Hello. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Grenergy's nine months 2023 results presentation. I am Alberto Sánchez, head of investor relations, and I'm joined today by Daniel Lozano, our Chief of Strategy and Capital Markets Officer, and Rocío Fernández, head of sustainability. They are going to take us through our business, financial, and ESG review. At the end of the presentation, there will be a Q&A session for sell-side analysts. We ask you to focus just on questions related to the Q3 2023 and nine months results, as strategic issues will be properly addressed at the Capital Markets Day, slated for Tuesday next week. I hand over to our Chief of Strategy and Capital Markets Officer, Daniel Lozano. Daniel, please go ahead.
Thank you, Alberto. So let's go ahead, moving to slide number three, highlights. In this quarterly result presentation, I will be leading it. I'm quite lucky, as they are the best quarterly result we've ever had. Of course, our CEO will be leading our first Capital Markets Day, that, as many of you are aware, is scheduled for next Tuesday. This event will feature comprehensive insights into our operation, pipeline, and the latest developments. We will be presenting our new strategic targets, along with a detailed plan on how we will fund those initiatives. Last Monday, we presented our one of the financial facilities that will help to finance our business plan. Grenergy has signed a $157 million green loan, eight-year maturity, with a two-year grace period, with Banco Santander.
The loan is secured with the coverage of CESCE, with really competitive all-in cost of 4.8%. That could even improve, depending on ESG KPIs. It shows our financing capabilities to continue executing in this really profitable and growing sector. But showing financing capabilities is good, but value creation is even better. By selling some of our assets, it is the best way we can prove that our self-funding growth story is real, and we have done that this year with Valkyria. We have been able to sell close to 500 MW, with an average price of EUR 1 million per MW, an impressive value creation of 1.4 times EV invested capital. We will talk about this later.
Regarding our financial performance, this quarter, we have been able to multiply by two our revenues, to EUR 351 million, multiply by three our EBITDA to EUR 102 million, first time above EUR 100 million, and multiply by almost six our net income. This has been driven by higher energy sales and due to the sale of Belinchón project, which was completed by the end of the quarter. Total CapEx reached EUR 264 million as we continue to execute the construction of many solar projects, and it reflects our construction capabilities. At the same time, corporate leverage is 1.5x, well below our covenant target of 3.5x. Total leverage is below 4x, thanks to the net debt reduction and EBITDA increase, which occur this year.
Even though we are a growth company, we decided to allocate some of the cash we are generating to a buyback of our own shares. With the share price at the current level, we fully believe this is a great opportunity. In terms of highlights in ESG, firstly, the objective committed for the third quarter of the year was successfully accomplished. The ESG roadmap 2023 will be completed at the end of the year, and the new ESG strategy, 2024-2026, has been already finalized, and it will be publicly launched during the Capital Markets Day next week. Secondly, Grenergy was considered as the first Spanish company in obtaining a green sustainability link fund swap with Banco Santander.
Thirdly, Grenergy keeps on being considered top, top rank in ESG performance, having improved the score in some indices, such as Sustainalytics, being recognized as first player of our sector, lowering the score from low risk in 2022 to negligible risk in 2023. Let's move to the business review in slide number four. This slide is quite impressive. It shows that during the first nine months of the year, we have reached close to 1 GW of PPA signed in several countries like Spain, Peru, or Chile. PPAs are critical to obtain financing and therefore the delivery of project, and we have been able to close it with top quality off taker, investment grades that are reducing the project risk and therefore allowing us to have better financing terms.
In September, we closed another 100 MW PPA in Peru with Enel for the Matarani PV project. In this moment, we have another 1.5 GW under negotiation in our three key geographies. We will give you more color about this on this Capital Market Day we are having this week. Moving on to slide five. In this quarter, we were able to accomplish several milestones of our Valkiria process. Bellingham deal that was announced in June was fully accomplished at the end of September. That deal has been reflected in Q3 results, producing a positive EBITDA of close to EUR 70 million, implying a value creation of EUR 500,000 per MW and EUR 89 million of cash proceeds.
The second milestone was announced in October, selling 300 MW to Allianz at EUR 0.91 million per MW. The value can increase up to EUR 0.95 million per MW with early revenues, implying close to EUR 0.3 million value creation per MW. This deal is expected to be closed in June 2025 at COD, and will contribute with 85-90 million EUR EBITDA to that financial year. We continue working on next deal that is well on track. We will provide more color on that in the next capital market day. Let's move on to the financial review, that starting slide number 6. Total output increased by 26% due to the new capacity and better load factors.
Contracted volume increased by 32% to 608 GWh in the first nine months of the year, and represented 62% of our total electricity production. Realized price increased by 12% in the period, which compares with -9% we had in the first half of the year, and highlights a strong performance in Q3 standalone. Then on the right side of, we have a summary of the main financial KPIs that we are going to explain later. If you look at slide seven, we can see that in Q3 2023, total revenue reached EUR 351.2 million. That is, +105% increase year-on-year, more than twice the previous year figure. EBITDA increased to EUR 102.2 million, three times on the previous year figure.
