Good morning, everyone, welcome to the Tubacex Results Release for 2025. I'm Raquel Ruiz, responsible for investor relations. I'm with our CEO, Josu Imaz , and our Financial Director, Guillermo Ruiz-Longarte. We'll start the session with a brief descriptions of the main highlights and magnitudes during the year, then we'll move on to a Q&A. I remind you that all questions should be sent in writing. You can use the tool provided on the webcast. I'll now hand over to Josu Imaz .
Thank you very much, Raquel, welcome to this Result Release for the Year 2025. As Raquel said, we start with a review of the main items in the year, the first has to be the situation of general uncertainty and the context of general weakness in the market that has affected the activity volumes globally. As a result, it gives us a sales figure for the year of EUR 719.3 million, which means a drop of 6.3% versus the sales figure in 2024. In spite of all this, the group has maintained a stable profitability with an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 105.8 million, practically in line with the EBITDA obtained in the previous year, and an improvement in the EBITDA margin up to 14.17% versus 13.9% the previous year.
This improvement is supported by our positioning in premium markets and products, as well as obviously the operational cost discipline. Another relevant item this year, as mentioned earlier, is the extraordinary non-recurring, non-cash accounting adjustments that have been made to align the valuation of certain assets with the current market situation. Overall, the impact of these adjustments on EBITDA has been EUR 30.7 million, EUR 49.3 million on the EBIT, and EUR 47.2 million on net income. On the other hand, regarding the order book, it closed the year at a figure of EUR 1.233 billion, therefore, at high levels and with a majority weight of high value-added products, premium products in highly demanding segments.
On the other hand, regarding the balance sheet evolution during this year, we have to say that it has been clearly driven by working capital, mainly linked to the ramp-up of strategic projects. In this sense, in the fourth quarter, we have started the normalization of the working capital levels, thanks to the progress made in billing and collections, both globally for the group and specifically under the contract we are carrying out for ADNOC. We can also highlight that within the strategic review, the company strengthens its focus on cash generation and also on the improvement of return metrics, as value creation levers.
In shareholder remuneration, we have to underline that we maintained the 40% payout dividend policy on adjusted net profit, in this sense, we will propose a distribution of EUR 6.4 million, which obviously is subject to approval by our general shareholders meeting. Looking ahead to 2026, at the end of the presentation, we'll go into greater depth, but the company maintains a prudent outlook in an environment where there's still uncertainty and volatility, where we will have a clear focus on cash generation, working capital control, and profitable growth. I'll now hand over to our CFO, Guillermo.
First of all, good morning, everyone, and thank you very much for spending this time with us this morning to review the results of the company.
In general, and as a general introduction, as usual, the presentation of the results is an immediate snapshot of the recent past, but it's also a base to analyze where we come from and where we want to go in the immediate future of the company. I'm going to try to shed some light on the main magnitudes in the P&L, cash generation, and balance sheet, to look at where we are, what the main effects have been during 2025, that externally and internally, I think have been very significant, and make a comparison with the recent past, 2024, and with what's ahead of us in 2026. Moving on to the main figures, and I'm going to try not to repeat too much of what Josu has said.
It's a stable year in business volume, the sales figure. There's a drop of 6%, but in a year where fundamental variables such as nickel in our sales or the dollar depreciation during the dollarized value chain have an impact on this figure. Therefore, this is an initial message of sales stability in a geopolitical environment that is really complicated, not just for Tubacex, but for the entire business or industrial world. Regarding the EBITDA, we highlight that we closed the year at 105.8%. At companies like Tubacex, with the use of its capacity is important when it comes to analyzing the implicit profitability. Being close to 15% in this environment reveals the proper product mix or the production and commercial vision of the group.
