Thank you for joining us in this 2024 first quarter results call of ACS Group. This is Javier Crespo, head of investor relations. The call will be led by our CEO, Juan Santamaría, who is accompanied by our Corporate General Manager, Ángel García Altozano, the group's Chief Financial Officer, Emilio Grande, and the rest of the management team. As usual, after the presentation, we will open up for a Q&A session. Now let me pass it on to Juan.
Thank you, Javier, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. Good afternoon, and thank you for being here with us today. First of all, I will start by highlighting the strong performance of the group in the first three months of the year, with sales, net profit, and backlog growing significantly on a comparable basis. The evolution of our order book confirms our strategic commitment to new generation infrastructure projects as a driver of growth, which accounted for circa 50% of our new quarterly record order intake of EUR 13.2 billion. Turner, with an increase of 56% in order intake and 10% in revenue, confirms itself as one of the main growth engines in our group. Meanwhile, ACS continues focused on the de-risking while making progress on its strategic investment objectives and maintaining an attractive shareholder remuneration. Moving now to the Q1 financial overview.
The group posted a net profit of EUR 177 million, representing a 16.7% increase on a comparable basis. On a reported basis, net profit growth in the period was 8.4%. I would like to note that the Q1 2023 figures are presented on a performance basis in order to have a like-for-like comparison. This means that the SH-288 contribution has been adjusted to the equity method, and profits from Ventia have been considered as non-recurrent. In terms of cash generation, the group showed a strong quarter, with an improvement of EUR 266 million in net operating cash flow when compared to the Q1 2023 figure. On a last 12-month basis, we delivered a net operating cash flow of EUR 1.3 billion.
This strong performance, with the usual seasonality of the first quarter of the year, resulted in a net debt position at the end of March 2024 of EUR 1.6 billion, after allocating EUR 1.1 billion to investments and shareholder remuneration in the first quarter. This includes EUR 650 million of cash contribution to Abertis. The resulting net debt position represents a reduction of more than EUR 300 million year-over-year. From a backlog perspective, the first quarter has been very positive. The order book grew by 9.5% to almost EUR 78 billion, a record in the company's history, supported by an outstanding EUR 13.2 billion of new awards in the period. This backlog figure is the result of the group's decision to position itself as a leading company in building infrastructure of tomorrow.
Sectors such as energy transition, sustainable mobility, and projects related to the digital and technological space are driving our growth in terms of backlog and also greenfield investment opportunities. Last 12 months' order intake in new generation infrastructure reached over EUR 19.8 billion, 42.7% higher than the prior year, confirming the group's diversification drive. In fact, the growth of the backlog related to new generation infrastructure in Q1 2024 reached almost 44%. Let's look now in greater detail into the consolidated results for the period. Revenues reached EUR 8.7 billion, up 9% if it's adjusted. Turner is the largest contributor to the revenue growth of the group, with 10% growth year on year. EBITDA grew by 7.2% if it's adjusted. EBITDA margins at Turner and E&C increased and seemingly remained stable like-for-like. The consolidated EBITDA margin was impacted by lower EBITDA contribution from infrastructure.
Profit before tax reached EUR 280 million, of which 39% came from Turner, 28% came from CIMIC, so overall integrated solutions contributed with 67%. On the next slide, we have the breakdown of profit by business line in company. As you can see, net attributable profit grew at 16%, or 16.7% if it's adjusted, on the back of strong operational performance across integrated solutions and E&C, together with the earnings accretion coming from the further acquisition of active minorities over the last 12 months. Headquarters and other businesses remain broadly stable overall. Turning to the cash flow performance for the quarter, I would like to highlight two aspects. Number one, the better performance of working capital evolution compared to the first quarter of 2023 by EUR 181 million. And two, the lower level of CapEx, as growth is coming from less capital-intensive business associated with integrated solutions.
