Good morning. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Webuild full year 2024 financial results conference call. Our call today is hosted by Pietro Salini, Chief Executive Officer, together with Massimo Ferrari, General Manager. 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.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our conference call on Webuild 2024 full year results. I'm Pietro Salini, Chief Executive of the Group, and with me is Massimo Ferrari, our General Manager. It is a pleasure to be here today to share with you a strong set of numbers and provide you with an update of the Group's strategy and targets. Let's start with slide four, with some highlights of the results. We have once again proven our strong execution capabilities by significantly exceeding our guidance for 2024, staying true to our approach of under-promising and over-delivering. Revenues stood at EUR 12 billion, 20% higher than 2023. That means that we have already exceeded our 2025 revenue target by over EUR 1 billion. Our EBITDA reached record highs at EUR 967 million, an 18% increase versus the previous year. In 2024, we achieved double-digit growth in both revenues and margins.
This is the fourth consecutive year that we have done so. Despite various macroeconomic challenges, we have been able to maintain a net cash position since 2021, ensuring financial stability. The Group's net cash was EUR 1.4 billion, even with a higher investment for future growth and cash generation. At the same time, we have further strengthened our financial structure by improving gross leverage, positioning us among the best in class compared to industry peers. We generated a net profit of EUR 247 million, improving on the already excellent result achieved in 2023. Following this, we propose an increase of 14% of our dividend. In addition to revenues, we reached another target a year ahead of time. We have already secured 100% of our planned 2023, 2025 order intake, entering 2025 with a backlog of EUR 63 billion. It's one of the highest in the industry.
A significant share of that comes from low-risk markets. In health and safety, we are proud to be ranked first among our peers with the lowest indices. It is a recognition of our dedication to the well-being of all the Group employees. Our ability to attract top talent remains unmatched. 13,000 professionals were hired in the past year, more than half of whom are under 35 years of age. Thanks to the daily work and commitment of over 92,000 employees, both direct and indirect, we manage 148 active construction sites in 50 countries. Over 17,500 companies across our supply chain collaborate with us. Turning to slide five, let's go through some of our operational achievements. In 2024, we delivered transformative infrastructure that impacts millions of lives.
Key projects completed include Milan Metro 4, which reduced congestion in the city, Thessaloniki Fast Metro, which revolutionized transportation in the region, and Riyadh Metro 3, which brings faster, more sustainable mobility to the capital. These are engineering marvels shaping a better future for all three cities. Since 2012, we have successfully completed over 330 projects. Increasingly, clients are choosing us as their partner of choice due to our proven ability to deliver. This is reflected in our strong position in industry ranking across key regions. Let's move to slide six. The results achieved in 2024 are not a one-time event. They are the result of a clear, consistent strategy that we pursued since 2012.
We strengthened our business model through engineering excellence, attracting top talent, reaching best in class in health and safety, investing in innovation, centralizing key processes such as building a supply chain, and deploying a rigorous approach to risk management. All these efforts have led to the creation of a solid platform from which to capitalize on the trends in a market that is enormous in scale. We are well positioned to further increase our long-term value. Our strategy is clear: make the most of the opportunities created by global megatrends that are fueling major infrastructure investment. We will continue to focus on cash generation, risk reduction, and project delivery optimization. We will be doing all of this without forgetting how we are creating a positive and lasting impact on society and the environment for future generations.
Turning to slide seven, our construction order backlog stands at EUR 54 billion at the end of 2024, among the highest in the industry. This backlog gives us a clear visibility of future revenues. The geographic distribution of the order backlog is the result of the de-risking strategy that we have pursued in our commercial activity. Around 90% comes from low-risk markets. Italy takes the biggest share at 46%, followed by Australia at 18%. As a regard of our commitment to sustainable development, nearly all our backlog is dedicated to achieving goals set by the United Nations. More than 70% is related to sustainable mobility projects. Moving to slide eight, we acquired EUR 13 billion worth of new orders in 2024. That has allowed us to secure over EUR 35 billion of new orders exceeding the targets under our 2023, 2025 plan. 80% of new orders comes from outside Italy.
