Good morning. This is the conference call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the doValue Nine Months 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Daniele Della Seta, Head of Group M&A, Strategic Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning and welcome to doValue's Nine Months 2024 Results Conference Call. I'm Daniele Della Seta, Head of IR at doValue. Joining us today are Manuela Franchi, our Group CEO, and Davide Soffietti, our Group CFO. As we approach the closing of the announced M&A transactions, today Manuela will provide an overview of our results for the first nine months of 2024, along with insights into the latest market and business trends. Following that, Davide will present a detailed review of our financial performance for the same period. At the conclusion of our presentation, we will be happy to address any questions. Let me now hand over to Manuela to begin.
Thank you, Daniele. The first nine months of the year have been very busy at doValue, with important milestones both in business development and in the Gardant acquisition process. In this quarter, doValue accelerated on the new business side with significant new mandates, underlining doValue's strong market position and continuing to deliver on operational results, which makes us confident in our abilities to deliver on the business plan execution and in excess of targets for new business in 2024. Let's now get started with the presentation by diving into our nine months 2024 business highlights on page three. We are pleased to announce that we have already reached our annual target of 8 billion GBV from new business, achieving this milestone months ahead of schedule. This remarkable accomplishment, in a context of subdued primary market volumes, makes us very confident in our strong market positioning across Southern European markets.
Our EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items for the nine months of the year, has exceeded our internal expectations for the period, reaching EUR 96 million. Cost control and revenue diversification have made possible this achievement in a challenging market environment for debt services. As usual, due to seasonality, much of our results for the full year will depend on the last quarter, and particularly on the closing of certain portfolio sales, which we expect to complete in the last months of the year and generate material fees. Given the current trading conditions, we remain confident in the company's ability to achieve the 2024 EBITDA guidance of EUR 155-165 million. Final performance will, however, depend on the completion of significant secondary sales in Greece and on collection activities, which, as is customary, are concentrated in December.
The Gardant acquisition is progressing as planned, with regulatory approvals underway, some of which have already been obtained. We are excited to be nearing completion and remain on track to finalize both the acquisition and the associated rights issue by the end of the year. In preparation of a seamless integration, we have already defined the integration plan, which will be executed soon after closing. Furthermore, Gardant is well positioned to deliver on the announced EBITDA target for 2024. As we approach the closing, we have finalized the refinancing packages with long-form documents executed and in line ready to be drawn up on completion. We are pleased to announce that the final financing package now includes EUR 446 million term loans and EUR 80 million of revolving credit facility, higher than the original amount thanks to the interest of our lenders. This announced financing structure will further strengthen our capital position.
To summarize, we are entering the final quarter of 2024 with stronger market leadership, driven by accelerated growth for new business intakes, and fully prepared to integrate Gardant into the new doValue. Moving now to page four, we reviewed the progress made during the first nine months of 2024, showing how the business plan assumptions we shared during our Capital Markets Day in March were prudently set and conservative in nature, as confirmed by the recent trends and results. Starting with the Italian market, we assumed EUR 70 billion-EUR 75 billion in NPE transactions between 2024 and 2026. This assumption remained solid, supported by stable forecasts as of September 2024. Moving to the pipeline, we anticipated a total of EUR 40 billion over the next 18 months. Ahead of us, we have now EUR 53 billion pipeline without including Gardant forward flow.
Adding circa EUR 6 billion in new business already closed since the Capital Markets Day, this figure is fully consistent with the market assumption. Overall, doValue continues to navigate challenging market conditions characterized by limited yet stable NPE supply, in line with the assumptions outlined in the business plan. But despite this market condition, specific doValue targets are being achieved ahead of schedule or even exceeded. For GBV, we have forecasts of modest minus 2% CAGR between 2023 and 2026. But year to date, we are already showing a growth in GBV in the first nine months of 2024. Regarding new mandates, our assumption of approximately EUR 6 billion per year is on track. With EUR 6 billion already achieved in the first nine months of the year, we will exceed these targets by year-end.
