Hello, good morning, and welcome to the first Semester 2025 webcast from Metrovacesa, S.A. My name is Juan Carlos Calvo Mateos. I am Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, and as usual, we have with us Jorge Pérez de Leza Eguiguren, CEO of Metrovacesa, S.A., and Borja Tejada Rendón-Luna, Financial Director. We are going to present an overview of our operating activity and the financial results for the first semester of the year 2025. The slides of this presentation have been released to the market earlier this morning, and they are available through the CNMV website and in the company website. We have also sent it by email to our usual distribution list for analysts and investors. At the end of this presentation, there will be a question and answer session.
If you wish to ask a question via conference call, you can register by pressing star five in your telephone keypad at any time. If you are participating via webcast, you can type your question directly in the webcast platform, and we will read it out. Now, I hand it over to our CEO to start the presentation. Please, Jorge.
Thank you, Juan Carlos, and welcome everyone to our mid-year 2025 results presentation. I will start in page number five with some three straightforward highlights. The first one regarding the market: we are with good headwinds, tailwinds, in a market with growing demand. Our operational activity is going as planned, and that will basically mean that we reiterate our guidance for the full year 2025. In terms of demand, as you are probably all aware, the transaction volume continues to increase quarter over quarter, and we are reaching record levels now of transactions between first new homes and second homes. This strong demand is also being supported by growing households' wealth, with a 5% average annual growth since 2014. Our revenues, going to our operational activity, our revenues for the semester have been EUR 133 million, with 423 units delivered and a gross margin of 22%.
I will elaborate on that a little bit more. Our pre-sales figure is of EUR 310 million, with 834 units and an average selling price of EUR 371,000, so a 14% increase year on year. We are seeing that figure growth coupled or fueled by the market demand and the market situation. Our sales backlog is at well over EUR 1 billion now, EUR 1.3 billion, which is an increase of 16% versus December, with a total of close to 3,700 units sold, with an average price of, again, close to EUR 370,000 per unit. We reiterate our guidance for the year with a higher concentration of deliveries in the second half of the year, as it's usual in the industry. This is well supported by a 96% coverage ratio of sold units in the year, as I will detail a little bit later. Again, I reiterate that our full-year guidance remains unchanged.
Carlos, I hand it back to you just to give a brief overview of the market again.
Yes, thank you. Just a few thoughts on the sector. We see that the market in the last few months has continued to perform well. We've seen an acceleration in house prices, now growing at 12% year on year. This is the seventh quarter consecutively, with an acceleration in the increase of house prices. Also, we have seen an acceleration in the volume of transactions. You can see that in the chart. We are now close to record levels. In the last 12 months, the number of transactions has been close to 700,000. This is similar to the figures we had in the year 2008. We have actually seen also some acceleration in the volume of new constructed houses, which continues to be a small percentage of the total transactions. That reflects that when the volume of new construction is growing, this is well absorbed by the market.
This demand and prices are well supported by the finances of households. You can see the third chart on the right, where we can see the growing trend of the wealth of the families, be it real estate plus financial assets, whereas the financial debt by families has been stable or slightly going down. This is very much a dual market, where obviously there are some people with difficulties to access housing when salaries are growing more slowly than house prices. On the other hand, there is a significant portion of the population or the market where their finances are well supported, and this is supporting sufficiently the housing demand. Obviously, going forward, we can think that there are some locations where prices are already touching some relatively stretched ratios in terms of effort rates.
That could indicate that maybe in the future we could see some slowdown in the rate of growth of prices and volumes, but no sign of weakness. In fact, all the contrary in the recent data in the market. Back to Jorge.
Yes, thank you, Juan Carlos. Going to page number nine, our operational activity. We see that our pipeline continues to grow and with a high visibility supporting our target figure of 2,000 units per year of run rate. We have a sales backlog of close to 3,700 units. As I mentioned before, with an average selling price that keeps growing, and it stands now at EUR 365,000 per house. Of this sales backlog, 83% is actually formalized in the target contracts with one payment and the rest being reservations. We have 4,400 units under construction, with close to 700 units that we've started in the first half of the year, and again, consistent with our run rate of around 2,000 units per year.
In commercialization, we are close to 6,100 units, of which 61% is actually sold, 715 units launched to the market in the first half, and a potential revenue of EUR 2.3 billion at an ASP of close to EUR 380,000 per unit. You can really see the progression of 365 on the sales backlog, on the new sales 371, and then finally in commercialization, close to 380. That represents or implies that we are following the trend in the market of increasing prices. The commercialization mix Seville is 23%. This is mainly due to Palmas A ltas, Isla Natura being our star project in the last couple of years. This mix will eventually change, and we will have an increase going forward in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, where all our non-fully permitted land is coming into commercialization in the next couple of years.
