Good morning, everyone. This is Abel Arbat speaking from the Capital Markets team at Naturgy. Thank you for joining our results call for the first half of 2024. Next to me sits our Executive Chairman, Mr. Francisco Reynés, the General Counsel of the Board, Manuel García Cobaleda, the Head of Financial Markets, Mr. Steven Fernández, and the Head of Control, Ms. Rita Ruiz de Alda. We're going to cover the presentation first, and at the end, we will be addressing questions from analysts and investors. Please remember to submit your questions through the webcast platform in written form. So, without further ado, I'll hand it over to Steven to kick off the presentation.
Thank you, Abel. Good morning, everyone. Today, we're going to be explaining our results for the first half of 2024, but also providing some guidance for the remainder of the year and introducing some relevant considerations for what we think is going to be an exciting feature for the company. I can take you quickly to slide four, where we're going to see first, we'd like to underscore the strong results in this period, reaching a net income of EUR 2.8 billion and EUR 1 billion, respectively, which is in line with the first half of 2023 historical record highs for the company, despite the more competitive scenario. Investment in the period remained in line with that of last year and reached almost EUR 1 billion, with capital discipline as a cornerstone for the company's strategy and CapEx deployment.
In this sense, CapEx was deployed mainly in renewable growth and networks businesses, as you'll see throughout the presentation. Net debt declined to EUR 11.8 billion versus EUR 12.1 billion at the end of 2024. It should also be noted that in the period, the company redeemed EUR 500 million of hybrids, further reinforcing our balance sheet strength. Some of the highlights for the period include reaching a definitive price agreement with Sonatrach for 2024, which secures competitive procurement prices in the current market. Also, higher installed renewable capacity, a reduction in OPEX despite higher activity and a higher asset base, regulatory proactivity and proactive risk management, achieving higher margins than initially expected in hedged volumes. Of course, capital discipline, including demanding investment return hurdles and efficient debt and liquidity management.
In summary, these results in a more competitive scenario compared to the past couple of years highlight our efficient operational and risk management, as well as our capital discipline. If we turn to the evolution of the energy markets on page six, what we'll see is that the first half of 2024 has been marked by lower energy prices compared to the first half of 2023, both in gas and electricity, resulting in a more challenging energy scenario. Following the volatility experienced in recent years, energy prices have rebalanced towards pre-energy crisis levels, but they do remain sensitive to ongoing global developments, as you can expect. Gas prices on major hubs experienced relevant declines, with the TTF, JKM, and Henry Hub comparing on average 49%, 45%, and 29% below the first half of 2023, respectively.
Wholesale electricity prices in Spain, for their part, compared 56% below on average versus the first half last year. Finally, the average Brent prices were 5% higher than the same period last year. In summary, as you can appreciate, we've had substantially lower prices, notably in gas and Spanish electricity. If we move on to the P&L, despite the less favorable backdrop, Naturgy efficient operational and risk management contributes to deliver strong and resilient returns. Again, strong and resilient returns. During the period, the group's EBITDA reached EUR 2.8 billion, flat versus the first half of 2023, which, again, I remind you, was a record year for the company, maintaining a balanced EBITDA contribution between regulated and liberalized activities, which represented approximately, as you can see, 51% and 49% of total EBITDA, respectively. The results by activity and geography were also balanced, contributing to the group's overall resilience.
Net income for the period reached EUR 1 billion, along with the record highs of the first half of last year. If we take a closer look at EBITDA during the first half, liberalized activities experienced lower profitability and contribution compared to the same period in 2023. Energy management activities, including gas and LNG procurement and supply, experienced a significant margin contraction following a very strong couple of years in 2022 and 2023. On the other hand, the distribution activities proved resilient and experienced growth, supported by the positive regulatory developments in some LATAM regions and growth in electricity distribution in Spain. Renewable generation experienced higher production supported by additional installed capacity, while the supply business in Spain benefited from a favorable final court ruling on the electricity subsidies and margins resilience in gas, together with growth in service contracts.
