Good morning. I'm Gloria Martin, Logista's Director of Investor Relations. Welcome to this audio webcast to discuss the results of the 2020 fiscal year, about which you will find more details on our website. I'm joined today by Íñigo Meirás, Logista's CEO, and by Manuel Suárez, our CFO, who will lead this audio webcast together. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session in which we shall read and answer every question received in the webcast forum between the publication of these results and the end of the webcast. The document that accompanies this presentation and the observations which will be made as it progresses include forward-looking statements and projections concerning future results. I invite you to read, at the beginning of the document, the disclaimer which mentions the various factors that could cause the actual results to differ from the projections or forward-looking statements.
I'm now handing over to Íñigo Meirás. Íñigo.
Thank you, Gloria, and welcome everyone. During this audio webcast, we are going to deal with the highlights of the results, a review of the businesses, and a financial review, and we shall end with an outlook for the forthcoming year. The results of the 2020 fiscal year, my first as the company's CEO, were solid in spite of the challenging environment in which the activities took place, which was so much affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Economic sales increased by 0.7% and EBIT by 1%, whereas the adjusted EBIT decreased by 1.9% and net profit by 4.5%.
Since the pandemic began, our management has focused on handling the impacts caused by the adverse environment that we faced due to COVID-19, basically in four directions: ensuring the distribution to our customers, responding to the new needs that have arisen in this scenario with new services, protecting our people, and managing our costs. This pandemic has brought about a substantial change in the way of life to which we were accustomed and has profoundly affected the way in which economic activities are conducted worldwide, including, of course, in the countries where we operate. In this scenario, the principal channels and product sectors in which Logista provides its services were considered essential, so we had to assure distribution at all times in spite of the difficult situation.
Although the adverse circumstances which surrounded the company's operation for most of the fiscal year certainly constitute a challenge, they also represented an opportunity which we were able to take advantage of thanks to the strength of our unique business model. Our lengthy efforts to achieve flexibility and automation in our operations and in the development of a multi-channel offer of alternative ordering options have enabled us to ensure continuity in our activity throughout all of those months. Our commitment as a distributor specializing in neighborhood channels was also a crucial factor in the furtherance of our business. The points of sale with which we served experienced an increase in consumers' demands for other products, different from their usual products, and Logista was one of the few companies that was able to guarantee to distribute them quickly and simply.
Moreover, our traditional investments in quality helped to reinforce our status as the leading partner in certain sectors, for example, where reliable distribution services are required for our e-commerce sales, an area in which we are now growing significantly. In addition, the business intelligence services which we had been offering to all our manufacturing customers have been the appropriate response to the need for information about their products.
As we can see, the changes brought about by the pandemic have generated new needs among our customers, and at Logista, we have been helping them to satisfy those needs by developing new services or by adapting some of those that we were already providing. For example, for the tobacco sector, we have increased the safety stocks in local warehouses so that the supply of these products, which are regarded as essential, will be assured in the event of a territorial confinement within each country.
In the case of high-volume consumer goods, we have offered the points of sale an extensive catalog of reference so that they can be able to their end users during confinements at home. The pharmaceutical sector and the hospital channel have also seen drastic alterations in certain critical aspects of their activities, so Logista Pharma, together with the hospital pharmaceutical services, devises in record time a solution involving a delivery direct to the patient's homes. This service allowed the sector to continue with the clinical trials that were in progress, which involved substantial investments. It also allowed patients suffering from chronic disease to continue with their treatments without being obliged to expose themselves to the potential sources of infection. The big increase in sales of e-commerce resulted in the manufacturers needed to rely on an operator that will guarantee a flexible, controlled, and high-quality delivery service.
Nacex adapted its procedures to ensure that deliveries remain contactless and also bolstered the expansion of its network of drop-in points and lockers. This kind of remote selling also aided the recovery of the book sector, which Logista also supported by means of the home delivery of purchases for our innovative printing on-demand service. But with that, preventing the expansion of the disease and assuring the safety and security of everyone around us at all times, this had been among the priorities in our management this year. We have used all the means at our disposal to maintain our activity safely for our employees, numbering almost 6,000 partners , and for our 9,000 partners, and in general for the communities in which we are a part.
