Redeia Corporación, S.A. (BME:RED)
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Earnings Call: Q4 2021

Feb 23, 2022

Operator

[Non-English content]

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We're now ready to begin our presentation for our results for 2021. We'd like to welcome all of you too who are joining us via webcast. Today, we're joined by Beatriz Corredor, who is the Chairwoman of the company. We have the Company CEO, Roberto García Merino, and Emilio Cerezo, who is our corporate CFO. I'd like to hand over now to our Chairwoman, Beatriz Corredor.

Beatriz Corredor
Chairwoman, Redeia

Thank you very much, Laura, and good morning, everyone. Firstly, I'd like to explain what will be discussed in today's presentation. I'll begin by talking about the sectoral context and the main highlights of 2021, and then our CEO and our corporate director of economics and finance will go through all the results from 2021. Finally, we'll bring the presentation to a close by giving you an overview of 2022 and reviewing the goals of the strategy plan for 2021- 2025, which we announced last February. I'd also like to mention that at the end of the presentation, we'll open the floor for any questions that you might have. Let's start then.

Reviewing the sectoral context in which Grupo Red Eléctrica works within the electricity and telecommunications sectors, both of which are characterized by a global transformation in which the group must play a fundamental role, not only in the energy transition process, but also in its role as a neutral provider of telecommunications infrastructure. Analyzing the electricity sector first, the global landscape today could be characterized as one of major transformation with an economic, social, and environmental context marked by growing volatility and complexity. Recent geopolitical tensions, especially in Russia and Ukraine, the problems of gas supply linked to the closure of the Maghreb gas line for several months, and the effects of the latest COVID-19 strains worldwide have only exacerbated this instability.

We shouldn't forget the increased prices in the wholesale market for electricity either, and the economic and structural measures adopted by different European authorities to alleviate their impact on the energy bills of the most vulnerable consumers. In this context, we're continuing to move towards the energy transition as the only means to achieve a more sustainable electricity system. We're proud to say that Spain is moving forward at a rapid pace, achieving major milestones such as the record highs achieved last year in renewable energy sources, meeting 46.7% of all electricity demand in our country. I should also highlight that wind power has become the main source of energy generation in the country, and photovoltaic energy has increased its production more than any other technology against 2020.

The energy transition is supported by major European initiatives to combat climate change, such as the European Green Deal, which encompasses the Fit for 55 package, the development of Spain's National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan, with targets in line with the Green Deal and the expected transmission network plan, 2021-2026. All of these initiatives are ones in which investment in transport networks is a fundamental element to achieve the decarbonization goals set for 2030. This is not only the case in Europe, but also in Latin America, where there are important investments being made in networks as one of the core elements in taking action against the growing climate crisis. The level of development in Latin America is still low in comparison with other regions in the world, such as Europe and the U.S.

Specifically in Brazil, there are major investment needs for the transport network, which is reflected in a growing dynamic of auctions for concessions linked to investments in the grid. In the telecommunications sector, we are seeing a transformation, too, in which global connectivity and the greater need for data are the fundamental basis for change. Market growth over the next decade will be marked by the evolution of new business lines, which will complement the existing ones using disruptive technologies such as 5G. Within this scenario, satellite internet access services offer a great opportunity to guarantee universal connectivity. The backhaul line, which slowed down in 2020 due to COVID-19, has shown a strong recovery with new nationwide projects offering major development potential. We're also seeing long-term sustainable demand for military and governmental uses, which, even though in-house systems are frequently used, will nonetheless present opportunities for commercial operators.

In video services, the data show that this line has reached maturity, although the intensive use of these services will endure in certain regions, especially within the operating areas of Hispasat. In this regard, we're seeing verticalization in the sector, with service requirements for each business line becoming more complex and more specific. Furthermore, in 2021, we saw growing interest from satellite companies. The acquisition of Inmarsat by Viasat and the offer launched by Telesat are clear indications of this interest from the satellite sector. In fiber optics, Spain could become the main hub for telecommunications in Southern Europe, as well as the cloud hub for data storage.

All this guarantees the growth and development of the fiber optic network in our country. In addition, the developments of 5G technology that enables the use of mass communications in the Internet of Things, increased bandwidth and more reliable communications with less latencies will require greater rollout of the fiber optic network to cope with expected data traffic, thus also promoting the expansion of fiber. In short, we're facing an increasingly interconnected world with ever more data requirements, which will assure growing demand for telecommunications infrastructures. Furthermore, the important changes derived from 5G technology and the hyperconnectivity of society will lead to more intensive use of these infrastructures. This is precisely where Grupo Red Eléctrica, through Reintel, through Hispasat, and through its infrastructures for the rollout of 5G, can play a particularly relevant role to guarantee connectivity and access to telecommunication services.

Now let's take a look at the highlights of 2021, a particularly intense and positive year for Grupo Red Eléctrica, during which we announced a new strategy plan for 2021- 2025. We've proposed a series of internal changes to tackle the challenges we've set ourselves and a year in which, as we'll be seeing, some highly significant progress has been made in the rollout of our plan. In 2021, Red Eléctrica worked intensely on the process of defining the transmission network plan for the period 2021- 2026. This plan will become the cornerstone in the development of the energy transition and in the achievement of a practically decarbonized economy over the coming years.

The latest plan proposal announced by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge encompasses actions that will require investment in excess of EUR 6.6 billion, fundamental to achieving the commitments in decarbonization, efficiency, and stronger interconnections defined by the Spanish government in its National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for the electricity system. The actions included in the plan focus mainly on new network developments that will facilitate the penetration of renewables and the resolution of technical restrictions. The proposal also fosters the use and improvement of the existing network and makes standardized use of new technologies, minimizing environmental impact. It's estimated, therefore, that more than 2,700 km of new lines and 380 km of links in insular systems will be rolled out and transmission capacity will be increased by more than 7,500 km of existing lines.

There'll be an improvement in the integration of renewable energy with the expectation that 67% of installed power will be renewable at the end of the period. This is a particularly relevant milestone in the energy transition in general, and for Red Eléctrica in particular, which we hope will be enacted soon. Another of the most relevant aspects of 2021 was the progress made in one of the most important projects for Red Eléctrica in recent years, which will be the Salto de Chira reversible hydropower plant. On account of its importance in driving the integration of renewable energies in Gran Canaria and its relevance in the achievement of targets we've set for the short and medium term in our strategy plan.

Obtaining the Declaration of General Interest, an administrative authorization in 2021, was a milestone in undertaking the construction of this new infrastructure, which will be fundamental for ecological transition in the Canary Islands. At the start of February, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge published its proposed order to approve the method for calculating the remuneration of the reversible hydraulic plant in Chira-Soria. This proposal sets out that the annual remuneration of this plant will comprise a payment for investment, remuneration per operation and fixed maintenance, remuneration as well per operation, and variable maintenance as an incentive. The company wants to always make sure that the remuneration is associated to the construction phase, and we can cover the needs we have for construction work in progress.

At the end of 2021, Red Eléctrica began laying a new 132 kV submarine cable, which will link up the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2022. As a particularly relevant milestone of 2021, I would remind you that in July, coinciding with the 15th anniversary of our Renewable Energies Control Center, the President of the European Commission and the President of the Spanish Government visited our Electricity Control Center as part of the approval of Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. In this visit, they highlighted the role the electricity system will play in the deployment of the plan and the development of the energy transition, underscoring the role of Grupo Red Eléctrica as a mainstay in the energy transition.

