Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the annual shareholders meeting of Cellnex Telecom that will take place on the second floor and has been called to approve the annual accounts of 2023 and the rest of the items in the agenda. I would like to give the floor to the secretary to read the call of the meeting and the quorums and the rest of the elements of the agenda. The general shareholder meeting has been called in accordance with the official announcement published on March the eighth in the BOE, on the website of the CNMV and the website of the company, also in Expansión, in accordance with the national legislation. Given the length of the notice of the meeting, and unless expressly requested, I will not read the notice. Yeah.
In accordance with the articles of the bylaws, the assistance can also be done telematically, and in the call, we can see the procedure to be able to use that mechanism. And on the website of the company, you can find the instructions for the telematic assistance. We also mention the right of shareholders to read all the documentation, and it's been provided to those who have requested it. All the documents linked to the shareholders meeting has been published in the website of our company, and it's been available since the call of this meeting. And last, I'd like to mention that the shareholders who have attended physically, they have received a copy of the agenda and the proposals. The meeting has the presence of the Notary Public, Mr.
Segismundo Álvarez Royo-Villanova, who has been requested by the board of directors to be able to elaborate the minutes of the annual general meeting, in accordance with the Spanish legislation, in accordance with the regulations of these general shareholders meetings. We have the table made up by Mr. Marco Patuano, secretary, myself, Jaime Velázquez, and Notary Public, Mr. Segismundo Álvarez Royo-Villanova. As president secretary of the meeting, we have the Ms. Anne Bouverot and myself. Provisional quorum at the starting of the general meeting is 442 shareholders present or represented, holding 590,186,762 shares, that account for 83.63% of the equity.
Taking into account the data read by the secretary, the annual shareholders meeting is open on second call, and it will be developed with my presentation and that of the CEO, and the intervention of those shareholders who wish to do so. To the shareholders in the meeting that wish to participate, from this moment till the end of our interventions, please provide your assistance card to members of the team. Those shareholders who are attending telematically have been able to participate by sending their questions in writing through the link that has been included in the telematic assistance platform. And they will be able to do so until 12 hours today, as expressed in the call. As the secretary mentioned, the notary, well, the Notary Public, Mr.
Segismundo Álvarez Royo-Villanova is present to be able to record the minutes of the meeting. I will now give the floor to the notary public.
Good morning, Maria. I'm Segismundo Álvarez, as has been mentioned, and in accordance with what I've been instructed by Cellnex Telecom, I will elaborate the minutes in accordance with the article of the registry regulations. I would like to ask you if there are any reservations or protests regarding the statements on the number of shareholders or the capital present or represented? No reservations. If that's the case, we can continue the meeting. Thank you.
Gracias, Señor Notario. Thank you, Mr. Notary Public. I would now like to start my presentation after this short clip.
Well, 2023 was a transformational year. It started at the end of 2022, when the company announced its new industrial strategy, moving away from years of very successful M&A, and wanting to consolidate on organic growth, and reducing the cost of debt. And since then, well, yes, the company has been delivering on its objectives and on its business plan, and on its new strategy.
So we had to concentrate on organic growth, and we have to deliver the investment grade, so we need to re-equilibrate our capital structure in order to have a bit less leverage.
And the last we had to make and we pursued also with the help of the board a broad portfolio review that could have been geographic, it could have been line of business. And in order to understand where we should extract more value, our objective is to continue growing. So it's not going to be just an efficiency, it's going to be a growth story as well.
So yes, in line with the delivery of our business plan, the company is starting to generate cash, and it will become a sustainable and significant cash generation in the years to come. And therefore, we have a responsibility from the perspective of the company and the board, to allocate those cash flows in the best way possible. And very importantly, we need to allocate some of that cash generation to shareholder remuneration. We have been taking sustainability and ESG in general, environment, sustainability, governance, very seriously. We have an existing plan, an ESG plan, that currently runs to 2025, and we review it every year. We're very proud that we have, for example, recently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe.
So we, as a company, we're making a very important shift. So you have to take your ESG, not consequences, but your ESG goals, and you to put inside your strategy. So your strategy is not only an industrial strategy, it's not only a financial strategy, it's a full, complete, sustainable strategy.
Dear shareholders, and dear colleagues from the board of directors, dear friends of Cellnex that are here with us today, it's a pleasure to be able to be with you once again in the second general shareholders meeting, in which we will request the approval of the accounts for 2023, as well as the rest of the items in the agenda that will be detailed by the secretary of the board afterwards. Please allow me to welcome all those of you who are following the meeting through the telematic channel, a way to be able to welcome a higher number of shareholders through our streaming channel. You will also be able to follow the AGM and to include a wider group of colleagues and friends of the company.
I'd like to address all of you just a few weeks after celebrating in London the Capital Markets Day in front of an audience of over 100 investors and analysts that followed the presentations in the room and several hundreds via streaming. During the Capital Markets Day, we specified the axes and the goals for this new chapter in the Cellnex strategy. We did so focusing on organic growth, operating efficiency, the generation of positive cash flow, the reduction of our debt, and to strengthening our balance. A set of priorities whose results will have to be translated into a remuneration policy for all our shareholders that's appealing and that can add value to our shareholders.