All in all, EBITDA was in line with H1 2023, record highs, despite the less favorable scenario that we've just seen. If we look at the EBITDA by key drivers, the evolution shows that there's a less favorable macro and energy backdrop. FX movement had a negative impact of EUR 108 million in the period, and depreciation was most acute in Argentina and, to a lesser extent, in Chile. The US dollar and the Brazilian reais remained stable versus the euro, while the Mexican peso appreciated moderately. The energy scenario and lower gas and electricity prices in Spain that we just seen had a negative impact of approximately EUR 325 million. All these effects have been compensated by management and business activity, including recent efficient operational management, as well as the risk management we mentioned previously, especially on the gas side.
If you move over then to the cash flow during the first half of the year, then the company's cash flow generation remained strong. Free cash flow stood at EUR 681 million in the period after net investments and the EUR 500 million hybrids redemption in the period. This allowed the company to comfortably deliver on dividend commitments and reduce its net debt levels. Investment was mainly devoted to renewable generation, roughly around 44%, and distribution networks, another 40%, as exhibited on the right side of the page. If we move over quickly to the net debt evolution, Naturgy's net debt as of the end of June stood at EUR 11.8 billion compared to around EUR 12.1 billion at the end of last year, with a net debt to EBITDA at around 2.2 times, which is the same level as the closing of 2023.
Note that the decrease in debt level takes into consideration the EUR 500 million redeemed in April, and therefore Naturgy's overall indebtedness and balance sheet has further strengthened in the period. The company distributed EUR 384 million in April 2024, that corresponds to the final dividend of EUR 0.40 per share payable against the 2023 results for a total dividend of EUR 1.40 per share in 2023 as committed. Cost of net financial debt increased slightly to 4% due to higher average cost of gross financial debt in the period. And as of 30th of June, it's worth highlighting that 70% of the gross debt is at fixed rates, so we've increased the amount of floating rate, positioning the company well ahead of potential rate declines. 65% of the company's debt is denominated in euros. Liquidity as of the end of June stood at EUR 9.7 billion.
That includes around EUR 4.1 billion in cash and equivalents and around EUR 5.7 billion in undrawn and fully committed credit lines. With that, I'll hand over to Rita for an analysis of the results by business.
Thanks, Steven, and good morning, everyone. Starting with gas networks on page 11, gas networks reached first half 2024 a total EBITDA of EUR 961 million, contributing approximately to one third of the group's EBITDA in the period. In Spain, gas networks experienced a remuneration adjustment foreseen in the current regulatory framework, as well as lower demand in residential segment affected by mild temperatures. In Mexico, the period entailed regulatory tariff updates, lower operational expenses, and positive effects impact. In Brazil, performance was driven by tariff updates in line with negative inflation indexation, as well as lower demand in vehicle and residential segments. In Argentina, tariff increase to compensate for inflation and higher demand compensated FX depreciation effect. Finally, in Chile gas, the positive comparison versus H1 2023 is due to higher tariffs and demand in distribution, as well as the positive impact from Transportadora de Gas del Norte litigation.
In summary, growth was mainly driven by LATAM businesses. Continuing with electricity networks on page 12, electricity networks EBITDA reached EUR 499 million in the year, up 19% versus H1 2023. In Spain, EBITDA increase driven by higher regulated asset base, as well as lower penalty on energy losses. Panama benefited from both higher demand due to higher temperatures and the approval of the fourth tariff review with visibility up to 2026. Finally, Argentina benefited from relevant tariff increase reflecting inflation from prior periods, as well as higher demand, turning into an overall positive performance despite FX depreciation. In summary, growth across all electricity networks compared to H1 2023. Now turning to page 13 on energy management, EBITDA reached EUR 384 million, a 56% decrease versus H1 2023, as a result of lower sales and margins due to less favorable energy scenario compared to an extraordinary H1 2023.
