Good afternoon everybody and welcome back. We are here with our Executive Chairman Cristian Fabbri, our CEO Orazio Iacono, and our CFO Massimo Valle to comment the results of H1 2025 following the board meeting, which was wrapped up about an hour ago. Let me give the floor to our Executive Chairman, Mr. Cristian Fabbri. '
Thank you and good afternoon everybody. Let's begin by illustrating the first half results as usual. We can begin with our net profit figures, which is up 5% compared to H1 2024, with an overall growth worth EUR 11 million. At the same time, while having increased investments by 20% compared to the first half of last year, we had a reduction in our group's financial debt position, which is now below EUR 4 billion, with an overall reduction equal to over EUR 100 million when compared to H1 2024.
I'd also like to remind you of the fact that this figure also includes the payment of dividends which took place in June. Massimo will be explaining all of our cash flow details later on. All in all, our net result is on the rise, our debt is decreasing and we're continuing to invest, which is in line with what we had defined in our business plan. Now if we move on to the P&L, beginning with the EBITDA, all the way down to net profit. In terms of EBITDA, we stand at EUR 722 million compared to EUR 733 million last year with an EUR 11 million reduction. In absolute terms, and later on we'll be seeing which elements led to the reduction of the temporary opportunities that we were able to take advantage of in previous years, which reflected in 2024 and which were reduced as an overall contribution in 2025.
We also achieved inorganic growth. We can see that also in terms of depreciation and amortization we have had an overall impact which leads us to an increase of some EUR 15 million in absolute terms compared to last year, also due to the effects of the increased investments we made both this year and last year. These investments lead to higher amortization, although in terms of overall provisions we've had a reduction equal to EUR 23 million compared to the figures we had last year. We had an increase in amortization due to the increased investments, but we've reduced provisions also given the normalization of our various components, and also because we had a lower contribution for the last instance markets, and part of that reduction is linked to the production of certain one-off situations.
In terms of EBIT, we stand pretty much on the same levels we had last year minus some EUR 2 million. As we also saw in Q1, the financial charges were down considerably and compared to H1 last year we reduced things by some EUR 24 million. Later on we'll be seeing in the details on the right-hand side, that is something that was continuing on a quarter-by-quarter basis. In terms of taxes, we've had an increase linked to the increase in the pre-tax figures and we've had a slight increase in tax rate from 28% to 29% compared to last year, which brings us to the net profit that we mentioned earlier, equal to EUR 229 million.
If we look to the results of the provisions, we can see that compared to H1 2023, which also included extraordinary provisions, also linked to the high turnover and the energy crisis, progressively we have seen a reduction on a semester-by-semester basis, which now brings us to the current figure which is equal to EUR 58 million, which reflects a more normalized situation of both the market and the contributions of various businesses the group has. If we look on the right-hand side when it comes to financial charges, you'll notice that this contribution in Q1 had a major reduction when compared to Q1 2024, which still hadn't absorbed the benefits of the way in which we progressively started managing the shaping of our debt to take into account the daily and monthly fluctuations.
That is something we conducted during 2024 and already in Q2 2024 we had become very effective which led to further benefits also given the reduction in variable rates which are used in this context. We've seen that also in H1 2025 and in fact Q2 2025 has improved compared to Q2 2024, which brings us to the EUR 32 million that we mentioned earlier. Now moving on to EBITDA, you may remember that when we drafted our business plan, we explained that we had had temporary opportunities pretty much linked to the last census and the super Eco bonus and a number of items related to energy fixings that we had done on Hera's energy plans. We'll be going into this later. All in all they accounted for over EUR 170 million.
At the same time we had the M&A organic growth which brought us to a 7% average growth on the business plan period. What we're seeing in this half is what we mentioned, the business plan, which means that we are seeing less temporary opportunities. At the same time we have an organic growth which minus those effects brings us to a positive effect in all business areas, + 7 in energy, +14 in waste, +4 3 in networks. If you consider, if we consider that energy, 7 million in energy also has to take into account the negative effects of the SDG of the first half, which wasn't present last year. If we also take that effect into account, the business growth is quite obvious with the EU 7 million .
