Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Maire Tecnimont Q1 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Alessandro Bernini, CFO of Maire Tecnimont. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for attending the Q1 2022 financial results conference call. 2022 has started very strong, and the Q1 has shown a solid and growing financial performance. Revenues, EBITDA and net income all rose vis-a-vis the corresponding period last year. Similarly, we enjoyed strong cash flow generation of about EUR 33 million, which has led to EUR 22 million in adjusted net cash. This is the eighth consecutive quarter of improvement in the net financial position. Our EUR 9.3 billion backlog continues to be extremely healthy and well diversified, and the group is not dependent on any single geography. A 3.1 backlog cover makes us confident about our immediate future. Our business drivers continue to remain solid, as reflected in a commercial pipeline, excluding Russian prospects, worth about EUR 52 billion.
Finally, we are starting to reap the benefits of our investment in green energy, with the new projects started leading to higher revenues. In conclusion, we are successfully executing projects while picking up the pace in energy transition. Before we discuss our operational performance, we would like to give you an update on our Russian projects. As you can appreciate, the situation has been and continues to be very fluid and evolving on a daily basis. That said, our general guiding principle from the very beginning has always been to ensure that our group is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations, including current and future sanctions. Based on the current framework, we started to scale back our existing activities in the country while working with both clients and suppliers alike in order to ensure a smooth transition.
As a consequence, we are winding down the projects which are currently affected by sanctions, considering that the Russian backlog has further decreased to EUR 1.1 billion at the end of April. At this stage, no economic contribution should be expected beyond the Q2 . That said, and as we have been consistently communicating over the last few months, our projects financial position is and will remain in equilibrium, while all commercial activities had already been suspended. As such, the commercial pipeline figures that are shown in this document have been adjusted in order to retroactively exclude opportunities in Russia. Thanks to the strength of a record high backlog, however, the acceleration of several projects will compensate any missing revenues from Russia. We continue to monitor this evolving situation while keeping a constructive approach within a very complex legal framework. Let's analyze now our operational performance.
We enjoyed a very strong start of the year in terms of order intake, as we were awarded about EUR 633 million in new orders in the first three months. Q1 order intakes in our industry tended to be on the soft side, as shown by this graph. Nevertheless, our new orders were above the average of the last seven years. Moreover, the order intake in the first month is already at about EUR 1 billion, once the April awards are added to the count. We feel confident in our commercial prospects, as we shall see in a few slides, given the strong dynamics that continue to characterize our industries, both in our core business and in green energy. This will lead to additional awards in the months ahead. Let's take a look now at one of our most important Q1 awards in more detail.
Last January, we were awarded an EPC for a new aniline plant in Belgium by Covestro, one of the world's leading polymer companies. The project entails the realization of substantial additional aniline production capacity at Covestro's existing site in Antwerp, Belgium, which is its European hub for aniline. The project includes all the necessary prerequisites to produce the final products, including raw materials, infrastructure, and product logistics. The contract has a value of approximately EUR 250 million, and mechanical completion is expected by 2024. The new unit will be based on state-of-the-art technologies aimed at ensuring the highest standards in terms of process safety and energy efficiency. Aniline is an important starting material for a variety of chemical products which are being employed across different applications and sectors.
This project allow us to leverage our technological know-how in petrochemicals and our commitment to the highest environmental and process safety standards, an important component in energy transition. Our backlog has remained stable in Q1 and continues to be characterized by an overwhelming proportion of gas monetization and the energy transition projects. The increase in green energy backlog is mainly due to the blue ammonia project in the US, which we'll be discussing more details in few slides. Moreover, the order intake of the last 15 months has made the backlog even more geographically diversified than ever, with an even split between the Middle East, Europe, and remaining geographies. The diversification is extremely relevant in light of the current geopolitical events as we don't depend on any single country. Let's focus now on our two business units, starting from our core business.
The E&P portion of the hydrocarbons backlog has remained stable at about EUR 1.1 billion or 13% of the business unit backlog. This continue to contribute to the de-risking of our existing business, a very relevant factor in these volatile times. The backlog cover is 3.1 times, providing a very high visibility for the future. Moving on to the commercial opportunities in our core business, our pipeline has been in the EUR 40 billion-EUR 45 billion range over the last year. Please note that from this quarter onward, we will be presenting these figures excluding any Russian prospects in compliance with current sanctions. The last quarter has seen a significant increase in new initiatives driven by the resilience of our core business, strongly supported by powerful business drivers.