Finally, for forward flow, we projected EUR 2 billion per year, and this is already exceeded with more than EUR 2 billion recorded in the first nine months, a number expected to increase post-Gardant integration and with the flows of the fourth year. Moving now to page five, here we highlight the GBV intake from new business in 2024 year to date. As I said, we will exceed our targets at year-end. This strong performance was driven by outstanding results in Greece, where doValue commanded over 90% market share on all primary deals closed in 2024. Additionally, in Spain, despite our smaller size, we have won over one-fifth of all closed deals year to date. On the forward flow, we recorded EUR 2.3 billion already exceeding the target. Overall, this brings our total GBV from new business to EUR 8 billion, allowing the achievement we are most proud of.
In terms of secondary mandates, we successfully retained servicing on 100% of the portfolio following secondary market transactions, amounting to EUR 2.7 billion in GBV from secondary mandates during the first nine months of the year. This is not obvious given the competition we are facing, and this deal accelerates the fee generation from existing GBV. Finally, as part of our strategic focus on diversifying revenue streams, approximately 55% of new mandates in 2024 were non-NPL assets, including UTP and other asset classes. This shift is particularly significant as it supports a more accretive revenue mix, given the higher margin associated with the non-NPL servicing, especially in UTP. Moving now to page six, we present a robust EUR 53 billion pipeline projected over the next 18 months. Starting from Italy, the pipelines amount to EUR 14 billion, composed almost entirely by UTP.
In our domestic market, we see opportunities from state-owned or related entities and secondary transactions, with investors beginning to sell relevant portfolio after four or five years into the investment period. In Greece, we have identified EUR 10 billion opportunities over the same period, half of which we expect to materialize in the next six months. A noteworthy opportunity comes from Alphabet, a EUR 5 billion UTP and NPL portfolio sale, on which we have already awarded EUR 1.3 billion tranches for exclusive servicing in September. The remainder of the portfolio awarded to doValue customers is yet to be assigned for servicing, but will come soon. In Spain, the pipelines amount to EUR 5 billion, made mostly of primary portfolio sales by banks, as well as one major SLA with a tier one Spanish bank.
Finally, the pipeline for forward flow, excluding new contracts that could be coming from Gardant, amounts to EUR 4 billion in the next 18 months. The adjustment in pipeline since our Capital Markets Day is due to successfully closed mandates and to projects postponed by banks, which we expect to see again in the market in the future. Moving to page seven, we would like to provide an update on the progress of our diversification activities, which remain of strategic priority for the new doValue, as outlined in our business plan. Beginning with doAdvice, it has officially started its operation and has quickly established itself as the sole advisor on 90% of doValue sales in Greece and co-advisor on the remaining 10%. This is an important source of diversified business, increasing revenue generated from secondary transactions.
We have also incorporated Synthesis as a fully-owned subsidiary of doValue to provide brokering services related to debt and financing solutions, leveraging untapped cross-selling opportunities. Synthesis has received in October regulatory approvals and aims to be live in early 2025, generating fees from mortgage broking for debtors in doValue's managed portfolio or buyers of real estate assets sold by doValue REITs in Greece beyond the third-party mandates. The CRM is completed, and the initiative has already drawn interest from most of the systemic banks in Greece, and now it will generate brokering fees for doValue, but it will also announce a recovery operation for our portfolios.
Turning to real estate services, we have introduced cross-selling initiatives with insurance companies to expand our product offering in Spain, while doValue REITs have obtained a license to participate in digital public auction in Greece, which is expected to unlock a large number of opportunities. Regarding UTP and Stage 2, we added EUR 600 million in new mandates to the Efesto Fund in 2024. Furthermore, the fund capacity has been increased by the banks by EUR 500 million equity commitments from participating banks, which means a multiple in terms of potential GBV addition, paving the way for increased contribution in the future. Finally, our efforts to expand Stage 2 management and asset management lines of business remain on track with the first portfolio contributed to Efesto, and we are expecting to accelerate further through the integration of Gardant.
