58 million or 43% up year-on-year. The differences between the comparable EBITDA and the reported EBITDA relate to a one-off charge of EUR 9 million related to January's traffic disruption and caused a difference only on the concession part in our group. If you remember, in January, we had an extreme weather event where Attiki Odos was closed for almost 24 hours for the first time in its 25-year history, with approximately 3,500 vehicles stranded at the highway.
The Greek state, together with Ellaktor, came in with a reimbursement scheme of EUR 2,000 per vehicle to avoid further legal complaints. The EUR 9 million charge that we took on the first Q of this year on our concession subsidiary, EUR 7 million corresponds to an estimated payments for the stranded vehicles, while an amount of EUR 2 million corresponds to administrative fines. A petition to the Administrative Court of First Instance has been filed by the group in respect to the fines, while the EUR 7 million payments will be claimed back by the insurance policy of the group. The third bullet point is that, the pre-tax profit for the first Q came in at EUR 12 million, higher by EUR 19 million versus last year, making the first profitable quarter in a row.
Finally, net income for the first Q stood at EUR 7 million, the first positive reading since the Q1 of 2019. What we believe is very important is the two important milestones were reached. The first milestone is the positive net profit after tax for the group after approximately 11 negative quarters. The second, again, very important, the construction EBITDA is marginally positive. We posted a positive reading of EUR 30,000, which is non-material. However, it's very important for us as these two events were clearly mapped in our own strategy plan of last year as events for 2022. Moving on to page 6.
Here you can see the graphs of our revenue on a quarterly basis and of our EBITDA on a quarterly basis again for the past Q5 since the new management team took over and we had the change in the management and later the change in the capital structure with the share capital increase. On the tables you see the tables itemize the quarterly comparison between first Q of 2022 versus first Q of 2021. Also for the first time, we present the last 12 months, i.e. the last Q4 to take away the impact of seasonality and to be able to distinguish true underlying trends. On the graph side, you see the evolution of our revenue, which was sequentially for Q4 increasing.
On the Q1 of 2022, we have a decrease versus the Q4 of 2021. However, we need to point out that Q1 is always seasonally the weak quarter for the construction business. Now, on the EBITDA graph, here again you see the sequential increase between 41, which is the number that we started for the Q1 of the previous year, and 67, which is the comparable EBITDA that we present today. Again, here you see the two extraordinary charges that we took. Q2 of 2021, EUR 26 million, relate to an arbitration Qatar. Nine million for the Q1 of 2022 related to the extreme weather condition, reimbursement of the vehicles.
Turning to, if you take a look, you know, more closely on the table side, there we can see a very healthy increase on the concession in both the revenue, and also on the EBITDA. 40% on the revenue on a quarterly basis, 21% in EBITDA. Here we relate to a quarter where we had a partial, effectively closure of the highway due to administrative COVID measures that the Greek government has implemented. On an annual basis, last 12-month basis, the delta in revenues is 30%, which is very similar to, the concession, delta in EBITDA, which is 29%.
This number will probably slow down as the situation normalizes, and we compare to comparable quarters, i.e., quarters where we didn't have a national lockdown. Also on the renewable segment, effectively the situation is flat as we have not reported any additional capacity in the system. We see another notable increase is recorded in the environment sales, and especially on the EBITDA, which is due to higher recovered recycling prices and higher day-ahead market spot electricity prices for our biogas fuel.
In total, the last twelve months, sales are posting a figure of 10%, 14% on a quarterly basis, 10% on an annual basis, while on the EBITDA level, the quarterly results are EUR 67 million versus EUR 40 million and on a comparable base, again, the last twelve months, EUR 218 million versus EUR 25 million of last year. Moving on to page 7, I would like to turn your attention to some recent developments and Ellaktor's board reaction to that. On May 6, 2022, Motor Oil Corinth Refineries announced it acquired the shares of Ellaktor corresponding to a stake of almost 30%, 29.9 to be exact, from Kiloman and Greenhill at a transaction price of EUR 1.75 per share.
In addition, at the same day, Reggeborgh Invest announced that it has entered in a framework agreement with Motor Oil with the objective to procure that Ellaktor sells and transfers a 75% stake in all assets of the renewable segment, i.e., operating in pipeline to Motor Oil, subject to corporate and regulatory approvals. There's been an agreement in principle of the enterprise value of the RES segment at EUR 1 billion on a debt-free and cash-free basis. This figure is subject to transaction profitability-related adjustment. Now, Reggeborgh Invest agrees to vote in favor of Motor Oil receiving customer and minority protections. The framework agreement provides for some call options between Reggeborgh and Motor Oil.
In particular, Reggeborgh has an option of buying back Motor Oil's shares, 50% of Motor Oil's shares, starting immediately for a duration of 3 years, while Motor Oil has an option, a put option, to sell 50% of the shares that they acquired to Reggeborgh Invest with an exercise period starting 2 years from the date of the announcement and ending at 3 years of the date of the announcement. The pricing for these options were not disclosed in the relevant disclosures. Turning to page number 8. Another corporate event that materialized on the same day, i.e.
