Hello, and welcome to the MAIRE First Half 2024 Results Conference Call. My name is George, 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 line is in listen-only mode. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions towards the end of the presentation, and this can be done by pressing Star 1 on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press Star 0, and you will be connected to an operator. I'd like to hand the call over to your host today, Ms. 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 First Half 2024 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, Silvia. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining MAIRE's First Half Results Conference Call. In the first six months of 2024, we heard an accelerated building upon the momentum established in 2023. Our economic KPIs have shown strong growth rates compared to the same period last year, exceeding 30% for revenues, 40% for EBITDA, and nearing 80% for net income. At the same time, we have consistently improved our profitability. This outstanding performance has been accompanied by an improvement in net cash. The strong operating cash generation more than compensated dividends, the share buyback, and the capital expenditures. We kept working on the strategic levels of our business plan as we expanded our technology portfolio with the add-on acquisition of HyDEP, and GasConTec closed in the second quarter. We also boosted our engineering capacity to support our positioning in the current multi-year energy investment cycle.
We did it not only organically but also through the acquisition of APS Evolution completed yesterday. The initiatives of this kind taken in the last two years are bearing their fruits. The order intake of the first half amounted to EUR 3.4 billion, and our growing backlog of EUR 16.3 billion are clear signals of the effectiveness of this strategy. Finally, before discussing our operational performance, I would like to highlight that in the first half of 2024, we returned over EUR 110 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Let's now look at the operational performance of the first half. The first half order intake of EUR 3.4 billion exceeded revenues of the period, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 and an increased backlog of EUR 16.3 billion.
This growth indicates strong market fundamentals and a growing willingness among clients to invest in traditional downstream projects as well as in new and transitional initiatives. Looking at the details of the main new award of STS, the EUR 182.2 million first half order intake almost doubled year over year, led to a backlog of EUR 273.1 million. These results showcase the strength of NextChem's comprehensive offering. The new awards include advanced technology licensing, cutting-edge process design, and proprietary equipment. The solutions we offered are tailored to improve energy efficiency in the agriculture industry, provide innovative decarbonization solutions for hard-to-abate sectors, and produce next-generation fuels and circular materials. The broad diversification of awards in terms of geographies and technologies involved reflects that no single path to net zero exists. Furthermore, in July, the STS backlog was further bolstered by KT's contribution, adding approximately EUR 92 million.
Among the new awards, the FertigHy projects stand as a testament to the power of innovation and collaboration in driving the energy transition. The FertigHy consortium, comprising diverse stakeholders across the entire value chain, such as Siemens and Heineken, was established to tackle global food security challenges. In this context, NextChem has been awarded a feasibility study and a Pre-FEED for the low-carbon fertilizer plant expected to be built in France from 2027. The plant is designed to produce 500,000 tons of low-carbon fertilizers per annum. It will leverage our advanced green ammonia and nitric acid technologies using hydrogen from renewable and low-carbon electricity, setting a new standard for sustainable agriculture. Moving on to the E&Cs, the first half order intake of EUR 3.2 billion confirms the tangible downstream supercycle.
Our clients are increasingly focused on maximizing value through the transformation of natural resources, especially in gas processing and liquid-to-chemicals. Concurrently, they are intensifying the efforts to decarbonize their existing assets and progressively starting to upgrade their plants for the next-generation fuels like renewable diesels and SAF. At the end of June, the EUR 16.1 billion backlog and the stable backlog cover of around 3.5 times provide a comfortable visibility for the next three to four years. Indeed, looking at the E&C backlog by year of execution, an expected runoff between 18% and 20% in the second half of this year provides solid support to our revenue guidance. Looking forward to 2025 and beyond, we expect to benefit from the ongoing project in the Middle East, including advancements in procurement and construction for Hail and Ghasha. The recently awarded projects in North Africa are contributing to the increase in visibility beyond 2025.
Let me provide more details on the gas project awarded in Algeria. In May, Tecnimont, in partnership with Baker Hughes, was awarded a $2.3 billion EPC contract by Sonatrach, of which $1.7 billion related to Tecnimont. The project aims to stabilize gas pressure and enhance the efficiency of natural gas transmission to Italy and Europe, helping diversify energy sources. The scope of works includes the implementation of three gas boosting stations and the upgrading of the gas gathering system at the Hassi R'Mel, one of the world's largest gas fields. Completion is scheduled in 2027. This contract confirms our role as a key player in strategic energy projects and strengthens the positive cooperation between Africa and Europe. Still on backlog execution, let me provide a brief update on the progress of Hail and Ghasha.