Moving on to the profitability indicators, you may remember that in our business plan for the past two years we've been mentioning value creation. You saw that in the net profit and you can see this also in the profitability indicators with an increase in ROI and ROE, both of which stand at double digit figures for the first half of the year, if you compare them both to 2024 and 2023 during the same period. Now moving on to the various business areas, beginning with energy. In this business we have EUR 46 million in temporary opportunities which are no longer there. A vast majority of the impact is the one we're seeing in energy. This is linked for the most part to the last instance market, especially the Selva Guardia market. We were reassigned the tender, but with a much lower spread, although we've increased volumes.
We're also seeing this with the normalization of the gas less denseless market, which are progressively reducing the volumes, which had grown considerably during the energy crisis, which was when we had guaranteed the gas supply to those customers who were losing their suppliers. We had an increase in sales, which is quite considerable, and we're slowly going back down to more normal figures. We're seeing a tail of the Super Eco bonus, which last year still had a small EUR 6 million contribution, which brings us to the like for like situation in 2025. You'll see that the overall growth of this market brings us to a figure equal to + 7.
If we also take into account the fact that we have recovered the investment on SDG, which as you know, will be giving its benefits beginning on April 1st, 2027, and which we're already managing in line with what we had expected in our business plan, all things considered. Therefore, you have a growth of the liberalized market, which allows us to offset the negative elements we mentioned with a + EUR 7 million. Moving on to waste and networks. Let me give the floor to Orazio for some comments.
Thank you, Cristian. Good afternoon. I'd like to begin with our waste business ID with a specific focus on M&A. We made the acquisition of 100% of Ambiente Energia of the Mazzotto Group, which operates in the industrial waste sector, specifically in water treatment, with a plant in Scio in the Veneto region, a very wealthy part of Italy.
Ambiente Energia will be extending its global waste management offer in one of the most productive and most dynamic areas of the country, where we are already rooted in for quite some time. This is worth 120,000 tons, with an EBITDA worth over EUR 3 million. This acquisition will have a positive impact on H2. We are not stopping our growth in the waste business. If we move on to the following page, you'll see that we have a structural growth worth 9%, which has an even greater value because it came about in a complex macro scenario in which industrial production is going through a period of global uncertainty. We were able to see contributions from all activities: urban collection, waste treatment, plastic recycling, soil remediation.
Therefore, this growth is also brought about by a broad customer portfolio, a diversified portfolio at that, which allows us to have a resilient growth. Our leadership on the market allows us to take advantage of the price dynamics and the inflation dynamics. We have the various businesses we manage which contributed to the growth, beginning with the collection, which is on the rise specifically because of the returns on inflation, given the concessions that we were awarded following tenders, concessions which have a 15-year duration. We also have the margins linked to the expansion of services. These are recurring activities for the years ahead, all the way up to the expiry date of the concessions, which is 2037. When it comes to waste treatment, we have growth both in terms of the special waste stemming from urban waste collection, but also on industrial waste.
Despite the complex context, we have increased our perimeter. We are now up and running with our F3 plant, which is the one which treats hazardous waste in Ravenna. We have the TRS platform to pre-treat the industrial waste, which we made the acquisition of a few months ago. We also have the Montale waste-to-energy plants in Tuscany that we're managing. We also had a slight increase in our perimeter. Global waste linked to the global waste management services we offer, with a specific reference to our food and beverage and the pharmaceutical customer base, which has grown slightly where we offer global waste management services. Moving on to the recycling sector, we have grown by EUR 3 million.
As we also mentioned during the business plan presentation, we're seeing a positive trend here due to an increase in demand, especially as far as PET polymers is concerned, because that is affected by the European Directive on single use plastic with a 25% which becomes mandatory as of this year compared to the previous directive, which had a threshold equal to 11%. We're also growing in the soil remediation sector. We're up EUR 2 million. We are the market leaders and the growth of margins here is linked for the most part to ACR Reggiani, which is a company we made the acquisition of, which is the leader in soil remediation. They have a number of interesting contracts with some of our country's biggest businesses. We're seeing a growth in waste based on structural drivers.
It is a solid form of growth which has been able to more than offset the reduction in margins linked to the energy business linked to commodity prices in the energy crisis we experienced two years ago. We can now move on to the networks business. As far as this business is concerned, we are very healthy indeed. As far as our infrastructure is concerned, we are very resilient and we were able to prove our resilience even during the most recent extreme climate events. We are number one in terms of water quality certified by Areda. We stand at EUR 3.6 billion in terms of RAB, and we'll be moving up to EUR 4.5 billion, thanks to a major investment plan. For the benefit of all of those joining us, even from overseas, this business is regulated by a very reliable authority, a very reliable regulator.
