Amaury Boilot, CFO, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you. Good evening, everybody, and thank you for being with us today for this conference call. I'm here with Amaury Boilot, our CFO, to present our full year 2021 results and Q1 2022 revenue. As usual, we will open the Q&A session at the end of the presentation. Let's start with slide four, please. 2021 was a very busy year for Solutions 30, and our financials reflect only partially our key achievements. As I said earlier this year, in almost 20 years, Solutions 30 has never seen such favorable market conditions, given the massive investments that are related to the post-COVID recovery plans. I remain very confident that our group will experience strong growth again in the coming months and years. We are currently facing markets with very different dynamics. On the one end, in France, we are experiencing a mature market.
FTTH rollouts, which have fueled our growth in telecom since 2015, have reached a peak in 2021, and it is now the maintenance market that is slowly growing. While in the energy sector, smart meter deployments are reaching an end, and it's the market linked to the energy transition, and specifically the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles and installation of solar panels that are slowly taking over. All of this happens in a context where we are still facing the consequences of the pandemic, especially those related to supply chain issues and to the fifth wave of COVID, with several people obliged to be in quarantine. These effects impact both our revenue and margins on a geography that was our main engine in previous years.
On the other hand, we are experiencing great momentum in most of other European countries, and especially in Benelux, U.K., and Italy. These countries are where France was in 2015 before the revenue was multiplied by six in five years. Most markets have major potential for growth, but apart from Benelux, they have not reached the critical size yet, which has a temporary negative impact on margins. A new phase of growth is under preparation, and growth is expected to speed up in the second part of 2022. Next slide, please. In 2021, we have worked hard to put ourselves in a position to win significant market share in markets that are emerging. We are convinced that in H2 2022, and for many years to come, we will manage to get back to double-digit growth.
As you can see from this slide, we have won significant contracts in Benelux, Italy, and Spain. We have strengthened our position in the U.K., a market that has a great potential, and where we are starting to experience double-digit growth organically. On the business side in 2021, we experienced a tough year, but generally successful. In the meanwhile, we had to fight against the defamation campaign led by the short sellers, which had a significant impact on the stock price and on our shareholders, and which resulted in the disclaimer of opinion issued by our auditors last year in May. This is now over, as our new auditors have not identified any misstatement during the full audit of the 2021 financials.
These unjustified attacks had cost almost one percentage point of EBIT because of the spending to restore our reputation, in addition to EUR 1 billion in market cap, and the time wasted by the crisis management team. I will now hand over to Amaury, who will start his presentation, giving more details on the work conducted by our auditors in 2021.
Thank you, Gianbeppi, and good evening, everyone. We start with slide number seven. As you may have read in our press release, PKF confirmed that our financial statements present fairly in all material aspects our financial performance, and they confirmed that there is no misstatement in our opening balance sheet. As expected, and as already explained in September, PKF had to issue an opinion with a technical qualification on this. This is due to the disclaimer of opinion issued last year on the 2020 consolidated financial statement, and only relates to the comparability of the income statement for 2020. This is a strict application of the IFRS standards. Our auditor fees have reached almost EUR 2 million again this year, which is more than the group spent during our IFRS transition for the audit of three years of accounts.
Therefore, the company has been under close scrutiny, and that is exactly what we wanted in order to confirm once again the integrity of our financial statements. This unprecedented situation has shown the strength of Solutions 30. A company with financial weaknesses would have not survived such difficult time of uncertainty and doubt. We are now stronger than ever to focus on business and growth hacking. Next slide. For the full year of 2021, revenue reached EUR 874 million at 6.7%. On a like for like basis, revenue is up by 3.6%. M&A activities were on hold in 2020 and for most of 2021.
However, we resumed M&A in November this year with the acquisition of the assets of Mono Consultants in order to improve our coverage in the U.K. and our clients' portfolio in the field of mobile telecommunication networks. Compared to 2019 before COVID, our revenue is up by more than 26%. Next. Let me now elaborate shortly on our current business context and its impact on our margins. The ramp ups of new contracts we are currently managing have a negative impact on our profitability in the short term. In 2015, when rollouts of FTTH network and smart meters started in France, the EBITDA margins decreased temporarily. In the long run, the effect of these contracts were highly positive on our profitability in France. They enabled us to reach the critical size in France and to improve the density of our network.
