Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA

MAD:FCC

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Miguel Granado, executive]

[Foreign Language] The real estate activity with this still being reported in a differentiated way. And they have not been included for 2021, but they have been included separately, as you can see in the broken down information, which we have sent to the CNMV. So without further ado, just to review the most significant magnitude at the consolidated level, the revenues of our group rose by 10.2% in the first quarter, plus EUR 671 million. There was an expansion across all the activities of the group. I would like to highlight the expansion, the organic expansion, we will look at it in greater detail in the realm of the environment and also the expansion of the real estate activity, which last year, as you know, started to contribute to our P&L. This started in November 2021.

In November, the EBITDA grew to EUR 278 million in a very similar way to revenues and together with an increase in profits, especially in water activities and in real estate. For water, and real estate, as I say, you've got to consider the effects of different acquisitions and the incorporation of activities that have had a wider margin. And so the EBITDA managed to offset the higher energy costs that we had to face, especially in certain activities, which were particularly visible, especially for cement. So the margin of EBITDA over revenues stayed practically in variable with respect to revenues, around 16.7%, 1 basis point lower than the figure for last year. You also need to consider that in the first quarter 2021, we formalized the sale of different transport infrastructure concessions, especially in the Cedinsa Group, and that's why in the first quarter 2021, as we said back then, there was a positive effect, an exceptional effect in different headings, together with certain operational figures. And together, these activities had a positive contribution about EUR 45 million. And this explains when you go down to the result attributed to the holding company. This explains why -- this first quarter, we had EUR 85 million vis-a-vis, EUR 139 million of the previous financial year. Most of it comes from the effect of those sales of concessions for EUR 45 million.

Now if you look at the heading of financial structure, the net financial debt closed at the 31st of March at EUR 3.6 million, it grew with respect to the end of FY '21 by 12.5%. And here, 100%, this is where -- well, most of the growth here was due to the acquisition and incorporation to the balance sheet of the operational debt of the GC on the GCU Group, which is a company that owns integrated water cycles in the capital of Georgia. We also need to highlight that in a more indirect way, but -- which also has an impact on the level of financial debt. The investments we have at the organic level, the ones underway, the development of assets. Both for water and particularly environment have been significantly higher in accordance with our plan.

To give you an idea, this year, the total amount of payments for investments including what I said about Georgia Global utilities, while payments stood at EUR 290 million in this quarter, whereas last year, the figure was EUR 96 million. So the net assets and the earnings of the group increased by 3.6% to EUR 4.6 billion. And lastly, within the operational magnitude, the most significant figures. I would like to mention that the future revenues portfolio exceeded EUR 35 billion at the end of March. This was a considerable increase of more than 18%. And this, as you can see in the information we said this happened across the different areas. I would like to mention the water activity because of the incorporation of the acquisition that we made in February of Georgia, Global utilities, and there was also a significant development in the activity of construction because of contracts that I will mention when I speak about that activity specifically.

Now if we turn to the different business areas and in line with the information that we have sent to the CNMV. I will start by the most important activity, which is the environment, which is waste management, urban waste management. Basically here, the turnover grew by 11.2% and it rose to EUR 833.6 million. We had the incorporation of new contracts, not only renewals some of the services were also extended, some existing services were extended. So street cleaning and waste collection played a very important role, but there was also expansion in waste treatment and recovery. These 2 activities, as you know, are the core. They account for 80% of the revenues of the environment business line played a very important too. By region, the main market here is Spain, which grew by 4.3% for EUR 161 million. As I said, the activity of street cleaning and waste collection played a very important role. They had a positive performance and that 4.3% expansion in Spain happened in spite of a decrease in the waste treatment activities because of the fact that revenues of the plants are given a specific accounting treatment. This happened in biological and mechanical treatment plants in, in the Northwest of Madrid and the Valencian Campo. This is in the Valencia region. If it hadn't been because of this effect, the growth would have been much closer to 2 digits. In the U.K., the turnover rose significantly more, 19.7%, EUR 181 million here, the weight of waste treatment both through the discharge plans and the value-added plants well, had a very significant boost -- and it has to be said that the FX effects benefited us because sterling accounts, I mean, the effects accounts for 4.5% of that increase.

In Central Europe, we are present in 67 markets. We have a very significant position in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Revenues increased by 17.7% here. There was an expansion in our activities, especially waste treatment and recovery of byproducts and the evolution of demand was also very positive. And especially the Czech Republic, as I said before, the Czech Republic is the most important market for us. In Central Europe, it accounts for 50% of our revenues there together with Austria, they played a very important growth. And there was a positive effect of the currencies such as the Czech kroner.

