Good day, and welcome to the HOCHTIE's Half Year 2021 Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Mike Pinkney. Please go ahead, sir.
Thanks, operator. Good afternoon to everyone, and thank you very much for joining the HOCHTIEF results call for the 1st 6 months of the year. I'm Mike Pinkney, Head of Corporate Strategy, and I'm here with our Chief Executive, Martelino Fernandez our CFO, Peter Sassenfeld and our Head of Capital Markets, Tobias Loskamp, along with other colleagues from the senior management team of HOCHTIEF. We look forward to addressing your questions, of course. But to start off with, our CEO will run us through the key aspects of the numbers.
Marcelino, all yours.
Thank you, Mike and the team. Good afternoon to everyone, and thanks for joining us. During the second quarter, Jokic returned to growth with a 6% sales increase as suggested, whilst delivering higher profitability and a strongly improved cash close. The group ended the period with a solid net cash position and an order backlog of €48,900,000,000 which top 10s above the pre COVID December 2019 level. Highlights.
In the first half of the year, the group has delivered a nominal net profit of €195,000,000 €195,000,000 plus 29% year on year on a like for like basis, adjusting for the divestment of 50% of these, Where the remaining 50% holding is equity method consolidated. Operational net profit of 205 €1,000,000 represents an increase of 17%. The Vertex profit contribution of €13,000,000 compares with EUR 18,000,000 loss in H1 2020 and reflects improving traffic trends following the substantial force seen in the early stages of the pandemic. Margins remained firm across our divisions with the group PBT margin rising from 2.8% to 3 percent pre Abertis. Motif's cash generation has increased strongly in the 2nd quarter.
Net cash from operating activities was €37,000,000 higher year on year at €530,000,000 refactoring, driven mainly by strong working capital performance. We ended June 2021 with a robust net cash position of EUR 434,000,000, A EUR 0.4 27,000,000 increase in the quarter or around EUR 800,000,000 year on year. New orders were almost 50% higher at EUR 14,300,000,000 Whilst the disciplined bidding approach was maintained across all divisions. As a consequence, the group's order book €48,900,000,000 is up 7% since December 2020 and in fact now stands above the COVID December 2019 level of 48.3%. Cash flow.
We can observe the exceptional cash flow performance during the Q2. Underlying net cash from operating activities stood at EUR 530,000,000 in Q2, Almost double the level of the Q2 in 2020. This was driven mainly by strong working capital performance. As a result, the first half saw a positive net cash from operations of EUR 81,000,000 compared With a minus €69,000,000 last year, €150,000,000 turnaround. If we examine the last 12 months To adjust for seasonality factors, the group achieved over €900,000,000 in net cash from operating activities, prefactoring EUR 833,000,000 at the free cash flow from operations level after CapEx.
In the 1st 6 months, net operating CapEx stood at $36,000,000 Higher comparable figure for last year reflects the 2020 ramp up of job hosted tunneling equipment. Balance sheet. As I mentioned earlier, Jofit ended the period with over EUR 400,000,000 of net cash. And looking at the moment over the last 6 months, I would highlight that if we adjust for the variation in factoring, which has been reduced by EUR 168,000,000 since December, The net cash position is almost unchanged year to date. Given the characteristic second half cash It is worth underlying this stable net cash development for the 6 months of the year.
Compared with a year ago, net cash is around EUR 800,000,000 higher, and this is after EUR 552,000,000 shareholder remuneration. On this subject, we have earlier this month distributed the 2020 dividend of EUR 3.93 per share, which is in absolute terms represents a total of EUR 268,000,000. In terms of liquidity, the group's position remains strong at EUR 5,300,000,000 with a further DKK2.6 billion of unused credit facilities. And HOTIF's funding costs remain attractive as illustrated by the EUR 500,000,000 80 year bond we issued in April with a coupon of 0.625%. So overall, we have a solid and risk group balance sheet, which leaves us well positioned for the remainder of 2021 beyond.
Our major recent projects in Americas, Thailand Joint Venture was awarded an $80,000,000 health care Health and Human Services Center contract in California. And I was recently recognized by a leading Train Magazine as the top Construction Management Company for Healthcare Facilities in the U. S, a distinction which Tana has earned for 21 years. 2020, Tana completed $3,300,000,000 in Healthcare Construction Projects. And in May, Tana secured an ultimodern of this project in Vancouver, in which Amazon will occupy 40 floors.