The figures already reflect the price agreement for 2024 recently reached with Sonatrach. This agreement ensures that prices reflect current market conditions and confirms the solid relationship between Sonatrach and Naturgy's, as well as Naturgy's commitment to security of supply. At this point, 100% of LNG volumes are sold or hedged for 2024, providing significant visibility into year-end. Finally, worth noting that the comparison versus 1H 2023 is also affected by the reversal of financial hedging ineffectiveness registered in 2022 and reversed in 2023. Gas procurement commitments equate to 50 terawatt-hours per annum, as the contract with Nigeria and part of Antofagasta ended in September 2023. All in all, the period experienced lower sales and margins as the market rebalanced and prices stabilized closer to historical levels.
Continuing with thermal generation on page 14, EBITDA reached EUR 285 million in H1 2024, up 19% versus H1 2023 due to strong contribution from Mexico, while Spain was weaker compared to last year. Spain experienced lower production and margins due to higher renewable resources, which translated into lower thermal needs in the period. Mexico, for its part, benefited from higher availability and production, translating into higher revenues. Thermal generation remains essential to guarantee security of supply. In this respect, European Union regulatory discussions are progressing to introduce capacity payments by 2025. Finally, in Mexico, our negotiations focus on the extension of existing PPAs beyond 2027. Let's turn now to renewable generation on page 15.
Renewable generation reached an EBITDA of EUR 305 million during the period, an increase of 30% when compared to H1 2023. Spain benefited from higher hydro and wind production, as well as the commissioning of new capacity.
In the U.S., our first solar plant began operations in Texas. The period, however, faced higher expenses to support the start of operations and the management of the development platform. The construction of our second solar plant in Texas is expected to become operational in 2025. LATAM experienced higher production and prices in the region. Finally, Australia benefited from higher installed capacity and the positive evolution of the mark-to-market valuation of existing PPAs. All in all, growing installed capacity and production translating into higher EBITDA. Finally, let's turn to supply activities on page 16. EBITDA reached EUR 452 million, up 30% versus H1 2023, benefiting from the favorable and final ruling on the collection of electricity subsidies in the period 2016-2021. Power supply experienced lower prices and margins due to scenario compensated by the termination of regulatory caps in 2023.
Gas supply, for its part, experienced margins resiliency supported by higher visibility on procurement costs and growth in service contracts. Meanwhile, the company has recently launched a digital platform to transform client interactions with new artificial intelligence tools. It is also worth to highlight that Naturgy has been the first company in Spain to redeem energy efficiency certificates. I will now hand it over to Steven to wrap up and consolidate the results.
All right, thank you, Rita. We'll move over to slide 17. What we want to highlight here is the progress that the company has experienced in terms of sustainability metrics. In this sense, our emissions-free installed capacity continues to grow and currently stands at around 41%, supporting reduced emissions intensity, which is down 10% relative to the first half of the year 2023. With regards to people, the percentage of women in management positions continues to increase and currently stands at 37%, on track to meet the 40% target by 2025. Likewise, employee satisfaction metrics continue to improve, as evidenced by higher net promoter score metrics, cNPS. And indeed, it's worthwhile also highlighting that Naturgy has recently been awarded a relevant certificate as a Great Place to Work and a Family Responsible Company .
So in summary, Naturgy has posted record results in the first half of 2024, despite a less favorable scenario. We've seen a continuous improvement of operational and risk management that has contributed to the business resilience. Capital discipline has remained and will remain a cornerstone amid the higher uncertainty, and the company has continued to optimize and reinforce its capital structure. Finally, we are very proud to progress in the energy transition and decarbonization in a responsible manner and with a clear commitment to investment. As the Chairman will explain in the following sections, we believe that the company is in a position of strength to continue moving forward in its transformation. That I hand over to Mr. Francisco Reynés.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Steven, and thank you, Rita, for your presentation. It's now my turn to talk about the future, the next coming future on the next six months, and the progress within that the company may do in the next five years, starting from outlook on 2024. If we move to page 20, I think that it's important to remark two important messages. Number one is we are seeing in a scenario based on realities up to June and forwards up to the end of the year where the energy commodities scenario is moderating after two years of extremely high volatility. As you can see in the page, in both Spanish electricity pool, TTF for gas, Brent for oil and CO2, we are foreseeing a scenario that helps the forecast, more stable forecast for the rest of the year. Positive outlook for 2024.