And then I should mention the United States market together with Portugal. The evolution to EUR 46.6 million was quite significant because this is 39% 0.1% more. And the performance was very positive because of the expansion we had in the United States. Growth was very steady for the first time. It was both organic and inorganic at the end of last year. We announced the acquisition of a small, but very important company called Premier Waste in Dallas, in Texas, which has a very important -- a very interesting activity that has to do with the tertiary waste management, which complements our waste treatment activities in the city, it's a biological, mechanical collection plant. And this is really helping us bolster our activities in the region.

So combining these elements, plus the organic growth that we experienced also in Florida with contracts such as in the -- in Hillsborough county, Tampa. So the performance was really very good and very positive. It is true that this 39.1% increase in turnover, I mentioned it was also very closely connected with the increase in the value of the U.S. dollar with respect to the euro. Now the with all that I have mentioned, grew by 12.1% and very well aligned with the growth in revenues to EUR 131 million in the whole area. And to be honest, I have to say that this performance has been very well balanced across the waste collection activities and the different treatment models and the ancillary activities that we carry out for city councils.

Now if we turn to water, Here, revenues increased by 6.1% to EUR 287.4 million. Here, there was the -- the performance dual performance that we already saw in previous years because there was an increase of 10.4% in the core activities of the group. As you know, we manage concessions and services, have to do with operation and maintenance. This 10.2% combines the progression in the tariffs. Tariffs were revised and also there was the incorporation of Georgia Global Utilities from the month of February. But that growth, the whole of the area, which was 6.1% was turned down because in the technology and network activity, which is the name we gave to the implementation of hydraulic infrastructures. Well, many projects came to an end, especially in areas such as the Middle East and Africa. According to plan, but that has turned down the 2-digit growth we achieved in this activity in the previous year. And now if we turn to the different geographies in Spain, revenues increased by 4.5%. We had a very well-balanced growth in the main activity, which is concessions of integrated cycles with a progressive recovery of nondomestic consumption. And Technology and Networks, even if it's weight is not very large, stayed stable and it's even grow -- and it even grew a little.

Now in terms of Central Europe and Eastern Europe, there was an increase of 52% because of the incorporation of Georgia, as I was mentioning. We should also mention that this is not a concessional contract because we are the owners. We have a monopoly forever in the exploitation of this activity same as in the Czech Republic, we're also the owners, and this is rather unusual, right, in the management of comprehensive water cycle. The Czech Republic, which is the second market here, also had a favorable performance also because of the evolution of the Czech kroner. With this growth of 52% that I mentioned with the contribution of global Georgia utilities, like-for-like we would have increased by 11% in the region.

In other European markets, which are also important, such as Portugal, Italy, France, where we also have this integrated cycle, where we also had a positive development, especially in France. And also, we managed to revise our rates. In the Middle East, however, together with Latin America, well, had less revenues, but this was because some of the contracts we had in that region came to an end. Contracts, some of the contracts that came to an end were some water treatment plants in Colombia or relocations of some facilities in Saudi Arabia or other projects in Egypt or Mexico and water plants. So the EBITDA for this area grew, clearly grew above the revenues, 18.7%. It stood at EUR 73.1 million, and this is a logical consequence. You can imagine that technology networks lost part of its share, concessions grew, and this resulted in a significant increase in the EBITDA margin.

We had up to 25.4% EBITDA margin. And if you look at the EBITDA evolution, taking away Georgia global utilities. Well, the margin would be 7.4%, which is still very good in terms of construction now. Here, well, this area remained very stable with respect to last year. Revenues increased by 1.4%, EUR 600 million. Our activity, I would say, was quite aligned with our plan, the plan that we had for the different operational units in the area. I would like to mention a lower contribution that we had already anticipated, especially in the Middle East because some of the contracts were close to their expiry. But if I start with the most significant sections in Spain, the figure was significant, 5.3% more. And we -- well, all the different contracts evolved according to plan without any disruptions or deviations on the whole. And the works of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, are making an important contribution and they are advancing according to plan. And in terms of other geographies in the rest of Europe, we are present, as you know, in markets such as Romania, the Netherlands to the U.K. apart from others such as Belgium, the turnover increased by 15% to EUR 84.4 million. Here, there was greater activity in the development of highway projects in the U.K. and in the Netherlands, especially in the center of the Netherlands, and there were also some new contracts -- there was a recent award from -- well, it was for some infrastructure in Norway.

And Latin America, revenues increased by 9.9% and -- the figure was smaller, EUR 53 million. But here, we have also worked on the contracts that had already been awarded to us, such as Line 2 of the Lima underground and the Tren Maya in Mexico, where we also had a growth in our portfolio after an adjustment of the scope of the project. As I was saying, in the Middle East, this is where -- our revenues went down the most, they fell quite significantly, but this is because we are on the verge of finishing the works. The 3 underground lines that we were working on in Riyadh, this was a project for EUR 2 billion, which is now coming to an end, and that explains why there was this reduction. But the EBITDA on the whole remained quite stable in terms of its evolution EUR 21.4 million, very similar to the evolution of revenues. And so the operational margin practically was practically identical, 6%. It's identical to the figure last year.