In Europe, HOTIF and its partners are to expand the Line D of the private metro for a total of EUR 540 The group has been involved in several metro lines in the Czech Republic and many other European countries in recent years, including Denmark, U. K, Germany and Austria. CIMIC has secured a number of very significant project wins. In June, our PPP's company, Pacific Partnerships, along with CPV Contractors and our Services business, Pentium, announced they had been selected as a part of our consortium as the preferred proponent to deliver the Northeast rolling 30 year PPP in Melbourne. Revenue for Semigroup is expected to be around BRL 4,000,000,000 across the construction and operations phase, which runs to 2,051.
2 weeks ago, Ventia, which is a fifty-fifty investment partnership between Simicar and Co Investo, also won a 10 year €400,000,000 per annum long term maintenance contract for natural gas facilities in Western Australia. Joint venture including CPV and UGL has been selected by the New South Wales government to deliver a Stage 1 of Sydney's MC's motorway generating work for CIMIC, your company is worth MXN 1,950,000,000. And early this month, This month, this was selected as the preferred mining services contractor for Mount Pleasant operation in Eastern Wales worth EUR 125,000,000 over 4.5 years. Order book. The group's order book has evolved in a very positive fashion ending the period at about €49,000,000,000 This is 7% higher compared with December 2020 with solid increases in all divisions year on year.
Furthermore, our backlog now stands above the December 2019 pre COVID level of 48,300,000,000. New orders of EUR 14,300,000,000 are up by nearly 50% on an FX adjusted basis, Led by the exceptional growth in the Asia Pacific division was €6,600,000,000 of contracts were secured. The project's work by developing the 1st 6 months of 2021 represent 1.2x the work done during the period. Overall, almost half of our order book is located in North America, with a further 43% in Asia region and 9% in Europe. Let's look at Americas.
The division achieved a sound performance in the 1st 6 months of 2021 with an outstanding level of cash flow generation in the 2nd quarter. Sales during the first half of the year were EUR 6,700,000,000 with an increase year on year in the 2nd quarter of 2% in local currency terms. Operational PBT advanced by 6%, FX adjusted to 164,000,000 In H1 2021, we had robust margin reflecting the solid nature of the construction management activities, which account for the vast majority of the division's business. Net cash from operating activities per factoring of EUR 116,000,000 increased by EUR 91,000,000 year on year. This Reflects very strong momentum in the 2nd quarter where almost EUR 400,000,000 was generated, year on year increase of EUR 216,000,000.
And looking at the last 12 months, to adjust for seasonality effect, Net cash from operating activities is a remarkable EUR673 1,000,000, notwithstanding the impact of the pandemic. Americas continues to have a very strong balance sheet with a net cash position of €1,460,000,000 at the end of June which has increased by EUR 220,000,000 year on year and EUR 361,000,000 during the 2nd quarter. New orders increased by 40% year on year, FX adjusted to EUR 6,800,000,000 With work secured in the last 12 months representing 1.1x where done. At the end of June, the order backlog stood at €23,400,000,000 up 9% in local currency terms compared with June 2020. And looking forward, we anticipate A solid 2021 performance at Americas.
In addition to the ongoing growth in the Healthcare segment, Life Sciences continue to attract funding from both public and private entities to invest in new and more modern facilities. New York City, for example, announced its commitment to invest more than $1,000,000,000 to facilitate the growth of life sciences industry in June 2021. The rapid current expansion of this segment is part of a long term trend call. Driven by several factors, including COVID and aging population and a drive towards More technology adaptation in order to bring down health care and pharmaceutical costs. At the number of health or at number one health care builder in the U.
S, Tana is well positioned to capitalize on these trends. The data center market also continues to thrive and benefit from ongoing digital adoption and demand surge. In the last 12 months or so, the top 20 largest operators spent a record breaking $150,000,000,000 capital expenditure with the long term backlog, Tana continues to benefit from its strong technology client base And the investment in new facilities. On the aviation front, large scale large Clients are investing due to the need to modernize and improve airports that are nearing the end of their service life. In addition, the Federal Aviation Authority has identified a large number of existing public airports and several proposed new ones that are expected to drive spending estimates to over EUR 40,000,000,000 for products that will be launched over the next few years.
