Hi everyone, this is Raluca here with the entire Electrica Management Team. We'd like to thank you for joining us for the Q1 2025 financial results presentation. Those of you who are connected only by phone, you can download the presentation on our website under the results and presentation section. You can find more details than we will present here. We will present here the financial results. For anything else, you have a lot of pages to look through. The participants connected online can address written questions on the live chat or can intervene live on the Q&A session at the end. Please kindly note that since the entire conference is being recorded, all participants will be in a listen-only mode, so the attendees' voices will be disabled. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone.
We'll publish the recorded presentation on our website later tomorrow, most probably tonight, and the transcript as well as soon as possible in Romanian and English. Now we'll begin the presentation, which, as I said, will be followed by a questions and answers session at the end. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to our CEO, Mr. Alexandru Chiriță. Thank you.
Thank you, Raluca. Dear ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. On behalf of the Electrica Team, we would like to introduce you to the presentation of the results for the first quarter of 2025. The results for the first quarter of 2025 confirm the resilience of our business model and Electrica's capability to perform in a sustainable economic and operational environment. The solid growth in EBITDA and net profit is mainly supported by the contribution of the distribution segment, as well as by the balanced performance across all our business lines. At the same time, we are accelerating investments in infrastructure and renewable energy projects, with the clear objective of strengthening our position as a key player in Romania's energy transition.
I am confident that our operational discipline, long-term vision, and the professionalism of my colleagues will enable us to deliver sustainable value to all stakeholders and contribute to building a secure and green energy future for Romania. The first quarter of IFRS constituted a net profit of RON 195.7 million, 53.2% more than the one in the first quarter of last year. EBITDA for this quarter reached RON 459.3 million, increasing therefore by almost 15%, again mainly due to the operational performance of the distribution segment, and the operational profit increased about 25% compared to last year's first quarter, reaching RON 313 million, reflecting effective management and strategic marketing positioning. We managed to perform the investments in the network that we targeted in this first quarter for the benefit of our nearly 4 million network users.
This belief shows the effectiveness of our strategy and our key determination to strengthen the company's position in the energy sector. On the supply side, we remain cautiously optimistic and prudent in this transitional period for market re-liberalization, trying to solve the challenges ahead and take advantage of the opportunities. Operationally, the D istribution segment recorded yet again a notable performance with a 14.8% increase in revenues driven by higher distribution tariffs and increased distributed volumes by 4.8% compared to the previous period. In the Supply segment, revenues increased this quarter by approximately RON 203 million compared to the same period last year. This is due mainly to an increase in volumes supplied on the retail market by 3.7%, higher subsidy revenues due to increased purchase costs and regulatory adjustments regarding subsidies calculations.
I remind you that our sustained efforts to strengthen the financial position of the group were appreciated by Fitch Ratings agency, who, at the end of March this year, improved the outlook of our rating from negative to positive, one notch above the sovereign rating. Since we last met, another crucial step will continue in our strategy for financial consolidation, for optimizing the structure of the group, and for ensuring the stability of our current and future operations. At the end of April, we signed a RON 3.1 billion syndicated loan, which includes a credit facility intended to finance eligible green projects and support a sustainable business model. This loan will be used to partially refinance existing bank exposures, support infrastructure investment plans, and develop a renewable energy portfolio meant to contribute to Romania's energy sustainability.
Electrica continues to prioritize investment in renewable energy projects, having approximately 300 MW capacity in various stages of development. We also remain actively involved in securing our imputable funds to support the strategic objectives and enhance the sustainability of our growth. As to our renewables production, for the two photovoltaic parks, Satu Mare 3 and Bihor 1, with a total capacity of 136 MW, we are very close to signing the EPC contract, and we already have submitted requests for funding through the Modernization Fund. The investment value for the two projects is around EUR 87.5 million. In February this year, our shareholders approved an investment of EUR 263 million for Crucea Wind Park, around 121 MW , and we are working on the EPC tender.
I'd like to remind you that this project has been designated among the winners of the first round of the auction for the state aid scheme in the form of contracts for the state. Satu Mare 2 photovoltaic project of 27 MW, is closely entering the execution phase. The EPC tender for our storage project in Fântânele should start soon as well. Looking ahead, we have the positive outlook for 2025, and we are committed to exceeding expectations with regards to our results and investment objectives. Investments in network infrastructure, digitalization, renewables production, and improvement of our internal processes remain our highest priorities. We firmly believe our strategy will bring added value to shareholders, investors, and partners, paving the way for sustainable and robust long-term growth. I will now pass the presentation to our CFO, Ștefan, who will provide detailed insights into our financial performance.
