Good afternoon, and welcome to the financial disclosures for Dominion. If you want to follow this presentation in English, you can do so selecting the English language on the world icon at the bottom of your screen. Antes de empezar - Before starting, I would like to remind you that once the presentation is over, as usual, we will open the Q&A session. You can leave your questions in writing under the Q&A section of Zoom, or you can call in, or you can raise your hand. Comenzamos la presentación. So we're going to start off with the presentation. We have Mikel Barandiaran, who's the CEO of Dominion, Roberto Tobillas, who's the director general, and Patricia Berjón, who's the director for corporate development.
Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for connecting to our conference call for the year 2023.
Before starting, I would like to say that in these results, we've incorporated, for the first time, additional material to the presentation and the press release that we shared, and it's an explanatory report that tries to facilitate the analysis of the result by giving a greater context on the evolution and dynamics affecting each chapter. We're doing so because we believe that this should help you have a better understanding of what we've done, and our aim is to improve our communication with the market.
Having said that, let's move on now to reviewing this information that we've already shared, and I would like to say that the year 2023 has been, once again, a challenging period full of uncertainties, and in which we have shown that we are very flexible, so that based on our culture, we can overcome the difficulties that crop up along the path, and so that we can make the most of these opportunities and the path that, by the way, we have now turned 25 years old. There have been many macroeconomic situations and events, like, for instance, the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the blocking of the Suez Canal, or the election of Milei in Argentina. None of these facts has had a relevant impact on the company's activities.
There have been other important factors that have had an impact, like the increase of interest rates or the movement of foreign currencies, which you can see in the financial statement and on the balance sheet that we presented. Inflation has also been an element to be taken into account in the year 2023, but as we already mentioned on previous occasions, the nature of our business and the contracts, especially in the area of services, make this not have any significant impact on the company's margins. And we'll see that now with the figures, which is just the opposite. One of the elements that has to be underscored of these results for 2023 is that we've been able to significantly improve our margins over sales. I think that this is one of the most important elements.
As regards the numbers we're going to be sharing with you today, we have to bear in mind several things, which I would like to talk about now. On the one hand, that is, revenues, as usual, contain inorganic components, and in the case of this year, they include an additional invoicing that is provided by Gesthidro for 10 months. This company was acquired in March 2023. Nine months of invoicing at ZH Ingenieros , an acquisition in Colombia of September 2022, and incorporation of 12 months of the infrastructure business that was incorporated in December 2022. So in total, we have an inorganic addition to the business figure of about +EUR 22 million.
Then, during the third Q of the year, you know that we carried out the restructuring of the B2B2C business, and this divestiture decision means that there has been a reduction in the sale of devices, which represents an inorganic impact of about minus EUR 45 million. Therefore, the inorganic contribution towards the business figure in 2023 is minus EUR 23 million. On the other hand, as regards margins, we have included some extraordinary effects. From the negative perspective, the restructuring that I just mentioned, that took place in Q3, and which is fully in line with the objectives of adapting to the reality of the market and to simplify things, as mentioned by the strategic plan. And this brought about extraordinary costs of EUR 6.5 million.
And then, we've also had some extraordinary positive results, mainly related to claims materialized successfully in Q4, and in the net figure, we have negative one-offs of EUR 5.1 million. So let's move on to the accounts. We've closed the year with a business figure that exceeds EUR 1.1 billion, which means that it's been 2% in growth compared to the figure of the previous year. But I would like to underscore that this growth is really 5% from an organic perspective, in line with what we have in our strategic plan. And inorganic growth, in this case, has subtracted 2%, based on what I mentioned at the beginning, and the Forex effect has been negative. It's been -0.9%.
By geographies, this business figure, we have 36% of it in America, 54% in Europe and Africa, and 10% in Asia and Oceania. Our activity in absolute figures has grown in all geographies, and what we have seen as regards the figures of 2022 is that part of the weight has gone from America to Europe, and this is because of the renewable project activities in 2022 was very intensive in the Dominican Republic, while this year, in 2023, we've initiated projects in the European area, and basically in Spain, too. Additionally, we also have the service activity in the telecommunications that has grown significantly in Germany and also gives a greater weight to Europe. We, as regards the operating margins, we maintain high levels of profitability.