T his transfer to the whole P&L chain takes us to an EBIT of around EUR 58 million. Earnings before taxes are very much in line with the EUR 30 million obtained last year. When we look at the net profit in the last line, we have to understand that in the company's strategy, and as an effect that we've looked for, which is strategic, we work with benchmark partners that are very important in the main countries of destination for our products, such as Abu Dhabi or the Mubadala Group, on a strategic and financial level. This is what gives us the overview of the P&L. Regarding working capital and net financial debt, I think that there are two aspects that need to be highlighted.
First of all, in 2025, I think that the short video we saw at the presentation shows us that it's a historic year for the company. It's historic for the startup and an investment of EUR 90 million in Abu Dhabi. We're talking about one of the business cases in country value that are of the most spectacular in the industrial world, with an outstanding future that is linked to a $1 billion project for the supply of high alloys. with EUR 324 million working capitals, close to EUR 310 million in 2024, when we've had to do all the stock ramp-up during this year.
Having done it means that the plant is working, it's operating, it's selling, and it's stocking all this product, and this has been a challenge of an enormous magnitude. There's also a message regarding this point. We're currently at 45% of working capital over sales, and our working capital is always linked to projects, and it's always sold, and collection is insured. Regarding the regularization of the working capital and stock flow, obviously, the aspiration is to reduce that ratio in the shortest possible time. The net financial debt ends up at 3.3 times over three, and again, our strategic ultimate goal in a reasonable period of time is to be below two.
As indicated in the working capital over sales ratio, in the end, this position is going to progressively improve as the invoicing and cash generation flows improve. This is just a message that the comparison of the figures is always complex, but in a year like 2025, even more so because of the investment in plant CapEx and the ramp-up of working capital related to the whole Abu Dhabi project, and the company's capacity regarding results and balance sheet to absorb this effect. Moving on to more figures from the income statement, the stability I've mentioned, although we realize that we've had effects from the nickel and dollar that represent $25 million in the turnover to make it comparable.
Regarding the profitability ratio, when companies talk about added value products, we have to put our feet on the ground. This trend of 14.4%, which has been a challenge to achieve during the year, we have products related to the nuclear sector with high alloy piping in oil and gas extraction under extreme conditions or the subsea product, which is mainly produced in the Austria plant, with a very significant integration with the rest of the plants in the group, including the steel plant and the plants in Spain. This is what's making it possible in a complicated geopolitical sector, affected by tariffs, with delays in key projects. Even so, we're able to maintain this profitable situation.
Regarding the balance sheet, it was mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, we had a very high peak of working capital in September 2025. At that time, we concluded the stock ramp-up, that is the production startup for the logistics side of the ADNOC project. Also, Tubacex, years ago, only produced pipe and now produces pipe and connections. It stocks them and provides well services. It's not that ADNOC contracts the product, but the product, the service, and the value chain, which is absolutely critical for its operations in the emirate. This effort was completed in September. It started to be normalized in December, and it's going to be a continuum during the whole year.
We cannot promise that during certain quarters, there won't be peaks in the working capital. If there are, it will be good news because that can only mean that we're speeding up a project that has committed $1 billion as a minimum value at 80% of the future needs of the emirate with this kind of product. We can consider the investment has been started up, the project has been consolidated and is being launched. A project which initially we felt could be developed over a 10-year period, but at the current pace, it would be more around six or seven years. Also a mention of a number of aspects that I think show how sure we are about the things we do. We've taken on this project construction.
The CapEx has been irrelevant in the year and obviously has an impact on cash and debt. During 2025, we paid an extraordinary dividend, not just the ordinary dividend. A company that is building working capital and is building a plant from scratch in the Emirate, must be very sure of what it does to provide dividend of EUR 25 million in the year. This means that it has to start from a balancing situation that is liquid, solid, safe and solvent, which is our starting point. We always refer to the cash available, which is the sum of the cash and the available lines without any kind of conditioning factors in their availability.
