Good morning, and welcome to Dominion's presentation. 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 us your questions in writing under the Q&A section, or you can call us on the telephone or raise your hand on the lower menu. Roberto Tobillas, the director general, and Patricia Berjón, the director of corporate development, are going to speak.
Good morning, and thank you for attending our conference to discuss the results of the first half of 2022. I'd like to make some comments before I read the figures and how they've evolved, because everybody knows that we are facing a very complex environment with difficulties and tensions on several fronts. We have the prices of energy that started to climb one year ago.
We have inflation tensions, and we also have problems in the supply chain, and above all, lots of uncertainty. We are fully aware of the fact that in each of our businesses and the different geographic areas where we operate, we are keeping an eye on the impacts, and we're trying to implement actions that will guarantee the continuous growth of the company. We are doing so because we're growing every quarter continuously, and we trust that we will continue to grow over the next few months in spite of the difficulties that we all know we're going to have to deal with. Without a doubt, we are assisted by the characteristics of Dominion, of our business model. That is diversification, flexibility, the possibility of taking decisions quickly and in an innovative manner, and the possibility of implementing them.
As regards implementing actions, over the last few months, we've adapted our systems and our procurement system to the circumstances. We have reoriented certain businesses. During this second quarter of the year, we've decided to carry the divestiture in the activity of metallic structures that we have been carrying out from our headquarters in Denmark. It's a very niche business, and it's been one that requires production centers. It's now facing a turning point, and in fact, the results were negative in 2021, so that's why we think that it's a very good moment to carry out a sale and to rescue the value we have on the balance sheet.
Therefore, on the P&L and on the balance sheet that we're going to be talking about now, we will have items of activities that have been interrupted and assets and liabilities that have been sold. The impact on the P&L are about EUR 9 million, and as regards sales, it's EUR 3.4 million. Last year, the losses of the business were about EUR 0.8 million. Now moving on to the evolution of our financial statement. In the first six months of the year, we've seen a consolidation of the growth that we expected this year, and we've had a very good evolution of the two B2B segments.
The business figure has grown 7% in global terms, which means that our organic growth has been 7.5% over and above the first quarter and of the commitment that is established by our strategic plan, which, by the way, is 5%. On this occasion, we've had a positive contribution of Forex. It's been 1.4% because of the change of trend and the movement of currencies. The inorganic figure subtracts 2% because this includes the value that corresponds to the interrupted activities that I mentioned before. This semester, we've reached an EBITDA of EUR 56 million, which has double-digit growth, in other words, 14% compared to the same period of 2021, and the same growth, 14%, which is what we have in EBITDA.
All of this means that we have a net consolidated profit of EUR 23.4 million, which compared with the EUR 19 million euros registered in the first quarter of 2021, represents an increase of the net profits in line with the strategic plan. As regards the annual accounts, we have the allocation of results to the minority business and the renewables business, EUR 3.1 million, and the result of interrupted activities, EUR 3.4 million. In order to understand the growth of this, the origin of this growth, we have to see the information by segments. We can see two different dynamics. We have very good performance.
That is 90% of the business in the two B2B segments, not only in terms of sales, but also in margins, which we have a B2C segment, which is 10% of the business that is affected by the bad behavior consumption and high energy prices. B2B services have grown 5% in sales in line with the growth that was expected by strategic plan. It maintains its contribution margin at levels of 11.5%. The characteristics of the contracts of this segment, the service contracts, allow us to maintain recurrence, and we can also absorb cost increases without any relevant impact on our margin. Therefore, what we expect under the current circumstances throughout this year and in future quarters, that there be a good performance in the service segment.
In the case of 360 Projects, it's an especially positive performance in this quarter, and we've had double digits in growth, and it's been 11% of accumulated growth in six months, which means 16% organically. Even with this high rhythm of execution, we've added more contracts to our project portfolio, which in June totaled EUR 621 million. The good progression of sales is due to the good execution of all the business areas. Above all, this has been boosted by the execution of several renewable projects in parallel in Dominican Republic and Spain. We have a contribution margin that stands at exceptionally high levels.