Again, the big investments in IT resources and technology which Logista undertakes every year have facilitated the implementation of a smart working policy since the moment when the authorities first recommended teleworking. This smart working policy is still in operation in the Group today. Depending on their type of work, it can allow the employees flexibility in their timetables. This new reality which we are all facing has also affected the company's cost structure. Digitalization, which started from a solid base, has without doubt facilitated many of the adaptations that had been necessary in recent months to assure the correct performance of administrative tasks, although in some cases it has involved a tremendous increase in cost.
Restriction of movements of territorial confinements has necessitated reassignment of the stock to warehouses, which do not normally undertake warehousing tasks, so some transport routes had to be redesigned, involving in some cases higher transport costs. Additional costs have also appeared due to the new health and safety procedures. Moreover, some activities have been seriously damaged and their profitability has suffered. For all these reasons, big efforts have been needed to manage costs and to seek increased efficiencies in those processes in which action was possible, something to which we are accustomed because, as you know, is part of Logista's DNA.
I'd like to conclude this review of the main trends with leitmotif on the 2020 fiscal year by affirming that Logista was able, during yet another year, to maintain a performance that was in line with its objectives of creating value that is sustainable in the long term. We acted through the four building blocks which support the achievement of that objective, providing high-quality added value services, both those which already existed and other newly developed ones, which in turn enabled us to expand the business base even in these complicated times. And we achieved this at the same time as we introduced improvements in efficiency and maintaining our strong cash flow. Let's now review the progress of the business both overall and by geographical area. The results of the fiscal year were solid.
The adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 257 million , compared with the EUR 262 million in the 2019 fiscal year. The adjusted EBIT figures are increasing slightly, without considering the changes in the valuation of inventories compared with last year, which amount to EUR 7 million , even considering the estimated impacts on the EBIT resulting from COVID. If we do not take into account those adverse impacts, which accounted for EUR 14 million in the fiscal year, the adjusted EBIT from the normal operations increased by 6% compared with that of the previous year. That increase was in line with the middle single-digit increase in adjusted EBIT that was forecast in the outlook for the 2020 fiscal year that we communicated to you at the close of 2019. Performance in Iberia was positive. The recorded increase in economic sales was almost 1%, which brought the total to EUR 558 million .
By activity, the economic sales in tobacco and related products increased by 2.9%. The economic sales from the distribution of tobacco were slightly higher than those of last year, despite the reduction of 3.8% in the volumes of tobacco distributed in Spain, which was due to the smaller number of arriving tourists and the smaller number of cross-border sales because of COVID. The economic sales in transport increased by 0.6%, and there was disparity in performance depending on the business. In long-distance transport, they remained almost stable. In parcels, they decreased, while in courier services, they were increasing and were benefiting from the big increase recorded by the sales through e-commerce.
The economic sales from other businesses were similar to those of last year, increasing pharmaceutical distribution being recorded because of the new customer and services, which compensate for the fall in sales of pharmacies and the disruption to the normal activities in the hospitals. The economic sales from the distribution of periodicals decreased, sales in newsstands having been seriously affected since the beginning of the pandemic. Total operating expenses in Spain and Portugal increased by almost 1%, making the adjusted EBIT EUR 120 million, which was 0.4% less than the figure in 2019 fiscal year. We estimate that the overall impact of COVID on Iberia results was negative by EUR 11 million. Performance in France was negative. Economic sales were EUR 264 million, a decrease of 5%. By activity, the economic sales of tobacco and related products decreased by 1.3%.
Economic sales from the distribution of convenient products plus electronic transactions were slightly positive. The performance in electronic products being very positive, which compensates for the weaker sales of convenient products, which were affected by among other factors the closure of the Horeca activities in the cafés tobacco. The economic sales from the distribution of tobacco were slightly less than those of last year, the fall on distributed volumes of tobacco being 3.1% due to the big increase in the sale prices of these products. In accordance with the calendar for the increase in the excise duty fixed by the French government so that the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes will reach EUR 10 by 2020, in this fiscal year, the tobacco manufacturers increased their prices by between EUR 1 - EUR 1.2.
