Good evening, everybody. So I'm here with Bruno Krief, Managing Director in charge of M&A and strategy, that you know very well, and Clémence Mignot-Dupeyrot, our Head of Investor Relations. Thank you for joining us today for Rubis Q1 2024 trading update. As you can see on slide two of the presentation, this quarter was one of solid operating performance. The energy distribution business saw a strong volume growth. Volume grew by 4%, driven by the strong growth in the Caribbean, more than offsetting the lower margin in the Kenyan retail network. But we'll come back to this in further detail later in the presentation. Margins were stable at plus 2% when restated from the exceptional items in Q1 last year.
In the renewable electricity production, our plan is well on track, with an increase of the secured portfolio of 8% versus December 2023, which is very encouraging for the rest of the year. So on this base, we can reiterate our guidance for 2024. And last but not least, this quarter also saw the finalization of our discussion with I Squared Capital for the disposal of Rubis Terminal stake. The SPA was signed early March, and the closing is still expected mid-year, but it's subject to the approval of the foreign investment committees and other customary approvals. And I remind you that this operation will generate circa EUR 75 million of capital gain that will be returned to the shareholders through a dividend payment after closing.
So let's move on slide three, and focus on the energy distribution. At the remainder, so Q1 2022 was boosted by a few exceptionals, representing around EUR 30 million, which were the excess margin in Nigeria, and the refund from the Madagascar government related to the non-immediate application of the pricing formula in H2 2022. Volume increased by 4% and gross margin by 2%. This is explained by our LPG distribution business, so +2% in volume and +1% in gross margin. It saw a strong demand, especially in bulk product in Morocco and South Africa. Autogas also performed well, with the strong growth in France and Spain following the same momentum as previous years, which should continue going forward.
As regards to fuel, so we observed a +7% in volume and -2% in gross margin, and those elements were comprised of three components. First one, the retail business was particularly dynamic in the Caribbean region, with the ongoing strong performance of Jamaica. Kenya was also resilient, despite the economic downturn, high fuel price, and fierce competition. As mentioned earlier, the gross margin decreased, impacted by unexpected Kenyan shilling appreciation, which generated a parachute effect, which means that the inventory sold having been acquired at a higher rate at the commission in local currency than at the time of the sale. So we believe this appreciation of the Kenyan shilling should reverse in the second part of the year.
After we had the commercial and industrial business, which saw +7% volume growth. The strong performance of the Caribbean region, where Guyana activity maintained its dynamic pace, explains most of this growth, and the growth margin increased accordingly year-on-year. Third, we had the strong volume growth momentum observed in the aviation segment in the beginning of 2023 that continued in Q1 2024, landing at +39% year-on-year. This increase was driven by Kenya, where total volume for the quarter almost doubled, and the Caribbean regions, where activity was particularly strong. The significant increase in volume uplifted the gross margin accordingly. Regarding the bitumen, so bitumen volumes was down 15% year-on-year.
This decrease is mostly explained by Nigeria, where some work contractors decided to put their project on hold, waiting for the local currency to stabilize. Also, in the meantime, the government awarded few permits to build cement roads, which didn't help. And Senegal and Cameroon showed good dynamics, with volume and margin increasing. Adjusted gross margin increased by EUR 5 million year-on-year. In support and services, revenues was down 13% to EUR 260 million amid a strong comparison base. Q1 2023 saw 2 crude deliveries to SARA, while in Q1 2024, SARA was in a temporary maintenance and imported only 1 delivery of refined products.
The four crude deliveries typically happening every year will be spread over the last three quarters of 2024, and the catch up should be more likely at the back end of the year. Apart from the decrease, shipping and supply grew. So let's turn now to slide four, to talk about Rubis Photovoltaïque. The secure portfolio reached 936 MW, up 8% versus the end of 2023, and up nearly 75% versus a year ago. Revenue reached EUR 8 million, slightly down versus Q1 2023, due to the positive effect from new farm commission, of course, and from 394 MW in Q1 2023 to 450 MW at the end of the quarter. But were partially offset by the two elements.
The first one is the base effect, because in 2023, we had the opportunity to sell at market price some electricity to offset coal price adjustment. And this quarter, 2024, actually we had a less sunny winter than last year. In this quarter, we saw the signing of two major PPAs also, contract with Data4 and another large corporate. They are secured revenues for 10 and 20 years, respectively, representing around 50 MW each of them. If we switch to slide five. This slide that you start to know very well, actually shows the pipeline works on five times the secure portfolio ensuring future revenue generation.
This project pipeline amounted to 4.7 GW at the end of March. Let's go to slide six. As a conclusion, you know, Q1 was consistent with the outlook provided during full-year results, and illustrated the relevance of our multi-country, multi-product strategy. The Caribbean did not slow down as anticipated, despite a high comparable base. The situation in Haiti is still under close monitoring, with the transitional president newly appointed. This higher -than -expected performance was partially offset by Kenya, which suffered from the unexpected Kenyan shilling revaluation. All in all, this quarter's performance makes us confident enough to reiterate our 2024 guidance, meaning an EBITDA in the range of EUR 725 million-EUR 775 million.
Net income group share that should increase year on year, and of course, the dividend growth target that is confirmed as well. Thank you for your attention, and so we are ready to take with Bruno and Clémence your questions.