Finally, in Americas, the nearly $1,000,000,000 infrastructure bill was passed by the House in June and expected to be confirmed by the Senate In the coming weeks, while it will take time until this investment actually makes an economic impact, the opportunities will be numerous and significant. Host. As we confirm our operational PBT Guidance at Americas Business for 2021 of €320,000,000 to €350,000,000 Asia Pacific Division and CIMIC results were published last week. Revenues increased by 4.8% call to US4.6 billion dollars in the first half of twenty twenty one, driven by strong growth in Australian Construction and Services. Net profit tax impact of ARS 208,000,000 to ARS 208 ARS 1,000,000 compared with ARS 205,000,000 in the comparable period.
EBITDA, PBT and NPAT margins were resilient at 10.1%, 5.4% and 4.5%, respectively. Free operating cash The flow prefectories improved by MXN 166,000,000 in H1 2021 compared with the 1st 6 months of 2020. Positive cash flow momentum reflects the normalization of new projects awards and a reduction in CapEx and lower financial costs. Later in Asia remains a constraint. Adjusted for this, Q2 cash conversion would have been more than double the 34 Our net capital expenditure of €30,000,000 as a dollar reflects current CapEx spend for job cost and tunneling equipment.
Net debt ended the period at US272 $172,000,000 to US172 million dollars with the year to date movement including the unwinding of US243 $1,000,000 of factory during the period. New work of US10.4 billion dollars was awarded to CEMIC during the 1st 6 months of 20 21. This already exceeds the EUR 6,800,000,000 secured for the full 12 months of 2020 like for like. As a result, the journal of the book stands at US33.3 billion dollars a 10% increase so far in 2021. As of the end of the period, the pipeline of relevant tenders to be bid for or awarded is approx $470,000,000,000 for 2021 and beyond, including EUR 115,000,000,000 of PPP opportunities.
And semi confirmed It's tempered guidance for 2021 of $400,000,000 to $430,000,000 subject to market conditions. Executive Europe has delivered a solid performance in the first half of twenty twenty one. Sales advanced slightly to €600,000,000 whilst maintaining the division's disciplined approach to bid for new projects. Operational PBT of EUR 26,000,000 was aligned with the comparable period of 2020 and with a solid margin level. The movement in net cash from operating activities mainly reflects the seasonality of the first half of the year, with the core business showing an improvement of €40,000,000 year on year.
Over the last 12 months, Europe has generated over EUR 100,000,000 in net cash from operating activities. At the end of June, the division's balance sheet Maintain a strong net cash position of €484,000,000 an increase of over €400,000,000 compared with a year ago. Any orders in the period of €837,000,000 were at a similar level to H1 2020 with the last 12 months showing EUR 1,900,000,000 of new work secured, which is equivalent to 1.2 times work done during the period. The divisional order backlog ended June 2020 at €4,500,000,000 an increase year on year of 11%. For 2021, we expect operational activity for Europe of €40,000,000 to €60,000,000 Now we are going to summarize the performance of Abertis, which shows a strong improvement.
Average daily traffic in H1 2021 was 22% higher year on year due to the impact of mobility restrictions introduced last year Due to the COVID pandemic and benefiting from the resilience afforded by the group's diversified portfolio of toll roads and an increasing heavy vehicle traffic. Operating revenues rose 60% in Q2 year on year And 26% in H1 2021 on a comparable basis 20%, with EBITDA up 91% year on year in Q2 and 40% in H1 2021. On a like for like basis, including the full consolidation of ARCO Mexico and ERC U. S. Acquired in 2020 EBITDA was 29%, higher year on year.
Abertis net profit pre PPA amounts to EUR 262,000,000 for the half year, almost double GRNG and mainly due to improved operational performance and traffic trends. The reduced profit contribution to HOCHTIE for our 20% stake was €13,000,000 in H1 2021, with a strong recovery of earnings in Q2 to €60,000,000 up €35,000,000 year on year. A dividend payment of €601,000,000 was made in April 2021, Of which, HOTIL received its share of €119,000,000 and the proposed dividend policy for 2020 €200,000 Our 2021 guidance in relation to the contribution from our holding in Abertis is unchanged. Now I want to take the opportunity to address environmental, social and governance. HOTIF It's one of the world's leading infrastructure groups in relation to ESE.