In terms of cement, well, revenues increased by 7.2% to EUR 112.6 million. Here, there was the growth basically concentrated in them. Top line of the account, basically local Spanish market, but also exports advanced, exports from Spain to the rest of Europe, and also exports from Tunisia and also selling prices rose, especially in Spain. And I want to say that this 7.2% happened in spite of the distortion that we had in Spain, particularly because of the transportation strike that we had in March.

So if we look at Spain and if you look at the turnover, well the turnover grew a little bit less, 6.2% in the quarter. As I say here, since the beginning of the year, we had an increase in prices, which did not affect demand, which stayed aligned with what we expected. Although in March, we were affected by the strike and it resulted in a situation where the number of shipments and volumes sold for the first quarter was lower than we would have been able to achieve and that explains why the growth was lower than the one had expected.

In terms of the local market, as I was saying, Tunisia, in Tunisia, we had a moderate activity, the contribution of Tunisia is rather low in this area. But there was a shrinkage of demand in the construction sector with prices that stayed stable. The general town in Tunisia, we hope it can improve a little in terms of price volume ratios. But in spite of that, the contribution was EUR 12.9 million and the reduction was 28%. And now exports both from Spain and from Tunisia to markets, which, in general, are very well consolidated in the 2 areas of production, a significant increase. The price is well, volumes were quite good, and this allowed us to compensate for the reduction in local sales in the Tunisian market.

Now if you look at the EBITDA, well, there's a differential performance because the quarter we reported a negative result of EUR 900,000 as compared with EUR 20.4 million that we obtained in the first quarter last year. And this can be explained by the very high prices of energy, especially electrical energy, which has a significant weight in the cement activity, especially for clinker. And also because last year, we had a contribution of EUR 3 million from CO2 sales this year in the first quarter 2022, there was no sale of this nature. I would say that in this area, demand together with prices had a good performance and having a good performance. And so the fact that it has been -- well, the fact that there may be a recovery of operational results will depend on whether we -- whether energy prices can stabilize. If there's any questions about this, I may elaborate on what our opinion is about this because there has been quite a bit of news about energy costs.

Now I would like to say a few words about real estate, which is our, the business area that was incorporated in November last year as such with now there's now real estate subject to a separate report. Revenues increased by EUR 81 million, which is a lot more than the EUR 21 million that we had last year, which only included business development on FCC real estate. This EUR 81 million includes the contribution of the Realia subgroup. So the 2 figures are not really comparable. If you break down that EUR 81.4 million into different activities rentals, which is EUR 26 million and another EUR 55 million for housing developments, which was quite active. And so this EUR 55 million could be compared at least in terms of the type of activity to the 21.9% that we had in the first quarter 2021.

The EBITDA grew significantly to EUR 38.6 million in FCC Inmobiliaria because of the reasons I mentioned and also because of the greater weight of our rental activities. And that's the reason why the operational margin went up to 47.4%. So far so good, this is all I wanted to share with you in terms of the evolution of our business in the first quarter of 2022.

Revenues, the operational earnings in a context that is quite uncertain, has been positive, I would say that we have shown how robust and how solid our structure is in the group. I want to mention that -- well, all that -- well, 82% of the EBITDA of the group is generated in water activities and environmental activities, waste management and the revenues from our rentals, which are also very stable. And therefore, I think that, that also explains part of the evolution of the company in this period. That's all I wanted to share with you. Thank you very much for your attention. And if you have questions, we can open a short Q&A period. So if there are questions, I would like to start with the questions in Spanish.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

[Miguel Granado, executive]

The first question will be asked by Antonio Rodríguez from ODDO BHF.

[Antonio Rodríguez Vicens, analyst]

I just had a quick question. I wanted to know the working capital. How did it evolve? And how do you expect it to evolve during the rest of the year.

[Miguel Granado, executive]

Well, the working capital went aligned with our forecast. It expanded somewhat. It is slightly above EUR 100 million for the period. The first quarter, we normally have some expansion, but the figure is lower than the expansion we had last here during this period. And what I would like to say is that the expansion was motivated by elements, which were clearly expected. Collection periods are, in general, well aligned. They're in a stable situation, and there's -- there haven't been any deviations, any significant deviations with respect to our forecast. Now for the whole of the year, well, as you know, working capital is edgy -- variable. It's difficult to get it right in terms of forecast. So we expect the figure to moderate itself. Of course, you need to take into consideration that -- our business grew by 2 digits over the period, and this partly explains the expansion that we had in the working capital. So that would be our past evolution and my forecast for the rest of the year. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We don't have any further questions today. So I'll give the floor back to the speaker. Thank you

[Miguel Granado, executive]

Well, thank you very much for your attention. You know that we remain at your disposal through the usual channels. So thank you very much again, and have a good day.

[Operator]

Thank you very much for connecting. The event has concluded.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]