We'd already discussed this 10 trend in previous quarters, and the contribution margin grows 16% compared to the previous year, and 90% if we look at it in recurrent terms. In other words, without taking or took out those one-offs that I mentioned previously. The central structure of the company has reduced its weights up to 2.2% over sales, and, well, some time ago, we set the target of going below 3%, and we have achieved that completely, and even in spite of the growth of the business and of the inflationary environment in which we operate. But with this level of adjusted structure, we have EBITDA growths that are bigger than what we saw in the operating margins.
It's 18% more, which is equivalent to 22% if we look at it in recurrent terms, and it reaches EUR 145 million, EUR 150 million, recurrent EUR. So therefore, we have fulfilled the objective established in the strategic plan. What has to be underscored under this heading is that we've been able to make the operating margins grow. The EBITDA over the sales figure has improved by one percentage point, and for the first time, we have exceeded the barrier of 12% of EBITDA over sales. As regards amortizations, we've had an increase of about EUR 16 million compared to 2022, because we have amortizations linked to two renewable infrastructures. These are infrastructures that we own, and we also have the devices from the renting activity.
As regards financial expenses, as we've had in the most recent quarters, there's been an increase in the costs of funding, which means that it's EUR 15 million more compared to what we recorded in 2022. With this, we have an attributable net result of EUR 44.3 million, which is 43% greater than the figure reported the previous year. We must bear in mind that the net profit figure reported last year, in other words, in 2022, included some because of activities that had been interrupted, that was much greater than the figure reported in 2023. This increase in balance costs does not reduce our net profit.
Moving on now to how business segments have evolved, let's start off with Sustainable Services, where we reached a growth of 1%, which it's 5.5% that is related to organic growth, because the inorganic effect of the year is focused on this business segment. In other words, we are growing organically above what was established in the strategic plan and also in this segment of Sustainable Services. This segment maintains an important weight relative to the business figure, 70%, and increases its weight in terms of margins up to 60%, which means that we have an important amount of recurrence. The evolution of contracts existing in services is being very favorable, and it's improved the margin by 1% compared to 2022.
So we have a contribution margin of 11.4%, and this is thanks to our orientation towards businesses with high levels of profitability that are generally linked to sustainability, and also because we have less presence of less profitable activities like mobile phones. And the extraordinary expenses of this year are located in this segment, so that means that the recurrent service margin would have been even greater, even reaching a level of 12%. So as regards the 360° project segment, the business figure remains pretty stable and somewhat limited by the impact of Forex, which subtracts 2%.
Although we are now facing the best, isolated quarter of 2023, which is Q4, the quarterly comparative can produce a mistaken interpretation, because Q4 was the highest quarter we've ever had in terms of projects. As regards to the contribution margin, there's been a 6% increase compared to 2022, closing the fiscal year at 19.4% over sales, which is above our strategic target. The execution of projects has been carried out throughout the year. According to the rhythm established, the portfolio remains stable. We've closed the year with EUR 624 million that guarantee future results, and we've added new projects in the area of water management in the Latin American setting, for instance.
We also have the possibility of incorporating future projects in Angola after having finished the projects that were underway in that country. Our segment of stakes in infrastructures closed the 2023 fiscal year by contributing nearly EUR 10 million in EBITDA to the traditional business. As regards renewable infrastructures in 2023, we've carried out part of the 5 wind farms in the Dominican Republic, which, as you know, are under the umbrella of the divestiture agreement of 50% with CMI and 2 wind farms in Spain. One of them is going to be property, and the other one was sold in the last quarter of the year on the 20th of December. As we mentioned, we sold 100% of the shares of the Valdecarretas PV wind farm or, rather, solar PV farm, sold to Renewable Japan.
