Yes, hello, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon, also from my side. We would like to start on slide number five. 2023 was a challenging year. High inflation, higher interest rates, and stricter lending criteria, factors that were not helpful. In this respect, 2023 saw a clear cool down of the construction industry after years of zero and negative interest rates. STRABAG performed extremely well in this environment. Besides the new output record and the stable order backlog, which is especially important in times like these, we also managed to expand our earning space. Earnings for 2023 were higher than expected. We report an EBIT margin of 5%, primarily due to positive effects coming from the Northwest segment, but also due to improvements in the Southeast segment.
Based on that performance, we will propose an increased dividend per share of EUR 2.20 for 2023, which means a payout ratio of 41%. Both earnings per share and dividend per share are higher, despite the increased share capital coming from the capital increase in March this year. Important to note is that the new shares are already entitled for the 2023 dividend. We continue on slide six. Due to that increased interest rate, we paid great attention to our liquidity position in 2023. However, the expected reduction in down payments did not materialize for the time being. So, we were again able to substantially increase our cash position to now EUR 3.5 billion.
In line with our strategy, 2030, we made investments in order to expand our expertise in the area of MEP and energy management, or to expand our facility service portfolio. Besides the operational business, we successfully completed our capital measures with the final step, the ordinary non-cash capital increase in March this year. As a result, the stake for Rasperia fell as planned to below 25%. Overall, backed by the strong performance of 2023, we expect to be able to confirm this year's record output in 2024. Therefore, we are on track for another strong year. If we have a look at the performance of the underlying markets on slide seven, we see the following. On the one hand, a healthy business activity when it comes to infrastructure and civil engineering in the majority of our markets.
Growing demand is especially registered in the area of energy transition projects. On the other hand, we see mixed trends in building construction. The residential construction market declined sharply or even came to a standstill. This is primarily true for Austria, due to a combination of high mortgage rates and, at the same time, tightening lending guidelines for residential construction loans. With interest rate cuts expected for June 2024, and the impacts of the supporting package of the Austrian government, we expect the residential construction market to revitalize starting from 2025. Overall, residential construction accounts for less than 10% of group output volume, so we have been able to more than offset declines in this area. In building construction, we especially register positive trends in industrial construction and in the public building construction sectors.
For example, in the area of education, healthcare, public administration, or sports facilities. The shift from private to public contract, which has already started in 2022, intensified last year. In the order intake 2023, we see already a shift to 70, 70% public and 30% private contract. We expect this trend to ease with lower interest rates. In any case, our strong footprint in public construction currently helps us to balance out, diversified developments. In the long run, however, we aim for a more balanced client structure, as we do believe a healthy mix of private and public contracts, as well as large and small orders, is the optimum setup for STRABAG.
To summarize, we see a clear cool down in the construction industry, but due to our critical size and the diversified business model, both by geography and construction segment, we have been able to more than compensate declining trends in individual construction segments in 2023. On slide eight, we present our major project acquisitions in 2023. We were able to acquire large infrastructure projects, such as the extensions of the U5 subway lines in Hamburg and Munich, and the modernization of the Masaryk Railway Station in Prague. In Chile, we were, we are being part of, realizing the largest wind farm in Latin America. In recent years, we have already built the foundations for 140 wind turbines in the Atacama Desert, with a total capacity of 850 MW for Colbún and ENGIE.
We are proud that we managed to obtain another order from ENGIE in 2023 for 55 additional wind turbines, including the construction of the foundations and the entire earthworks. This is also consistent with our strategy to realize projects related to the energy transition. Outside of Europe, we registered an increased number of order intakes in the Middle East. We built, for example, a 51-kilometer-long road in Oman. In total, we were able to acquire contracts worth around EUR 380 million in the Middle East. The contracts contain road constructions, as well as public and commercial building construction works.
When it comes to public building construction, we were awarded with major orders in the area of healthcare, like the Medical Rehabilitation Center here in Vienna, and in education, like the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, which includes the reconstruction of the old building. Overall, you can see that there is a good mix visible also in our order intake. This is a direct consequence of our ability to cover the entire value chain in construction. To conclude the highlights of last year, I would like to draw your attention to our progress in sustainability management on slide nine. To begin with, CDP upgraded our rating in the area of climate change from B-minus to B in 2023, reflecting our commitment to climate neutrality by 2040, and our progress in this respect.
