Hello, and welcome to MAIRE nine months 2023 results conference call. My name is Melissa, and I'll be your coordinator for today's event. Please note, this conference is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be in a listen-only mode. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero and you will be connected to an operator. I'll now turn the call over to your host, Silvia Guidi, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and welcome to our call. My name is Silvia Guidi, Head of Investor Relations, and I'm joined today by our CEO, Alessandro Bernini, and our CFO, Fabio Fritelli. Today, we plan to cover MAIRE's nine-month 2023 operating and financial results. At the end of the presentation, we will be happy to take your questions. Let me now hand over to our CEO, Alessandro Bernini, for his introductory remarks and operational performance overview.
Thank you. Thank you, Silvia. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining MAIRE's 9 months financial results conference call. The first 9 months of 2023 have continued to show a robust performance, with revenues, EBITDA, and net income all growing double-digit vis-à-vis the corresponding period of last year. At the same time, we kept improving our profitability. This solid performance has been accompanied by a very strong operating cash generation, close to EUR 200 million, which has led to an adjusted net cash of around EUR 124 million. Cash generation more than compensated dividends and investments for EUR 68 million, dedicated to the expansion of our technology portfolio and to digital innovation, supporting our business growth. Above all, these periods will be remembered for the highest order intake, EUR 10.9 billion, and backlog, EUR 16.8 billion.
The extremely impressive order intake and backlog are the result of the most important commercial success of our history, the Hail and Ghasha award, a testament to our expertise and delivery skills, which we will see in more detail during this call. So let's now look at the operational performance of the nine months. 2023 is our most successful year, with the nine months order intake at EUR 10.9 billion, more than threefold the average of the last 10 full years of EUR 3.2 billion. This performance is concrete evidence of the strength of the business drivers underlining our sector, of the increasing size of the energy projects, as well as of the solid trust that our recurring and new clients put in the technologies and engineering skills of our group.
Our trailing book-to-bill ratio is 2.7, compared to the 2013-2022 average of 1.3, representing a tangible sign of our business growth. The highest order intake ever has obviously led to our highest backlog ever. At EUR 16.8 billion, it is 2.5 times higher than 2013-2022 historical year-ends average, and 1.8 times the highest size in the same period. Such an impressive level, which translates into a backlog cover of 4.2 times, puts us in a comfortable position towards the future, leading to a strong increase in size and revenue visibility. Let's have a more detailed look at each business unit.
Starting from STS, the effectiveness of our strategic approach and soundness of our offering, spanning from technology licensing to proprietary equipment and other high-value services, can be seen in the strong order intake achieved in the nine months. At EUR 226 million, the order intake has grown 2.8x year-over-year and is widely diversified in terms of scope of work and technologies involved. This performance has been supported by the growing demand for solutions able to reduce emissions, especially in nitrogen fertilizers, and includes several engineering activities related to both the new initiatives and the decarbonization of existing plants. The strong order intake has led to a backlog of EUR 273.2 billion, up 70% since the end of last year.
Moving on to E&Cs, the nine months order intake confirms the strong market momentum, with EUR 10.7 billion of new awards, boosted by the two multi-billion projects acquired this year, Amiral first and Hail and Ghasha recently. At the end of September, the EUR 16.6 billion backlog and the resulting backlog cover of around 4.4 times provide a very high visibility on the years ahead. Let's now take a look at a couple of recent acquisition in more detail. In July, we were awarded a EUR 100 million licensing and proprietary equipment contract for an ammonia and urea complex in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project, which is expected to be operational in 2026, aims at addressing the growing demand for fertilizers in the region, supporting food security with cutting-edge technologies able to maximize energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
This is the largest order ever awarded to Stamicarbon, a further confirmation of our indisputable leadership in nitrogen technology solutions, generating a double-digit profitability in line with the targets envisaged in our business plan for the Sustainable Technology Solutions business unit. Turning to E&Cs, the $8.7 billion Hail and Ghasha project in Abu Dhabi includes two gas processing units, three sulfur recovery sections, the associated utilities and offsites, as well as export pipelines. The scope of work entails complete engineering services, equipment and material supply, construction activities, pre-commissioning and commissioning. The project is expected to be completed in 2028, and the contract provides for a 5% advance payment in line with the standard market practice for similar multi-billion initiatives. This award is a landmark recognition of Tecnimont's undisputed execution capabilities.