This is EUR 256 million, if we add export lines dedicated to the project, have provided for its utilization, this would take it over EUR 300 million. Regarding solvency, we have a net equity over total assets of 32%. In a year where our shareholders' equity is conditioned by the conversion of balance sheets into dollars or dollarization. In other words, any activity we have in the Emirates, in the U.S., in India, has been affected by the dollar depreciation, and therefore, from an accounting point of view, our net equity ratio goes down because of that effect. Also, there is an automatic accounting effect, which is the adjustment Josu mentioned at the beginning.
This goes against the net equity of the company, but even with that effect, we closed over 30% of net equity over total assets. I said at the beginning that a P&L and a balance sheet is a snapshot of the immediate past, but it's also a snapshot of the solidity of what's coming on a strategic and business level. With this, I'll hand the floor back to Josu to give us a bit more color on the sales mix, the commercial position, the order backlog, and the future situation of the company.
Thank you very much, Guillermo. As Guillermo was saying, we'll look at the breakdown of our sales by sector and geography during the year.
We have to say that in 2025, the sales breakdown was characterized by a very balanced mix, with a very significant share of premium and strategic products, where products for extraction and production stand out mainly for gas, with 52.3% over sales, with this combination of extraction and production of gas and oil. The industrial segment represented over 25% of the annual sales, power generation 7.5%, and Aerospace 5.3%, which is very significant. This segment is starting to take on a significant weight in our sales mix. Therefore, a diversified sector mix, which together with the broad geographic exposure, helps us reduce the cyclicity of the group's business.
If we look at the breakdown by geographies, Asia and Middle East account for 44% of our sales, mainly explained by the relative weight of the Middle East in the already mentioned gas extraction and production sector. This exposure, which may seem high, is absolutely aligned with the company's strategic objectives, and the reason is that the Middle East is a key market, in fact, the main world market, not just for the group, but in the pipe segment we mentioned earlier. Sales breakdown by sector and by geography, which is diversified, balanced, and with a very good foundation to continue to build opportunities in the coming years. With all this, the order book, as mentioned earlier, closed the year at EUR 1,233 million.
In terms of its composition, the order book shows a predominant weight of gas extraction and production, 79.6%, and is highly concentrated in high-value added products. This 79.6% in gas extraction and production is obviously directly linked to the mega pluriannual contract with ADNOC that Guillermo mentioned, amounting to over $1 billion. For the coming quarters, the opportunity pipeline remains robust, and I would say particularly in the subsea and nuclear segments, but we cannot forget that uncertainty persists in the award timelines and the pace of conversion into orders. Therefore, the pipeline is robust. The quantity and quality of opportunities leaves our mind at rest. The issue is the timing in, and the conversion of all this pipeline into purchase orders to feed the order book.
Trying to give some details and color to the commercial activity of the group in 2025, we're going to review the main trends for each industry we serve. In extraction and production of gas and oil, we mentioned our position in OCTG. As we said, a very significant weight in annual sales, with deliveries mainly to ADNOC and Petrobras, which have been made according to the planned schedule. In Subsea, the book remains at record levels. We have 18 months of workload already committed, and the trend continues to be very positive, supported by a robust project pipeline for at least the next three years.
In drilling, we're starting to see a gradual improvement in commercial activity, which hasn't been turned into orders yet, but it makes us reasonably optimistic about the coming quarters and half years. In the process industry, mid and downstream, there have been lower levels with CapEx and OpEx decisions that have been pushed back from 2025 to 2026. This segment is where the percentage of premium product is less significant, and therefore it's where we first feel new orders when the economy shows a certain weakness.
In this context, the methanol segment stands out as one of the more active areas driven by projects linked to a lower carbon footprint fuels, and we expect a gradual recovery in maintenance activity at U.S. refineries from Q2 onwards, according to current forecasts. Regarding fertilizers, the focus has been on progressing in our qualifications and developing commercial opportunities with customers. We hope that in time, again, they will start to turn into orders and activity for our plants. In the generation sector, in the 4th quarter of 2025, there have been relevant orders in Asia, specifically for the supply of ultra-supercritical boilers for the Chinese market. In Europe, orders have also been confirmed in the nuclear sector with our customer, EDF, including the supply of products for Hinkley Point.