After those increases, the price of the pack of the leader-selling brand of cigarettes in France is already EUR 10. These changes in taxes and prices translated into a change in the valuation of tobacco inventories, the impact of which on the results of the fiscal year was of approximately EUR 3 million. In the previous fiscal year, that impact was about EUR 2.5 million. The economic sales from other businesses decreased by 21.5% compared with the previous year. That performance was due to the weakness which the activity was already showing and to the fact that it suffered the biggest impact from the pandemic. Most of the establishments to which we distribute products in this segment were not regarded as essential and remained closed during the period of confinement.
Total operating expenses in France decreased by 0.6%, resulting in an adjusted EBIT of EUR 62 million, almost 70% less than the figure obtained in the 2019 fiscal year. The impact of the difference in the valuation of the inventories between the two years was reflected in the valuation for these segments. We estimate that the adverse impact of COVID-19 on results in France could be valued at approximately EUR 3 million. Of the three geographical segments, Italy recorded the most solid performance, with an increase of 6.3% in economic sales, which reached EUR 304 million. The economic sales from tobacco distribution were higher than those of the 2019 fiscal year because of the higher value-added services to manufacturers and because the volumes of the distributed tobacco were maintaining at levels similar to those of last year, thanks to the solid increase on heated tobacco.
The changes in the valuation of inventories of these products, which were the result of changes in their taxes and prices, had a positive impact of about EUR 1 million, similar to the EUR 2 million of last year. The economic sales from the distribution of convenience products increased by a double-digit percentage due to the good performance of cigarette rolling papers, which from the beginning of 2020 had to be sold through the tobacconist shops in Italy after the addition of the excise duty. The trend since the beginning of the pandemic towards greater use of neighborhood shops resulted in an increase in sales through tobacconist shops of other fast-moving consumer goods and related to tobacco. Total operating expenses in Italy increased by 4.1%, and the Adjusted EBIT reached EUR 91 million, which was almost 12% more than in the 2019 fiscal year.
We estimate, finally, that the COVID-19 did not have a big impact on the results in Italy, thanks to the measures adopted to counteract the increase in expenses which were related to the pandemic. Now I give the floor to Manolo Suárez so he could continue the financial review of the fiscal year. Manolo.
Thanks. Good afternoon, and thank you to all the attendees to this presentation of Logista 2020 results. The financial statements we are presenting here, closed at September 13th, are already audited and backed with a clean opinion by Ernst & Young, external auditor of Logista. As Íñigo has explained, segment by segment, the activity of the company has grown in revenues and at a slower path in economic sales, even in this economic environment marked by the pandemic, and in our case, by the French movements in tobacco prices.
The evolution by region has been uneven in terms of economic sales, being Italy the best performer that, together with the growth in Iberia, compensated the negative performance in France. During the year, tobacco tariffs in all countries were updated in order to include the track and trace services that were rendered to our clients from the moment this traceability became compulsory for the manufacturers under the European Tobacco Directive of May 2019. This year has been absolutely marked by the management of the situation created in all our markets by the COVID-19 crisis. Although practically all the networks we worked through have been kept open during the pandemic, there is no doubt that there has been an impact in the activity of the company due to this reason that we estimate in EUR 30 million in economic sales, mainly focusing in Spain and secondarily in France.
This, and the incremental expenses consequence of the management of the crisis, have been dealt with through a program of savings and efficiencies that has kept the evolution of costs very much in line with the evolution of economic sales net of price movements. The net effect of all this was a slight decrease of the adjusted EBIT in EUR 5 million, absorbing the negative impact of the different evolution in taxes and retail sales prices, and the one of the COVID that we estimate in EUR 14 million at EBIT level. Net of these two effects, the growth would have been in the highest part of the bracket of the guidance provided at the beginning of the fiscal year, mid-single digit.
