Good morning. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Webuild first half 2022 financial results conference call. Our call today is hosted by Pietro Salini, Chief Executive Officer, together with Massimo Ferrari, General Manager, Corporate and Finance. 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. Pietro Salini, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our conference call dedicated to Webuild results for the first half of 2022. I'm Pietro Salini, Chief Executive of the Group, and I will give you a few words about our performance so far this year before letting Massimo, our General Manager, to get into further details on the results. Please excuse me for my voice. It's due to a cold from air conditioning in this late part of the summer. Let's start with the highlights on slide 3. There is no doubt that the market environment is complicated. Combination of geopolitical and macroeconomic forces is having an impact on the global economy. Inflation is rising, caused by events that are beyond our control, such as the lasting effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
We've been able to navigate these difficult waters, proving once again our resiliency. Thanks to our risk management culture, the quality of our order backlog, and our operational capabilities. By June 30, 2022, our total order backlog stood at EUR 47.2 billion. Of this total, EUR 38.5 billion are construction projects. That is a very reassuring amount because it covers 95% of our target revenues for the 2022-2024 period. At the operational level, the group registered a robust performance, closing the first half of the year with higher results. Revenues grew by 24% to EUR 3.9 billion, while EBITDA rose by 33% to EUR 251 million. Net debt improved also by EUR 143 million versus first half 2021. Our group remains resilient, and its business is still growing.
One factor in our favor has been the more collaborative partnership that we have developed with our clients and suppliers. One example is the work we have done with the government in Italy to find adequate compensation for the rise in raw material prices. We also have focused our efforts on improving the efficiency of our management of both contracts and the supply chain. We kept up on our cost savings plan. All of these initiatives have helped us to deal with the latest inflationary pressures. This year, we completed the integration of Astaldi into our group. When something like this is done, there are many challenging issues to manage. There are the people, the operating systems, the corporate culture, but we succeeded in doing it. I want to reiterate how satisfied we are with how well the integration of Astaldi and the companies we acquired has progressed.
The overall market is strong, as can be seen by our strong commercial performance so far this year. New orders received during the first half of the year, including contracts for which we have been identified as best bidders, total EUR 8.1 billion, surpassing the target for the whole year. All these new contracts come from outside Italy. Italy, meanwhile, we expect new projects financed by PNRR for approximately EUR 13 billion to be tendered in the second half of the year. Of this amount, projects worth more than EUR 2.7 billion have already been put up for tender. They should be awarded by year-end. I want to emphasize that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, known in Italy as the PNRR, is a unique opportunity for Italy. Every political party recognize its importance.
We will continue to work with state entities like the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, that is responsible for the country railway network, as well as the current and future government to implement the development plan set out under the PNRR. All of this activity in Italy should not take away from the fact that most of our business is still done outside of Italy. The bulk of our business is still overseas, with 70% of our revenues coming from outside Italy, mainly in areas such as North America, Australia, as well as other European countries. Our strong platform has allowed us to explore expansions into a new business area, such as road maintenance. We also have a new plan for desalination in Italy in light of the water crisis. We will explain the plan in more detail later in the call.
I want to give you a quick recap about our commitment to achieving a series of ESG targets. Health and safety are obvious priorities for us. Our group managed to reduce the rate by 1.7 injuries per million hours worked between 2017 and the end of the first half of 2022. We also implemented ways to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions caused by our projects. Since 2019, the amount of CO2 directly and indirectly has dropped by approximately 400 kilotons, reaching 1,900 kt at the end of 2021. That said, I am pleased with our overall performance. We can confirm our business strategy despite the difficult environment, and we remain committed to our targets as we advance our efforts to creating value for our stakeholders. I want to thank you, our people.