Now, on page eight, we would like to provide an update of the progress of our 2024 CapEx plan. This year, 50% of our investments have been strategically deployed across three major areas: driving collection and enabling our engine two of growth. Investing in these areas funds initiatives, such as digital platform, real estate, Stage 2 model, and granular ticket management, alongside the development of AI-powered collection model, are the pillars of these investments. Enhancing operational efficiency, this includes leveraging AI-driven segmentation, debtor digitization, vertical integration of systems, and automation of legal services, enabling us to streamline operations and reduce costs. Ensuring resilience and long-term sustainability. Investments here are focused on security programs, data strategy, and data quality initiatives, as well as text mining, all of which are critical to building a robust foundation for the future.
This investment underlines our commitment to innovation and operational excellence, ensuring we are well positioned to support both current business and future growth. Finally, moving to page nine, before handing over to Davide for his overview of financial results, I'm pleased to confirm that the closing of the Gardant acquisition is on track to be finalized by the end of the current quarter. The company, our advisor, and the regulators are working diligently on the necessary filing to ensure a timely successful completion of the transaction, and we appreciate their interest and commitment. We also reference Gardant 2024 EBITDA guidance of EUR 50 million and expected synergies from the acquisition of EUR 50 million by 2026. The integration plan is ready to be deployed as soon as the deal closes.
Thanks to the lockbox mechanism, doValue will benefit from Gardant's strong cash generation, retaining the cash generated by Gardant from 31st of January 2024, which will likely exceed buy-side expectations. Lastly, as previously mentioned, the bank financing package obtained for the transaction was slightly higher than initially envisioned, reaching a total of EUR 526 million, composed of EUR 446 million of five-year amortizing loans and EUR 80 million revolving credit facility. This financing will facilitate the repayment of the 2025 senior secured notes, but will also provide flexibility to address the 2026 notes. With this, let me hand over to Davide to cover the financials in more detail.
Thank you, Manuela, and good morning to all of you. So let's deep dive into the financials of these nine months. Moving to page 11, we have here a summary of the financials for the first nine months of the year and the third quarter.
Gross revenues for the nine months stood at EUR 314 million, down 50.4% year-on-year due to the delay of sales in Greece into the fourth quarter and the lower revenues related to the REOs in Spain due to pressure on real estate prices. In the third quarter, NPL servicing revenues also saw low single-digit increase, driven by Italy and Spain, albeit not sufficient to reverse the negative trend year-to-date. Net revenues at EUR 283 million declined by 6.4%, slightly more than gross revenues due to higher ancillary in Italy driving outsourcing costs. EBITDA ex-NRI decreased by 18.3% in a year to EUR 96 million, better than management expectations for the nine months. The comparison with 2023 is negatively impacted by a positive component in 2023 of EUR 6 million related to the release of a provision for variable compensation of the former CEO.
EBITDA margin stays above the 30% threshold, lower than the previous year due to lower disposals in Greece. The sequential decrease versus the previous quarter is due to the seasonality of collections. Net income ex-NRI at EUR 5 million was impacted in comparability versus nine months 2023 by impairment of assets occurred in EBITDA in 2023, whereas the slight loss of EUR 2 million in 2023 was driven by the lower EBITDA in the quarter. Net income stood at EUR 10 million, possibly impacted by the effect on taxes from EUR 20.1 million tax claims in Spain in the first half of the year. Moving now to page 12, here is a more detailed breakdown of our gross revenues by region. Gross revenues were overall down by 5.4% to EUR 314 million versus EUR 350 million in nine months 2023, mainly driven by EBITDA and lower disposals in Greece that we lacked in the last quarter.
In Italy, gross revenues were overall up by 2% year-on-year, continuing to show strong growth trend in ancillaries, albeit not sufficient to offset slight NPL and lower UTP revenues. In the Iberian region, gross revenues declined by 6.4% year-on-year, mainly due to lower disposals in Greece, which are expected to pick up in Q4. Lower NPL/UTP revenues were partially offset by sequential improvements in Q3. In Spain, the decline in service revenues was more pronounced than in the REOS segment due to the pressure on real estate prices, in an overall challenging real estate market. Moving to page 13, we continue to manage our cost base, leveraging on cost-efficient measures, both in terms of personnel costs as well as IT SG&A. Total operating expenses remained broadly stable at EUR 187 million for nine months 2024, EUR 184.8 million in nine months 2023, thanks to cost containment.
