Metrovacesa SA

MAD:MVC

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Operator]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Metrovacesa First Quarter 2022 Results Presentation. My name is Juan, and I will be coordinating your call today. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Juan Carlos Calvo, Strategy and IR Director. Please, Juan Carlos, go ahead.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Metrovacesa results presentation for the first quarter of 2022. The slides of this presentation have been released to the market earlier this morning, and they are available through the CNMV website as well as the company website. We have also sent it by e-mail to our usual distribution list for analysts and investors.

Our main speakers today will be our Chief Executive Officer, Jorge Perez de Leza; and our Chief Financial Officer, Borja Tejada. At the end of the presentation, we will take questions from the audio conference call as well as those hands online through the webcast and through e-mail as well. Now I hand it over to our CEO, Jorge?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Thank you very much, Juan Carlos, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter '22 results presentation. I will walk you through the slides and will call each of the slides as I go through them.

So turning into Page #5, the highlights of the quarter. I would summarize it in a few words, saying that we are well on track to meet our full year target with outstanding operating metrics this quarter. We've had record levels of presales with 568 units, retail units. I will explain later. Also in terms of the deliveries, 540 units delivered in the quarter.

Also in financial statements -- from the financial statement point of view, we have positive EBITDA of close to EUR 16 million. Also, net profit, positive with EUR 11 million. And operating cash flow of around EUR 47 million, which represents a little bit more than 30% of the target towards the end of the year.

And finally, attractive dividend policy. The shareholders' meeting yesterday approved the preannounced -- or a dividend of EUR 0.6 per share. That shall be paid on May 20. And that represents a total dividend on the cash flow generated in 2021 of around EUR 1 per share and 86% payout on the operating cash flow generated during 2021.

Moving on to Page #7. I think, here, you have a summary of the key operational data. I will not go through each of the numbers here because we can see each of them in more detail in the subsequent pages. Let me briefly introduce a little bit how we see the market. This is in Page #8.

First of all, from the demand point of view, we continue to see a solid demand in the market in the first quarter following what we saw in 2021 and especially towards the end of the year. As I mentioned before, we have had record BTS, build-to-sell, presales in the quarter.

And this is coming through pretty much all the markets, and we see demand from domestic buyers in Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets being very strong and also from foreigners in Costa del Sol, which I think was, in 2021, still the pending subject. I think 2022 has started quite strong in this regard.

Also, we see that there is a favorable demand-supply balance, meaning that there is not an equilibrium, but rather there is less supply than demand, which means that developers are in a favorable situation in these regards.

And also the share of new homes on total transactions is still quite low compared to the long-term average in this market. We're now at around 20% compared to 42% as a 15%-year (sic) [ 15-year ] average. Also mortgage financing from banks still remains quite accessible for house buyers with a 31% year-on-year growth in the new mortgages granted at the beginning of the year.

Looking at our forecast. We expect that the HPA in Spain, looking at all markets, so all tier markets, will probably be around 5% in 2022. And in terms of our own developments, we are now implementing price increases in the range of 3% to 8% in a significant number of our projects.

On the other hand, turning into Page #9, the construction costs have been rising starting in 2021, but even more in recent months due to higher energy costs, increased demand of the raw materials and also the temporary disruptions in the supply chains that was even worse for a few weeks in Spain with the strike on the delivery and transportation that we had.

We are seeing in the new contracts to be awarded construction cost increases at around 10%. Again, this is for construction costs, not that are in progress, but that will be or could be awarded in the next months. But we also see that this construction cost pressure is likely to ease up in the second half of the year, assuming that no further supply chain issues get worse.

Also a reduction in the volume of new housing starts in the sector, especially in small developers, at the end, will reduce the pressure on the construction companies because less projects will be started. I think we've seen in the press several, I think, announcements citing reports by third-party companies that are talking about 30, 40 or even a higher number of less projects or less units being stopped or construction not started.

We are -- we believe we are in a good position to wade through this situation. First of all, the 2022 deliveries, 2/3 of the construction is already completed, and 100% of the projects to be delivered this year will be completed by August. So it means there will be no effect on the 2022 deliveries. And also, we have taken a position since already 2, 3 years ago of working mainly with large constructors. 60% of our contracted amounts are with what we consider very large companies in Spain that have more limited execution risk compared to smaller construction companies that are more, let's say, sensitive or sensible to cash flow disruptions.