It's thanks to their work, skill, and passion that we have achieved such strong results. As we keep expanding, we are focused on creating jobs, recruiting talents, and training and retaining the best people in the industry. Our workforce, on average, has increased by about 8,000 units in the first half of 2022. Our drive to hire young people has also produced a remarkable result. 45% of the direct employees are under the age of 35. Diversity is important to us. At the corporate level, 36% of employees are women. The so-called NextGen plan continues after being launched in 2021. It is dedicated to young talents in Italy and everywhere else in the world where we have operations. It helps prepare young people for a career in civil engineering, offering them training and employment.
In Italy, we have set up a trade school called Scuola dei Mestieri to teach workers the skills we need on the construction site. Going to slide 5, we have an overview of our commercial performance. The order intake stands at EUR 8.1 billion. It includes EUR 1.8 billion worth of variation orders and EUR 2.7 billion of contracts for which we have been identified as preferred bidder. It is important to notice that we have already surpassed the target for order intake for all of 2022. All of these new contracts that we've booked as of year to date come from outside Italy, 80% of which in Europe, Australia, and North America. It will be the second half that we expect to win some new contracts in our domestic market. Our commercial pipeline has reached EUR 49 billion.
Of this total, EUR 16 billion are for contracts for which we have presented already a bid and are awaiting an outcome. Like I'd mentioned earlier, our focus remain on countries that we consider to be low risk. They include Australia, France, Canada, and the United States, and of course, Italy. These countries represent 80% of our commercial pipeline. In the United States, one of the biggest markets, we have already been awarded EUR 1.4 billion in the first half, and more is to come following the implementation of the infrastructure bill. There is also some positive news concerning the project to build a high-speed railway between Dallas and Houston. The Supreme Court of Texas has ruled in favor of Texas Central, the client, affirming its right to acquire the tracts of land that it needs to build the railway.
This contract, worth $16 billion, will be added to Webuild's order book following financial closure. In Australia, where we are building Snowy 2.0 and North East Link, and have become preferred bidders for a section of the Inland Rail, we have recently presented a bid for a further iconic project. France remains a high-potential market, even if competition is greater there. It is the home country of many of our peers. A number of opportunities are still on offer, thanks to the huge investment being made on the metro systems in Paris and on the high-speed railway between Turin and Lyon. Slide six shows how the order backlog is solid. It reaches EUR 47 billion, of which EUR 38.5 billion for construction projects. It covers 95% of the revenues expected for the 2022-2024 period.
It is well distributed over different geographic areas, granting our resiliency to temporary shocks that could affect one country. Approximately 74% of this construction backlog comes from our low-risk markets such as Italy, Central and Northern Europe, and the United States and Australia. The project not only guarantees us our future revenues, but also promise a good profit margin. That is because we have become more selective in what we choose to bid for. Slide 7 looks at Italy in more details. Since Webuild is the biggest player after the completion of Progetto Italia, we are in excellent position to make the most of the opportunities offered by the PNRR. Today, we have the scale, the resources, and the expertise to develop the project being financed by the PNRR, especially when it comes to the strict timing schedule for their completion.
That makes the Italian market full of opportunity for us. We are looking at nearly EUR 40 billion worth of project that interests us, mainly planned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and coming to tender this year and the next. Out of that amount, EUR 16 billion are receiving financing from the PNRR. Project under the PNRR have been to be tendered soon in order to meet strict deadlines. There are already EUR 2.7 billion worth of project financed under PNRR that enter the bidding phase, with awarding of contracts expected by year-end. They include two lots for the high-capacity rail line between Palermo and Messina, the Venice Airport link, and the sea barrier for the port in Genoa. More projects are expected to go to tender before the end of the year, amounting to some EUR 13 billion.
We are confident that the PNRR will go ahead despite the latest political turbulence. It is a unique opportunity for Italy, a once-in-a-lifetime chance that nobody wants to let pass. Turning to slide 8, we explain our work to expand into new business areas that will help to diversify our operation. In light of the water crisis in Italy, we built and started promoting a project called Acqua per la Vita, Water for Life, to build in the short term desalination plants for the production of potable water from seawater. In Italy, potable water produced by desalination plants represents only 4% of the total volume of water consumed in the country. If you look at Spain, it is a very small amount. In that country, 56% of the total volume of water consumed comes from desalination plants.