In short, you can see we're continuing to make progress in our commitment to the energy transition, which is the foundation of our strategy plan on which we'll focus all our efforts to bring it into reality. Looking now at our activities worldwide and in the telecommunications sector. After the approval of the strategy plan, perhaps the most relevant aspect of 2021 was the significant value contributed to the group by our areas of business diversification. Firstly, I want to highlight the outstanding performance of Hispasat in 2021, thanks to its organic growth and the incorporation of Media Networks into the business in Peru, which was one of the most relevant milestones of the year.

The agreement reached with Media Networks Latin America, a subsidiary of the Telefónica Group, to acquire its satellite signal management and transmission business, strengthens Hispasat's position as the leading operator in the region in video, and is the first step in our strategy for the satellite business, aimed at making Hispasat a satellite service and solutions provider. In the same period, Hisdesat sold its holding in the Canadian company, exactEarth, a provider of maritime traffic information services by satellite, which has brought in EUR 8 million profit to Grupo Red Eléctrica. Finally, at the end of the year, Hispasat announced it was buying 90% of the Brazilian company, Hispamar, of which Hispasat already controlled the other 81%. With this transaction, Hispasat strengthens its focus and commitment to the Brazilian telecommunications market with the acquisition of the orbital rights of 61 West.

The Hispamar fleet currently owns the satellites Amazonas 2, 3 and 5, which cover the whole of Brazil and the American continent and distribute audio-visual content on C-band, offering direct-to-home television on the Ku-band known as DTH. Furthermore, the satellites provide connectivity on the Ka-band to rural communities in different countries in Latin America. It was a good year then for Hispasat, which during difficult times affected by COVID-19 restrictions, has made positive progress in the deployment of its strategy plan, with the next few years looking very promising. Internationally, one major highlight was the commissioning of the Centinela Substation in Chile on 17th of June. This substation will improve the transmission network in the area and favor the integration of new renewable energy projects.

Furthermore, at the beginning of February this year, final authorization was obtained for the acquisition of Rialma Transmissora de Energia III, a franchisee company for a 322 km transmission line already operating at 500 kV in the east of Brazil. The transaction was made through the Brazilian company, Argo Energia, in which Grupo Red Eléctrica owns a 50% stake and which has already been integrated into Argo's operations. In fiber optics, in line with the value contribution made by diversified activities in 2021, and as we announced in our strategy plan in December, Grupo Red Eléctrica reached an agreement with the American fund, KKR, regarding the sale of a 49% stake in Reintel's share capital, making them thus our partner in the company.

As a result of this transaction, and after obtaining the required regulatory approvals expected for the second quarter of 2022, Grupo Red Eléctrica will receive EUR 971 million for 49% of Reintel. This figure is more than 22 x its EBITDA, which highlights the huge potential of the fiber optics business for Grupo Red Eléctrica. For our group, this operation represents a major step forward in our strategy plan, strengthening our financial capacity to undertake our ambitious goals to lead the energy transition process in Spain. It also represents an acknowledgment and support for the value provided by our diversification strategy, not just in terms of protecting the group's business, but also in terms of making a monetary contribution to it.

In Reintel, we wish to highlight the unique technical and commercial capacities of this fiber optics company, which are fundamental for enabling us to secure new opportunities to generate value at a time in which the demand for telecommunication services is growing tremendously, and in which Reintel must play an essential role in the market, enabling all agents in the sector to access these new opportunities in a transparent, neutral manner. Another important aspect of 2021 was our commitment to ensuring strength and balance in our financial structure, which will allow us to achieve our goals by the end of the period.

The issue of EUR 600 million green bonds on May 24th with a 12-month maturity period at a rate of 0.625%, as well as the new finance for Reintel obtained in December for EUR 325 million over a tenor of five years at a highly competitive Euribor-linked rate, are just two of the highlights. We've updated our green finance framework as well to adapt it in line with the European Union taxonomy. That makes us one of the first companies in the world working in transport and operation of the electricity system to subject the environmental sustainability of our activity to scrutiny, to evaluate whether it does indeed comply with what the European Union has defined as effectively sustainable.

We should mention our continuing commitment to innovation, which we're promoting with the help of Elewit, our innovation and technological development platform. In 2021, we had several initiatives incorporating new technologies in collaboration with different start-ups, and we've also invested EUR 2.3 million through technology investment funds, which in turn invest in start-ups developing interesting technology for the group. We've also focused on launching pilot projects associated with a wide variety of technological challenges. We should highlight the projects aiming to bridge the digital divide, which is an area of inequality affecting much of Spain's rural territory. Red Eléctrica, which is operating in these rural territories and is therefore aware of connectivity issues there, is working to promote digital transformation with an eye to offering greater connectivity through satellite technology and 5G technology.

Finally, within the group's commitment to innovation, combined with the strong capacities of our professionals offers an ideal context to find new opportunities through internal talent. In this regard, we launched an intra-enterprise program, a project dedicated to internal talent, which seeks to put the company's own professionals front and center of the innovation process, offering them the opportunity to be enterprising within the group and receive the support they need to bring their idea to life. Also in 2021, we continued to make progress with regard to our commitment to sustainability, setting and defining more challenging goals to make the European Union's commitment to energy targets and the fight against climate change a reality.

In December, we increased our climate ambition and raised our greenhouse gas targets to bring them into line with the more ambitious goals of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade, as promoted by the United Nations and the Global Compact. We're committed to reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 2019, and Scope 3 emissions generated by the supply chain by 28%. To achieve a 55% reduction in our direct emissions, we will intensify our work, chiefly with regard to losses of sulfur hexafluoride with actions such as the renovation of installations and equipment, as well as improvements in leak detection and repair methods, among other methods. Regarding Scope 3 emissions related to the supply chain and those with the greatest weighting in the group, we've set ourselves two goals.

First of all, to reduce emissions by 28%, and then also to get suppliers responsible for two-thirds of the emissions to include science-based targets in their business practices. This is an initiative involving the United Nations Global Compact to set science-based climate targets. More than 1,000 companies have signed up to it, and we will be providing a line of support to our suppliers so they can improve their knowledge of their impact and thereby be able to better identify improvements to reduce it. Last December, the board of directors approved the new climate change action plan for the period 2022 to 2030, which incorporates the actions necessary to achieve the new emissions targets.

As we mentioned last February, Grupo Red Eléctrica is committed to strategic cross-cutting long-term sustainability, which it channels through four main areas of action to tackle the challenges and opportunities facing the company. As well as being a proactive agent in the decarbonization of the economy, over the year, we also strengthened our actions in other areas, such as forecasting and action for change, the responsible value chain, and contributing to the development of our environment. In October, we published the new social innovation approach defined by the group to focus on fighting inequality. The new strategy incorporates social innovation as a cross-cutting element in the execution of investment projects in the transmission network, and it aims to identify and implement innovative, effective, sustainable, and replicable practices to generate value for the people living in areas where Red Eléctrica operates.

Also in October, Grupo Red Eléctrica held its sustainability conference focused on a shared objective, recovery and sustainable development. At this conference, inaugurated by Teresa Ribera, the Fourth Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition, the group wanted to promote action through a joint and shared vision for collective discussion in a forum that would contribute to creating a sustainable future together. All these actions have been acknowledged by the most relevant sustainability indices in the world, which recognize us as one of the most sustainable Spanish companies. Most sustainable companies in the world indeed. It's important to highlight that our continued presence year after year in leading global sustainability indices highlights our strong commitment to an issue that's been part of the group's DNA for many years now.