Sustainability specifically is one of our guiding principles for how we approach and manage our business cornerstone of our strategy. A long standing commitment to sustainability reflected, for example, by our listing in the Dow Jones Estrella Index for the last 15 years. In addition, MSCI has awarded Fortive a strong AA ESG rating HOP and Sustainalytics, Bliss, who live as a top 10% company in its global sustainability ranking for our industry. Furthermore, our group has also been recognized for its efforts on climate change by CDB Carbon Disclosure Project. In 2021, we are further accelerating our ESG efforts by leveraging the digital technologies we are developing in order to continue our business transformation.
The Executive Board is leading these 2 transition, green and digital. We are updating our efforts with our 2021 2025 sustainability plan and are working on carbon reduction targets I'm tracking the scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions in the group. Our sustainability plan will also Respond to the requirements and recommendations of regulators such as the new EU taxonomy for which HOTIF is already making the necessary effort host. Our customers value our range of services on the environmental front. We United Revenues in 2020 from Green Building Prairies was €8,300,000,000 or over onethree of group sales.
We are the leaders in green building in the U. S. And embrace the trend towards making the industry more has completed over 1200 Green Building Projects, and it has more professionals which are lead accredited key sustainability metric in the U. S. Building market than any other construction firm.
We are working together with our clients, suppliers, Hub contact us to significantly improve the environmental footprint of our activities. For example, last week, Terra announced That is flagship US1.5 billion dollars new work. David's Convention Center have been awarded Elite Gold Certification at the U. S. Green Building Council and serves as a model of environmental efficiency and sustainability.
The focus on the circular economy is illustrated in this period by the 75% of all construction waste, which was diverted from landfills for reuse for recycling and construction materials that were chosen with sustainability characteristics, including highly recycled content and locally sourced and sustainably Harvested Wood. Other highlights of the project include the use of 3,000 solar panels, water efficiency in low environmental quality HOKA and Energy Conservation. The source of component of sustainability at JOTIF has been further reinforced by our updated Human Rights Policy, which is available on our website. Our staff's diversity in terms of age, gender, citizenship, religion hot spot. And background is something we, as an international group, care deeply about.
Governance is also a priority for us. At our AGM in May, an updated compensation system for the Xevo award was approved, including an ESC component for the viable remuneration for this time for the first time. Compliance is also key in delivering our corporate principles, particularly in terms of our codes of business conduct, and we attach great importance to ensuring that a high standard extend to the entire supply chain and that human rights apply to everyone who works on our projects. We will keep you updated on our progress with all these important topics. And now to conclude, With solid margins, increasing cash flow and robust growth of the book, supported by a rise of almost 50% in our new orders during the first half of twenty twenty one, We are positive on the outlook for Cooked Teeth.
We confirm our guidance and expect to achieve an operational profit for 2021 in the range of EUR410,000,000 to EUR 460,000,000. This represents an increase of approx EUR 50,000,000 to EUR 100,000,000 compared with the €359,000,000 of 20.20 like for like. In terms of earnings per share, our balance is equivalent to a profit of between EUR 6.75 per share per whole fleet. We continue to actively assess our capital allocation of which shareholder remuneration remains a key ingredient. Early this month, HOTIF paid dividend for 2020 of EUR 3.93 €2,000,000 per share and unchanged payout ratio of 65%.
This brings the total dividend distributed by HOTI to shareholders Since 2012 to almost €1,900,000,000 So in summary, we are positive About the outlook for HOTII given the improving trends in our order book, cash flow and profit performance for 2021 and beyond, supported by over EUR 200,000,000,000 in PPP Projects. So thank you very much, everyone, for listening, and I now welcome your questions.
So we're ready for questions. Thank you, operator.
Call. Call. We'll now take the first question from Louis Prieto at Kepler. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, gentlemen. I had a couple of questions. The first one is could you please describe a bit more your positioning towards the U. S. Government's infrastructure plan?