Webuild subsidiary, Fisia Italimpianti, is looking at offering its know-how for the supply and management of water resources in Italy. The cost of building 24 plants to guarantee water even during the summer months will cost a little more, EUR 2.5 billion. Their construction would create 11,000 jobs. The state investment fund, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, could be a potential partner to develop and finance these plants. In order to do it, the price of water per cubic meters needs to rise to the level seen elsewhere in Europe. Another business area is road maintenance. We are making progress on the general contractor model. We are in talks with one of Italy's biggest concessions operators to put together a few mega-lots, a series of work to be done in a number of regions.
Meanwhile, we are working on additional business models to offer road maintenance services. The model will let the concession operator pay the contractor on a regular basis to their responsibility for these services. Another area of interest is the construction of data centers. Demand is growing for the service offered by these centers, partly due to the more stringent view regarding data collection in Europe. The market is forecast to grow by more than 10% on a compound annual growth rate until 2025. We have already started in Switzerland. We have a subsidiary, CSC Costruzioni, by winning EUR 295 million of contracts. But there are several more markets where we are looking to enter, such as Italy, Germany, Austria, and France. Lastly, on slide nine, let me remind you once again the drivers behind our strategy for the 2022-2024 period.
As we grow our business, we will continue to deploy our backlog with a very close attention to the way we manage risk. What is paramount is margin preservation and cash generation. This is coming from the efficient management of our ongoing projects, extracting cash from all the enumerated credits and litigation, as well as the rising cash conversions of margins in new business areas where we are developing. We will continue with our strategy of being selective in the project to acquire, whether it be in Italy or abroad. Cost efficiency activities continue along various line of actions. I will now let Massimo take you through the details of our financial results for the first half of 2022.
Thank you, Pietro, and good morning, everybody. Before I go through the results, let me remind you that, as is customary, we are presenting adjusted figures in order to represent the recurring performance of the business. You can find details of the adjustments we made in the appendix of the presentation. We can start on slide 11. As Pietro mentioned, our financial performance show how resilient we have been in this complex environment of high inflation, rising raw materials cost, and higher interest rates. Both revenues and margins have continued to grow during the first half of the year. Revenues reached EUR 3.9 billion, against EUR 3.1 billion in the first half of 2021, and an increase of 24% year-on-year basis.
EBITDA and the EBIT grew even more, a 33% increase to EUR 251 million, and 37% to EUR 124 million respectively. The factors that are supporting our resilience and growth include the quality of the orders in backlog, with over 80% of revenues coming from low-risk countries. More collaborative partnership that we have developed with clients and suppliers, such as the compensation formula for covering the increase in raw materials cost mentioned by Pietro just before. A third factor is the efficient management of the supply chain, as well as the ongoing cost-saving plan. Let me give you a quick update on the work streams we are currently working on to cut costs. We are creating a centralized shared service center and the back office automation for all projects.
Furthermore, we are working on reducing guarantees and insurance costs, as well as on procurement synergies and policy standardization. On slide 12, you can see the geographical breakdown of our revenues. Italy came to represent 28% of total revenues in the first six months of the year. Revenues in Italy increased by some 10% versus the first half 2021. The main contributors to this increase were the high speed, high capacity railway projects between Milano and Genova, and Verona and Padova. As Pietro underlined earlier, we generate more than 70% of our revenues outside Italy. North America, where we operate through our subsidiary Lane, generated 21% of revenues, in line with the same period last year. Our presence in Australia is steadily growing, generating 14% of our revenues, mainly thanks to the major hydroelectric project.