In Saudi Arabia, we won a jumbo contract to build the Trojena dams, but there are also projects in France and Australia. In the first month of 2025, we've been selected as the best bidders for EUR 2.5 billion of tenders. On slide nine, as we look ahead, the infrastructure market continues to be driven by long-term megatrends that are shaping the future of our industry despite short-term geopolitical development. This includes the need to fight climate change, achieve energy and water security, rapid urbanization, population growth, and digitalization. Governments and private investors worldwide are committing unprecedented resources to those areas. As demonstrated by our track record, we offer a wide range of products to seize these opportunities. Slide 10 shows how the infrastructure sector average growth rate for the next four years is expected to strongly outperform GDP growth in all our core markets.
This is also key data that points out that the sector is contributing positively to the GDP growth in all the areas in which we operate. Taking a look at our short-term commercial pipeline, it amounts to approximately EUR 126 billion, including tenders submitted and a winning outcome for EUR 34 billion and tenders of EUR 15 billion under preparation to be presented. Let's move to slide 11 for some color on our prospects across our core geographies. In Italy, the infrastructure market is expected to be driven by some strategic initiatives. Investments are expected in multiple sectors, including railways, such as some new section of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed rail line, metros, ports, stadiums, hospitals, data centers, and water infrastructure. In Rome, there is a completion of the Metro C and then further investment in metro lines in Turin and other cities.
In Australia, the Group is among the country's top five contractors and is ready to seize the opportunities offered by a growing market driven primarily by the energy sector. In addition to transport infrastructure and hydropower, investments are expected to remain strong in energy distribution through new transmission lines. There is also the construction of hospitals and the development of the water sector, such as desalination plants. There is the development of the Brisbane area, which potentially includes a new stadium and railway project ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In Saudi Arabia, we are in a unique position to capitalize on the unprecedented investment being made in mega projects. These investments are being driven by the Saudi Vision 2030 program, as well as the 2034 FIFA World Cup and Expo 2030.
A boost is expected in the coming years in metros, railways, stadiums, airports, and other buildings. In North America, we are taking the necessary step to optimize our operations and bring a subsidiary Lane back to profitability. The infrastructure market in this region is massive. In the United States, the new administration favors private sector involvement in infrastructure, creating opportunities for public-private partnerships. The focus is on roads, bridges, hydroelectric projects. In Canada, the focus is on the light rail and metros. Finally, another potential strategic area is the reconstruction of Ukraine. The World Bank estimates around $500 billion are needed to rebuild the country, but we think that a little more of that. We are talking about buildings, but also about our core business. Hundreds of bridges, railway stations, and water treatment plants were also destroyed and seriously damaged. While the situation remains uncertain, we are closely monitoring it.
In a peace agreement, where to be reached, our company would be ready and willing to contribute to the reconstruction effort. Turning to slide 12, I would like to conclude with an overview of our sustainability strategy. We remain on track to achieve our 2025 sustainability targets. We want to further reduce our carbon intensity by 10% by 2025 versus 2022. In 2024, we are already above these targets with a reduction of 25%. On health and safety, as already discussed, we are already the best in class compared to our main European peers. Thanks to our educational and training programs, we have reduced the ratio by 33% in 2024 versus 2022. On gender inclusion and diversity, by 2025, we want an increase of 20% of women leading the Group.
On innovation, we are committed to invest in clean technologies for over EUR 400 million, of which about EUR 250 million is already done in 2024. Our efforts are being recognized by multiple rating agencies. In December 2024, we've been awarded the Gold rating by EcoVadis, ranking among the top companies in the industry in their ESG evaluation. I now leave the floor to Massimo for the economic in-depth analysis.
Thank you, Pietro, and good morning, everybody. Before I go through the results, let me remind you that we are presenting adjusted figures to represent the recurring performance of the business. You can find all the details of the adjustments in the appendix. Let's start from slide 14. Our transformation is delivering outstanding results, as reflected in our strong operational performance. We have achieved growth across all the financial indicators.
Revenues of EUR 12 billion have exceeded expectations, and we have exceeded the target set for 2025 for EUR 1 billion. We are well ahead of schedule. EBITDA and EBIT have reached record levels, respectively, at almost EUR 1 billion and EUR 580 million, doubling since the launch of our roadmap to 2025 business plan. This significant improvement highlights our success in enhancing operational efficiency, cost control, and project execution. Going to slide 15, let's take a look at revenue distribution. Our activity is well balanced, with over 90% of revenues in developed economies, with clear rules, political stability, and faster payment cycles. 67% of revenues are outside of Italy. Australia, as mentioned by Pietro before, is our second biggest market, with 26% of revenues. In North America, we generated 12% of our revenue. The top 10 projects contributed to revenues for around 47% of the total.