For those who may not be familiar, Hail and Ghasha is a gas treatment and sulfur recovery project awarded to Tecnimont in October 2023 for $8.7 billion. The project is advancing in line with the schedule, well in line with the schedule, with completion expected in 2028. Engineering activities, primarily focused on reviewing the 3D model, are 23% complete. Procurement has progressed with the placement of all long lead items and a portion of the orders for bulk and other specific items. Construction has been just launched with the placement of contracts for the implementation of the temporary construction facilities and the early work for the foundations. Moving on to the group's commercial pipeline, we are pursuing opportunities that are worth around EUR 57.5 billion, slightly increasing compared to the end of March. The market remains strong, particularly in regions with robust client investment plans in energy and chemical infrastructures.
The new prospect requires an integrated approach that combines execution capabilities, advanced technologies, and critical chemical and process engineering expertise to minimize carbon footprint and improve energy efficiency. As you can understand from the market dynamics, few companies are equipped to meet this significant demand. In the current market scenario, our significant backlog allows us to be increasingly selective. Future growth will be supported by our dual business model, which enables us to sell our technology solutions and services globally while offering our engineering, procurement, and construction services in the regions where we deem appropriate from a risk-opportunity perspective. To support our growth, we keep acquiring new talents and increasing our competencies. As of the end of June, our headcount exceeded 8,500 employees, a 30% increase since the end of 2022.
Only in the first six months of this year, we added 500 new resources, primarily in our technical functions in India. It is not just expanding our capacity, as we are also increasing the use of generative artificial intelligence in our organization. The benefits of artificial intelligence are beginning to manifest in improved productivity, time savings, and increased accuracy and speed in work activities. While integrating generative artificial intelligence in our organization, we adopt a human-in-the-loop approach to apply the highest ethical standards and maximize accuracy and adaptability of the system. We are expanding our engineering capacity also through acquisition. Yesterday, we closed the acquisition of APS Evolution, a parent company of two engineering firms based in Italy and in Poland, known for their expertise in petrochemicals, innovative rubbers, biofuels, and bioplastics. This acquisition brings almost 300 skilled engineers specialized in several fields, significantly enhancing our capabilities.
It also strengthens our presence in Eastern Europe, especially for the upgrade of existing plants. The purchase price was EUR 7.7 million, with a small upfront payment and remainder due in full installment by 2030. This concludes the review of our operating performance. I will now hand over to Fabio to discuss the financial results. Fabio, please go on.
Thank you. Thank you, Alessandro
Financial management expresses a net financial income of EUR 2.9 million, thanks to the positive contribution of derivatives and an increased yield on cash deposits. Moving to the bottom line, the combined effect of such positive operating and financial performances has led to a consolidated net income of EUR 97 million, up 79.6%, and with a margin of revenue on revenues increased by 100 basis points to 3.7%. Let's now analyze the financial results by business unit. STS revenues were EUR 158.5 million, up 35%, thanks to the growing demand for technological solutions, mainly in nitrogen fertilizers, carbon capture, and circular fuels. EBITDA was EUR 38.8 million, up 51.8%, as a result of higher revenues. EBITDA margin was 24.5%, up 270 basis points year-on-year, thanks to a more profitable product mix.
E&C revenues were EUR 2.5 billion, up 33.4%, thanks to the steady progress of projects under execution, including the engineering and procurement activities of Hail and Ghasha. EBITDA was EUR 131.6 million, up 38%, with a margin of 5.3%, up 10 basis points year on year. Moving on to the balance sheet, let's analyze the cash flow dynamics. Our adjusted net cash position at the end of June was EUR 357.5 million, up by EUR 19.6 million compared to December 2023. The growth in net cash was driven by an operating cash generation, which more than compensated dividends for EUR 63.5 million, the share buyback program serving the long-term incentive plans for EUR 47.3 million, and the outflows for investments for a total value of EUR 26.2 million. CapEx in the period were mainly related to the expansion of the technology portfolio and to digital innovation projects.