And, this means that we are materialize our divestiture strategy for our renewable assets. As regards the wind farm in Cerritos, in Mexico, we've connected it to the grid, and that's how we will be able to sell it, and this is why it's one of the assets that is still open for sale, and we have several offers for its acquisition. As regards to the balance sheet, the main movements that have to be underscored are the following: In the case of fixed assets, we have an addition of EUR 15 million that is connected to the integration of the Gesthidro company that we said was acquired in 2023.
In infrastructural assets. The assets of Cerritos and Valdecarretas leave our perimeter the first, because of a reclassification, as had to be sold, and the case of the latter, because it's, it has already been sold. As regards the net financial debt, it has been reduced by EUR 88 million, and at the end of the fiscal year, it now stands at EUR 75 million, which is 0.5 times EBITDA. The core business, in other words, excluding out the debt of the infrastructures that is temporary until the divestiture takes place, and which is clearly associated to each one of the projects, closes the fiscal year with a net, cash position of EUR 45 million. The net financial debt of the infrastructures business is reduced because of the, departure of Cerritos and the sale of Valdecarretas, while we invest in new developments.
As regards to the generation of operating cash flow in 2023, it's a total of EUR 71 billion. In other words, it's in line with the 17 million that we established in the plan. This strong cash generation was reversed, has been invested in, throughout the year in, in organic activity, with EUR 5.6 million that includes the acquisitions of the year and payments for operations of previous years, dividends paid out to shareholders, EUR 14.7 million, and to minority shareholders, EUR 2.6 million, and the repurchase of shares, on which we spent EUR 8.4 million.
As regards CapEx, and in addition to the recurrent maintenance CapEx, that is something like EUR 20 million, and which is included in operative generation, we have spent EUR 29 million on the expansion of our business, basically renewable infrastructures and the renting of mobile devices. The global interpretation of these results is therefore extremely positive, with significant growth, especially in terms of margins and the profitability of the sales, and with the progress made in the strategy established by our plan. As mentioned in May, in the presentation of the plan, our ambition is to become a company that is totally focused on sustainable activities, because we mustn't, we mustn't forget that sustainability is all about long-term efficiency.
Our activities in 2023 were focused more than ever before on these areas, on the circular economy, on reducing emissions, the recovery of waste, activities that have a growing demand and also have a profitability above our average. These 2023 results, which is the first year of the plan, are placing us on the right path to fulfill this plan, and this means that we can confirm the guidance for the rest of the years until 2026. We are talking about growth of 5% in terms of sales, 7% in EBITDA, and 9% in the generation of operative cash flow.
Because you know that we talk about what we can predict, so these figures are in organic terms, and we will also have to add the investments and divestitures that we carry out along this path until we become a 360-degree sustainability firm. Right, well, thank you very much for your attention, and if you want, now we can move on to your questions, to the Q&A session. Well, let's start with the Q&A session. If you are connected through Zoom, you can connect in writing under the Q&A section, or raise your hand by selecting the button on the menu, and we'll give you the floor. But if you're following the presentation via the telephone, please, press asterisk nine to ask a question, and we will give you the floor.
Right, let's move on to the Q&A session, and these are the people that have raised their hands. Please make sure that your microphone is not muted. Firstly, we have Juan Peña, who asks for the floor, from GVC Gaesco.
Hello, good afternoon. Can you hear me loud and clear? Yes, perfect, Juan. Go ahead, please. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much. I would like to ask you a couple of questions on the renewables business, because do you have any new developments that you can talk about, about the possible arrival of a minority shareholder in Europe? Or have you implemented any change of strategy, or what is your vision in relation to this business? What is your take?
Secondly, I'd like to understand how the pipelines under construction is going, because nothing has happened in terms of construction since the nine months results. So do you have any projects, any projects coming up in this year, so that we can have a clear picture of what's going to be going on? Because right now, it's not very clear. These are the two questions that I wanted to ask you. Thank you very much.
Well, Juan, I will answer you. The strategy in Europe has not changed, and we are in the process, as we explained some time ago, and we're looking at different alternatives. I think that the sale of Valdecarretas has been the first step, but in any case, what we're doing is, now we are adopting a much more global position to link Spain and Italy.