The first tangible result of this strategy was actually visible on the first day of the Capital Markets Day in London by reaching the Investment Grade rating by Standard & Poor's. Undoubtedly, a milestone that validates the new strategic momentum for the following years and its execution by the management team at Cellnex.
In this meeting, we hope to receive your approval of the 2023 accounts, but I would first like to spend a few moments to explain how we see the overall picture, and why Cellnex plays and continues to play a strategic role in the European telecom sector. As I think you all know here, Cellnex pioneered the development of the neutral telecom infrastructure sector in Europe, growing quickly through acquisitions to become the continent's largest telecom infrastructure provider. This remarkable growth was driven by the increasing demand for data, the low cost of capital, and the availability of opportunities. I think we can say that Cellnex helped the telecom sector to free up cash to invest it in next-generation networks, which in the end, we all benefit from.
If we fast-forward to today, there is an established market for tower companies like us, driven by data growth and driven by the substantial investments that continue to be required for 5G. We know that in Europe, 5G is still not in the lead, so this is even more needed than before. There is a clear and continued demand for connectivity in Europe, and the digitization of society and of companies continues apace. Artificial intelligence is actually one of the newest drivers and the next frontiers for this. It's therefore an essential sector for the economy, and it's key to the digital competitiveness of Europe.... All this data eventually relies on passive infrastructure that requires significant upfront capital investment and operating costs. Of course, it also requires smart planning to avoid having duplicate networks for the same services in the same countries.
This is where, as a neutral operator, Cellnex plays and continues to play a very important role in ensuring an efficient and sustainable rollout of telecoms infrastructure. This is where our mission, as a neutral infrastructure provider continues and will continue to be very relevant in the years to come. Now, today, of course, there are fewer inorganic opportunities than was the case in the past. The changing financial environment means that all industry players, not just us, face a higher cost of capital. In this context, some of our competitors are seeking to consolidate. They're looking at how to enable their investment and to strengthen their businesses. In this context, we truly believe we can continue to help them generate efficiencies and also enable more rational network deployments, as well as in a more sustainable way.
Of course, this is the shareholders' meeting for 2023, but we're now well into 2024. And as our Q1 KPIs have shown, our fundamentals remain very strong, and the company continues to deliver on the targets it's committed to the market, as Marco and the team explained in the Q1 results conference call yesterday. If I get back to 2023, Cellnex performed strongly despite an external environment, which continues to be extremely challenging on many fronts. With the continued war in Ukraine, with the extremely painful situation in Israel and in Gaza, with many more difficult situations, we do not know what the future holds. Inflation, which had risen very significantly, now seems to be reaching a more controlled and predictable situation, but we're not completely there yet.
With more contained inflation, but we're looking at the data as it comes, we can still expect a more positive and less aggressive interest rate policy for 2024, especially more towards the latter part of the year. But given that inflation looks set to remain slightly above central bank targets for this year, this should still result in a smooth and prudent reduction of interest rates. But I think we can say this is a little bit more of a higher for longer than expected. 2023 was a year of transformation for Cellnex. We, of course, focused on the integration of the various acquisitions and on organic growth. We also had several notable changes in corporate governance to anchor the new vision that we set at the end of 2022.
This included a renewed board of directors, and most importantly, the appointment of Marco Patuano as our CEO in June of last year. Since then, Marco has constituted a new leadership team. I can see many of them here in the room. And I can say it's a team of experienced, energetic, and motivated leaders, and together with them, Marco is implementing the new strategy, and they are delivering strong financial results. Indeed, I think we can say that Cellnex delivered an excellent commercial performance last year, meeting all the financial targets with strong revenue and EBITDA growth and with a disciplined control of CapEx and of operational costs. Throughout the year, we also made good progress in reducing our debt, thanks in particular to the disposal of sites in France and the transaction in the Nordics with Stonepeak.
Our French team, and I'm not saying this because I'm French, but they achieved major milestones with some of our anchor tenants, strengthening our existing industrial agreements. This has also been the case with the teams in the U.K. and in Portugal, in particular, where we continue to extend and improve on the services that we deliver to our customers. I would now like to move to share price. So interest rate expectations had a significant impact on our share prices, on our share price, and explain much of the volatility that we experienced in 2023, and actually that we continue to experience this year. For 2023, Cellnex shares ended the year up 16% above the telecom sector.
However, since the beginning of this year, interest rate expectations have continued to be a key driver of equity valuations, and they have depressed the valuations of the entire sector, even if Cellnex has performed slightly better than peers. We cannot be happy with that. We take this very seriously, of course, and we are confident that, as outlined in the Capital Markets Day last month, our execution of selected disposals, our increased shareholder remuneration in form of dividend or share buybacks, and of course, our continued organic growth and operational performance will eventually be reflected in the share price. At the CMD, we laid out our vision based on our core values, focused on serving our customers. This is first and foremost why we're here. We are, we cannot repeat it enough, a neutral telecom infrastructure company with an industrial approach. Our customers rely on us.