It reaches 18.5%, which is far above the strategic objective of 15%, and it does so, thanks to these projects of renewables in which we are currently developing. We have larger margins, and also because we've decided to discontinue activity of metallic structures. In spite of this complex environment that makes us be much more conservative in certain sectors, we feel comfortable with the health of the projects that have been included in our portfolio. The possible slowing down of some geographies or sectors is fully compensated by those sectors that are much more dynamic. This is why, as regards to the rest of the year and the next few quarters, we hope that this segment will provide some significant revenues and margins. The segment that has been affected by this environment of uncertainty is the B2C segment.
Although the sales figures went up by 2%, boosted by the higher prices of energy, margins have dropped to 7.5% over sales because of the drop in the number of customers and fixed costs. As we are aware of the fact that we have to attract new customers in the energy vertical, we've focused our efforts on another vertical, which is Renting. It is the renting service of top range telephones, where we have more than 6,000 customers and on the telecommunications vertical that has grown 150% compared to last year and now reaches 229,000 active services. It's nearly 330,000 active services in B2C.
In the meantime, we're still working on the different options that would allow us to offer competitive energy supply to our customers, and we have to replicate in energy the excellent levels of capture we have in the rest of the verticals. Also during this quarter, we've reached a commercial agreement with Fotoprix, and the aim is to extend and diversify our channels and to increase traffic in shops by adding new businesses and services that can be operated with the already existing structure.
Let's move on now to the balance sheet, and then, well, let's say that the main movements are explained by the repurchase of shares, by the buyback of shares, and also by the registration of the dividend that was approved and paid on July 6th, and by the reclassification of assets and liabilities associated with these activities for sales. The reclassification of these assets, in other words, EUR 35 million together with the conversion differences, explain the reduction of fixed assets because the net CapEx of the semester is in line with the registered amortization. The movement of net equity is due to the results of the semester. In other words, the EUR 16.7 million that we've invested in the buyback program.
It's on June 13th, we've reached 3.8% of our own shares, and the register is EUR 30.5 million. This, together with the net figures of assets and liabilities, are the activities that have been maintained that explain the other liabilities. As regards to net cash, well, it's nearly flat. It's gone down from EUR 65 million to EUR 61 million because of the EUR 17 million that we've invested in our own shares, and approximately EUR 15 million between the payment of earnouts and investments in greenfield growth with the acquisition of the renewable projects developments, especially in Italy, and the investments required to launch multi-technical service contracts. We're talking about the telco networks in Germany and the electrical grid in Spain. Well, we've had an operating cash flow of nearly EUR 27 million.
In other words, we've transformed into cash more than 76% of the EBITDA in the semester when the movement of working capital has been practically nil. As regards to sources of funding and the possible impact of interest rates movement, we are sensitive, very sensitive about this. Of our total gross debt, about 35%, which is EUR 17 billion, is linked to variable interest rates, and we have to consider factoring too. We think that the funding costs will grow by EUR 1 million-EUR 1.5 million in the second half of the year. Therefore, the final message is that I think that it's a very good quarter, and we've continued with the growth trend that we already had in previous quarters.
Although the context is not very favorable, we are still online, and we are going to fulfill our plan for 2023. Thank you very much for your attention. Now we're going to be moving on to your questions. I would like to remind you that on this particular occasion, you can use the chat or you can use the telephone to call in. If you can also connect via Zoom through the Q&A section, all you have to do is raise your hand on the bottom menu. If you're following this presentation by telephone, please enter star six nine so that you can ask your question and wait for us to give you the floor, please. Okay, we're going to give the floor to you. Well, please make sure that your microphone is not muted.
We have Carlos Severino from Santander first. Carlos, please. Carlos, have you got your microphone muted? Hello? Can you hear me now?
Yes, perfect. Go ahead, please. Well, okay. Well, thank you very much, Robert and Patricia. Thank you very much indeed for the information and for the conference call. I wanted to put three questions to you. Well, firstly, Patricia, you spoke about the very high level we've seen in turnover in this quarter with these new renewable projects. Is this just a very specific moment in time, or do you think that there's gonna be more growth year-over-year over the next few quarters? Are these just certain landmarks that have coincided with Q2, or is this a trend that we're gonna carry on seeing in future quarters?