Finally, also, as I mentioned before, we believe that a positive HPA on units being signed now will offset constructions being signed now. Again, let me remind that we are now signing construction contracts for deliveries in 2024, and we are now selling most of the private contracts or reservations being signed out more so for delivering -- deliveries of 2024 and beyond.

Moving on to next page and now talking in more detail about the operational KPIs. Presales of 568 units coming from BTS exclusively represent a 40% increase compared to the first quarter of '21. And the average selling price is around EUR 289,000 per unit, which is in line or 3% above the backlog average. If we look at the last 12 months, that represents accumulated presales of above 2,250 units, which is consistent with our medium target of 2,500 units per year.

In terms of absorption ratios, I think the first quarter means that we sold 3.3% of the total units sold and unsold of the projects that are under commercialization. Or if we calculate it in a different way, depending on the analyst that covers us, it's 6.9% or 7% of the units that are unsold. I think managing sales velocity through pricing is probably -- is absolutely key and probably even more important than managing costs in an inflationary environment.

So we take a big care in doing this in order to maximize prices in order to adjust our sales velocity to this ratio of around 3%, which is what we consider optimal in the market.

Moving on to Page #11, the residential deliveries. Again, our deliveries for the first quarter of 540 units is quite supportive of the target for the full year 2022, which is between 1,600 and 2,000 units. I think it's also important to signal that 85% of all the units we delivered in the year, 95% plus are already sold. And the construction, as I mentioned before, obviously, is all in progress, and the average is at 94%, with the aim of finishing our construction before we go on vacation in the month of August.

The number of residential deliveries in the 12 months accumulated is close to 1,900 units. And finally, the ASP in the units delivered in the first quarter is around EUR 253,000, which is below the average that we've been selling and below the average of our backlog. And that will change as we go throughout the year. Remember that this was similar and most -- a lot of questions in the first quarter of '21, where we had again a lower average price. And this is just mainly due to a mix of the units having been delivered.

Moving on to Page #12. Our presales backlog now stands slightly above 3,000 units with an average selling price of close to EUR 290,000. 75% is in private contracts and 25% reservations, so a very healthy mix. And finally, 76% is retail clients build-to-sell and 24% is institutional or build-to-rent clients.

We have now 6,000 units in commercialization, having launched close to 1,000 new units, putting the commercialization 1,000 new units in the quarter. And of those projects in commercialization or units into commercialization, 51% is sold, a very similar figure to what we had at the end of last year.

Finally, the units under construction, we have in total 3,724. And as I mentioned before, the '22 is on track to be delivered. Also for 2023, 100% of the units are already under construction. And we have 1,100 units with building permits and ready to begin construction as soon as we estimate that we should do so.

Moving on to our land business, Page 13. We have sold or signed agreements for a total of close to EUR 13 million, of which EUR 4 million is booked in the P&L. So it means notarial deed, mainly residential. And EUR 8.6 million is in the form of private contract. Most of this amount equates to commercial segment -- the commercial segment, so for tertiary use.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the year, the land sales do require now some kind of payment installments. And that is the reason that we have some sales that are being booked into the P&L immediately and others that will be booked in -- either before the end of the year or at the beginning of next year.

Instead of land management milestones, we continue to make progress in converting our non-fully permitted land bank into fully permitted with 1 project being Agustin Lara in Valencia city with more than 100 units now become fully permitted; also, Mesena, which will be a key project in our portfolio in Madrid, with 160 units now being fully permitted and ready to build; and also making progress in other projects in Madrid, like Los Cerros, which is in the southeast and will be one of the -- again, one of the key supply of houses in the coming years as well as another piece of land in A Coruña.

In terms of our commercial segments, let me touch base on the Monteburgos 2 project, which is an office building turnkey. If you remember, around the 11,000 square meters GLA, on which 65% of the construction is executed with no delays and will be delivered this year according to plan, generating additional cash flow.

Also our Puerto de Somport building phase 1, in which, as you remember, we have a 24% stake in the JV with Tishman Speyer, finished. And we are currently finalizing negotiations with key tenants, and we hope to announce that the first tenants will be moving into the building soon.