May 6, 2022, RB Ellaktor Holding B.V., which is a Dutch company fully owned by Reggeborgh Invest, announced the initiation of a voluntary tender offer process by informing the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and the board of Ellaktor and submitting to them a draft of the information memorandum. The voluntary tender offer is addressed to all shareholders except the ones that Reggeborgh Invest currently holds, which is 30.5% of the outstanding shares, at a price offer of EUR 1.75 per share. Motor Oil, as the second largest shareholder in Ellaktor, has confirmed that they will not tender their shares. The offeror has declared that it will not acquire any shares until the expiration of the acceptance period.
There's not gonna be a bid in the market, but only through the exchange members. The offeror also declared that if they acquire more than 90% of ELLAKTOR shares, they will not exercise its right of buying out the minority shareholders. This is theoretical interpretation since Motor Oil are not tendering their shares, so the maximum that the offeror could get is 70% of total outstanding shares. Another intention of the offeror made public is that ELLAKTOR remains listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. Now, turning to page 9. These were events, the previous two slides that I've described are events that were shareholder driven, as the company did not have any participation.
In the slide number 9, this provides a list of actions that the Ellaktor board took since they became aware of these developments. Motor Oil's offer regarding the renewable business was received on May 11, and was presented and discussed in a specially convened board of directors meeting. Ellaktor is in the process of assessing and evaluating Motor Oil's proposal, and has appointed the financial advisors to provide a fairness opinion report. Following the execution of confidentiality agreements since the days of the announcement, a full-blown legal, financial, and technical due diligence process is underway. Now the voluntary offer, we expect the Hellenic Capital Market Commission approval on the information memorandum. Ellaktor's board must provide a justified opinion on the price offered within 10 working days from the commencement of the acceptance period.
A financial advisor to help the board of Ellaktor reach a conclusion with justified opinion has already been appointed. This closes the update on the recent developments. I'd like to provide a small operational update on parts of the businesses. On the construction business, new projects of circa EUR 260 million were signed during first Q of 2022. Additional EUR 44 million were signed after the thirty-first of March of 2022. This brings the current backlog of approximately the current construction backlog of EUR 2.6 billion, up by 53% compared to EUR 1.7 billion one year ago.
If you count in, let's say, the construction executed and the new businesses, we are adding new business at a rate of approximately EUR 1.4 billion annually, which creates a very healthy backlog. Also construction EBITDA for the first Q came in at break even underpinning the sector turnaround and marking a very important milestone for the management team. On the backlog, today, Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of the Hellenic Republic, announced in an infrastructure and transport conference that the current backlog in all listed groups, construction backlog in all listed groups in the Athens Stock Exchange accounts for EUR 9.38 billion. Which brings Ellaktor's, let's say participation something close to 28%.
However, what is more important is that he explicitly mentioned that this backlog of EUR 9.4 billion is expected to reach EUR 15 billion in the next 4-five years. The Greek state is procuring at a very healthy rate, and they expect that the backlog will increase substantially in the years to come. On the concession segment, we had a recovery of traffic volumes due to pre-COVID levels in Motorway concession SPVs. The company was announced as a preferred investor in Kalamata-Rizomylos, Pylos-Methoni. There was also a participation in a submission for BOAK. BOAK is the North Crete Highway, which is one of the biggest continuous highways that are gonna be built in Greece and in Europe of almost 300 kilometers.
There we participate in a consortium with 20% participation. Finally, we will participate in Attiki Odos retendering in alliance with a leading infrastructure investment, ADP of France, and the domestic group, AVAX, that we have a cooperation together in both the operation and also the ownership of Attiki Odos. On the renewable segment, we got production certificates in Thrace of 53 million megawatts, and in South Evia of 35 megawatts. We've got first-queue a license for a RES aggregator of 300 megawatts. We purchased an SPV holding 18.4 megawatts of wind farm, which a mature permit.
Finally, we brought earlier the environmental permit that has been granted for wind farm, one of our wind farms in South Evia, project of 160 MW, which is the cooperation with EDPR. Turning to the environment segment. In the environment segment became the preferred bidder through Helector through a joint venture scheme where Helector participated 60% for the revamping and 25 years operation of Attica Clinical Waste Incinerator, which is a very big project with a budget of almost EUR 86 million in NPV terms. Finally, on this segment, we posted a significant profitability increase compared to the Q1 of 2021, and this was driven by higher recovered recyclable prices, as mentioned, and high day-ahead market spot electricity prices.
These prices are potentially subject to a retroactive revision, but that remains to be seen. Finally, on the real estate sector, which is a smaller EBITDA contributor, we are proceeding with updates on feasibility studies, and we are in the process of negotiating the terms of the SPA and expect finalization of technical due diligence for the Gournes project. With that, I'd like to stop my part of the presentation and turn over to Mr. Dimos Revelas, who's gonna give you fuller account of our financial condition and more details on the operations of the group for the Q1 .
Thank you, Thimios. On page fourteen, group revenues for the Q1 reached EUR 220 million, as already mentioned. That is a year-on-year delta of EUR 27 million. Almost 60% of this is explained by concessions, 25% by the environment segment, and 18% by the construction segment. A considerably higher gross margin, coupled with lower selling and administrative expenses by 9%, have yielded an EBITDA of EUR 58.3 million for the quarter. That is a 43% yearly increase.
