Good morning. I'm Manuel Manrique, Chairman and CEO of Sacyr. Joining me today, as usual, is Carlos Mijangos, the company's CFO. Thank you very much, dear analysts, media outlet representatives, and investors for attending Sacyr's Financial Results Presentation for Fiscal Year 2024. At Sacyr, we are making steady progress in attaining the goals and commitments that we disclosed in May 2024 on our Investors' Day and subsequently in June during the annual general meeting. In the first year of this Strategic Plan 2024-2027 development, we have made significant progress, and the economic and financial results reported in 2024 are good proof of that. We rely on the best infrastructure project development platform. We also have a vertically integrated business model. We have a highly committed professional team, and we also rely on sustainable management.
We are confident that this growth drive will lead us to become the number one company in the world in transportation, health, and water infrastructure development by 2033. Our goal by 2033 is to reach an equity-committed concession assets that will range between EUR 4.5billion-EUR 5.5 billion, going all the way up to EUR 1.6 billion. And this Voreantis continues to make steady progress and will encompass most of our Brownfield concessions. And we will also allow for the joining of a financial partner. All the resources obtained will enable us to access better opportunities in order to continue developing new projects. In fiscal 2024, our Recourse Net Debt target, taking into account distributions from concessions and all the projects awarded, enables us to reach better results compared to the plan.
Our operating cash flow and equity committed enable us to make steady progress towards the target that we have set ourselves, and all this resulting from successful tenders. All these projects enable us to increase future dividend payout by EUR 1 billion coming from our concessions. All the way up from EUR 16 billion that we presented in May up to EUR 17 billion, that is to say 6.5 times the market capitalization of our company. I believe that this information bears witness to the capacity we have to generate cash flows in the future and therefore to keep on investing with well-established profitability while creating value for our shareholders. We have been reinforcing this message since the Investor Day. Our operating cash flow is the factor that best represents how our growth has been evolving, and this is also the best evidence of our business model.
In 2024, operating cash flow at Sacyr went up by 53% from EUR 148 million recorded in 2023, all the way up to EUR 1.294 billion this year. The cash flow EBITDA conversion ratio stands at 96%. If you take a look at the graph showing how financial assets work, those concessions with low or no demand risk or guaranteed revenue show that we are about to reach that point where EBITDA and cash flow curves intersect. Remember that this is like a Gauss curve when talking about financial assets, whereas cash flows is an upward curve over time. Over 90% of our EBITDA comes from concessions with demand risk mitigation mechanisms in place, which are accounted for as financial assets. Therefore, EBITDA goes down while cash flows go up gradually. In 2024, we were awarded five new projects in the concessions sector.
All in all, they account for virtually EUR 6 billion. Some examples include the City of Health in Turin in Italy through SIS, also the airports of Atacama and Antofagasta in Chile, Route 68 in Valparaíso in Chile, also the highway ring in Lima, Peru, among others. All these five awards will enable us to enhance our goal of being awarded between three to four contracts per year, as we disclosed during Investor Day. The success of our concessions has ramped up our backlog to a record high, surpassing EUR 10 billion, out of which 71% corresponds to our concessional projects. Sacyr's portfolio has also recorded a significant figure of nearly EUR 5 billion after several contracts awarded during fiscal 2024. This division is about to enter a new growth phase.
We are becoming increasingly more present in some large project tenders and in other countries, and we hope that all these projects will start bearing fruit shortly. The most important growth opportunities for Sacyr are now being tapped into in markets such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, and Chile. As a result, we will also be able to deliver on our revenue target, whereby one-third of our revenue will come from English-speaking countries, one-third from Europe, and one-third from Latin American countries, respectively. But that's not all. At Sacyr, we deliver and we commission all of our projects. Last year, we commissioned the Pamplona-Cúcuta highway in Colombia, the Central Railway in Uruguay, and the A21 highway in Italy. All these projects mean that we will be investing EUR 2.5 billion in aggregate, and this is already generating revenue sources.
As for the shareholder remuneration, I would like to underscore the 72% growth posted since 2020, all the way up to EUR 1.41 per share paid out in 2024. So that's the amount that was paid out in 2024. In January 2025, we paid out an interim dividend by way of a scrip dividend, accounting for one new share per every 40 old shares. If deemed convenient by the board, we will be submitting a proposal to the AGM in order to pay out dividend in cash in order to supplement the scrip dividend that has already been paid out. All these clear-cut steps towards an increased shareholder remuneration and also a contribution to fulfilling our strategic plan. Another commitment that we have fulfilled is related to the separation of top executive functions.