As I mentioned before, we help our telecom customers in Europe by enabling tower sharing or co-location, which helps them become more efficient and improve both their environmental and climate impact. We're delivering on our commitments, including, as I have already mentioned in my introduction, the achievement of Investment Grade by Standard & Poor's, and reiterating our 2025 guidance. Those were two very strong commitments that we have made, and that we have reached for the first one and confirmed for the second one. Looking ahead for 2027, we have set ambitious targets for 2027. The new thing that we announced as part of setting these commitments was a commitment to return significantly more value to our shareholders as part of a new capital allocation strategy. As Marco explained at the CMD, it will soon be time for harvest at Cellnex.
We have promised an increased shareholder remuneration from 2026 onwards, thanks to a significant increase in future free cash flow. Just to give a number to size this significant, we estimate that we will generate over EUR 10 billion between 2026 and 2030, and that we will be able to allocate to both growth investments, of course, on the one hand, and also to shareholder remuneration on the other hand, both in the form, which can be both in the form of dividends and/or share buybacks. We have committed more specifically to an annual dividend of EUR 500 million by 2026, which will then increase by 7.5% per year. As Marco will explain, we're also assessing where we could anticipate some of this enhanced shareholder remuneration.
I will now comment briefly on our corporate governance, a topic on which, of course, I focus much of my time. One of the first things, and I think I stated last year, one of the first things I did when I was appointed chair, was to hold a series of meetings with our shareholders. I saw, and I continue to see a very strong engagement and support for Cellnex, and a clear alignment amongst those stakeholders with the new strategy. We currently have a shareholder base, as you can see here, of more than 24,000 shareholders. Three of our largest shareholders, Edizione, GIC and TCI, which together hold more than 25% of our capital, are represented on the board.
I say this to all the shareholders who are here and represented, we're grateful for the strong loyalty of our shareholders, which include some of the world's leading investors. Cellnex has a truly global investor base, with strong presence, in particular from North America, Europe and Asia. I mentioned it last year, we made some changes to the board structure. We now have a board of 12, sorry, 13 directors. Thirteen well-qualified directors, with three proprietary directors, nine independents, and one executive director, our CEO. The composition of our board stands out both for its independence, nine out of 13 members, and for our gender diversity, seven out of 13 members are women. As you know, the board has three committees: the Audit and Risk Management Committee, the Nominations, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee, and a new committee, which we created last year, the Capital Allocation Committee.
Each of these committees is chaired by an independent director. We're, of course, continuously striving to update and strengthen our governance, and in 2023, we created this new committee, the Capital Allocation Committee. In very simple terms, its role is to inform and assist the board of directors on the proposals from the CEO on how to best allocate capital. More specifically, it reviews the business plan, it reviews the budget, the annual budget, the shareholder remuneration policy, as well as major investments and divestitures above certain thresholds, so that they can then be put forward for consideration and approval by the board. In terms of board composition, as the secretary will explain in the final part of his, of this AGM, today, we also submit for approval the proposal for the re-election of Alexandra Reich as proprietary director in representation of GIC.
I would now like to spend a few minutes on the alignment on value creation. For the CEO and executive, executives of the company, as you well know, the management incentive plans, both the annual one and the long-term ones, are strongly aligned with the creation of shareholder value. The objectives of the long-term incentive plans are based on achieving or exceeding the plan targets in terms of cumulative Free Cash Flow, total shareholder returns, and of course, ESG matrix. In addition, and in order to further strengthen the alignment between directors at the board and shareholders, the board of directors decided in its meeting yesterday, a new board share policy. The policy is that board directors will buy shares of Cellnex for an amount equivalent to 20% of their annual remuneration as members of the board.
Let me now move to a very important topic, sustainability, which is an integral part of our strategy. In 2023, we conducted a mid-year review of our 2021-2025 ESG master plan. This plan identifies specific objectives in areas related to environment and climate change, social impact, and good governance, and all of these correlated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. I am very pleased and very proud to report that we have achieved 90% of our goals. I would particularly like to highlight the progress made in reducing emissions related to our business, and we're on track to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050. Cellnex has also led several sustainability re-ratings in recent years.
We have recently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe, and we're the only telecom infrastructure company to be a member of any of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. We've also been recognized once again by CDP for transparency and commitment to climate change, and we have a place on the A list for the fifth consecutive year. We've been recognized by Sustainalytics, by FTSE4 Good, MSCI, and Bloomberg Gender Equality, and all these indices in which we have continued to strengthen our rating. Of course, we're very pleased about this and proud of the teams that enable this. The Cellnex Foundation remains as well a key element of our social strategy by reinforcing our commitment to connectivity as an element of social cohesion and progress. It allows us to go one step further and contribute to a better connected and socially inclusive environment.