Finally, we should mention that the group also has a comprehensive diversity plan to promote the inclusion of women in leadership and management positions, wage equality between women and men, joint family responsibility, the prevention of moral, sexual, and gender harassment, and the prevention of gender violence. I'd now like to hand over to our CEO, who will go through this year's results.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much to our chairperson, and good morning to all of you and welcome. Let me now analyze the key figures for this last year. First, I want to highlight the group's strong results in a year affected by the reduction in revenues from electricity transmission and system operation owing to the application of a more restrictive regulatory framework. The group's net profits grew by 9.6% over the year, driven fundamentally by three aspects. Firstly, the positive results flowing from our diversified business areas, fundamentally the satellite business, and the positive contribution made by Argo in Brazil. Secondly, the reduction in our financial results due to the more advantageous interest rates obtained in our finance operations.

Thirdly and lastly, you have to remember that 2020 was affected by the impairment of Hispasat's assets, chiefly as a consequence of the effects of COVID-19. Another point to make is that our investment stood at EUR 576 million, in line with the investment set out in our strategy plan for that particular year, with significant progress shown in our transmission grid in Spain, resulting from certain ongoing and acceleration initiatives. Net financial debt stood at EUR 5.64 billion, with a significant reduction of EUR 465 million in debt compared to 2020. Finally, funds from operations have remained at levels slightly below the previous year, marked by the remuneration adjustments in the activity of the TSO. Let's now look at the group's profit and loss statement in a little more detail.

Firstly, you can see that the earnings for the year were EUR 1.98 billion, reflecting the lower regulated earnings in Spain. Now, that was because of the application of the remuneration adjustments, such as reduction in the financial remuneration rate applied to electricity transmission assets. That reduction was from 6% in 2020 to 5.58% in 2021. And also, because of the re-estimation of earnings associated with the system operator for the period 2014 to 2019, we've done this using the best information currently available until we have the final settlement from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition in Spain.

Now, this has been largely offset by the increased earnings from telecommunications activities, thanks essentially to the contribution made by Hispasat, which brought in an additional EUR 187 million in revenue following an acquisition of Media Networks business in Peru from Grupo Telefónica in that country. Now, our adjusted EBITDA performance has been a consequence of that adverse evolution of the commented turnover and the increase in operating costs through the acceleration of maintenance work. Now, that was work on critical assets to ensure the network is more secure and more reliable, as well as a certain increase in staff costs related to the transformation plan of Hispasat and the incorporation of new staff members through the acquisition of the new business in Peru.

Now, all of this has been partly offset by the positive performance of the results of our companies calculated using the equity method as a result of the possible contribution of Argo and Hisdesat in particular. Now, this amount also incorporates a negative impact of EUR 10.9 million relating to revised income values of certain assets in Chile for 2020 and 2021. These are fully provisioned and have been reported in the third quarter of the year. Our EBIT increased by 6.8% and marked by the effect of the impairment of assets in the satellite business in 2020. The negative financial results stood at EUR 104 million, EUR 19 million up, better than in 2020, given the average rate of 1.52% compared to 1.74% for the previous year.

Net profit was EUR 681 million, up 9.6% compared to the previous year, despite the lower income from our regulated business in Spain. The effective tax rate was 22.7%. That was mainly due to the recognition of EUR 19.5 million of deductions for research and development innovation for the investment in the Amazonas Nexus satellite. I'm going to give the floor now to Emilio Cerezo, so that he can give you a more detailed analysis of our results from 2021.

Emilio Cerezo
CFO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Roberto, and good morning to all attendees. Now, if we analyze year-on-year the performance of our turnover broken down by business areas, we can see the reduction of EUR 31 million is mainly due to those compensation adjustments mentioned before with that EUR 63 million impact.

Now, this falloff has been partially offset by the solid contribution of the satellite business, Hispasat. The good organic and inorganic performance of the companies allow the group to contribute almost EUR 30 million. Likewise, our international business fell slightly due to the rate review process of certain Chilean assets such as TEN and REDENOR, and that was despite the good evolution of our business in Brazil. Now let me analyze the EBITDA performance for you. The year-on-year decline of EUR 70 million was influenced by a number of aspects. Let me describe them for you. One, the lower level of earnings, so that was mentioned to you just before.

Two, the lower level of other income and work performed by the company for fixed assets, basically because of higher insurance payouts compared to the previous year, as well as the non-inclusion of other non-recurring income that we received in 2020. Thirdly, an increase in our operating costs. That was EUR 30 million. Now, under this heading, we can see that mainly we're talking about EUR 11 million relating to the higher costs that are recorded by the satellite business with new lines of business associated with the implementation of a plan within Hispasat, a plan to transform the business and to harness opportunities in the sector.

All of the other operating expenses for the year, that's about EUR 19 million, that's only up 3.6%, despite the following aspects: the high level of inflation, the difficult environment in the insurance market, which has driven up the price of insurance premiums, and also because of our proactive anticipation to undertake certain actions in the maintenance of critical assets to reduce risk and improve our supply security. On this slide, you can see the revenues and EBITDA broken down by businesses for 2021, and you've got the comparison with 2020 tax year as well.

As far as the relative weight of income and EBITDA by business, you can see the income from our electricity operation and transmission activities in Spain have dropped back somewhat in favor of the telecommunications infrastructure business, which in 2021 represented 16% of our total turnover, and the same occurs at the EBITDA level. Even so, the TSO management operation of electricity infrastructure at the national level continues to represent 80% of the company's turnover and EBITDA. Let me now look at the group's investments. You can see that at year-end, there was significant progress in the transmission network in Spain, because of those acceleration initiatives we referred to previously, and also because we obtained a greater volume of authorizations than expected by the end of the financial year. Let me talk to you about specific actions.

I could highlight interconnection projects, Ibiza to Formentera, Lanzarote to Fuerteventura, the interconnection with France. There are also other projects that will facilitate the evacuation of renewables, like Caparacena to Baza to La Ribina, that's an axis in Andalusia, or other projects to increase supply security. There's one in Tenerife, Caletillas to El Rosario. I think it's also worth pointing out to you there are investments in line repowering throughout the territory to optimize the use of existing infrastructures, too. Of course, we're continuing to move forward with that storage project in the Canary Islands, for which, as we mentioned previously, we've already obtained administrative authorization, and in the communication infrastructures and operation computing for the system. Turning to the international environment, investment has focused particularly on Chile, with progress made in the construction of lines in Región IV as well as the energization of the Centinela Substation.

We've also made progress in the work on TESUR 4 following the environmental impact statement obtained in March 2021. Another point to highlight to you is the investment made in the satellite business with the acquisition of the media networks business from Telefónica Group in Peru, and the progress that we're making in the Amazonas Nexus satellite, which uses HTS technology, and it will replace Amazonas 2. It'll be providing service to the whole of the American continent and the North Atlantic Ocean. Lastly, there's been a slight increase in other investments made in data processing centers, financial investments in startups, either directly or through venture capital funds. We're also analyzing the possibility of setting up a fund for the energy transition in which the Red Eléctrica Group will be the anchor investor. Let me talk to you now about the group's financial debt.