The effort in offsetting COVID negative impact has led the company to increase its customary optimization effort, and the restructuring figure was finally EUR 12 million, fully financed by some capital gains. All this translated into an EBIT figure 1% above last fiscal year. 2020 has been the first year of adoption of IFRS 16. Apart from the effect that this application had on the EBITDA figure that we will comment on when reviewing the cash flow statement, the IFRS 16 impacted the financial expenses in EUR 2 million. The rise of these expenses contributed to a net reduction of financial results of EUR 1 million. This, together with the expected increase in the tax rate, consequence of the extension of some deductions and reaching a 27.9% corporate income tax net rate, resulted in the net profit declining by 4.5% compared to last year.
The cash position followed a very normal trend during the first part of the year, being affected at the beginning of the lockdown period by lower volumes and, since summer, by the other way around, helped on one side by the stabilization of consumers and retailers' patterns, and on the other by some temporary modifications of the payment rules of excise taxes that altogether provided extra cash that made the average for the year to grow to EUR 2.3 billion and to a maximum of EUR 4.8 billion that compares with an average amount of EUR 1.9 billion and a maximum of EUR 3.1 billion on fiscal year 2019. The temporary increase in the cash position caused, as well, a temporary uplift of the limit originally set in the treasury agreement that Logista has with its majority shareholder to accommodate the cash pooling operations during this period to that situation.
The total amount invested in the period returned to normal figures for our recurrent business once track and trace is operational and the related investments have been deployed. As well as comment, half the investment figure is devoted to IT to develop value-added services for our customers and to gain efficiencies in our operations. This year, the percentage has been even higher, 55%. It's worth to note that not only our operations but the investment programs were maintained despite the lockdown. The company has kept, even improved, the profile of high cash flow conversion, which is one of our financial characteristics. Looking at the cash flow statement, you can see that the EBITDA figure is higher than in 2019 due to the effect of the adoption of IFRS 16 in 2020.
The main impacts in the P&L for this adoption were the increase of the EBITDA figure in EUR 34 million, of the EBIT in one million euros, and of the financial expenses in two million euros. But if you prefer to do the analysis on a pro forma basis for 2019, the figures would be very similar: increase of EUR 33 million in EBITDA, one million euros in EBIT, and three more million euros in financial expenses. So the evolution of the EBITDA net of rental payments has been slightly lower, in line with the adjusted EBIT evolution, while the lower CapEx and financial revenues have more than offset the higher restructuring payments and normalized taxes. Working capital valuation improvement of EUR 600 million is linked to the delay of conditions of payment of excise taxes granted by some administrations that are expected to revert shortly.
While the cut-off effect on taxes is the consequence of not having received this year until the month of October, the return due on fiscal year 2019 corporate income tax, while in fiscal year 2019, instead, we received two returns: one in October 2018 and another in August 2019. Since Logista IPO in 2014, the dividend policy stated by the board has been to maintain a payout of at least 90%, and together with it, it was stated that the board highly appreciated the sensitivity of our shareholders towards dividend and would be very attentive to make sure that this remuneration would not suffer punctually for unexpected events of non-recurring nature. Keeping all this, the board proposes to dedicate all net income for 2020 to dividend, keeping the same dividend than in fiscal year 2019, EUR 1.18 per share.
The policy mentioned has been applied in a consistent and growing manner since 2014, having shown in the last three years payout ratios of 95% and 99%, being the dividend collection by our shareholders close to 50% of the value of the company at the IPO. All analyst recommendations on the value are either a strong buy, buy, or outperform. There are no hold or no sell recommendations. The target price is kept, as consensus, in EUR 23. The dividend yield at present prices is over 8%, but the fact is the correlation with the rest of the Spanish companies seems to be stronger than the fundamentals when fixing the price. All this is consistent with the main financial characteristics of Logista. Resilience: the company has been able to show a growing result in very tough economic conditions thanks to its business model. Predictability: Logista consistently delivers the announced results.
The company tends to be under-promising and overperforming in its financial communication and robust cash flow profile to fund our dividend policy and to finance growth without jeopardizing it. I'll let you know back with Íñigo Meirás to conclude the presentation.
Thank you, Manolo. During the presentation, we have reviewed the measures taken to confront the new reality, which has risen due to the pandemic, and as well as the performance of the company's businesses and the changes in its financial situation. We would now like to mention the progress that we have made in the fiscal year in terms of ESG. Despite the adverse circumstances to have characterized this year, Logista has not wanted to neglect matters as important as the environment, gender equality, and social policies. Indeed, for the fourth consecutive year, we have been included on the CDP's A-list.