As a conclusion, I would like to say that 2023 has been a year of change for Cellnex, with a renewed leadership team and a strengthened board. It has also been a year of strong operational and commercial performance. Cellnex, as you've heard it, has a clear mission as a neutral telecom infrastructure provider, and we have an ambitious strategy. We know, of course, that much more needs to be done. We need to deliver on our commitments to our customers, and we need to deliver on our commitments to you, our shareholders, and the board of directors is firmly committed to value creation.
It's been a pleasure to be able to address all of you with these, introduction comments in the second, my second AGM as a person. Thank you for your attention. And next, I would like to give the floor to our CEO.
Companies play a key role in the fight against climate change. At Cellnex, one of our challenges is decarbonizing the economy, taking responsibility for our environmental impact. We have designed an ambitious medium and long-term strategy to reduce and neutralize our emissions. We want to be a net zero company by 2050. We will minimize direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. We will invest in projects that avoid emissions. 2020 is the base year of our net zero strategy. Until 2025, we will drastically reduce emissions linked to the business, scopes 1 and 2. Starting in 2025, we will progressively increase the offsetting of emissions until we become carbon neutral for all scopes, including those included in our value chain. From that point on, we will neutralize residual emissions progressively until we reach net zero. How will we do it?
Setting reduction targets to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Promoting responsible energy management, since electricity consumption is our main source of emissions. Helping our value chain to reduce its environmental impact. Applying eco design strategies in cooperation with our providers. Implementing a global mobility program to reduce emissions from travel and commuting. Financing carbon capture projects also within our value chain. Integrating carbon management into our governance model.
Buenos días a todos.
Good morning, everyone, dear shareholders, members of the board of directors, dear colleagues of Cellnex, those attending through the web, and those that are following us through the streaming service. Thank you for being here at my first AGM as CEO of Cellnex. Thank you for your words, dear President. I'm going to focus on three blocks. First, I will do an analysis of the results for 2023 that we submit to the approval of this general shareholders meetings. In the second block, I will present a summarized version of the development of the main indicators corresponding to the first quarter of 2024, that maintain Cellnex in the right trajectory to comply with the goals that we have set for ourselves as a management team, and with which we have committed to the market.
And in the third chapter, I will share with all of you the fundamental elements and the key indicators that we present to the investor community in the Capital Markets Day that we celebrated in London on the fifth of March. In this first slide, we start analyzing the main indicators of the fiscal year 2023 before we delve deeper into the different equity, financial, and economic components. The first message I want to convey to you is that in 2023, all the main indicators of the company comply with our commitment with the market. Cellnex gathered the fruits of a good sales and operational activity, with revenue in line with the forecast, and with the achievement of a Free Cash Flow before the expected moment in time.
We've been able to comply with the industrial KPIs, thanks to a prudent investment of investments and the rigorous control of our cost structure. I want to acknowledge the role and the work done by the whole Cellnex team, that in an environment of change, of review, of our process, and reorganization of our structure, kept focused on execution, achieving the demanding goals that we had set for ourselves. The revenue, like re-invoicing of energy to our customers, went up to EUR 4.5 billion, a growth of 15% compared to the closing of 2022. At this point, I would like to point out something that we also share in the Capital Markets Day in London.
From the point of view of our economic indicators, the most important piece of data are revenue, excluding the re-invoicing of the cost of energy for our customers, a factor that for, because of its own nature, is exogenous, because it is just a transfer of cost and does not add value. And in that sense, in 2024, the information that we will provide to the market separates the energy factor from the revenue, and we present a more realistic snapshot, and not influenced by volatility of the prices of that component. If we transfer customers to the closing of 2023, revenue reached EUR 3.6 billion, compared to the EUR 3.1 billion of the previous year, confirming that growth of 15%.
As regards EBITDA, we see that increase from 14%, but the same piece of data, once we deduct the lease of real property, increase 17%, which offers a more a clearer reflection of our operational margins. The recurrent free cash flow grew 13%, reaching EUR 1.545 billion. Net cash flow, this is the first year since we went public, when we close the year with a positive value of EUR 150 million, a milestone that we have achieved also thanks to some of those investments that we made in the year, mainly associated to the compliance with the remedies of the purchase of assets in France in 2021.
Anyway, this first year with a net positive net cash flow, we'll have continuity in 2024, and where we will always also present a positive result. Let's drill deeper into the elements that make up the performance of 2023, starting with those operational sales indicators. The points of presence, so-called POPs, in location of the group, have grown 6.4%, incorporating almost 9,500 new points of presence. Growth includes 4,800 POPs, which is a growth of 3.2%, and associated to the deployment of new build to suit, as we call them. And 4,688 new locations in existing locations, with a growth of 3.2%, again, of the points of presence.