Its performance has been positive, where we closed the year at EUR 5.64 billion. Now, this means a reduction of EUR 465 million compared to the previous year, mainly due to the positive evolution of our operating cash flow, which rose by just over EUR 1.6 billion. Now, that trend stems mainly from two key aspects. One, the generation of EUR 1.17 billion in FFO, and two, the strong performance of our working capital as a result of the high revenues from transmission tariffs and also items pending payment settlement in the system for system operator services.

Lastly, in line with our commitment to maintain a solid credit rating, I'd like to highlight the strength of our balance sheet with an FFO to net debt solvency ratio of 20.9% and a net financial debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.8 x. Now, this financial strength has been recognized by Standard & Poor's and also by Fitch. Both have awarded us an A-minus credit rating with a stable outlook. Our strong commitment to a world of net zero emissions is guiding our financial strategy, and it's also backed by the strong support that we have received and do receive from the investment community. Currently, we have 35% of all of our finance linked to ESG criteria, and we're still working intensely to increase that percentage.

You can see the update there of our green framework in 2021 to bring it into line with the EU Taxonomy, and we've also expanded it to encompass all of our companies in the Grupo Red Eléctrica in our group. Our roadmap is to continue expanding our green finance by issuing new green bonds that will gradually replace ordinary bonds as they mature. The last of them will be maturing in 2027. At the same time, we will also gradually link the price of some of our finance to the global ESG performance of the group, and this will be a strong incentive for continuous improvement in the three areas of sustainability. Let me focus now on the financial debt structure characterized by the diversification in our sources of funding.

81% of our funding is at a fixed rate until maturity and there's a clear predominance of the euro over other currencies. Now, in a context of rising rates and optimization of cash surplus management, on January 4th, we canceled an operation for EUR 500 million, reducing the percentage of our variable rate debt by more than 5% resulting in optimizing the use of our cash. Over the next four years, the group will have to manage maturities of approximately EUR 3.5 billion. Now, that amount will be fully covered by our liquidity position, which is currently slightly above EUR 3.4 billion, and also by the funds that we're expecting to receive from the sale of 49% of Reintel.

Now, in line with our strategy plan, we are predicting new additional finance needs as we increase our investment volumes, and we have a high credit rating to meet these needs at a very competitive cost. Lastly, I'd like to point out to you that the average term of our debt is currently five years with an average cost of 1.52% compared to the 1.74% for the same period last year. Let me now hand over to our CEO, Roberto García Merino. He's gonna close the presentation by talking to you about our vision for 2022, which of course, fits into our strategy plan 2021-2025. It's currently underway. He'll give us a rundown of the objectives included in this plan.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Emilio. Yes, indeed. Following on from a year in which we laid the foundations of the strategy plan 2021-2025, 2022 will be a year in which we accelerate the rollout of the plan. With the approval of the planning progress of the electricity system 2021-2026, and following the groundwork that we carried out in 2021, we can now begin taking those fundamental steps to achieve our targets in our plan. In addition, Red Eléctrica will drive the implementation investments included in that planning progress by carrying out determined actions on the ground. The idea is to accelerate the concession of the necessary authorizations and convey the advantages of all of those installations for society.

Now, in this process, we'll be working with the ministry, with the regulator, with regional and local governments in order to move forward in the development of our investment projects. We want to reinforce dialogue with the social surroundings in our areas of action to facilitate the company's activity, and that way, we'll be ensuring greater presence, a bigger footprint in the territories with increased visibility, and implement measures to improve the social-environmental acceptance of our installations. Looking to the near term first, we estimate that in 2022 investment in TSO activities with more than EUR 500 million. Following that path of investment growth, that should take us to delivering on the targets of our strategy plan once the new planning process is approved.

In addition, during this year, we'll be establishing the income model for the storage installations in our island system, specifically Chira-Soria, following that proposed order that was mentioned to you earlier that establishes their revenue calculation methodology, and once the period to submit comments and claims has concluded on 4th of March. This, in turn, will enable the development of new projects in the islands to foster the integration of renewable energies and increase the flexibility, efficiency, and security of isolated systems. Internationally, we will basically be maintaining our organic growth strategy by developing transmission infrastructures in which the group is already positioned with an important volume of infrastructures to be commissioned by the end of the year.

Specifically, in Peru, we're expecting construction to be completed on TESUR 4, and in Chile, the completion of REDENOR, and the connection project for the Sierra Gorda photovoltaic solar farm that belongs to REDENOR too. In addition, we'll also be exploring possible non-organic investments considered within the scope of the strategy plan, such as the one carried out in Brazil in recent months through Argo Energia. Now that was already mentioned during the presentation a little earlier. 2022 will also be a key year in the development of mobility and connectivity. Our strategy plan encompasses avenues of progress for the group to consolidate its status as a key agent in reducing the digital divide, particularly in rural areas.

We'll be doing this through measures such as the technology updating of our satellites to adapt them to the provision of new services that can respond to greater needs for coverage in rural areas, or the deployment of fiber optics or 5G infrastructures that will also enable greater connectivity. Specifically for 2022, we're estimating organic investments in Hispasat of close to EUR 110 million, where the development of the satellite Amazonas Nexus will account for more than 80% of that investment. This will be a key year in which the manufacture of the satellite will be completed, and the final launch phase will also begin. Fiber optics now.

The main highlights include the plan to renew the main network of railway fiber optics with Adif and the Saturación Madrid Sur project, which aims to expand capacity in the southern Madrid area. Finally, in 2022, we'll start rolling out projects associated with the promotion of 5G technology by starting to adapt the supporting electrical infrastructure required to roll out initiatives with mobile operators and other telecom infrastructure companies. In short, 2022 will be a year of significant progress for our strategy plan in which we will hit highly significant milestones for the group and will shore up the starting situation to guarantee compliance with the plan's commitments. Indeed, to bring our presentation to a close, I'd like to remind you briefly of those objectives, those targets in our strategic plan and highlight those milestones that we've achieved to date.

Now as you've seen throughout this presentation, 2021 was a particularly intense year. In that year, we achieved significant progress to guarantee our delivery of the targets set out in the 2021-2025 plan. Firstly, we've continued to develop our investment activity in the transmission network, commissioning infrastructure in line with our strategy plan, and we estimate we'll be further developing them over the coming years with the new transmission network planning process in 2021 too. We also work very proactively in the planning process. We collaborated with central government, regional governments, and the National Commission on Markets and Competition in Spain. Now we expect final approval of the 2021-2026 development plan to be granted shortly, and that will be giving the possibility of a highly attractive transmission grid development plan in terms of investments to be made.

Furthermore, through the recent sale of 49%, that stake in Reintel, we have capitalized on our fiber optic assets. We've further shored up our balance sheet to undertake this investment plan, and that allows us to further boost the development of Reintel's business and highlight its potential for value creation by doing so. The satellite business has evolved very positively in a complex context of transformation. It's also showed us the great potential to be found in the demand for connectivity in satellite services. Finally, from a financial standpoint. Now, last May, we issued green bonds at a very competitive price within the company's green finance framework, in line with the European Taxonomy. We've also distributed dividends to our shareholders of EUR 1 per share, just as we confirmed in the objectives that were presented to you in our 2021- 2025 plan.

In relation to those targets of the strategy plan, 2021- 2025, and following completion of the first year of the plan, we're still maintaining the commitment set out in February last year. As you know, we defined a level of investment for the period 2021- 2025 of EUR 4.4 billion. 75% of that figure will be allocated to the transmission network, system operation, and storage facilities in Spain. Now, in a context that's definitely marked by declining revenues from our regulated activity in Spain, the company will maintain a solid credit rating with a commitment to maintain the FFO to net debt ratio above 15% and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of less than 5x.

