Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Constantinos, your core call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings Conference Call and Live Webcast to present and discuss Q1 2022 financial results. All participants will be in listen only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by question and answer session. 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. Andreas Shiamishis, CEO, Mr. Georgios Alexopoulos, General Manager, Group Strategic Planning and New Activities, Mr. Vasilis Tsaitas, Group CFO, Mr. Dinos Panas, General Manager, Oil Supply and Sales, and Mr. Nikos Katsenos, Head of Investor Relations. Gentlemen, you may now proceed.
Thank you very much. Welcome to our Q1 2022 results presentation. It's a pleasure to have all of you on this call. The plan is for me to do a brief introduction of the key highlights for the quarter and maybe share some of the key themes that we see taking place clearly in the last quarter but also during the rest of the year. Dinos Panas, Vassilis Tsaitas, and George Alexopoulos will be going through the presentation covering the specific areas. As far as the first quarter results is concerned, we have a good quarter, clearly better than last year in terms of numbers.
One of the factors that have affected the financial performance for Q1 has been the fact that the Elefsina Refinery was in a turnaround mode, so it was shut down for around two months in Q1 , which meant that we did not take advantage of the high refining margins that we experienced in February and March. The positive side is that the refinery completed the turnaround in a period when the refining margins were slightly lower rather than March, April and May. That's the only negative point in terms of the delivery of financial results. Benchmark margins are very healthy.
We still have the energy high cost and the CO2 cost, which is clearly taking some of the shine away from the performance. We do see a very positive demand performance in the Greek market. In terms of reported numbers, EBITDA reported numbers, our results are very positive. In all honesty, it is a factor of good performance, but at the same time it's also an issue of reporting because we have inventory gains on higher oil prices. This is not real cash flows that will be converted in the course of the next few months because if the prices remain high, then effectively we need to pump back the cash to replenish stocks.
Also by the fact that, IFRS requires us to mark-to-market the allocations we get on CO2 and effectively ignore the fact that these allocations will be utilized during the remaining of the year. This creates an artificial phasing issue in that in the first part of the year you tend to report a mark-to-market gain, but in the later part of the year this is reversed and you have to pay the extra CO2 costs. In terms of balance sheet, the balance sheet remains quite healthy. We have a very good funding profile for our activities. The increase of product prices has been driving incremental debt levels, higher working capital, and the fact that we had the Elefsina turnaround have led to higher net debt.
The fact that we have completed the Kozani project, so all of the CapEx for that project has been accounted for. Now in terms of the Kozani project, we'll be talking about that in a minute, but I'm very pleased to say that it is the first time that we're including a renewable section in our results report. Numbers are clearly small because the bigger asset, which is the Kozani plant park, started its operation in April. It is becoming a business unit now, and over the course of the next few quarters, we will see that number increasing significantly.
Without further ado, I will turn over to Dinos Panas, who will help us understand a little bit more about the underlying industry environment and the markets.
Well, thank you, Andreas. Good afternoon from me, and I also welcome you to this call. A few slides from the business environment. On page five, we see that Dated Brent and the foreign exchange. We had an average of $102 a barrel during the quarter. Actually, in March, we had the highest ever price of Brent in euro per barrel. Passing to the next page, p age six. You will see the product cracks. We have seen the USD cracks strengthening by the end of the quarter, by March, where we also had a record high price, a record high crack.
Of course, you all know that in April and May, the USD cracks and the gasoline cracks went much higher than what we had during the Q1 . We have some new benchmark margins that we are now showing for two reasons. One, to adjust for the natural gas price that was not shown very well in the previous margins. The second one was that because these margins were mostly based on Urals, and Urals price disconnected totally from Brent, we had to price with Urals at an equal basis to Brent to get the margin that we're showing you on page six. Now on page seven, the high energy cost that we all have seen.
We see that the prices of the electricity were at around EUR 242 per MWh . Actually, there was a subsidy from the Greek state of EUR 65 per MWh for this electricity cost. We see that the natural gas prices were EUR 101 per MWh . There was a subsidy of EUR 30 in January, EUR 20 in February, and another EUR 20 in March from the Greek state. The CO2 cost averaged at EUR 83 per ton. Finally, on the domestic market environment, we had an increase of 16% in the domestic market.
We saw 23% increase in gasoline, 12% increase in diesel consumption, 15% in heating gas oil, and 11% in LPG and others. Bunkers were 4% higher than the same quarter of the previous year, while aviation was 106% higher than Q1 of 2021, but still lagging by 23% from the pre-pandemic levels. With that, I will pass you to our Group CFO, Mr. Vasilis Tsaitas. Vasilis?