That's very relevant, and we have also received maintenance contracts for traditional plants in France. For 2026, we have to recognize that the expectations in the nuclear sector are very positive. We have tenders in Europe with EDF and with Westinghouse, too. Regarding the SMRs, the new generation of small modular power stations is moving forward, although the decision timelines are still long. At the same time, we're focusing on new combined cycle operations that will be seemingly taking off, especially in the European market. In the Aerospace and defense sector, as we said earlier, it's been a very positive year, with a market that is more and more oriented towards long-term programs, where we have expanded multi-annual agreements with several of our customers, mainly in the United States.
This region is still a key region, we expect that in the future, our growth will also take place in Europe and India. In other markets, the hydraulic and instrumentation market, where, as well as the award of the first phase of the Ruya project in Qatar, we have had or made significant progress in opportunities in high-demand industrial applications. In the low-carbon segment, we have also made progress in decarbonization solutions, with quite a lot of activity in CO2 capture projects, hydrogen, and coatings focused on increasing the efficiency and reducing emissions in industrial processes.
Moving on to the main indicators, main ESG indicators, the general comment is that in practically all the main indicators, we have either made reasonable progress focused on reaching the goals that we set in 2023, or some of the indicators in 2025 have already exceeded the goal. If we go sector by sector, starting with the environment, energy intensity in 2025 has reached a figure of 1.5. Emissions intensity, 1 and 2, has been 0.21 tonnes of CO2 per EUR million of gross added value. Regarding the percentage of renewable energy that the group has used, the figure is 35.2%.
In the circular economy, the result is 82.2% of waste recycled out of the total waste generated. Moving on to the supply chain, we've reached 92.7% of our supply network that has already been evaluated under ESG factors. Regarding people and diversity, the gender pay gap is at 5.1%. We have provided 21.6 hours of training per person during the year. In the two health and safety indicators, the first lost time injury frequency rate 38.6%, and severity rate evolution 40.6%. In all cases, either we've made positive progress towards the goals set out for 2030 or in 2025, we've already surpassed the goal. Now I'll hand over to Raquel, so that she can comment on the share price performance during 2025.
Regarding the share price performance, in the chart, we can see two very different sequences. We started the year with a very positive trend. We reached a maximum in March of EUR 4.39 per share. From that time on, the so-called Liberation Day came along, and the announcement of tariffs in the U.S., as well as a period of major uncertainty. We see a drop, a drastic drop, which is simultaneous and similar in all industrial company sectors.
After this initial drop, there's a rebound, but we didn't go back to the levels before that announcement. In the second half of the year, the share has fluctuated in line with the uncertainty and weakness we've mentioned for the whole market. Even so, the share closed the year at EUR 3.35, which means a market cap of EUR 422 million and a revaluation of 2.5% positive. This is not a major revaluation, but it does show the resilience of the Tubacex share, even in environment that is highly challenging. Therefore, to close the presentation on what 2025 have meant, we could say that it's been a resilient execution and operational discipline in a challenging environment. We've mentioned the macroeconomic uncertainty, which has left a mark on the year for the company.
Guillermo mentioned, the strategic, historic, highlight of having been able to start up our Abu Dhabi plant, which, as he mentioned, you were able to see in the introductory video, and also the landmark related to Sentinel Prime and the license agreement with ADNOC for its use in non-CRA applications that allow us to strengthen our premium position in the markets that we compete in, and also gives us independence and autonomy that we didn't have in the past, and therefore enables us to access markets that until now were not accessible through our own resources.