Our 10 biggest projects are responsible for 42% of revenues, almost in line with 2021 results. These projects are mostly in the hydropower sector and sustainable mobility, in particular metro and high-speed rail projects. As regards the war in Ukraine, we want to remind you that we do not have any exposure to that market. The only credits that we have related to works executed between 2013 and 2016 have been impaired for EUR 52 million. On slide 13, we represent the last developments on compensations for price increases. Most of the foreign contracts are drawn up in compliance with the international standards set by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, which provide for risk mitigation clauses, including those relating to variations in the cost of the work in the event of an increase in commodity prices.
In Italy, with the public publication of the Aiuti Decree, the government has made a decisive change to the issue in order to ensure public works keep being built and new tenders continue to be opened for bidding. The government has introduced measures that to compensate for the increase in the cost of materials, fuel, and energy. It has allocated more than EUR 10 billion to this, increase and potential increase for the coming year. For existing contracts in Italy, the compensation cover 2022 and 2023, while automatic price adjustment mechanism will be granted at the contract level for the new projects under the PNRR to be put in tender up to 2026.
The delegated law published in June of this year that lays down the fundamental principles for the reform of the public contracts code, known as Codice dei contratti pubblici, foresee that the new set of rules to be introduced should include the obligation of a price revision mechanism for public contracts. Compensation has already been requested for the first half of the year, and we have already cashed in part of them. On slide 14, we have the P&L below the EBIT line. On the total, we registered net financial income of EUR 50 million, an improvement of more than EUR 100 million in respect of first half 2021. Financial expenses were at EUR 89 million, a reduction versus EUR 102 million in the first half of the previous year, thanks mainly to a lower level of RCF drawdown.
The profit from exchange rates at EUR 72 million mainly refers to the trend in US and Canadian dollars, the Ethiopian birr, and the Qatar currency, as well as the Colombian pesos. Taxes amounted to EUR 71 million, compared to EUR 74 million in the first half of 2021. Finally, net income is positive at EUR 64 million. On the slide, you can also see a bridge net profit before non-controlling interest, adjusted and reported. The adjustment refers very simply to accounting non-monetary items such as EUR 28 million for the amortization of the positive bargain we registered in 2020 following the PPA process related to Astaldi acquisition. EUR 41 million, net of taxes, related to the impairment of the works carried out in Ukraine following the significant deterioration of creditworthiness due to the ongoing war.
On the slide 15, we have reported our results in terms of net and gross debt. We are in line with our expectation for the first half of 2022. This make us confident, and probably much more confident than at the beginning of the year, in reaching the full year target of a net cash position. Net financial position improved by more than EUR 140 million, versus the first half of 2021, showing a positive trend in cash flow generation in the last 12 months. The variation versus year-end and 2021 figures reflects working capital variation of EUR 800 million as a result of usual seasonality of working capital in the first half of the year of some EUR 350-400 million.
Increased level of production, which in some cases have been certified by the client. In other, the billing time is longer. For example, in some contracts in Italy, the billing of working milestone is 120 days. On domestic projects, part of the raw materials compensation for the first half of 2022, as foreseen by the decree published in May, has been postponed in the second half, leading to an increase in work in progress. There is also positive news on the FIBE litigation. Finally, we cashed in on a long dispute lasting years for EUR 22 million in the first half of the year, and a further EUR 47 million have been collected in July, for a total of EUR 69 million. In recent months, we registered a cash out on taxes accounted in 2021.
It was related to an Ethiopian claim settlement for some EUR 93 million. Net CapEx, including disposal, amounted to EUR 110 million, and cash out for dividends and buyback equaled EUR 82 million. There are a number of drivers that will help us reach our net cash targets, and possibly repeat the fantastic results we had in 2021. They are the cash-in that occurred in July the third, for an overall amount of EUR 150 million related to the Riyadh project advance payment for EUR 100 million, and the FIBE positive resolution already mentioned.