Analyzing revenue compared to the forecast, we can see how the majority of Cellnex activity is associated to infrastructure services offered to telecommunications and mobile telecommunication operators. In 2023, they contributed 91% of our turnover, with EUR 3,685 million, which is a growth of 16% vis-à-vis 2022. 82% of our turnover without considering the sale of energy. Later on in my presentation, in line with what we submitted in the Capital Markets Day, I will speak about the projection for future growth in our business lines. Let's go to EBITDA. One of the main strengths of our EBITDA is our geographical diversification. We close with presence in 12 countries: Spain, France, United Kingdom, Poland, and Germany.
That's a great majority of our total revenue, and we have absolute leadership in the sector of telecommunication infrastructures in Europe, which translates into the fact that in 84% of the countries where we are present, we are the first or the second tower operator in the country. In order to complement the analysis of the economic component of the P&L, the relevant improvement obtained in the operational performance, EUR 377 million, has been impacted by financial and accounting elements, so the net accounting result is still in losses. Derived from the purchase of assets due to technical investments has increased, reaching the value of EUR 2.553 billion. They were EUR 2.321 billion in 2022.
Expenses have grown 11%, EUR 888 million, because of the effect of the interest rates increase that has affected 25% of the debt of Cellnex. 75% was obtained at fixed rate. Let's go to financial components. In 2023, we reduced significantly the investments in the chapter of M&A, reaching EUR 696 million due to the effect of the purchase of the participation of Cellnex Poland that was in the hands of Iliad after purchasing the towers of operator Play, which is 30% of the Polish subsidiary. So it's more a consolidation of the activity that we already had deployed in the country and not so much a new acquisition.
In that sense, I would like to highlight that this development of investments is consistent with our current roadmap, focused on organic growth, on consolidation of our industrial model. Just as a reference, the data about M&A investment in 2022 reached EUR 4.880 billion. Otherwise, we continue to comply with our commitments with customers for the deployment of new locations based on the different build-to-suit programs. The program extends to 2030, and will allow a significant improvement in the density of telecommunication networks in Europe, and with that, a better coverage and better services to our users and the users of our customers. I also like to point out that the most intensive stage of these projects will come to a close in 2026.
The net value of investments in new locations in this 2023 was EUR 937 million. It was EUR 2.1 billion in 2022, and the result is in gross investments of EUR 1.568 billion, and the sale in France for EUR 631 million, complying with the first requirement of the competition authority in France after the acquisition of assets due to the purchase of Iliad first. In 2023, Cellnex has invested EUR 458 million in CapEx for expansion, devoted to projects that contribute organic growth or EBITDA or revenue for the company.
Analyzing briefly the financial structure of the group, as of 31 December 2023, the net debt at the closing of the year was EUR 17 billion, more than three quarters at fixed rate. Our balance is duly protected against the hikes in interest rates that we have seen since the end of 2021. It is important to highlight the robust liquidity position at the closing of 2023, with availability of EUR 4.8 billion, out of which 1.4 billion in cash and the rest in credit facilities. To conclude this part of the presentation, I would like to refer to one of the key elements that has determined the year 2023.
In June 2023, when I joined the group as a CEO, together with the whole executive team, we took on, as a priority, the execution of the roadmap that we had set for ourselves at the board. We've focused on review and consolidation of our processes, making sure that we align all resources of the group for the provisioning of the services to our customers that reach a volume of EUR 110 billion of future revenue. I can declare that we are fulfilling our promises to the market, and our industrial focus is expressed on the extension of the turnover that we manage for our customers and the renewal, in some cases, and in some cases, also the extension of existing contracts....
In line with the strategy of focusing on the core business around telecommunication towers, we have focused our attention in analyzing our potential development in the future. And analyzing the markets, we have decided some markets that can offer profitability for Cellnex. And as a consequence of that analysis, we made several decisions. In our business in Sweden and Denmark, in the Nordics, we have incorporated Stonepeak as a partner of about 9% a stake, in order to have the financial flexibility that we need to explore the opportunities for growth, both organic and inorganic, that those countries continue to offer, and capturing part of the value that we devote to the improvement of our EBITDA debt ratio.
This operation was proof of the capacity of Cellnex to attract the interest of first-line financial partners that understand and value the quality of our assets and the opportunities that we have in the future. In Ireland, as you will remember, we've made the decision, announced on the fifth of March, to sell our business in the country to Phoenix Towers International at a price of EUR 991 million, which is an attractive multiple of 24x the EBIT after lease. In Austria, we are analyzing, at this point in time, the market potential and the strategic fit for the company. We've closed an agreement with Boldyn Networks for the sale of Edzcom, the subsidiary for connectivity for private networks in industrial complexes and environments.
Sustainability, as our president has mentioned in her presentation, is a key component and a singular component of our strategy. We are very proud of the recognition that has been granted to us by the most important indexes, which recognize consistently the level of transparency and the execution of the group in this area. Very quickly, we now go to the second part of the presentation, discussing briefly the data that we presented yesterday to the market for the first quarter of 2024. We can confirm that the magnitudes, the most relevant magnitudes, since from EBITDA, key, business indicators, EBITDA and revenue, expressing points of presence in our locations, reflect a start of the year aligned with the goals and with the best forecasts that we had announced to the market.