We are extremely proud of having been selected by ADNOC also for the pioneering characteristic of the project, which will responsibly unlock the UAE's abundant natural gas reserves with the objective to operate with Net Zero emissions. We are approaching this massive initiative with our usual execution discipline. We have already performed the early engineering activities, and we will leverage on our world-class track record in sulfur recovery and in large gas treatment plants. We have been active in the UAE for more than 20 years, having performed several strategic project worth $17 billion. The engineering and procurement activities will be coordinated by my Paris and Milan headquarters and entrusted to several dedicated teams in Europe, India, and the UAE, that are being strengthened, thanks to the hiring plan started at the beginning of the year and still ongoing.
Moreover, adopting a responsible approach also means maximizing the local content, with more than half of the value of the project expected to flow back into the UAE's economy and boosting employment, with over 30,000 people to be engaged in the construction site. Looking at the environmental footprint, the project will combine several decarbonization solutions, including the capture and storage of 1.5 million tons per year of CO2, and the recovery of low-carbon hydrogen, which can replace fuel gas and further reduce emissions. Additionally, we will leverage on the competencies of our Sustainable Technology Solution business unit to provide cutting-edge digital solutions aimed at optimizing energy consumption, allowing a significant efficiency of the plant in terms of OpEx and CapEx. Moving on to the group's commercial pipeline, we are pursuing opportunities that, notwithstanding recent acquisitions, are worth over EUR 56 billion.
We continue to see a robust and healthy set of projects driven by strong market fundamentals in our core business, and supported by clients' willingness to invest in energy infrastructure for the transformation of natural resources, with an increased demand for technological solutions able to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency. A record-high backlog allows us to maintain our market share and support future growth with increased selectivity, based on sustainability and technology content, geographical diversification, and last but not least, expected profitability. Our recent commercial success stems from the talent, hard work, and dedication of our employees, who are the growth engine of this group. At the end of September, our direct employees were over 7,400, up 15.2% since the beginning of the year, in addition to more than 3,000 professionals in the electro-instrumental division, supporting project execution worldwide.
To maintain our leading position and meet the growing request of our clients, we are continuously strengthening this base with more than 1,000 engineers hired in the first nine months. Further additions are expected over the coming months in order to support our growth with a top-notch engineering workforce. In addition to successfully pursuing our commercial and operating activities, we kept strengthening the cooperation with other partners. In September, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Macquarie to set up a joint platform to develop and execute energy transition initiatives across Europe. The platform will combine our ability to co-develop projects, along with Macquarie's financial expertise in structuring groundbreaking transactions and capital deployment power. This synergetic collaboration is an example of how relevant players in their own industries can cooperate to foster the decarbonization of the European economies.
MAIRE will act as technology provider, UPC contractor, and minority investor in the project, which will be based on a no-recourse capital structure and will rely upon secure the long-term supply contracts and offtake agreements. The collaboration further enhances our project development offer, a function which is instrumental to both business units and has already been implemented in selected initiatives around the world. These include the set of activities carried out by MAIRE to start the engine of those projects, which otherwise would remain on the starting block. This concludes the review of the operational performance. I will now hand over to Fabio to discuss the financial results. Fabio, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Sandro. Our financial results keep showing a double-digit growth across all the main KPIs and an increase in profitability. Revenue, revenues were close to EUR 3.1 billion, up 22.7%, driven by steady project execution. G&A were EUR 61.9 million, up by EUR 5.3 million, but with a decreasing incidence over revenues from 2.2% to 2%, thanks to our focus on achieving efficiencies. EBITDA was EUR 195.9 million, up 29.4%, mainly thanks to higher revenues and operating leverage. Margin was 6.3%, up by 30 basis points year-on-year, also due to the increased contribution from technologies and high-value services.
Net financial charges were EUR 30.7 million, up EUR 2.7 million, due to the increase in interest rates on the floating rate portion of our debt, partly offset by a higher financial income from cash deposits. Moving to the bottom line, such a positive operating performance has led to a consolidated net income of EUR 88.6 million, up 44.3%, and with a margin on revenues increasing by 50 basis points to 2.9%. Let's now analyze the financial results by business unit. STS revenues were EUR 192 million, up over 50%, thanks to the constant growth recorded in the technological solutions and high-value services to support the energy transition, mainly in the nitrogen fertilizers, hydrogen, and circular fuels and chemicals.