We've also mentioned profitability with an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 105.8 million and a margin of 14.7%, in spite of the uncertainty and the weakness of the market that we've mentioned several times. We've mentioned the voluntary adjustments that were announced earlier. We close with a reminder on the unchanged dividend policy for our shareholders. To close the presentation, we would like to briefly review how we see the current year. In what has to do with the market conditions, we have to recognize that 2026 is still starting in a volatile environment that is still marked by macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, and therefore, we cannot overlook the fact that the context is challenging.
In this challenging context, we are both prudent and optimistic. We believe that we have robust opportunities. Everything we've mentioned in this presentation gives us confidence in the foundations that this company has built in recent years, and this is corroborated by the robustness of the opportunity pipeline that we also mentioned, especially in the umbilical and nuclear sectors. Although there is still a question mark about what timelines will be in effect in the coming months, quarters, and half years. We have to maintain a highly disciplined and prudent approach, prioritizing profitability and generating cash flow and balance sheet management. Therefore, the priorities for 2026 are very clear.
The first consists on focusing on operational deleveraging through the working capital normalization, which, as we said, already started in the last quarter of the last year, and therefore converting activity into cash generation. The second priority is to reinforce capital allocation discipline, prioritizing, as we also mentioned, improvements in return metrics. The third priority for the whole organization this year is to drive efficiency and operational excellence, and being very selective in our commercial activity in order intake, prioritizing higher value-added and more profitable projects. To close, we'd like to remind you of the most relevant upcoming events.
On May 28th, we'll be holding our annual general shareholders meeting. As we announced a few weeks ago, during the first half, we will also have the opportunity of updating the conclusions of the strategic review that we've been developing over the past few months.
Raquel, I think that we can move on to the questions.
Thank you both very much. We start with a question on the ADNOC project and its contribution to sales in 2025, and the expected contribution to sales in 2026. We've said during the presentation that the Abu Dhabi plant is fully operational. They also ask about the degree of satisfaction and quality of the customers regarding that plant. Once the plant has started up, how is it running?
The contribution from the ADNOC project, as we've mentioned, the contribution is between EUR 100 million-EUR 150 million per year, approximately. In 2025, the specific figure, I think, was more or less in the middle of range. EUR 126 million in 2025, the forecast for 2026 is EUR 150 million if everything goes well. We were saying that the mega contract amounts to over $1 billion, we have to recognize that the contribution to sales, the conversion of that contract into specific supply orders in the first quarters and half years, has been faster than was initially expected.
Therefore, these are the contribution figures, the specific quantitative figures, and qualitatively, the fact is that the plant is working exceptionally well. We're very satisfied with how the whole preparation and startup process has been carried out. The plant is fully operational, and the standards applied there are the group standards for maximum exigency, and therefore, there is absolutely absolute respect for company standards, and this means that the feedback from the companies is highly positive, both with regard to quality and lead time deliveries. We're also asked about what the utilization rate is currently for the Abu Dhabi plant, and whether we're already shipping orders to other ADNOC customers.
We're still shipping only to ADNOC from there, but in the opportunity pipeline, there are also interesting opportunities in the OCTG market, which the Abu Dhabi plant works with. Regarding the utilization rate, we still have margin for growth. Therefore, we're still a long way from saturating the plant, and I think that in the past, we've mentioned that it's a market segment where the growth potential is enormous, and we believe that we have a perfect industrial base to take on that growth. In line with that, I'd like to add something that is obvious to us at Tubacex, but perhaps not to the market.
A few moments ago, I said that it had been a landmark to complete the building of the plant, to do it in one year, to have it fully operational, to do the stock ramp up, and someone might ask: Well, how did you do that if the plant was still being built? It's a very simple answer. The cold rolling facilities and pipe finishing, CRA finishing facilities at Amurrio, what we've done is to double the capacity with absolutely new technology, with a more productive technology than the one we had at Amurrio. At Abu Dhabi, the goal, obviously, is to help the ADNOC project, and it launches a multivalent concept.
