Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gail Lee, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Titan Cement Group conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the full year 2024 results. Please note this call and presentation is intended for analysts and investors only. 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. 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. Marcel Cobuz, Chairman of the Group Executive Committee, and Mr. Michael Colakides, Group CFO. Mr. Cobuz, you may now proceed.
Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everyone. We have a large number of participants today, both in the conference call as well as on the webcast. Thank you for your interest. Very happy to be here and speak about results on a very good 2024 performance, as well as share some highlights on our strategy 2026 execution. Maybe three introductory remarks before I pass the floor to Michael. The first one is that we are announcing today record results for Titan in 2024, marked by top-line growth, overproportional EBITDA, plus 9.6% in a year where we outperformed the markets despite some adverse weather impact in the last quarter. We also have achieved margin expansion at the same time as a year where we continued investing at a high pace.
Michael will give you more details on supply chain capacity investments and logistics optimization, the use of alternative fuels, which proved to be highly lucrative in terms of value creation, but also our progress in digitalization and innovation preparing the future. The second introductory message is on our strategy execution, which picked up an accelerated pace in 2024, and we are on track to reach targets of 2026 in advance. On this one, at least two points to retain. One is active portfolio management, as well as strengthening our assets and positions. We have conducted, completed four bolt-on acquisitions, particularly in the aggregates. We have added 100 million tons to the reserves in aggregates. We have entered joint ventures in India and Europe on supplementary cementitious materials.
We have announced at the beginning of the year also the divestment of our Eastern Turkey assets and concentrating on the Western part. Of course, a milestone for us, a strategic milestone, was the completion of the IPO and New York Stock Exchange listing of our U.S. subsidiary, which is meant to unlock even more value. The second is on the progress on time-to-market of new products, as well as profitable decarbonization moves. Here you will see that we have achieved a record level in alternative fuels. We have progress on cement issues strategy. We have achieved, again, continuous improvement in the CO2 footprint. As for our press release, we have also announced that our carbon capture and storage project, which is there to mitigate a large part of our scope one, is well on track as we move to the next phase of pre-feasibility.
The third message is creating value for shareholders. Michael will go into details, but we have the board in its meeting yesterday is proposing to the shareholders' approval in May a special ad hoc increase in dividends by EUR 2 per share in addition to the regular one, which moves to EUR 1 per share compared to EUR 0.85 in the past year. Strong momentum at Titan across all operations and markets while we are pursuing initiatives to grow, expand margin, and commercial excellence. I will pass the floor now to Michael for more granular views on the financials and key highlights before speaking about outlook and then taking your questions. Michael.
Thank you. Thank you, Marcel. Good morning. Good afternoon to everybody from me as well. Following on what has been covered by Marcel, I'm very happy to walk you through the financial results of 2024, which present another year, the fourth year in sequence of record financial performance. Group sales were up 3.8%, closing at EUR 2.64 billion, recording again the fourth consecutive year of top-line growth, driven by increased volumes across all product lines and sustained pricing. All of our regions posted sales growth, with the U.S. and Europe at the forefront, contributing more than 90% of group sales.
Group EBITDA reached a record EUR 592 million like for like, up by 9.6%, with gains from operational efficiencies in energy cost management and digitalization, coupled with lower solid fuel costs and higher use of alternative fuels, leading to the expansion of the EBITDA margin by 120 basis points to 22.4% like for like. Net profit after taxes and minorities increased by 17.3% at EUR 315 million, and earnings per share reached EUR 4.2 per share compared to EUR 3.6 per share last year, both on a like for like basis. At this point, let me clarify that the commentary in this presentation, which is done on like for like adjusted basis, it refers to EBITDA, which is adjusted for EUR 12 million of non-incurring one-off costs related to the preparation of the U.S. IPO and a small early retirement program in Greece.
The commentary on net profit and earnings per share is additionally adjusted for a EUR 17 million adjustment for goodwill impairment charge in Turkey. I will be referring to the adjusted figures in my commentary as they depict better the evolution of the core business and compare apples to apples versus last year. Both adjusted and reported figures can be found on our slides and in the press release issued earlier today. Thanks to solid cash generation and the reduction of net debt by EUR 38 million to EUR 622 million, the group's leverage ratio dropped further to 1.02, one-time EBITDA. Within the year, Titan's credit rating was upgraded to BB+ with stable outlook by S&P, reaching the same rating that has been given to us since last year by Fitch.
