Okay, I think we are going to start this teleconference for the financial results of the first quarter of 2025. Before that, I would like to announce to you that I'm going to record this teleconference for the very purpose of posting the audio file on our website for everybody else. The presentation today is going to be delivered by the CFO of the company, Mr. Daniel Adam. Daniel, please go for resource. Thank you.
Thank you for attendance. We're jumping the financial results for the first quarter of 2025. As you can see on the screen as well, we closed the quarter with a profit of RON 513.6 million, with almost RON 50 million below our 2024 quarter one result, but with almost RON 65 million better than our approved budget. As you can see, we had an increase in revenues, but we also had an increase in cost versus 2024, mainly the windfall tax, where we have a deviation of RON 340 million due to the fact that in quarter one 2024, we actually didn't pay any windfall tax, the threshold being RON 450, and the median price in that part of the year was lower than that.
In cost without the windfall tax, we have a marginal increase in OpEx of 1.3%, and this is mainly due to increased expenses with random use in the fuel bundle production. We also have an increase in depreciation and amortization, mainly as a result of the planned outage cost. Since in quarter one, we did not have any unplanned outage, and we do not have it to date, actually. The financial result is 33% higher. Basically, this is due to the increased interest income on our deposits in this period and a lower net impact from currency exchange rates. In the waterfall graph that you are seeing, it is pretty obvious that the gains in the revenue of electricity in the financial result and some reductions in cost of trade, electricity, and personnel were offset mainly by the windfall tax and the cost of uranium fuel.
In this table is a detailed table. I think we mentioned the main elements. In terms of individual versus consolidated financial performance, as you can see, the differences are coming from the consolidating adjustments with our affiliates, and they are very small in nature and in volume. In terms of financial position, we have an increase in non-current assets of RON 258 million, RON 150 million in the net book value of tangible assets, mainly coming from the increase in advances recorded for the investment project as we started in quarter one of our refurbishment project, netted out by RON 165 million depreciation for the period, and we had also RON 102 million representing the net between the additions and the disposal in the period. We had an increase in also RON 108 million in the net financial asset value amortized cost.
We have an increase in loan granted to RoPower of an increase of RON 54.4 million. This loan was used for the advancement of the front-end engineering and design phase II. We also have an increase in our loan granted to Energo nuclear subsidiary of RON 77 million for the purpose of developing the EPCM contract, which was signed last year. In terms of current assets, we have a decrease of almost RON 100 million, RON 43 million due to a decrease in trade receivables, and RON 164 million from the liquidation of treasury certificates amounting to RON 100 million, a reduction of VAT receivables of RON 91 million, which was partially offset by the increase of payment of advances and other receivables RON 28 million. We also have an increase in bank deposits and in our cash position.
In terms of non-current liabilities, we have a very small decrease, and we have a larger decrease of RON 352 million in current liabilities. This is coming mainly from the reduction of accountabilities and the windfall tax balance compensated by the increase in profit tax liabilities. Again, in terms of individual versus consolidated financial position, we have slight adjustments, so I will not spend too much time on them. In terms of sales of electricity, I think what we presented in the previous quarters as a trend in quarter one 2025, there were no sales on MAT. So a reduction of RON 846 million. We had sales only on the competitive market and spot and balancing markets. In terms of competitive market, we experienced a 10% decrease in price with the increase also in quantity sold.
On the spot market, we also seen an almost 88% increase in price, but a reduction on the quantity sold. This is in line with our strategy to sell forward as much as possible and rely very little on the spot market. As well, on the balancing market, we had a 57.7% increase in price, but again, also here a decrease in quantity sold. In terms of sales structures, you can see on the display graph that we had a positive trend in pricing, also on spot, competitive, and also the average price moved from RON 446 to RON 525. In terms of OpEx, in quarter one 2025, we had an increase of RON 357 million compared with quarter one 2024, but a decrease of RON 45 million compared with our approved budget, so 4.5%.
This is coming especially due to the windfall tax for the contribution to the energy transition fund, which increased based on higher selling price in 2025 compared to previous year. We also had a lower cap from RON 450. At the beginning of last year, it was decreased to RON 400. As you know, this contribution will be due only until the end of June 2025 when this mechanism will expire. Depreciation, we had an increase of almost 7% due to new asset putting function. Operating expenses, an increase of 33% due to increasing legal and consulting services cost. This is coming from the cost of our advancement of our major project and financing efforts, which are impacting the legal and consulting services cost. As we discussed earlier, we also had an increase of almost 30% on cost of uranium fuel.
I think our revenue, we already discussed about the component of income. In terms of CapEx, we had a CapEx expenditure of RON 475 million during the first few months of 2025, a sharp increase versus the first quarter of 2024. This is mainly due to the maturity of some of our investment projects, out of a total investment program in 2025 of RON 3.4 billion. We also experienced an increased degree of completion compared to the previous period of 2024. We are at almost 14% in 2025 versus the 5% in the similar period of last year. In terms of our main investment projects, of course, the first one is the Unit 1 refurbishment. I will spend time on the highlighted part since the top half is well known from our information.