EBITDA was EUR 45 million, up 83.6%, as a result of higher revenues and the change in product mix. EBITDA margin was 23.4%, 420 basis points higher year-over-year, further accelerating in Q3. IE&CS revenues were EUR 2.9 billion, up 21.2%, thanks to the steady execution of projects, mainly in the polymers and fuels and chemicals clusters. EBITDA was EUR 150.9 million, up 18.9% with a margin of 5.2%, substantially stable. Moving on to the balance sheet, let's analyze the cash flows dynamics. Our adjusted net cash position at the end of September was EUR 123.9 million, up by about EUR 30.1 million compared to December 2022, and EUR 19.3 million compared to June.
Such a continued positive improvement is driven by a strong operating cash generation over the nine months, which more than compensated 2022 dividends for EUR 40.7 million, the share buyback program for EUR 3.8 million, as well as CapEx of EUR 68.2 million, not including EUR 17.6 million of acquired cash. In particular, the gross CapEx of EUR 68.2 million includes EUR 54.1 million for STS, mainly dedicated to the expansion of our technology portfolio, and EUR 14.1 million for E&C, mainly related to projects on digital innovation. Let's now look at the working capital dynamics. The adjusted net trade working capital improved by EUR 60.7 million, from negative EUR 113.8 million at year-end 2022, to negative EUR 174.5 million at the end of September.
This positive change is mainly driven by an efficient working capital management and the steady project progress, partly offset by the cash reversal of advanced payments for clients cashed in last year. We had a liquidity position of around EUR 707 million at the end of September 2023, slightly higher than our gross financial debt. Due to the nature of our business and our geographical spread, and the geographical spread of our operations, cash is held with various currency jurisdictions. Our healthy liquidity position comfortably allows us to support project execution and service the debt. Our debt structure is indeed well-balanced in terms of composition and maturities.
Medium-long term facilities amounted to a total of EUR 670 million at the end of September, including around EUR 505 million of bank loans and the EUR 165 million bond due in April 2024. The financial structure has been further strengthened, thanks to the issuance in early October of a EUR 200 million sustainability-linked bond with a five-year maturity. The notes were successfully placed with European institutional investors and Italian retail investors during a public offering, which was early terminated on the 3rd day and listed on Borsa Italiana's Mercato Telematico Azionario, and on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The interest rate on the notes is 6.5% fixed, and provides for a 0.5% maximum step up in case of failure to achieve the CO2 reduction targets envisaged by our sustainability-linked financing framework.
The proceeds of this issue will be mainly used to early redeem the notes due next April, as resolved today by our board of directors. This issuance of this bond is part of our financial planning and liability management strategy, which will encompass additional transactions in the coming months, aimed at supporting the group's growth with the flexibility required by the nature of our business. Our healthy financial position allows us to be flexible on timing and selective in terms of structure and conditions of any new transaction. With the Sustainability-Linked financing framework, we integrated our reduction targets in our financial management.
Specifically, by 2025, we've committed to reduce by 35% our direct and indirect CO2 emissions, the so-called Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, compared to the 2018 baseline, and also to reduce the CO2 emissions of our suppliers by 9%, in particular, through the so-called Scope 3 emission intensity relating to purchased goods and services with technological content, measured as tons of CO2 in relation to added value compared to the 2022 baseline. To reach these objectives, we have a concrete action plan focused on the improvement of energy efficiency and the reduction of fossil fuel consumption, as well as on the engagement of our suppliers. These targets, in line with the net zero decarbonization plan, contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 7 and SDG 9. I now hand over to Alessandro for his closing remarks. Alessandro?
Thank you, Fabio. So in conclusion, our 9 months results demonstrate strong momentum in both technology and execution, providing a solid platform to deliver double-digit growth in 2023. We revised upward our 2023 adjusted net cash guidance, while confirming the previous guidance on the other KPIs. In particular, current backlog supports revenues in the top end of the range. Profitability is expected to benefit from an increased contribution of innovative technology solution and higher value activities, as well as from the start of project with higher margins. Capital expenditures will be focused on the expansion of technology portfolio and digital innovation to foster future growth. Net cash position is expected to substantially improve compared to the end of September 2023, thanks also to the recent awards. At the same time, supported by our robust commercial pipeline, we will keep pursuing new opportunities, focusing on increasingly rewarding condition.