It is a business which is protected by all microeconomic scenarios, by rates, by fluctuation and demand, Deliberation 87 and Deliberation 130, which refer to operating costs, coverage and inflation. These lay the groundwork for a tariff review for the 2026 to 2027 two-year period, which is more in line with our company costs. It will lay the foundations for a stabilization of inflation rates which will be more generous and more in line with the real profitability of the sector. If we move on to the following slide with some figures, you'll notice that we continue to grow significantly with an EBITDA growth worth +9%. These are very solid figures, also because the first half report doesn't include the premiums we'll be receiving in water, which will certainly have an impact on H2.
We'll be mentioning this later on, but for the time being, let's focus on the regulated businesses we manage and which contributed to our growth. We can see that water grew by EUR 10 million. In this case, the growth is pretty much due to the major investments that we launched with some innovative projects, both in terms of efficiency and in terms of resilience. Thanks to our investments over the past few years, we have received data, incentives, and this year we received 26 KPIs or premiums for the 2022-2023 two-year period. Given the quality objectives we were able to achieve, and as I mentioned earlier, these premiums will have a positive impact on the EBITDA. In H2, we have EUR 4 million EBITDA with the growth in RAD due to investments on development. The remaining six refer to inflation. On gas, we had an increase of EUR 13 million.
Almost EUR 12 million referred to deliberation 87, allowing for the recognition of OpEx referring to deliberation 570, 2019. The remaining part is equal to EUR 2 million due to increase in RAB in investments on development. Even here, we have the effect of inflation on gas, and with deliberation 30, we recognize the inflation of RAB, replacing the deflator with the KPIs we had mentioned in May, which leads to the stabilization of inflation indices, which, as I mentioned earlier, are more in line with the real profitability of the sector. These three things together have more than offset the cut in WACC. Finally, we have electricity. Even here, we have a contribution from electricity distribution. It's a smaller growth, but that growth is part of the same drivers we mentioned for the gas business.
As you can see from the graphic here, all of the networks contributed to growth, the only exception being district heating. We still have an in-progress tariff, which is currently being reviewed by the authority, and we're waiting for the final regulatory framework. We're working very intensely so that we'll be able to have higher margins from the sector. The results are in line with our expectations. There are no surprises. Our investment plan will continue with a +33% growth compared to last year, meaning that in a year in which we've had a reduction in WAG in two businesses, namely gas and electricity networks, we continue to grow also thanks to our constant focus on increasing efficiencies in operations, while at the same time improving the quality of service and the quality of our infrastructure. Thank you. I'd like to now give the floor to Massimo Valle.
Good afternoon everybody. As usual, let me try to illustrate a couple of slides to give you an overall view of our cash flow in this year's H1. As you can see on the left-hand side of the slide, the cash flow generated in the first part of the year is equal to EUR 675 million for the operational side of things, with EUR 139 million growth compared to the same period last year. We then have a positive contribution from the net working capital to complete the thermal season for 2024, 2025, with cash worth EUR 41 million. You may remember that in March we had had an absorption worth slightly less than EUR 80 million. We have the provisions, which stand pretty much on the same level as we've always seen. We also have to mention the CapEx, both in terms of the maintenance CapEx and in terms of the development CapEx.
All in all, these two components are equal to EUR 395 million, which is up by EUR 67 million compared to the same period last year. This goes to show what we had already mentioned previously, namely that our business plan, which is in the execution phase and already in 2025, has a major growth in our operational investments. In Q1 2025, as far as maintenance was concerned, we had invested EUR 137 million, slightly above twice the amount. Even as far as development is concerned, we sit at EUR 51 million, whereas now we stand at EUR 114 million. We're speeding things up so that we can achieve our results that we were targeting for 2025. Also, in Q1 we had had the impact of the distribution of dividends. We are still missing on some EUR 20 million which will be paid after June 30th. It will be paid in the next few weeks.
Although we absorbed all of the or most of the distribution of dividends, you'll see that our debt all in all is reduced compared to the levels we had at December 3rd, 2024, and that is now down by EUR 37 million. We stand below the figures I had shared with you on our net financial position that I had to mention for last year. What we expect for the next few months, a slight increase in these months due to the seasonal effects that we'll be seeing in the final part of the year, which is what we always see, but we'll also be completing our gas supply activities, our gas procurement activities rather. We'll be paying some tax debts that we already had at June 30th.