Such a positive environment supports well for our group's growth prospects in the years ahead. Such an increase in new projects is taking place mainly in Africa and Asia and on the back of continued investment in downstream assets. The Middle East also continues to remain an area of incredible opportunities, driven by a new wave of downstream projects. Overall, our pipeline remains extremely strong and geographically diversified, excluding Russia, continuing to provide solid support to future awards in the short and medium term. Let's move now to the green energy business unit and our efforts in the energy transition and sustainability. We are pursuing our sustainability journey with commitment and success. ESG factors are integrated into the objectives of our business development plan and into the organization of the group.
In the Q1 , we achieved another important goal as MSCI upgraded our ESG rating from A to AA. Such a rating puts us at the top among our peers and Italian listed companies and position Maire Tecnimont as one of the players which lead its industry in managing ESG risks and opportunities. The rating agency especially appreciated our best in class positioning in health and safety, whose policies extend to subcontractors and the effective supervision of their activities, our anti-corruption and business ethics policies with specific training programs for employees which are aligned with best practices. In addition, innovation in clean technology are highlighted as a strategic development driver. Our successful journey continues as we keep on pushing our ESG goals.
In this regard, we would like to invite all of you to go through our 2021 ESG achievements and future goals in the 2021 sustainability report we have released last month, and which is available in the investor relations sections of our website. As you know, supporting our customer in lowering their environmental impacts and be a leading enabler of the energy transition are key goals in our business model. In Q1, we continued to develop our green energy business, both enriching our technological portfolio and signing new contracts to build up our backlog. In addition to the blue ammonia plant in the U.S., which we'll be discussing in more detail in the following slide, last quarter, we presented to the Tuscany region the feasibility studies for three circular district projects, and to the Sicily region one feasibility study, all based on NextChem green circular district model.
These projects are part of the 12 circular district projects worth EUR 4.5 billion, which we are actively pushing around Italy. The aim is to create a plant system where residual waste and rejects can be transformed into energy matrices, such as recycled carbon biofuels or into new polymers to be reintroduced into the production system, guaranteeing the closure of the end of waste process. The three districts, which will include a methanol hydrogen waste to energy plant, a waste to ethanol plant, and a waste to methanol plant. The total value of this circular district will be more than EUR 1 billion. At the beginning of April, NextChem completed the first Italian demonstration plant for the chemical recycling of PET and polyester from textiles as a part of the EU Horizon project. The plant is based on a depolymerization technology co-licensed by NextChem.
This innovative technology can contribute to the solution of some still unresolved problems in textile waste recycling, such as mixed fibers. We are very proud to be involved in this project, as we believe that this technology can contribute to improve a circular economy model on an industrial scale, also considering that the national system for the collection and recycling of textile waste are beginning to be created, in Italy and in other European countries, in order to comply with the enacted legislation. On the renewable energy side, through our subsidiary, Neosia Renewables, we signed an agreement with a French player to develop nine photovoltaic plants in Chile for a total initial capacity of 80 MW.
A concrete example of our growth in green energy is the $230 million EPCM project for the implementation of blue ammonia in the United States, that we have been awarded last March. The plant entails a 3,000 tons per day blue ammonia synloop, plus the necessary utilities and facilities. Project completion is expected in 2025. Blue ammonia is produced from hydrogen derived from natural gas, where the CO2 by-product is captured and sequestered to comply with the most stringent environmental regulations. In addition to the engineering and procurement activities, we will be responsible just for construction supervision services, as construction will be performed by an independent third party. Such contractual strategy is typically implemented in the US to better optimize the construction activities and mitigate our risk, while leveraging Tecnimont USA's expertise in managing construction activities and local content.
Blue ammonia will be the feedstock for a separate urea diesel exhaust fluid plant, which the same client awarded to our group last month, and that will be located on the same site. A perfect example of our client relationship skills. This award represents a concrete evidence of our strong positioning in the energy transition process, thanks to our technology-driven value proposition. The United States represents one of the highest potential markets to break the ice in industrial scale decarbonization, and blue ammonia is playing a pivotal role in the worldwide development of decarbonized value chains. Based on all the activities in Q1, let's take a look at where the commercial pipeline stands at the end of March. As we continue to push our green energy business, the commercial pipeline in this area keeps growing.