The reversal of working capital seasonality that occurred in the first half of the year, the acceleration of tenders in Italy, as explained earlier by Pietro, almost EUR 3 billion of tenders have already been put out, and we are preparing for the latest meetings. Those projects are eligible to benefit from advanced payment, such up to 30%. The complete payment of the compensation for the increase in raw material costs. Looking at the gross debt, we managed to maintain it almost in line with the end of 2021, at EUR 2.8 billion. Let me emphasize the deleveraging trend we have achieved in the last year. In slide 16, we illustrate some highlights of our corporate debt. We are well-positioned to face the macroeconomic scenario of rising rates.
More than 85% of our long-term debt has been set at fixed rates. In January 2022, we successfully issued a bond for EUR 400 million. This was Webuild first issue of a Sustainability-Linked Bond. It demonstrated our commitment to fully integrating the principle of sustainability into our business, including our financial strategy. Following the bond issue, we do not have any major maturities until 2024. In addition, we want to underline our very strong liquidity position. We have around EUR 500 million in cash held at headquarters, plus more than EUR 900 million of undrawn revolving credit facilities. Turning to slide seventeen, before I leave it to Pietro for a quick recap and some comments on the outlook for 2022, let me quickly give you an update on our ESG target.
The integration of the ESG principle into our business is well established. They permeate our strategy, organization, and operational processes. This is confirmed, among other things, by the numerous ESG ratings assigned to the group by leading international agencies. Just to mention a few, we are ranked prime by ISS ESG and rated A by MSCI, and we are included European Climate Leaders 2022 ranking made by Statista and the Financial Times. Improving safety condition on construction sites remain at the heart of the group strategies. For us, the S in ESG means, on the first instance, safety. In fact, the incident frequency index decreased by more than 35% in the first half of the year compared to the 2017 baseline. That is in line with the minus 40% target set for the year-end.
These important indicators are the result of the steady investment in programs dedicated to developing a culture of safety in all our workplace. They include the Safety Builders programs, which in the first half of 2022 involved more than 10,000 people on construction site. Please, Pietro, I leave the floor for some comments, final comments and other conclusions.
Thank you, Massimo. Turning to slide 19, I would like to give you some final takeaways from our presentation. Our strong first half result show that our group remain resilient in face of these difficult market conditions. We are still growing, and our balance sheet has improved over time. Inflationary pressures are being well managed thanks to price revision mechanism in our contract and recent government measures in Italy. The global infrastructure market remains strong, thanks to massive investment being done by many countries. We are involved in major projects in these countries, including Australia, United States, and Europe. In Italy, investments in infrastructure financed by PNRR are expected to accelerate in the second half of this year. As a leader of the domestic market, we expect to benefit from this unique opportunity. That is why we confirm our targets for the year.
I thank you for your attention. We're now ready to take your questions. As not to slow things down too much during the call, Massimo and the Investor Relations team are available after the call to answer any specific questions you may have on one figure or another in a table or some technical details mentioned in the presentation. Please go ahead.
Thank you. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. The management will answer only strategic questions, and the IR team is available for detailed questions after the call. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. We kindly ask to use handsets when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. We will pause a few minutes as callers join the queue. The first question is from Emanuele Gallazzi with Equita. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, everybody. A couple of questions from my side. The first one is on the guidance and generally speaking about the current inflationary environment. Looking at your results, it seems that for revenues, the upper part of the guidance is achievable. While I would like to understand your view on the profitability side, given the inflationary environment. My second one is on the Italian market. In the first semester, we have seen delays on tenders, as you said, mainly related to extra cost. I would like to have your view on the second semester and the first semester of 2023, if you see still risk of further delays, or are you confident on, let's say, fast resumption of tenders? Thanks.
Okay. Thank you, Emanuele. Regarding the high range of the target for the revenues, we are confident we can achieve it. We expect to have an improvement in marginality, mainly due to the fact that we have the overhead cost that will remain stable with an increase in production, so we can have more efficiency at the EBITDA level. Regarding the Italian market, for the second part of the year, we do not see major risk or the further delay, also because the main clients, the main
Companies like RFI or ANAS have to launch the bids because they are committed. The government that is committed with the European Union to achieve the target of the recovery plan.