We are carrying out the process, and we hope that we will be able to identify somebody in this year. With regards to the pipeline and the portfolio, we are really on the Ready-to-Build , focusing on Ready-to-Build . We've identified four Ready-to-Build projects in Italy of about 100-100 megawatts, and some other projects in Ready-to-Build in. Well, we have something in Ecuador that is on standby and which we won in the auction, and there are a couple of more opportunities, too, in the Dominican Republic and another one in Spain. Apart from that, we have the small projects of less than five megawatts that are under the radar in Spain.
So as all of these things are reached so that we can initiate the construction process, that is when we will consider that the enterprise is valid and, the contract can be included in the portfolio.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
We're going to continue with Carlos Treviño from Banco Santander.
Hola. Hello?
Yes, go ahead, Carlos. We can hear you now.
Great, thank you. Well, firstly, I would like to thank you for the additional information you are giving on this quarter. But there's a question I would like to ask. I had a question on renewables that you've already answered, but the other question that I would like to put to you has to do with 360 projects, and it's a year which in the total of the year, there has been practically no growth.
It's true that it was very difficult to make the comparison, and there hasn't been a major thrust in the backlog in this quarter either. What I wanted to ask you is about your growth expectations in projects this year, and what kind of projects are we talking about? Do you expect that you'll go back to the usual patterns of growth in this particular business?
Well, if you want, Miguel can answer later on, but I'll start. For this, for us, it's a very exceptional and positive year in 360 because the EUR 350 million that we've invoiced have not affected our portfolio, and I think that we've included a little bit—we've improved a little bit in relation to this conservative approach of including to the portfolio what is ready to be.
But I think that, as regards to capital markets, we are very positive. We have been positive since then, and we're very, we are very optimistic with rating agency issues and with new projects, and we're doing things again in Angola, and we're very excited about the different opportunities that can crop up in terms of hospitals and also in relation to renewables, not only ready-to-build, but also battery projects. We are pretty optimistic as regards to whatever is connected to 360°, and we reaffirm that this is an absolutely valid strategy with which we feel extremely happy. So I believe that we are in that process now, and the margins of 19 point something percent are sustainably above the figure of 15. And as I say, we're very comfortable with the strategy and with the approach, too.
The three transitions that we spoke about, we believe that this is like tailwind to continue along these lines. So for us, or at least our perception, is that the year is very good in 360, and I seem to recall that in 2022, and because of the closure of renewable projects and other issues, we had an exceptionally good final quarter that we have not been able to repeat in terms of revenues and margins by very little. But it's a figure very similar to the figure reported in 2022, and margins are improving, so we're very, very happy. And the truth is that I can't say much more about this, but I would just like to remind you that in 360 is where we had the biggest Forex impact, which was 2%.
We're continuing now with Enrique Parrondo from JB Capital.
Hello, good afternoon. I have three questions for you people that have to do with renewables. And the first one is, could you please talk about the partial divestitures that you've been referring to in the Dominican Republic? And the second one has to do with the timing that has been adopted for divestitures in renewables. You said something about Cerritos, but could you please add some details on the potential timing? And then as regards the agreement with CMI, if I'm not mistaken, you were talking about a significant divestiture by the end of 2023, which I suppose has been postponed until this year. So could you please say something about that?
And then how or what should we—how should we address CapEx at Infra for 2024, 2025, so that we can understand the timing of these new projects that are currently under construction? Thank you.
Hello, Enrique. Thank you for the questions. I'm going to ask about the divestiture systems in the Dominican Republic, and in this case, and as occurred with Valdecarretas, that was a specific agreement for a specific project. But in the case of two projects in the Dominican Republic, they are under a framework agreement with CMI. And automatically, and as we develop the projects, what they do is materialize this 50% divestiture.