EBITDA margin, where we are maintaining our commitment that by the end of the period it will be above 70%. As regards our dividend policy, we will keep a EUR 1 per share dividend distribution for the period 2021- 2022 and at least 0.80 EUR, that's eighty euro cents per share during the period 2023- 2025. As we've said throughout this presentation, Red Eléctrica will be the backbone of Spain's energy transition. We have the strong investment plan marked by the national climate and energy plan and the 2021-2026 funding process.

The boost provided by our strategy plan, both internationally and within the telecom sector, will put the Red Eléctrica Group in an unbeatable position by 2025 to tackle the major challenges that we will be facing in electricity and telecom sectors in the mid to long term. 2021, the very first year covered by the plan, was what we would describe as a positive year, and the results reinforce the path we must take to ensure we can deliver on our goals over the next few years. That concludes today's presentation. Many thanks for listening, for your attention, and after the presentation, we're now ready to answer any questions you have for us.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Star one on your telephone pad if you would like to make a call. It's star two if you want to cancel.

Fernando Lafuente
Managing Partner, Alantra

Hello, good morning. I actually have three questions for you. The first one is on the recalculation of revenue from the system operation 2014- 2019, that period, and about the greater maintenance cost for Q4. Could you tell us the amount for those two items, please? And will they be non-recurring amounts, looking ahead to 2022? Related to that question, I have another question. You're expecting an uptick in EBITDA from Hispasat international business and transmission business in Spain. Can you give us some indication of the global EBITDA figure for 2022 for the group compared to 2021?

Another question for you is about your improved working capital in 2021. Will there be an inverse effect in 2022, or could we assume that this is a recurring improvement of working capital that will happen again this year? Another question is about Reintel. Is it right to say that all of that money, the cashed in, that was close to EUR 1 billion from the sale will be put, some of it at least, into paying more back to shareholders? Thank you.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Fernando, for that question. I think you've touched upon the really essential matters for the year-end. First of all, the impacts from the retroactive remuneration of the operating system from 2014- 2019.

Well, there we have been recording, until the third quarter, internal estimated figure for that remuneration, and now we've got better information about what it will be. I'm always talking about the adjustment of the revenues done retroactively, so it will be a one-off once we've got the final confirmation, which will be during 2021- 2022. The orders of magnitude we're estimating for this will be retroactive for 2014- 2019, and it will be between EUR 25 million and EUR 30 million. That's all aggregated, and that's an in-house estimate that we're using in the company, and we do hope that the ministry will then be able to give us the final go ahead for the figure. Then you ask about the operation and maintenance. There, I want to highlight that the group has started a one-off plan for 2022 and 2023.

We want to reinforce the maintenance of some critical installations just for the years 2022 and 2023. It's a special plan for that kind of assets, and it's for reinforced maintenance, so that over the two years, we're talking about a total of about EUR 80 million, which will be distributed. Well, part's already been taken up in 2021, and the rest will be distributed only in 2022 and 2023. It's a special plan, and it won't continue after 2023, but it will evidently have an impact between 2022 and 2023, although we've already seen some of the impact in 2021.

You ask about our estimates for EBITDA in aggregate terms. There, I think 2022 will be a relatively stable year in all businesses. We're expecting a slight growth in Hispasat and Reintel and in the international business, and maybe regulated business in Spain might show slight adjustment precisely because of this special plan I just mentioned for the maintenance of critical assets, which is just for 2022 and 2023. It's expected that move, we'll be moving around in similar levels of EBITDA in 2022 compared to year-end 2021. The slight impact which might bring down the revenues from the regulated business because of this plan that we have, but an improvement in the other areas of activity in the group. If you wish, Emilio, I'll talk about Reintel, and then you can go on.

Emilio Cerezo
CFO, Redeia

Okay. Reintel then. Reintel, I think, has been an excellent operation for the group. I think we've really been able to capitalize on an activity that the group has been doing traditionally. With the interest in the market, it became very clear that there was high demand for this kind of asset. We are very happy with the process, very happy with the incorporation of a top-level partner to help us to roll out this activity in fiber optic. But above all, this deal makes it possible for the group to have a greater financial capacity at a time when we have to tackle a lot of greater investments for the new planning for the energy transition. Of course, we have to wait until it's fully signed off.

At the moment, we're obtaining all the permits we need, and we have to sign off the transaction first so that at board level, we can assess the new scenario for the medium to long term and see exactly what we'll be using the proceeds of the deal for. Evidently, mainly it will be for reinforcing the balance sheet for the investments we need for the energy transition, but also obviously it could be used for other ends as well apart from that. Yes. Thank you very much for your questions. As you've seen, the working capital this year has improved significantly, more than EUR 420 million, which a good part of that is linked to what we were discussing in this presentation today.

Because relative to our transport tariff in the TSO in Spain, we have been charging these items on the basis of a provisional tariff. Provisional tariff, which we hope will be adjusted at the end of this year. That's meant that we charged greater amounts than we would theoretically be entitled to, which meant an improvement in the working capital, an improvement in our financial cash and bank balances. In the next few months, we can expect to have to return these surpluses that we have been charging in advance. Yes, there will be a reversion there in 2022.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

We have a question from Alberto Gandolfi from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, Alberto.

Alberto Gandolfi
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Thank you very much. I've got three questions, please. First of all, could you speak, I don't know if you've done some work on the potential performance of electricity demand in Spain, if we have the Fit for 55 plan met with all the options regarding electric cars, electrification of heating, green hydrogen, and such like. It would be very useful to know if you've done any work on this. Secondly, another question. Do you see demand going up? Do you see a gradual speeding up of the electrification of the Spanish economy? Do you think that there might be incremental opportunities for investment in the second half of the decade from 2025- 2030? Might we be starting to talk about these opportunities at some stage with greater annual investment than we see in the current plan?

Finally, my last question is, given the sale of assets with such attractive multiples, could you talk a bit about whether you see much headroom on your balance sheet? How much could it be? Are you going to preserve that headroom for future investments after 2025? Or do you think it, you might make further acquisitions or maybe increase the dividend or the dividend flow that you've got compared to the current one?

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Well, Alberto Gandolfi, thank you very much. What I will do is start answering that last question first, if you don't mind. As I was saying to Fernando in the previous question, I think we have to wait until two key milestones that have been hit. That is, one is the sale of Reintel. It has to be completed, of course, sometime during the second half of this year. They're in their strategy plan. And of course, for the planning progresses to be finally approved, that will be shortly. Those are the two key milestones we have to wait for.

As I said earlier, too, I think we have to look at the mid- to long-term scenario for the company with those two key pillars once they have been solidly put in place in the strategy plan. A lot of the funds from the Reintel transaction will of course be used to boost our balance sheet because we have that commitment that we made to keep a reasonable credit rating for possible investments in the future. We also need to look at whether there will be a possible possibility of increasing remuneration to shareholders or making other investments.

That will be the discussion that the board of Dirección will have to have once the Reintel deal has been completed, and once we have a final view on what will be happening in the planning processes, once that has been completed. Perhaps our chairperson would like to give us her insight. I would say that the timeline for investment for the group is, and I'm thinking here about the transmission grid, it's a positive decade that we have ahead of us, both the planning 2021-2026. We know that the last proposal that came out of the ministry in Spain talked about more than EUR 6.6 billion for that period. There's also that national infrastructure plan.