And if you allow me now to say this is only thanks to the extremely high efforts of all the team, I want to highlight that all teams in all different businesses, together with the corporate support, are now prepared to deliver again a very good year. Starting from the top networks, we are seeing positive regulatory reviews in Latin America and stability in gas and growth in electricity for the second half. We move to thermal generation. As Rita has explained, the reality of the thermal gap is reduced because of the first six months, and we are not seeing higher production in the next coming six months. In comparison, in LATAM, in particular in Mexico, we experience higher availability and therefore higher margins included in the figures we will see later.
Renewable gases is our important bet, and we are progressing on biomethane contracts in our development on the portfolio, and more visibility of this evolution will come soon. Energy management, two important issues to consider for the next six months. Number one, as it has been already said, 2024 prices for gas coming from Algeria, Sonatrach are now closed. Therefore, non-risk, non-volatility, non-concerns for the rest of the year. And the figures both considered already in the first half and included in the guidance for 2024 include already the agreement set up with Sonatrach. On the other side, the LNG volumes in the market are fully sold or hedged, not incorporating any volatility on this regard. Renewable generation is moving ahead, and higher production is coming into operations month by month. And this is what is going to continue happening in Spain, in the U.S., and in Australia.
On the supply side, the most important message is the resilience of the business. Margins are resilient, and we have included in this guidance the positive resolution on electricity clients' subsidies that were incurred. Important to say, as it has been already explained at the beginning of this strategic calendar five-year plan in 2021, that the shareholder remuneration for the year has a floor of EUR 1.4 per share, subject to three-year rating. And that includes for the 2024, the financial impacts of two dividends, one payable in summer this year and the other one in the fall. All in give us two important messages on EBITDA. Our guidance for the year is a floor of EUR 5.3 billion, clearly above consensus of yesterday. On net income, the floor is EUR 1.8 billion, above consensus as well.
Gross investment, we think that we can be around EUR 2.6 billion, depending on how some of the permitting processes ongoing may be in place on the right time. As a consequence of all these three figures, we are seeing a net debt figure of EUR 13 billion or around EUR 13 billion by the end of the year, considering that at the end of the year, only EUR 4.5 billion of hybrids will be included in our outstanding balance sheet. Two additional comments, one about the share price evolution, as, of course, you have been following the share price as we did. Three important dates to consider or to help on the analysis on what happened with the share price evolution.
One of them was in January 2024, when MSCI has started its review and that finished with the exclusion of Naturgy's share on the MSCI indexes, producing a relevant flow of shares and impact on the share price. Second important date, the 16th of April, when it has been confirmed some takeover talks over the company that finally, two months later, were ended, 10th of June. Well, since these three important dates, you have seen the share price of Naturgy decoupling from the evolution of the EURO STOXX Utilities Index. We have internally analyzed what may have happened in the market and two important messages for you. One is about what happened in 2021 and what is happening in 2024.
Our analysis is that on previous years, Naturgy was trading with a premium over peers that was around 29%, that it represents in terms of EBITDA multiple a discount today of around 12%. If we move to another valuation figure as the price-earnings ratio, we have also experienced during a certain period a premium of 25% that has today translated into a discount of 6%. I just wanted to spend some minutes talking about this last period, 2021 and 2024, what we have called a track record, just to remember you what we have done in the last four years and to prepare the company for the next coming six years. In 2021, as you may remember, we have disclosed our strategic plan where we have fixed important and ambitious goals in different directions: capital discipline, decarbonization, risk management, regulatory management, security of supply, and progress on ESG.