Therefore, we expect the same to happen in all our geographies. On the slide you are seeing, we have explained the ramp up of contracts and position current status in each geography and business segments. We are often operating on new markets, so the first phase, even sometimes prior to winning a contract, is to prepare our organization and to discuss the process that will be implemented with the client. Second step is to source and hire the technicians that will execute the job. We are currently in that phase in many countries and business sectors. In phase III, we start ramping up. We are currently experiencing this phase in the FTTH segment, notably in Italy, where we won a contract with Telecom Italia one year ago. Phase IV corresponds to the phase where we reach the cruising speed, meaning that we can optimize profitability.
We currently have only one contract at this stage. It's a contract signed with Fluvius for the rollout of their smart meters in Flanders. When the contract comes to an end, as is the case with the smart meters deployment in France, we start an operational transition, either to the maintenance phase of the contract or to address new emerging markets. These ramp-ups, most of which starting at the same time, put pressure on the EBITDA margins as you will see on next slide. At the end of December 2021, adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 82.4 million, down 23% in comparison with 2020.
Besides less absorption of fixed costs due to falling revenue in France and a changing geographic mix to benefit of countries which have not reached their critical size yet, this decrease can be explained by three factors. First, effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions for EUR 4 million. Second, evolving business needs and the operational transition needed to adapt and to develop new activities in France for EUR 6.7 million. Third, ongoing and upcoming ramp-up initiatives, especially for new businesses and countries which have not reached their critical size, for EUR 9.8 million. Excluding these items, the EBITDA margin comes to 11.8%, a decrease of only 120 basis points. Next. If we now look at this, at the evolution of our, profitability, region per region.
In France, revenue reached EUR 507.3 million compared to EUR 522.7 million the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 66.5 million, for a margin of 13.1% compared to 16.6% in 2020. This reflects the combined adverse effects of telecom market maturity, the shift from smart meters to new activities related to energy transition, and also the COVID-19 consequences. Changing activity levels and preparations for launching new businesses brought down the EBITDA by EUR 6.7 million, while supply chain delays subtracted another EUR 1.1 million. In Benelux, revenue reached EUR 150.4 million, up 17.7%, of which 14% organic.
Ramp-up phases are impacting the group profitability in this region, and adjusted EBITDA was EUR 22.9 million for a margin of 14.3% of revenue compared to 15.7% in 2020. In other countries, Solutions 30, 2021 revenue amounted to EUR 206.3 million, up by 28.7% of which 15.6% organic. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 2.2 million, equivalent to 1.1% of revenue, compared to 4.8% a year before. This mainly reflects the beginning of the contract signed with Telecom Italia and the reorganization initiative in Germany to make the most of expected growth in the telecom sector in the second half of 2022. Next slide.
2021 saw EUR 13.3 million in the non-current operating expenses, including EUR 7.1 million in group spending in order to fight against the defamation campaign. The remaining balance came from restructuring operations to adapt our organizational structure to changes in the market, especially in Germany and France. Customer relationship amortization amounted to EUR 14.7 million in 2021, compared to EUR 13 million in 2020. Financial income rose to EUR 4.2 million in profit. This results mainly from the adjustments on contingent consideration values for EUR 6.4 million, compared to an expense of EUR 4.1 million in 2020.
After including tax income of EUR 5.4 million due to loss carryforwards, compared to an expense of EUR 8.4 million one year before, the group share of net income amounted to EUR 21.5 million at the end of December 2021, compared to EUR 34.5 million in 2020. Next slide. Regarding our balance sheet, the group maintained a very strong financial structure with shareholders equity amounting to EUR 191.6 million, compared to EUR 170 million at the end of December 2020. The group had EUR 129.8 million in gross cash, compared to EUR 159.3 million at the end of December 2020.