The total amount invested, including the deferred and earned-out components of the acquisition prices, is EUR 57.2 million. Let us now look at the working capital dynamics. Net trade working capital improved in the first half, ending EUR 450.5 million negative from EUR 379 million negative at year-end 2023. Such improvement has been driven by an enhanced cash collection of accounts receivable and management of payables, which more than compensated the increase in net WIP related to the progress made in the period by certain large projects. I now hand over to Alessandro for his closing remarks. Alessandro. Thank you.
Thank you, Fabio. So, in conclusion, our first half results provide a solid platform to deliver double-digit growth in 2024. Revenues of both business units are expected to accelerate progressively during the second half of the year.
STS will benefit, among the others, from the contribution of the companies which have recently entered the NextChem Group business perimeter. E&Cs will be supported by our large backlog, particularly by the progress of engineering and procurement activities of contract awarded in 2023, including, of course, Hail and Ghasha. Capital expenditures will continue to focus on the technology portfolio expansion to foster the energy transition, as well as on digital innovation. Operating cash generation is expected to support an improvement in adjusted net cash compared to the end of 2023. Driven by strong market fundamentals, we are targeting to replace the backlog converted into revenues all over the year with new orders of at least the same amount. Our solid commercial pipeline is expected to deliver new sizable projects. This concludes our presentation. We stand ready to answer any question you may have. So, Operator, please go ahead.
Most certainly, sir. And thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad, and just make sure your mute function is not activated. You don't let your signal reach our equipment. Our first question today is coming from Alessandro Pozzi, calling from Mediobanca. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you for taking my questions. I have a couple of Hail and Ghasha, and the first one is you obviously made significant progress since the acquisition of the contract. And I was wondering what challenges do you see in the projects, thinking about maybe local content and how you are overcoming those. And the second question on Hail and Ghasha is clearly the project has three main phases: engineering, procurement, and construction, with different margins.
What is the share of revenues allocated to each phase, let's say, over time? Is it fairly equal, given that you're already ordering long lead items, or the construction phase is going to grow in terms of share in the coming years substantially? And the final question is on working capital, and I was wondering how the working capital is going to evolve in the next few quarters. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question relating to Hail and Ghasha. And then I'll pass the floor to Fabio for the appropriate answer relating to working capital. First of all, Hail and Ghasha has been, you know that we have been awarded this project after having executed the first phase in the first part of 2023. So we had the time, and we did the appropriate work to study appropriately what should have been done as soon as the project was awarded.
Second, we know very well the local environment since we are based in the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi in particular, since a very long time. We know everybody. We know all the actors of the supply chain, reputable supply chain, which is based in the Emirates, as well as we know and we have already in place since a long time, long-lasting relationship with the most reputable construction companies. So this has helped us in placing in due time the relevant orders, both for the long lead items as well as for the bulk materials. Of course, we are conscious that we have to cope with rigid regulation, which has been agreed upon when signed the contract in terms of in-country value percentages. And I have, of course, the client knows very well what can be offered by the local environment.
For this reason, until so far, we have complied with the requirements of the contract, which means that we are aligned with the In-Country V alue ratios that we have to cope with. For the time being, we are even a little bit in advance compared with the schedule agreed with the client. Based on the discussion that we have already in place with other construction companies, we expect to be able to sign the relevant contract very soon. For the time being, so far, so good. I believe that also the client can confirm their satisfaction because it has been proved also recently, thanks to a specific dedicated forum which has been organized in Abu Dhabi. As far as the margins and the revenues associated to the various phases, you know that the project is a Lump sum turnkey project.
The compensation relates to all the three phases. There is no specific compensation for procurement, or engineering, or construction. It is, of course, a lump sum for the 100% scope of work. Margins are recognized on a percentage of completion criteria. So there is no different margin when the project is in the engineering phase, or in the construction, or in the procurement. We estimate the relevant expected margin at the beginning of the project, and of course, it is then recorded all over the life of the project without any deviation. So the margin that we are recording today will be the same margin that will be recorded tomorrow and until the end of the project, of course, with a different size depending on the volumes of production that we will generate.
Let me take the opportunity to confirm that in the second half of the year, the volumes that we expect to generate, volumes of revenues we expect to generate thanks to the Hail and Ghasha project, will be almost double compared to what we have delivered in the first half, which means that let me provide you some figures. On top of the EUR 500 million already delivered in the first half and the second half, we will generate something close to $1 billion of revenues, which means that we have to perform double what we did in the first half of the year.