At the end of last March, we were pursuing opportunities worth EUR 7.1 billion, up EUR 500 million in the Q1 . While Europe remained the largest geography, we are experiencing an increase in opportunities in other areas, such as in Asia and especially in the Americas. Let's analyze now our operational performance. Our Q1 revenues grew 16.4% to EUR 728.4 million. Such an increase is mainly due to last year's acquisition starting to provide a positive contribution to our top line. Revenues are expected to continue increasing over the course of the following quarters, as new projects move from the engineering to the procurement and construction phases. Business profit was EUR 64.9 million, up 7.6%, thanks to the revenues increase.
The 8.9 margin, 8.9% margin is in line with the full year 2021 figure and above the Q4 2021. G&As were EUR 19.2 million, a decrease of more than EUR 1 million or 5.1%. This remarkable achievement is due to our continuous attention to cost improvement across our organization. As such, minimizing the ratio of these expenses over revenues continue to remain one of our top priorities. R&D has remained relatively stable, mainly driven by our green energy expansion. EBITDA was EUR 43.7 million, up 15.5%, with a profitability of 6% in line with the previous quarters and with this year's guidance. Net financial charges were EUR 6.3 million.
The roughly EUR 4 million difference is mainly due to the lower positive effects in the valuation of certain derivative contracts this year in comparison to the corresponding period in 2021. The tax rate was 30%, 110 basis points less, mainly due to the various tax jurisdiction where the group operates. The expected tax rates for 2022 were substantially in line with last year's. In conclusion, the positive operating performance led to a consolidated net income of EUR 17.9 million and a group net income of EUR 18.4 million, up 1.5%. Moving on to the balance sheet, let's analyze the cash flow dynamics. Our adjusted net financial position improved for the eighth consecutive quarter and now stands at EUR 22 million.
Such an improvement has been driven by a healthy cash flow generation of almost EUR 33 million, and in spite of almost EUR 20 million in the outflows due to taxes, net financial charges, and CapEx. We expect this virtuous trend to continue in line with the guidance provided at the end of February. Let's now take a look at the working capital dynamics. Working capital has remained relatively stable in the Q1 . That said, please note that most of the individual components of the net trade working capital have been adjusted as a consequence of a change in the Amur GPP project. In short, as explained in more detail in the interim report, our pre-existing status as agent has been formalized at the end of last February.
As such, we will continue to pay subcontractors as we always did, that is only to the extent that we receive the cash inflows from the client on a back-to-back basis. The formalization of our pre-existing status also means that we do not bear the corresponding risk. As such, we were able to exclude from the balance sheet various amounts related to the work in progress, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and advances to suppliers and from clients. Current assets and liabilities have decreased by about EUR 618 million, while the change in the net working capital was neutral. The individual adjustments have been included in the interim report. The working capital dynamics in all the other projects have been normal relative to the stage of each individual project. Now we can analyze our final remarks.
In conclusion, the Q1 marked a solid start of the year, confirming a consistent growth pace. A record high backlog is providing a solid foundation to future higher revenues. Our green energy business continue to develop as new projects have been awarded and started. At the same time, our strong and growing commercial pipeline is expected to deliver new projects both in the traditional and green energy businesses. As stated earlier in the presentation, our Russian projects are winding down in compliance with current sanctions, and no contribution should be expected beyond the Q2 . As this happens, resources will be redeployed to other projects around the world, which will lead to their acceleration in comparison to the original schedule.
The expected acceleration will compensate the missing Russian revenues. That said, due to the different phasing of the new projects, which will be advancing from the engineering phase to the procurement and construction phases later in the year, in comparison to the more advanced Russian projects, this will lead to quarterly ramp-up in revenues, which are going to be higher in the second half of this year versus the first half. This allow us to reconfirm our 2022 guidance that was communicated to the market on February 25. Namely, revenues in the range of EUR 3.4 billion-EUR 3.6 billion, and EBITDA profitability in line with 2021, and let me say, in line with the result released with the Q1 2022, and an improving net cash position.
Obviously, this assumes no major disruption from the current pandemic, and that there are no material effect on the current geo-political tensions to the economic and financial situation in the rest of the world. In spite of the unprecedented challenges that we are all facing, we feel we are in a strong position as we can leverage the benefits of a high and diversified backlog driven by solid business fundamentals. This concludes our presentation, and I stand ready to answer any question you may have. Operator, please go ahead.