When it comes to revenue distribution by activity, more than 85% is related to projects that contribute to achieving sustainable development goals as defined by the United Nations. On slide 16, we show the main levers to increase profitability and maintain strong margins. We have implemented several key levers that have contributed to our margin improvement and, moreover, will boost future marginality. In take selectivity, we continue to focus on high-quality projects, carefully selecting opportunities that align with our risk profile and financial targets. It's a fact that price is no more the most important factor to win a bid. Around 90% of our awards in the 2022 and 2024 period are based mainly on best technical offer, meaning, for example, technical solution and health and safety standards.
Price revision formula: we have successful mechanisms to adjust pricing in response to market fluctuations, protecting our margins from inflation and raw material price volatility. New contract standards: we are increasing the share of collaborative contracts, which come with lower operational risk. I'm referring to the incentivized target cost in Australia and the progressive design and build in the U.S. and Canada. Contract management model revision: we are strengthening the monitoring process to ensure the timely identification and resolution of any issues. Cost efficiency plan: as you already know, it's several years that we have implemented a structured cost optimization strategy. To date, we have implemented initiatives to streamline indirect projects and corporate costs for about EUR 155 million. On slide 17, we have the P&L below EBIT line. Net financial cost increased by EUR 20 million.
Financial income was EUR 185 million, increasing by EUR 66 million thanks to the increase of interest-bearing deposits. Financial expenses were EUR 300 million, increasing by EUR 55 million, of which EUR 19 million due to the recent bond issues and EUR 41 million of increase in other financial expenses. This last one increase is mainly linked to write-off of financial receivables from subsidiaries and to interest on a dispute in North America. Our EBITDA to financial interest ratio remains in line with industry peers, confirming that we maintain a healthy and competitive financial structure. Net exchange gains were EUR 3 million compared to a positive contribution for EUR 34 million in 2023. Losses on investments amounted to EUR 32 million, mainly due to a stop-loss agreement part of the disposal agreement of a project in Türkiye, already reflected in first-half results. Taxes amounted to EUR 181 million versus EUR 143 million in 2023.
Our profits continue to grow at EUR 247 million in 2024. At the bottom of the slide, we show the reported net income to EUR 194 million, that increased by 57% versus the previous year. You can see also the reconciliation due to the adjusted net income. The adjustments refer to the accounting non-monetary items, such as EUR 36 million from the amortization of the positive gain we registered in 2020 relating to the Astaldi's acquisition and EUR 17 million relating to the Clough acquisition. Let's start to slide 18. Our net cash position stood at EUR 1.45 billion, exceeding by far expectations. This is an extraordinary result, taking on even greater significance in light of the investment for the startup of majority major ongoing projects. In 2024, investments in plant and machinery amounted at EUR 970 million.
It confirms the effectiveness of the strategies adopted to optimize the management of working capital and reflects the commercial successes achieved by the Group in 2024. On working capital, despite the significant increase in production in 2024, the measures adopted by the Group have proven effective, allowing for a reduction in the average collection time of payments. In fact, trade receivables and contract assets grew slower than production. Working capital also benefited from the strong commercial activity. We have maintained a sound net cash position since 2021, even as we navigated into several global challenges and macroeconomic uncertainties. Excluding the temporary effect of the liability management that I will explain in the next slide, gross debt stood at EUR 2.8 billion, with gross leverage coming down to 2.9x , well below compared to investment-grade industry peers, with an average of 4.1x . Let's start to slide 19.
In 2024, Webuild successfully issued two new bonds totaling EUR 1 billion, maturing in 2029 and 2030. The proceeds were used to fully repay bonds maturing in 2024 and part of those maturing in 2025 and 2026. The remaining cash will be used to repay the outstanding bonds maturing in December 2025 for EUR 180 million. Since we have refinanced very low interest rate notes, the average cost of debt has increased a bit, but we managed to contain at a comfortable level. The expected reduction in interest rates presents an opportunity for us. As central banks continue to ease monetary policies, we anticipate the medium-term positive effect on our borrowing cost. Liquidity stands strong at more than EUR 4 billion. Finally, in 2024, both rating agencies have improved our outlook. These positive evaluations reflect our reduced risk profile, improved financial discipline, and solid growth prospect.