This, coupled with our record high backlog, will shape our future growth, leading to a size which has never been reached before. It is simply the dawn of new era. For this reason, we are working to upgrade our 10-year strategic plan, which will be presented in early 2024 during our Capital Markets Day, and more details will be provided in due course. This concludes our presentation. We stand ready to answer to any question you may have. So, operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question for any reason, you may press star two. You will be advised when to ask your question. Our first question comes from Roberto Ranieri of Stifel. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. I have two questions. The first one is on the Hail and Ghasha Liquide project. I'm wondering if there is a... I understand that it could be a very small contribution, but I'm wondering if there could be some contribution on the 2023 financials, especially in the fourth quarter. I'm thinking about engineering activities, for instance. That's my first question. My second question is still on the Hail and Ghasha project, and it is related to the down payment.
I'm wondering if there will be a down payment, what could be the impact on the cash, and if there would be any offsets from the down payment to suppliers or not? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Roberto. Very interesting questions, of course, because when talking about Air Liquide, you can imagine that all of us are excited about this project. But you know, of course, it is extremely important for our group, but it has simply, in brackets, of course, accelerated the growth that was expected and forecasted in our 10-year plan. As simply accelerated the timing of the growth. So for sure, most of the benefits associated to this project in terms of volumes and earning contribution will be delivered from 2024 onward, because in 2023, of course, there will be a very limited contribution, because for sure, we have already organized the engineering workforce, which progressively will be increased month by month.
So in 2023, from an economical standpoint, the contribution from this project will be quite, limited. Whilst moving forward, for sure, it will be more significant. In particular, if I have to provide you with some color about the potential runoff of the execution of this project, let me say that in 2024, we expect to continue with the engineering, detailed engineering activities, whilst for sure we will be already in a position to start with the procurement campaign, since this project also benefit from the early engineering activities already executed in the first part of 2023. So in 2024, more or less, 10% of the project will be deployed. Moving forward, in 2025, we expect, of course, a significant growth.
Thanks to the combined activities of the engineering, the procurement, of the materials requested by the project. And then since at the end of 2025, we'll start also the mobilization of the constructions, activities. The peak of the activities will be, are expected in 2026 and 2027. For sure, 2026, we expect more or less to generate something closer to 40% of the total expected activities. Then moving forward, the 2027, conclusion of the construction activities, and in 2028, the commissioning, which normally doesn't represent more than 3%-5%. So just to say that in 2023, I repeat, no major contribution from an economic standpoint.
Then, as far as the contribution from a pure financial standpoint, as we have already confirmed during our presentation, the project we have negotiated with the client, and the client has accepted to recognize a financial condition which makes possible to secure a positive cash flow along the life of the project. So there is an advanced payment, but as you have correctly anticipated, as soon as the procurement campaign will start and we will be in a position to place the orders to the supply chain, of course we will be requested to recognize some advances to the most critical suppliers. So for sure, we are expecting a significant improvement in our net financial position within the end of the year.
With the size, considering that also the volume, the size of our group will grow accordingly, is not just, excuse me, is not just a spike, but it will reach an amount which must be considered structural moving forward. We expect to face a net financial position within the end of the year, by the end of the year 2023, which should range around EUR 200 million-EUR 250 million, and we expect to maintain and even to improve this size according to the growth expected in the future.
150.
I don't know if I have answered all of your question, Roberto.
Yes, I would say so. Yes, thank you. And just one clarification. When you were talking about 40%, project progress in 2026, you mean that cumulated 40% of activities will be completed by year end 2026? Is that right? 40% up to year end 2026, and the remaining 60% of the activities will be completed in 2027, 2028. Is that my... Is that, this understanding, is my understanding correct?
Roberto, you just to be clear, in order to avoid misunderstanding, the project must be completed in 50 months' time. So it is, of course, unreasonable to have achieved just 40% cumulative by the end of 2026. So-
Okay.
Of course, conversely, it is correct, the sentence when you said that 40% will be performed only in 2026, when we expect to have at the site an organization close to 30,000 people working on this project. So 40%, roughly, of course, represent the progress that we expect to perform just in 2026.
Okay.
Moving forward, 2027, as I was saying, we'll continue the construction activities, and within the end of the year, we will be already in a position to start with the pre-commissioning, and the commission then will be completed on the latest year, which is 2028.
Okay. Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Massimo Bonisoli of Equita. Please go ahead.