This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from James Winchester of Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Brilliant. Hi there, and thank you very much for the presentation. Just two from me, please. Are you able to provide a bit of color on what you were expecting in terms of the Russian backlog phasing prior to the sanctions? The kind of EBITDA margins associated. My assumption here is that given that you've progressed quite far in them, I would've assumed that they were above the 6% group EBITDA margin. The second part to this is, do you mind kind of explaining a bit more detail about the moving parts on how you're maintaining guidance while stripping out Russia?
Again, you know, how you're kind of maintaining the EBITDA margins given you're kind of replacing end of life Russian projects with more kind of early cycle engineering procurement? Thank you.
Yes. I believe that we have already provided a quite comprehensive answer with our presentation. Returning to your questions. When we disclosed the amount of our backlog for the Russian project, which presently is in the region of EUR 1.1 billion, we have already stated that this amount should have been performed in at least three years' time, and even four years' time, because some residual activities should have been performed at the fourth year. It means that the contribution to every year was quite diluted over a quite longer period of time.
Considering that in the Q1 we have already delivered a certain, the project has been progressed in accordance with the original schedule because the sanctions affected our project only effective from April onward. It means that as far as 2022 revenues are concerned, the missing revenues for the second half of the year for sure is a quite remarkable amount of money. As we have stated, it is totally recoverable, this amount, with the contribution that we expect to obtain from the acceleration of all the other projects that are already ongoing. As you may understand progressively, we are demobilizing our personnel from the various Russian sites and redirecting them to the new projects.
This will contribute to make possible to achieve an extra performance in the current year compared to the original expectation. This phenomenon based on our expectation and assuming no further deterioration in the general conditions will lead us to replace almost entirely the revenue that were originally expected to be generated from Russia. In terms of marginality, Russian projects were on average able to deliver the same level of marginality as we expected from all the other projects in our backlog. Absolutely in line, which means that the margins which were expected from Russian projects now will be delivered by those projects on which we are concentrating now our new efforts.
In terms of cost materials that we are incurring, all those costs that we are incurring and will be incurred up to the suspension are completely in the hands of our clients. It means that we incur costs to the extent we are paid in advance. We don't want to have any type of exposure. Of course, we have agreed with the client different payment terms compared to the original one, because of course, they have understood that we are operating in a different environment, and cannot survive the terms and conditions which were agreed with the contract. Now we have agreed with them that we are ready, of course, to perform the residual activities on this project, but to the extent we are paid in advance.
This is the rule which prevails today and will prevail up to the suspension of these projects.
Brilliant. Thank you very much. Very clear.
The next question is from Kevin Roger of Kepler. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking the question. I will follow up on the impact from Russia, but more focus on, like, how can you accelerate the EPC of the overall project, please? Because I guess that there is a number of issue with the procurement, the materials, et cetera. I was wondering if you can explain to us how you can, let's say, increase the top line on those projects by several hundred million EUR this year in terms of acceleration, because that's quite rare in the industry. The second one is looking at next year, I know this is early, but could you say also that basically the acceleration on those projects will offset also the missing revenue from Russia that you will see for next year, 2023, please? Thanks a lot.
Kevin, in terms of how we can activate these actions aiming at compensating the missing Russian revenues, it is always quite simple. Because we are not talking the resources which are progressively transferred from Russian projects to other projects, of course, we are not talking about manpower, so we are not talking about blue collars. We are talking about engineering resources which can accelerate the engineering phase of those projects which has been recently awarded, and which made possible to enter into the procurement phase even earlier than originally expected. Of course, you know very well that the engineering phase is not capable to generate higher volumes. When we move an EPC project into the procurement and then into the construction, volumes of course are much higher.
Our goal and our target is to accelerate as much as possible the engineering activities in order to be able to to start to place the orders for the long lead items and critical materials on those projects which has been recently awarded. I am referring in particular to the super giant project that we have been awarded in the United Arab Emirates, as well as the project that has been awarded in India, or the project which we have ongoing in or we have been recently started awarded in U.S., both the ammonia one as well as the urea. All those resources which we
We are talking about technical resources, engineering resources, will make possible to speed up the process, the early, the initial phase of the process, making possible to enter into those phases which normally deliver higher level of revenues. This is absolutely possible. We have already revised the schedule of those projects, and with the concurrence of these new resources, we are confident that in particular, the second half, as we already stated, because it is a progression, is not from a day overnight, we can change the situation, will be a progression, and you will witness a much higher progression in the second half of the year. As far as your second question. As far as, you know, 2023 is concerned, Kevin, we are not used to extend our assumption to the next year.