Thank you. Spoken questions will only be taken from analysts covering the stock. Other questions will have to be submitting written via the webcast. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one and one. There are no questions on the phone at this time.
I have a question from Jean-Luc Romain from CIC Market Solutions online: Is the lower sales number for photovoltaics in Q1 entirely due to lower pre-contractual sales versus Q1 2023? Can you guide quantitatively on what to expect for the rest of the year?
So what we can say for photovoltaics is, so we have an effect so related to the new asset in operation generated EUR 0.6 million of additional revenues. So it can, you know, it can give you an idea of the trend going forward from new operations.
Virtually, Q1 and Q4 are the lower points in the year, and Q2 and Q3 are the highest ones. Guiding for the rest of the year is a bit complicated. As we mentioned earlier, Q1 2023 saw high sales to the market because the market price was high, and the CRE offered the opportunity to sell at market price in order to offset the increase in OPEX and CAPEX and interest rates that had not been reflected in the coal pricing at that period. This was not the case in Q1 2024. And the rest of the year should continue in line with the CRE contracts that are in working right now.
We have another question from Mohamed Mansour, but I think it's covering more or less the same topic. About electricity production, which was stable between Q1 2022 and 2024 and 2023. And maybe just seeing why, to the fact, although the solar capacity has increased by 5% in Q1. So the answer is the same. The electricity production was stable because the level of sun in Q1 2024 was lower than Q1 2023. And a few weather issues happened in Q1 2024. I have no other question on line.
Emmanuel on the phone?
One question on the phone, coming from the line of Emmanuel Matot from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Two questions for me. First, do we have to expect some Forex losses in H1? Because I remember we had a significant amount of Forex losses last year. So, please, what was the trend for that in H1? What do you expect, at least for H1? And, second question, regarding your new shareholders, do you have some contacts with them? Do you know what they want to do with their shares after this? Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you, Emmanuel, for your question. Maybe a word on the, what we can tell the FX. You know, the, the currency which vary the most in our current portfolio are the naira in Nigeria, which saw two significant devaluations in 2023, and one early 2024. The situation has stabilized in them, and what happened in 2023 was very sudden, and we did not have really the time to prepare, which was not the case in 2024. So we now have sufficient USD reserve to handle this variation related to the naira. Regarding the Kenyan shilling, so Q1 2024, so the impact of a steep local currency appreciation with inventories on having been acquired at a higher rate than at the time of the sale.
Our strategy remains unchanged, so we intend to minimize our exposure by keeping the currency in our books for as little time as possible. But that is the main element in terms of FX at the OFI event, you know. We don't disclose the full PNL in Q1. But what we can say is that if the revaluation continues, we may see a negative impact related to the Kenyan shilling on our receivable. However, definitely it's too early to quantify. We are working on a natural hedge in this unusual situation, you know, and the losses should remain under control.
In any case, it will be, as I said, this is definitely below EUR 10 million. And anyway, we expect, at the time, we say the reversal of the situation, that should compensate. This is how we see the thing. Regarding, so your second question, so what exactly on new shareholders, you know, we play, we are... I would say that we enjoy, you know, investor appetite, you know, for our stock, it's this is appreciated and and it demonstrate that there is a significant amount of value in Rubis. So that's good for that.
After, we will be happy to have a dialogue with those new shareholders and listen to what they have to say to us.
Okay. Thank you very much.
I have another question from Mohamed Manso ur on the line, asking if Photosol is impacted by the connection to the grid issues mentioned by RTE. The answer is yes, of course, the same way as every other player on the French market. However, the day for the connection to the grid is both on the day you obtain the permit. So we have a lot of visibility on the day when the connection will be able to take place. And Photosol handled this very well, with a lot of agility in order to optimize these timings and to delay the construction depending on these dates. Another question from Jean-Luc Romain. In Nigeria, do you already see signs of a recovery with start in road and construction?
Let's say that what we see today, as I was mentioning, that the, you know, the situation is a bit challenging, and with some challenge on the FX side, and also in the fact that the state opened some permits to the construction of the pavement road. However, this is something that was built in our budget. So we expect an improvement by the end of the year, but not huge. I don't know, Clarisse, if you want to add something, but-
Jean-Pascal Rolandez is asking us how Haiti is doing. Things are still complicated in Haiti. The situation over Q1, as you may have seen in the press, has been very complicated. We continue to operate in the best way we can. We continue to be the only provider of fuel for the local electricity and the local telecommunications, which makes us very confident about our ability to continue to operate there. As you may have seen also in the press, a new transition president was appointed a few days ago. We hope this will help the country stabilize, but we do not feel threatened so far.
Maybe an addition on the bitumen side will mitigate also what I was telling, meaning that, of course, you know, the development of new road in Africa will increase in the future. And it's key for and that's all. And goes with the growth of the population, and so of course on the mid-term, we see a high market here.
We have no more questions from the line.
Excellent. I think we can close the session. We thank you for your attention, and looking forward to talking to you for our next events. But Clarisse, you can remind us the dates are for-
We will be in London next week, Monday, Tuesday, and in case absolutely we will be in Paris the week after, on the twenty-third of May. Then we will be at a Société Générale conference, so feel free to reach out if you want to meet with us.
Thank you.
Thank you!
Good evening.