As a result, cash flow in the first quarter of the year, impacted by the usual seasonality, improved by EUR 266 million compared to the same period in 2023. If we look at the last 12 months, the group generated a very solid EUR 1.3 billion, up by more than EUR 500 million year-on-year. Our net debt position as of March 2024 is still at EUR 1.6 billion, showing a reduction of more than EUR 300 million versus March 2023. The proceeds from the outstanding last 12 months' net operating cash flow of EUR 1.3 billion have been allocated for the investments of EUR 379 million in increasing HOCHTIEF's holding and the total shareholder remuneration of EUR 743 million, including ACS and HOCHTIEF's minorities.
Net equity divestments and M&A of EUR 706 million, including the partial SH-288 divestment to Abertis, is offset by the EUR 650 million equity cash injection in Abertis.
During the quarter, in addition to the investment in Abertis already mentioned, we devoted EUR 262 million to remunerate our shareholders and EUR 213 million for net equity investments and M&A. Overall, we deployed EUR 1.1 billion of capital in the first quarter of the year. This capital allocation, together with the usual seasonality of the quarter, explained the variation in the net debt position when compared to the cash position as of December 2023. Our balance sheet position remains strong. In November 2023, S&P confirmed the company's investment grade rating. Our commitment to investment grade rating is a key principle of our financial policy.
As you can see in slide seven, our order backlog stands at EUR 77.9 billion, up 9.5% if it's adjusted, or EUR 6.6 billion on the back of EUR 13.2 billion of new orders. This is a consequence of our strategy to grow in new generation infrastructure markets.
Close to 50% of new orders come from these sectors. The book-to-bill ratio, a leading indicator of our future growth, stands at 1.2 times. This provides us with confidence to deliver our ambitious targets for the coming years. This is also reflected in the current backlog visibility of 25.7 months. On the other hand, we keep the risk in our order book with lower-risk contracts, which currently account for around 85% of the total versus the 65% in 2017. On the next slide, you can see a selection of recent awards. I'm not going to name them all but let me highlight the significant number of new data center projects signed recently in the U.S., Poland, and the Philippines. Also, in the energy transition segment, we have been very active with new contracts in Australia and North America with significant awards in renewable energy generation, battery storage, and transmission lines.
In Canada, we have been awarded the new Île d'Orléans Bridge construction project in Quebec. And here in Madrid, we won the Atocha transfer station project, an underground railway complex which will connect the high-speed terminals of Atocha and Chamartín. I will also highlight the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital project win in Sydney. Healthcare is an important growth area for the group, which is reinforced by Turner's number one position in the sector in North America. Let's move now to a more in-depth look at each of the four key segments of the new reporting structure. As you know, this is the first quarter in which we disclose our operating and financial performance under the new structure. In the appendix, we have included further detail on how it will work going forward, including the level of disclosure by quarter.
Let's start with Turner, which represents 46% of our sales and has an outstanding EBITDA conversion into cash flow. It is a very solid business model with a low-risk profile and high free cash flow generation. Turner has been able to capitalize very quickly on the great investment momentum in our sector in the United States, especially in all areas related to advanced technologies. Our U.S. market leadership position supports our strategic objectives of taking this model to Europe, as explained on earlier occasions. If we look at the operating figures, they represent a combination of growth and profitability improvement. As you can see in the slide, sales grew by 10% with a positive performance across segments, particularly from high-tech projects, which grew 13%, and biopharma, healthcare, and education by 16%. EBITDA and PBT improved year-over-year, reflecting a higher contribution from high return segments.
We're starting to see delivery on the margin increase expected at Turner towards our target of 3.5% in 2026, currently at 2.7%, up 20 basis points year-over-year, supported by a successful strategy on advanced technology project opportunities and SourceBlue supply chain solutions. Turner's commercial strength is demonstrated by its new orders of EUR 7 billion, which grew 56% up in the quarter. As a result of this good commercial momentum, its backlog reached EUR 28.3 billion, growing by 22% year-over-year, a sustained growth trend in the last year. Let's move now to our Asia-Pacific operations, which represent circa 30% of the group's PBT or 21% of total sales, seemingly representing this fast-growing geography. The Asia-Pacific market is currently very dynamic, with an increasing number of energy transmission and sustainable mobility projects.