The second question has to do with B2B services. Let's say that this has to do with inputs you are receiving from clients in the current context. Well, do you think things will slow down a bit in the second half of the year and specifically in certain sectors and countries? The third question has to do with B2C. Because you're growing a lot in telecoms, and you're also growing with this new service of phone renting. I would like to ask you about the profitability of the different types of services. In energy, it's clear you charge a fee, a EUR 5 fee on each invoice. Perhaps could you give us some indication on how profitability is varying or changing in the other services? Is it higher in telcos compared to energy or otherwise?
Also in the case of the renting of devices too. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you, Carlos. Thank you very much indeed. Well, let's see. I'll address these three questions. B2B projects is a very specific issue and. Well, it is true that our strategic target is above 15%. We've been doing this for quite a few years, and I think that this quarter is, well, those 19%, I'd say that it's a little bit more specific, let's say, and well, we feel comfortable when we stand above 15%. Of course, it is true that this, there are 4 projects that are already underway in the Dominican Republic, and that's where we in the construction phase. These are projects, as Patricia pointed out before.
Although we have a high level of execution, well, even in spite of that, the portfolio has not dropped. It's still EUR 621 million. In any case, this is something that could be seasonal from the point of view of the fact that this second quarter has been very good. Although I think that last year we finished at EUR 300 million. I'm not sure if it's EUR 170 million in B2B projects in June, so above 300. Yes, of course. Well, I'm not sure if we will be able to maintain this or perhaps we are maintaining these levels of activity, but the margins are 19%, for me, is a bit too much from my point of view. We have to be cautious and say that we will stand above 15% in the strategic levels.
Well, we have to be a little bit cautious on this particular front. As regards B2B services, yes, we have received inputs from customers that are talking about a slowdown in countries or sectors. I'd say that this is not so. We have a very high degree of recurrence, and this is what Patricia pointed out. We are also carrying out some greenfields in Spain and in the area of energy, and perhaps we'll have natural growth too in Latin America because we're very happy with how this line is operating. It stands where we want it to stand. It's pushing our level of recurrences. I think that with all of this situation and with the design that we've carried out in the company, it has to offer us the opportunity, perhaps we could have new greenfields or new growth opportunities even.
Right now, we are not considering any churns or any slumps in our activities or in our projects. We're very happy about that. We're extremely satisfied. Well, yes, I would also like to say something about services. Well, just remember that we have a unit on environmental services, and we can see how that is also producing lots of activity. I think that in all areas, in the field of energy, we can see how it's growing, and environmental services too, and other kinds of services, where we can see that there is a growing demand and which is going to give us more recurrences. Then there's something else. That is B2C. B2C, Carlos. Well, let's see. Well, as I don't want to make any mistakes, I'm not going to give you any margins divided by activities or services, et cetera, et cetera.
This is also a disclosure that I think we cannot really give you. Obviously, the approach or the commercial offer of the different verticals is different. Well, you know about the energy segment, and you know that right now we are transferring to the customer our best competitive offers, and we are charging a fee. It's a management fee we're charging. In the other verticals, that is not the case because we are working with gross margins. What we do is that, and as far as renting is concerned, we are also giving handsets to as-a-service or we are providing the service to the customer. The margins are different there, but we also depend in the area of renting. We depend on the residual recovery value.
What we are seeing is that our B2C element has an operational leverage that is ready to achieve much higher volumes. This is where, well, there's a bit of a setback for energy. In other words, we've had a reduction in the number of users. As regards telco and renting, we are growing. Yes, it is true that with that operational leverage, we can achieve high levels of growth. What we are seeing is that we are in line with that. I'd say that in our strategic reflection, as we said in the previous call, how can we address the energy issue better? Well, with that operational leverage, we know that those are the future quarters. We'll have to start with bigger volumes so that we can improve our profitability levels.
Thank you very much.
Somebody's asking for a connection via telephone. As we can't see your name. The number finishes in 961, so please identify yourself. We think that you're muted. I'm afraid that we can't hear what you're saying.
Hello, can you hear me now?
Yes. Yes, we can hear you now.
Yes. Well, hello. I'm Gabino González from Hottinguer Capital. Well, thank you very much for giving me the floor. I have three very quick questions. The first question is, let's say, the book value of SteelStax, I think is at about EUR 12 million. But considering how the metal market is evolving and perhaps because of these deficiencies in the supply chain, should we expect to have more sales at these levels? Or do you think that there's going to be a discount against the book value?