Revenue have reached a value of EUR 946 million, with an organic growth of 7% net, bearing in mind a lower perimeter because of the sale of assets in France that we reminded you of just a while ago, and that have continued in the first quarter. After EBITDA, after lease, is EUR 533 million, with a 9% organic growth. The recurrent free cash flow is EUR 384 million, with an organic growth of 14%. Free cash flow is positive, EUR 103 million after a -EUR 139 million in 2023, 2022, with the effect of the subsequent sales of towers in France in order to fulfill the antitrust regulation.
Here, again, I would like to highlight my acknowledgment to the impressive role and performance of the Cellnex team in every country. The commitment of all countries and the whole organization to continue to be resilient are our main success factors. We are complying with our commitments. And now I go to the last chapter of my presentation. I would like to convey to you the main arguments that we shared in London with investors and analysts that follow Cellnex in our capital market day.
It is a review and update of the new chapter of the company after some years that were marked by the creation of the main European operators of telecommunication towers, with the scale and dimension necessary to face the future with the industrial perspective of a company focused on excellence of operations and of service that we provide to our customers. In its relatively short story, Cellnex has been able to build a solid and resilient business. As the president was mentioning in her presentation, we were facing a huge increase of data and connectivity in Europe that is not alien to the new paradigm that is presented by artificial intelligence.
In order to respond to that demand, our customers need to expand and increase and make more dense all the networks, and there Cellnex plays a fundamental role as a leader in Europe because it allows us to build on the trust and the partnership with our customers, and we help them to be more efficient. In these last few years, we have created a diversified customer base that distinguishes us from our competitors in Europe. Less than 50% of our revenue comes from three customers, and our contracts have an average duration of 31 years. We have a backlog of EUR 110 billion. That provides us a stability recurrence in financial flows of the company.
We are crystallizing the transition of the group that we announced at the end of 2022, from a inorganic growth-centric model that allowed us to reach the scale, to be able to compete abroad and provide service to our customers, to a model focused on organic growth, on reinforcement of our balance sheet, and obtaining the attainment of investment grade, and generating a positive net cash flow from 2024 onwards. Goals that we are achieving with a decided step, and in March, anticipating the initial forecast for the end of 2024, we have achieved that BBB- rating, that attributes us the degree of investment grade, and that improves the conditions with which we can face new issuances.
A positive effect that, besides, we have been able to find also in our markets. And we continue to make progress, and based on four main pillars. Simplification: reduce the complexity of our operations. The wider the portfolio, the bigger the challenge for the management team in terms of management, and so we need a strategic review of our portfolio to focus on the businesses and markets that are the main ones, and to get rid, selectively, of activities that are not part of the core of our growth model at Cellnex, and that offer more limited potential for growth for the group in the mid and long terms.
In this context, where we have to place the logic of the operations in private networks, Ireland, and potentially also Austria, our focus from now on, there are many challenges and tasks ahead of us, and that's why we have to focus on few, few priorities that are identified and shared by the team. Cellnex prioritizes its growth based on the improvement of the indicators of tower use, so increase the placement of equipment in available locations, and committing to the deployment that has already been complying with the deployment committed with our customers. The goal is to reach a co-location coefficient, what we call the tenancy ratio, of 1.64 by 2027. We have to improve our efficiency.
The Cellnex project is an industrial project based on operational excellence that becomes, or that translates into adding value to our customers by being efficient in our operations and contributing to the end-to-end improvement in the network services. In this sense, it is important to remind you here, the nature of the Cellnex model, which is that sharing and optimization of use of the deployed networks. The last but not least, responsibility. We are leading the industry in terms of sustainability. For us, the ESG policies and actions are not just a simple consequence of our activity that we measure ex post, but they build a goal in itself at the level of other business and financial goals. We want them to be part of our strategic planning, ex ante.
As I always say, we don't have a planet B, and we won't have a second opportunity. As a company, we have to contribute with our actions and with our awareness to the fact that we are part of a global value chain that is interdependent. I now would like to refer, very quickly, I swear, to the structure of four business lines that we have implemented, and that's how we are going to report to the market from now on. The main pillar of our activity is that of telecommunication towers, accumulating 83% of our revenue in 2023. That will mean 80% of the turnover for the Horizon 2027.
The new drivers of data consumption will reinforce of a small networks of distributed antennas as an element that will favor the coverage in high-concentration areas of users or areas with urban restrictions that can limit the deployment of big towers. In fact, it is a natural extension of our activity with the towers that we have been executing in the last few years, and that places us as the main player in the implementation of small cells in Europe. Let's add the potential for sharing active teams, 2, 3, 4, and 5G among different mobile operators, opening up a new segment, that is that of the radio networks managed by services by a wholesale service provider like Cellnex. A new sector that we want to explore with determination, but also with prudence.