In terms of pre-sales, as I mentioned at the beginning, we've sold 834 units in the two quarters, and we are prioritizing price over volume. Some of you may think, is this a low figure? Actually, the way I view it is that this is good news. It's probably even, I would say, maybe a higher figure because if you think about the coverage ratio that we have right now, we are in a position that we need to maximize, or we are going to maximize margin rather than selling. We need to sell 4% of units for the remaining part of the year, assuming that we deliver between 1,750 and 2,000. Let's take the higher part of the range. If we were to deliver 2,000, we would need to sell 4% of that, which is 80 units, in the remaining six months to deliver the targeted figure.
Even thinking about deliveries of 2026 and 2027, I would say that we are now at 80% of coverage of 2026. I would say we really don't need to sell any more units of the 2026 deliveries. Of 2027, if we were to finish the year with, let's say, 50% coverage, that would mean a 10% over 2,000 is 200 units. If I add up all that, we really need to manage the sales appropriately because we're not in a hurry to sell units here. In terms of deliveries, we have delivered 423 units, and we will comply with our full-year guidance, which is to be in a figure in the range of what we delivered last year and representing, together with land sales, EUR 150 million cash flow generation.
If I take this just to give more visibility, these 423 units, we can add another 750 that are already with the works finished and sold. On top of that, we will have final work certificate of between 800 to 900 units within the third quarter that are subject to be delivered in the year as well. Good coverage in terms of construction as well in order to meet the target. Again, with a very high visibility, as I mentioned before, for the coming years. Now, 80% in 2026, which is already a figure that probably 80% is good enough or even high for the end of the year to be there, and 40% in 2027. Quite comfortable in terms of coverage for the deliveries, not only this year, but in the coming years as well.
In terms of land activity, moving on to page number 12, in the P&L revenues, you will just see EUR 1.8 million in the P&L in this first half of the year. However, the target for the remaining part of the year is to have a figure that is much, much higher than that. We have, and this is supported by a backlog of binding contracts already signed of EUR 100 million, part of which will actually materialize and be notarized and therefore show up in the P&L in the second half of the year. Also, some other good pipeline on the works that will mean additional private contracts in the year and then notarizations in 2026 and 2027.
In terms of land acquisition, we continue with what we call our top-up strategy, which is in combination of the fully permitted land, but plus the non-fully permitted that becomes fully permitted and subject to launch, and a few additional 100 units per year of purchases in order to reach that run rate of around 2,000 units per year. We've purchased so far 360 units with a committed investment of around EUR 38 million. We've purchased units in the Carros in Madrid that was publicly announced, also in Valencia, and at the end, you know, in areas where demand is strong and where we see gross margins that are within or higher than our targeted figure of being closer to 25% rather than 20%.
In terms of our commercial portfolio, page number 13, we continue full steam ahead with our two developments in Oria Innovation Campus, the student residence and the flex living that we are co-developing with Vita, with the first student residence with 585 rooms being on track to be delivered in 2026, 52% work in progress right now, and the flex living almost at what we call cota cero, so ground level, and then to be delivered in 2027. The two additional projected buildings, the 40,000 square meters, which could be used for offices or flex living or PBSA, is worth 6,300 square meters. We have ongoing conversations with interested partners and parties, and we will announce something probably soon on that regard.
In terms of selling land activity, I think, you know, of the EUR 100 million signed in private contracts in total land sales, EUR 54 million of that is actually commercial land. What I would say is that the added flexibility towards office use that has been possible in some cases because the urbanistic parameters already allow it, or in other cases, the regional, let's say, guide urbanistic flexibility has been brought into place. We are having mainly conversations in that office land use around flex living or PBSA, and that's why we are seeing increased liquidity for that commercial portfolio. Finally, in the Puerto Somport office, where we have our in JV with Tishman Speyer in Las Tablas in Madrid, we've reached 75% occupancy rate, and we are in advanced conversations for an additional 12% take-up. Basically, very close to reaching full capacity of the building in the coming months.
Again, good news. Moving on to page number 14, this reflects our ESG strategy, and let me probably emphasize on the environment part that we are 100% of our launches in the last year and then going forward are AA energy efficiency, and also with a goal of having a primary energy demand that is at least 10% below nearly zero energy buildings as the best environmental practices in the market guide us towards. We are, on top of that, measuring the activity or the carbon footprint or the activity lifecycle in 100% of our buildings, and we are basically complying or, in fact, even going higher than the minimum legal requirements in waste management control processes and recycling of our waste in our construction works.
In terms of governance, I would also like to highlight that according to the S&P Global Sustainability Index, we were rated as being in the top 93% percentile last year according to their audit of our ESG policy. With that, I hand it over to our CFO for the financial review.
Thank you, Jorge, and good morning everyone. Concerning our profit and loss account, some key figures: EUR 133 million total revenues, an average selling price of EUR 110,000 per unit. Gross development margin up to 22% according to our guideline of low 20s, even though for the year-end this percentage will be higher. In terms of EBITDA, EUR 5 million and recurring pre-tax profits minus EUR 3.5 million. With reference to free cash flow, it's always more than EUR 15 million of gross operating cash flow as of the end of June. We are on track for reaching our guided target for the operating cash flow at the end of the year. In terms of net debt, the company has very good access to financing, as always, at a very competitive price, 4.8% as average, 15.9% of loan-to-value, a comfortable ratio in line with the sector average and with our reference of 15%- 20%.