As you can see, the gross bank debt decreased by EUR 23 million, down to EUR 77.5 million, as the group was able to de-leverage while financing buybacks in the same time. The group add EUR 52.3 million in cash net of bank debt at the end of December 2021, compared to EUR 59.2 million at the end of December 2020. In terms of cash generation, on the next slide, in 2021, our operating cash flow amounted to EUR 60.8 million, compared to EUR 89 million in 2020. The ramp-up of contracts and the returns to more normal payment terms, compared with 2020, resulted in a EUR 13.3 million euro increase in working capital requirements, which is still amounting to EUR -25 million at the end of December.
Net investments reached EUR 15.1 million, or 1.7% of revenue, compared to 1.4% in 2020. This falls within a normal range, generally considered between 1.5%-4% of revenue, and goes mostly to investing in the group's IT infrastructure and technical equipment. Overall, this means that there was EUR 32.4 million in free cash flow, compared to EUR 124.8 million in 2020, and zero in the first half of the year. Next slide. At the end of the year, we have normalized the situation with our auditors, and we have maintained our financial flexibility. Our financial structure is in line with the business challenges that we will be facing in the coming months as a new phase of growth arises.
For the coming period, we will maintain the same fundamentals of our financing policy. The ongoing business working capital requirements will be financed through factoring at minimum cost, less than 1%. The scale-up of new contracts will be financed with our cash. Our M&A operations will be financed through long-term debt. Now, if we go to slide 17, I will have the opportunity to comment on the Q1 2022 revenue. For the first three months of 2022, revenue reached EUR 222.7 million, down 1.1% compared to Q1 2021. On a like-for-like basis, revenue is down by 3%.
The first quarter is actually a continuation of the last quarter of 2021, with on the one hand, activity in France penalized by the triple effects of maturing market, supply chain difficulties, and the high rate of absenteeism, especially at the beginning of the year, due to the pandemic. On the other hand, business is growing strongly, very strongly in the other countries, and this positive trend is actually masking supply chain pressures and the impact of the pandemic. Next slide. The quarterly trend shows that Q1 2022 revenue is slightly up compared to Q4 2021, which is somehow unusual in our business. It is a translation of a low Q4 2021 on the one hand, and of ramp-ups in some geographies on the other hand.
The current level of activity remains high compared to historical performances, with quarterly revenue above EUR 200 million. We hope that 2021 has offset a very unusual 2020, and we now expect to get back to a more normal setting in 2022. Next. On this slide, the graph shows the very different dynamics that we are experiencing in France and in the other countries. While revenue is going down by 17% in France, all the other geographies are experiencing a double-digit growth. Benelux and other countries now account for 48% of the group's revenue. Next slide.
In France, revenue for the first quarter amounted to EUR 116.7 million, compared to EUR 142 million one year ago. With EUR 84.5 million in revenue, the telecom business decreased by 18% compared to the first quarter of 2021. The market is in the middle of an operational transition as fiber rollout has peaked and the market for new subscriber connection is consolidating after being driven by widespread remote working and measures to limit social interactions. These two market conditions are still only partially compensated by maintenance activities. For the energy business, revenue amounted to EUR 15.9 million, compared with EUR 23.3 million a year before, representing a drop of 32% in the activity.
The business has been strongly impacted by the end of smart electricity meters rollouts in France, which revenue went down by 60%. Other activities related to electric mobility and renewable energies are not yet compensating for this decrease in revenue. They are growing by 8%, but the ramp-up remains delayed by the current supply chain problems. The IT business posted revenue of EUR 11.9 million, up 9% for the quarter, while the security and payments business posted revenue of EUR 4.4 million compared to EUR 4.6 million one year before. Next slide. In the Benelux now, revenue in the first quarter of 2022 amounted to EUR 46.7 million compared to EUR 37 million in 2020, up by 26.3%.
The telecom business, which grew organically by 14%, generated quarterly revenue of EUR 33 million, with the start-up of contracts signed with Fiberklaar and Open Dutch Fiber in the second half of 2021. Revenue for the energy business amounted to EUR 9.6 million, compared with EUR 3.9 million in 2020, due to the rollout of smart meters in Flanders, which began during the first quarter of 2021 and is now fully developed. Revenue for the IT business remains stable at EUR 2.3 million, compared with EUR 2.4 million one year before, and quarterly revenue from the retail and security businesses was EUR 1.9 million compared to EUR 1.7 million for the first quarter of 2021. Next.