In terms of CapEx, in 2024, we have invested EUR 251 million, marking a 15-year high, with prioritization given to growth projects across the supply chain, digitalization, decarbonization, and innovation. Committed to a large-scale carbon capture project IFESTOS at a plant near Athens, we have signed a front-end engineering design contract in the second half of 2024. An important point to repeat, thanks to the high profitability achieved by the group and coupled with the liquidity raised through the successful IPO of Titan America and our low leverage, the Board of Directors is proposing to the Annual General Assembly of Shareholders that will take place on May 8th a special ad hoc increase of the annual dividend by EUR 2 per share to a total dividend of EUR 3 per share. Both will be paid on the 3rd of July of this year.
Now turning to the next slide with regards to our operational achievements in 2024, we developed new digital solutions and further accelerated the existing real-time optimizers, leading to increased production and energy consumption savings while we remain on track to digitalize 100% of our plants by 2026. On the decarbonization front, we recorded a significant reduction of CO2 emissions, an 11% decrease since 2020, while for the fourth consecutive quarter year, Titan was awarded leadership status by CDP on climate change, as well as more recognitions by Financial Times and The Times Magazine. The execution of our strategy 2026 has been accelerated, and we remain on track to reach the targets set in advance with bolt-on investments in the U.S. and Greece and expansion of our supplementary cementitious material sources by forming new joint ventures.
In addition to these, our corporate venture capital fund proceeded with investments in four new material startups within 2024. Two significant post-balance sheet events occurred within February, with the group completing the major strategic move with Titan America's IPO and listing on New York Stock Exchange, raising gross proceeds of $393 million. Furthermore, within the same month, Titan Group entered an agreement to divest its 75% share in Adoçim in East Turkey. For 2025, we hold a positive outlook. You will hear the closing remarks by Marcel. Thanks to our attractive positions in both the U.S. and Europe, anticipating growth in sales and profitability through volume growth and resilient pricing while controlling cost increases in production and distribution.
Now turning to the next slide, on top, you can see the graph for the full year figures, which I just commented on, exhibiting that 2024 marked a record year for the group, exceeding the results achieved in 2023 across sales, EBITDA, and net profit. EBITDA margin also grew by 120 basis points on a like for like basis. Looking at the charts at the bottom of the slide with regards to the fourth quarter, which is a seasonally lower quarter for the industry, sales did grow by 1% year over year, reaching EUR 660 million despite the poor weather in the U.S., but supported by firm pricing and robust volumes at group level, with significant volume increases deriving from downstream products. EBITDA recorded a small drop of 4%, EUR 238 million, as persistently adverse weather temporarily delayed projects in the U.S.
Just a couple of words on the following slide, taking a look at it to see the continuous growth since 2020 across our main financial KPIs and the much higher levels of profitability that we are now operating on. Moving to the P&L slide, where there is more detail, we show how sales growth outpaced the increase of cost of goods sold, increasing margins. Lower fuel costs contributed to this improvement, benefiting from energy savings, higher use of alternative fuels, as well as lower fuel nominal costs. The increase in SG&A includes the EUR 12 million one-off, while in the fourth quarter, we capitalized some of the costs related to the U.S. IPO. Finance costs declined while taxes increased due to higher profitability. Net profit after tax increased by 17%, resulting in the adjusted earnings per share of EUR 4.2.
In the next slide, we invite you to compare our performance to peers in both Europe and the U.S. in terms of annual growth in sales as well as in EBITDA. As you will very likely notice, and this happens now for the third year in a row, our performance stands out consistently above most or all of our peers. Titan continues to demonstrate top-tier performance within the industry. This consistent success highlights our ability to not only navigate volatile market conditions, but also to deliver robust results. Taking a look at our volumes, significant growth was achieved at group level in 2024 across all product categories on the back of solid demand and despite the adverse weather in the U.S. and the decline of the construction activity in Western Europe. The group's domestic cement sales increased by 2% to 17.8 million tons.
All group's exports were directed to Titan's terminals, mainly to Titan America in the U.S., with lower exports directed to European terminals in France, U.K., and Italy, reflecting the slowdown in construction activity in Western Europe. Export to third parties from Egypt picked up significantly. Ready-mix volumes exhibited good momentum for another year, with increased demand from both the U.S. and Greece, growing by 6% and reaching 6.3 million cubic meters. Lastly, aggregates grew by a significant 10% to 21.9 million tons, driven by substantial demand for its infrastructure in Greece. Now moving to our cash flow, as you can see from the blue arrow at the center of the slide, the robust EBITDA performance of EUR 580 million and the focus on tight operating working capital resulted in a strong operating free cash flow of EUR 299 million despite being a year of record CapEx.