In other words, could we see Flatiron considerably expanding operations because of it to benefit from it? And would you also expect China to be a beneficiary of the plan to any extent? And the second question, the 2 main shareholders of Abertis, Atlantica and ACS will obviously soon have very material financial after the completion of the respective very relevant disposals. This opens various hypothetical scenarios as Can imagine at this level in which you also have a stake. So my question is, what is your strategic stance in this context?
Thank you.
Lee, hi. It's Mike Pinkney here. Let me take that first question. So obviously the Biden infrastructure plan, which looks to be the sort of 1,000,000,000 to 1,200,000,000 area. It's been agreed initially, but it has to get through the Senate and they're still discussing it.
So we'll have to see exactly what that looks like. But having said that, clearly, There's a focus on transport infrastructure and that We'll definitely provide opportunities for Flatiron, obviously, which is focused on civil engineering. But also, it could provide opportunities for Turner as well. So Turner does A lot in airports, in fact, in joint venture with Flatiron. And there's increasing levels of investment as things stand now, so there could be additional opportunities on top of that.
And then there are other areas. The infrastructure plan is infrastructure In a fairly broad sense and so there's also talk about increasing investment in things like education and healthcare, which obviously It's very important at the moment. So we think that there could be additional opportunities. But as things stand now, The order book at Americas is up at nearly €23,500,000,000 We've seen 14% growth in new orders in the first half of the year. So things look good And there could be some additional upside.
Yes. I am yes, we and then obviously, we are going to take advantage of Both no civil and building opportunities. They will come. And the phase is something that you know that up to now It's working very well. We'll see if this kind of public, let's say, push and this is coming to the market very soon or through the next years.
And then obviously, we are ready for taking advantage of these opportunities. In regards to your second question, obviously, Our partners are now or they have they stated that they are ready, let's say, to continue their journey. And for us, as you know, Abertis is a very strategic investment. And we will be totally open to analyze any possibility in the future, but we need to wait and see. And obviously, we don't know right now what is the what are the next steps in regard to this.
But as I said for us, this is an attractive investment, and we are Very happy with this position.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
We'll now take the next question from Christian Koort at HSBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much and good afternoon. Thank you for the presentation and the results. I have three questions. The first is Also on the Americas, if you could please explain your view on commercial construction and the prospects of the business in Americas. Has anything changed strategically with COVID?
Or is the market still in good shape and should be going forward? The second question is on the cash generation in Americas. I see that about €395,000,000 net cash Before factoring versus an EBITDA of €91,000,000 and an EBIT of €70,000,000 I just wanted to understand Why that cash flow is so strong? Is it from working capital? Are there other reasons that explain this?
And the third is on capital allocation. Just wanted to ask if you have any plans potentially on share buybacks, which would trigger these, are there any thresholds? Because I think you have good cash flow and a good net cash position. And apparently, I'm not sure if there's much need for additional cash on the balance sheet. So that would be my questions.
Thank you
very much.
Hi, Christian, it's Mike again. Thanks for your questions. Firstly, you were asking about the commercial construction market. I think what I'd highlight here is that One of the areas that's growing very strongly, as Marcelino highlighted earlier, is the data center market. And that is growing very strongly.
We've seen the figure, I think Marcelino mentioned $150,000,000,000 of CapEx in the last 12 months by the sort of the largest operators. That's a record level of investment. So that is now representing a stronger part of the overall, if you like, commercial market for Turner. So commercial data and retail represent just over 40% of the backlog A turner at the halfway stage, but a big chunk of that now is data. And retail has also been benefiting obviously Indirectly from e commerce to a degree.
So I think that the there are obviously different parts of the commercial sector. But certainly, the data center 1 is growing very strongly. And Turner is obviously very Well positioned there. In terms
Robert, before finishing this, if I may, Mike, what is Performing very strongly is above markets, the private and the public one. So with the private market that Mike was more or less explaining to you, that is Techno, but also the public. And the public is also starting to move ahead, Lucerius, A lot of good opportunities. The market is really alive. It looks like After the COVID, they want to say to regain a little bit of the time lost.
And our position in the market is very, very good and outstanding. And one of the things is like That the market with this amount of new bids coming to the market, the market is going, let's say, to respond in a very, How can I say, good way and no need for us to be very aggressive because of this amount of new products coming to the market? And the second one was in the quarter.