In the other countries, the group posted annual revenue of EUR 59.3 million, an increase of 29%, of which 19% is organic, compared to Q1 2021. In Germany, where revenue declined by 11%, the return to growth is expected in the second half of 2022, when the efforts made by the group to adapt its organization should begin to bear fruit. In Italy, revenue grew by 67% in the first quarter of 2022 to EUR 14.5 million, driven by the contract signed with Telecom Italia. In Spain, revenue grew organically by 24%, thanks to a strong momentum in the telecom business, both in the fiber and 5G mobile networks.
In Poland, the group confirms that it is returning to growth and recorded revenue of EUR 6.6 million, up 19% organically. Finally, in the United Kingdom, Solutions 30 generated a revenue of EUR 9 million in the quarter, up 129% and 23% organically, thanks to a very good momentum in the telecom sector and the start of new very high-speed internet and 5G deployment programs in the country. I now hand over to Gianbeppi.
Thank you, Amaury. As we are entering a new phase of growth, Solutions 30 is pursuing its transformation plan with the objective of implementing strengthened and harmonized risk management, compliance, and governance procedures in the first half of 2022. Let's go to slide 24, please. At the beginning of April 2021, we announced the acceleration of our improvement plan that began in 2019 and led to the adoption of IFRS standards in 2019, the transfer of our shares to the regulated market, and strengthened governance. We launched a governance risk and compliance project with the help of KPMG, aiming at improving and standardizing all of our procedures and policies groupwide. This project has led to the review of all the existing policies and procedures and to a gap analysis against applicable laws and regulations.
We identified several areas of improvement that we divided into seven work streams, most important of them being to implement a uniform third-party due diligence process and uniform risk mitigation procedures. At the moment, we are in the process of implementing these procedures and policies, and the training of the teams has begun. We have also recruited a new group head of risk and compliance, who will start working with us early next week. She will monitor and control the implementation of the GRC related policies and procedures and their functioning. Such new set of policies and procedures will be audited, monitored, and evaluated in the long run under the supervision of the group head of risk and compliance. Next slide. This slide shows all the key deliverables produced in the course of this GRC project.
You will soon see changes happening to the policies that are available on our website as the new code of conduct will be implemented and a new whistleblowing platform will be introduced together with the new whistleblower policy. All other documents are internal guidelines, procedures, policies, and manuals that are currently being implemented to govern the way we operate, especially when it comes to third parties' diligences, internal controls and risk monitoring. Among other things, we have implemented a new IT tool to perform multiple compliance checks in the context of third-party assessment and due diligence, and we conduct QA/QC on all contractors. We now have a dedicated team for this task and for verification of all business partners. Next slide, please. Since 2019, we have worked to better address CSR issues and above all, to best structure our CSR policy.
In 2021, we issued our first non-financial report compiled in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative standards, and we introduced ESG criteria in the calculation of remuneration for members of the management board, as well as members of the executive committee. We also joined the United Nations Global Compact. We have identified the UN sustainability goals on which Solutions 30 has most impact, either directly through the achievement of its mission or indirectly. Within Solutions 30, growth in revenues requires growth in workforce. We are adding people who are comfortable with technology, and we aim at training them and developing their skills. Therefore, we are committed to both youth employment and training. This is an intrinsic part of our business model. 41% of our new employees are under 30 years old, compared to 38.4% in 2020.
In 2021, 21% of our employees are younger than 30 years old, compared to 20% last year. In 2021, we provided 23 hours of training to our employees, compared to 19.2 hours last year. Last but not least, we are committed to good health and well-being. The satisfaction of our team was 3.6 out of five, compared to 3.5 the year before, and 67% of our employees are covered by the ISO 45001 certification, which is related to health and safety. We aim at bringing this percentage to 100% in 2025. Next slide, please. Slide 28. Our key challenge for the upcoming years will be to reach the critical size in all of our geographies.