This is reflected in the solid evolution of all financial indicators, from sales up 10.2% to a net profit of 17.7% on a comparable basis. EBITDA margin has been sustained at 8.2%. As announced, the group recently acquired an additional 10% of this through CIMIC for AUD 320 million, bringing our stake to 60%. The company will be fully consolidated starting in Q2 2024 and will contribute with approximately EUR 1 billion of EBITDA. The company's key figures can be found at the end of this presentation. Further on this, I would like to highlight how its portfolio has rapidly evolved towards critical minerals such as lithium, vanadium, potassium, and rare earths. We now move to the engineering and construction segment, with EUR 2.2 billion of sales up 7.8% if it's adjusted. EBITDA was 11% higher due to the combination of volume growth and margin expansion, and PBT grew by 20.8%.
The order backlog continued to grow at a 4.4% rate year-on-year, currently standing at EUR 27.7 billion, with a strong contribution by sustainable mobility and transportation. Order intake in the quarter reached EUR 3.3 billion. Over the next couple of slides, you can see a breakdown of the contribution between the different companies that comprise the E&C segment. Dragados shows sales growth of 3.1% in the first quarter to nearly EUR 1.4 billion. EBITDA has increased to EUR 73 million, with an improvement in the operating margin. Profit before tax of EUR 28 million is up 23.7% compared to the first quarter of 2023. The backlog has remained stable at EUR 16.5 billion, with a strong focus on transportation and sustainable mobility, and with North America representing 67% of the total.
Turning to HOCHTIEF's engineering and construction activity, we see a strong sales growth in the quarter of 17% year-over-year to over EUR 811 million, particularly driven by outperformance in the US market. At EBITDA level, growth was 21% with stable margins. In the last 12 months, EUR 5.7 billion of new work was secured, up 37% year-over-year, reflected in the 14% increase in the order backlog to EUR 11.2 billion. Infrastructure is the division in which we have grouped our investments in mature concessions through Abertis, as well as our investments in new greenfield projects. The reported results for Q1 2023 have been adjusted to show a like-for-like comparison, with the SH-288 toll road data being accounted for by the equity method. The attributable net profit contribution remains more or less stable, with lower number from Iridium driven by its smaller participation in the SH-288.
In terms of new investments, Iridium reached an agreement to acquire 50% controlling interest in Skyports, a global leader in the development and operation of Vertiports. The total investment in our infrastructure platform in the period amounted to circa EUR 100 million, plus EUR 650 million of cash contribution in Abertis. We have detailed our greenfield investment strategy in the recently held Capital Markets Day, and we will be directing our capital allocation strategy accordingly. As you know, our 50% stake in Abertis is consolidated by the equity method. Sales reached EUR 1.5 billion, 14% growth, and EBITDA increased by 15% to EUR 1.1 billion. Operationally, the assets have shown a solid performance with average traffic growth of 1.4% and an average 4.1% increase in tariffs. France's traffic metrics were soft at the start of the year but are recovering since February.
The growth achieved in Mexico is outstanding, with 17% growth in both revenues and EBITDA. Worth noting that Mexico is one of the main beneficiaries of the nearshoring policy of large U.S. corporations. Spain's strong growth is noteworthy, with a 19% increase in traffic supported by the timing of Easter. Net profit contributions were diluted by the recent acquisitions and the impact of higher minorities. Corporate activity has been very intense at Abertis during these first three months of the year. The company acquired 100% of the Autovía del Camino toll road in Spain for EUR 110 million. In addition, the 12-year extension of the Brazilian Intervias motorway has been negotiated and agreed, the maturity of which has been extended for eight more years. According to the Abertis balance sheet, net debt has been reduced by EUR 1.1 billion.
The EUR 1.3 billion equity injection agreed to strengthen its capital structure was approved and paid in by the shareholders. The annual dividend of EUR 600 million has been approved and will be paid in this second quarter of the year. As explained in our Capital Markets Day held in April, we expect Abertis' current portfolio to generate strong cash flow to deliver and sustain its current dividend policy. In addition, significant extension and M&A opportunities lie ahead of us, which will further contribute to the growth of the business, the maintenance of the current investment grade rating, and attractive level of shareholder remuneration. In slide 17, you have further information on a geographical basis to help understand the evolution of the portfolio of Abertis. Let's move now to greenfield equity investments, where we expect to generate significant long-term value for ACS shareholders.