Yeah. Let me take on the working capital.
The working capital dynamics we have experienced in the first half of the year, which has been an additional contribution from working capital, we see it as a physiologic trend in a way as we are moving into a higher level of production, which means also an associated higher level of working capital. Just let me give you just a few indications on what we have experienced in this first half on the receivables. We have been able to manage them, actually partially decrease them. On the other side, we have started placing relevant orders not only on Hail and Ghasha, but also on other projects in their initial phase like Amiral and Ras Al-Khair. So in a way, we have been able to increase the contribution of working capital by approximately EUR 70 million if compared to the end of last year.
Going forward and to the extent as we do expect there will be other acquisitions, we believe the contribution of working capital will remain at the level you have seen today or slightly higher as we will keep on growing in terms of revenues.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, sir. We'll now move to Marco Cristofori, calling from Intesa Sanpaolo. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking my question, and congratulations for the result. The first one related to the CapEx target that you confirmed between EUR 140 million and EUR 170 million. At the middle of the range, and considering the CapEx already taken in the first half, implies CapEx for around EUR 100 million in the second part of the year, including acquisition.
So just if you can elaborate about potential acquisition in the second half, or if you think that there is a possibility that your CapEx guidance could be lowered. My second question is on STS and renewable fuels, as it seems that the market is really challenging these days, and both BP and Shell are rethinking their investment in biorefineries. So just to understand what are your expectations for the sector of renewable fuels, and if this stop, let's say, in the second quarter of the year of the market is something that can jeopardize your project. Thank you.
Let me take the first one on CapEx by giving you some color. As you've seen in our slides, there are two ways of looking at CapEx.
The actual cash out of what we have done in the first half amounts to EUR 26.something million, while we have recorded an accounting value which is in the range of EUR 57 million, which means in a way that if we look at the acquisitions we have made, we are higher in terms of number than the actual cash out we have experienced. For the second half of the year, as you are rightly saying, if we take in consideration the EUR 57 million, there are approximately EUR 70-EUR 80 million which are out of this figure and need to be gapped. Now, let me tell you that we can certainly expect that a portion of this gap will be filled by the investments, i.e., not the M&A activity which we have in our budget. This refers to the pilot plans.
This refers to all the R&D which we are able to capitalize on our technologies. It refers to the Green Innovation District, which we have announced in previous quarters, which is being developed in these very days in Rome. So there is a portion in the digitalization and in other investments which we can clearly state will be done. So I would say, if I may, that half of that gap will definitely be filled by these investments. The other half is referred to additional M&A activities which may or may not come in the next months just because it will entail the closing of negotiations with potential targets, and that is clearly always uncertain.
Marco, as far as your second question is concerned with respect to the downturn in the biofuels in particular, I have to admit that we were always a little bit surprised in the recent past in acknowledging that some energy companies were planning huge investments in biorefineries. We never paid a lot of attention to those potential projects. Conversely, we were extremely convinced that small projects, and for small, I intend projects ranging between EUR 100 million-EUR 200 million, which make possible to convert existing units which otherwise could have been shut down, with the conversion into biorefineries, they acquire a new life. And I'm talking, for example, about the Livorno refinery, Porto Marghera refinery, Holborn refinery in Germany.
All of them are units already, of course, in operation, but whereby the owner should have been obliged to close them definitively or to find an alternative solution to provide them with a new life to extend the life of those units. The best solution, useless to say, has been to convert them into biorefineries with the investment which cope with the size which I have mentioned before. EUR 150, more or less EUR 150, EUR 160 million. This size of investment can be easily recovered, and despite the adverse cycle, for sure, the production can deliver a remarkable return for this type of investment. We were interested in participating in the execution of this project, and I have to admit that almost all the projects that we have targeted then have been awarded.
Moving forward, we have in our commercial pipeline small projects, more or less projects of similar size, not only in Europe but also in the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as the U.S. In those geographies, there are similar initiatives which are due to come on stream, in particular between the end of this year and early next year. And of course, considering that it is a limited amount of money to be invested, I strongly believe that they will then this project will proceed. While at the same time, I agree with you what you have mentioned, that huge projects, projects which exceed $1 billion, for sure, in this moment, it is quite difficult that they will survive.