Okay. If I may, a very quick one about infrastructure maintenance, just to understand when do you expect to have visibility on this project?
We are working on this program with the major clients, which are the concessionaires, of course, and ANAS. This is something that is under discussion, and we are reaching a settlement for this to the mutual benefit. I would say that this will come in the-
Second
In the second part of the year.
With the main focus being, the Italian market, right?
Starting from the Italian market, right?
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Emanuele.
The next question is from Matteo Bonizzoni with Kepler. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I have two questions. The first one regards the situation in Italy. In the first half of the year, last year, you took a lot of orders. Roughly speaking, EUR 11 billion orders, there were a lot coming from Italy, particularly with the railways, but not only. In the first half of this year, basically zero. For the second half, we have a situation in which you seem very confident on the award of additional jobs. You mentioned EUR 2.7 billion in public tenders, EUR 13 billion of jobs funded by the PNRR scheduled for tender in the second half. My question is as regards the political situation.
Basically, it seems that if my understanding is correct, that you not expect a potential negative impact on this pipeline coming from the evolution of the political situation. The fact that Italy, for example, needs to fulfill all the deadlines and requests and constraints to receive additional money and so on. In general, can you comment about that potential risk? The second question is as regards the net working capital evolution, which has been extraordinarily good last year, particularly, I would say in the second half, because last year you generated all in all EUR 0.9 billion of cash flow, which was really good.
In the first half, we have had some reabsorption of that, now, looking at your working capital, it's clear that, on the advanced payment, you absorb something, and there were also other movements. It seems that you are quite confident to achieve another round of deleverage, at least EUR 0.4 billion in the second half. Can you comment on that? You have already commented. The real important point is also to understand the cash cycle of the extra cost recognition in Italy. Is it reasonable to assume that in the first half you put in the P&L the refund to cover the extra cost, but you have not yet fully cashed in these refunds? And maybe can you provide some detail on that? Thanks.
Okay. Let's start from the political situation. I think that for this year, the political situation will practically have no change because of course, at the time for the election, the government is still on the spot with a very large program of things to be done, and everything which is linked to the goals of reaching the PNRR target and milestone is confirmed in the hands of Mr. Draghi. I think until the end of the year, when the new government will take place, there will be no change.
Of course, we have a very strict path in Europe with the debt to manage and the other constraint that war has put us with that will not make possible to anyone to have a significant difference in the action to be taken for the country. I am very confident that more or less nothing will change. This is for the aspects. For the number of contracts that we have in the future, it means in these three months, in reality, we have already EUR 2.7 billion of tenders, which have been just launched and just tendered for in the past 15 days with the Italian railway.
The Italian railway just confirmed that the program is to launch tenders worth EUR 14 billion before the end of the year. This plan has been confirmed, and we are confident that a significant part of it, of course, due to our role and our dimension, will be part of our next order intake.
Even if we faced a certain postponement of tenders due to the lengthy procedure linked to the price revision introduction in Italy, this is something which is good because of course have changed not only the law which now allows and obliges all clients to put a formula of revision price which covers any difference into the future, but also made a significant update of the prices for the contracts that were ongoing. This delay, I can say that from one side this is a problem that may cause some differences, but from the other side, much more, it is a very significant positive issue.
I would say that as slight delays in the tenders, that at the end of the year, we'll have more or less the same amount of tenders floated, as per the original program and schedule. It is very much offset by the fact of this tender specs being much more safe and updated to the price, as for the current price of raw materials. This is my comment. For the cash, of course, this will give a boost in the second part of the year, because as you know, the Italian contracts are linked with a significant portion of it, given as advances, and this will be a help from the liquidity point of view.
Of course, in the next three months, we are working to pursue this opportunity for boosting our liquidity position and our net financial position. Any other things?
Any other question?