Disposal costs come despite a significant one-off effect with reduced HR costs in nine months 2023, stemming from provision release for the former CEO variable compensation of around EUR 6 million, and despite wage inflation in Italy, plus 15% after the renewal of the contract with the banks. Overall, we have maintained a strong cost discipline across the group, particularly in Spain, where we achieved an 18% reduction in operating costs, preserving profitability despite declining revenues. HR costs were flattish versus 2023, as the combined effect of the one-off cost development in 2023 and impacting the P&L and 15% wage inflation in 2024, coupled with the delay of planned exit after Gardant closing, were offset by cost discipline across geographies. For what concerns other real estate SG&A expenses, the effective cost discipline practice implemented to group level balanced the natural increase of such costs, limiting them to 3.2% increase year-on-year.
The increase was expected in 2024 due to efforts for growth-related initiatives included in our business plan 24-26. In summary, we remain confident on our ability to maintain resilient margins thanks to our cost-saving initiatives. Moving now to page 14, EBITDA ex-NRI for the group was EUR 96 million, beating management expectations. This marks a decline of 18.3% versus 2023, mainly driven by lower revenues and affordable comparison base linked to the aforementioned release of a provision for former CEO and MBO, as revenues from disposal will likely pick up in the last quarter. We are confident we will restore normal profitability and catch up with our guidance. The EBITDA for the Atlantic region was notably impacted by the delay of the disposal into Q4, driving lower revenues. Marginality improved in Q3, on track to return around 50%, in line with the historical trend.
In Italy, EBITDA decreased by 5.6%, driven by the combination of 15% wage inflation, the one-off effect from the former CEOs and MBO, as well as the delay of exit that will be offset by the synergies expected from the Gardant acquisition, resulting in lower redundancy costs compared to the standalone doValue business plan. The extra capacity of resources in doValue will be used to meet staffing needs of Gardant. In Spain, EBITDA is finally back in positive territory, and the sequential improvement in margin in Q3-2024 reflected the company's continued efforts in achieving a highly flexible cost structure. Moving to page 15, we show our EBITDA is translating into a positive reported net income of EUR 10.3 million, or EUR 4.8 million net income ex-NRI. Starting from a lower EBITDA, the net income was impacted by several factors, which come evident on year-on-year comparison.
First, lower write-down on PPE and intangibles, also supported by a favorable comparison based due to impairment of assets in EBITDA in 2023. Secondly, slightly lower net provisions due to the reversal of the previous year's provision related to severance, partially offset by lower layoffs than planned, and initially due to the expected synergies with the Gardant just mentioned. There was also a negative effect of EUR 3 million linked to the revaluation and disposal of doValue Portugal. Thirdly, financial interest and commission were broadly stable despite increasing interest rates, which were fully offset by a positive impact of the base effect linked to the tax pay in Spain. Finally, income tax for the period was positively impacted by the non-recurring outcome related to the Spanish tax claims for EUR 20 million. Overall, the positive impact on net income by Spanish tax claims is worth EUR 22.7 million.
Moving to page 16, let's have a look at the cash flow dynamics. Cash flow from operations in the first nine months proved resilient, standing at EUR 23.7 million, marking a decline of EUR 14.3 million compared to the nine months 2023, despite a drop in reported EBITDA of EUR 23.2 million compared to nine months 2023. The EUR 3.2 million more increase in the CapEx is consistent with the increase in the investment outlined in the 2024 business plan. The net working capital sourced was linked to the prepayment of Eurobank fees occurred in 2023, which will be reversed in Q4 of around EUR 11 million, as well as to portfolio sales booked in P&L following signing of binding agreements that are pending onboarding, and then cash payment, and also to certain advance payments to clients in Greece related to pass-through costs.