Withstanding increased taxes and high returns to shareholders, net debt was reduced by EUR 38 million. Moving on to CapEx, 2025 was a record year of investments, just over EUR 250 million, in pursuit of the group's ambitious growth and transformation strategy. Most of the funds were diverted to the U.S., with in total more than $500 million invested in the U.S. over the last four years. Extensive capital allocation aiming at the optimization of our supply chain continued in 2024, including the establishment of new ready-mix units and the modernization and expansion of our ready-mix fleet in the U.S. and in Greece, and the installation of ready-mix units in strategic locations in Greece.
We have accelerated the execution of the 2026 strategy, targeting improved logistics capabilities and completing bolt-ons in the U.S. and Greece, including four new aggregate quarries and one new clay quarry, securing supplementary cementitious materials reserves, while a new joint venture has recently been formed in India. The bolt-ons complement our 2023 investments in supplementary cementitious materials of Aegean Perlites on the Greek island of Yali and the Vezirhan Pozzolana Quarry in East Marmara in Turkey. Turning the page and looking at our debt and liquidity picture, the group's leverage declined as of last December, with net debt standing at EUR 622 million, a reduction of the leverage to marginally over one times EBITDA.
Taking into account the funds raised from the IPO of Titan America and the announced payout of the EUR 3 per share dividend in the summer of 2025, we expect the group's net debt to drop below EUR 500 million and subsequently the leverage ratio to drop well below one, hence further strengthening our balance sheet and allowing ample firepower for further growth opportunities. At the end of 2024, 50% of group debt was in bonds, 35% in bank loans, and 11% in lease liabilities, while no significant maturities are scheduled for the next couple of years.
Now turning to a slide with the regional performance and before moving to each region individually, it is worth noting that sales growth was recorded across all the regions, as you can see on the left pie chart, while in terms of EBITDA, which is the pie on the right, U.S. and Europe drove EBITDA growth and contributed 96% of the total, while East Med contributed only a small percentage at this point. Starting with the U.S., a review of our biggest market, where Titan America, a by now listed company on New York Stock Exchange as of February 7, has delivered another year of record sales and EBITDA profitability. Titan America sales increased by 3%, reaching $1.64 billion, while EBITDA reached $368 million, up by 15% compared to $319 million in 2023, adjusting for $9 million, one-off costs related to the U.S. IPO preparations.
The fourth quarter was more challenging due to adverse weather conditions that hit the eastern seaboard, including severe hurricanes, heavy rainfall, and even snow. Despite the negative impact of weather-induced work disruptions and project delays, our sales managed to outperform the market. Our vertically integrated business model allowed us to reliably supply our customers with high-quality products with the use of our extensive high-capacity logistics network. As a result, the year saw increased sales in the downstream market with an expansion in ready-mix, blocks, and fly ash sales. Pricing momentum remained strong, with the pricing contribution and the lower fuel energy cost more than offsetting increased maintenance and labor costs, eventually improving EBITDA margins. EBITDA margins also benefited from operational efficiencies, investments in digitalization and automation, and hence lower production costs.
Weather effects notwithstanding, underlying market trends remained solid, with materials consumption being driven by projects continuing to roll out under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and non-residential private projects. The industrial sector continued to benefit from large investments in our states as manufacturing and onshoring investments and more data warehouses progressed at an accelerated pace. Residential demand weakened in the second half of the year, especially in Q4, as the interest rate reduction expectations remained unfulfilled. In 2024, we forged ahead on further strengthening our U.S. operations by progressing on several projects. We finalized the acquisition of aggregates and supplementary cementitious material quarries in Virginia, which expanded our reserves and increased our capacity, and strengthened our ready-mix business by growing our distribution fleet and by adding new production units. The group completed the IPO of Titan America in February, raised a total amount of $393 million.
As of today, Titan Group, Titan Cement International, owns 86.7% of the total outstanding common shares of Titan America. Moving now to Greece, where sales for Greece and Western Europe in 2024 increased by 9% to EUR 444 million. Performance in Greece was reflected in another very strong year, with cement sales volume growing in double digits. Greek domestic growth dynamics have also flowed downstream, translating into a multiplier effect in the consumption of aggregates, ready-mix, and mortars, which also increased double digit and contributed positively to margins. Domestic cement pricing held firm during the year, with price increases realized in the downstream segments. Growth was balanced across all main construction segments and maintained strong momentum throughout the year. The residential segment continued to drive demand together with the private non-residential segment, with investments across various types of commercial and industrial projects.