As you very well know, because we announced this in January, the board of directors of the company will submit a proposal to this year's AGM in order to appoint Mr. Pedro Sigüenza as executive director, to be subsequently appointed as CEO. Pedro Sigüenza, who is currently the managing director for the concessions division and with vast expertise at Sacyr across business areas, will be responsible for managing and developing these lines of business. Fiscal year 2024 also enabled us to continue ratifying and galvanizing our positioning on sustainability indexes and rankings as a benchmark company both in Europe and globally. This slide shows that we were able to notch up our ratings thanks to our commitment to the environment and society, involving all the resources working at Sacyr.
Finally, when taking a look at the key financials of our P&L account, let me underscore the low demand risk profile of our concessional assets. Since they are considered financial assets and since we are coming to the end of the completion of some key projects, our revenue is now stable and EBITDA slightly lower. However, with an operating cash flow that keeps on growing in an outstanding manner. Net profit also went up by 7.2% once we write off the activities of VSM and facilities in 2023. So, as a result, today we are presenting very satisfactory results that show the delivery of our commitments in fiscal 2024 while making steady progress in attaining our strategic goals, which we will certainly achieve. Next, Mr. Carlos Mijangos will give you more color on Sacyr's financial results for each of our lines of business.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let us now analyze the company's financial and economic performance. First of all, we are strongly committed to reducing recourse net debt. As you can see, we were able to reduce this debt by EUR 123 million. Now we stand at EUR 146 million. Therefore, the ratio achieved between EBITDA plus concession distribution is now 0.4 times, which is clearly lower than the one that we had undertaken under our strategic plan. As for the key operational and financial developments from an asset perspective, we can point out our I-10 Louisiana Highway project last year. The committed equity was EUR 520 million. We are contributing 30%, and that is the equity contributed for the seven-year period. We also closed the financing of this project through a specific formula that applies in the United States through private activity bonds, totaling EUR 1.333 billion, accounting for four tranches extending between 30-40 years.
They were classified as Baa3 by Moody's. Next, we also completed three forward contracts in January, May, and November, respectively, which shows that the company is strongly committed in this regard. We also increased capital amounting to EUR 222 million, with five times cover order books. That was the demand. As a result, we were able to create a high-quality order book with long-term investors in the infrastructure sector. Some of 2024 milestones include our Investor Day, which was celebrated in 2024 last year. All the information concerning this Investor Day is available on our website. The valuation of concession assets totaled EUR 3.551 billion last year, based upon three key pillars: growth in concessions. At the time, we had EUR 1 billion of equity already committed. Right now, that accounts for EUR 1.60 billion.
We were also committed to achieving financial discipline in order to obtain a good investment rate and during the plan, and also new shareholder remuneration allocating at least EUR 225 million in cash for our shareholders. As for the investment processes, we are now working actively in order to rotate mature assets in Colombia. We are now receiving binding offers, and as for Voreantis configuration, we have already engaged in several meetings with investors, and some stakeholders are already submitting some of their reports. We are going to include the updated models in our accounts, and the scope will be closed once divestments are completed. Regarding the group's consolidated net debt evolution, more than 600 corresponds to projects. We were able to cut this by 123 thanks to the recourse net debt. I would like to highlight funds from operations, EUR 1.94 billion.
As for EUR 667 million, this is EUR 59 million less compared to last year due to the fact that cash flows from those assets are already now paying all the project-related debts. Net investment continues to be a significant figure, EUR 836, capital increase minus EUR 220. And then we have dividends, leasing, and others that account for EUR 494 million. All in all, we recorded EUR 6.891 billion in terms of net debt. There was a 32% reduction in this recourse net debt. I would like to highlight the distribution of concessions over the past quarter. This is a seasonal development and also working capital over that period amounting to EUR 38 million. Net investment was EUR 69 million, out of which EUR 14 corresponds to equity committed to concessions and EUR 10 corresponds to financing flow, forex, and other. Therefore, we were able to report the amount that you can see on the screen.
If we now take into account the capital or the equity committed going forward by 2033 and taking into account four concessions awarded last year, you can observe that in 2025, we are going to have more committed equity, EUR 385. We believe that we are going to receive EUR 200 by 2026. This is going to change, and it's going to be half the number of distributions covered by investments, and here you can see how we still have a lot of financial leeway in order to keep on growing and being awarded new projects, and no doubt we will do so. In the course of the next three years, between 2026 and onwards, we are going to receive EUR 660 million. Therefore, we are going to have EUR 170 million in positive cash flows.