This part of the business contributed 6% in 2023, and it can reach 10% of revenue in 2027. We consider core the fiber business and the backhaul trunk backhaul services that supplement our infrastructure together with the deployment of 5G towers. We continue to bet on the stability and recurrence of the broadcasting business, like that in countries like Spain still have a high penetration among users. We add innovation to a mature business with the implementation of broadcasting in ultra-high definition, a decision reinforced by the results of the World Radiocommunication Conference that was held in 2023 in Dubai, that confirmed the allocation of extra UHF to the Horizon 2030.
Regarding the priorities of our financial policy, I would like to reconfirm that our commitment with investors is unconditional. We project our EBITDA, debt, ratio to a range between 5-6 times, with a more ambitious goal compared to what we had said at the beginning, at 7 times. The allocation of available resources is marked by the efficiency of returns and by the discipline in execution. And I refer back to the presentation of our president. We have projected cash flow, available cash flow until 2030, and that will reach EUR 10 billion.
From that, we expect to devote EUR 3 billion to distribution of dividends among shareholders from the year 2026, a decision that, in any way, will have to be made at the right time after the corresponding proposal of the board and the necessary approval of the board of the shareholders' meetings. We... The rest will be devoted to a set of instruments that are investments in the projects related to the different business lines, perhaps repurchase of treasury stock that will improve the price of our shares, and also the possibility associated to scenarios of excess cash flow to dividend to distribute extraordinary dividends. In the Capital Markets Day, we updated our forecast for the main financial magnitudes for 2024.
We reiterated prospect for 2025, and as a new element, we've provided projections for the midterm by 2027. You have the whole presentations in London available, and I will focus only on the last column, where you see the figures about annual, for projected growth in each of those magnitudes. All of them indicate a growth, a sustained growth, in our prospect for the midterm. In this sense, it is important to highlight that the average percentage growth of EBITDA, EBITDA after lease and cash flow, they all improve vis-à-vis the, percentage of growth of revenue, reflecting the improvement of efficiencies due to our operations. The cash flow, in particular, will close at around EUR 250 million-EUR 350 million, that we forecasted for 2024, to one point, to one, EUR 1.3 billion for 2027.
In line with that, we will be able to determine more in detail the new dividend policy for our shareholders. I will draw some conclusions to close my presentation in this AGM. I firmly believe that we have a team and a structure that are going to allow us to fulfill the goals that we have set for ourselves for the new chapter of the company. Our strategy for organic growth depends on the contribution, decisive contribution, of each of the countries. In that sense, I would like to highlight that the CEOs of the five main countries of the group are part of the executive committee, and so they are not just protagonists of execution, but they are also part, positively accomplices of the strategy that we have defined to reach the goals that we set for ourselves.
I've already mentioned the strength of our group, our geographic diversification. We have adopted the idea of 80/20, which means 80% of income in towers, 80% coming from 5 main countries, be a number one or two in 80% of the countries. Our main strategic pillar should allow us to grow in an efficient and responsible way with a capital structure adapted to our reality that has already been assessed by some numbers, by rating us as investment grade. The generation of positive cash flow supports the expectation of a more appealing and ambitious remuneration to our shareholders based on our capital allocation strategy.
I would like to thank you on behalf of the executive team and all those who develop their work in this group, your support and the trust on, and the execution capabilities of this group of people that I am leading as a CEO. It is truly a privilege. Thank you very much for your attention. I will now give the floor to the president to continue with the development of the meeting. Thank you.
Muchas gracias.
Thank you very much, Marco. We'll now continue with the procedure of the meeting. We'll now give the floor to the secretary, so he can read the final quorum data.
The final quorum, taking into account telematic data and face-to-face members, we have 444 present shareholders, both physically or telematically, that account for 587,390 thousand shares, that account for, well, 85% of the social capital, and 306 shareholders by proxy, with 502,296,781 shares, with 71.08% of the capital. Shareholders are 131,435, that account for 0.1318% of our capital, and in accordance with our law, have no right to vote.
In summary, 450 shareholders and 590,932,968 shares, that account for 83.6452% of our capital. According with Article 488 of the Capital Markets Law, I have to mention that the capital treasury shares have been included in the quorum to be able to approve the resolution. So the Cellnex AGM is validly opened. Before we start with the Q&A session, and in accordance with what's forecasted in recommendation number 3 of the Good Governance Code of Public Companies, I would like to inform the reasons why the company is not following some of the recommendations.
And I must say that the company has a high degree of compliance with the Code of Governance, given that it complies with 93 out of 96 recommendations. It only, it's only not compliant with number 48, about the separation between the Committee of Remuneration and Appointments, as the case of Cellnex, because it's a company that's listed in IBEX 35. The proposal in 2023 to increase the number of board members was linked basically to try to be able to separate these two committees, to be able to comply with this, with recommendation number 48 of the Code of Good Governance. But the company decided we had to give priority to those measures that had a strong objective to improve shareholder remuneration and improve the performance of the share.