The development and construction division was driven by the disposal of Bellingham, as previously explained. The difference is coming from development and construction, direct expenses, and a small reclassification, EUR 3 million, carried out in Q3. The energy division was driven by higher output, 44% on new capacity and better load factor with better prices, as we explained previously. Retail supply business in Chile is still negative at -EUR 1.4 million, but as expected, it has delivered positive EBITDA this quarter. This division will be EBITDA positive from 2024 onwards. Moving on to slide eight, we can see that the first nine months of 2023, total CapEx reached close to EUR 260 million. That is more than two times the previous year figure, reflecting the acceleration in our execution.
Project CapEx was EUR 232 million, split 31% in Spain and 69% in Latin, mainly PMGDs and Gran Teno. Development CapEx is EUR 27.6 million. CapEx per megawatt is at all-time lows, with panel at $0.13. Now, CapEx is around 0.43 million euros per megawatt, thanks to the expansion of global industry capacity and polysilicon production. Due to CapEx deflation and PPA levels that we are closing, IRRs remain stable and attractive at double-digit level, that is offsetting the impact from higher interest rate. Let's go to the next slide, which is number nine, which explains the cash flow for the period. There is a negative working capital impact of EUR 75.6 million, due to a reduction in accounts payable that has to do with the CapEx acceleration we had in Q3.
Proceeds from the sale of Bellingham amounted to EUR 95 million in the third quarter. We carry out an initial draw down from the announced financial facility, signed with Banco Santander, and we are closing the period with a cash position of EUR 165 million, up from EUR 105 million at the beginning of the year. Finally, if you can look at slide 10, our net debt has decreased quarter-on-quarter to EUR 483 million, and producing a 3.9x leverage ratio. This was mainly driven by cash flow inflows due to rotation of asset. Corporate leverage, the one affecting our covenant, is just 1.5x. 2023 and 2024 will be capital intensive, as we have large projects under construction in Spain and Chile.
Also, bear in mind that our leverage ratio is also affected by the timing of our investments, and when those investments become productive. In our capital market day, we will present our growth plan that will be self-funded. Now, I will pass you over to Rocío, who is going to explain about the ESG part.
Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. I invite you all to follow the details of the progress in ESG matters during the third quarter of the year. I am pleased to announce that the three goals committed for this quarter was successfully accomplished. Firstly, an ESG assessment was done for a selection of suppliers. We conduct audits in one factory of Canadian Solar and another one of Trina Solar, both in China, obtaining minor non-conformities that were correctly resolved. Secondly, a benefit plan for energy employees were formally presented. Last but not least, an update on the policy for dialogue with our communities was approved and published, being now aligned with the International Finance Corporation standards. Apart from that, currently, all expected goals for the fourth quarter are well advanced.
For instance, the elaboration of a climate change risks and opportunities report, according to the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Additionally, one of the most important objectives, not only for the fourth quarter, but also for the year, the design of the new sustainability strategy, 2024-2026, which is already finished and approved by our board of directors. This ambitious, holistic, and cross-company roadmap will be deeply revealed during our Capital Markets Day next week. Now, moving on to our performance in ESG ratings, I would like to emphasize the fact that Grenergy maintains its leadership position in the most prestigious ESG rating agencies. As you can see in the figures, in all indexes, the scores are higher than the previous years and even higher than our peers.
Today, we already received the updated scores for Sustainalytics and MSCI, and we are proud to mention that in Sustainalytics, we improved the results as we reduce our risk level, from low risks to negligible risks. We also have excellent news in the MSCI score, too, as we revalidate our AAA score for two years in a row now. For the other indexes, such as S&P and CDP, we will have the updated scores in the coming months, expecting also remarkable improvements as well. That's all from my side. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Rocío.
Thank you very much, Rocío. We are now moving to the Q&A session. If you have any question, please send a message to the administrator using the chat available in the tool. Just let him know that you want to ask a question, but you don't have to write it down. Please limit to questions on the financial results presented this morning. As we previously mentioned, all of these strategic topics will be addressed at the next Capital Market Day. We'll leave some time to receive questions. Okay, our first question comes from Jorge Guimaraes at JB Capital. Jorge, please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. I have three questions, if I may. So I, I'll limit to two, to leave to other people. So the first question is, why has the merchant price gone up in nine months versus six months? Is this a matter of the different mix of geographies which are producing, or if you saw an increase in the underlying merchant price, namely in Chile. So this would be the first one, or in Spain. The second one is to elaborate a bit on the evolution of working capital. I see receivables going up, and payables going down. The first one makes sense if you are increasing sales, but I would like to understand the second one.
Moreover, because you are not the first company in the sector to show such trends, I would like to understand better. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jorge. Okay, regarding your question about merchant prices, well, prices has been up 12% in nine months versus minus 9% for a semester, thanks to the strong performance in Q3, prices up 44%. Prices has, have improved across the board, except for the north of Chile. I will probably highlight the excellent performance of our wind asset, especially in Peru. Then, regarding working capital, well, you are right, there has been CapEx acceleration that we have in Q2, and, and we had to pay those invoices during this quarter. Regarding account receivable, this figure should improve in the next quarter, and hopefully we expect this to, to be reverted at the full year result.