At the end of our presentation, we invite you to actively participate and address any questions you may have. Your insights and perspectives are highly valued. Thank you. Ștefan?
Thank you, Alexandru, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending our conference. I'll make each slide in the conference and try to explain the drivers for the evolution of the profitability. I'll ask my colleagues to give the first summary of financials, which is slide 12, and I will be here to explain the evolution of Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024. In terms of revenues, we had an increase of revenues, which is driven by an increase of distributed energy in the DSO segment, which is 48%. Increase of tariffs for distribution, which was 12.5%, and also an increase in supplied energy in the Supply segment of 3.7%. This translated in better profitability in terms of both EBITDA and net result, compared with previous year. At the level of indebtedness, you can see the level is pretty much stabilized.
We are in the context in which we expect for the future to have a decrease of the level of indebtedness following the end of the support scheme. You could see later on also in terms of evolution of indebtedness to the supply and security that this is decreasing. In terms of DSO, for sure, we'll have a new drawing for loans because we have CapEx plan to be developed along with the regulatory period. Moving to the next slide, please, slide 13. We have the evolution of the consolidated EBITDA and net result. Basically, compared with the result of last year, we had an improvement in energy margin of 78%, which had been mostly the result of over RON 100 million improved margin on the Distribution segment.
We had a higher RON 200 million positive impact from the increased tariffs and increased distributed energy, compensated partially by RON 105 million increase in expenses with the network losses. difference of price for network losses. It should be noted that c ompared with Q1 2024, we had at the time the mechanism of MACEE centralized acquisition functioning. After first of April 2024, MACEE became optional and basically in a couple of months was not significant anymore. In this quarter, we had an improvement of purchasing the energy from the market. In terms of the margin for the Supply business, we have a positive effect related to the increase of the energy supply to the customers, which is 3.7%, which was a positive effect related to the increase in revenues due to the higher subsidy revenues compared with Q1 2024 related to the change of the guide A NRE.
We had a negative impact, which was compensating for the positive effect and impacting our original final negative minus RON 22 million, which is related to the increase in the energy prices on the market. Another element to be mentioned is the evolution in OpEx. We had an increase in OpEx of RON 26 million, which was mostly deriving from personnel expenses related to the distribution subsidiary. Also, we had some increases of repairs and maintenance in the Distribution and Service segment. A positive impact partially compensating that from the Supply segment d ue to the decrease in the expenses with penalties. Most of the evolution of the net result is explained by the evolution of EBITDA. We have RON 68 million increased profit in Q1 2025 compared with Q1 2024, mainly for the evolution of EBITDA. We have minor variances in terms of depreciation and profit tax expenses .
Moving then to the next slide and describing the situation for the business side. In terms of Distribution segment, you have here the summary, including the part related to the increase of revenues and overall margin with the network loss increased by RON 105 million. I have explained already this. What it's mentioned here is that we have net debt evolution, which is covered in the graphic shown in the next slide, increased with RON 278 million in the context of increasing of bank loans, but with a change of the structure with having more long-term loans and less overdraft drawn. This is aligned with accessing the loans which are needed for financing the CapEx plan of the distribution subsidiaries.
Moving then to the next slide, you have as a reminder the composition of the regulated risk asset base of the remuneration of the regulatory asset base a nalysis for the Distribution segment starting from the RRAB and then leading to the gross result, as a split analysis at the level of the year. By giving you this, you have a perspective to the next slide, which I've previously explained. We can only split this into quarters as it cannot be really mapped on the amount agreed with ANRE. B ut going to the next slide, you have the Q1 result going from the total revenue to the IFRS result of 2025 and going through the regulated result, then making adjustments with the differences between accounting depreciation and regulated depreciation in order to get the operating result, then financial results and result b oth as statutory, and then with the adjustment for IFRS, the final result is IFRS of RON 214 million, which is the main driver of our profitability at the consolidated level.