The next question is from Enrico Cocco with Intermonte. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Actually, I would like to touch three points. The first is on the cash flow for the second half. I'm trying to understand if my base case, which is repeating, let's say, a net cash position similar to last year, so above EUR 400 million, is a reasonable base case, or your base case is just having a slight positive net cash. I'm asking this because you said that around EUR 13 billion of projects would be tendered in the second half, but you have visibility on the fact that around EUR 3 billion will be awarded.
If I take your success rate around 60%-70%, this should translate into around prepayments above, let's say, EUR 500 million for you. Then you have the reversal of the first half working capital is between EUR 300-400 million. Of course, I don't know if this year will be the same. Then you have the compensation from raw materials, which I estimate would be hundreds of millions. I'm trying to understand your view on the cash flow for the second half, if it's reasonable to maintain the net cash of last year, or this is too aggressive. This is the first question.
Okay, thank you.
For the guidance, Massimo, I would stick to the guidance we just floated.
We prefer not to comment on your assumption. I believe that they are not far from the reality. We are sticking to the guidance, and we prefer to over-perform than to overpromise.
Okay. Thank you. Second point is on the guidance. Before, you said that you expect the profitability of the second half to improve because you will have stable overhead cost with an increase in production. If the production of the first half was EUR 3.9 billion, why are you not increasing the guidance on the revenue side to, let's say, around EUR 8 billion?
First of all, it's usual to not change the guidance in a short time, because we just released in March or April. Then it's in our business very difficult to make a projection for a full year starting from the first half. I already told that we can achieve the high end of the range that we put in the guidance, but we cannot say much more than that.
Okay.
There are many risks around the world, and so we are very aware, and we prefer to maintain a conservative and approach.
This is the guide.
Okay. On the EBITDA side, in the second half, on the P&L, because I know that the impact will be on the cash flow, but on the P&L side, the EBITDA margin will benefit from the compensations or not? So is-
Sorry, just to remind you that we work on accounting as cost to cost. This means that any positive factor. It is not cashed in and taken into account into the accounting system in the same year. The positive things are spread over the entire life of the contract. Whereas the negative effect of anything is taken immediately. Remember that is a little bit more complex than normally when you think about invoicing system. We work on a cost to cost basis, and a total cost is what is taken into consideration. In the actual revenues of the year, you see the portion of the revenues that are generated by cost on a total cost system. Okay. You understand that?
Yeah. Yeah, sure. My question actually was if you were too prudent in including this conversation in the marginality reflected already in the P&L. You're saying that this is not the case, so the compensation will not impact the profitability of the second half.
Right.
The last point is on, you know, an update on the Texas contract after the Supreme Court of Texas declared the right to take the land, basically. If you could provide an update on the situation there.
No. You know, on the Texas, there is of course something which is positive, and is the ruling of the Supreme Court. Also the statement of Buttigieg very recently in which it tells that the Texas Central infrastructure is one that is seen as one of the potential targets for the investment plan. I think there are other small news that gives us nice confidence on the fact that this project will become a reality. I cannot say more because we took this project off our portfolio in deciding to not having it, not in the outlook, not in the numbers of the contract intakes until the financial closure will be finished.
I would say that is a good news what is happening, but this is not changing our outlook or our projected figures.
Thanks very much.
Thanks.
The next question is from Alessandro Tortora with Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning to everybody. I have, let's say, four questions, which if you prefer, we can go one by one. The first question, sorry, it's just let's say, related to the compensation technicality. Can you give us, let's say, a better idea because there's so many questions on this point. Can you explain to us how it works in the sense, I don't know if it's possible, let's say, to have an idea of the quantification, okay, or the impact, because in the end, you should get like a sort of a revenue boost, coming down totally to the, let's say, to the EBIT line, EBITDA line. Just to understand how it works, if you're gonna book EBIT, then you're gonna get the cash.
Just to understand, okay, from your side, how it was compensation that probably it's important, okay, for your year-end target for the margin. This is the first question.