On slide 20, I would like to show how we have performed versus the guidance from past years. You can see that we have consistently met and, on multiple occasions, outperformed challenging targets year after year, despite macroeconomic challenges. I will now leave the floor to Pietro for the outlook.
Thank you, Massimo. Turning to slide 22, we have built a solid and resilient Group that is already shaping the next strategic plan. In 2023, 2024, we secured over EUR 13 billion in new orders on top of our business plan. We have also invested over EUR 1 billion in CapEx, making us one of the companies with the largest TBM fleet in the world, all while maintaining strong financial discipline. This is reflected in a net cash position of EUR 1.4 billion, a controlled financial leverage in line with investment-grade players, and a reinforced debt-to-equity ratio.
Following this strong order intake, we are planning to invest around EUR 1.3 billion in CapEx in 2025, while maintaining a strong net cash position of more than EUR 700 million. This net cash target is stronger than our business plan estimates. These additional orders and investments not only drive higher production in 2024, 2025, but more importantly, there will be fewer future revenue growth and cash generation in the next business plan. Moving to slide 23, building on this regular backlog and solid asset base, we are also implementing a range of strategic initiatives that will bear fruit in the next business plan. As we capitalize on a booming market, we will continue to position ourselves as a partner of choice for clients addressing climate transition and energy security challenges. In the water sector, we are taking a transformative step from being solely a constructor to an investor.
Our public-private partnership proposal to tackle the drought crisis in Sicily reflects this shift, allowing us to enter the high-margin business of water production and distribution and expanding our footprint beyond traditional infrastructure construction. Additionally, we see potential upside from ongoing negotiation on mega projects such as the Messina Bridge, which we are not yet including in our 2025 guidance. We are also de-risking our portfolio, ensuring a balanced and resilient project mix that minimizes exposure to high-risk contracts while maintaining a steady cash flow. At the same time, we continue investing in employee training and development, equipping our workforce with the skills needed to support our growing business. Beyond organic growth, we are seeking to extend our value chain by integrating specialized companies in key sectors such as steel structures and foundations, engineering, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing.
These companies could operate both as captive entities and as suppliers for other industries, generating additional EBITDA and cash flow. At the same time, we remain fully committed to our cost efficiency plan, continuously identifying opportunities for optimization and financial performance improvement. Our working capital optimization efforts are progressive, driven by a revamped contract management approach, ensuring better contract structuring, risk mitigation, and cash collection. Lastly, we are advancing the reorganization of our subsidiaries, ensuring that each entity meets its profitability targets and tackles market opportunities more effectively. Lastly, on slide 24, we present our 2025 guidance. What we have shared today, our achievements, the measures implemented, and the market perspective reinforces our confidence in the Group prospect and support an upward revision of our 2025 targets. In 2025, revenues are expected to exceed EUR 12.5 billion, while EBITDA is projected to surpass EUR 1.1 billion.
We now anticipate closing 2025 with revenues over EUR 4.4 billion higher than in 2022, compared to the EUR 2.8 billion increase outlined in our business plan, representing over 50% of additional growth beyond initial projection. Cumulative EBITDA for 2023, 2025 is expected to exceed the previous business plan by more than EUR 200 million. We remain committed to maintaining a solid net cash position, expected to be above EUR 700 million at year-end, despite continued growth CapEx. Lastly, for 2025, we are targeting a book-to-build ratio greater than one. I thank you for your attention. We are now ready for the Q&A session. As we go slowly on things, we encourage you to focus on the Group's strategy and other growth initiatives that underline its current and future financial performance.
For any other questions you may have on figures or some other details under the tables or some technical details mentioned during the presentation, the investor relations team will be available to answer them after the call. Thank you to all of you.
Thank you. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. The management will answer all the 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 under touchdown telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. We kindly ask that you use handsets when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Matteo Bonizzoni Kepler. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning. I have two questions.