In the fight against climate change, we have continued to form part of the FTSE4Good Index, and we have signed the Manifesto for Sustainability Reconstruction, and we have participated in local initiatives and associations whose aim is to support post-COVID recovery. We have also made good progress in the matters of women's presence not only on the board of directors, where 42% of the current members are women, but also in the management committee. Logista also introduced a smart working policy during the fiscal year. To summarize, 2020 was a positive year for Logista in spite of its challenging environment. The solid set of results which I'm presenting to you today was possible thanks to the company's successful business model with its customer-centric, flexible, and asset-light approach.
Looking ahead to the 2021 fiscal year, it appears that the solid progress since the beginning of the COVID crisis could result in a single-digit % increase in the adjusted EBIT compared with the 2020 fiscal year. However, I would like to emphasize the uncertainties about the impact of the economies of our main markets and about the measures for which to confront it could have an adverse effect on our activities. For these reasons, this outlook will be reviewed quarterly through the fiscal year. Before ending, I would also like to say that in any scenario, the dividend will be a priority for the company. Let's now proceed to the Q&A session, in which Gloria will read out the question that we have received and will identify the person who has formulated this one. Gloria.
Thank you, Íñigo. Please note that we will read only one question in the case there are more than one on the same topic, and we will not read questions that have been answered during the presentation. Regardless, if you have further questions once this call is finished, you can contact Investor Relations, as usual. First question from Pedro Alves, CaixaBank. It's a generic question for Íñigo. How do you see Logista in the next three to five years in terms of portfolio segments and geographies? Considering the strong ESG pressure on the tobacco industry and the depressed valuation of Logista, it seems clear that the change in perception is much needed. What are your plans to grow and position the company?
Well, Pedro, first of all, thank you for your question. I have to say that I agree with your perception. I think it's one of our biggest concerns in the company, the current value of Logista in the market. I don't know if it's depressed or it's another adjective that I can use, but definitely, as you can imagine, it's a big concern for the management of the company. And in terms of how I'll see Logista in the next three to five years, I think that clearly I'll see Logista in three to five years more diversified, less tobacco-related company. And I think that in that context, I think that we are now more active to consider the expansion of our current non-tobacco businesses to new geographies because, as you know, we were mostly focused in Spain until now, and now we are considering still to expand our non-tobacco business to Italy, France, and Portugal as a first step.
Having said that, I think that there is a second way for looking for growth, which is why not to consider M&A opportunities in the logistics sector, okay? We are not saying that we will see us, you will see us looking for a transformation opportunity, but that is clear that we have the ability for the time being to be more active looking for M&A opportunities that can help us to be more diversified and well-positioned in the current market where we are because our focus is still in Europe, but you'll see us more active on the M&A markets for the time being, okay?
Second question from Pedro Alves. Once the macro visibility improves, do you think the dividend policy could be revised? If so, what about is on your equations?
I think that as the board of directors, we have to review the dividend policy every year. This is one of our main tasks at the board. But for the time being, I think that a share buyback is not an option in terms of to increase the remuneration to shareholders, and probably the reason for that is because now one of the problems of our stock is the slow liquidity in the markets, and because of that, I think that buybacks, share buybacks is not an option. I think that we do something is to be a little bit more aggressive on dividend policy, but this is a matter that has to be discussed at the board level at the right time.
Question from Manuel. Can you estimate what was the impact of the charge, sorry, of track and trace services during the Q4?
We do not disclose this kind of information, but I can tell you that there has been an impact. You know that we have had an even impact during the year. For track and trace, that was fully regularized in the fourth quarter, so the year is fully charging. The track and trace, that is a very high-value service, and that has the margin it deserves, no more than that. In fact, I can take advantage and comment that the fourth quarter has been very favorable in results because of this track and trace. It's true, but also because the volumes of tobacco were quite good, especially in Italy, and also because other businesses behaved quite well, especially pharma and courier, and provided very good and stimulating results in comparison with the last year.