We are actively working to mitigate the impact of these advance payments on our working capital in the coming months. If we deep dive into other asset liabilities dynamics, you may notice that the absorption is significantly lower than last year, EUR 20.3 million less. In detail, redundancies at EUR 10 million are lower than expected due to the phasing of exit in Italy already mentioned. Year-end 2016 related flows worth EUR 15 million are in line with the full-year expectation. We have further EUR 40 million absorption came from release of a prior year provision of about EUR 5 million, MBO net payment of about EUR 5 million, and about EUR 4 million fund release with no monetary effect. What was mentioned were equity investments at EUR 6.2 million, EUR 3.2 million of which referred to the acquisition im port] in Spain in 2023.
The remaining EUR 3 million, including the cash in links to the acquisition in Iberia, offset by the payment for earn-out in Spain and disposal of Portugal. Moving to page 17, we discuss our net debt and leverage position in nine months. At the end of the period, net debt stood at EUR 494.5 million, up from EUR 479.4 million recorded at the end of June 2024. The current period was impacted by the combined effect of seasonality, cash absorption in Greece determined by temporary prepayments, as well as the phasing of disposal in Q4, which, as we saw before, impacted EBITDA. Nevertheless, the group retained a solid cash position worth EUR 91 million and enjoyed EBITDA plus of EUR 173 million, including ongoing revolving credit facility line. Net leverage at the end of September was at the level of 3.1 times, up from 2.9 times as of June 2024.
The increase in leverage is due to an enormous seasonality of collection and payments, which is fairly observable at the historical level. Indeed, as you can see in 2023, leverage followed the same trend, peaking in the nine months before normalizing in the fourth quarter. We remind that doValue continues to have one of the lowest leverage ratios in the industry and is given a stable corporate rating, BB Stable Outlook, despite a wave of downgrades among peer groups. Our EBITDA position will materially improve as part of the Gardant transaction, through which we obtained EUR 526 million bank financing package, EUR 10 million higher than previously announced, which include a five-year amortizing loan and EUR 80 million three-year revolving credit facility. These packages, Manuela mentioned, will provide for the full refinancing of 2025 senior secured notes and leave some room for 2026 notes.
Moving to page 18, here is a summary of our regional performance on various key metrics. All in all, the group collection rate decreased temporarily to 4.1% versus the 4.4% in 2023, expected to pick up after the integration of Gardant, driven by the addition of young and high-quality GBV. Collection was EUR 3.1 million, decreased by 0.3 million versus last year, but showing sequential improvements quarter on quarter, of which over 40% from the Italian region. As you can appreciate, the Italian region continues to contribute for the majority of our gross revenues and EBITDA, but we finally record positive EBITDA in Spain. Turning our attention now to page 20, we confirm the guidance for doValue in 2024, as well as our 2023 expectation for the combined group post-Gardant integration.
As for 2024, we expect a gross book value around EUR 115 billion, leading to gross revenue in the range of EUR 46 million-EUR 48 million range and EBITDA in the range of EUR 155 million-EUR 165 million. Gardant is expected to add EUR 22 billion GBV, circa EUR 139 million gross revenues, and EUR 50 million EBITDA in 2024. In 2026, we expect the new doValue to obtain EUR 8 billion GBV from new business per annum, stabilizing GBV to a level of around EUR 110 billion, with the need of younger and higher quality masters driving annual collection rate up to 5.5%. Gross revenues between EUR 605-625 million will be highly diversified, with 40-45% of which coming from non-NPL revenues. Cost savings and EUR 15 million synergies to support the EBITDA in 2026, between EUR 240-255 million, with EBITDA margin reaching circa 40%.
We expect free cash flow after interest expenses to range between EUR 35 million to EUR 40 million to finance dividends and principal repayment. We aim to reduce financial leverage between 1.3 times and 1.5 times EBITDA, assuming non-dividend payment. In the likely scenario of dividend payments returning in 2026, leverage will be adjusted accordingly. We therefore believe the group is a pivotal point, with the Gardant transaction transforming the group into a massively leading financial service provider, with an increasingly diversified revenue base, a sound financial structure, and a strong cash generation potential. Thank you all for your attention. We will now take your questions.
Thank you, sir. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. To remove your question, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. The first question comes from Davide Giuliano of Equita.