So in 2023, we have made progress in the execution and construction of five projects in the Dominican Republic, and as they progress, what we do is gather this information in the books, where we have established the divestiture. Well, perhaps more semantically, more than a partial divestiture, it's an accounting recognition of the framework agreement we have, where, in a way, we are co-investing. So in other words, we have non-control stake and another one that is accounts collectible. But in any case, what you said for about last year is something that we're looking into right now, and perhaps for the year 2024, there would be other options. So it was supposed to be a complete divestiture, but in any case, work is still in progress, and we'll see what's going to happen.
This is what I would say about the Dominican projects, but as regards the issue of Cerritos, what I can say about that is that, the news we received, we've just been informed by the Energy Regulation Commission, we are now processing the permit, and they have the consent of CENACE, and we're waiting. This is something that affects the National Confederation of Energy, and we are now waiting for things to happen this week or next week, so that from the legal and documentary perspective, everything will be ready to initiate the trial process. So this, fortunately, after quite a lot of time when nothing has happened, means that in the months of March, the trials will start, and we'll inform you about this. And the part that is connected will be suitable for the complete divestiture process.
As regards to the infrastructure CapEx, what we have to consider is that we're talking about a mix here. As you can see, it requires new projects in Italy. We also have part of the greenfield that Patricia pointed out at the beginning. So I think that what we're going to have here is a net positive balance as regards to cash generation, with the consumption of CapEx, so that we can forge ahead with these projects, with a 360 vocation, and whatever has to do with the recovery of the enterprise value and use the invested equity. But of course, there are quite a lot of variables at stake to be able to quantify an estimate of what would be reasonable for the year, I mean.
Understood. Thank you very much.
Okay, we're now going to review the questions that are still pending and answers, which are written on the chat, and if you want to write in with more questions, now would be the time to do so. So in line with the question on Cerritos that has just been answered, Miguel Medina is asking us, "Is the central scenario the connection in Q1 2024? And after the connection, will you automatically sell Cerritos to. What are the offers received?"
Oh, yes. These. Well, it's a Mexican timing, but in any case, as I say, we're talking about March and April to have the project connected and to readdress the different offers received, so that we can advance and carry out an operation together with this timing.
Of course, our interest and, well, money has a certain value as time goes by, and we want to speed up the process as much as we possibly can. So we have to run the tests for connection, but in any case, we'll try to do this as soon as possible.
Gabriel Colominas has raised his hand, so you have the floor now, sir, Mr. Colominas.
Hello, can you hear me? Hello, good afternoon, everybody. I have some questions for you, and the first one has to do with the CapEx for renewables. Have you mentioned anything about the return on the capital invested in these projects, or do you have any kind of internal reference when you analyze how much has to be invested?
Well, our approach since the capital markets days, as regards renewables, as you know, this is a 360 vision, and what we have is the obligations over 20. But in any case, the assets that we're selling, well, they have return that we think is above 10, but this is something we see in the price of sale, and it's relevant as regards to knowing what we're selling. But whatever we believe and what we want to achieve is a return on our resources with a RONA above 20, and you've already seen how this year we were at 21. And the fact is that we have that CapEx undergoing a transition in some of the projects, which we hope will be transformed into liquidity. And thank you.
Then the second question, the question has to do with the buyback of shares. Are you considering that option for 2024? Will you be establishing a new buyback program for shares?
Well, yes. Well, we held the board meeting yesterday, and we still have the intention of buying at these prices. I think that the best investment we can make is to buy back the shares of the company itself, and we will carry on doing so.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
There's another question from the chat: How do you expect net profit to evolve within the strategic plan? Well, we've established a guidance for this 2023-2026 plan, and the guidance talks about turnover, EBITDA, and cash flow.
So if EBITDA evolves as we expect it to at about 7%, it will greatly depend on how interest rates evolve and how this can be transformed into a net profit. Well, according to the information we have today, and if everything would continue along the same lines, it should be the same proportion, but it's very difficult to predict how things are gonna be between 2024 and 2026. So that's why we decided to establish a specific target for the net profit. We have no more questions, so we can therefore close the presentation this afternoon. Thank you very much for attending. Goodbye. Thank you all very much. Bye-bye.