In February 2025, Nuclearelectrica sent a consortium for the refurbishment of official notice of commencement of works, the so-called notice to proceed relating to our main contract, the EPC contract. In parallel, we have taken steps to launch a procurement procedure for our turbo generator on Unit 1 , where we do expect note this is the last important contract in our refurbishment program. Also, in terms of permits, in February 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Waters, and Forests published on the Ministry website the decision to issue the environmental agreement for the project refurbishment of Unit 1 and the expansion of the spent fuel intermediate storage with max of 400 modules together with a draft of the environmental agreement.
In March 2025, the Ministry of Environment published the substitution note of the government decision and the draft government decision on the issuance of the environmental agreement, which we expect to be signed shortly, we hope in a matter of a couple of weeks. In terms of Units 3 and 4, in quarter one 2025, EnergoNuclear, our project company, continued the preparatory activities for the development of the Units 3 and 4, also developing the financial model, analyzing warranties related to the necessary financing, documentation for the preparation of notification of state aid, and also they have progressed on the EPCM contract with a series of deliverables coming in from the consortium. Also, the budget for 2025 was developed and approved along with a new organizational structure which better responds to the necessities of the project.
We had initiation of a procurement process for services for development of engineering and nuclear safety documentation regarding the implementation of the recommendations formulated by the European Commission necessary to avoid the nuclear power plant Unit 3 and 4 and technical assistance services, and also technical consultancy for stage two of the project Units 3 and 4. In terms of our joint project, the SMR project, in April 2025, the shareholders of Nuclearelectrica approved an addendum to the framework agreement from 2024, I think it should be there, which comprised an introduction on the object of financing, the expenses related to the acquisition of the Doicești site, and to implement a warranty for SNN for the land, which would be the object of the transaction. In terms of our tritium removal facility project, in the first quarter, the following progress was made.
Consulting procedures for long cycle equipment were continued and initiated. The production for the LPC column catalyst was completed. Following the completion of the excavation works in December last year, the installation of the waterproofing membrane was carried out, and the screed for the concrete floor was poured. We are working on the design packages necessary for the foundation casting. Last but not least, our medical isotope project for the Lutetium-177. The project is still currently in the conceptual design stage. It will be followed by detailed design, component procurement, and installation, and commissioning of the irradiation system is estimated for 2027. The next year, in 2028, the large-scale commercial irradiation service will be launched using, of course, the existing nuclear reactor infrastructure. In terms of technical performances, we see that the reactors were in normal operation. No special news on the radioactive emissions.
The nuclear fuel burn factor was in line with our expectation and our minimum requirement, as well as the capacity factor. This is our presentation for today. Thank you very much for attention, and we are waiting for your questions.
Hello. Thank you very much for the presentation. It was basically covering almost everything that I was thinking about asking. I was just wondering if there is any way you can disclose what type of forward contracts you have and for what periods of time. Thank you. This is Cauis from BCR.
We cannot disclose the type of contract that we have, but we are aiming usually for one-year contracts.
Yeah. And the more or less price level, it is in line with what you have now as realized prices or higher in case you can indicate.
We cannot indicate that. Sorry.
All right. Not a problem. Thank you.
But as you can see, our previous performance indicates good adaptability to the market from our side.
Yeah, that is correct. That's very, very, very nice for us. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Yes, please go ahead. I can see a raised hand.
Hello. Cristian Petre from NN. Can you please share some details on the labor expenses decrease and on the fuel cost increase? Thank you.
I will take it in reverse order. Also, Uranium as a commodity increased in the last years, actually. And also, we are seeing, for example, for Zircaloy, which is a metal which is entering in our fuel bundles, we're also seeing some increases. This Zirconium element, it's quite in demand. On the cost expenses, it's also coming due to some virtual budgets. It's coming also to a delay in hiring personnel.
We are hiring additional personnel according to our budget for the further implementation of our major investment projects.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Laura, please.
Good afternoon. Laura Simion from BRD. A follow-up question regarding personnel expenses. Do you expect to be more in line with the budget figures for the next quarters? Another question. Yes.
On the personnel, we are expecting to go closer, let's say, to the budgeted levels. Of course, despite that we have this budget, we are analyzing each case by case in terms of need and opportunity, and we are hiring only if it's absolutely necessary.
Okay. Thank you. I was wondering if you could detail what you include in income from changing inventories. I noticed that there are some significantly higher sums this quarter there.
It also came to a low level.
Laura, can you indicate the slide, please?
What is included in the line of other income, other revenues? In the financial statement notes, it is mentioned that there's an increase in income from changing inventories. How from?
Variation of product inquiry. It's the variation of the—sorry for the Romanian—of the work in progress. As our HNA subsidiary is producing also on stock, we are having this variation of the work in progress.
Okay. Thank you. One last question. If you have a plan about accessing financial markets to finance the future CapEx, I know you have a strong balance sheet right now, but I think you will need to finance this also by that time.
Yes. That's obvious. In a couple of months, we'll come probably with appropriate details on that. You are right. That will be needed. In the next couple of months, we'll come with some information.
You can give us a guidance now. It will be banking loans, bonds. It will be based on the local market, international market.
It will be banking as a combination of local and international. Although in future, we do not take out the possibility to do a bond. You will receive information in the next months on that.
Any other questions, please? Okay. If not, thank you, everyone, for joining us and for this teleconference. We are going to publish in a little while the audio file and the presentation on the Investor Relations website and also send it by email to those of you who might already have the email address. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye. Bye.