All of these different directions have already incorporated achievements, and that's what I'm going to summarize all in. Number one, in capital discipline, net debt reduction is a fact, including the amortization of hybrids, and the net reduction during the period is accounted around EUR 2 billion. In this period, we have reduced debt, including investment for around EUR 8.4 billion and dividends of EUR 5.3 billion. In terms of decarbonization, we have just followed what we said and walked in the talk of being more and more prepared for decarbonizing the company, increasing renewable capacity in the areas where we operate, creating a new platform for renewable gases, and also boosting the possibility for our clients on self-consumption installations.
Risk management, as has been explained before, it has been a very active, proactive risk management approach, giving stability to the results of our energy management division and optimizing risk and return via a combination of physical sales or financial hedging. Important has been all the work made around regulation with proactivity and given partnership with our regulators to get more visibility in all the different countries where we operate. And this has been already explained by Rita. Capacity payments for our gas turbine electrical producers in Spain is now in the process of being approved through different routes in the European Union. Security of supply. It has been clearly known by everyone that we took a decision of installing what we call it, Tarifa Compromiso , commitment tariff with our clients. That was clearly focused to a smooth price volatility.
At the same time, security of supply has also been hedged with three agreements with Sonatrach that were adapting the conditions of the contract to the market. On ESG, important to highlight different measures where it clearly makes a point, the CO2 emission reductions and the CO2 emissions-free installed capacity, which are driven clearly our aim for investment in the energy transition. In this regard, I would like to highlight what happened with this company in the last years. We have clearly changed the mix from a combination of high emissions, low emissions, and non-emissions installed electricity generation capacity to only low emissions and non-emissions generation capacity, where we have already not accounted in the figure of 18.1 GW today in installation, 2.2 GW additional which are under construction, and 15 GW with different projects that have already grid access.
We really think that during this period of four years, including the guidance of 2024, we have created value. In what regards to investment and depreciation and amortization evolution, you can see in this graph that we have invested more than depreciated, which demonstrates a clear commitment towards investment. At the same time, we have considered investment vis-à-vis dividends that have permitted to maintain a level of debt as it started the period. Altogether, it's reflected into important measures, the return on invested capital or the return on equity that both have clearly increased compared to the figures of 2021. I want to finish highlighting the future.
We have talked about the next coming future, six months ahead, guidance for 2024, but it's time now, after this stability on the energy markets and this transformation that is more and more established within the culture of this company, to think about the next coming years. That's why we have decided to prepare a strategic plan for these coming years. It is true and is a fact that decarbonization is clearly unstoppable, and from our point of view, it will require all available resources and technology. We see decarbonization addressing three important issues. One is maintaining a sustainable growth. Second is to guarantee energy security. Number three, to make altogether around a price competitiveness scenario. We don't want to rebalance any of these three factors and maintaining an equilibrium among the three of them.
For this reason, our view of the future is that we have different routes to address these three questions. Number one is around the adaptation of the infrastructures, the distribution infrastructures. Second is continuing the investment in renewable electricity generation. Third is introducing biomethane and hydrogen at competitive prices at the time that they would be feasible. Fourth is assuring security of supply of electricity with a solid backup on the existing fleet of gas turbines. Fifth is guaranteeing competitive and flexible gas procurement. And for this reason, we are holding important long-term agreements of gas supplies, in particular with our partners, Sonatrach, which are clearly addressing this topic. And finally, we have just started the development of storage solutions with batteries and renewable gases that will provide, for sure, stability of the system in the coming years.
We don't need to forget the client, which we want to intensify the commitment with our clients and using all available technologies, including artificial intelligence, to guarantee a better service. This is the reason why our plan 2530 is going to address all these topics with three important objectives. Number one, we want a plan that is ambitious and is attractive for all stakeholders. We want to address all the requests, and we want to be ambitious enough to consider this new plan 2530 an important, positive, and solid step forward. Number two, we want a plan that is focused on growth and value creation. Since 2018, we have made capital discipline one of our cornerstone's objectives, and we will maintain this objective as one of the key pillars of this plan. Number three, we want to continue being committed with decarbonization and being responsible on that.