In the last evaluation of EcoVadis, we received 67 out of 100 points, which can be seen as a strong outcome, also in peer comparison. When we have a look onto our MSCI rating, please take in mind that 2023 was the first time of an active participation of STRABAG in the MSCI rating process. As with all the shown ratings, we strive for continuous improvement. We express our commitment to ESG also by supporting a number of important initiatives, as you can see at the bottom of the slide. Besides, we implemented an EDI, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion strategy in 2023, with the goal of closing the gender-related pay gap by 2030, and to annually increase the share of women in leadership. We continue on slide 11.
As you can see, we generated a new record output volume of EUR 19.1 billion, a +8% due to strong growth dynamics throughout the entire year. Based on our ongoing high order backlog, we recorded growth in almost all our key markets. Speaking about our core markets, we only saw a decline in the Czech Republic, which is due to the high competition in transportation infrastructure. Thanks to our solid order backlog, we are flexible enough to go for a more selective approach to secure our margins. In the Q1 of 2024, however, we successfully acquired a new infrastructure project in Prague. In absolute terms, Germany, Romania, and Poland contributed most to the output growth in 2023. Besides the Czech Republic, declines were only recorded in smaller markets such as Sweden or Denmark.
Even more important in times like these, we were able to keep our already very high order backlog almost stable at EUR 23.5 billion. This is particularly remarkable, given the strong decline on the residential construction market. We recorded significant growth, above all in Germany, but also in Poland and the Middle East. The focus is on infrastructure, tunneling, industrial, and public building construction. Successful additions to the backlog were made in the areas of energy transition and in the reconstruction, conversion, and refurbishment projects. Due to the ongoing execution of large and mega projects, we see some declines in the Americas and also in the United Kingdom, In Austria, the decline in the order backlog is primarily due to two effects. The backlog at the end of 2022 was exceptionally high, as large projects were acquired in that time.
The declines in the residential construction market are most severe in Austria, and our share of residential construction has historically been higher in Austria. Let's move on to slide 12. The EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, came in at a bit more than EUR 1.4 billion in 2023, an increase of 12% year-on-year. Depreciation and amortization expense is slightly down by 2% to EUR 538 million. So we generated an EBIT, earnings before interest and taxes, of EUR 880 million in 2023, up 25% year-on-year. This corresponds to an EBIT margin of 5%. As already communicated ad hoc in February, the EBIT margin for 2023 is substantially higher than originally forecasted.
The major drivers for this development are the following: We saw an easing in the cost inflation of subcontractors and material prices in Germany, especially towards the end of 2023. We successfully concluded claim negotiations for large infrastructure projects in Germany, which is, however, not a regular recurring income component. So especially the north and west segment had a significant impact. If you have a look on the profit and loss statement, you will see that we show a very strong net interest income in 2023. This is basically due to our ongoing high cash position, where we now have quite an advantage in this interest rate environment. So net interest income accounts for EUR 44 million, compared to EUR 11 million last year. The EBT, earnings before taxes, reached EUR 924 million.
The income tax rate came in at 31.5%. As a result, net income after minorities reached EUR 631 million, a +33%. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the highest level in our history. On slide 13, we will have a closer look on the earnings per share. On the left part of the slide, you can see the EPS for 2023, as reported in the annual report. This figure is based on the weighted number of outstanding shares in 2023. In March 2024, the number of outstanding STRABAG shares changed as a consequence of the capital increase, which was part of the capital measures to reduce the stake of Rasperia. Important to note is that the new shares from the capital increase are already entitled for the 2023 dividend.
Taking this into account, the pro forma earnings per share comes to 5.45 EUR. This means that earnings per share increased significantly compared to the previous year, 4.6 EUR, despite a 50% higher share capital. In line with our dividend policy, we will propose a 10% higher dividend per share of 2.20 EUR at the general meeting in June, which corresponds to a payout ratio of 41%, based on the higher share capital. In relation to the average price of the STRABAG share in 2023, this results in a dividend yield of 5.7%, which means that we continue to be one of the companies with the highest dividend yields in Austria. We continue on slide 14. As you can see, our already robust balance sheet appears even stronger at year-end 2023.