It talks about up to EUR 29 billion, I think, for the transmission grid. That is the Integrated Energy and Climate Plan. We have that period, that horizon, for investment that is ahead of us.

Alberto Gandolfi
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

In our strategic plan, we've already seen that we are moving forward and taking steps as a company and more than EUR 500 million in investment in regulated assets in Spain was our commitment, wasn't it?

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

That takes us to that target for the EUR 800 million per year that we were expecting to be hit by the end of the strategy plan. I think mid- and long-term investment depends on, of course, what will happen in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. I think highly positive period ahead of us, mid and long-term. Chairperson, yes?

Beatriz Corredor
Chairwoman, Redeia

Thank you very much for the question. Our 2021- 2025 strategy plan incorporates the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan up to 2030, and also the planning process up to 2026. We're expecting our investment for technical infrastructure, all infrastructure really, which should be in line with all of the requirements in that plan for energy efficiency, for integration of renewable energies, and also for the deployment of the transmission grid, storage facilities, and also to electrification of networks, et cetera, et cetera. We are ready and prepared to actually deliver on what is in that plan. We have analyzed our strategic capabilities.

We know that it is a highly demanding plan with regard to renewable energies and energy efficiency, that the period 2021- 2025 and also the 2026 planning process and 2030 will all have commitments that we will have promised to deliver on. Thinking ahead to the next few years, last year, when we looked at the strategy plan, we did think about demand for the electric cars. We were looking at between 4 GW and 6 GW of consumption. So the system is prepared for that increase in demand. Don't forget that one of the most important circumstances we'll be seeing in the next few years will be more energy efficiency. That means there will be a bit of decoupling there with demand, won't it?

We've included that too in the plan, so we are ready for what will happen. Our infrastructure, it will be, prepared for the renewable energy that, the Spanish National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan is asking for to make sure that we will actually hit the targets for the European Union, too. Thank you.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Thank you very much. The next question is from Javier Suarez from Mediobanca. Javier, your line is open for you to ask your question.

Javier Suarez Hernandez
Managing Director, Mediobanca

Hello. Good morning to you all. Thank you very much for your presentation. I have three questions. The first one is a follow-up to the management team's comment just now. It's a question about the effective actual capacity to be able to actually speed up your investment plan for, electricity in Spain. It's a little surprising, I think. If you look at the transmission grid planning process, it hasn't yet been approved, and that will have a systemic impact, won't it? You, as a company, have a major role to play to be able to foster that energy transition in Spain. The question for you is, once that planning process has been finalized and approved in the next few weeks, will we see any acceleration in your CapEx in Red Eléctrica?

Will we see, during the period of the plan up to 2025, a CapEx horizon of closer to that EUR 1 billion or EUR 1 million, rather, a year, which you were looking at to see whether you would really be able to hit the Spanish government's planned commitment as well. What year, by what year will you be ready to actually make that jump forward in your investments? International investments is my other question. In this context that you are. It's a context in which you're addressing and having to pay out much more CapEx nationally in Spain. Do you think the international investment will also move forward? Would you look at perhaps asset rotation? Another aspect, I think it was the chairperson who talked about the need for CapEx in Brazil in her presentation.

Do you think that you could put into your business plan this concept of asset rotation at all? Could you use Argo in Brazil as your investment vehicle to perhaps de-consolidate your debt with regard to your expansion in Brazil? My third question is about the high inflation environment that we're in at the moment, the inflationary scenario. Don't you think, Chairperson, that you need to start talking to the government here in Spain about inflation being included into the calculation for your remuneration? Because if we are in this high inflation setting, your remuneration will be less attractive for you to make your investments. And then also following on from that, how will inflation impact your profitability, and how will you be able to actually keep up your OpEx and O&M standards? Thank you.

Beatriz Corredor
Chairwoman, Redeia

If you'll allow me then. Regarding your first question, and then I'll hand over to the CEO. How to speed up the investment plan, we've been working on the planning for 2021- 2026 for two years, really, from the moment when we came up with the first proposal until we saw the last one in July last year. All the different units in the company got together to get greater efficiency in rolling out the infrastructures once we got all the permits from the government, which we expect to get very soon. I said we prepared all of our tools, but, I mean, that's at all levels.

As you know, last year, we went through a process of corporatization of the company, restructuring the units, with in-house restructuring of the way that we work, the procedures we have for deploying assets, restructuring things so that we can do more deployment in contact with the different levels of government, which will help us to develop the systems so that we can put our capacities at the disposal of the government so that they can be used more quickly. Our cooperation will be wonderful because all the levels of government, not just the state government, but also the regional and local and island governments, know that they need these structures to fight against climate change and greenhouse gases and bring in more renewable energy.

This year, we're expecting to see the speeding up of these investments, and the changes in the way we manage our infrastructures internally will mean greater efficiency for the company. Speeding up the infrastructure rollout with the maturity periods we have for their deployment will be after 2024, which is when we'll have the greater need for funding in order to cover the investment we need. That EUR 1 billion figure will be achieved before we come to the end of our strategy plan, we think, and the CEO definitely has that intention, and he's encouraged all the rest of the organization to do that. We're aware of the kind of multiples we need in investment every year.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much. Madam Chairwoman, to complete on what was said by the Chairwoman, I think that we can reckon that the planning we have will be approved very soon. As she said, we're already working with the drafts that have been published. You should remember that in the planning, we have a starting point that comes from the earlier planning, which we've already been working on. We think that, as the Chairwoman said, this year will be over EUR 500 million. Next year, we'll see some further progress in the volume of investment. In 2024, 2025, definitely, yes, we should be at around EUR 800 million- EUR 1 billion. We should remember that when we approved the strategy plan, we were talking about capitalizing certain strategic assets. Obviously, we were thinking about fiber optics.

There are other opportunities too, but with the Reintel deal, we've done more than we had established with those goals we had in that pillar of our strategy plan. International investment for the group is profitable investment. For many years now, we've been in Peru and Chile, and more recently in Brazil. We've got a lot of experience in working for about 20 years with international investments. We feel quite comfortable in this environment, in quite safe environments, in well-regulated environments. As you saw with the close of these accounts, it's had a positive impact on our accounts. We're not thinking of much rotation of assets in our international assets or in Hispasat either with the performance we're seeing there and the positive implementation of its strategy plan.

What we do want to do, though, is to assess the volume of investment that we are putting in of about EUR 225 million in organic investment within the international business funded by the international business itself. I think that's a fundamental part of our strategy plan. Right now, we're not considering any kind of disinvestment. What you say about inflation. There, yes, we are going through a time which is probably circumstantial with quite high inflation. The regulatory model applied to Red Eléctrica in its transmission grid does, to a certain degree, cover the impact of inflation. It's true it takes it up. Well, the inflation that we're managing right now in this period will be taken up in the next period, which starts in 2026.

It's true that in other regulatory frameworks in Europe, they have immediate adjustments or more short-term adjustments to include inflation, and that's something that we are talking about with the regulator in order to get some kind of convergence with the regulatory environment in Spain more similar to what we have in the rest of Europe. That could have an impact. We're managing this through efficiency measures internally in our operating areas. Despite the inflationary environment, we are still maintaining our commitment of that 70% EBITDA margin by the end of the strategy plan period. Emilio talked about it during his talk. Within our operating costs for this year, we have the ordinary recurring costs which have gone up by about 3.6% despite much higher inflation in the general environment.