Moving on to the graph on the right hand side, you'll see that as far as the net debt/EBITDA ratio, which as you know is a benchmark in terms of our financial soundness, it's also a way to be flexible for possible opportunities or for unexpected scenarios where M&A opportunities, for example, which don't have the same parameters, we may have on the same values we had at the end of last year, in which we illustrated in late March. We're currently standing at 2.5x , 2.49x to be more specific, which is slightly better compared to our expectations. Moving on to the next slide, even here we don't have too many new things to mention compared to what we had shared with you in March or rather in May.
For the March figures, our average cost of debt stands at 2.75% with a good management of reimbursements and renewals, allowing us to have a smoother variation compared to our average cost of structured debt compared to the fluctuation of the interest rates on the market. As you know, on January 8th we issued a bond, a green bond with a pre-funding activity that cash availability, along with the better than expected final results for last year allowed us to optimize the proceeds from this extra cash. We had the performance of the financial management that the Executive Chairman mentioned earlier, allowing us to add a positive contribution to the bottom line of this first half of the year. As far as the type of debt is concerned, as you can see we have a very limited exposure to interest rate fluctuation.
Only 3% is variable whereas 97% is fixed rate. Finally, as far as our rating agency assessment is concerned, Moody’s has improved its outlook from stable to positive, which is the consequence of the assessment Moody’s made following its country risk assessment. In conclusion, therefore, we were able to wrap up H1 this year in line with our expectations with excellent financial flexibility and with a good outlook as far as the end of the year is concerned. Back to the Executive Chairman for some conclusions.
Thank you, Massimo. Let's take a look at the main takeaways for this very brief overview of our H1 results. Our results give us a snapshot of a group which is very solid and capable of being in line with our expectations and our business plan commitments.
We had a 7% structural growth besides the temporary opportunities that we were able to take advantage of in previous years and we are in line with our business plan. We had a growth of our net profit which is equal to 5% in line with our business plan expectations and we also have a great financial soundness, great flexibility with a 2.5x net debt/EBITDA ratio which is better than last year. We are very much on track with our business plan targets and that is the direction we're headed in. As usual, we kept things short to leave time to you for your questions. I know that today was a very intense day with plenty of presentations and plenty of conference calls. We are the last ones and hopefully we can keep things to a one hour presentation. Over to you for your questions.
Good afternoon. Our first question is by Emmanuel Journe, Kepler Cheuvreux.
Good afternoon. I hope you can hear me. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Let me start by asking you an update on the retail market. What is your outlook? What is the competitive pressure? I noticed that your customer base in Q1 went from 4.6 million to 4.5 million customers. Why the change? Is it due to the churn rate for other customers who chose other suppliers? Are these lost customers? What are the dynamics you're seeing and what do you expect for the upcoming quarters? I have a second question, more in general on the moving parts for H2. You're going to start consolidating. I imagine maybe not for the entire six months since you still haven't completed the closing. Can you give us an update on that and other moving parts for H2?
Refer to the technical quality premiums for water. Can you just remind us of the exact figures there? You mentioned EUR 26 million, but I remember EUR 14 million from a previous conference call. What are the other moving parts for EBITDA and specifically for H2 2025? One final question. I noticed that you announced the minority buyout of Aliplast. There were a number of articles in the press regarding the 3i fund which has a share in Hera Ambiente and they may be selling. Obviously the ideal candidate there would be for you to have another minority buyout even there. Can you give us some insight? Can you give us an update on your interest in that kind of an approach? Thank you.
Thank you, Emanuel. Thank you for your questions. Let me begin by the market. We're seeing an increase in competition every year, and this year is no different.
Even this year we're seeing an increase in competition. Generally speaking, we're holding our own on the market. What we're seeing is that on the SDG side of things, a few customers are leaving, other customers are being transformed. The overall situation is positive between the customers that moved to the liberalized market and those who were left. The business plan, you may remember, had 4.5 million customers at the end of the business plan after the absorption of the SDG market. We're in line with our expectations, the ones that we included in the business plan, and they're slightly better compared to what we were expecting when we made a bid in the tender. We're doing quite well.
In H1 we were able to offset the negative effect of those lost customers with a better margin in the traditional market, due to the market mix, but also due to the recovery we saw in some shaping costs that we had had last year. When comparing the figures year on year, we're able to recover something, and we had an average margin which is a little higher. Plus, with the offers we had set up during the energy crisis, which transferred the shaping costs, we're now starting to see the effects of that. That was an answer as far as the market is concerned. Referring to the moving parts for H2, let's begin with IMAG. Where do we stand with IMAG?