While we didn't complete the cold rolling process, we were cold rolling in Amurrio and finished it in Abu Dhabi. Now we're cold rolling in Abu Dhabi and finishing the product there. There's another aspect related to the solidity of the value chain. At first, when we looked at this project many years ago, nobody would have known that it was going to be a machine with our Sentinel Prime proprietary thread. This is what we're doing right now. We have doubled, let's say, the cold rolling production capacity and threading capacity. We have a proprietary solution that means that the complete profit for the integral process is retained within the company, and we have absolute flexibility, and we gain time in production and lead time.
To that, we have the typical historical characteristics of Tubacex with our own steel plant and our own hot extrusion facilities. What does this mean? That since we have an open model with regard to the finishing capabilities, we are working with not with Emirates, with Petrobras, wherever. The fact is that the group is integrated, it's capable of doing it, and we have the capacity to continue to move forward in all the CRA projects that come up. We're congratulated on the results in a complicated environment. They're consolidating a bit of EUR 100 million, but they're also asking whether we can give some more color on the guidance for 2026, and specifically another question which goes further, more detailed in that guidance.
They also directly ask whether we believe, based on our current order book, can we continue to increase margins in 2026? We've said that we're going to put the focus on the normalization of working capital. What would be a reasonable debt for the end of 2026?
A lot of questions. I'll start with the last question, which is the easy one. In the balance sheet we presented and regarding the adjusted EBITDA, we finished at 25 at 3.3 at a time of a working capital ramp-up and strong activity.
The immediate goal, without having a crystal ball on how working capital can evolve during 2026, but the aim is to be below three at the end of 2026, even though we know that it's a very demanding goal, bearing in mind the situation or the saturation or the speed up of the Abu Dhabi project. We believe that we have the means, both technically, commercially, or financially, to be able to do it. Regarding guidance, I'll put the ball back in Josu court in a second, but I would like to contextualize the guidance for 2026. There are two sides to the coin. There's a geopolitical situation of uncertainty, it's external, and it not just affect us, but it affects many companies regarding how it affects and delays projects.
In many cases or in many segments of our products, it's hard to forecast precisely. In line with what I was saying earlier, the group is set up to make use of all the opportunities to improve the results we've had in 25. Probably to make an estimate today, we would have to await both things. We're working in a weak environment, except in certain product segments, such as SURF or CRA or high added-value products. There's a weakness in market volumes, and we have to take into account. Whatever we estimate, we have to be prudent, but we always have to leave the door open.
As the year goes by, there will always be operations or upside possibilities that may be reflected or not in the P&L in 26, or may be reflected in the order book and business development in 27. I'm just contextualizing this because, let's see if Josu dares to give us some color for 26.
Yes, we never give guidance and on this, and this isn't going to be an exception. As we've said several times today, the context situation leads to continuity, and our forecasts run along the lines of continuity with not minor uncertainties because of everything we've already mentioned. Something we mentioned once, but I would like to highlight, we're going to be commercially very selective.
In a situation of market weakness, there's always the risk of trying to grow in a less profitable way. Our focus is going to be exclusively on profitable growth. In a market situation where it's difficult to foresee sales growth, the first priority in the year, which I've already mentioned, focus is on cash generation. Therefore, independently of the sales volume we're finally capable of achieving in the year, what is clear to us is that this is going to be a cash generation year. Continuing with cash and debt, we're directly asked whether we continue to maintain our goal of reaching a net debt over EBIT ratio of under two in 2027, considering the current market context we're in.
The answer to that, which isn't simple, is that as an aspiration, the answer will always be yes. The necessary circumstances have to come about to do it. Josu mentioned it several times during his presentation, and regardless of the activity volumes we're developing at each point in time, the focus is always going to be on the efficient use of capital and cash generation. This means that in all areas, on an operational and commercial level of the company, discipline in capital return and free cash flow is going to be looked at in the greatest detail. When we say this, it's because there are plans at the company to achieve those objectives.