If we move on to the next slide, you have right here the summary related to numbers for the Distribution segment in terms of distribution tariff evolution, evolution of the volumes. Also, we should mention that for Q1 2025, we are having a realization of CapEx of 137% compared with the ANRE plan and also compared with the budget. T o detail also this is the following slide, with the budget we are at 100% budgeted CapEx for the Q1 . I would like to remind you that basically compared with the ANRE, agreed CapEx in our CapEx plan, we have also additional amounts included for the network asset works that can appear during the year, in addition to our regular CapEx plan.
Moving on to the next slide, here you have these details about the evolution of the CapEx plan, and then you have also some details about the evolution of the price of energy and the increase of price of energy. As explained before, related to the fact that in Q1 2024, we had the benefit of MACEE centralized electricity mechanism of purchasing or procurement of energy. While in Q1 2025, we are not having this, but still we are quite happy and confident about the evolution of our acquisition of energy and our results . Moving on next, we have the business of supply. On the business of supply, we should mention that for the first quarter, we do have a minor negative result compared with Q1 2024. This is mainly related to two things.
One of the things is related to the limited recognition of the balancing market costs, which we have explained the fact has also affected us also last year. Then we have also an effect in our financial result with a negative impact of RON 7 million in terms of financial result. As Alexandru was mentioning, we are expecting a significant reduction in the yearly interest costs with new syndications being accessed. The other aspect to be mentioned is that for the second part of the year, once the transport scheme is finalized, we expect that the pressure on getting this financed and on the net debt of the supply subsidiary with decrease . This can also be seen in the evolution of the net debt. As you see, t his is decreasing compared with the end of the year with RON 200 million.
Moving to the next slide, we have the details about the market context for Electrica Furnizare in the total market share, also in the competitive market. We are on the first rank of the market share, and on the competitive market, we are on the podium, third rank. I should mention that the hierarchies also changed due to the fact that PPC merged the supply companies . So, it adds up for them in terms of only one company. Now moving to the next slide, these are the details about the key aspects of supply. What I would like just to point out is that in terms of quantities supplied, then in terms of numbers of consumption places, you could see that we are quite stable so basically, we are conserving our portfolio.
It's not a matter of losing from our portfolio and either be on competitive universal services or supplier of last resort market. Also, if you compare electricity volumes and electricity revenues, you see that the proportion is much similar in terms of competitive universal service and supply of last result. Next slides are summarizing the financial impact of the electricity market versus evolution. I would go to the slide 24, the one with the graph, and I would point out the evolution of the prices of 2024 and compare with 2025. What we can see is that this year started with some higher prices on the Day Ahead Market. This is basically mitigated from our point of view. The fact that we have a significant proportion of the energy already purchased at prices which are clear and on average than t he evolution of the Day Ahead Market.
You can see that on the balancing market things have gone down. For January, we have a price which is significantly lower than the price for the balancing market for last year, and even significantly down than the average price for the Day Ahead Market. The issue related to the balancing market prices that affected us and all the supply companies last year is coming down with this year. Moving on from this slide — Because apparently there is a communication issue.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. We apologize for the small holding. We will begin again shortly. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for holding. Management, please proceed.
Do you hear me?
We can hear you. Please proceed. Yes, we can hear you. Please proceed.
I guess you do not hear me.
We can hear you. Please proceed.
Okay. Thank you. Moving on from this slide 24, we will make an analysis on the supply on slide 25 with respect of the evolution of the receivables analysis. In terms of receivables analysis, we have an increased amount of receivables, which is mostly related to the fact that according to law 213 by 2024, we are obliged to cancel, reverse all invoices which were issued at the end of last year and re-invoice them without the adjustment component. This process, as explained also in terms of the financial results at the end of the year, was lengthy and was basically completed only in mid-February 2025. Basically, the receivables increased not because we have a problem of questions from the customers, but because we needed to cancel the invoices, reverse the invoices, and reissue them, which is a process which took time.
In terms of IFRS 9, most of the amounts which are included in the respective analysis at the bad debt allowance is related to procedures which are old, which are older than five years, mostly litigation insolvency. There is not necessarily any issue about collecting from the customer. Moving to next slide, one word on the Electrica Serv subsidiary. Here we have a Q1 result with a positive result compared with last year. There is a minor profit of RON 1 million. This is aligned with the efforts that we are doing there to get contracts and benefit of this evolution of the photovoltaic power plants in the market. There is a competition there, and we are trying to get part of this market. Moving to production segment. Production segment is in development.