I think that there are inflationary pressures, but we all have to put up with them, and we do hope that the regulator will be sensitive to that and try to improve the regulatory framework we currently have, and perhaps bring forward the regulatory review that we do to assure so it's a shorter period and not the current 6-year period.

Thank you very much. The next question comes from Fernando Lafuente, from Alantra. Fernando, go ahead.

Fernando Lafuente
Managing Partner, Alantra

Hello, good morning. Thank you for your presentation and the questions. I've got three questions. First of all, in the presentation, which was very interesting, and the chairwoman said again that you're doing everything you can to work in line with the European plans to speed up your own plans. Could you give us more color, perhaps, on exactly what kind of measures you're thinking of? Not so much within the organization, but outside it, the fundamental governmental permits, which over the last few years, I'd say, have probably rather dragged down your possibilities of investing in transmission. Do you have any idea whether the different levels of the government are going to improve their permitting? Then the second is your special plan for maintenance. EUR 80 million, I think you said, for 2021-2023. Is that an expense, OpEx, so not remunerated?

I wanted to confirm that, if you would. Will it limit investment or reduce investment in the future in these assets? Will it offer some kind of benefit to the company in the future, apart from just supply security? The remuneration of Chira-Soria. I think you've made a great step forward with your proposal and with the ministerial order. I'd like to know, when do you think the proposal will become effective? If things happen, as you have suggested, what do you think the impact will be on the group's P&L? I'd imagine it would be immediate with the investments in the asset. Thank you.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much to you for those questions. What have we done here in the organization, apart from restructuring the organizational charter in the company and different function? We've set out new procedures for development of infrastructure. We've started to put together stable teams working together, institutional and territorial and delegations that we have with the heads of projects, heads of the transmission area, for instance, all working together. Together, they have been developing goals that we've called the social license to operate. It means that there will be incentives for these joint teams to be able to roll out as quickly as and effectively possible infrastructures.

They will be coordinating what they're doing at all different levels in the organization, especially when they are dealing with the different levels of government in Spain, so that we can hope that the infrastructure will be welcomed by these levels of government, particularly the local levels of government. Of course, their resources are different, so we will support them to ensure that the rollout of infrastructure is as quick as possible. In this social license to operate procedure or projects, we're hoping to get social acceptance of our infrastructures to avoid that any social opposition will sort of prevent the quick development of infrastructures. We have a new social innovation policy.

We want to listen very carefully to people out there in these areas to ensure that they understand this is an opportunity for improvement for them. Social license to operate, it means a lot of work for our teams, who'll be working together for the very first time to develop those critical infrastructures. These will be rolled out depending on the budget and the different territories we're talking about, but it's all about being as efficient as possible in the deployment of those initiatives that we are managing to push forward on. The environmental impact, for instance, that authorized Chira-Soria, and I know that we'll answer you on that specific question.

Fourth of March is the final date for the consultation period, so anyone to make any arguments against it. The Peninsula-Ceuta connection rollout is another one. 18 months that we're waiting for Mallorca Menorca. Fuerteventura, how quickly we rolled out the infrastructure there. Also we have the Ibiza Formentera cable that we're rolling out really quickly. All of these are examples of the work we do collaborating with the levels of government in, to, in this company to ensure that it's effective and positive for everyone. Ultimately, if you're following what's happening in legislative developments in different regions, two just recently have taken decisions with regard to the infrastructure development for the region, and it had a lot to do with environmental impact processes.

We're all aligned, I think. The governments themselves and the levels of governments are internally trying to do as much as possible to make sure that they can get the necessary infrastructure to be able to adapt to climate change and energy efficiency objective for part of the ecological transition in Spain.

Emilio Cerezo
CFO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Fernando, for your questions, and I'm delighted to say hi to you again. That second question. I'm gonna take that. You were talking about our special maintenance plan for critical facilities. As we were saying throughout the presentation today, this is a specific ad hoc plan for part of 2021, 2022, 2023, EUR 80 million to be earmarked for special maintenance for certain facilities, certain infrastructures. Because of system security issues, they require this kind of maintenance work.

This supplements another important part of our strategy plan, which is our investment in renovation, which will be included in the planning process. Of course, it doesn't limit that renovation investment at all. It's a complement. It's an add-on to that, because we do know that there's a major volume of investment expenditure there, CapEx to be spent on some of our grid, particularly in the pre-1998 part of the grid. These are complementary parallel actions. This is an expense for 2022 to 2023. It's two years only. It's an O&M expense for the transmission business, which we think should be recognized in the volumes of expenditure and standards for following regulatory periods.

As for that ministerial order on Chira-Soria, honestly, I think that this is very positive. This is a very unique infrastructure with a pretty lengthy execution process. We've already started to work on the desalination part of the project. But up until 2026- 2027, I think we'll still be carrying on those works. The ministry has acknowledged, recognized the remuneration for the work that is in progress in its draft ministerial order already. I think it's also about convergence with a regulatory framework which is similar to what you find in other European countries. This is a consistent measure, consistent with the regulatory framework in Europe.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Fernando, basically what we interpret from the draft proposal for that order is that the impact will be in 2022 with the work that will be executed and completed during this year. Remember that we've estimated that by the end of the strategy plan by 2025, the ongoing work, the work in progress, WIP, that is being done in Chira-Soria will be about EUR 400 million. It's true that this is a regulatory framework that is the adequate one for the project.

Fernando Lafuente
Managing Partner, Alantra

Thank you very much.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Next question is from Ignacio Doménech from JB Capital Markets. Ignacio, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Ignacio Doménech
Director and Equity Research Analyst, JB Capital Markets

Good morning. I have a question about the international business. In the presentation, you talked about a very slight increase there in business for 2022 and for a bit, I believe that the values were brought down by the regulator. Could you give us more color on the drivers for growth in the transmission business, and particularly in Peru and Chile? Do you expect greater contribution from those countries to your business? Thank you.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Ignacio. We couldn't really hear very well here, but I'll try to give you some idea about the business for 2022. As we have already told you, in 2021, in our estimate for year-end 2021 and in our outlook for 2022, we've shown the worst possible scenario in the process of regulatory review that is currently taking place in Chile.

Luckily, we got a very positive result in Brazil with our investment scenario, and it's precisely what, Fernando, you were saying, immediate adjustment for inflation there means that the Argo contribution went up about 20% against what was expected for 2021. Looking ahead to 2022, we expect to have magnitudes which will be similar, maybe slightly higher in our estimated year-end figures compared to 2021, and that will be reinforced as we commission other assets in Chile and Peru in 2022. There are good news there. What we've seen in 2021 looked good, and Brazil performed very well, more than offsetting the impact of the regulatory review in Chile. We're expecting a relatively similar year in 2022, and for 2023, we'll see the positive impact of the commissioning of our assets in the countries.

Ignacio Doménech
Director and Equity Research Analyst, JB Capital Markets

Thank you.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

The next question comes from Jorge Alonso from Société Générale. Jorge, go ahead, please.

Jorge Alonso
Director and Iberian Utilities Equity Analyst, Société Générale

Hello. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for accepting the question. In fact, I've got a couple of questions. First of all, apart from investment and the rate of the investment, how fast will you be rolling it out? At the end of the period, how much of the CapEx put in by the company will not yet be generating revenues and will still be work in progress? Because the commissioning is really what establishes the rate of the revenues that you get in the TSO. The other question I have is also related to Chile. Could you perhaps give us your outlook for the future performance of revenues in the Chilean business once you've commissioned or once they've set up the new regulatory framework?