In July we had the political partners who deliberated, and 90% of the public shareholders deliberated, the municipalities basically, and 100% of those who deliberated gave a positive response. We now have a technical suspension for some verifications from the competent authorities. We're waiting for that process to be completed over the next few months. Therefore, hopefully for the Q3 results, we'll have some news. If I may, with a follow-up question for IMAG, do you think you may end up consolidating less than six months, and what impact would that have? We were planning to wrap up the transaction by the end of the summer. We're in line with the timeline we had in mind, and if the final verifications will end up being positive, we'll be able to consolidate the company for the last quarter of the year.
Again, we have to wait for the final steps, for the final technical steps to be completed. In January, we completed the industrial agreement between the two companies, between Hera and IMAG. In July, the political public shareholders deliberated positively, and now we have to complete the technical verification stages. The antitrust, for the time being, has given the green light for the single markets. Moving on to the gas distribution side of things, where we currently have 50% Hera and 50% IMAG, we have to have a verification there regarding competition. We will be waiting for the final verification of the transparency of the entire procedure, and that goes for the market assessment. Of course, we will also have to have another stage during which we will have to verify the administrative side of things with all municipalities.
These assessments have already started. We are just waiting for the technical processes to be completed by the end of the summer. Other moving parts: certainly in H2 we will not be seeing major elements of discontinuity compared to what we saw in Q1, and that applies to all the trends we have seen in the P&L. We will continue to reduce the temporary opportunities, but at the same time we will continue to grow, and the networks business will grow in a linear way. We also have to consider the EUR 13 million premiums that we will be factoring in in the next quarter. We received the news after we had closed the first half figures, so we decided to check them. We wanted to include them in the H1 figures, but we will be considering them in Q3.
This is something extra compared to the linear projections and is continuing in its growth process. As Orazio mentioned earlier, it will continue to grow. On EBITDA level, these are the elements I wanted to mention. Maybe what you are most interested in is the P&L flow. We will be continuing to reduce the provisions, and we will be able to more than offset amortization. We are seeing a number of quarters that have already become efficient in terms of financial charges. We will be able to extract further value to the end of the year. We saw that by business, we saw that by the various lines and the P&L. Everything is quite obvious as far as minority buyouts are concerned. We completed the Aliplast deal. 3i is moving, and we are also paying careful attention to things. Okay.
As Cristian was saying, we perfected the acquisition of the remaining minority stake worth 20% in Aliplast last, which is performing well, as I mentioned earlier. As far as 3i is concerned, we are making our assessments and of course things need to be done at a reasonable price. I think that is the best thing that we can do. We've always done it and that's how we will continue to proceed. Of course, we have an important role to play in the sector and our leadership allows us to be market consolidators, which as we all know, is very fragmented. This year we completed three small transactions, the ones that we've seen in the past, and we'll continue to act as leaders on the market. Thank you. Thank you for your answers.
Thank you. The following question is by Javier Suarez Med.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I have two or three questions for you. The first refers to slide 10, your closing remarks. You mentioned a structural growth equal to 7%. I have a conceptual question. When we talk about a 7% structural growth, is this a statement that you use to showcase the growth in H1 2025? Or what you want to say is that a high single digit growth, you have a high single growth for the company. This is a question on the structural growth of the company. I saw your business plan, which expects to have a 6% growth. If we backtrack what Hera has grown over the past 10 to 15 years, growth has always been more than that. What you're saying with that + 7%, is that a temporary snapshot which showcases what you did in H1 2025 organically, or is it more structural thing? That's my first question.
My second question is a follow up to Emanuel's question regarding your 25%. The 25%, Hera Ambiente's stake. The CEO was saying that it's a matter of price. Conceptually speaking, is it fair to say that there is no better option to Hera than that of buying a minority stake of a company that you know in and out and which is an essential part of your growth for the years ahead? Is this a balance statement? Would this be an operation that would be part of your balance sheet headroom for something which shouldn't be excessively burdensome? The third question is on guidance. Some guidance. Let me just try. On net income, do you feel comfortable with the net income you have for 2025? The consensus, if I believe, is at around EUR 470 million. Thank you.
Thank you for your questions. Let me begin with the first statement.