Therefore, it's clearly driving the transformation of the company, the commitment to a responsible decarbonization, and the plan, for sure, will need to address this objective. Naturgy is a company born in 1843. We have just celebrated our first 180 years, and it's our obligation to deliver to our shareholders a better future and a better testimony that we have been awarded years ago. Therefore, the focus of the team is going to be the production of a very attractive plan that needs to be ready by year-end, and it will be properly disclosed to the market investors and analysts at the time that it is finished. Thank you very much for your time, and I give now the floor to Abel, who will coordinate the Q&A part.
Thank you, Paco, and thank you, everyone, for submitting your questions. Let's get started with some questions around the strategy and the future capital or new strategic plan. First of all, could we update any developments on Project Gemini and whether or not management is still considering its implementation?
Well, I can update you the strategic plan by year-end, as we have said. We now need to work on that, but I can just say that on the Gemini project, there are still non-positive circumstances and conditions that may help for its execution. Having said that, the company has a clear future, and the future is going to be reflected in the plan that is going to be properly disclosed, and that's the reason why we will now take time for preparation and will clearly disclose our plan when it's ready.
Thank you. Is the recent shareholder discussions and potential TAQA discussions going to have an influence on the preparation of that new strategic plan?
Well, number one, as you have seen on the results of the first half, and you can see with the guidance for the full year, the company has continued working independently on any discussion that may happen around the shareholding side. Having said that, of course, shareholders will be forming part of the strategic plan questions and decisions because the board is the final decision-maker in the releasement of this strategic plan, and all relevant shareholders are forming part of the board proportionally. Therefore, whatever they may address questions, they will be done through this strategic plan exercise, and hopefully, at the end of this exercise, we will have included all the different concerns and proposals that all shareholders may have through their board representatives.
Thank you very much, Paco. So now, a few questions on guidance for 2024. And in particular, is the results that we provided today and the guidance for year-end, including the renegotiation of the gas contract with Sonatrach, and combined with this, will there be any expected one-offs that we consider for the second half of the year with regards to guidance as well? And finally, there's a question as well related to the strong results, which is whether or not we will be considering increasing the dividend distribution.
Well, the dividends, I may tell you, as we have explained in the presentation, we gave a dividend policy floor when the strategic plan in place today on 2024 is now commanding the decisions. It's always up to the shareholders and up to the board to decide, but we need to prepare our figures based on what we have, and we have a floor, and therefore, there is always open for shareholders' decision to change it. On the details on the guidance, Rita is going to.
Yeah, on Sonatrach, first mentioned that, as I mentioned during the presentation, the first half figures already reflect the price agreement for Sonatrach, and this ensures that prices reflect current market conditions. And in order to give a guidance, well, first, we foresee LNG prices in line with forward curves as LNG balance will remain tight at the end of the year. And as we mentioned already before, 100% of LNG volumes are sold or hedged for 2024, and this can provide us more visibility into the year. And in this sense, our expectations of results for the whole year for LNG management is around EUR 700 million.
Great. Do we have any comment with regards to a particular one-offs or non-recurring items that we may foresee in the second half of the year or that we think are relevant in the first half of the year?
Well, our business is a business that it's natural. It's compound on positives and negative effects every year, no? And it is part of the reason why it happens is because we have long-term agreements that are subject to different ups and downs, no? Having said that, our guidance is already incorporating this way of making business that's part of the business we have.
Today, considering all the pluses and minus that may happen, that some of them has already been included in the real results of 2024 first half, we feel comfortable that all the potential ups and downs that may come are already included in the second half of the year, and that's why we can clearly bet for this baseline of guidance for 2024.
Thank you very much. Now, moving on to a few questions on accounting and the result itself. Can we detail the impact of the judicial ruling on the social subsidies collection that you obtained during the first half of the year?
This ruling that arrived just by the end of the first half year is around EUR 60 million, which is a figure which is very similar to the one that we won by the end of last year because the volume of customers is roughly the same. So it's around EUR 60 million.