After another record year for Greek tourism, preparations are in full swing for the upcoming season, and construction activities are ongoing across the Greek islands. Within Q4, major infrastructure projects picked up pace across mainland Greece, such as the Thessaloniki Flyover, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Hospital in Thessaloniki, and the Patras-Pyrgos Highway in the Peloponnese. EBITDA reached EUR 58.2 million compared to EUR 65.4 million last year, the reduction coming primarily due to the lower export prices in line with international cement export prices dropping to the heights of 2023. Investments in Greece continue, with an agreement to acquire an aggregate quarry already finalized and other opportunities in this area being in process and a couple of projects very close to completion. Thermal substitution rates increased to 39% from 32% in 2023, thanks to the operation of the pre-calciner at the Kamari plant.
Continuing its efforts, our subsidiary INTERBETON introduced a new range of ready-mix concrete products, VELTER, which offers superior durability while reducing carbon emissions by up to 30% compared to the standard products currently available in Greece. The group has been installing more silos across the plants to support the growing use of a wider range, including lower clinker products, and enhance the efficiency of its logistics network. On top, we have installed additional ready-mix units in strategic commercial locations in Greece and increased the use of alternative fuels and cementitious materials. Now I turn to Southeast Europe, where sales increased by 2.3% to EUR 432 million, while EBITDA grew by 15%, closing the year at EUR 167.6 million compared to EUR 146 million the year before.
Following a slowdown in the third quarter of 2024, the Southeast Europe region regained momentum in the last quarter of the year and closed with improved sales and profitability, while full-year volumes remained stable at high levels amid mixed performance across countries and different market segments. Given diverse market trends, the combination of overall price resilience, the drop in energy cost, as well as the efficiency gains obtained by the group's recent investments in renewable energy sources and alternative fuels, improved the group's cost structure and led to increased margins. New lower carbon cements have also been launched, while key initiatives are on course to further expand the green products offering, eventually leading to further drop in the clinker-to-cement ratio.
The region of East Med next recorded full-year sales of EUR 250 million, up by 4.4%, thanks to increased domestic volumes in both Egypt and Turkey, coupled with much higher exports from Egypt. EBITDA reached EUR 25.7 million, with profitability having been hit by the devaluation in both currencies, while the price increases in local currencies were not sufficient to offset this effect. In Egypt, domestic cement consumption remained stable as the production quarter regime remained in place. Our operations in Egypt recorded a good performance, while our exports have increased significantly the year, exceeding the one million tons mark. In Turkey, where domestic cement consumption grew for another year, and group sales followed the market growth. In the absence of public works, the largest portion of cement consumption in the country continued to be drawn by the earthquake rebuilding activities.
Our exports from Turkey to the U.S. have decreased, accounting for the decline in the region's profitability. The group continued to develop sales out of its recently acquired Pozzolana quarry, in addition to the quantities consumed internally, while introducing blended cements with lower carbon footprints. As we commented before, in February, we announced a sale of a 75% stake in Adocim against cash proceeds of $87.5 million. Finally, a couple of words on Brazil, where, as a reminder, the consolidated figures are on an equity basis. Domestic cement consumption increased by 4.2%, thanks to the expansion of the real estate market from the second quarter onwards and to the resumption of construction work, among others under the extensive affordable housing program. In the northeast, the region where our joint venture operates, a 7.5% volume increase was recorded.
Apodi's sale reached EUR 115 million, mainly due to pricing pressures owing to intense market competition. It's worth mentioning that with sales volumes bolstering in the second half of the year, Apodi recorded in October the highest monthly sales volumes in its history. EBITDA reached EUR 29.5 million compared to EUR 24.4 million, so 20% up year on year, driven by cost efficiencies, including energy and decarbonization cost reduction initiatives. Now some words on our digital transformation and decarbonization. In 2024, Titan accelerated the pace of rolling out AI-based real-time optimizer solutions for its cement manufacturing lines as per the group's target to digitize 100% of its cement manufacturing by the end of next year. Currently, RTOs are installed across plants in our regions, while new ones are also being developed. These RTOs, sourced from both external partners and developing houses, allow for increased output and reduce energy consumption.