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I have a few today. The first one, you have confirmed the guidance that implies a relatively strong acceleration in Q4 coming from disposal. My question is, how much disposal-related revenues have been booked year to date, and how many do you expect in the fourth quarter, and how many have you done in 2023, and if you remember, how many in Q4 2023? And do you see any risk on 2025 profitability related to the disposal you are doing now? The second one on net working capital. Net working capital also absorbed cash this quarter. Do you confirm net working capital indication of 2024 at about flat minus EUR 5 million?
On change in other assets and liabilities item, if I'm not mistaken, in Q4, there should be an earnout on Greece. What do you expect on this item in Q4? And as we get closer to 2025, do you have any updates on the expiring flow contracts with Santander UniCredit? And I know it's probably early for a detailed guidance, but given the cost-cutting initiatives and the impact, I guess, of M&A costs this year, how much cost can we expect next year, more or less, excluding, of course, Gardant and the related integration costs? Thank you.
Thanks, Davide. Thank you for your question on guidance. As you already mentioned, the Q4 will be impacted mainly from the secondary sales in Greece.
We already have done around EUR seven million of sales in the first nine months, and we expect to close the year with a range between EUR 24 million to EUR 27 million of secondary sales for the total year. What is important to highlight, we also have in the last, in the third quarter, some bonuses from some bonds that we gain usually at the end of the year. Now, because we manage portfolio and some of those portfolio has on top of our collection fee some overperformance fee we can post in our P&L at the end of the year when we measure the total collection of the year. So we have also some benefit from those bonuses. The same happens, for instance, in Italy, we have some bonus for the management of legal expenses. This is why we have a fourth quarter will be extremely important for our trends.
And also on the cost side, we are continuing, as already happened in the first nine months, continue to work to reduce it to have savings. So the combined effect of secondary savings of bonus and overperformance will help us to reach our guidance. In terms of other asset liabilities, the earnout in Greece is supposed to be paid by the end of the year. And as you know, we have already in our partnership as liabilities, but we are discussing with the counterpart because the amount is quite what we announced around EUR 12 million, but some elements were discussed with the counterpart. As soon as we close the deal, we will pay it the ending of the year or the beginning of the next year. And the change of liabilities, the Eurobank fees are impacting the working capital.
We have this future with the Eurobank contract where during COVID we renegotiated some fees with them that they in advance this fee of the following year. This will be collected in November and December of this year. Another liability is apart from IFRS 16 redundancies that was in line with expectation. The other item is the release of some funds that will impact positively the EBITDA but was related to the previous year, so we don't have a cash impact. The second item is the payment of some funds we have in our balance sheet that is impacting our cash. Our aim is to continue to normalize this trend to have mainly in this item the payment of leasing and redundancy costs.
For what relates to the UniCredit and Santander contracts, as we have indicated in our business plan, we are not assuming the renewal of the UniCredit contract for the flow, but obviously only the continuation of the stock agreement. On the flow side, you know that this represents today around EUR 400-500 million per annum, while the stock has reduced to around EUR 1 billion. For the Santander contract, we expect to complete the discussion around the renewal in the first half of 2025. So we are assuming the continuation at different terms, given that the original contract was paid while the new one will not be paid, so we'll have market fees.
On the last question regarding the cost of the company beyond Gardant and beyond the synergies, we are assuming for 2025 a pretty constant cost base, taking into account efficiency realized, but also the new initiatives that we are doing to grow other parts of the business where we have OpEx associated to it.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Alexander Koefoed of Nordea.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the presentation. I have two questions. First one, can you elaborate a bit on what is included in your Q3 year-to-date part of the cash flow year-to-date change in other assets and liabilities? It's a bit obscure to me. What can we expect of this line item looking ahead as well? That would be helpful.
Second question is in terms of any sort of refi exercise you're thinking there on your outstanding bonds, and would you have a preference to refi the 25s into early next year, for example? If you could provide some color there, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Thank you, Alexander. I try to give details on other asset liabilities. We usually have two items that are always affecting this change that are the payment of lease liabilities. We have leasing contract for the office we work in or other than infrastructure. These costs are not included in our EBITDA, so it's below the EBITDA. But these are costs that we need to pay monthly, so it's around EUR 15-16 million per year. So in the first nine months, we have paid around EUR 15 million that is affecting this change in other asset liabilities. The same happens for the redundancy.