Question from Francisco Ruiz, Exane. What is the reason behind the strong increase in cash taxes this year? Can we understand that the margins on Q4 are recurring, taking into consideration the absence of some cost and the impact of track and trace?
In terms of cash tax, I think it's been covered during the presentation. Basically, what we were waiting for the return of corporate income tax of year 2019 final liquidation that was finally received in the month of October, that is year 2021 for the company, so that's basically the reason, an even movement or inter-period movement of payments and returns. In terms of the margins, no, I mean, nothing can be thought as stable in these times. We have to closely follow everything for the coming weeks.
Question from Manuel. Miguel Gonzalez from JB Capital Markets. Could you please provide how much of transport revenues represent courier services? After the solid performance of this division, partially driven by the entry in e-commerce, do you expect this to be a temporary activity because of COVID-19, or would you look for further opportunities in this segment?
We provide disclosure of all the transport activity in general. We do not disclose into the particular business lines within this activity, but you're absolutely right, Miguel, that the behavior has been very strong. It's very promising, and we think that there are opportunities we are examining, which can be done in the future, getting on it to strengthen our business in e-commerce.
Questions from Juan Ros at Intermoney. Any new major pharma contracts signed recently? Can you provide pharma's growth for Q4 fiscal year 2020? Can we expect a rollout of the pharma business in other markets? Are you considering at present entering new markets in tobacco distribution?
Will that be organic or inorganic growth?
Okay. Thank you for your question, Juan. Questions, because regarding the first question, if any new major pharma contracts signed recently, yes, we signed in the last quarter two or three big contracts, but putting context that in any case, a big contract in the pharma sector means probably on a yearly basis and in terms of economic sales, EUR 2 million each, which means that it's important in terms of growth for pharma businesses within Logista, but in terms of the economic sales at the consolidated level, it's not huge. Regarding the second question, can you provide pharma growth for the fourth quarter of 2020? Manolo, I don't know if we have that information available or not. Okay. Manolo is checking the number. Can we expect a rollout of the pharma businesses in other markets? Yes.
I think that now we are more open to consider the internationalization of our pharma businesses and not to be only in Spain and in Portugal, okay, and clearly, as you can imagine, the focus for the time being is to analyze the Italian and the French market, and the last question is, are you considering at present entering new markets in tobacco distribution? Will that be organic or inorganic growth? It's not a priority of the company at present to analyze new markets in the tobacco distribution sector, and back to Manolo, do you have the information on pharma?
Yeah. Again, we do not provide the growth within the other businesses of pharma in particular, but again, I mean, the growth in general has been a very good one. In general, in the year, we have signed 25 new contracts with customers, and there are new customers incorporated that we will release soon to this activity.
Some questions from Pablo Cuadrado, Kepler. Good morning. Restructuring charges. During Q4, you have deployed more restructuring activities than probably expected. Why is that? Is it a response to the COVID-19 crisis or something already planned before the crisis? Which are the expectations for restructuring costs during the new fiscal year? Indeed, I think you have closed a real estate disposal in Spain which is still not booked. Which is the level of book gains that we should expect for this year? I do partially the questions. Manuel, this is yours. Okay.
During Q4, we've faced an important restructuring of an optimization plan within the company that, I mean, we see the opportunity honestly partly because of COVID and partly because we are constantly analyzing the opportunities to improve our operations and efficiencies. In terms of the new fiscal year, we expect the cost to be lower because, I mean, the execution is going to be done on the year, but most of it is already accrued. We have to see how opportunities arise and how things evolve. And in terms of the disposal of the real estate in Spain, yes, it's been executed in the first part of the month of October, and still some capital gain will arise in the year 2021, but most of it has already been incurred in the year 2020.
Okay. Second question from Pablo. Guidance. You have targeted mid-single digit Adjusted EBIT growth during the new fiscal year versus last year, assuming no new relevant lockdowns in the countries which you operate. Can we assume that this reference of growth could also be replicated at the net income level?
As I mentioned, it's going to be too heavily depend on if there appear more opportunities for restructuring or not. If things are as they seem to be now, the increase would be higher as the restructuring expenses would be lower.