I don't see any trend in the figure, and this just special the situation we are reflecting in this quarter.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jorge.
Our next question comes from Naisheng Cui from Barclays. Good morning, Nash. Please go ahead.
Hi, Nash.
Hey, hey, good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I have a few, if that's okay. Daniel, it's so encouraging to see the retail sector finally turning to be profitable from an EBITDA perspective. I know that segment was making loss in the past. I pick up on one line in your presentation saying we should expect the positive trend to continue, and I wonder if you can give us a bit of color on that, and how should we think about EBITDA, say, for 2024? 'Cause it's finally making a profit, which is good. And my second question, I want to ask about share buyback, if that's okay. I hope that's not strategy, but the finance side of things.
Just given the good rally of the share price for in the last few weeks, I wonder, how should you think about the timing of the share buyback? Would you want to stop, then it will be later, or wait and see, or how should we think about that? That will be good.
Okay.
I'll just limit my question to two for now.
Okay, thank you, Naisheng. Well, you, you're right. We have first-time quarterly positive result in the retail business. As previously explained, this is a business that is selling electricity to a big client in Chile, and normally, it is a seven-year contract period for 24 hours, so base load. We expected to improve this result because we are now producing electricity in Chile, and with that very low LCOE that we are obtaining in our solar facilities, we are gonna improve margins. In 2024, especially with the Gran Teno project that is in central Chile, where our main clients are, this figure should improve. I cannot give you color or guidance about this, but maybe we can talk about this division in Capital Markets Day. Okay?
Then, as I said, regarding our share buyback program, it was launched, not even one month ago. For the moment, we have just bought 216,000 shares. That is just EUR 6 million impact in our cash flow. We are happy about the share performance, but, for the moment, we still consider this is a fantastic opportunity to buy shares as the growth prospect of our business is still giving a much better upside, and hopefully, we will present that in the Capital Market Day. We will give you more color about that.
Perfect. That's very clear, Daniel. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Nash.
... our next question comes from Paul Cherran at Kempen. Good morning, Paul. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. I hope you can hear me well.
Hi, Paul.
I just have one question. Would it be possible for you to give us a breakdown of the different components in CapEx? I think you used to give us an approximation for inverters and trackers and so on. Is it possible maybe to have an update on these different components?
Well, it is not that specific written like in the past. You can see in the slide number eight, there is a CapEx breakdown, and by color, you can see tracker, inverters, logistic, modules. Well, we can talk about that in the capital markets day. As I said, module costs are reflecting a deflation, moving from $0.29 one and a half years ago to $0.13 of dollar right now. Logistics also, remember, in some moment, the cost was around $15,000 per container. You need around three-four container per megawatt. Now, it's around $2,000-$3,000 per container, so all in could be around $9,000-$10,000.
Well, you will have the opportunity to ask this question in the capital market day, where our CEO will give you more information about the rest of components.
Okay. Thank you.
There are no further question at this moment. We remind you that if you want to ask a question, please send a message to the administrator, using the chat available in the tool. I think that, there is a follow-up from Nash. Naisheng, do you want to go ahead?
Yeah. Hi, it's me again, just taking the advantage here. So I saw the unique CapEx on solar is versus our disclosure from last quarter, which is really positive, and I wonder if you see the CapEx for other technologies staying roughly the same or in line with your planning, mainly wind turbines and storage. So that's my question number one.
Mm-hmm.
My question number two, I understand your third milestone for Valkiria is on track, and I wonder, does that mean there is a possibility... I just want to get a confirmation, does that mean there is a possibility we could hear an announcement on the 172 MW Ayora project, perhaps, perhaps before end of this year? Thank you.
Okay. Well, regarding CapEx in other technologies, as you know, we are really focused in solar and in storage. Storage is gonna be a key part in our capital market day, and we will provide a lot of information about that. As well, like solar, PV CapEx for storage is improving. For wind, as you may know, wind is a technology that we were considering it as a good complement for solar in order to build different ways of PPAs. Now, with storage, I think it's a much better solution for, in order to build those PPA for more hours. And we are not, we are not going to build, in the short term, any wind projects. So to be honest, I cannot give you a good answer about that.
Regarding Valkiria, again, what we have stated in the capital markets, in the presentation, sorry, is that the next milestone for Ayora asset is well on track. In all cases, that rotation will not affect 2023, so it's gonna be for 2024. And even though we can rush and try to close that deal in 2023, it will be a 2024 deal. So, let's see when we can produce that information, but it's gonna be, in all cases, for 2024.
Very clear. Thank you, Daniel.
Okay, there are no further questions, so this is the end of our presentation. If you need additional details, please do not hesitate to contact us at the Investor Relations team, and we'll be more than happy to assist. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Thank you very much.
Bye.