The first one is, can you update us on the process to finalize the award of the Messina Bridge? Over how many years the contract execution would take place, and what is your current stake in the Eurolink consortium, which I think you have rounded up recently? Second question regards a theme which has taken center stage in the construction sector. Recently, the Germany infrastructure plan, so the construction sector reacted big time to this unprecedented announcement from Germany on a EUR 500 billion infrastructure plan. In Europe, in the past, correct me if I'm wrong, you have been active in countries like France or Norway, but not so far, I think, in Germany, or not recently at least. Could this become an opportunity for you? The same for Ukraine, where in the past you were active with, I remember, not particularly satisfactory profitability with Todini. Thanks.
Thank you, Matteo. The first thing I will address, the Messina Bridge issue, as you know by reading the papers, everything is on the papers now. It is quite at the end of the process for approval. We are waiting the cheapest to approve the project and the contract to start by the end of April. It is something which is quite in the next days, if we can say that. We are, of course, ready. As a result of that, all the industry partners are ready to start with pride this very important project for Italy and for the south of Italy especially. The design and construction phase is expected to last 7.5 years, and the completion of it is anticipated in 2032. I hope to be there and to pass through the bridge myself and all the team by the end of 2032.
We were talking about the expansion of the market. There is enormous demand for infrastructure everywhere in the world. Of course, Germany is a single part of that market. We have markets in which we are present, as I explained during the presentation. Of course, we tackle those markets with intensity and with the experience we already paid in those markets. We try to reduce the footprint of Webuild not to be in too many countries because this means, say, a lack of focus on the market and not to be able to capitalize on the experience already done and to the organization which is already there. This is something which is important.
In the next business plan, we will focus strictly on countries and markets which are profitable, interesting, and large enough for our company to deal with the magnitude and the dimension of projects that we are best in class for. We need to have a very large project to exploit at its best the capability and the competence of our company. What was the first call specific? Probably something on Ukraine. On Ukraine, I was very clear that can be told now. Of course, we are talking about something that is the hope of everyone that the war will finish as soon as possible.
I really appreciate the effort of the U.S. and President Trump to stop this sacrifice for the young generation, especially in Russia and in Ukraine, and to start immediately to rework on to rebuild Ukraine and Russia because we also have to remember that not only Ukraine has been affected by war. In both countries, I think there are a lot of things to be done, and we are ready, of course, to do our part.
Thank you.
The next question is from Emanuele Gallazzi at Equita. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, everybody. Two questions from my side. The first one is on the commercial pipeline because you mentioned over EUR 30 billion of potential over there in, let's say, new markets. Can you just give us more color on these? Where do you see the most relevant opportunities? The second one is on the Australian market. If you can update us on the performance there, the margin improvement, and how the integration of Clough is going. Thank you.
Yes. Starting from Clough, of course, Clough is a very interesting investment we did in Australia. We are now an Australian company, and Clough is fully integrated into Webuild. There are no distinctions between the two. Competence, the very specific competence of Clough, especially on transmission lines and on energy, are very well positioned now for the needs of Australia. We are going well. The contracts in Australia are leading the world into this innovative approach to contractors, which is the collaborative approach.
There is no more the idea that you have public and private, one from one side of the table and the other one on the other side as enemies, but we both face the difficulties of the project and share the risk. This is what is very important in Australia. I think that this is going to be spread around the world, and also in the U.S., they are doing the same thing. The main project in the commercial pipeline is the Northern Water desalination plant in two stages in the Spencer Gulf. Borumba Pumped Hydro Project, Pumped Hydro Energy Storage System like Borumba in Queensland. We are now resulted as best offering the new Women and Babies Hospital at Perth. We see major market opportunities in either of our desalination and hospital. There are lots of contracts going around.
Australia for us is a booming market, very interesting, and we want to grow in Australia. The other question was?
Was on the EUR 30 billion of potential orders coming from new markets, just to better understand what is included in that number.
We have a pipeline. I explained that we have a pipeline which is well over EUR 120 billion, which is done by the contracts that tenders that have already been submitted and are waiting outcome and the new tenders that are going to be done. That.
Also in Italy?
Also in Italy, there is an enormous pipeline of new contracts. I think that from the contract point of view, we have to limit it, not to expand it. We will pursue a policy of a very selective policy in 2025, I mean the next coming years.