Good evening, and congratulations for the results. I have a couple of questions. One is regarding your capacity of execution following the huge order intake in 2023. You were talking about new potential projects coming from your pipeline. Just to understand in the short run, if there are any kind of limit to your execution capacity, and so the project may be needed to be executed more in 2026 or 2027, considering the huge backlog you have right now. And the second question regards on the financial cost for Fabio in Q4 2023, what would be the expected financial cost in that period?
Especially the yield of the liquidity position of EUR 707 million, what would be the potential income coming from that kind of liquidity?
Yes, Massimo, let me try to satisfy your first request. As I was saying before, in order to cope with our short and even long-term strategy, whereby we expected to serve a double-digit growth, starting in particular in the first years, we have started to revise to increase our engineering workforce since the beginning of the year. So we have not taken the due action just after having been awarded the Hail and Ghasha project.
We have, we are already well-equipped, in order to serve properly the project, because since the beginning of the year, combining what we did, in India in particular, whereby you know that we can rely upon, a very flexible and huge, basin of competencies, we have, hired, something close to 700, 800, 800, engineering professionals. Another important, stake of, professionals, have been hired, here in Italy, reinforcing our headquarters here in, in Milan, as well as also in those countries, whereby we are, executing, our, operational activities.
All in all, since the beginning of the year and up to the end of September, already 1,100 professionals have been hired and are already integrated in our operational structure. The process has not been stopped. Of course, the hiring campaign continues. I have to admit that the attractiveness of our group is extremely, extremely strong, both in Italy and abroad. I don't want to say that it's an easy work to recruit new personnel, but for sure, we are facing less issues, less problems than many other competitors are facing.
So we expect, within the end of the year to grow additionally, to hire more or less other 300 professionals, between India and Italy, and this growth is due to continue also moving forward. What does it mean? It means that considering the organization on which we can count, we are in a position not to stop our commercial activity first, and we are also in a position to look at new opportunities, for sure, in a more selective way compared to the past. So for sure, we are selecting new opportunities in those geographies, which can at least diversify a little bit more our portfolio.
Countries which are stable, of course, from a socio-political standpoint, and selecting those projects which satisfies our expectation to serve the market, primarily with our technological propositions, and then, of course, to accompany the technological proposition with our execution capacity, and at the same time, of course, last but not least, to get higher margins compared to the recent past. We have in our commercial pipeline this type of projects, we are working hard with our commercial team in order to be in a position to be awarded with the new project, not necessarily, I have to admit, within the year end, because now we have, we are already satisfied with what we have already on board.
I can anticipate that in the first part of 2024, new projects of a quite remarkable-
... dimensions are still expected, and we are extremely well positioned in order to get them. So we are not just closing the door to the new opportunities. We are open, and we are, more than that, well-equipped also to serve additional operations. Let me get to your question on financial charges, net financial charges, and on overall cash and how we manage it within the group. Let me start from the second one. I mentioned in my speech the EUR 707 million of cash, which is now higher than the overall debt.
A question which we receive, you know, every time from investors is, "Why this high level of cash?" We keep on answering the necessity in the business we are in and the constraints in the business we are in to have cash, sometimes dedicated to specific projects, sometimes blocked in certain geographies where the repatriation of funds is either restricted by local regulations or not advisable, because in currencies which are hard to transfer and then to transfer back. In our business, we will keep on maintaining a certain level of cash, which is a function of the revenues we are deploying and also of the geographies we are working on.
Given this preamble, what we need to do is to maintain an adequate level of debt and manage our liabilities accordingly. Nowadays, we have an amount of debt which is in the EUR 700 million space, slightly higher than that, and we have just issued a bond, which is refinancing an existing obligation. Really, even the different times we are in, we have been reimbursing an obligation, which is priced at 2.6%, 2.5%, and substituting it with a 6.5% obligation. Needless to say, that we will have an increase in the amount of financial charges we will pay over time.
What we are hardly trying to do and successfully trying to do, I would say, is on optimizing the value of the cash I was referring to before. So we use it, we make extensive recourse to cash deposits, and to be extremely transparent, we are nowadays able to place deposits in Europe at approximately 4% and deposits in dollars at approximately 5%. So in a way, we are compensating and increase the charge from the current scenario in terms of interest rates with some financial income of the deposits. And we will keep on doing that in a way, especially if, as Sandro was saying, we will be enjoying a relatively higher net cash position going forward.