Our current investment portfolio is comprised of nearly 100 projects globally across the transport, social, digital, energy, and mobility sectors. The current book value stands at EUR 1.9 billion, with an estimated fair value of EUR 2.7 billion. To conclude the review of the first quarter results, I would like to underline the highlights for solid operating performance: 16% growth in comparable net income, an improving cash generation performance, as well as an intense investment activity. Furthermore, the strong level of order intake during the quarter supports our earnings growth forecast for this year, as well as providing visibility on the company's long-term outlook. Looking forward, I would like to underline the strategic guidelines which we shared at the Capital Markets Day. Our main focus is to achieve a profitable growth combined with attractive shareholder remuneration.
This profitable growth would translate into solid and recurring cash generation, which in turn will allow us to continue investing in new infrastructure opportunities, where there is more operating activities and promoting the integration and collaboration between group companies. This approach is already delivering synergies and supporting a profitable growth. Thank you very much for your attention. Now, I'm looking forward to taking your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Q&A session starts now. If you wish to ask a question, please press star five on your telephone keypad. Thank you. The first question comes from Luis Prieto from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, Juan and team. I had three questions, if I could. The first one is regarding what the current stake in Hochtief would be at the end of quarter and if you could shed light on the share buyback activity over the same period for the first quarter. The second question is regarding financial investments and disposals of EUR 863. I understand EUR 650 is Abertis' capital increase. What is the rest, if you could, again, shed light on this? And the final one is if you could give us some update on Clece's operating performance and its disposal process. Thank you.
The rest of the P&L has the full work. What explains that?
Thank you so much, Luis. Our current percentage of ACS stake in HOCHTIEF is 76.2%, and if we adjust for treasury stock, it comes up to 78.73%. Regarding the next one, out of the EUR 863 million, EUR 650 million is Abertis, and there's EUR 162 million of JV investments, basically in Flatiron. The prudential acquisition was 13%, and we had infra investments for around EUR 31 million, and this is mainly renewable opportunities. And then I guess that this is it. And then Clece, so Clece, we were still so we had different proposals on Clece, and we are evaluating right now. I mean, we haven't reached any decision yet. If there was any decision or plan to move forward, we will let you know.
And Juan, and regarding Clece, there hasn't been anything operationally in the quarter worth noting, which I assume there's performed in line with past performance.
No, performance in line, very flat. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Graham Hunt from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Thanks very much for the questions. Maybe one on data centers. One of the pushbacks we often get is power capacity, grid capacity, in terms of the strong demand we're seeing there to meet the demand you're seeing on the data center side. I'd be interested to know, given ACS's sort of end-to-end capability, whether you're having conversations with your customers in terms of enabling both the data center side and the power supply side, and if there's something sort of smart that you're doing there that your competitors can't. I'd just be interested if you could talk to that opportunity. And then second question, just a short one. Given the strength that you've seen in Turner and the order intake, is there any upside scope to that 3.5% margin target that you spoke to at the CMD in 2024? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you so much, Graham. So let me start with data center. So I mean, power, water, fiber, and the data center per se comes hand in hand, right? Nowadays, you cannot think of data centers without talking about all of that, plus the relationship with a potential hyperscaler or the collocation strategy. So all of that part is part of the data center strategy. And basically, that's what gives us the confidence that it's a good market for us because, at the end of the day, the equation and the game comes from putting all of that together. I mean, there's a very important part of permitting as well because, obviously, a certain point can have the connection, can have the energy, but not be able to achieve the permits or vice versa, right? So all of that is being looked at in parallel.
I mean, in the last four years, we have developed 140 data centers, 140, and most of the projects have included the energy connection itself, right? So it's very rare to see that data center in isolation. So our strategy, in terms of construction, continues to provide all that value to our clients, but more importantly, our strategy, in terms of potential investments, they cover the same. The other thing that is important, and I think that it's also answering the question, is because of all that energy demand and the water consumption, etc., the sustainability is getting more and more it's becoming or is taking center stage because of the big footprint that is needed. So we are pretty much incorporating new cooling technologies.