We are having good evolutions in terms of making the steps to commissioning and beginning the production for some of the plants. For the Vulturu, Vrancea photovoltaic park, it was completed in October, and it is connected to the national electricity system during the trial period according to the regulation. We also have Satu Mare 2, which is in the final stage of execution, to be entering the trial phase also in the future. Basically, for all the five projects, we are having a calendar with detailed elements related to commissioning in the next two years. A uthorization of construction for all of them, doing the bidding process for the EPC.
In terms of result, the result is still a negative result, mostly because of the fact that this is a part of startup which we are continuing to invest in the various other project s, although we have already production for part of them in trial for the next production in commissioning phase. There is a RON 4.7 million adjustment related to deferred tax from the moment in which we merged the SPVs, that is Electrica Energie Verde and GEC&I, and EPE and ELSA. This is why it shows this negative result. Next slide. In terms of global liquidity, we have very comfortable position of liquidity, which is related also to accessing the new loans from EIB, but also about the improvement of collection. We have a positive level of cash of RON 885 million, which was never achieved since the support scheme is in place and since we are having to refinance the support scheme.
We are continuously monitoring this and focusing on improving and optimizing the liquidity, including through the effort of having that syndication sign, which I believe is one of the most rapid syndications signed in this market and one of the largest. You have the detail about the distribution of dividends with an increase the dividend per share compared with last year, and on the annexe s related to main corporate events . I will stop the discussion now and ask for your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, please note that for those participating via video chat, kindly follow the instructions indicated and try to type your question by the box or dial into the audio conference. At this time, we begin the audio and answer- your-question session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone.
If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, then you may press star and two. For those participating in the question and answer session, please use your hands when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question comes from the line of Andrei Ioana with Alpha Bank Romania. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and thank you for taking my question. I will start my first question regarding the potential cash inflow from state subsidies. When and how many amounts do you expect to collect? Is there a deadline for collecting all the amounts due? My second question is regarding the trade receivables situation. Where do you consider a reasonable trade receivable position? I understand the reasons for which it was high at the end of the year and the first quarter, but what do you expect next?
My third question is regarding the CapEx plan for the production side over the next five years. What amounts should we looked at, and what is the amount financed via EU funds? Just from the production side, please. That's all from my side.
Le's take them one by one. I n terms of subsidies collection, I'll put this a little bit into perspective. If you look historically, out of RON 7 billion we have asked until now on the support scheme, we already collected RON 6 billion. If you look historically at the last two years, we have collected roughly approximately RON 2 billion each year.
For this year, until the date of this financial situation, we have collected RON 200 million, which are reflected there. There is another one, roughly RON 150 million that was collected in the meantime. Basically, we are considering that once the support scheme is ending, we'll probably get to the end of the year of this year with a decreased amount of subsidies, which will be probably roughly half of what we've had at previous end of years. Most realistically, probably the whole amount will be cleared during next year. We will also during next year, there is this mechanism that is now in place with all the suppliers in which we are doing reconciliation and regulation of the amounts. From this amount, most suppliers will ask for additional amounts to be reimbursed.
Probably, yeah, in a nutshell, subsidies at the end of the year will be half of what it has been in previous end of year, and then the rest will be collected next year. In terms of trade receivables, I do not have any other issues in terms of normalizing the amount unless there are other changes from the authorities and the regulator, which will ask us to delay the invoicing. Because in all this history of the three years until now, the only moment in which we piled up some trade receivables was the moment in which, for various reasons, we needed to stop the invoicing. Yeah, we needed to implement a new algorithm of the support scheme or to cancel some invoices and reissue them like it was the case at the end of the year.
Otherwise, we are quite confident in terms of our process of invoicing that this is just not creating an issue and should have normalized the amount of collections. In terms of the CapEx for the five years of the production, we do not usually, we do not make the publicity of plans forecast more than the annual budget. Probably more communication on that will be based on when we look at financing this through some form of market instruments. The idea is you know the capacities we have in our presentation. You can be sure that we are negotiating as tight as possible for the EPCs, so you can make that calculation by yourself.
If we may, regarding the EU funds, are there any funds available to the production side?
Can you please repeat because it was very—we didn't hear it ?
I was asking if you can mention the funds. Are there non-reimbursable funds for the production side?