Third question. Can you provide us a reference of a range of the pure cash hosted by Logista's balance sheet, excluding the cash in transit linked to tobacco invoicing?
We always give the same reference. It's very difficult to say as such, but what we say is, I mean, we consider at the moment of the IPO, the balance sheet of the company to be the one we wanted, and since then, we've accumulated something like EUR 150 million in cash, so this is broadly the cash you could consider as being ours.
And there was a last question from Pablo, but it's not properly written, so Pablo, if you want to repeat the question, I will ask it at the end of the presentation, okay? So now we move to questions from João Safara, Banco Santander. In the Q3 2020, the impact of COVID was EUR 17 million, and now in full year, it's EUR 14 million. What is the driver behind the lower impact? Higher cost savings or higher revenues linked to COVID-19? Manuel.
Yeah. It's basically the best reaction of our businesses towards that. In some cases, there appear new opportunities in terms of business, in case of E-commerce, for instance, and the reaction of expenses has already been relevant in terms of optimization. So it's both of them.
Okay. Second question has been partially already answered, but it's something that you can clarify, Manuel. Can you quantify the impact of track and trace in Adjusted EBIT for the year? Considering that in your release, you mentioned an uneven impact, how much left of this impact can we see in 2021?
Well, when we mentioned the uneven impact, it was thinking periodically during the year. So in the full year, the full impact is taken. What I can tell you, because we do not enter into detail on the tariffs, but it's value-added services, and it deserves and it has a high margin, even higher margin than the normal activity.
Third question. What role do you believe you'll play in future distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine in Spain? Do you have the infrastructure to be the key distributor of this incremental revenue stream? Can you help us understand where is your positioning versus competitors?
Okay. Now it's Íñigo. Regarding the COVID-19 vaccine in Spain, I think that, first of all, that's for sure that we are well positioned to manage the distribution and the logistics of the new vaccine, but I think that having said that, it is a question of time to see what the vaccine will come to the Spanish market first. And second, I assume that probably there will be a public tender by the Spanish government, by the regions, but I think that we are well placed to consider that this is an opportunity for Logista.
Okay. Next question from Álvaro Lenze, Alantra. Sorry. Fourth question is to be repeated, but it's good information to be repeated. Besides the dividend, which are today the key capital allocation priorities for Logista?
As I said before, Gloria already said, I think that I don't know if the first priority is to pay dividend of the company. It's one of our priorities, and then this is the first one. The second one is to invest in growth in the company, whatever that means, which we have the idea to invest in organic growth. And as I said at the beginning of this Q&A session, why not to consider from now on M&A transactions?
Okay. Next question from Álvaro Lenze, Alantra. Now that some brands in France are already at EUR 10 per pack, do you expect further price increases, maybe other brands catching up in fiscal year 2021? Has the French government announced any plans to continue increasing prices of tobacco via higher excise duties?
Yes, Manuel. Well, I mean, the price in tobacco is something that the manufacturers have to decide, so we will not make any comment on it. In terms of the taxes, which is true that there is an agreement by the government with the tobacco associations not to keep stable the taxes until December 2021. This is in principle an intention sorry, December 2022. This is in principle an intention we have to see. Next question for Manuel from Patrick Jousseaume, Société Générale. What is your firepower for M&A? Well, you can assume what you want. I would say on that that clearly our firepower is over the present opportunities we have in front of us. So there's nothing particularly to comment on that for that.
We do not see any limitation on that for our growth.
And there is not a decision already taken by the board of directors regarding in terms of capital allocation. It is a question to look for opportunities in the market, sizables, but not so big, and then it's a question to discuss at the board of directors the different opportunities.
Okay. Some questions from Oriana Bastianelli, Kairos. For the CEO, after almost one year from your arrival, can you share with us your assessment in terms of first, key strengths; second, potential weaknesses; third, what could be potentially managed better than before, if any; and fourth, which opportunities can the COVID bring?
Okay, Oriana, thank you for your questions, but not with easy answers of that because, first of all, I'm not here to criticize what happens in the past with the previous management of the company.