Since the backlog is so high at a record level, please be confident that also in 2023 we have no problem in order to secure an additional growth, considering, I repeat, the higher backlog that we have on board.
Okay. Okay, fair enough. Thanks a lot for that. Thanks.
The next question is from Massimo Bonisoli of Equita. Please go ahead.
Good evening, Alessandro. Two questions. One regarding the implication of financial position on the project in Russia, which are expected to continue to be balanced. Would you continue to carry those contractual values in the balance sheet and in the backlog, going forward? What will happen to those figures in the balance sheet? Second, regarding your pipeline in Europe and North Africa, especially for polyolefin, since Europe now is considering the ban on oil and potentially gas, do you believe those measures will maybe jeopardize those projects since they will miss the supplies of gas and potentially naphtha?
As far as your first question is concerned, we will maintain in our backlog this project at least until it will be possible, until these projects are under suspension and are not terminated. Of course, we are monitoring every day the evolution of the sanction, and to the extent it will be possible to maintain, to expect that that could be to restart in the future, we will maintain in our backlog. If due to the sanction, due to the environment, we will be obliged to terminate, of course, in such circumstances, we will delete from our backlog the residual portion of those projects.
As far as the balance sheet is concerned, of course, as you have appreciated, we have settled a lot of what we are outstanding from Russia. We are continuing maintaining our strategy to maintain a balance between inflows and outflows in order to maintain more or less no exposure vis-à-vis of such a country. MT Russia has a very limited amount of liquidity on board, which is enough to cover running costs. All in all, the exposure that we have in the country from a balance sheet standpoint is close to zero, as we have stated. It is in equilibrium. We do not expect that the situation is due to change in the coming future.
As far as then your second question, with reference to the opportunities that we have in front of us in North Africa, you know, oil is a different story. Our prospects were predominantly concentrated on the gas monetization. North Africa, in particular Egypt, in particular Algeria, both of them have, of course, great availability of gas. On top of that, Algeria has to replace part of its gas production. For this reason, we are of course interested in their prospects as far as, in particular, the gas processing plant, gas separation plant, gas treatment plant, which of course is the first investment, the first installation which is required immediately after having completed the upstream installation, if you want them to monetize, even for energy or to, for downstream purposes.
These are the prospects that we have in front of us in North Africa, without excluding, of course, the monetization, the project that we have already almost secured in Egypt, which relates to an ammonia plant. Of course, this, due to the turbulence which affected the financial market, the client has notified that will require some more time in order to secure the financial package. Apart from financing, the project can be considered already awarded. This, just to say that we don't see any particular threats to our business, to our downstream business, as a consequence of the phenomenon that you have mentioned.
Many thanks, Alessandro.
The next question is from Emanuele Negri of Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon, everybody, and thanks for taking my questions. I have three questions. First one is again on Russia, and we see that, in this quarter, you have some higher provisions for credits in Russia. What do you expect for the next quarter? Do you see some risk on higher provision for clients in Russia? The second one is about the asset you talked about in the press release on the net cash from mark-to-market valuation on a tax derivative of EUR 32.4 million. I don't understand in the bridge you have in the presentation where this item is included and how this relates to this bridge. The third one is about the project you told about and you read about on newspaper in Tuscany for waste treatment technologies. Which is the potential time conversion from pipeline to backlog of this project?
When do you expect to maybe close it as backlog? Thank you.
I believe that you are referring to our sentence in our report as far as some provision that we made in the Q1 as far as receivables are concerned. You know, we are applying IFRS 9. After IFRS 9, regardless the counterparty, if it is in a position to pay or not your receivable, you have to evaluate your receivable with reference to the CDS available on the market. And due to the present environment, some of them, even if they are extremely wealthy because we are talking about energy conglomerates, privately owned entities, very wealthy, but unfortunately, they have the rating assigned to them has been lowered.