We report a significantly higher net cash position of EUR 2.6 billion at the end of 2023. This development is due to a higher cash flow from earnings and an unexpected reduction in working capital. The expected reduction in customer prepayments as a result of higher interest rates did not materialize for the time being. Besides that, financial liabilities were further reduced. The equity ratio is still comfortably above our internal target of at least 25%, so we have a significant headroom as we report an equity ratio of 32.2% at the end of the year. At the year end of 2022, there was a purchase obligation for the own shares in connection with the mandatory offer.
As we eventually bought back a lower number of shares, the difference was brought back to the returned earnings. So returned earnings increased by a bit more than EUR 290 million due to this effect in 2023. On the other hand, we registered capital reductions of EUR 338 million from the capital measures to reduce the stake of Rasperia. Nonetheless, you see a year-on-year increase in equity as a result of our solid financial performance. To conclude, the solid financial position of STRABAG is still reflected in a triple B investment grade rating from S&P. Outlook stable, which was confirmed in October 2023. Let's move on to slide 15. I have already spoken about our high cash position. We report cash and cash equivalents of EUR 3.5 billion at the end of 2023.
If you have a look on the cash flow statement, you can basically see the following development. Cash flow from operating activities increased significantly year-on-year to EUR 1.8 billion, as a result of a higher cash flow from earnings and the aforementioned unexpected reduction in working capital. Cash flow from investing activities reflects the acquisition of several businesses, especially in facility services, services, energy management, and MEP, which I am going to present on the next slide. Cash flow from financing activities was less negative as at -EUR 431 million in 2023. This is due to the repayment of the bond of EUR 200 million in 2022. This reduction was higher than the outflow for own shares acquired in February in connection with the mandatory offer. Currently, there are no bonds outstanding, so no repayment scheduled for the next years.
Slide 16 shows the strategic investments we made in 2023, all in line with the priorities of our Strategy 2030. With Bockholdt, we made an acquisition in Germany, which expands our property and facility services business, and thereby strengthens our income streams from sources outside the pure construction business. Bockholdt fits geographically very well into STRABAG, strengthening our footprint in northern Germany, and expands our services in the area of infrastructure facility management. Expertise in the energy sector is a key strategic topic in our Strategy 2030. Therefore, we expanded our expertise in energy management services and MEP by taking over Hans Lohr in Austria. Besides, we made an equity investment in the German-based battery producers, CM Blu.
CMBlu is the first company that developed an organic solid flow battery, which means that the battery is based on organic materials that can be flexible, scaled up. Together, we aim to accelerate the energy transition by developing large warehouses for electricity, for industrial companies, municipal energy utilities, and grid operators. As we also strive to enhance the depth of our value creation, we took over the Austrian-based company, Obermayr. This is intended to expand our own value creation in the area of timber and timber hybrid construction, which we regard as an important growth driver in the future. With slide 18, I begin the operational review of 2023. In the North and West segment, we report our activities in Germany, Switzerland, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, but also ground engineering.
The geographic focus of the South and East segment is on Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Balkan countries. The environmental technology activities are also reported within this segment. The construction material business, previously reported in the international and special divisions segment, was incorporated into the South and East segment with retroactive effect from January 1, 2023. This is to bring the materials business even closer together with the operating entities in order to promote circularity within the group, as one of our core strategic core topics of our strategy 2030. The international and special division segment comprises our non-European businesses and our global tunneling activities. In this segment, we also report infrastructure development, real estate development, and our property and facility services, regardless of where these services are carried out.
On slide 19, we take a closer look onto our largest segment, North and West. In this segment, we recorded a 4% higher output volume of EUR 8.2 billion in 2023. This development was primarily driven by the strong performance in our home markets of Germany, both building, construction, and civil engineering, as well as transportation infrastructure. EBIT grew significantly by 41% to EUR 645 million. This development is due to the following effect: The absence of negative earning effects from large projects in Denmark and the Netherlands. This project had a negative impact on the earnings in 2022.