We define the critical size with two milestones: EUR 100 million in revenues and EUR 200 million revenues. When a geography makes less than EUR 100 million in revenue, EBITDA margin is below 10%. When a geography reaches the first milestone of EUR 100 million, the EBITDA margin rises to double-digit, and it improves to normative double-digit margin when the milestone of EUR 200 million is reached. We believe that we can reach this critical size in all geographies in the coming years as our markets have a very strong drivers. Next slide, please. In the FTTH market, Europe experiences very different levels of maturity. As of today, 44% of all European households can connect to fiber. If we take a closer look, we can see that some big European countries are lagging behind in terms of rolling out FTTH.
The low rate of connected homes in Germany and Belgium reflects widespread cable coverage, and among other things, the high upfront cost for deploying fiber networks as existing infrastructure cannot easily be used and therefore new digging is required in these countries. In the U.K., full fiber penetration remains at a low rate because of the earlier success of rolling out slower hybrid fiber. All countries are now starting to implement new plans to accelerate full fiber rollouts. We have won some important contracts in Belgium and in Italy. We are starting to this business in the U.K., and we are doing all it takes to capture significant market share in Germany. Our experience in France and the strong relationship with telcos that we have built over the years across Europe is supporting our sales strategy. Next, please.
The market for electric vehicle charging stations is still emerging, and the supply chain challenges delay its scale-up. Nevertheless, there have been some very positive market developments for electric driving across Europe. Car manufacturers have significantly enriched their offer of electric vehicles as they all increase their commitment to the electrification of their portfolios. Second, there are multiple market incentives, both financial and regulatory, to support the transition to electric mobility. The need for an increase in electric vehicle charging points has never been greater and prevents a faster adoption of electric vehicles. We will focus on homes and small businesses chargers where volumes will be and where our know-how is particularly relevant. Our core business is to make small standardized installations, and this is exactly what this market requires.
The addressable European market is currently still difficult to estimate, but is worth several tens of billions EUR for Solutions 30 for the coming decade. We have won several contracts in this market. The last one with Mobilize Power Solutions, which is the electrical mobility subsidiary of Renault, and we have developed a dedicated marketing program to gain market share in this sector. Next, please. The installation of solar panels is accelerating. Solar energy will play a key role in the energy transition in Europe and the energetic independence of Europe. 90% of European rooftops are unused, and this untapped potential could produce more than 600 TWh of clean electricity. We see a strong potential in this market that is starting to gain traction.
Our subsidiary, Sotranasa, has been installing solar panels since 2006 in the South of France and has gained a significant experience that is useful today to manage such technology. In 2021, revenues generated by solar panels represented EUR 11 million, and we expect this figure to double by the end of 2022. Next, please. Given the strong potential of our markets and the positions that we have gained, we expect to return to double-digit growth in the second half of 2022, while the first half will remain in line with H2 2021. Our goal for the full year will be to stabilize the EBITDA margin in France and to defend our margins as best we can elsewhere in Europe while ramping up the new contracts.
We are also at the moment, negotiating price increases with all of our customers in order to compensate the effects of inflation. As illustrated with the acquisition of Sirtel in Poland, and the assets of Mono Consultants in the U.K., we aim at doing targeted acquisitions and consolidating our markets in Europe. Next. The key takeaway for this presentation is that the year 2021 was a year during which we consolidated our organization and prepared the new growth phase that is ahead of us. We are operating on markets that are driven by major secular tailwinds, such as digital transformation and energy transition. On top of this, the unprecedented stimulus plan that had been announced in Europe will boost growth.
Solutions 30 is well positioned to capture growth and meet the challenges that are ahead of us, while market momentum has never been so strong all across Europe. Next. We reached the end of the presentation, and we are now happy to answer your questions.
Thank you so much. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question on today's call, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star two. You will then be advised when you can ask your question. Again, it is star one on your telephone keypad to register for a question.
I see, one request, first questions, which is, can you please give an update on the process to find an anchor shareholder? What about recent rumors concerning Bain Capital? At the moment, we do not have any offers, because otherwise we would have communicated that. We don't have much to comment concerning this rumor. As you know, we have launched this process with Rothschild & Cie a few months ago, and we have spoken to a certain number of third parties that are interested. Everybody now is basically waiting for the audited accounts, which we have now, and they are clean, so now we are in a good position.