Very clear. Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Marco Cristofori of Intesa Sanpaolo. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everyone, and congratulations for the results. Just, you talk about new projects in safe countries. Well, this is just to understand if you are seeing any slowdown of projects due to the current Israel-Hamas war, and if, in your view, this can impact, maybe, new projects in the Middle East. My second question would be on 2024. Given that you will have the first delivering of the ADNOC project, I guess that I'm expecting a double-digit revenues growth in 2024. Can you give some color on this? Thank you.
Marco, very interesting question on both of them. As far as the first one is concerned, we have, at least presently, because nobody knows how this unfortunate event between Israel and Gaza will evolve. Considering the geographies where we are located, presently, we do not expect any slowdown. In particular, Saudi and Abu Dhabi, they are totally out of these discussions. They are not taking part of—they are not part of the conflict, nor, after having discussed recently for long with the management of the clients and the officials of the countries, we can say that, among the countries of the Middle East, we are present in those geographies whereby most likely there will be no, no consequences at all.
If, uh-
Our willingness to expand our geographical presence in other countries is just to obtain also a diversification in terms of counterpart. Geographies, you know, when you say Abu Dhabi means ADNOC, Saudi means Aramco. Of course, both of them are extremely wealthy clients. Very nice to work with them, because for sure, both management team are able to provide appropriate answer when there are queries during the project execution. It is the most appropriate environment to work with. For sure, it is better not to have concentrated our portfolio just in a single location.
So for this reason, having in our commercial pipeline very hot opportunities in other parts of the world, stable, safe, and those potential clients are wealthy, like ADNOC as well as Aramco. So for this reason, we having the possibility and the capacity to look at new opportunities, we are considering, of course, and focusing our attention to other geographies. But at the same time, everybody knows that very interesting and giant opportunities will be expressed also by the same countries where we are already. Because Saudi, UAE, Qatar as well, all of them, they have declared and announced a multi-billion investment program. In particular, all of them, particularly characterized by the decarbonization.
So for sure, it's an environment whereby our group, both, primarily the STS business unit, as well as the E&C business unit, both of them can for sure pursue additional opportunities. But however, while keeping our eyes open in the countries where we are already there, of course, as I was saying, we are also trying to get new awards in different geographies. Then, I don't remember the second one. So our revenues expectation. So as you were correctly saying, considering the present level of backlog, even if in 2024, the giant project recently awarded will deliver not a significant level of production, because during the 2024, primarily, we will be executing the engineering activities.
However, we confirm that our growth in terms of revenues will be in the range of a double digit. However, more color, Marco, we will be in a position to provide you only when announcing what we expect in 2024, and this is due to happen when we will release the year-end results, more or less by the end of February, early March, 2024. For sure, all of them, I cannot provide... We cannot be more precise, but for sure, we will remain in the double digit size.
Okay, thank you. Very clear.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Emanuele Negri of Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Yes, good evening, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. The first one is again on Hail and Ghasha, and this is about profitability. For what you can say, is fair to assume that the profitability of the project, despite the impressive size, will be overall in line with your average profitability and with the profitability you have in the division? And the second one is again on the EBITDA margin, but we are talking about the first nine months. Can you give a bit more color on the impressive growth the STS division had in terms of profitability?
About Hail and Ghasha, you can understand that it is, I cannot disclose specifically the margin which I can expect from the project realization, because, you know, of course, this is something which is commercially sensitive. But what I can say is the following: When we have announced our 10-year plan, we have also declared that we are expecting an increased marginality, of course, primarily because of the STS business, but also in the E&C business unit, we are expecting to increase our profitability. This is will be secured also thanks to the contribution of Hail and Ghasha project. So I believe that you have already appreciated what we have delivered in September. We have declared...
Clearly that in the last part of this year, we expect even to improve the, our margins. And, of course, the trend is not, is not finished. This is due to continue in 2024, also thanks to the contribution of Hail and Ghasha. So just to say that for sure, Hail and Ghasha is not a dilutive project in terms of marginality, but, it conversely will contribute to improve our, our margins.
Yeah. And as for the 9, the first 9 months, you were referring to the contribution of SDS to the increased profitability. You are right, the profitability increase was mostly, if not entirely, due to the SDS portion of the business, with, you know, very good performances in terms of sale of licensing and also of, high value services in the field of, the transition, especially in the circular economy.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you. I would like to turn the call back over to your host for any closing remarks.
We have, I believe that we have provided, even during the, the, our presentation, as well as during the various interactions with our friends, a lot of information. I have nothing to add other than to say hello to everybody.
Thank you, and that concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.