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much, Jorge. Let me take that first question first. The estimate that we have for the last year of the strategy plan is to manage work in progress of about EUR 1.5 billion. Remember that by that point in the plan, we will be really taking on most of the investment with the interconnection with France, Chira-Soria, as I've talked about to you, and with another EUR 400 million then work in progress. Over those years we will be investing about EUR 800 million per year. We're expecting a high commissioning rate in 2026 and 2027. By the milestone year of 2025, we will have a major volume of work in progress.

As for the volume of the commissioning rate, it's very similar to the investment rate that we're estimating through the strategy plan, about EUR 2.5 billion, EUR 2.8 billion to EUR 3 billion. That is more or less the figure we're looking at. 2025 is a very important year for work in progress because we're expecting a high volume of commissioning to go ahead in 2026 and 2027. Let me take your second question about Chile now. The revision of the regulatory framework in Chile will include a lot of guarantees. We have an initial estimate there.

There's a panel of experts you see that is reviewing and talking to all of the stakeholders for the recommendations that we'll be making with regard to the first proposal of the regulators. We are in that initial phase right now. That committee of experts has improved on the original approach that had been taken by the regulators in the initial proposal. The Ministry has to sign off finally the proposal. Remember, there's a new cabinet that will be taking up the role in the, I think it's the eighth of March. We'll have to see when the Ministry of Energy will finally actually sign off on that order and it will become definitive for the regulatory framework.

As Emilio said, we've looked at the impact, and we've put provisions in both for the adjustment in 2020 and 2021. In this year, EUR 10.9 million is that, is the figure. What else can we expect? We think that the regulatory framework will become more stable, and we will start to work on the next review for the next period. As always, we will defend our interests here, and if we think that the regulatory revision or the review has gone beyond what is a normal, reasonable approach, we will defend our position. But in our financial statements, we have prudently included the worst possible scenario.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Thank you very much. We don't have any more questions in Spanish, so we'll go on to the English question.

Operator

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypads. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. Please ensure that you are unmuted locally when you go to ask a question. We'll be taking our first question from Harry Wyburd of Bank of America. Harry, over to you.

Harry Wyburd
Director of European Equity Research, Bank of America

Hi. Thank you, everyone, for taking my questions. I'll just keep it to two. Firstly on EBITDA, you mentioned that you're expecting this year to be in line with last year's, about EUR 1.5 billion of EBITDA. Could you give us a figure for net income expectation for 2022, please? Secondly, you mentioned a fund for the energy transition with Red Eléctrica as an anchor investor. Could you give us a bit more color on what that is and how big a commitment you might make to that fund and what will be in it? Thank you.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Emilio, if you want to comment on the revenue review for financial year 2022.

Emilio Cerezo
CFO, Redeia

We think that in all the lines, our regulated business in Spain, in telecommunications, and the international revenues will be going up slightly against the previous year and will be basically in line with the expected figures in our strategy plan. EBITDA, there too, we think that we will be at similar levels to those of this year. Earlier on in the presentation, the CEO was talking about our TSO here in Spain with the plan to speed up our investments with the maintenance plan. However, there could be an impact on the EBITDA of the TSO, but in the rest of the businesses, we'll see an increase, a slight increase in their contribution compared to this year, which will mean approximately EBITDA will be at levels which might be slightly down, but more or less in line with this year.

Relating to your second question, Harry, with the experience we're getting with Elewit, monitoring and centralizing the innovation of the group, we've detected an enormous potential for the group and for the company, and we want to articulate it through the creation of a new fund for investment at innovation level linked to the energy transition. Evidently, that will count on the expertise of Elewit and the rest of the group in all the activities related to energy transition. We'll also have a top-level management company to launch a fund, an innovation fund linked to energy transition. Evidently, the group will put a big stake into that as part of the investments we have under the innovation plan. We're expecting to open this fund up to other investors, too, and other companies that might be interested in supporting innovation linked to energy transition.

We'd be delighted to bring them on board to the group's project that we are rolling out with Elewit, so that we'll have an investment in start-ups related to energy transitions, about EUR 60 million-EUR 100 million. We clearly want to invest in the energy transition and in innovation, so that's very much in line with our values, so we want to boost such ways of giving support to start-ups.

Operator

Thank you, Harry. As we don't have any further questions registered, I will hand back to the management team.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

We'll now look at the questions we've got through the webcast. In Barclays, they ask if there's an intention to sell off a minority stake in Hispasat in the medium term.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Thank you very much to you and for that question. As I did say in the presentation, in our strategy plan, we are assessing the possibility of perhaps unlocking the value of capitalizing on certain strategic assets, thinking particularly by Reintel. Hispasat is the other big telecoms company that we have in the group. It is performing very, very well, very positively. After the approval of the strategy plan, I think the company is making some enormous progress there in performance. Look at the results for 2021 and 2022. It looks a very positive and exciting year. We have verticalization initiatives, looking at transformation. We want to be a satellite services provider.

We think that both the performance of the company this year and also last year and for the performance we're expecting 2022 and moving ahead mean that we're not looking at selling any stakes in Hispasat at all. I think the Reintel transaction has perhaps covered that part of the strategy plan already, and we're very, very happy with the evolution, the performance of Hispasat as a company. We're not looking at making any divestment there. I personally think that the work that is being done is very positive in quite a complex setting. I think the results from this last year show very well just how much the company is doing.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Alfredo Navarro from Mirae Asset is asking whether the 2021-2026 planning covers the inflation of cost of the last few months. Does it include that?

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Well, in principle, what we do have in our regulatory framework, as I said before, is a review of our remuneration standards for construction, and there is a direct impact thinking about the next regulatory period. I think that is the impact that inflation can have on the construction being carried out by the Grupo Red Eléctrica.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

Then Arthur Sitbon from Morgan Stanley has a question about inflation, but it's already been answered, I think, in the room. The final question comes from Antonella Bianchessi from Citi, who asks if we can give some visibility about what will happen to net debt in 2022.

Roberto García Merino
CEO, Redeia

Yes. Thank you, Antonella, for that question. We've finished the year with a net financial debt for the group of about EUR 5.6 billion . You probably saw that figure in the presentation. If we're looking at that possible issue of hybrid bonds in comparative terms, could be included as debt, just like for like terms, we're estimating perhaps the group ending with a slightly lower debt figure, about EUR 5 billion . That's below the figure we recorded over the last year. Remember, there are a number of aspects there. We have to bring in about EUR 400 million . That's the improvement of working capital. We have to go back in the system. Remember we talked about that we had actually collected provisionally that because of work in the system.

We also have that, a positive cash inflow of more than EUR 900 million, as you know, because of the sale of more than 49% of a stake in Reintel. We will have to make some pretty big investments in all of our business lines, in the TSO activity, in Hispasat, and so on and so forth. We also have cash flow generation, which is pretty strong, as you've seen. To answer your question, basically, we're perhaps at five-point-something billion EUR, slightly below the figure we have now, including hybrid debt, as debt.

Laura de Rivera García de Leániz
Head of Investor Relations, Redeia

That's the very last question from the webcast. That brings the presentation results event to an end. Thank you very much to you all for joining us today.

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