Since 2023, Titan has also completed the installation of its machine learning-based failure prediction system in all cement plants of the group, increasing reliability and reducing the cost of unplanned maintenance. Additionally, within 2024, Titan operated the new AI-based digital solution for cement quality prediction that had been piloted in the U.S. in 2023, generating a fast payback with a solution expected to be rolled out to more plants in 2025. CemAI, the spin-off digital company established by Titan in 2022, offering machine learning-based failure prediction as a service to other cement manufacturers, continued to grow its customer base in 2024, while also expanded its portfolio of AI and machine learning offerings by providing a new process optimization solution, CemAI Process Optimizer.
In the integrated supply chain domain, building on its expertise in forecasting sales demand, distribution network optimization, and cement spare parts inventory optimization, Titan continued the development of its AI-enabled dynamic logistics solution for its concrete operations, while completing the rollout of the solution to all its ready-mix operations in the U.S., improving the efficiency of the supply chain and of the customer experience. As part of Titan's target to digitize its concrete logistics by 2026, Titan invests in telematics solutions for its truck fleet in the U.S. and Europe. In the customer experience domain, Titan is working on improving customer experience, and by the end of 2024, Titan had developed digital customer applications in more than 60% of its business units, mainly in the U.S. and Europe, with a target to reach 100% to be covered by the end of 2026.
Addressing climate change remains a top priority for the group, and we are on track to meet our 2026 and 2030 targets. In 2024, we reduced our specific scope one net emissions to below 600 kilos per ton of cementitious product, breaking this threshold for the first time in the group's history, achieving an 11% reduction since 2020. In more detail, in 2024, the group progressed with its decarbonization pathway across multiple areas. We have reached a record high use of alternative fuels of 21.3% and a historically low clinker content in our cement products of 76.6%. We have also launched a partnership with Ecocem to further develop our technology in low carbon cement products. Currently, the lower carbon products and solutions offered to customers represent 29.8% of our total cement production.
Following a $62 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Titan is developing a calcite clay production line in the Roanoke plant in Virginia, while continuing to mature its carbon capture project, IFESTOS, at the flagship Kamari plant, benefiting from a grant of EUR 234 million from the Innovation Fund, among others, by signing a front-end engineering design contract. Titan was awarded the leadership status of climate stage change by CDP for the fourth consecutive year, while we were recognized among Europe's climate leaders by the Financial Times for our leadership on climate-related risk and decarbonization efforts, and by Time Magazine named us as one of the world's most sustainable companies. Finally, a comment on our innovation efforts. In 2024, we advanced our venture capital initiative launched in 2023 with a strategic plan to invest EUR 40 million over a three-year period.
We intensified our efforts, broadened our portfolio, and made three additional investments in innovative funds: C2CA, Concrete. ai, and Optimitive. Additionally, we participated in Fifth Wall's React Fund, a prominent U.S.-based venture capital firm specializing in real estate technology. These partnerships underscore our commitment to supporting pioneering technologies and startups that enhance industry competitiveness. Our collaborations are designed to expose us to disruptive technologies and support our growth strategy, aligning with our objectives to integrate innovative products, services, and materials while accelerating our sustainability and digitalization initiatives. This covers my broad description of the highlights of our activities in 2024, and I will now turn you to Marcel for some words on the outlook we have for the following year.
Yeah, thank you, Michael.
I think it was important, in addition to the financials, to spend a little bit of time on our other fronts of digitalization, decarbonization, and overall improvement on commercial excellence. You have seen what we have published in the press release. Of course, the year started with increased volatility on the geopolitical and geoeconomical context, more specifically on the markets. The year started with some extreme weather as we are well into quarter one. However, looking at the backlogs and our commercial performance, we maintain a positive outlook for the year with sales volumes growth, top-line expansion, and increased margin. This is supported by our efforts of commercial performance as well as cost performance.
More specifically, in the U.S., and for those who listened yesterday to our results of Titan America, we consider that the key growth drivers for the year will continue to be federal and infrastructure spending and manufacturing onshoring, as well as non-residential, while affordability of housing is increasing, expecting moderating inflation and adjustments to monetary policy at a later time in the year. Our exposure to high-growth regions in the U.S. is a proxy for further growth in the year. The Greece economy, same pace of transformation as Michael mentioned, firing from all the engines, both on infrastructure, private consumption, real estate, and hotels industry. High volumes growth expected and strong pricing. That is somehow similar as we hold a positive outlook for the Southeast region, where we see increased public and private investments, which articulates in solid infrastructure, non-residential, as well as residential based on foreign remittances.