Nevertheless, increasing in order to optimize the capital structure of the company and the higher CapEx in ongoing developments. EUR 440 million gross debt and a little bit more than EUR 400 million in net. Relevant to mention that the company has not any relevant maturity up to 2029. Finally, to conclude about our asset appraisal, EUR 2.56 billion of GAV, out of which 85% represent our residential portfolio and 15% the commercial one. Positive growth of 4.1% like-for-like compared with December 2024, with an increase of more than 5% in our residential portfolio and a slight decrease of 2% in commercial one. In terms of NAV, EUR 13.27 per share after the distribution of EUR 0.46 of dividends in May. Ex-dividends would have represented an increase of 3.6%. Now, I will hand over to Jorge with closing remarks.
Thank you, Borja. Moving to page number 21 and then to conclusions or closing remarks, I would say that we still continue to see solid foundations on demand. We do, as I mentioned, have a growing pipeline and visibility supporting our 2,000 unit run rate. Finally, I would again reemphasize that we confirm our guidance for the full year 2025 with EUR 150 million operating cash flow and support it even though the semester has, we would consider it as a transition semester. The supporting figures in terms of units sold or pre-sold in terms of construction finishes within time to be delivered. Finally, a solid pipeline of land sales that will be finalized or notarized in the year. We are comfortable with the guidance. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jorge. We are now ready to start the question and answer session. We will start taking the questions from our participants in the conference call. If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. We will now allow for a few seconds so that you can register for your questions. Okay. The first question for the conference call is from Ignacio Domínguez from JB Capital. Ignacio, please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for the presentation and for taking our questions. I have two on land sales. Firstly, out of the EUR 99 million binding contracts signed for land sales, how much do you expect to be formalized by year-end? My second question is, given the 10% reported gross margin on land sales in the first half, what margin can we expect for the land sales expected to be formalized in the second half? Thank you very much.
Okay. Ignacio, thanks. This is Jorge. Thank you for the questions. On the first one, I would say north of EUR 70 million. If you can repeat the second one because I didn't catch it.
Yes, thank you. My second question is that given the 10% reported gross margin on land sales in the first half, what margin can we expect for the land sales expected to be formalized in the second half?
I would say we don't normally give that figure, but I would say between 0% and 5%.
Okay, thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Okay. We don't have more questions from the audio conference call. We now read some questions from the webcast. We have a question from an investor asking about what is the expectation about gross margin for the year 2025, considering the 22% reported in the first semester that is similar to the 22% reported in the full year 2024. What is your expectation for the full year?
I think we would reiterate our guidance from the beginning of the year. That is, we are going to be closer to the mid-20%- 25% than in the middle of the range. I would say it's definitely more than 22%. Let's say that 24% would be a reasonable figure. At the end, 96% of the units are sold. It will just depend on the mix that we deliver at the end because we do have some projects like Mesena in Madrid or the Second Tower in Málaga or other projects in Costa del Sol that have higher gross margin. At the end, depending on the mix, we will end up closer or a little bit, but I would say 24% is a very reasonable assumption.
Okay. Another question for an investor is about looking at the net result of the first semester. Do you expect the full year to be with a positive net profit?
Yes, the answer is yes, higher than last year.
Okay. Thank you. One final question is about land sales during the first semester. How do you see the demand for land, both residential and commercial, and expectations for the rest of the year?
I think, I mean, I briefly mentioned or gave an, you say the word in English right now, but I would say in commercial, what we are seeing is that the demand for office land use is still dormant. It doesn't really exist. However, the possibility of additional land uses or asset class uses in office land, and mainly flex living and PBSA, has opened a liquidity window like no other. In some cases, even data centers. I would say that office use, no, but alternative uses are what is driving our commercial land sales in the recent deals and also going forward. In terms of residential land, I mean, we are basically running out of land, residential land for sale.
We're still selling, you know, non, let's say, those kind of developments that we don't want to develop ourselves either because they're too small or they are in a region where we are not present and we don't see attractiveness or volume enough to actually develop there. There is definitely activity, and we even see a pickup of activity in smaller cities, in smaller towns. I think, you know, we kept talking about tier one two years ago, then tier two came, and I would say that now even tier three or two and a half, as I like to call them, are cities with activity where we're seeing land sales. In some cases, if the project is big enough, we actually even take the decision to develop ourselves.
Thank you. That concludes the question and answer session. We have no more questions. This will conclude the presentation from Metrovacesa, S.A. on the first semester 2025. The Investor Relations team will be available to take any follow-up questions that you may have. We thank you for your participation, and we look forward to meeting you again next time. Thank you. Goodbye.