As a consequence, it is just the application of pure mathematical formula. We have been obliged because the rating has been deteriorated. At the end of the day, we do not expect to suffer any loss from the monetization of this receivable. The second question was in respect of derivatives, if I well understood. Derivatives, in particular, as far as what we have in our. Of course, there is a difference between P&L and balance sheet.
Of course, in the balance sheet, of course, we have the mark-to-market valuation of those hedging contracts, which we have entered into in order to hedge flow of money denominated in different currencies, and the effect is recorded in the equity on one side, and on the other side has affected our net financial position at the end of March for an amount close to EUR 27 million. This is due predominantly to the hedging contract we have in place between euro and dollar.
Of course, please remember that to the extent the mark-to-market has been like in these circumstances a negative effect in equity and in net financial position, this means that when the financial flows, which has been hedged with this contract, this will result in higher flow of money, which will neutralize this amount. It is just pure temporary difference. As you know, we are obliged in accordance with the accounting standard to do this exercise. But from a substantial standpoint, you have to consider that to the extent that there is a lower effect, then this will result in higher flow of money and vice versa. If there could have been a positive mark-to-market, this should have resulted in a lower flow of money in the future.
You have to consider just a pure temporary effect, which will be recovered as soon as the flow of money will take place. In the P&L, we have a negligible amount because it is associated to those hedging contracts which from an accounting standpoint, cannot be considered to cover the risk, but unfortunately, must be considered like a speculative contracts. But of course, intent behind was to cover a risk. It is just a pure accounting recognition, which has expressed a negligible amount of money in the Q1 this year, while last year had expressed a much higher positive amount. This is the reason of the difference in our financial performance comparing this quarter with last quarter.
Please consider that the hedging contracts can generate only these temporary effects because will be recovered then in the future when the flow of money will take place.
The next question is from Roberto Ranieri of Intesa Sanpaolo. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the presentation, and thank you for taking my question. I have two questions. The first one is on figures, on financials. On a very quick glance on the net income, could you please give us the impact of the derivatives mark-to-market valuation of derivatives. It could be very useful there to have also the net income, the adjusted net income, for Q1 2022 and Q1 2021, just to make a comparable comparison on a like-for-like basis. My second question is on the future prospects.
You said that the other projects and other prospects will offset the lack of revenues from Russia. I'm wondering if in terms of costs do you have any supply chain issue. Do you see any supply chain issue on the projects that you are executing abroad globally excluding Russia. Thank you very much.
Roberto, as far as your first question is concerned, it's quite easy because the information has been detailed in our, also in our press release. However, then we can summarize together. We have stated that last year in the Q1 has recorded EUR 4 million positive for coming from the mark-to-market of these derivatives. This year, only EUR 400 thousand, which means that if we sterilize those figures from both results, this should end. Of course, we have to apply the tax effect. This should have resulted in last year, bottom line, something close to EUR 15 million euro net income compared to 17.5 this year, so resulting in an increase more than 10%. This is the effect of the derivatives charged to P&L.
EUR 414.9 last year, net income adjusted, excluding derivatives. EUR 17.5 this year, excluding the effect of the derivatives.
Thank you.
I don't know if I have answered to your first question.
Yes, that's okay.
As far as the difficulties on the supply chain you are mentioning with reference to all the other projects that we have under execution. Of course, first of all, it is useful to mention that in particular, over the last three, four years' time, we have created a network of vendors capable with whom we have entered into special agreements with them. Which means that today, in dealing with them, we have a sort of priorities compared to other contractors, to other operators.
I don't wanna say that we are not facing some delay in our supply chain, but it is extremely limited because in particular, long lead items, critical items which are needed in order to feed the projects are all of them on track, have been most of them, in particular, for the project under execution, have been already delivered on site. For those projects which have only recently been awarded and have the engineering activities ongoing so far, so they have not yet entered into the procurement activities, these will be faced in the incoming future. Let me say also another issue. It was more critical last year.
From the beginning of the year, this year onwards, the situation is more stabilized. Of course, there is, in particular, for materials coming from certain geographies, you have to pay particular attention in particular to the logistics, but not to the availability of materials. Considering the priority access that we have with certain vendors, so far, all the materials which were requested to feed our project has been purchased, delivered, and there are no particular problems associated with this issue.
Thank you, Alessandro.
Mr. Bernini, there are no more questions registered at this time.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye, everybody.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.