Thank you, Manuel. There are as well a few questions on the impact of the TGN litigation, which I can say that at this moment, we are not in a position to detail because this is an ongoing litigation process, and as a result, we cannot provide further detail on the matter. Moving on to other accounting questions, there is a question around the amount of tax equity instruments in our balance sheet as of 1H, and do we have any expectations of that amount increasing going forward?
So in terms of tax equity related to our plant in the U.S., we currently have in the first half of 2024 the recognition of the tax equity related to our first solar plant, 7V, and we don't expect with it to an amount of EUR 120 million approximately, and we don't expect to have more recognition during the year of tax credit until 2025 when the operation of our second solar plant in the U.S. is taking place.
Thank you, Rita. Just to clarify, when it comes to the development of plants in the U.S., in the current conditions, we will continue using tax equity as a way of funding those plants. So as long as we continue investing in the U.S., you could expect the tax equity portion to increase accordingly.
Thank you. Let's then move on to questions around business performance. So we're going to be first tackling questions around our regulated activities and distribution networks, and then questions related to our liberalized activities and so on. So starting with distribution networks in Spain, can we detail any progress of our discussions with the regulator for electricity networks or gas distribution?
Okay. So at this point, the debate is centered around electricity networks with consultation process ongoing, and we are expecting developments in terms of financial remuneration reflecting current interest rates, a peak on current investment caps to promote investment in energy transition, and finally, a recognition of unitary cost in line with inflation.
Thank you, Rita. Specific question on the performance of gas distribution networks in Spain. What is the reason behind the reduction in gross margins? Okay.
As I mentioned through the presentation, gas networks experience the remuneration adjustments foreseen in the current regulatory framework, the one that was proven in 2021, and also a lower demand in residential segment affected by mild temperatures.
Thank you. Now, moving on to the performance of LATAM distribution networks, some of the analysts recognize the strong performance in the LATAM regions, and they like a little bit more color on the main drivers of this improvement in LATAM.
Okay. So first, we had a tariff update in Argentina that is a consequence of the inflation protection mechanism in Argentina applicable according to current regulation. Furthermore, we have positive review with increasing tariffs in Panama, but that is also entitling significant investment over the period. Third, we had a better performance in Chile gas, first because of higher tariffs and demand due to lower temperature during the winter, although the profitability in this business is regulatory cut. Additionally, the extraordinary positive impact that you mentioned from the TGN litigation.
Thank you, Rita. There are, again, a few questions on the outlook for LNG and gas procurement. I think that Rita already covered the majority of it in an earlier question. Can you comment again on the LNG volumes that are already sold or hedged and/or sensitivity to the evolution of gas prices for the remainder of the year? And again, what's the sort of expectation for the remainder of the year in terms of.
So throughout the first quarter of 2024, prices decreased, but this trend changed in the second quarter as potential events threatened the European gas market equilibrium. For the rest of the year, we foresee LNG prices in line with forward curves as LNG balance will remain tight by the end of the year. As we mentioned before, the group has a robust risk policy, constantly considering opportunities to hedge positions and optimize margins. In this sense, 100% of LNG volumes are sold or hedged for 2024. This provides significant visibility, and we consider we are well protected against market volatility.
Thank you. Now, let's jump into a few questions around thermal generation. Let's start with Spanish thermal generation. The questions are around the margins' evolution and what's our outlook for thermal generation in Spain, as well as whether or not we have any visibility in regulatory discussions and when the capacity payments may come into effect and if we can already estimate what the amount of that impact could be.
Well, we believe that CCGTs continue to demonstrate its essential role to guarantee continuity of supply. In this sense, we believe that it's a case to reinstate capacity payments that are currently in discussion in the European Union, and we expect to have more visibility during 2025, but it's early to quantify the possible impact.