Now, in our business plan, we had an average EBITDA growth without the temporary contributions, which was 7%, and that's what we posted in H1. That's an average and we are in line with that average growth trend, which we want to confirm. Also, because we presented the business plan six months ago and we're still on track with it, although we're already starting to think about the upcoming business plan that we will be presenting to you in 2026. For the time being, that is in line with what we mentioned as far as the business plan growth. Of course, a profit is in line with what we included in the business plan, also as a way of guaranteeing an increase in profit. This is a partial answer to your question on forecasts.
As far as profit is concerned, we're confident that we'll be able to close the year with the growth compared to the previous year. Now, whether or not that growth will be to 4%, 5% or 6%, that's something that will have to be seen as we develop the second half of the year. Again, we're working on things and we're confident that we are creating value. As you've seen, we're doing something very complex, but also quite straightforward. We're able to grow consistently based on the opportunities we saw over the past two years, which, as you know, we had the Super Eco Bonus and the last instance market. Last year, the Super Eco Bonus was eliminated and it had a lower contribution compared to 2023 with EUR 80 million. Despite that, our EBITDA grew by EUR 90 million. Our organic growth there was equal to EUR 170 million all in all.
We were able to more than offset that activity. Even this year we've had a decrease in the last instance market, so we are proceeding to offset that. That's on the EBITDA level. Below that, we are working on a number of operations allowing us to bring out the industrial value that we're generating. Of course, on the one hand we have the last instance markets and the Super Eco Bonus gave us positive contributions despite some burdens they brought about. On the other, the fact that we have a more normalized energy scenario allows us to reduce provisions and financial charges back to a more streamlined situation that we had in the past.
We eliminated a number of costs that we had to have given the higher volatility and the higher financing needs, with the higher flexibility we needed to have back then to deal with the spikes in prices, which you may remember were quite consistent, they were quite large and different from one month to the other. We no longer need to have all of that availability anymore, and we're reducing costs. We are working on the industrial side of things and on the provisions and on financial charges so that the value we generate can be felt all the way down to the bottom line. We didn't even look to a restatement because of course it's complicated and it's also somewhat intimate, but we are comparing things to the net result we had last year with all of those contributions. This is a challenge that we're working on.
For the time being things are looking very well with a great determination and with the great ability to execute, which is what we've always had, and we'll continue to work in that direction. This is the overall picture of Hera Ambiente you mentioned. Of course, it's a company that we know inside out and very well. We are interested in the possibility of buying it back. As I was saying earlier, that needs to have the right conditions, the right prices. We're starting to see things and we'll see what's at stake there. That's another thing that we will be assessing to see how things stand. As Orazio was saying earlier, we tend to tell you what we've done once we finalize things.
We're looking to Hera Ambiente because of course it's interesting, it's a great company, but we're also looking at other files, other opportunities, and our M&A office is always extremely busy and many of the things they deal with are potentially interesting. We always focus very well on finding the right matches to our company and to our business model so that we can extract synergies, so that we can find the right price. We have to look at the things that are in line with those new records that we have. Thank you very much. The next question is by Francesco Salah, Banca Akros. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for this opportunity. I have three questions for you. The first is on the waste treatment business and specifically on plastic recycling.
What are the margins there over the past few weeks and what prices do you expect over the next few months? Will we be seeing any more external growth opportunities in the coming quarters? Second question is on gas distribution. Can you give us some details regarding the impact on each one, both on the recovery of OpEx and of the defective? Can you give us your expectations regarding the working capital trends for H2 as far as waste treatment is concerned? You were asking us a question regarding recycling and as I was mentioning earlier, we noticed that there has been an increase in demand. That's something that we expected, something we had talked about in the past. Basically, we're seeing the effects of the single use plastic regulation, which requires a minimum amount of 25% recycled PET. We work on a number of different polymers.
This is one of our main traits. We have PETs, which can be both film and chips. In this sector we've seen a growth in volumes. Sales have increased slightly by 8,000 tons. Even the price of recycled plastic has gone up. We are over EUR 1,600 per ton. We're seeing the effects of this regulatory boost. As far as waste treatment more in general, the outlook on prices is high. Prices continue to be high. The prices that we are seeing in 2025 are in line with the ones we saw in 2024. The market is short and taking waste abroad costs more because, of course, logistics costs have grown. Our plants are running at full capacity. We have no saturation issues. This, of course, helps us to achieve the margins that we showed you earlier. We also expect to hold on to them for H2 as well.