If we now talk about 2033, more than EUR 1.2 billion will be our capacity to receive dividends from our concessions and capital contributions. Now, where are we now operating? In which countries and in which projects are we engaged? As the Chairman pointed out before, from east to west, we are working in Australia, particularly in the water sector. We were shortlisted for several key projects, which are now being under a tender process. This includes water treatment plants, among other projects. We are working actively in this country, and we hope that these projects will start bearing fruit this year. In Italy, we tendered for the Novara Hospital in December, as well as the Highway 22. And we are also working on two sections of the highway in Italy for the A22 highway. And we believe that a new tender is going to be launched shortly in Canada.
We are now working on two hospitals. As for the Windsor-Essex Hospitals System, we are now submitting some final offers. We have also been shortlisted for the works at the Ontario Science Centre. In the United States, we observe that there is a huge avalanche of projects. Here we're talking about special highways with dedicated toll lanes. We have already been awarded the I-285 Express Lanes. We are going to be presenting another proposal for the second tranche between December and January. We were shortlisted for the Tennessee project, and we also hope that we will be shortlisted for the I-285 West Express Lanes, in addition to another project in Virginia. Other universities have opted for the same model that we are now developing successfully in Idaho. Regarding Chile, we are now tendering for the Route 5 project. This is a public interest project.
There are also other projects ongoing, such as the Coquimbo water treatment plants, another project in Antofagasta, and many other desalination plants that will be put to tender throughout the year, as well as wastewater plants. If we now take a look at revenue broken down by business areas, in the case of concession, revenue went down by 9%, out of which operating revenue coming from concessions went up by 5%, whereas construction revenue went down by 38%. Therefore, EBITDA is led by 2%, with margins standing at 65%. You should take into account that operating revenue includes financial assets that produce fewer financial income and therefore less EBITDA as a result of the commissioning of assets that peak their EBITDA upon opening, and also due to the fact that other projects have a lower finance income over time.
Other projects, however, have a positive impact, and then financial assets have an effect when they generate EBITDA, such as the Buga-Buenaventura Highway. As for construction projects, which are accounted for as part of the investments that are undergoing, they went down by 40% because we completed projects concerning some of our key contracts, such as the Pamplona-Cúcuta Highway or Ferrocarril Central in Uruguay. However, other projects, such as the Velindre Hospital and the Chilean projects in Valles del Desierto, are making a contribution to this result. We have already been shortlisted for the I-285 Express Lanes project and the I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes. As for the key financials, EUR 229 million were received from concession distributions, and we have invested nearly 1.7, 85% of this equity has already been allocated to operational assets. Therefore, the risk of this kind of activity is low.
Equity committed in 2024 was EUR 175 million, and as I said before, we were awarded five new concessions. If we now take a look at the breakdown by country and we factor in Italy, due to some administrative reasons, we have to account for these figures in the construction division in complying with Italian standards. However, out of 60 assets, the four key assets are Italy, Colombia, Chile, and Spain. All in all, they account for 80% of the company's EBITDA and activity. And here we continue delivering solid and recurring revenue. If we now take a look at the infrastructure and engineering division, revenue remained steady, almost flat. EBITDA went down by 26%, whereas the backlog went up by 41%, mainly due to all the awards last year and due to the construction contracts that are associated to such new concessions.
On the EBITDA side, let me specifically give you some more color to account for this reduction. Italy has to be accounted for in the division books, particularly the Pedemontana-Veneta asset. This is a financial asset that in 2023, in December 2023, it was commissioned, but the impact was not transferred over to 2024. When you complete the construction phase of a financial asset, all the accumulated inflation has to be written off the P&L account and also the [Worson's grants that had to be adjusted when commissioning the project. Therefore, we have EUR 220 million less coming from Pedemontana-Veneta. But if we write off this accounting effect, we can say that this division generated EUR 112 million of EBITDA, accounting for a 13% increase year on year with a 4.8% margin, almost 5%, which is the target under our strategic plan.
71% of the backlog corresponds to Sacyr concessions. From the standpoint of the milestones of the year, we have already completed nine projects in the United States, and we were awarded another project in Q4 2024. Here you can see the key awards in Italy. In 2024, we were awarded the Via del Mare, the Chieri Hospital, the Catania project, in the UK, the Velindre Hospital, which is currently under construction. Also, EUR 300 million in Spain, including the Boadilla del Monte Hospital, also the maintenance of the Dublin Rail infrastructure. This accounts also for EUR 76 million. We are also working on the I-10 Highway, and there are also other awards such as the Ring Highway project in Lima. Finally, the projects in Chile and the Alameda-Melipilla project accounting for nearly EUR 300 million. Now, let us move to the water division.