In terms of the first question, the key strengths, I think that Logista is the largest logistics and distribution company in Spain, which is a good platform as a starting point, and we have a very good position in France, Italy, and in Portugal as well. I think that the perception of our customers and in the market that we are the best in class in terms of providing logistics and distribution services to big companies. We are reliable, value for money, we can compete with anyone in the market, and this is probably one of our key strengths.
Regarding the potential weaknesses, I don't know if it's our weaknesses, but I think that I already answered a question where I recognize the perception in the market, and probably that perception is right, is that we are a tobacco-related company, and we have to do something to change that perception of the market regarding Logista, which means that we have to accelerate the growth on non-tobacco activities, but always saying that in any case, tobacco today is a very important, profitable business for Logista. Regarding what could be potentially managed better than before, I think that, as I said at the beginning, I don't have the idea to compare the new Logista, if I can say, with the Logista of a couple of years ago, and if COVID can bring opportunities to Logista, I think that COVID has, as in any sector, pros and cons.
I think there are some opportunities for Logista because I think this is the time for the leaders in our markets, in the distribution sector and logistics, and I think they are well placed to deal with the crisis, but at the same time, as Manolo said before, we recognize a negative impact in our numbers, which means that we prefer a world without COVID.
Next question from Oriana for Manuel. Is the impact of track and trace already annualized in your numbers? If not, can you provide a sense of the tail into 2021?
The track and trace is full in our numbers for this year, so you will see from now on constantly.
Next question from Oriana. M&A. This has been in the air since a long time but never happened. Are you now closer, and which are the reas ons be hind?
I think we are a little bit moe closer to the M&A opportunities, and the reason behind is that there is a new management of the company in place.
Okay. Next question from César Sánchez-Grande, Renta 4. Could we see a positive impact in France, Iberia, and Italy due to potential agreements to distribute the COVID vaccine during 2021 as happened in 2002 with the euro? Thanks.
I think we'll see an opportunity on that concept, okay, the distribution of the COVID vaccine, but it's a question of time to see what happens. But in any case, even if at the end we are the provider of that services working for the Spanish government, French, and Italian, in any case, I think that we are well placed to run with that service, but in any case, we cannot consider a huge impact in our accounts of the services.
Final question from Jorge Losa, Cartesio. Is there a system of value-added services in pharma, for example, like track and trace for COVID-19 potential vaccine?
I think so. I think that for the time being, I think we learn a lot with our experience of track and trace for tobacco, but sooner or later you will see the track and trace approach to new products, and clearly in the pharma sector is clearly an opportunity for the time being.
Sorry, it was not the last question. We received a couple more. Next question from Patrick Folan, Redburn. Looking at roll your own, make your own in Italy, can you provide some color on the improved performance sequentially from Q3 to Q4? Is the strong growth in the category mainly due to the shift to tobacco next-generation consumers shopping locally?
I want to make only a clarification in terms of roll your own and make your own numbers when we report those on our announcement. We include as well heated tobacco units in this category.
Well, in fact, roll your own heated tobacco, I mean, is constantly behaving better, particularly in our countries, but particularly in Italy. So it's a constant improvement in the sense that it's constantly gaining market share, so we don't see any special thing that this one.
Okay. And I think this is now the final question from Miguel Navarro, Santa Lucía Asset Management. Good morning. Congratulations. A couple of questions. Which free cash flow amount would Logista have generated with a normalized working capital? Second, is it possible to know the net cash position?
Well, this is Manuel speaking, Miguel. In terms of the free cash flow, let us say, assuming what you say by normalized working capital is the working capital without this temporary change in payments of some administrations, then it would have been slightly positive, but in the range of EUR 100 million, I think, of this side, no more than that, so you just have to make the corrections to the figures you already have to have the correct number.
And then the net cash position is the question I've already answered before, which could be the cash that belongs to the company and the cash that belongs to the tax business or banking business of the company, which is difficult to say, and the same as we give always rough explanation that could be considered around EUR 100 million -EUR 150 million.
Okay, so thank you very much for joining us in this results presentation. As I said before, any further questions you may have, please contact the investor relations team. Have a nice day. Bye.
Thank you.