Egypt, we invest in silo capacity to boost the competitiveness of our exports, while we also witness increased public spending this year. We will continue on holding this positive outlook. At the same time, this is a year where we enter the year with a strong balance sheet that allows for moves to create short and long-term value, but also allocating capital to growth CapEx, which, as we have proven in the past, it was well invested and produced results. As we speak, we are also working on our strategy going forward, and I have already announced that we are well on track to deliver in advance our strategy 2026. We are working on our strategic directions for 2029, both in terms of capital allocation, but also strengthening the profile of Titan as a regionally vertically integrated materials supplier.
At a later stage in the year, we may share these strategic directions with you as part of an investor day. Thank you for listening to us. I think, Spyros, we are opening for questions and answers.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will 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 the first question, please. The first question is from the line of Ephrem Ravi with Citibank. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you. I have three questions.
Firstly, can you talk about how you will service U.S. imports after the sale of the Eastern Turkish plant? Assume the Samsung terminal also goes with the asset. My understanding was that the supply from Greece was less attractive as you have to take on the carbon costs there. Are there any alternatives for that? That is my first question.
Yeah, Ravi, maybe you give us all three questions, please.
Okay. The second question, IFESTOS, I understand that again, the front-end engineering and design has started. Can you give us a guidance to when the actual construction will start? How would the disbursement of the EUR 230 million from the EU work? Will you get cash in advance, or would you have to spend first and get reimbursed from the EU? That is the second question.
Thirdly, on your supplementary cementitious materials JV with JAYCEE in India, what does Titan get as a result of the JV? Would all the sourcing and sale of fly ash and blast furnace slag of JAYCEE internationally happen through the JV, or is it more of a purchase agreement? Those were the three questions.
Thank you, Ravi. I'll start Michael. These are spot-on questions. Yes, the Eastern Turkish plant is being divested. We are still in the process of obtaining the regulatory and customary approvals as we keep increasing our focus on the western part of Turkey. We continue supplying on arm's length the Titan America needs and generally the U.S. market, which is a short market in terms of cement from the Greek plants, which are today competitive in the market.
As we look at the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, this year is a trial year. As of next year, we will continue using this export outlet, but at the same time, we maintain the flexibility. Being a trading house since the 1960s, we are well in the market to build optionality.
We also have an option with the new buyers of the Adocim plant. We have an option for purchase for the next two years.
On the carbon capture and storage, we are in this pre-feasibility stage. We have a go, no go, or final investment decision planned for early 2026. By then, all stars need to be aligned, both in terms of technical readiness of technology, normative, and regulatory environment, including contracts for difference, as well as the value chain build-up with liquefaction, transportation of CO2, and storage.
This is a project which practically is pre-financed, Ravi. Half of it grows to 60% from a subsidy grant, which is given by the European Commission in Brussels as part of the innovation fund. Practically, we are holding an element which is off balance sheet, which is the unsold CO2 rights accumulated over the past years, which can be activated at any time. To your specific question, where the payments will be and the disbursements, I think this will be roughly 2026-2027, with the large part of disbursements at the end of the period. On the supplementary cementitious material, we are very excited about this. Not only the 130 million tons of Pozzolana that, through joint ventures and outsourcing, we have secured in a joint venture here in Greece, as well as in Turkey, but also the increased exposure to calcite clay.
We have a project in the U.S. we have announced last year in Roanoke. We have long-term supply agreements with Indonesia, and now this joint venture in India, which will start with volumes around 500,000 tons of fly ash and investments which are ongoing, boosting that capacity to two million tons, which again is strengthening our capacity, light asset capacity of being a trader and sourcing fly ash where it is produced.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ravi.
The next question comes from the line of Nikos Athanasioulias with Eurobank Equities.
Please go ahead. Hello. Thank you very much for the presentation. I have three questions on my end, although the first one, I think, has already been answered. The first one was regarding a potential investor day to update the financial targets given that 2026 ones are already obsolete.
The second one is the reason behind the EBITDA margin expansion. Was this mostly based on the optimizations and cost controlling on your end, or was this something market-based as well? How would you split the impact between the two? The third one is regarding your dividend policy. You have voiced before that your strategy that you want to increase it step by step. If you continue having positive free cash flow of over EUR 200 million over the next years, will we be able to see such ad hoc payments start becoming more frequent? Thank you.
Thank you. Let me take the three questions. On investor day, Marcel already gave you a notice. We expect to have one in the autumn. No specific date set yet, but it is probably going to be around October. Regarding the margin expansion, it is not the same everywhere.