What are the amounts that we access ass fund as non-reimbursable?
Yes. Just for the production side, not for the distribution.
Yeah, just a sec. We are speaking about — it is not accessed yet. We just want to — the amount under the project because t he project is ongoing, but we have not drawn any non-reimbursable funds. So you want a flavor of the amount which we are about to .
Yes. Okay. That's it .
Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time, audio questions. I will now pass the floor to Electrica Management. Thank you. Can the Management hear us?
Let's go to the written questions, and then I'll get back to you with the calculation for the non-reimbursable. S o EUR 8 million is roughly the amount for the non-reimbursable funds from the projects under the generation, including batteries. This will be collected in the future.
Now, moving to the questions on written form .
First question is from Cristian Petre. Congratulations for the results. I have several questions. Would you consider the results in the distribution above RRR? Are there any negative corrections to be made in the future coming from quarter one? And then there is also quarter one energy supply. In terms of distribution, the results in distribution are good, especially due to the distributed energy.
There might be negative corrections in the following year if the annual distribution energy will be higher than the one which is approved in the phase . In terms of the supply, how to make the supply profitable? The problem of the stability of supply is a problem of the entire industry for the supply . Do you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Okay. The results in the supply would be helped by the liberalization of the market, so getting out of the support scheme. This will contribute to the increase of profitability because we will be not having the issues related to non-recognized costs that are not recognized, especially the costs related to the balancing market. And it's a matter affecting the entire industry, all the supply companies. The next question is from Caius Rapanu from BCR . Thank you, Caius, for the appreciation.
Can you comment on what you expect to be the impact of the liberalization of the market on the two main segments, D istribution and Supply? How much of the network losses are already c ontracted for which periods and if possible, at which prices? In terms of the prices for the network losses, we have roughly 50% of the quantity, which is contracted. The price is roughly around RON 500. Comment on the effect of liberalization on the market on the two main segments. For the Supply, I have commented before, we will see positive results. On the Distribution, we do not really see any impact. The market has been stabilized. Prices at which we are acquiring the energy are already in line with the ex-ante prices, so we do not necessarily see any impact on the Distribution. Further impact, we see that the performance for our Distribution is very good a lso last year, also quarter one this year.
It should also be menti oned that for Distribution, we have a sustained project base of investment, including more than EUR 400 million for EU funds, non-reimbursable funds, and this is connecting to the question before about non-reimbursable funds. Okay, how do you see the supply business after 1st July 2025 in terms of margin? Can we hope for positive results in the tooling? As we mentioned before, and considering the budget that we have approved for that segment, we are counting on a positive result for the Supply segment. It's a tough business in the Supply. The margins are very generous, but we expect it to be profitable. We have a question related to green bond issue.
Yes, as you mentioned, we have this approval of the green bond issue in the second part of last year, or at the end of last year, up to EUR 500 million. This is a project that we are looking at with attention and interest and monitoring the market conditions. If and when we actually do the bond issue and the commercial parameters , it very much depends on the market conditions. You see that we had significant volatility in the last couple of months. At that moment, we will be more clear. As always, when we have anything to announce, we will announce it. Okay, one more question in the audio I understand?
Yes. The next question is a follow-up question from the line of Andrei Ioana with Alpha Bank Romania. Please go ahead.
Hi, I wanted to ask you if you can give us an update regarding what you expect from your participation in Electrica Esyasoft?. Is something happening there?
Yes, thank you for the question. We are working with our partners in order to secure the business lines that we got approved for. As soon as we have any news that is worth mentioning, we will for sure keep you posted . We're currently doing the operational part, feasibility studies , consultancy, and so on in order to get things actually moving. We hope that we will have really quick results on this.
Okay, thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now pass the floor to Electrica Management. Thank you.
We have one more question. The EUR 400 million in Distribution around May are not reimbursable funds related to the next five years? Yes, they're related until 2029. Is there any more questions, either audio or written?
There are no further audio and written questions. The floor back to you.
If not, we are as always available. If you want any more details, you can email us, contact us, and we'll be at your disposal in order to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you so much, and I'll pass it to Raluca .
Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We are here. You can reach us on email, on phone, whatever questions you may have. We are here to answer them. As we said before, the recording will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning, and the transcript as soon as possible as well. Thank you for joining us, and have a great rest of the day. Bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, the call for us is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling and have a good day.