I don't know what you're contemplating right now and what cash in you have estimated for this sale. The second question has to do with margins, because what you've spoken a little bit about projects, but in services we've seen that there's been a slump in the contribution margins. I understand that this has to do because of the new telco contracts in Spain and Germany that you mentioned previously. I'm not sure if you expect this to change in the next quarter or if this is going to affect you, and I don't know what kind of recurring margins you expect. Then as regards the B2C business, we can see that there's a pretty significant churn in terms of energy. Could you please tell us what kind of actions you're implementing to reverse this behavior?
Do you think that you're going to be able to improve your supply with the commissioning of wind farms to make this offer much more attractive and therefore recover positive positions? Thank you.
Well, thank you very much for these questions. Well, I would like to start off at the end. The issue that has to do with B2C and, well, the situation of our energy vertical, we've already spoken about this on several occasions or because of the kind of commercial proposal we have is an indexed proposal. We sell energy at the pool price, so we don't really have the most attractive offer that will allow us to attract more customers.
That's why we're losing in that energy segment, and we are aware of the fact that right now, having a more attractive offer would pose certain risks, which we don't want to have, and that's very clear in our minds, and we are exploring the different options. What we have, what is very clear in our minds, and this has been shown by what's going on in telco and in renting, and that is that the capacity to attract customers. In other words, our channels are very powerful. Energy project, it's a different thing. Let's say that it's all about competitiveness or how attractive what we are offering is. We're trying to offer alternatives to make this offer much more attractive.
We know that at the end of the year, we will have the possibility to have our own wind farms up and running or renewable farms underway. Anyway, let's wait and see what happens, because, well, we have a very strong channel. We can deliver much more attractive offers, and we want to see if we can supplement that with our actions. In any case, as Roberto pointed out, what we expect is that this trend will change by the end of the year because we have that option. Then, B2B service margins, where you said that they slowed down a bit. Well, the truth is that we've maintained the same options we had in Q1, 11.5%.
Well, it's slightly below what we'd seen in the previous quarters of last year. As you pointed out, the explanation is very clear, and that is that we are in a ramp-up period in several large projects that are taking place in parallel. That means in the first stages, the margins of these projects are not the ones that the project will have once it becomes more stable. What we do believe will happen in the second half of the year is that there will be an increase in the B2B service margins, and that's what's to be expected. Well, as regards SteelStax, well, you're talking about EUR 12 million, but this is a very big number. 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3 of those EUR 12 million. 1/3 is in mobilized machinery, buildings. 1/3 is goodwill. Another one is net circulating capital.
What do we expect? We are waiting for these options, but the only thing that can remain here is that the only thing we can do is that we address whether or how much we're to recover of this goodwill. What I would say is that as regards interrupted activity, well, we have to carry out a fine adjustment of what is lacking in terms of goodwill, but as you will see, this is obviously a cost that does not affect our disbursements, but it would be an issue of assessment. Of course, we are going to recover the circulating capital, and we are now looking into market products, and we're looking into the productive CapEx, and we're not concerned about that either.
What we have to see is that, well, we have to see how we can assess this divestiture or how long it's gonna take us to recover. This does not affect our disbursements. It will be just. We have to convert these EUR 12 million into a cash input. This is gonna be a sale? No. It's a settlement. No, it's not a settlement. What we are seeing is that there's a phased sale. We'll see how we can do this exactly. It's all about trying to value our assets and try to recover as much cash as we possibly can.
Okay, understood. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mikel. Okay, Juan Peña, please, you have the floor from GVC Gaesco. Good morning. Can you hear me clearly?
Well, good morning.
You've spoken about distribution channels, et cetera, et cetera. Have you got any kind of new product that you're gonna be launching in the second half of the year? What about all the inputs and how's...
Excuse me. We can't hear you clearly. Could you please repeat? The sound's gone wrong. A qualitative assessment of the inputs and... Were you having problem with administrative permits in the development of renewables? Because some companies are telling us that they are having delays because of that issue. Okay, Juan. Well, look, well, as regards the inputs, so far so good. I think that it couldn't be better in the strategic vision of where we stand exactly and above all, what they wanted.