As mentioned before, we recorded an easing of the cost inflation in Germany towards the end of the year, and we managed to successfully complete claim negotiations for large infrastructure projects in Germany, which can be seen, however, as a non-recurring earnings element. The order backlog shows a solid growth rate of 8% to now EUR 11.2 billion. A solid order intake was recorded above all in Germany and Switzerland. The shift from private to public orders has continued. Coming to the outlook for this segment for 2024, we expect a slight increase in output or volume, despite the challenging general market environment. Our continued high order backlog supports our outlook. For the German building construction sector, we expect the following: Material prices should continue to normalize and stabilize.
Compensation of declines in residential and office construction with projects in infrastructure and industrial construction will be possible. The order backlog in the German transportation infrastructure business remains high and forms a solid basis for a similar output level in 2024. In Germany, we additionally recognize increased demand on new projects related to the energy transition. Due to persistently high competition in the Benelux countries and in Scandinavia, we will continue our approach of selective bidding. The demand for our construction services in Switzerland remains stable. Following our successful consolidation, we are continuing on our growth path. Now coming to our South and East segment on page 20. Output volume grew by 9% to EUR 7.7 billion in 2023. Growth was recorded primarily in Romania, Poland, and Hungary.
With the exception of the Czech Republic, output also increased in the home markets of Austria and in the remaining countries of the CEE region. Earnings improvements in the markets of Eastern and Southeast Europe led to an increase of 66% in EBIT to EUR 393 million, at 5.3%. The EBIT margin for the segment was above the group average in 2023. Our main driver was the easing of cost inflation in the markets of Eastern and Southeastern Europe compared to last year. Order backlog declined on a high level to EUR 7 billion, driven especially by the development in Austria. Austria showed an above average order backlog at the year-end 2022, due to successful acquisitions of large-scale project.
Due to the stricter lending guidelines, the situation on the Austrian residential construction market is worse than in other European countries. In Hungary, the order backlog declined due to the government investment freeze and the withheld EU funds. In contrast, growth was generated, especially in Poland. Concerning the outlook for the South and East segment, we expect the output volumes to remain stable in 2024. Lower interest rates that are expected, and the government subsidy package should have a positive effect on the residential construction market in Austria, with an expected revitalizing starting from 2025. In Poland, tenders for transportation infrastructure projects are expected to be lower due to the upcoming local elections, but European Union structural funding should have a positive impact on railway construction and energy transition projects.
Hungary suffers from withheld EU funds. This leads to a decline in construction volume and to the increased competitive pressure. The focus of our business activities in building construction, civil engineering, is therefore on private investments. The competitive pressure in the Czech transportation infrastructure sector is expected to remain high. In Slovakia, we expect an increase of new tenders in the transportation infrastructure after the formation of the new government. In Romania, contract awards may be delayed because of the upcoming local election. Romania's public building construction sector is showing positive trends, despite increased competition from outside Europe. Slide 21 shows the development in our international and special division segment. The segment generated an output volume of EUR 3 billion, which is 12% higher in a year-on-year comparison.
The strongest growth was recorded in Germany, following, followed by the United Kingdom, where the ongoing fulfillment of major projects had a positive effect on the output volume. Additionally, road construction and road maintenance projects in Italy also contributed to the significant output growth. With regard to the earnings situation, it has to be considered that the international and special division segment is regularly exposed to fluctuations due to large and mega projects. On the positive side, we achieved higher earnings in our property and facility services business and in the infrastructure development. The real estate development business also performed robustly despite the challenging environment, and made a positive contribution to earnings. On the contrary, these positive developments were more than offset by provisions for two major international projects in the Americas.
As a result, EBIT was negative in 2023, at EUR 132 million. The order backlog faced a decrease of 5% to EUR 5.2 billion. Declines were recorded in the Americas and the United Kingdom, where several mega projects, including HS2, are being worked off. Strong order growth was registered in Germany. Besides, tunneling and road construction, contracts were successfully acquired in Italy and the Middle East. Coming now to the outlook for the segment. We expect to achieve a noticeably higher output volume in 2024 in the international and special division segment. Following a number of successful acquisitions, the order backlog in the tunneling business was maintained at a high level. Positive trends are visible in our international business, especially in the Middle East, in Chile and India.