That's why we decided to create the Capital Allocation Committee, as mentioned priorly with the president, that will assist the board of directors in things like the business plan and budget, dividend policies, and the main investments, all sorts of operations, given there is any sort of risk or a strategic might be of interest to the company. We will also attend the board to design the limits and conditions to be able to exercise M&A operations. And we will now. Well, since the previous AGM, we have modified in accord both the regulation of the board and also the environmental and climate change policies. And we are now going to open a Q&A session. Well, and we have received one card that represent 21,000 shares, and that represents 0.029% of our capital.
As the person mentioned earlier, if somebody else wants to participate in the shareholders' meetings, you would need to provide your card now to one of the staff members. I will, if there are no more intervention, I will now read the intervention that belongs to Mr. Alberto Gómez Prior, and he is the holder of 21,079 shares. The questions are the following: Dear members of the Board of Directors and dear shareholders at Cellnex Telecom. First of all, I'd like to request to include my question and the answer in the minutes of this meeting. That will be the case. I would like to mention the remuneration of the directors of the company.
As we know, up to 100 people have suffered in the past few years the fact that a big part of the remuneration disappeared from their expectations. So they have ceased to receive such remuneration, given the negative evolution of the share price of Cellnex. On the contrary, the members of the board of directors receive all their compensation because it is fixed, and so it's not linked to the results of Cellnex or its stock price. Well, it is... We should reconsider, given that the price of the share of the company is linked to the work of the board directors. Will the board of directors think to link the remuneration policy of the board of directors to the price of the share?
The answer of the company is the following: It is not possible, what you're saying is not possible complying with the Code of Good Governance. Principle 25 says that non-executive directors should be excluded from variable remuneration because it tries to avoid a conflict of interest. And that is why Recommendation 57 of the Code of Good Governance of Public Companies mentions that variable remuneration should not be linked to the price of shares, and that's why it is not possible to follow the recommendation made by the shareholder.
But I would also like to mention what the president mentioned earlier, given that the board of directors to try to approve and further align the interest of the directors and the development of the company, it's gonna be compulsory to buy a certain amount of shares, and that has to be proportional to their remuneration, and it goes actually beyond what's actually been requested. Having said that, and given that there are no other questions, the president, thank you very much. Let's now start voting the items in the agenda. On the professional results of our voting, we have processed all the votes received until now, both those who have been emitted through the internet as well as through all the other channels available to our shareholders. Next, some comments.
We will consider votes in favor of the proposals, those who are linked to all the shares presented and represented by, or represented by proxy. I would like to ask if any of the shareholders wishes to abstain or vote against any of the items on the agenda. If that is the case, I would like to mention that you will need to do so by approaching the table, so the Notary Public can write it down. In terms of those shareholders who are participating via the internet, we will take into account all the votes received by through that platform until right now. In the next few days, you will be able to check in the company's website the final results of these votes.
And last, on behalf of the president, I would like to mention the items included in the agenda, on which we will show the votes we have received up to now. Item. Our first item, to approve the individual annual accounts and their reports linked to the year ended December 31st, 2023. Second, in accordance with non-financial information included in the consolidated management report for the year ended December 31st, 2023. Item three on the agenda, to approve the proposed allocation of the profit for the year ended December 31st, 2023. Fourth item on the agenda, to approve the management and activity carried out by the Board of Directors of the company during the year ended December 31st, 2023.
Item five on the agenda, the obligation to have the company annual accounts audited for the years 2025- 2027. Item six, in accordance with to re-elect Ms. Alexandra Reich as Proprietary Director for the statutory term of three years. Item seven in the agenda, to approve to delegate the company's board of directors in accordance with Article 297 of the Spanish Companies Law, to well, to give the power to increase the share capital with or without pre-emption rights. To delegate the Board of Directors of the company, the ability to the power to issue securities convertible into shares.
Item 9 on the agenda, to delegate to the chair of the Board of Directors, to be able to carry out on behalf of the companies, all the legal acts that may be required to execute the board resolutions. Item 10, to approve in an advisory capacity, the annual report on the remuneration of directors for the year ended December 31st, 2023. Given the results of the votes, I would like to inform you that irrespective of the votes that haven't been taken into account from the shareholders that are here presently or via the internet, there are enough votes to approve all the resolutions. In terms of the item 6 in the agenda, I would like to ask you for the appointment, Ms. Reich, do you accept to be Proprietary Director without any incompatibilities?
Yes, thank you. And from the result of the votes and everything else that has happened in the annual general meeting, everything will be included in the minutes. I would like to mention that in accordance with Article 525 of the Spanish law, in the next 5 days, we will include in the company's website the results of the votes and the resolutions that have been approved. Thank you very much. After the approval of each and every one of the items in the agenda proposed by the board of directors, I will now- we will now declare the closing of the annual general meeting, and I would like to once again thank you all for assisting. Thank you.