Had it not been for the one-off charge of EUR 9 million related to the late January's traffic disruption in Attiki Odos, and which is included in the other income and other gain loss line in the P&L that you have in front of you, the comparable EBITDA would have amounted to EUR 67.3 million. That is a year-on-year rise of 65%. In the bottom line, a net after-tax profit of EUR 7 million was recorded for the quarter, or a EUR 14 million reading should the one-off charge be excluded. On page sixteen, group total assets remained practically unchanged at EUR 2.9 billion.
On the asset side, financial assets at amortized cost and at fair value through other comprehensive income are down by EUR 4.4 million, following the maturity of a EUR 6 million EIB bond and a small share capital injection of close to EUR 2 million in Olympia Odos. The state financial contribution decreased by EUR 22 million as a result of a cash injection into Moreas amounting to EUR 29 million from that spot. Cash balances are higher by EUR 50 million, mainly as a result of an increase in available cash of the concession sector by EUR 32 million, and in the restricted cash of the renewable energy sources segment by EUR 19 million.
On the liability side, total equity at the end of March increased by EUR 30 million, something driven on one hand by the quarter's net profitability and an increase in the hedging reserve of Moreas on the other. That is a EUR 20 million positive impact from that reserve. The ratio of equity attributable to shareholders over total assets was at almost 11%, 10.7% to be precise, compared to 10.1% at the end of last year and 8.3% at the end of 2020. Total current and non-current liabilities and trade payables rose by EUR 31 million, with trade payables down by EUR 12 million, contract assets higher by EUR 6 million, and accrued interest up by EUR 20 million.
On page 17, as of March 31, 2020, the group's total net debt amounted to EUR 959 million, and this is down by EUR 32 million for the quarter. This is driven by circa EUR 9 million less debt and circa EUR 23 million higher cash and equivalent balances. Almost 41% of the group's net debt corresponds to Moreas, which is a non-recourse debt.
On page eighteen, operating cash inflows of EUR 40 million were markedly improved vis-a-vis a year ago, and in terms of trailing twelve months remain at the highest level over the last several quarters. Cash outflows from financing activities of EUR 34 million are mainly attributable to increase in restricted costs by EUR 22 million, and scheduled loan repayments of EUR 17 million. Out of which, the renewable energy sector is at EUR 13 million loan repayments. Over the next few slides, the next few slides are dedicated to the most important operational and financial highlights of the group's business units. I believe we have already covered the majority of those. In the appendix, you are also being provided with a detailed P&L by segment for the quarter as well as the segmental breakdown of the group's standard.
With this, I would like now to open the floor for the Q&A session. We may proceed in this stage.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we'll begin the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, management will receive questions from institutional investors and analysts and via audio conference. Please refer to invitation received if you wish to connect to the audio conference for your questions. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from a question queue, then you may press star and two. Please use your handset when asking your question for better quality.
Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The first question is from the line of Osman Memisoglu with Ambrosia Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, many thanks for your time and the presentation. A couple on my side, please. First, related to the tender, could you give us any color? I know you mentioned that it's pending, but when should we expect the approval for the prospectus? That's my first question. Then, with the improvement in construction as you had guided previously, should we expect a continuation of improvement or, for the remainder of the year, should we expect a flattish performance? That's the second bit. Then just an overall color angle on where the strategic focus will be given the potential disposal, probable disposal of the renewables business. Thank you.
Okay, thank you very much. On your first question, we understand that the prospectus has been filed. It has been reviewed by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. It has been refiled again, and we expect approval either this week or at the latest by next week. I think in the prospectus there's gonna be a time plan of say explicit actions. If I remember correctly, the tender offer needs to run for four weeks. We need to issue say our view on what the shareholders should do approximately 10 working days after the start, after the Hellenic Capital Market Commission approval.
On the second question, we have indicated in the past that we expect that the break even in the construction would happen at some point during 2022. We did not expect the Q1 . Construction is an inherently volatile business, so I would rather refrain from making, let's say, forward-looking comments at this stage. What I can tell you is that the new contracts that are being signed and the current backlog that has been built is significantly better margins vis-à-vis the past. Hopefully, let's say, we will see a continuation of improvement in the financial results, even though this cannot be taken for certain.
Now, on your third point, right now we need to focus on the transaction. This is a complex transaction because it's gonna involve a carve-out. We have a series of approvals, internal approvals, board, EGM approvals, then we have approvals related to company laws. As we get the confidence of the deal being done, then we will prepare a new strategic business plan and we will update the investment community on strategic focus, the new strategic focus. Obviously, construction segment, concession segment and environment segment become more important than what they were. Every subsidiary becomes significantly more important. You know, we will update you when we have a specific plan.
Thank you.
Great. Thank you.
Once again, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. As a final reminder, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you.
Well, thank you very much for participating in the conference call. We appreciate your time and attention. We don't have any further remarks. However, we are available should you need any further information or clarification offline at any point in time. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.