Thank you, Dinos. Good afternoon to all of you attending our call today, and many thanks. Moving on to page 10, where we'll start discussing in more detail the performance of the group. The usual various analysis that we're looking the main drivers of performance variance versus the similar quarter last year. We discussed before the positive impact of the environment in terms of benchmark margins, just under EUR 80 million. The bulk of this is coming actually from March, and another EUR 10 million from FX. This was partially offset by the impact of energy crisis with the, you know, 4-5x high electricity prices and the doubling of CO2 around EUR 35 million overall.
In terms of performance, the positive benefit from the stronger refining margins was offset because of the turnaround of Elefsina. Again, as diesel was the main driver, especially in March, of the increase in refining margins, it took out most of the positive impact. On the other side, we have the contribution from renewable energy sources, tripling versus last year. Overall, a better performance on our refining, supply and trading operations, leading our Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter just under EUR 100 million. Moving on to page 11. The focus when the crash started was to make sure that sufficient liquidity and headroom was available to manage the additional working capital needs.
Those are actually reflected on the face of our balance sheet as at the end of March 2022. An additional comment on the yield of our bonds, which is trading higher, obviously reflecting market conditions and the actual and expected movement of base and swap rates, however, performing much better than the rest of the market. Moving on to refining, supply, and trading on page 14. As we mentioned before, much better performance than last year on the back of margins and FX, partially offset by the turnaround at Elefsina and the higher energy costs. We discussed about the Elefsina turnaround, moving on to page 15. Effectively, it was a full turnaround with all units undertaking extended maintenance.
The focus was more on the conversion units, the hydrocracker complex and the flexicoker unit, including addressing issues from the unscheduled shutdown in February 2021 due to the power grid failure. We also faced significant challenges in terms of supply chain and, you know, timely availability of material. You know, our teams, our refining teams and procurement teams on the ground made the effort to make sure that the turnaround was completed on time. Health and safety always a top priority in this kind of processes and a very good track record in the first quarter in unit turnaround process.
You would usually expect in this kind of large projects there will be an improvement in terms of the performance of the refinery as units and catalysts are fresh out of the maintenance. At a good time to enable us a better capture of the positive refining environment in Q2 . Moving on to the operations on page 16. Both utilization levels, production levels, and yield largely reflect the outage of Elefsina for most of the quarter, with lower than usual middle distillate yields and a higher fuel oil. On page 17, sales are not.
The lost production from Elefsina was to a large extent offset by higher trading volumes with overall increased sales in both our domestic grounds and aviation bunkering markets, in line or even better versus the evolution of the market. In terms of our margin performance on page 18, we discussed before the rebasing of our benchmark margins. Still overperformance at very good levels, driven by the improved sales mix and the supply optimization. Moving on to petrochemicals on page 20. A very good performance. Obviously, the comparison versus last year is not favorable. As you may recall, the first half of 2021 was fundamentally driven by a significant supply deficit across the global polypropylene complex.
However, even at EUR 28 million, still a very good performance, better than the mid-cycle, before the COVID crisis. On page 22, our fuels marketing business, a much better performance again versus last year, largely driven by the lifting of mobility restrictions due to COVID in Q1, and capturing the upside on volumes across all products with market share gains, even in a difficult environment with rising prices. Similar picture in our international marketing business on page 23, with Adjusted EBITDA 17% higher. There is a reporting change on international marketing. We booked our North Macedonian wholesale activity, which was up until last year reported under refining. Aligned with the new corporate structure of the group following the implementation of Vision 2025.
It's now reported under international marketing. You see the numbers including comparatives with 2021. At this point we'll move on to George Alexopoulos to discuss our renewables and power and gas businesses.
Thank you, Vasilis. Good afternoon, everybody. As Andreas mentioned, this is the first quarter where there is a financial report for our renewables unit. Clearly, it's not comparable to the same quarter last year because this quarter we have the inclusion of new operating assets which contribute to the profitability. And also from the quarter we are currently in, we will see the contribution of Kozani, which has entered commercial operation. In fact, it has already produced about 10,000 MWh during this phase. We expect to have a business with a run rate next year of the order of EUR 50 million EBITDA.
We continue to develop our portfolio, which currently exceeds 2GW and, as you know, includes PV, wind, and also storage assets. Moving on to page 27, power generation and ELPEDISON. A good quarter with improved performance. Higher electricity demand and also higher gas-fired generation. And a positive quarter and a positive contribution to our results. Moving on to DEPA. As you know, we have 35% stakes in three different ex-DEPA group companies. The difference this quarter is that DEPA Infrastructure is deconsolidated as it's an asset held for sale. In fact, we expect closing to take place in the next few weeks within the current quarter.
The result of this deconsolidation of DEPA Infrastructure was the main reason for lower results compared to the same quarter of last year. With this, I will turn it over to Andreas for the Q&A session.