I would add a word of cautiousness because when we started the process, we were in an environment where interest rates were particularly low. Now, the macroeconomic environment is completely different. We have a war at the door of Europe, and inflation and interest rates are rising. We would be very cautious in evaluating the best options for us in the future, because as you have seen, we have a lot of growth coming in several countries in Europe, and we want to have the leverage of that available to continue to finance our growth. Another question. Can you please give more color on profitability in H1 2022 and H2 2022? Amaury, can you please take this one?
Yeah, sure. Well, actually you know, as I told before, we are managing different ramp-ups in different countries at the same time. Basically our business context is quite similar as the context we had on second half of 2021. I would say that for a bit, you know, the first half of this year, we should expect margins in line with the end of 2021. These margins will improve on the second half of 2022 as we will get, as this project will enter into a more mature phase, and we will improve the level of industrialization of our operations on all these new contracts.
Other question. Can you confirm that the reservation is just a technical issue and that it means your accounts are audited and certified? Amaury.
Absolutely. I confirm that, you know, we have the auditor's report, which is by the way available on our website, which confirms that there is absolutely no misstatement, that our figures, our 2021 figures are okay, that there is no misstatement into our opening balance sheet. By the way, if you allow me a word on that, we have one auditor confirming that the opening balance sheet of 2021 is okay. We had the former auditor who confirmed that the opening balance sheet of 2020 was also okay. Basically that means that everything is okay. The new auditor did not notice any restatement of our accounts because of 2020.
Yes, they had to use a technical reserve, like in September. This is a pure application of IFRS standard due to the disclaimer issued last year on 2020 accounts.
Amaury, we have another comment for you. Your comment implies the adjusted EBITDA in absolute terms for 2022 will be below the one of 2021. Is that correct?
Well, no. All depends on the pace we manage to improve our profitability on the new contracts. We would like to have, you know, margins in line with what we have this year, by improving our profitability, you know, month after month and getting back to double-digit level in more geographies, by the end of this year.
Next question. Do you believe that France EBITDA margin could return to the level of 2020 over time? I can take this one because it's easy. The answer is yes. This past year in 2021, we had really many different things to manage that had an impact on profitability in France. Of course, the slowdown of the traditional activities in fiber and smart meters and the ramp-up of the new activities. All in all, it was a difficult year for the margins. Of course, we believe we can go back to the previous profitability over time. Another question. How many people have you recruited to implement the new control tools, and where are they based?
We have a new person who is coming to head the compliance and risk department. She's joining next week. Our legal head has put together a team that is doing the compliance checking using this new tool that we have implemented with the help of KPMG. It's a few people, but I cannot tell you exactly how many. My best guess is between five and 10.
Yes. We also hired new financial controllers in all the countries in 2021. We increase also the level of internal controls besides the compliance team.
Thanks, Amaury. Next question is, which countries do you see the most attractive in the coming two years? In terms of market potential, Germany is very up, very high on the priority list, because the country is now moving, so Germany is going to do investments, significant investments in fiber infrastructure. So that's very interesting. I would say U.K. almost the same for the same reason. Overall, I would say besides France and Spain that are mature, all the rest of Europe is going to be in a few years where France is today. So we are going to see very strong growth all across Europe. Can you give more information on your pipeline in M&A? Where are your main targets?
How are you going to finance M&A? Yeah, we have a good pipeline with opportunities really all across our geographies. The idea is to finance these acquisitions as we did in the past with bank debt while we use our cash to finance the growth, the organic growth that we have. Of course, we use factoring to finance the short term to use our invoices to finance the short term. Are there other questions?
Right now there are no questions coming through on the phone line. Final reminder, it is star one on your telephone keypad.
If there are no other questions, let me just spend a word here to recall again that 2021 has been a tough year, but we have always emerged stronger from difficult times, and we will again. I've been doing this job for the past 20 years, and in 20 years I've never seen such favorable market conditions all across Europe. I'm confident that our group is very well positioned to capture great opportunities in this market, and all the teams are committed to success. Thank you everybody for attending this call today, and have a good evening.
Thank you. Have a nice evening.
Thank you everyone for joining us on today's call. You may now disconnect your handsets. Hosts, please stay connected.