But I repeat, we don't have in our commercial pipeline this type of project other than those which cover a small portion of our commercial pipeline because we are talking about projects ranging between $100-$200 million.
Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. Next question today will be coming from Mick Pickup calling from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everybody. It's Mick here. It's nice when results are straightforward. Two questions, if I may. Firstly, can you just talk about the conversations you're having with your clients? It looks increasingly likely that the old competitive bid-free EPC market in the Middle East is maturing into a market where front-end contracts. So can you talk about that? And secondly, can you just talk about engineers and expansion?
I know you noted you'd gained an extra 500 engineers this year, but it appears 300 of those came from inorganic. So what's the organic market like for engineering capacity at the moment? Thank you.
Sure. Mick, I'm very glad to hear you. Let me start with the second one. You have misinterpreted our message because the 300 that we have acquired, let me use this word, yesterday are on top of the 500 which we have been able to hire in the first six months of 2024. So in aggregate, today, our organization, our technical organization, has grown by almost 800 professionals. As we have said, 500 comes mainly from India.
They have been hired in our Indian engineering centers, and the 300 thanks to the acquisition of the two engineering companies which are led by a holding company based in Italy, but the two organizations are equally shared between Poland and Italy. And Poland, it is very important because people based over there are very skilled, and I believe that it is a good bridge for our business to cover the Eastern European market. Then, as far as the discussion that we have with our client, in particular, of course, it is reconfirmed that you know very well the market. Most of the investment wave in downstream that we expect to face in the next few months comes from the Middle East, and more precisely from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco, in particular, has launched this program of liquid to chemical with a huge amount that they would like to invest in this type of project. They are conscious that a portion of their oil production cannot be routed to the traditional way of the traditional market, but they have to find an alternative way to valorize their equity production. And for sure, the transformation into the traditional petrochemical products has been found to be the most valuable, the most remunerative way to deploy their oil production. They are a little bit scared about the scarcity of resources that could affect the market moving forward. And for this reason, they have declared that they want to proceed in an accelerated way in terms of awards of this project.
For sure, since we are talking about a project which alone works in the region of $12-$15 million, of course, the first phase will be the FEED which will make possible then to estimate more precisely the size of the investment while providing and confirming that the technical solution works and fits for their expectation. So based on our dialogue and our knowledge, it is reasonable to expect that even before the end of the year, they will award the first phase of this project with the FEED, and then the FEED could end with the conversion, automatic conversion into the EPC. But this is expected to happen only in late 2025 and not for sure this year.
But I reconfirm that petrochemical, in general, downstream petrochemical polymers, in general, represent one of the most significant streams of investment of the companies based in that part of the world. I have mentioned Saudi, but we can extend the same discussion to the United Arab Emirates. We can expand to Qatar, and we can expand to Oman. All these countries are focused on this type of projects. I repeat, of course, all of them are accelerating their investment decision process because they are scared that quite soon there will be a scarcity of resources available to realize their project. So it is quite a funny situation. But of course, we are ready. Ready, of course, we are not targeting all of them, but for sure, we are targeting some of them in order to reinforce additionally our portfolio in the next months.
Perfect.
It's the type of funny situation we all like.
Yes. Me too.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We now move to Massimo Bonisoli of Equita. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Good afternoon or good evening. Thank you for the presentation. Perhaps this question is out of fashion now that MAIRE has recently been awarded huge contracts with increasingly favorable terms. But I have a question on older contracts in your backlog. Would you give us some color on the status of the older projects that have not yet been completed? Is this a relevant topic for you, or is it worth keeping our focus on new projects instead? And the second question, could you provide some color regarding the contract awards you expect in the second half of 2024? Thank you.
Very good question, the first one, Max.
Let me say that, and I believe this provides a quite relaxing situation. The projects that we have presently under execution, all of them have been awarded from 2022 onward. Just one was at the end of 2021, but all of them have been awarded post-COVID. All the projects which were ongoing during the COVID season have been completed, and the extra cost that we have incurred during this unfortunate season has been discussed, documented, and finally recognized by the client. So I have to admit that we have no pending situation coming from the past right now. Of course, the projects that we have ongoing now are very important projects in terms of size. And of course, during the project execution, it is normal that a situation which requires discussions with the client and requirement for additional compensations, of course, happens during the project execution.