You've seen margin expansion in most of our geographies, and it comes as a result. There have been relatively few price increases in 2024, not as much as prior years, but there has been significant improvement in efficiencies. Digitalization, as you said, is actually a key contributor as it is being introduced in plants. The real-time optimizers, once they go in, they produce a step down of costs, but then relatively flat from their own performance. The maintenance predictive artificial intelligence, again, brings cost savings, real cost savings, lower stoppages, cheaper repairs, on-time repairs. Of course, the investments that you see in our CapEx, in alternative fuels, in logistics, again, bundled together, they are also financially beneficial. The increase in margin remains a constant target, and we expect to see a further improvement in 2025 as well.
Finally, on the dividend policy, we have already given the signal that a normal dividend in 2025 would have been EUR 1 per share. The step up in profitability, as well as the liquidity raised through the IPO, drove the board to recommend this special dividend. Our target is to primarily grow the business and not start distributing it out. Focus is for new organic, but also inorganic expansion of the business.
Maybe on the margins, just two other comments. One is related to evolution of our product portfolio, and the other one, the effort of commercial excellence. As our strategy is to source and use more supplementary cementitious materials, they are a proxy for using more blended cements. Usually, that comes with a lower cost of cementitious replacing higher carbon, higher cost clinkers.
Overall, a better margin at like-for-like price, which brings me to the second question, which is the second topic, which is commercial excellence. Over the past two years, we have actively invested in upgrading our sales capabilities, marketing by end-use segment, training on value selling, our salespeople recruiting additional technical salespeople, as well as introducing new products to the market. We already see the results in 2024, where with very few exceptions, very local, we have maintained firm pricing, or we have achieved nice price increases. That is an important driver for margins expansions going forward.
That is very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Ethan Cunningham with On Field Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. I have three questions on my end.
The one is that you mentioned that in the fourth quarter in the U.S., you've had adverse weather effects. Is it fair to assume that these will follow into the next quarter? If so, could you quantify? First quarter next year. The second question is, how do you see the potential impacts on Middle Eastern reconstruction, and how would this impact your operations in Turkey and Egypt? The third question is, do you have any updates on the implementation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the free allowance? Will this come in this year or next year? When it does come in effect, how will these affect your operations in Greece and Europe?
Thank you. Thank you for your questions. We have already commented on the impact of the three hurricanes on the fourth quarter in Titan America and the impact on volume.
As you may have seen from the weather reports, this continued in the first quarter. It impacted particularly the Mid-Atlantic areas, but we hold a positive outlook for a rebound in volumes throughout the rest of the year. Regarding the participation to Middle East reconstruction, it's a slow process. There is a lot of expectation there. Again, we maintain our presence with assets in Western Turkey, and we will seize opportunities from there to these export markets or rebuilding part of them or from Egypt, where thanks to the investments over the past 12 months, we have shifted from clinker exports to cement exports, which again find a nice destination in these markets. Regarding CBAM, at the beginning of this week, I was in Brussels with our head of Europe meeting officials. CBAM is in an examination state, but it will become applicable as of January 1, 2026.
That's good news for the wave of investments that generally the industry of cement is planning to have in Europe, acting both as a protective buffer, but also as a level playing field with assets in Northern Africa or Eastern Mediterranean, which are not at the same level of CO2 footprint. I hold a positive view on the impact of CBAM, again, on the investments and also on the pricing environment in Europe.
Okay. Thank you very much.
The next question is from the line of Tobias Werner with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good afternoon, gentlemen. A couple of questions from my side. Number one, when we look at the U.S., I'm with you on the housing optimism. I'm slightly more cautious on infrastructure. Generally, the argument is that the IIJA has only spent 30% or somewhere around that level, and it will continue that way.
At the same time, we've got a new administration which wants to move from a fiscally driven economy to a privately driven economy, i.e., wants to get the bond yield down, which would be positive for housing, but not so positive for infrastructure if it wants to address deficits and indebtedness. My question to you is, where do you take that optimism from around the infrastructure side when you talk about weather and Q4 in the U.S.? Where do you see that weakness in volumes coming from? Is it purely weather, or is it also by subsector driven? Secondly, on U.S. pricing being pushed out into Q2, just remind us of the sequence when these pricing increases are going to go through from your perspective.
Lastly, Greece, obviously benefiting greatly at this point in time, a very positive outlook there from my perspective with the EU Next Generation Recovery Plan. Actually, one angle which is not yet priced in, and I'd like to get your view on, is the defense spending coming out of Europe or the EU. Will Greece participate in that? I know you spend more than the average NATO member at roughly 3% of GDP or slightly above. What's your view on that? Thank you.