As you see what we have to do, we had in the past an enormous growth. This has meant also on the financial side an enormous effort. I think at this time now that we tackle our growth with a different perspective. As you have seen, we announced that revenues growth, which is limited in 2025. This means that we want to be very selective. Also, we want to collect cash. We want to collect back all the effort we have done, the investment we have done. This means higher returns and higher free cash flow into the next plan. We have already two legs into the next business plan. I think that we are talking about 2025, but we are all already working on 2026, 2027, 2028.
This means that our position now, especially the position we have on the portfolio that is huge, EUR 63 billion of orders for the start of 2025 is huge. I think the market is not an issue here. We have a booming market, but we will be selective.
Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
One moment for the next question, please. The next question is from Enrico Coco in Intermonte. Please go ahead. Mr. Coco, your line is open.
Yes. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Okay. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Actually, I have two follow-up questions. One is on the Messina Bridge, and another one is on Ukraine. On the Messina Bridge, the question is, during the presentation, you mentioned the fact that you think you will present a new industrial plan.
My question is if you will present the plan after the award of this contract, after you will include the Messina Bridge contract in your backlog, and if you expect this to happen this year. I have on this contract, on this project, I would like to know the level of advance payment associated. I think should be really good, 10%, 20%. I would like to know if the contract will be split in several years, and if you will take this advance payment every year. The second question is on Ukraine. I remember that you signed MOU with a local company, which was around the hydro technology and business.
My question is if on Ukraine you will focus just on this, on your hydro technology, or you are looking also at a business such as, I don't know, rail and so on. Thank you.
Starting from Ukraine, which is easier, of course, we bring the entire portfolio of capabilities of the company. We are excellent in railway, metro lines, transportation, highways, water, and whatever. The needs are huge. Transmission lines, energy, distributions. Everything can be possible. Especially, you have to imagine that in these conditions, time is of essence. When peace will finally be there, the needs of the people of those infrastructures will be huge. The first thing to tackle is time. Our capability on that, in this regard, is very important. For the Messina Bridge, yes, of course, there is an advance payment for sea, which is by the law.
It is a contract under the code of public works. We have an advance up to 20%. It will be distributed along the construction in a number of issues, a number of installments. This is what is foreseen on the contract of the Messina Bridge. We did not put it into the backlog because even if we have a law that gives us the contract of the Messina Bridge by law, it has not been signed. We cannot put it in the backlog as now. Of course, we expect that the CPES will approve it in April. I think that we are talking as a matter of weeks, let's say, in front of us in order to do the deal and to conclude the deal and start the construction of it. I am confident about that.
Can I ask if you will present a new industrial plan after this award, or I don't know, will it be next year?
Yeah. Probably at the beginning of next year, we already started to draft.
Yeah. It's not a matter of changing. We will remain a large infrastructure company.
Yeah. With new numbers, probably.
Unfortunately, with new numbers, we're not exactly changing our business. What is important, and I also put some lines on it on what are the major issues of the new business plan, is the new companies, the captive companies that can work for other clients on the specialties that is needed from us in a prospect of buying or making.
We have chosen on those particular very, very specific segments: steel, manufacturing, and engineering, and special foundation, and all those areas which are strategic for the execution of projects to have capability in-house. The second phase, of course, is entering into the market of selling the product and not selling the construction, which is, for instance, the team that is linked to the water. We want to change from selling the desalination plant to use our experience and expertise in selling water. Entering into the investments of the infrastructure to deliver to the people directly the product. This can be done in many fields because, of course, imagine the power of all the dams around the world. Everybody thinks about the sustainable energy only linked to solar and wind mills.
In reality, we have an enormous portfolio of old hydropower plants in Italy and in the U.S. Imagine only 4% of the U.S. dams are producing actually energy. We also think of markets in that respect in which we can put our expertise and maybe enter into this field of owning and exploiting some of those plants to produce energy directly.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Alessandro Tortora, Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi. Good morning to everybody. I have four questions, brief questions, if I may. The first one is on your domestic market, Italy, clearly for Webuild sales is the big result. Do you see here the possibility basically to stabilize the sales, or are there some factors that may bring, let's say, to a normalization from this record level?
Clearly, the Messina Bridge award would support this level as you commented before. That is the first question, folks.