As far as gas distribution is concerned, the IPCA side of things, if I understood correctly. Keep in mind that inflation needs to be integrated. We have the normal deflator and IPCA, as Alessia was saying earlier. The point is that the authority finally realized that the indicator they were using was one that was simple to measure with a stable inflation, whereas with the intense oscillation of inflation, it was not very reliable. In fact, it was reviewed retroactively. The fact that the growth of inflation has already been defined on the previous indicator figures had to be reviewed by IPCA, and it includes the normal inflation expected during the year, plus the recovery of the value we had in 2024. As far as tires are concerned, which is worth roughly EUR 2.5 million for the first half of the year, we factored in slightly over half of that.
I hope that was your question. Yes, it was. In fact, as far as your question on the working capital is concerned, let me give the floor to Massimo.
Of course, the main elements are linked to the seasonality of things. Yes, as usual, with a company our size, it's difficult to give you exact forecasts for the working capital. It's quite complex. We always give a projection for the variation which we expect to be on the rise compared to what we currently have. If we look at the macro trends, which typically have an impact on the year end, we expect to have an increase in working capital compared to the figure we currently have, due to the effect of two things.
On the one hand, the start of the thermal season, with the normal absorption of working capital linked to the difference between the cashing in and the payment for energy, especially for gas, and then also regarding the impact for gas procurement, which we started doing in May. Therefore, we immobilize the working capital and those effects will be seen in the second half of the year. In December, the amount of gas we'll be selling will depend on the evolution of the thermal year. It's never a fixed number. It depends on the thermal year, depending on how cold or how mild the winter is.
Massimo was very clear in describing the drivers. The expectations we had on the combined contribution of these drivers is slightly above what we were expecting regarding the price dynamics and our commercial activities.
If it's slightly colder in December, or slightly colder in November, or slightly warmer, a few dozen million euros can change in terms of the working capital, but given the size of the company, those kinds of changes are very reliable. A few dozen million euros don't change very much and we don't have any specific issues. Our customers are paying promptly or invoicing. Fine. As far as gas procurement is concerned, we are in line with the amount that we had last year. Maybe a slight variation in volumes, slightly lower prices, but there's no specific driver which we're concerned about. Slightly lower volumes in gas, slightly higher volumes of electricity. That's your vault dimension we're referring to. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any further questions?
Yes, we have Davide Candela, Banca Integra San Paolo. Over to you, Davide.
Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for your presentation.
I have a couple of questions on energy supply. A little bit more high level regarding the market context. Do you expect to see a reduction in competition on the market? It's not. What are the initiatives that you are working on to protect your customer base and your margins? The second question linked to the first one, how is the M&A market doing? Recently we saw a deal on the market. In that case, the recognized multiples were the outcome of the competitiveness we're seeing and the customer switching we're seeing. Of course, your insight would be useful besides the fact that all customer portfolios are different.
Thank you for your very interesting questions. Let me begin by saying that competition has increased. We're working on two axes.
On the one hand, we want to be focused on customer loyalty, on post sales, and on the best possible sales as far as the incoming side of things is concerned. We're also working to hold on to the quality customers, and I mention the word quality because if you acquire customers in a not very orthodox way, it doesn't really help your churn rate because those customers then disappear just as quickly as you conquer them. We're also working on post sales, which is something we've always done, and over time it has allowed us to have a lower churn rate compared to the market average. We focused on commercial development on the one hand and customer retention on the other. There's a lot to do.
I don't want to mention too many details, but let me just say that we're working on a number of different initiatives, but it's not so much the reflection of what is currently happening, it's the way we've always worked every year. We always try to improve things, optimize things, and grow both in the back and in the front. They're becoming increasingly integrated. Those are the initiatives that over the years in fact have allowed us to move from a 1% market share to an 8% market share, which is where we currently stand. Emanuele was saying that customers are on the decline. Of course they are. Last year we acquired new customers who didn't know us and they are being courted by our competitors. We knew that some of those customers would have left us. Retention for those new customers, is it very easy?
The levers there are limited, but in the short term, if they leave, it's all right. In the long term, of course it's something that we would be sad about because those are investments that we're making. We like to hold on to our customers, to all our customers potentially. There's only so much you can do as far as the deal is out there. Every asset has its price and we are used to considering a deal on customers. If we look at the euro per customer, not all customers are the same. Of course, since they aren't the same, they have different margins at different loyalty levels, efficiencies that can be taken into account. It can be more or less recognized in the deal, or more or less existent for that specific customer base. It's difficult to mention a general trend.