We have developed our own IP special for—I mean—that includes water cooling technologies and our liquids, but also more efficient data centers, precisely to cover that. But anyway, at the end of the day, the important thing is that, from an energy perspective, we're working renewables. We're working more traditional energy, and we do have also expertise in one of the areas of the future, which is nuclear. And there's already a lot of conversations around nuclear energy associated to the big 1 gigawatt-plus data centers that we are talking to the clients, but we're also working on the more efficient data centers. I hope I was not too long in the answer. And then regarding the 3.5% target, we still keep the target for 2026. We finished 2023 at 2.6%. We are at 2.7%.
We expect to finish the year by 3% and continue to raise to 3.5% by 2026.
Thank you. And just very quick on that PowerPoint, I guess the point was whether that offers you an incremental upside opportunity given the capAbertis within your platform, but I think you answered that. But just to clarify that point.
Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. But in short, yes.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Victor Acitores from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Hi, Juan. Thank you for your time, all the team, all the investor relations. I have three questions. The first one is that I have seen today some client spots, some confusion on the net profit guidance that has been, let's say, restated with the Capital Markets Day. Only you can clarify how that applies with the holding cost, only to clarification for some of the clients that are confused on that. The second is that yesterday, Ferrovial announced that they have finally presented the bid for the Georgia projects, the SR 400, originally to clarify or state that you also have done with your consortia. And finally, regarding capital allocation, on the Capital Markets Day of Sacyr, they mentioned the future potential setup of a vehicle. Could be something that could be analyzed on ACS, this type of vehicles, in order to allocate money. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, Victor. So starting with the net profit guidance, so the 8%-12%, it's after holding cost, and it's referred against the EUR 600 million operational that we are in the ordinary business. Regarding the Georgia 400, we did submit our tender last week, and I mean, we are waiting to hear from the client, so we cannot I mean, all of that is subject to confidentiality, but we don't have any further info. And regarding Sacyr, well, these vehicles had I mean, our strategy at this stage is to focus on all the growth that the market is going to bring. And we went through all that in the capital markets day, whether I mean, around data centers, around sustainable mobility, renewables, potentially hydrogen, potential critical minerals, in addition to all the most I mean, the highways and the managed lanes, etc., especially in North America.
So that's our focus. If at some stage we're thinking about.
Super. Thanks so much.
So basically, I mean, if at some stage we are thinking on a vehicle, I mean, that can always be a possibility, but it's not on the table right now. We prefer to continue growing, and then we'll see.
Okay. Super. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Marcin Wojtal from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you so much for taking my questions. Good afternoon. Firstly, do you have any update for us on the SH 288 concession in Texas and the potential termination? Have you had any dialogue with the grantor, and is there anything that you would like to perhaps share on that topic with the market? And my second question, if I may, relates to your operating cash flow, which improved by about EUR 250 million year-over-year. I think we saw yesterday that in Hochtief, they had pretty flat performance, only slight improvement. So can you explain where did the improvement come from? Was it Dragados working capital? Was there something else that allowed you to improve the cash flow year-over-year? Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Marcin. Regarding the 288, we continue conversations. At this stage, all those conversations are confidential, so we are not allowed to disclose any detail. But basically, no change versus the last time we spoke in the capital market stage, which is I mean, the two parallel paths. One is the termination path, and the other one involved the conversations throughout this minimum six-month period. And again, as soon as we do have any further info on the evolution of those conversations, we will let you know. Regarding the operating cash flow, basically, it has been the performance of Dragados, which is going well. This year, I mean, Dragados' net cash flow came down to EUR 20 million versus last year, which was EUR 369 million. And that's the main yeah, versus the working capital of last year. So yeah, that's the main thing. So that's in net sorry.
220 versus EUR 369 net operating cash flow, and this year, EUR 207 versus EUR 360 last year. So basically, an improvement of Dragados.
Okay. Well, thank you very much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions. Dear speakers, back to you.
All right. Thank you very much, everyone, for joining us here today. And yeah, thanks for your participation.