I'm sure, as I always say, without being able to guess, the final working capital figure will have not at the end of 26, but after a longer period, at the end of 27. In view of the intrinsic value of the order book, the focus on cash and all the levers of the company pointed in this direction, we are initially going to be under three. We're going to be between two and three times, and at certain points and under certain circumstances, we'll reach that goal of two, although we can't precisely say in which month of 2027 that's going to happen, because that would be impossible. The trend has already started. There are levers that are being implemented, so we are certain that we're doing things right, and we either meet that goal or we'll be very close to it in the timeframe mentioned.
Thank you, Guillermo. What has been the impact on sales and EBITDA in 2025 in the North American Tubacex market as a result of Trump's protectionist policies?
I think that the sales figure in the North American market in 2025 was around almost EUR 150 million, and a very high percent of those sales are sales from our North American plants. Therefore, the direct effect of the tariff policies of the American government on sales has been small. It's true.
That our sales from our North American plants, and from the plants of our competitors, which in some case use imported raw materials, but we compete under the same conditions as the rest of the players in that market. Therefore, any tariff effect on imports has been passed on to the customer sales price. I'll close the answer with this, the direct effect has been absolutely minimal. We're also asked about the business opportunities for Tubacex, the opening up of Venezuela in the oil market. Well, we ultimately have to see under what conditions that market opens up, with what extraction and production projects, additional to the ones that are already underway.
All the information we have makes us think that there are going to be significant investment projects in the coming years. We also have to consider that the characteristics of the gas and oil reserves in the Venezuela basins are not the ones that require a lot more CRA piping, as occurs in the Brazilian basins or in the United Arab Emirates. Will there be opportunities if these plans materialize? Well, that's what we currently foresee, but we don't see a replication of the Abu Dhabi case in Venezuela. We see it as an opportunity, but also with caution. In the Durant accounting adjustment, does this affect specific assets, projects, or specific markets? Well, Durant, we're going to explain this in a very straightforward way.
It's a plant, a startup in the United States for, let's say, high-precision pipe or for high alloy exchanges. It's a plant where the investment was affected by the pandemic in 2021. There were delays in the initial startup. Let's say that the project took longer than expected until the plant commissioning. Josu mentioned, and it's true, on a direct level, since we have local production, we're not affected by the tariffs. On a global level, since there may be products coming from many places that will always have a tariff, the pass-through to the final price can be direct, or there can be certain delays in the projects.
At certain points in time, we've seen that although the strategic position of the company is the right one, and we're in the segment, so we need to be in the high added value segments, like the other plant we have in the United States, Salem, in Pennsylvania, there has been a delay in sales generation and profit generation. What we do is to evaluate that effect, and although it wouldn't have been necessary to make an impairment with a rigorous criterion with regard to an audit, what we've done is to consider this slow landscape in the progress of the project and make a global adjustment. It's not related to any specific equipment or asset that we plan to depreciate or which isn't useful in the long run.
It's a general adjustment. If the investment isn't recovered at the expected rate, we have already executed it. Although we expect this plant to become commercially and industrially operational according to the parameters we expected at the beginning, we may, in the future, turn around this adjustment. What I would like to make absolutely clear is that this adjustment isn't the beginning of a restructuring, a shutdown, or anything like that. It's just a prudent valuation measure in terms of the project maturity at that plant and the technical and commercial internal development of the plant. This is the base for the adjustment that has been made at the Durant plant.
Thank you both very much. We have no further questions. If you would like to close with any final thoughts, or if not, we can close the session.
Well, we've given the main points in the presentation. Thanks for attending and also thanks for the participants that have sent in their questions, because I'm sure it helps everyone to understand some of the details we've explained. We're closing the presentation for a year that has been marked by a complicated and challenging and uncertain environment. We're pleased with the year and looking at this coming year with optimism, but with caution and prudence, and while being absolutely certain that we're doing everything we need to do to continue to create value for our shareholders. Thank you.