For some of them, we have already succeeded in having recognized an additional compensation. For some others, we have discussions ongoing, but we have been very relaxed because all of them are properly documented, but more than that, are properly supported by a proper contractual framework. So the contract gave the possibility to require additional compensation in case of a particular situation. And we are, of course, if we face one of them, we are well-equipped in order to require immediately an additional compensation. But answering to your question, I repeat, we don't have a situation pending coming from the past. So this is with reference to your first question. As far as the second one, more color about what we expect in the second half in terms of acquisition.
For sure, there are. Let me clarify a little bit a different scenario with respect to the two different business units. Talking for a while about E&C business, so the sizable one, we are confident that in the second part of the year, after the summer and within the end of the year, additional EPC projects could be awarded, in particular from North Africa once again, because we have discussions ongoing quite in advanced stage with the client based in that part of the world, as well as, again, in the Middle East. These are the two areas which presently are expressing the hottest commercial situations.
We are really confident that this ongoing discussion could be converted into a contract quite soon in order then to and based on this expectation, we have confirmed the guidance that we expect to replicate with the new awards, the same amount that we expect to generate in terms of revenues in 2024. As far as E&C, different story for the STS business, the technological one, which has an industrial cycle shorter. For sure, we need, of course, to maintain alive the commercial process in a different way compared to the EPC business.
We have already clarified during our presentation that in the second half, there will be also the benefit generated by the companies which have been aggregated to the NextChem perimeter in the second quarter, and more recently, also with the company, a portion of the group company which originally was aggregated to the E&C business, which is KT. KT has been broken up in May because KT has a very high technological content, and the organization which takes care about the technological activities now has been aggregated to NextChem, so to the STS business unit.
Thanks to these additional activities, in particular in the space of blue hydrogen and sulfur recovery space, plus the other opportunities which we are presently cultivating in the waste-to-chemicals, waste-to-fuels, plus additional opportunities that we are pursuing in the ammonia, green ammonia and blue ammonia, plus methanol, as well as SAF with our own proprietary technologies. We are really confident that the second half of the year will record a significant boost, not double, but almost double what we have already delivered in the first half of this year. So E&C growth, thanks to the portfolio and also to the acquisitions, new orders that we expected to be awarded shortly. But more than that, STS will deliver a significant growth thanks to the new awards and the positive contribution of the recently acquired company.
Thank you, Alessandro, for the detailed answer.
Thank you, Mr. Bonisoli.
We now go to Francesco Sala, calling from Banca Akros. Please go ahead.
Yes, good evening, and thank you for taking my questions. Just two questions. The first one is on financial charges. I wonder what we should expect for the second half of the year and if possible for 2025. And the second one is on the commercial pipeline because there was quite a noticeable shift in the geographical component, and the European and Caspian areas are way bigger than they were one year ago. So I wonder what exactly is driving this shift. And I'm especially curious about Europe. I wonder what kind of projects are driving this commercial pipeline. Thank you.
We take the first one on financial results in general because this first half of the year has been impacted, as we have stated in our presentation, by the value of the derivatives which we have in place to support the share buyback, part of which has been already executed. So in a way, I would say the entire year will be, of course, in a lower way impacted by this first half. Clearly, if you exclude this component, there's no doubt that you will go into a more balanced situation in which charges will be higher than financial income. Although it has to be said that we tend to use our cash surplus in the most efficient way. So we place time deposits in order to be able to offset as much as possible the financial charges we pay on our debt.
We are also refinancing the most expensive part of the debt. We have recently issued a Schuldschein, which is priced in a very competitive way, and we are using the amount raised to repay the most expensive part of our indebtedness. So the combination of the two will bring us back into a normal situation where at year-end, we will have more charges than income, clearly, but probably it will be in 2024 with efficient financial management. The year to come, the bulk of our debt is at variable rates, but for the bond we issued in October 2023. So unless there's a decrease in interest rates going forward, we will go back to a situation which we probably had in 2023.
As far as your second question, Francesco, is concerned, let me provide you with some details, some information. I would like to start from the Caspian region.