They wanted us to boost the European portfolio, which is what we're doing. We're doing this in Spain and Italy. That means that, yes, we are now. They do have financial capacity, and we're looking into possibilities of funding, et cetera, et cetera. What I would say is that the expectations we had with the arrival of this partner, the expectations are magnificent. As regards to permit problems, this is what is happening in the market because what you can see is that, especially in Spain, the tendering processes are being delayed or being postponed, and possibly this is a tendering process that will start in October that will possibly be postponed.
We also have strategies to attract more megawatts, and we've attracted or we've managed to get more than 100 MW. This is endemic, and there's a little bit of slowness everywhere. Everything is running very slowly, but we, in the field of renewables, have the portfolio, and we want to start building in Italy at the end of the year. We have what we're building in Spain and the Dominican Republic. I think that the plan is in line. If there's any delay, this would affect the pipeline or things that we expected for Q2 in 2023 will possibly become Q3 or whatever. Let's say that we don't have any big concern or we don't have any big delays either. I think you spoke about Fotoprix. Well, this was mentioned by Patricia.
We have a commercial agreement with Fotoprix, and these are the operations that one carries out on the structure one has so that they can provide EBITDA margin. We've carried out some projects with them, with the same structure we have in the shops and with a CapEx that has a return below 12 months, and we feel very comfortable with the pilots we've done, and this generates more traffic, and it also makes a positive contribution because we feel optimistic with this initiative, and we believe that doing this hybridization as we're doing with service bundles and energy telco when renting and so on and so forth, we think that this is a good and suitable strategy. If you've seen on television the advertisements, I think that we are also supporting the Phone House brand.
The answer, as Iñigo Gurtubay would say, is Phone House. Then what about new products? Well, in that case, one, we have the issue of self-consumption, which has already been launched. In any case, it's in the preliminary stages and well, we will be boosting that more in the second half of the year. Well, fantastic. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, we are going to continue with Jaime Villanueva from Alantra. Jaime, you're muted. Can you hear me now?
Well, perfect. Good morning, everybody. I have three doubts. Sorry, I connected three minutes late, but I'd like to please explain the sale of the infrastructure of metallic structures.
You said that the impact was EUR 3.4 million in terms of the net profit, and this division had losses totaling EUR 800,000. This affected sales by EUR 9 million. This is this a B2B services or I suppose that. Well, could you give us some more detail? Why are you selling this, and what kind of impact this has? Also, I'd like to understand your expectations in B2B as regards services for industrial plants and understand what the situation is like and now that there's less activity because there could be potential plant shutdowns. Does that mean that you could have more projects in the case of tall structures or perhaps you could reactivate other kinds of tall structures? Could that part of the business be reactivated?
Finally, as regards B2B service, is it just the ramp-up of the telco contracts, or is there some inflationary impact? I know that you are containing expenses a lot, but have you done anything, or has there been anything regarding margins?
Well, thank you very much. How can we do this? Well, let's see. As regards these structures, the tall structures as they're called, this was a factoring activity. It was the only construction activity we had at Dominion, and it was something that was not working properly. It was classified under B2B projects, and as I said last year, it produced losses. What we have seen is that this is Dominion, so we have to continue changing so that we can stick to our philosophy.
What we have seen is that there was no synergistic activity per se, and it made sense to value it and exchange it for cash, and we're trying to maximize as much cash as we can. This impact of EUR 3-something million, I think that I answered this in the other question. We have about EUR 12 million left. 1/3 is material immobilized, and another third is goodwill, and another third is net operating capital. What we working now is we want to transform into a cash CapEx. We've received some offers and we want to try to find a suitable solution for the rest of it. That means that in this second half of the year, we'll have to see if that goodwill that remains at EUR 3 million-EUR 4 million to see how much impairment there is.
In any case, and as I mentioned previously, well, this is not going to affect our cash. Well, those EUR 9 million in sales are no longer there. The figures that you've reported, the sale figures was another EUR 9 million. Now what we've done is that as this is considered to be an interrupted activity, you don't have the sales that you were expecting in this semester of 2022, and you have all the margins on the last line. This only affects projects, okay? This is something you were asking about. What we've done was we calculated growth, and when we were giving you the organic and inorganic and Forex growth, we've covered this under inorganic as if it were already a divestiture. The project margin has improved a lot, hasn't it? Because there were losses here. Well, yes.