Thank you very much, George. I think the key highlights which we need to repeat is a good performance for the quarter on the back of a buoyant market. In Northern Greece, an increased demand from the domestic market, which is very good. A very good performance on the international side. I'm not just referring about our international subsidiaries, but also about exports which are also contributing a lot to the group profitability. From a strategic point of view, a step in the renewables direction with the building of new parks which alongside acquisitions are going to give us a material footprint in the market.
Clearly, it is important to accelerate our growth pace, but at the same time, building new parks is more value enhancing than acquiring existing parks. It is a question of combining a mix in our growth strategy. With that, I will turn over the call for any questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we'll begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the 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 first question, please. The first question is from the line of George Grigoriou with Pantelakis Securities . Please go ahead.
Yes, hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I've got a couple of them, please. First one relates to domestic marketing. Actually the domestic market, if you like. Have you seen an impact in April and now in May from the higher prices at the pump? Is it affecting demand? Second question is, George mentioned before that the run rate on a full year basis of the EBITDA contribution from renewables, for next year is about EUR 50 million. I was wondering if you could be so kind enough to break it down in terms of projects or if you like, whether wind and solar. My third question is, regarding the contribution to net earnings from the 45% of the stake in DEPA.
We're seeing a big swing quarter-over-quarter, EUR 50 million in Q4 , EUR 5 million now in Q1. How should we think about it going forward? Well, it's difficult. It's big numbers nowadays, so I was wondering if you could help us out trying to model it. Thank you.
Okay. Well, hello, George. Let's try and go through these questions. The first one having to do with domestic marketing. It's a very valid point that you've raised. We haven't seen, however, an impact on demand. Clearly there are a number of factors which affect that. You have people coming out of the COVID restrictions, so people are going out a lot more. You have tourism picking up and volumes are supported there. It seems that the higher prices have not had the impact on a short-term basis at least. There is no question that if this price level continues, we will see some impact. Renewables run rate, I will pass over to George.
Yeah. George, look, the target then, which is also our estimate, if you will, includes all the currently operating assets and a couple of new projects that we have in the works that we expect them to be contributing next year. The breakdown between the two categories is, I would say, about 70% 30%.
70% in favor of wind, I presume.
No. Sorry. Not in favor of wind. 70% of this estimate comprises projects currently operating, and 30% refers to projects which will be operating next year.
Okay. Got you. Thank you. Sorry.
Coming back to the third point on DEPA. Yes, it is a material number. It's coming from DEPA Commercial mostly because DEPA Infrastructure is on its way for completion. Unfortunately, George, we have two issues. The first one is the volatility, which has become a lot more profound in the performance of DEPA because of the very high prices and the pricing formula for cargoes that they buy. The second is a slightly more structural issue, in that we do not participate in DEPA's board because of the tender process. Well, it's stale now, but formally it has not stopped yet. We do not have access to commercial information that would allow us to be a little bit more elaborate in this respect.
Clearly it is something which we plan to address because it is a big investment, and we cannot be so distant from this business. It's very close to our own business, so we need to see what's gonna happen there.
Okay. Thank you. One last one, please, if I may. Regarding, again, DEPA Infrastructure. If it's to be sold in the next couple of weeks, if the deal is sealed in the next couple of weeks, as you mentioned, when should we expect an extra dividend then? By in the second half of 2022?
Yeah. George, just to be clear, I did not say, and I certainly did not want to say, it's gonna be the next couple of weeks. I said it's gonna be in the next few weeks, and it's gonna be in Q2, but it's not gonna be in the next couple of weeks. It will be in June, most likely. The dividend will be in the second half of the year.
Excellent. Thank you.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. Once again, to register for a question, please press star one on your telephone. The next question is a follow-up question from the line of George Grigoriou with Pantelakis Securities. Please go ahead.
I'm sorry I'm taking up your time, but it seems that nobody's asking anything. I just wanted again to ask, George, sorry. Regarding what you just mentioned before about the new projects coming on stream next year, is there a firm target you could actually give us in terms of megawatts for the next couple of years? I'm not talking anything in the long term in terms of installed capacity. Thank you.
Well, sure. As you know, we are today at 285MW. I believe we will be at about 400MW next year. We can be at 600MW at least a couple of years from now. Clearly, profitability does not correlate easily with megawatts. I mean, not all megawatts are created equal, as you know. I mean, megawatts are important, but you know, size is and profitability is also quite important.
Understood. Thank you.
For any further questions, please press star 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 statements. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I'll repeat my opening comments. Overall, a good quarter. We got the Elefsina maintenance out of the way. We still have some manual works which will be done in the next couple of months. The bulk of the work has been successfully completed. Clearly, this is a benefit because we are taking advantage of the prevailing margins. Sales are doing very well. Our international business is doing very well. Renewables are growing at a pace which is material enough to be able to give us some substantial business results at the end of the year.
Thank you very much for your attendance, and I hope that we have the next quarter results call with better conditions from a geopolitical point of view. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded. You may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.