In Chile, we expand our construction business for energy transition projects. In India, we are successfully working on new orders for intelligent transportation systems. In our property and facility services business, the focus will be on the expansion of our MEP and energy management services, both organically and through acquisitions. In line with our strategy, 2030, we are paying increased attention to the development of renewable energy projects in our infrastructure development business. The real estate development business has been particularly affected by the interest rate turnaround. However, with expectations of interest rate cuts, the environment for property developers should gradually stabilize, starting in the second half of the year. We continue on slide 23. We successfully completed the capital measures to reduce the stake of Rasperia, which was controlled by the sanctioned Russian citizen, Oleg Deripaska.
The capital measures were anonymously approved by the nineteenth General Meeting in June 2023. The final step, an ordinary non-cash capital increase, took place in March 2024. Thereby, approximately 50 million new shares were issued. The share capital increased from 103 to 118 million shares. As Rasperia was not able to take part in these capital increases, the stake fell from 27.8% to under 25%, to be precise, to 24.1%.... As a direct result, Oleg Deripaska is no longer an ultimate beneficial owner of STRABAG, and was therefore deleted from the register of beneficial owners. The action brought by Rasperia against the capital measures was in the meantime dismissed in the first instance by the Regional Court in Klagenfurt. The ruling is not yet final, however.
On the left-hand side of slide 24, you can see the new shareholder structure after the capital increase. As announced, the Austrian core shareholders decided for the share-based option, so that their stakes increased. Roughly one quarter of the free float accepted the share-based option, and three quarters decided for the cash option. Therefore, the free float decreased slightly, which I want to repeat, was not the intention of the capital measures. The only intention was that Rasperia, as mentioned before, fell to below 25%. A brief update on the shareholder, Rasperia. The actions brought by Rasperia against the general meeting and the extraordinary general meeting of 2022 were both dismissed by the Regional Court of Klagenfurt in the first instance, and by the Higher Regional Court in Graz in the second instance. To date, the proceedings are ongoing.
In March 2024, we received major shareholding notifications from Oleg Deripaska and the Russian company, Iliadis. According to these notifications, Rasperia was transferred to Iliadis, which had already been announced in December of last year. A sanctions review has been initiated. However, for the time being, we continue to assume that the Strabag shares held by Rasperia remain frozen in accordance with the EU sanction regulations. And this is disregarding any effect the RBI transaction might have on this, on this issue. Regarding the RBI transaction, I would like to state the following: We are currently unable to assess whether the apparent closing of the transaction in Russia, the acquisition of Rasperia by Iliadis, will have any impact on the acquisition of the Strabag shares held by Rasperia, by Raiffeisen Bank International AG, or short RBI, which was also announced in December 2023.
As you know, it was always announced that there would be two transactions. But I can tell you the following: STRABAG is not a party to the RBI transaction, and therefore, has only limited information. However, I'm certainly not telling you a secret when I say that we would prefer a non-sanctioned Austrian shareholder, RBI, to a sanctioned Russian shareholder or another Russian entity, in this case, Iliadis, that is not known to us. RBI has always emphasized, both in the media and directly to us, that it assumes the acquisition of the share package by RBI, is compliant with sanction law, and that the transaction is still on the right track.
We see no reason to doubt that RBI is in close dialogue with all relevant authorities, and will, of course, only complete the transaction if it can be implemented, implemented in compliance with the law and sanctions. Regardless of this, we will review the compliance of the transactions with sanction law in due course. As we are, as I said, not a party to the mentioned transaction, I ask for your understanding that I cannot answer any further questions on this topic. We continue on slide 25, and I conclude my presentation with an outlook on 2024. Based on our high order backlog, which already extends well into 2025, we expect that the output volume, that the output volume will increase slightly from its already high level to EUR 19.4 billion. As reported earlier, the earnings development last year were primarily due to extraordinary effects.
We expect, however, to be able to generate, again, an EBIT margin of at least 4% in 2024, despite the ongoing challenges in the construction industry. When it comes to the net investments, the cash flow from investing activities, we forecast at a maximum of EUR 750 million. Which is a slight increase and is intended to make necessary investments in line with our strategy 2030, as outlined on our capital markets day. You see, we are on track for another strong performance also in 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my presentation. I thank you very much for your attention, and we are now open for your questions. Thank you very much!