Yes, there's a project margin. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's 19.5%, and that has a little bit of impact. It was, I think, about EUR 500,000. As regards the contribution margin in the six months of last year. It would have been half a million because we have EUR 3.4 million and we have margins, well, larger margins, compared to last year, because right now we also have associated costs associated to that sale. We have to complete or carry out all the projects. Then there's another issue which, well, we were talking about B2B. We were talking about the ramp-up. We were talking about the mix of industrial plants. Oh, yeah. Yes, we were also talking about inflation B2B services.
Because of the nature of the contracts we have in the service world, we use the pass-through to customers. The increase in costs that we have in terms of sales is not going to affect the margins significantly. This was also mentioned by Mikel. I wouldn't consider this as an impairment of service margins because in services, if you in hindsight, in the last quarters, for instance, of the year, of last year, we had margins of 10.5% or 11% or 11.5%, which I think is a good margin for services. We have to be more in line of 12%, which is absolutely associated with these ramp-ups that we are carrying out right now. Normally, ramp-ups are absorbed by the general business.
Right now we have several ramp-ups in parallel, and they are very significant. We have contracts like Endesa in Spain or telecommunications for two different customers in Germany. You were talking about the issue of industries and what we're doing in that sector. I think that we are very diversified. Talking about industry at large, we are very cautious about this because this is affected by all of these situations we are witnessing, but we are very diversified. In some industries we see bigger impacts, but in others, like in oil and gas and other sectors, activities are growing. We are very cautious with industry, perhaps even more so than with other sectors, which are obviously much more dynamic right now. Even so, we are not pessimistic.
This was pointed out by Roberto now. There's a decrease in the industrial business and the details that we showed concerning B2B, and this is associated with the elimination of sales because of interrupted activities. If we wouldn't have had that elimination, we wouldn't be talking about a slump in industry. We'd be talking about a different kind of situation. It is true, it goes down from 44% to 40%, but in absolute values, we've seen a little bit of growth in industry because this growth is somewhat higher, yes, in the case of interrupted activities. That's it. Just to be a little bit more specific here. The balance between potential losses of activities.
In other words, what is your contribution towards the oil and gas sector or the energy sector versus, what is purely industrial? Could be autos or, I don't know, something that could be facing more shutdowns or more interruptions. Is your outlook more positive or is it more negative or neutral? Well, whatever is related to oil and gas and, environmental services and automations and cleaning services, et cetera, the truth is that we are optimistic because the sector is demanding a lot because of these oil prices, and in some places they're asking us to, do bigger filtering or filtrations because. Well, we feel optimistic as regards to industry.
I think that what we have is the recurrence of maintaining what we already have at reasonable levels, and this is our recurrence, and we really don't expect to have any losses of contracts nor anything relevant. Well, perhaps to be a little bit more specific, Jaime, we're very positive in certain things like oil and gas, so that's why in that industry, if you want, we are a little bit more neutral. The revenue shows that we have some contracts with Michelin or others where we are growing. This is a very recurrent service and sometimes, and in certain moments of the economic cycle, services are maintained or they even grow sometimes. Well, I wasn't only talking about services, but I was talking about tall structures too. Well, let's just focus on the numbers we have today.
As I said, we have a portfolio which in spite of the consumption we've had, has grown. It's grown because of renewables and on the whole too, and this includes structures and industrial infrastructures. We don't really think that the outlooks are pessimistic. We are very diversified. Asia is growing, and in global interpretation, we really wouldn't be pessimistic in terms of the industry.
Okay. We're going to give the floor to Manuel Llorente from Mirabaud. We can't hear you, Manuel. I think that his system has crashed. You know what it's like. You mute and unmute, and you disconnect yourself sometimes. Oh, I think he's here. He's back. You're muted right now, Manuel. Hello, Manuel. If you de-mute, we'll be able to hear what you have to say. Are you using your computer?
Perhaps it would be easier for you to go through the Q&A section on the chat. Okay, well, there are no more questions, so we'll close the presentation here. Thank you very much for attending. Thank you all very much, and let's only hope that everybody has a wonderful summer, and we'll see you after the summer holidays. Manuel, we'll speak to Manuel later on. Thank you very much, everybody. Goodbye. All the best.