On the cash flow, thanks. Yes. So you were highlighting there, Christian, the I think in particular the 2nd quarter figures for cash flow. I mean obviously there's, as you're very well aware, an important seasonal effect, which is concentrated in the Q1. If you look at the first half, then you can see that the net cash from operating activities pre factoring It's around 115,000,000, 115,000,000 and that compares with, for example, 160,000,000 So there, if you like, it's a little bit more aligned.
But as you know, the Americas cash flow performance In the last couple of years, it's been very strong. And as you can see from these figures today that we published, It continues to be so. There are always timing variations during the year and on a quarterly basis. But Year on year first half versus first half, we're up about €90,000,000 at the cash flow prefactoring level. So The outlook there, I think, remains very positive.
And even let me just to complete this and even in the quarter. We finished 2 significant big projects, and this was really a very, very good, say, momentum in regards of cash collection because of closing these 2 big outstanding prices, meaning that This is timing effect that Mike was more or less explaining. You know that obviously, you cannot look at a quarter. You have to look a little bit more longer. And if you look at the last 12 months, you realize that the position is going stable and continues being very good.
Sometimes, you have some variations, sometimes up, sometimes down, but the position is very stable. And the third one is about capital allocation and as well. You know that we've been always in our study very focused on capital allocation opportunities. As you said, there are several ones, including what you named in regard of buybacks, etcetera. But the market now is restarting.
There are a lot of new possibilities. We are really deeply analyzing all of them, obviously, Including also the capital allocation in our own company. But the idea is before, say, making a decision to deeply analyze these opportunities. And finally, we will use these funds we consider in the best ways for us.
We'll now take the next question from Victor Akhtaris at Societe Generale. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, Mike, Tobias and Marcelino. I have some questions, If you can probably help to me. The third one is on asset disposal. Has been in the market that chances in CIMIC In order to dispose or to go to an IPO, any transaction on Ventia. So if there is any color on that, this could be the first question.
The second on the calls with clients usually comes to the conversation, the potential risk on inflation in industry for the raw materials. If you can comment on that, if you see any risk on your margins, how are the stands on the procurement on the group? And the third one finally is that You said, Marcelino, that you are currently working on the ESG targets on the scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Is there any calendar date
Thank you, Victor. Maybe regarding CIMICIA, our CFO can give us Some kind of color in
Yes. Hi, Victor, it's Peter here. Yes, with regard to the to Ventia, there is an IPO In preparation, this IPO will be is in preparation towards the end of the year. So we will see in the next couple of months, I mean, they are now talking to testing the market, preparing a prospectus. And we will see how it goes, But this is something rather for the end of the year.
And because this is one possibility, we have seen the investors there.
There are many others with I mean, there's also an M and A possibility and there's also a possibility if we can't really generate value Let me keep our stake, of course.
Very good. Then inflation, Robert, maybe Mike, you can provide some color on that.
Absolutely. Yes. In terms of sort of raw material cost inflation, etcetera, I mean, the first thing to say obviously is To remind you about 60% of our revenues originate from cost plus fee type contracts in the Americas. That's basically driven by Turner. For the remainder of our construction services jobs, we'd apply various tools for risk mitigation as part of our risk management to focus on essentially on those risks that we can manage.
And those sorts of tools include price escalation clauses. In Australia, enterprise bargaining agreements are normally signed with the unions for the lifetime of specific projects. And pre purchasing of materials and subcontractor capacity at the time of the project award is also one of the ways to manage this risk. In addition, We've shifted our contract portfolio in construction, as you know, away from sort of more lump sum contracts towards Much more alliance collaboration and partnering type approaches where the risk is more equally shared essentially. So we've got a diversified business model.
We're very focused on a rigorous approach to risk management. So we think we're very well positioned to manage sort of cost pressures.
Very good. And Victor, in regards to your easy question, Uzi, we are now building our sustainability plan 2021, 2025. We are aiming, as I said, to have planned ready by the end of this year. We are working in a collaborative way in different areas. You know that the ESG has to be applicable in the overall scope of the company.
We are a global company. We have Europe. We have America. We have Asia Pacific. And obviously, the criteria in these regions are not going to the same speed.