Well, there are two types of things that you can say, especially this relates to the various decree that have been given by the Italian government. Normally speaking, everywhere in the world, the formula which make revision of price does not make any difference on this fact. It means that the price you actually get from your invoice is price which are deriving from the application of a formula. You cash in and you invoice for the amount which is already updated with that formula. Every month you issue an invoice with an updated price to take into account the escalation of cost which you have on the other side of the balance sheet. This is one thing.
In Italy, you had two types of intervention by the law. The first one was on the 2021 year, and it was a subsequent intervention by the law that was correcting the costs that already occurred in 2021 and that were already invoiced. It means that it was a special decree that took into reference a certain number of material increases, and that was paid, it was invoiced and paid in two installments, one related to the first half, the second to the second half. This is what happened to the 2021. For the 2022, there has been an application or the revision of prices on the all the contracts.
It means that all the contracts are going to be revised by the new price, which are happen to be applied by the different authorities with an updated price list, and this will correct, let's say, the inflationary side of the contract. This means cash and means also an outcome of offsetting.
The cost increase you face on purchasing the different materials during the time. This formula is, of course, applying from 2022 onwards, and is now mandatory to be applied on all new contracts by the administration. As a matter of fact, I remember to you that Italy was the only single country which did not have a system of revision of price to correct these inflationary results for up to the market. Now we are in the bunch of everybody else, which is normally good news for what concerns Italy. Alessandro, just to give you an idea, we cashed in one-fourth in the first half of the value that we will cash in in the second half for the work that we made during this first six months.
No effect on marginality, because we have more cost and we bill for this more cost to the client.
Okay. Thanks very, very clear on this point. The second question is on considering the exposure you have on U.S. and Australia today, can you, let's say, give us an update also on the average profitability of these two markets for you, also considering that, let's say, they should have formulas on, let's say, price adjustments already in place? So just to have an idea of which sort of margin you are on average getting from these two countries. Thanks.
You mentioned, I didn't hear very well, Australia and?
U.S.
U.S. Okay. For both the U.S. and Australia, we have the marginality that is pretty in line with the average that we put in the budget and in the business plan. Mainly, for the new job in the U.S., we became much more selective in the first half of 2022. There is a new CEO, and we are more focused on selectivity on the new business. The market is a huge market, as we already mentioned many times, also in the single states where Lane is present. We expect the same marginality, gross marginality that we have in the budget. Mid-single-digit % in the U.S., and high single-digit % in Australia.
Okay. Thanks. The third question is on you mentioned before during the presentation that the company clearly has an important hiring plan, okay, also in Italy, let's say, but also outside. Can you elaborate a bit more on which sort of wage inflation do you see or maybe we can see, I don't say this year, maybe next year, considering, let's say, the usual average labor cost, okay, you had in the past? Just to have an idea, because at a certain point, probably also on your side, you should see something. Thanks.
Up to now, we just had a meeting a few days ago on HR and compensation and competition around the world. We do not see any inflationary effect. We have mainly a problem of retention of people, mainly for skilled people, but we launched the plan in 2021 that has been, right now, up to now, very effective. We have to retain people. We have to hire skilled people. This is why we launched the so-called Scuola dei Mestieri in order to train people for any level of specialization, any level of technical skill, in order to have for the future this kind of support. Up to now is not a major risk that we are facing around the world, but also in Italy.
Okay, thanks. The last question is only on can you help us understand, I guess, probably also top line is not recurring, but should have got the support on, let's say, FX fluctuation, probably also U.S. dollar. Can you remind me how much of your sales are U.S. dollar denominated? Thanks.
In terms of revenues, we always keep around 50% of the revenues coming from dollar areas related. U.S., Canada, in part Australia, and so on.
Okay. Thanks, Massimo.
Thank you, Alessandro. Thank you to everyone. We close also the Q&A session. We are open to any other question with the IR people, our IR colleagues that are immediately open to any other and further question. Thank you very much to everybody from my side.
Thank you to all of you, and good holidays and a good day.
Thank you. Bye-bye.