Revenue accounted for EUR 245, up 8%, and EBITDA of EUR 51, up 3%, with a margin of nearly 20.6%. Many projects were awarded in fiscal 2024 that will make a significant contribution throughout 2025 to boost the company's revenue and EBITDA. Let me highlight the Águilas Desalination Plant, which is going to be the largest in Spain, the Torrevieja Desalination Plant in Alicante as well, and the Cuevas del Almanzora Desalination Plant in Almería. There are also other assets in Australia and Chile, which are also performing very well, contributing to the growth of this division, with a total equity of EUR 121 million being committed and a total backlog standing at EUR 4.826 billion. As a conclusion, we can say that the concession success is a pillar in order to deliver on our goals.
We were able to increase operating cash flows by 53% with an EBITDA to cash flow conversion of 96%. With a ratio of our recourse net debt of 0.4 times, we were able to grow by being awarded five new projects, with short-term and medium-term new projects. We were able to separate the executive functions of the Chairman and the CEO, and as for Colombia, we are now divesting in the country, and we are receiving some binding offers for the rotation of assets in the country.
Thank you very much for your presentation, Carlos. We are now ready to answer the questions from the investors.
We are going to start with a Q&A session. We are going to start with the questions coming through the telephone line, and afterwards, we will move on to the questions coming in through the webcast line. You can ask your question by pressing Star 5 on your telephone keypad. The first question is by João Safara from Santander. Please, João, go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I have three questions. The first question is the following. It's concerned with the dividend payout. How should we interpret those EUR 225 million that you're going to be allocating to dividend in the coming years? You're going to be paying dividend this year. This is going to be the first payment. What should we expect going forward? Should this be EUR 0.14 in 2024? Is that what we should expect? Could you give us more color therefore with regard to your dividend approach? The second question is concerned with the Pe dem ontana project.
I would like to know whether any progress has been made in the negotiations with the Veneto stakeholders, whether any advancement can be reported, and then I have one final question concerning some news published in Expansión newspaper yesterday concerning some delays in some extraordinary collections in Uruguay. Apparently, you might file a case before the International Court of Arbitration in order to sort out this situation. Could you please give us more color on the matter? and finally, as far as I understand, the investment had already been made by the construction company, and therefore this had already been recognized in your debt. However, once the payment is received, that net or that debt figure should be reduced.
Okay, we are going to answer João in just a minute. Good morning, João. As for your question concerning the dividend, this is going to be set by the board of directors to be subsequently proposed to the annual general meeting. However, let me refer you to what we disclosed during the investor day. We fulfilled all of our commitments undertaken at the time. We said that in 2025, we're going to make the first payment of dividend in cash, and we're going to fulfill that promise. And we said that total dividend in 2025 and in 2026 and 2027 will continue to grow according to our strategic plan. Therefore, this is going to be the smallest payment, so to speak, because it corresponds to half a fiscal year. This is going to be the smallest dividend payout. That's what we announced at the time. That is what we are going to do.
As for the Pedemontana-Veneta project, we are constantly engaged in conversations with government officials, but striking a balance is difficult. It takes time. We said that it's going to take us about six months on average, but we have to wait and see. Regarding Uruguay, after the contract was amended twice in September 2024, the contract was formalized, but then there were some caveats by the Ministry of Finance of the country. Therefore, we had to engage in further renegotiations, and the contract had to be amended once again, and that contract had been signed by the Minister of Public Works, for your information. Now, there will be a change of national government in the country, and there are some discrepancies with the Minister of Finance, and that's why there has been a delay in the payment.
In fact, we have filed a case before the International Court of Arbitration. However, both ministers have recognized this debt, and they said that this situation is going to be sorted out as soon as they look into it over the next weekend. And as a matter of fact, this expense has already been accounted for in the construction division's statements. Therefore, as soon as we get the payment, that debt is going to be written off. Thank you very much.
The next question is by Fernando Lafuente from Alantra. Please go ahead. Fernando, you are unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Unfortunately, we cannot hear you, Fernando, so now we are going to start with the questions coming in through the webcast line. The first question is from Bank of America, Mr. Christensen.
The question is, based on additional investments foreseen in 2025 and recent awards, do you believe that the rotation of assets in Colombia will enable you to keep your leveraging ratio below the net recourse debt? That's question number one. Number two, can you give us the timeline concerning the situation of the divestment in Colombia while we wait for the binding offer? And with operating cash flow close to the target set in 2024 Investor Day, should we expect a more moderate growth going forward, or could the targets announced at the time be ramped up? We'll get back to you in a minute.