Caspian, which includes Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kurdistan countries, which you know very well. These countries are conscious that producers of petrochemical components and fertilizers, which traditionally were satisfied by Russian producers, now there is a huge market space that can be occupied by new producers, which are well accepted also by the Western market. Of course, you know that Russia has been a great exporter of petrochemical products, commodities, and fertilizers. Of course, a lot of Western market countries cannot buy those products anymore or until when the present situation will prevail. And leveraging on this situation and having a lot of natural resources available, these countries, and primarily the energy companies, state-owned companies based in that part of the world, they have launched a significant investment program aiming at transforming the natural resources into the traditional petrochemical products and fertilizer.
Among these countries, for sure, Kazakhstan is the country which has a lot of projects on air, starting from apart from the upstream, which you know we are not interested, of course, to participate in this kind of project. But as soon as new productions are granted, in particular, we are talking about gas. The gas must be, of course, prepared for the subsequent utilization, both in terms of energy or as a feedstock for other production processes. So this country, and in particular, the company based in that part of the world, KazMunayGas, has launched a significant investment program starting from gas treatments and then in petrochemical projects, which, of course, are of our interest. I have concentrated my discussion on Kazakhstan, but Turkmenistan is doing the same as well as Azerbaijan. We are based over there since a long time, in particular in Azerbaijan.
More recently, but a couple of years ago, we have decided to incorporate our presence also in Kazakhstan. Moving forward, I am confident that we will be one of the most important foreign operators in that part of the world. As far as Europe, of course, Europe includes Italy. Let me emphasize Italy because, as you know, we have presently already ongoing the project, the first phase, which primarily relates to the FEED for the waste-to-fuel, including hydrogen and syngas in Italy, which is a project which has a sizable amount. But on top of that, we have in our commercial pipeline projects in Europe, which most of them relate to the green space.
In particular, we are talking about green ammonia, green ammonia projects which could be executed in Portugal or in the north of Europe, which you know they have started with this energy transition process much earlier compared to the southern part of Europe. And on top of that, also Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe, in particular, Romania, Poland, Hungary. In all these countries, there are a lot of very old energy infrastructure which must be modernized. Of course, we were already well equipped, but with the acquisition of APS, today we are even more well equipped and prepared to serve also these opportunities which are part of our commercial pipeline.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Sala. Our next question is coming from Roberto Ranieri of Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my question, which will be very quick.
All of my questions were basically answered. My question is very simple about the target. So basically, can we say that with the acceleration of the STS backlog and consequently the development of this backlog and for the execution of the Hail and Ghasha according to your pace of this execution, we can confirm that the target you have set in the business plan. So basically, and possibly, as I understood, and this is just a question on STS, possibly a better also a positive surprise on EBITDA from STS. Thank you very much.
If I well understood, Roberto, you are talking about the confirmation of our guidance, which in particular from an economic standpoint, but not only, we have confirmed that thanks to what we have already on board in terms of backlog and also taking benefit of the new awards, in particular in the STS space, because as far as the E&C business is concerned, we don't need additional projects in order to cope with the guidance that we have provided. While, for sure, as I have stated before, we are confident that new projects will be awarded to NextChem in the next weeks, a few months, and this will contribute positively to the achievement of the target that we have defined with our guidance. So shortly, yes, we confirm our guidance.
Thank you very much.
I'm asking that because some investors, a few investors, were a little bit afraid of some risks of complying with the guidance after the second quarter results. Thank you very much for this clarification anyway.
You know, we have clarified. I believe that we have already anticipated during our presentation that at the beginning of the year, when we have communicated our original budget for 2024, we have been very clear. You cannot consider multiplied by 4 or by 3 or by 2 what we have delivered in one quarter because most of the projects which are presently under execution progressively are entering in a phase which will deliver more sizable volumes. So as we have already stated, in the second half of the year, and in particular in the fourth quarter, based on the planning of the various projects, including Hail and Ghasha, there will be an additional significant boost.
So you have not to multiply by two what we have delivered by the end of June. It will be a much higher volume of production that will be generated in the second half.
Thank you very much, Sandro. Very helpful.
Thank you very much, sir. As we have no further questions at this time, let's call back over to Mr. Alessandro Bernini for additional closing remarks. Thank you.
Thank you very much to everybody and have a nice vacation to all of you.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference. Thank you for your attendance. You may now disconnect. Have a good day and goodbye.