We have, let's say, to adapt ourselves to the different speech in order to continue being competitive in the markets. But our plan is just To create this Sustainability 2021, 2025 plan, our objective by the end of the year, having clear A bit about how can we develop, how can we understand this within the company's culture. This is one of the things we're aiming to do. We want to be sustainable because the culture of the company is to be sustainable. We are introducing at the same time the ESE, environmental sourcing and government teams together with our digital transformation.
You remember that we started with our company NEXPLOR more than 3 years ago. That NEXPLOR is really well involved on that, not only in digitalization as a whole, but also Yes, helping very much in the introducing this new criteria that are going, let's say, to be so useful for us for competing in the different markets. But at the same time, we need to have the right tools for giving to our people, to our projects, as I said, to make the task Really, really available for everybody. Then we are really excited on that. We have a very tremendous plan and ambitious plan, but we will see.
I will update you in the next quarters all the things that we are But we consider it's very important for the transformation in our company for being a really sustainable company for the present and for the future.
Hotstar 1. We'll now take the next question from Tobias Warner at Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. I'm Hochitif team. Thanks for taking my questions. Just two questions, if I may. Number 1, How do you think about capital allocation in context of the share buyback option?
The shares do look attractive. It'd be interesting to hear how you put this in context of things such as Abertis or The recent consideration of ASPI and so on and so forth. The second question, probably something you can't answer, but Maybe give us a sense is about the Atlantia shareholding in yourself, which Probably creates a bit of a share overhang at this time. And how do you see that? And then maybe one last question.
Obviously, Australia is a big market for you at the moment. And it seems that when you look at the latest traffic data in Australia, The lockdowns are starting to play out a little bit. How do you see that pan out? Thank you.
Tobias, hi, it's Mike. So maybe just to start
off with
the the lockdowns that you mentioned there in Sydney, New South Wales to be specific. The Juan Santamania, the CIMIC's CEO highlighted on his conference call last week Basically, the government is sticking or is aiming to stick to a 2 week period of lockdown, which incidentally would finish at the end of this week. And with the intention to work with industry to make sure it can return to normal as soon as possible afterwards. This is requiring that the full collaboration between all the parties and Yes, it seems to be that the government is saying that it was going to support this by compensating all Reasonable and Fair Claims. So the view really from Juan was that the lockdown shouldn't be effect in the industry to any great extent.
And that continues
Tobias, as I said regarding, for instance, the capital allocation opportunities, share buybacks, Yes, it is a good opportunity. It's a great opportunity. The share price is really attractive, but we are also analyzing All the capital allocation opportunities that we consider at the same time that are very, very interesting for our shareholders. That's why we are not really making a This is Renaud. And then we went, let's say, to look at how the market is developing in these opportunities that we are foreseeing right now.
And in regard, obviously, it's a question to Atlantia, but Atlantia has been a very good shareholder to us. We are very happy having Atlantia on board, We don't know exactly what they are at the time, they are decision for the future, but I cannot say give you More color on that because it's a question more for Atlantica than for us.
Thank you very much gentlemen.
We'll now take the next question from Louis Prieto at Kepler. Please go ahead.
Hello again. Luis Pietro, follow-up question would be the following. We have seen your factoring balance decline for some time now and I was wondering what your desired factoring balance level is at the moment or in the future?
Yes. Hi, Luis. It's Mike again. Yes, as you say, so there's been a strong reduction In the factoring over the last couple of years, you've seen a reduction year to date from January to June of €168,000,000 I mean as Marc I was highlighting if you adjusted for that, the net cash position in December to June is almost unchanged. But basically, it's mainly in Australia.
And the expectation is that it will basically vary as a function of revenues, but They're looking at all the most sort of efficient structure that's appropriate for the business. So there may be Some additional variation beyond the revenue change that you see.
But more or less following always The revenues curve, let's say, if the revenues are going up, maybe you can just say follow with the factoring with the revenues and if they're going down following with We don't have any estimation. We don't have any specific target.
That concludes today's question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back to Mr. Pinkney. Please go ahead, sir.
Okay. Well, thank you very much, operator. Thanks to everyone for joining us and for all your questions. And Yes, we hope everyone can have a good summer and speak in queue with the Q3 numbers. Thank you.
Bye bye.
Yes, thank you very much to all of you and then rest and have a good summer. Thank you.