Okay. We will do with that one. As we explained in the presentation, the Group actually, it is very visible in many very large infrastructure projects. In reality, we are addressing the internal market in Italy, even if we can consider a market that being in Europe, the market is European. It is not only Italy, but also looking at the Italian market, we have a share of this market which is very limited, less than 2%. In comparison to our peers around Europe, which in their domestic market have a very important share of it, there is a large possibility of growth in front of us.
If we think about, I don't say the name, but the largest company in France is doing 10% of their market, is 10% of the French market is in their hands. Yes, we have an enormous opportunity of growth in our domestic market. As you remember, the Group was always positioned abroad. Historically, it always worked abroad of Italy, and only recently we shifted our attention to Italy. I think that with the new code of public works and with the design and the relationship with the client we have now with Ferrovie dello Stato, with ANAS, with other major clients, I think that the difference of working with us or not working with us is significant. Of course, we have to win tenders, and nobody is giving us anything for grant. We have enough competence and engineers to produce value engineering solutions for the Italian market.
We think that there is still a very big opportunity of growth in Italy. That is it.
Let me add, Alessandro, just to give you an idea, there are not only the large projects with RFI and ANAS, but there are also many other projects like hospitals, stadiums, highways, where we have been called by the clients, by the concessionary, by the private or municipality in order to execute the works. As well as the agreement we are ready to make this new investment for the storage, pumped storage plants in Italy. There are many things. We also think that in the future, nuclear plants, of course, we are talking a very long-term project. Also in the nuclear plant field, we can have a role. Second question.
The region, if I look at, let's say, last year's results, made a big jump in sales, EUR 23 billion. Also on this, can you comment on the profitability achieved by this region last year? Thanks.
In Italy, it was on average in comparison with the expectation of our global portfolio. So positive, close to double digit, and cash positive. At the site level. At the site level and cash positive.
Okay. Okay. Thanks. The question is on CapEx. Clearly, EUR 1.3 billion, that's the target for this year. Can you help me understand how this CapEx will impact your operations? Because you achieved in the past years a significant progress in sales, basically spending much less. Is it a catch-up versus last year, or this is a CapEx that will allow basically further expansion in sales, or I don't know, you're going to do more in-house works? Please, your thoughts also on this point, because clearly EUR 1.3 billion are not peanuts. Lastly, also, let's say, considering this very important program, a kind of rough indication of CapEx beyond 2025? Thanks.
This is very important because it is linked especially to the level of contracts which have been awarded to us. If you see, we have practically EUR 13 billion of contracts more than what was envisaged during the business plan. This means, of course, additional investment. This means also additional advance payment. This means that the portfolio of those contracts is, especially in Italy, where this development has been important, linked to very, very high CapEx requiring contracts with a marginality which is significant. What we have, we have now in front of us the execution of those contracts. We have to purchase the machinery which is involved within that construction. It is mostly a large part of the high-velocity railways in Italy. This means tunneling.
As you know, unfortunately, Italy has a lot of mountains and making railways, it is not easy. This means tunneling, which for us is a very, very significant competence. Investing in machines, which each one of them, let's say, if you think about the machine plus all the accessories that are there, you may imagine that any of that machine costs around EUR 60 million on those things. We are now having a very large fleet, more than 60 of those machines around the world. This is just to give an example, of course, but this is very strictly linked to the quality and typology of the contract that we are using.
Of course, we are choosing to do contracts in which the entry level and the entry barrier, it is a little bit different from the bread-and-butter contract in which a crane is sufficient to be a competitor. We know this will give us a great competitive advantage for the future bids. Not only. Not only. We have invested, for instance, in an industrial site in which we refurbish all those TBM around the world in order to have them new for the new start, not to reinvest in new machines, but to work on those, to recondition them, and to be ready to reuse them. Not only the investment it is now, but in the future, we see a diminishing investment in CapEx for this fact, that the rotation of this CapEx internally will be longer than expected and longer than before.
Just to give you some numbers, Alessandro, notwithstanding the financial targets confirmed before by Pietro, we started in 2022 with EUR 285 million of CapEx. We will have, as you mentioned before, EUR 1.3 billion of CapEx in 2025, having EUR 1.1 billion+ CapEx in comparison with our business plan. Notwithstanding that, we will have a net cash, significant net cash. We still keep the approach under promise and overdelivery in terms of net financial position. We are still committed to reduce interest charges, also reducing gross debt, but mainly working on the reduction of the leverage.