Evaluation was made there, a negotiation took place, and it's based on that specific customer portfolio. What we're currently seeing is that even with a higher churn rate, take into account that when you work with structures, you have to take into account the fact that not only you're buying customers, but you're also buying a machine, so to speak, through which you can hold on to those customers over time and through which you can work on a customer base through increasing efficiencies and also offsetting those customers, because you also end up buying a sales network that can support you. If you consider all of these different effects, what we're currently seeing is that customers are worth more compared to what they were worth a few years ago.
As far as margins are concerned, of course there are certain segments in which, due to the energy crisis, I'm referring to the large industrial clients, there used to be higher margins because those customers had high levels of working capital, high volumes, and low margins in normal conditions. Whereas during the energy crisis, those margins went up with the hedging that existed and also considering the head of the shaping costs. Whereas now we're seeing a contraction in margins. We have a small position there and it's very marginal compared to the size of our portfolio. Thank you.
The next question is a follow-up by Manuel Leo Johni, Kepler Cheuvreux.
Going back to consolidation and the sector opportunities, specifically in the energy supply sector.
I know you can't answer very much, but I read an article recently that just mentioned Hera being interested in bidding on Unoenergy along with other competitors. Is this an opportunity you're looking at? Is it just one of the many opportunities you're looking at? Are you simply not interested because you may have considered the gas distribution assets plus a 25% minority in waste, plus the extension of the concessions for electricity distribution, certainly have a major, major leverage opportunity? Of course, you always need to do the math, don't you? Also, because the figures mentioned were EUR 500 million, if I remember correctly, that the customer base equal to some 500,000.
Of course, all portfolios have their value. That would be very interesting, at least based on what the article stated. You know us, we look into all files, we consider any opportunity and then we assess them.
When it comes to that portfolio, the euro to customer ratio wasn't very relevant since those customers had average consumption rates, which are much higher than the average retail customers. It wasn't the right driver. Again, we look at all opportunities with interest and we always consider all market opportunities which are compatible with our business portfolio. That's what we do. We look at these opportunities and we try to understand if they can be integrated and how they can be assessed. Of course, we'll have to make some choices because we have plenty of financial possibilities to continue to invest in M&A. It's not something endless, it's not infinite. We're trying to make the right allocation choices. Of course, you need to have a few prospects to work on so that you can then zoom in on the really interesting ones. That's what we do.
We're zooming in on the best opportunities.
Thank you. Thank you for your answer. Thank you. I know it wasn't what you may have expected, but you're familiar with the style we have. We can't say too much when it comes to what we're doing or what we're not doing. Of course, the outcome of our assessments depend on how things go. I don't know if there are any other questions left at this point. Apparently not. Yes. Can you hear me?
I have a question on temporary opportunities, a very quick one. In your business plan, you were expecting a loss in temporary opportunities, but there's one which is upcoming and I was wondering if with the next default market tender in September, which is closer, do you have a different visibility compared to your business plan assumptions regarding those types of temporary opportunities?
With the upcoming tender, are you seeing a more relaxed market or is there a potential upside on this year's results and maybe higher upset for 2026? We can hold on to the answers for the Q3 report. Yes, of course, the tender is coming up and we'll see if and how to make our bid. We still don't know the details of the rules of the competition, but every year we have to decide whether or not to make a bid. These are temporary opportunities. They're complicated markets. Whenever we make a bid, we want to be sure that we do have some margins we can take advantage of. We're still taking a look at the portfolio and if and how we make a bid. The competition will be happening in September and therefore we still have some time to think things through. We'll be looking into it.
Thank you. If you wanted to say that we need to be worried during the summer break, we already are. Of course. Maybe there were some better market conditions. That was a question ahead. Maybe less competition, maybe some good forecasts for the future. That was the meaning.
We never make bets. We don't make bets on the business plan. We don't make bets on anything. We do our best. We'll be taking a break for the summer holidays for a few weeks, but there are plenty of things to think about. Of course, we also have the tenders you mentioned to think about and we'll continue thinking through over the next few days if there are no further questions.
No, no further questions. Wonderful.
It was longer than usual, but maybe given the fact that today's conference call was the last one today, we took a few more questions than expected. All the very best. I hope that some of you can take a break during the summer after you wrap up all the reports on the information you have. Have a wonderful summer and I'll see you soon. Thank you.