Thank you, Tobias. Yes, indeed, we confirm our housing optimism. On the infrastructure, I think the backlog makes us optimistic.
Our overall exposure, and I think these are data that we published as part of our IPO and also equity story, we hold an exposure of 15% on infrastructure segment in the Florida market, which has a nice growth pattern, and 45% on Middle Atlantic. If that 45% of Middle Atlantic is too high, I wouldn't say so. Twenty-five data centers are in different stages of launch and preparation in Middle Atlantic, and Virginia is becoming the capital of data center investment. I think we published again and again, and we see projects in different stages of initiation that are over $50 million short-terms over the next five years with, I would say, equally distributed percentages between roads and bridges, as well as water infrastructure and airports. As long as we see these projects in the market, we have a good exposure.
Like we published last year how we are working with Amazon in Virginia, we maintain a healthy optimism on U.S. infrastructure as a growth driver.
Also on the same subject, the state of the state finances, both Virginia and mostly Florida, very strong financial states. Florida has a state budget for infrastructure, which is very large and very much committed. It is a Republican government, by the way.
Three weeks ago, Florida has announced another boost plan on infrastructure. U.S. prices, you said it, yes, we have announced price increases in the market. Some realize faster than others. We maintain our opinion that this will be resilient this year. Now, on Greece, again, looking at the backlog of infrastructure projects as well as non-residential and tourism industry from the four large construction companies, more than EUR 7 billion in backlog over the next three years.
The key challenge here is rather labor scarcity than financing or capabilities of cement suppliers to participate in this project. Personally, I do not believe that the defense programs announced will impact the infrastructure boost across Europe. We have seen it in Germany, in France. The overall direction there is that there will be a relaxed position on the deficits allowed by the European Commission. That will allow for both pursuing the infrastructure projects and boosting them, as well as the military spending, digital, and education spendings, which are now under discussion.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Tobias.
The next question is from the line of Nestoras Katsios with Optima Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, gentlemen. Just two questions from my side. The first one is about CapEx. What is your guidance for Group CapEx this year?
The second one is about your share purchase program. This one, if I'm correct, ends this June. Do you plan to launch a new one? Thank you.
Okay. Group CapEx, we did mention that 2024 was a high spending year. Plenty of opportunities showing up with obviously beneficial financial benefit behind them. We expect that the Group CapEx will exceed the EUR 300 million mark in 2025. Regarding share buybacks, it's still early days. We have maintained this pace for a couple of years now. We will most probably continue at similar levels.
Okay. Thank you.
We'll take one more question.
Yes. We will now move on to our written question from one of our webcast participants, from Mr. Stathis Kaparis with AXIA.
I quote, "On Egypt's exports, can you please give us some color on export destination needs to bottleneck potential size of export from the current one million tons? Also, post-Turkey exit, what are areas of interest to expand business?" Thank you.
Yeah. I thought that we partly answered this question. We are not speaking of a Turkey exit. We still have assets in the western part of Turkey in Marmara, driving stations. We are an active buyer of clinker and cement producer, while we maintain a strong partnership with the operations divested in Eastern Turkey. As I mentioned, we will seize opportunities to further strengthen that position, as well as improve our export capabilities, taking into account the potential growth in Middle East markets. Regarding Egypt, we have identified a number of destination markets which are not inside the group.
The largest market is around Israel, but we do have also healthy positions in other markets. We actively invest in silo capacity, the bottlenecking, but also lowering the cost through investments in alternative fuels. We have both plants operating at record high level of alternative fuels usage. That brings the overall delivered cost at a competitive level with international markets. Thank you.
Thank you. I think we have to close now.
Yeah. We are well over the hour.
Yeah.
Thank you again for your interest, for your questions. As usual, at your disposal, Spyros Kamizoulis is here to answer any other questions you may have. I think in the next couple of weeks, we will organize the usual road shows. Of course, with the strategic directions, 2029, the Investor's Day will be a nice opportunity to exchange more.
Please remember, it is a strong momentum of Titan across all operations, record performance in 2024 to be continued in 2025 with a strong outperforming of markets while we pursue initiatives, again, to grow, expand margins, and improve our commercial excellence. Thank you. Thank you.
We will be back with you on May 8th with the general assembly of the company, as well as the first quarter results. Yep. Thank you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a good afternoon.