Thanks much. Sorry. The question also related to a kind of, let's say, normalized trajectory for CapEx after this program, super program you mentioned. Will we come back, I don't know, 2 %, 3%, 4% of sales, which basically means roughly, let's say, EUR 400 million, EUR 700 million CapEx beyond this program you announced?
Yeah, probably. We will see with the new business plan, but this spike of CapEx comes from the reason measured by Pietro. We won a lot of projects significantly CapEx intensive, but we will end the business plan with a fleet of TBM that probably no other players in the world can have and can put in place also in terms of competition.
Also, this plan we have done in collaboration with the producer of those machines, which is important. We made a joint venture with the producer of those machines, not only to refurbish them and also not only to re-put them in shape, but also to convert this machine at the end to suit new needs that are coming out from new projects. In the tunneling, we will not only finish those projects that these machines needed, but also we'll be ready to do all the tunneling work around the world with a fleet of machines already amortized, already invested in. This is what, and of course, we will choose this type of work in which the use of those machines will be required because this is very important to us.
Okay. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Much more, let's say, anticipating my last question, it was clearly on the former gross debt reduction target. I basically understood your comment on caring more about the leverage ratios considering the higher sales achieved. In absolute term, do you have a kind of internal limit in absolute term? For instance, I don't know, not surpassing the EUR 3 billion gross debt. Just to understand if there is a kind of.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's reasonable because we have to keep under control the interest charges, and we hope to have for 2025 less effect in terms of taxes in order to increase significantly the bottom line. We will work on very different levers. As you know, we do not have just the capital market, but also the RCF line and the backup lines where we can optimize the use of debt of them in order to reduce the interest charges that at the end is a common target for us and for the investors because it is going to increase the cash flow for equity.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks for all the answers.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from Senan Kiran, Muzinich & Co . Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned your credit metrics being investment-grade already and your own positive outlook from both agencies. Does the senior management have an investment-grade rating target?
Sorry. We were not able to hear well. Did you ask if we are committed on the investment-grade target?
Exactly.
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. We are working on that.
We hope that with the latest results, we can have some improvement from the rating agencies. We will work also on the first-half results in order to confirm the targets that are very close to us to the one that we have. It will be very important to be a pure construction company with an investment-grade. All the plans for 2025 and the new business plan will be committed on that.
We have reduced the growth.
And the bend of the curve for the growth in order to obtain the metrics, financial metrics that give us this possibility.
Thank you. Can I also ask if for this year, 2025, in terms of the way your contracts are being structured, do you see any changes in the percentage of advance payments or your cost pass-throughs?
No. No changes in that policy.
Thank you very much.
We have an average because, of course, this is different. It depends from which country you expect your portfolio to come from. There are different legislations, different from any client. The average which has been put inside is the average we use normally.
Thank you.
The next question is from Giuseppe Grimaldi, BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody, and thanks for your presentation. I have just a quick one on Lane since it was a topic of the discussion of the past call. If you could share with us a bit of an update of the profitability improvement there. Was it at break-even, above break-even this year, and how should we think at Lane in 2025? Just a very clarification, probably you touched upon earlier on, but it's just to say none of the effects of the Messina Bridge are in the guidance. Am I right on that?
Right. That's right. No effect of Messina Bridge. On Lane, Lane has had some, let's say, legacy projects which had some issues in the past. Of course, we are under litigation, but let's say for the moment, we are shedding off all the losses coming from those projects. The discipline into the new order intake, taking already a couple of years ago, is going to produce the transformation of Lane. Let's say no more projects that can bring to us significant surprise, like the ones taken four and five years ago. Much more discipline and analyzed order intake. This is the issue. Of course, working into organization, working into the reduction of cost, into the full integration of the processes with the Webuild processes. These are the, let's say, the key factors.
We put on the company a new organization, total new organization. I think this will make the difference.
We expect that Lane can come at break-even for 2025. We have some ordinary and extraordinary action in order to achieve this target with the Lane management.
Thanks. Thanks a lot for the clarifications.
Thank you very much. Of course, any other details or curiosity, you can call Amarilda and the team and myself. I'll be available with you and some investors also for the next week through video call or in Milan.
Thank you very much. Thank you to all of you. Thank you very much for the time.