We have a strong case on capacity payments. We've been following this for the last 2, 3 years. We even won some rulings before the Spanish Supreme Court, which has accelerated in the last months the visibility on this procedure. We are aware that the procedure is finalizing before the European Union, and there are some news even this morning that the European Union has liaised with the Spanish government to speed up the process, not only for combined cycles, also for some technologies, but mainly for combined cycles. This is the reason why we are expecting to start receiving those capacity payments that we have been requesting the last years. We will be able to receive them at some point in the beginning of 2025.
Thank you, Manuel. There are a few questions as well around Mexico CCGTs and the ongoing negotiations for the PPA extension beyond 2027. But at this time, obviously, we cannot provide any guidance on EBITDA post-2027. But of course, when we release the new strategic plan from 2025 to 2030, at that moment, we will be in a position to provide our best estimates with regards to Mexico and CCGTs negotiations and EBITDA evolution. So moving now on to performance of our renewable businesses. A few questions around the strong performance in renewables despite the fall in prices. Is it the internal PPA?
What are the main drivers for the strong performance in Spanish renewables?
Well, as we mentioned before, we had exceptional hydro production during this first half of the year. Also, we have the commissioning of new capacity, and we currently revise internal PPAs through market conditions and through market dynamics according always to our transfer pricing policy.
Thank you, Rita. Can we please comment on the rationale to continue installing solar PV assets in Spain despite the recent trends around cannibalization in daily hours? Do you have any sort of protection on that aspect?
Okay. So well, Naturgy has always kept a strict capital discipline at all times and therefore maintains a very selective growth approach in renewables. But in this sense, Naturgy Group has an integrated player as to main strengths. The first one is that Naturgy has a diversified generation mix by technology, which mitigates the impact of concentration of photovoltaic plants. Second, the group has a balanced position between inframarginal generation and fixed-price clients, which allows to mitigate price fluctuations in the short term.
Thank you. A big picture question around biomethane. Can we expand on the progress we are seeing on the biomethane space in Spain and the outlook going forward?
Well, this is clearly one of the trends of our decarbonization strategy. That's why I mentioned before that biomethane is going to form clearly part of our future strategic plan 2530. We have already the commissioning some plants. The third has been just put in operation last year. Sorry, last year, last month in Vila-sana in Valencia.
Of course, we are having some of the same problems we already experienced with the permitting calendar, but for sure, it's going to be one of the growth factors of our strategic plan 2025-2030 because we are seeing biomethane as a very resilient vector of decarbonization because of three reasons. Number one is it can be used blended with natural gases on the same installations that today are in-house or in the factories. Number two, technology is readily available. Number three, the raw material sources for this type of combustion is really in-house and doesn't require any contracts with external parties, which means increases the autonomy of the country to maintain security of supply. Therefore, it's going to form part of the new strategic plan.
Allow me now to be more prudent in figures that we are fine-tuning at the present time, but for sure, you will see in the next coming plan a very important trend on biomethane in our plan.
Thank you, Paco. Now moving on to the last stack of questions around supply and our supply business in Spain. Can we comment on the supply margins' evolution, its drivers, and how sustainable we think those are?
Okay. So in terms of electricity, the group has supported the margins due to fixed-price contracts, as we mentioned before, as well as higher inframarginal production due to more hydro production and new installed capacity. It is also relevant to mention that the electricity prices cap set by the regulator was not extended since December 2023.
In terms of gas, the group has also an integrated model with diversified portfolio of supply contracts and has been able to sustain margins in both residential and industrial clients due to competitive supply contracts. The same as in electricity, the group has adapted commercial policy offering fixed-price contracts to reduce volatility impact for clients. In order to sustain margins, the group relies on its integrated model both in gas and in electricity.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Rita. That concludes the main questions we've received during the presentation. We're aware that there are a few additional quantitative questions that have been submitted as well that the capital markets team is going to be addressing one by one and to give detailed quantitative answers on those.
Thank you very much for joining our results. We want to thank you very much. The team remains at your disposal for any follow-up or any additional questions you may have. With this, we conclude our first half of 2024 presentation. Thank you and bye-bye.