We have announced in our three-year business plan a redundancy plan, an exit scheme for different people in different regions. As of today, we have paid around EUR 10 million of redundancy costs to exit people, mainly in Spain, more than 100 people. This is, again, not included in our EBITDA. This is why you see here as impacting our change in other asset liabilities, starting because we are producing the cash starting from the EBITDA results. On top of this, that is okay. The other items are related to the fund release, so we have a positive impact on EBITDA because we released some funds, but these are not cash items. So we have positive impact on EBITDA, but it's not producing cash, but we are saving liabilities. We are not going to pay any more of these liabilities. These are the main items that are impacting.
Okay, but in your cash flow statement for 2023, for example, you have a line item payment of principal portions of lease liabilities. So what you're saying is that there is an element as well within the other changes in other assets and liabilities still relating to lease payments, if I hear you right?
Yeah, we always have the lease payment is a running number. So we're down to EUR 15 million to pay each year. You need to consider in our cash flow that we need to subtract this amount from our EBITDA cash flow.
Okay. So is it then okay? So do you provide anywhere the total rent lease payments?
It's actually this amount, EUR 16 million per year, around EUR 16 million per year for the Gardant. With Gardant, it would be around EUR 18 million.
Okay.
Going back to your second question regarding the refinancing plan, you know we have the 2025 bond maturing in August and the 2026 maturing in July. We plan to refinance with the new package related to the Gardant transaction, the 2025 at the end of the capital increase process, with the term loan facility of five years amortizing, while we have the backup from the same facility also to repay the 2026. But we would like to refinance this bond in the market, in the bond market, to continue to have both an exposure to the bank and to the bond market, despite the backup we have on the banking side in case we wish to pursue this route.
Okay, very clear. Thanks so much.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephone. We have a follow-up question from Mr. Davide Giuliano of Equita.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you again. Just another question, if I may. In the quarter, you reported a loss on equity investment, more or less from a participation of approximately EUR 3 million. Can you give us some detail, specifically what it refers to, and should we assume that is a recurring item in the coming years as well? Thank you.
Yeah, Davide. It's mainly related because of the exit of Portugal. As I announced, we decided to exit from Portugal because for us, it was not anymore a core country, and we didn't see any opportunity to grow. So we decided to exit to sell 100% of our stake.
So this is why the agreement with the buyer is we need to impair the value at the end of our balance sheet. This is the main reason of this negative impact on our P&L.
Perfect. Thank you.
The next question, sir, is from Simonetta Chiriotti of Mediobanca.
Yes, thank you. Could you just provide us an update on how is market competition and liquidity evolving in your main markets, and what do you expect for 2025 and 2026? Thank you.
Simonetta, I think the results we read on the new business side are representative of how we see the competition at this moment in time. We have already achieved our targets, and we will do better than that, achieving more than 90% market share in the Greek market.
Above our market share in Spain, where we have one-fifth or 20% of the new deals in the market compared to our GBV market share of around 10%. In the Italian market, we are gaining in line with our market share of around just below 20%. So we are seeing that the consolidation in the markets is driving more commercial power of our platform vis-à-vis competitors, also because fortunately, we are working in a very smooth way vis-à-vis the integration with a very clear plan in mind so that we don't want to impact in any way our presence in the market in terms of new deals and transactions. The market, beyond the headlines we see in the newspaper, is very active with smaller deals. Today, all in Italy, in the last quarter, there are 10 transactions by banks and four or five by investors selling on secondary.
Greece has seven, eight deals, mostly primary transactions, and seven, eight are all in the fourth quarter in the Spanish market. And our business development teams are competing on all of them. That's why we see closing of additional trades by the end of the year, which allow us to exceed the current budget.
Thank you.
Mr. Della Seta, there are no more questions registered at this time, sir.
Many thanks to all of you.