Okay, let me answer Julia's question. The additional investments accounted for EUR 460 million related to the projects already awarded to Sacyr, and that takes us to an investment of EUR 385 million during 2025. One of the drivers in order to reduce debt is concerned with the completion of the projects in Colombia. If you take a look at slide 19 of the presentation, 2026 and 2027 give us a lot of room in order to recover and reduce debt with dividends received, and next, there is another driver that is concerned with the refinancing of projects now that interest rates are going down. Therefore, we have different alternatives to keep that ratio below the one-time ratio. With regard to the divestment in Colombia, we are now receiving binding offers, so as this phase is completed, we will keep you posted. As for operating cash flows, which was near the target we set ourselves, we are also involved in a deleveraging process in the investment process, so once that process comes to an end, we will analyze the situation further. Perhaps we might increase our targets if suitable.
Miguel González from JB, you asked the following question, but I believe that it has just been answered. Cash flow performed very well, closing at 1.3. Could you give us an outlook for next year? And do you think that by 2027, the targets might be changed? The Chairman has already answered that. You also spoke about the A22 project, including a budget of EUR 9 billion, which seems to be quite a big project for the SIS party. Are you considering the possibility of bringing in another partner to the consortium? We'll answer in a minute. Thank you.
As for the A22 project, the submittal timeline has been deferred until the end of March. We are going to be submitting a proposal jointly with SIS. For the time being, we do not envisage bringing on board another partner.
Filipe Leite asks from CaixaBank about the rebalancing of the Pedemontana-Veneta project and the current Voreantis process. He also asks about our working capital estimation for 2025 and whether the company has any visibility about the payment of cash dividend to be paid in cash, but that is going to be subject to approval by the AGM. So the question is concerned with working capital for 2025 and the performance of the Voreantis project.
Regarding Voreantis, financial advisors have advised us to look for the right time window. Apparently, there is another ongoing operation right now, and therefore we should wait for a better timing. We normally conduct due diligence procedures. We are almost ready. We are coming to the completion stage. Many fund stakeholders have expressed their interest, and we are also waiting for the completion of the divestment processes in Colombia and Chile, respectively. Regarding the performance of working capital in 2025, it's going to be affected by seasonality, by the business seasonality. Q1 is normally the worst, the Q4 being normally the best. We believe that the figures will eventually be normalized, and therefore impact will be low this year, if any.
The next question is by Alantra, Álvaro Lence and Fernando ask whether the EUR 300 million target on account of equity committed to concessions for 2024-2027, EUR 140, has already been committed. Perhaps we will forecast, taking into account the achievements in 2024 and the current pipeline. The second question is, how do you feel about the divestment transaction in Colombia? Can you give us more color on the matter? And the third question is concerned with organic cash flow generation.
I believe that that question has already been answered. Regarding the amount of EUR300 million, if we achieve that amount, we are going to extend it further. The same as with operating cash flow. If we deliver those targets ahead of the completion of our strategic plan, we will therefore enhance our targets. We will set ourselves more ambitious targets. Regarding Colombia, we are, of course, interested in this process. We are getting a multitude of questions every day, field visits. We're quite successful. All stakeholders have shown great interest in the different assets. We are therefore very optimistic. Having said that, we are now waiting. I believe that in March, we will get an outcome for each of the binding offers.
The next question is by Álvaro Navarro. I believe, Álvaro, that some questions have already been addressed. I'd like to clarify that concessions in 2025 will have a net balance of EUR 180 in dividends minus capital contributions.
Carlos already mentioned that. Are we going to finance this through asset rotation, where Carlos already spoke about the refinancing of our assets? And with regard to the Voreantis project, that question has already been answered. If we find another transaction like Voreantis, do you think that this could account for some issues with the I-285 due to an increase in payments?
You know that equity has to be contributed at a later point in time. Now, projects in the United States are normally subject to long permitting processes, award processes. Usually, the timeline is quite prolonged or lengthy, so the offers will not be submitted until next year. So we have plenty of time ahead. On the other hand, our offers in the United States are not subject to the Voreantis transaction. Actually, this transaction will give us enough financial soundness in order to undertake such projects. And the maturity terms and capital contributions will take place over time and in a gradual manner.
There are no further questions. Now, let me give the floor back to the Chairman.
If there are no further questions, thank you very much for your attendance and interest, and we look forward to meeting you again for the reporting of Q1 2025 financial results. Have a nice day.