Finally, Oria or what we call -- what is normally known in the market until now as Clesa, factory Clesa, where 89,000 square meter used or mixed-use commercial use is possible. We are now in negotiations for 2 turnkey agreements in the student housing and co-living segments, which will account for circa 50% of the buildable area.

And we will request -- we're already working on the design of the whole site with different architects. And we will be applying for the building licenses before the summer, so in order to have the licenses at the end of the year or very beginning of next year, [ full year '23 ].

Talking about now sustainability and ESG. We have updated our 2022-2024 sustainability strategy, being more ambitious than before and being focused on a very responsible and sustainable business model with 9 strategic lines and 21 lines of action that I will describe in a second, with the aim of positioning Metrovacesa as a company in the forefront of development -- sustainable development.

The strategic lines are mentioned in Page #16. We have -- as you see, there are different lines for the ESG. I will not go through in detail through each of them, but we will be reporting, obviously, every year how we progress, again, with the goal of being at the forefront of sustainable development in Spain.

And now I hand it over to Borja for the financial overview.

[Borja Tejada Rendón-Luna, executive]

Thank you, Jorge, and good morning, everyone. In terms of profit and loss account, just some key figures.

More than EUR 140 million of revenues, meaning 81% rise in total revenues year-on-year. In terms of gross development margin, 20.2%, according with our guidance of low 20s, Recurring EBITDA, close to EUR 16 million. And net profit, close to EUR 11 million. And about operating cash flow generation, EUR 47 million, around 1/3 of the total target for the year.

Concerning our net debt, very solid position, as always. 4.9% of loan-to-value and 8.4% pro forma LTV once we distribute EUR 91 million of dividends in 2 weeks. Bond rating improved one notch up to BBB with direct impact of 20 basis points reduction in the coupons. Finally, some update about our buyback, EUR 21 million invested with positive mark-to-market of EUR 4.5 million.

Now I will hand over to Jorge with closing remarks.

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Thank you again, Borja. Moving to Page #21. We should obviously mention at this point where we are on the partial tender offer that has been presented by FCC. The key terms of the announced offer are an offer price of now, after the approval of EUR 0.6 per share dividend, the offer price is reduced to EUR 7.2 per share.

This is a voluntary and partial offer for a maximum for up to 24% of Metrovacesa and has been presented by FCyC S.A., which is a subsidiary of the FCC group. And it is important to note that the offeror's group currently holds a 5.4% stake in Metrovacesa since a few years back.

The key dates in the process, as many of you already probably know, is that the offer was announced on the 23rd of March with intention to present or to submit the application to the CNMV, which was actually done on the 25th of April.

We now are under the acceptance period which is granted by the CNMV. This takes normally a few years, after which -- sorry, a few days, after which the CNMV will actually study the proposal and will be approved or not in the subsequent 20 days or more.

According to the legal and statutory obligations, the Board of Directors of Metrovacesa will issue its mandatory opinion on the offer within the first 10 calendar days of the acceptance period.

It's worth noting that Metrovacesa has -- the Board of Directors has approved -- appointed advisers Bank of America as financial adviser and Hogan Lovells and Uría Menéndez as legal advisers and has also created a committee to monitor the tender offer and to inform the Board of Directors on, say, a permanent basis.

Page #22. Just a reminder on the dividend policy that since the beginning, we mentioned that our intention is and will continue to be to distribute 80% -- at least 80% of the free cash flow generated at the end of each calendar year. And obviously, this year, we just approved the EUR 0.6 per share, which represents a total payment of EUR 91 million that shall be paid on the 20th of May, and therefore, the ex-date will be a couple of days before that, on the 18th of May.

In total, the company until now has distributed EUR 262 million. And as you can see, the payouts for the different years have been in line with our policy of distributing more than 80% of the cash flow generated.

And finally, as closing remarks, I think I will end up with the same that I mentioned at the beginning, is that our figures for the first quarter of '22 reinforce our expectations for the full year targets in the residential deliveries of 1,600 to 2,000 units. We have more than 85% presold as of today, and 34% has already been delivered in the first quarter.

The land sales agreements of more than EUR 75 million, we have 17% already achieved and a pipeline that makes us believe that we will meet the current target. And finally, the operating cash flow of more than EUR 100 million -- or at least EUR 150 million, already more than 30% achieved in just in the first quarter.

And that will be all from my side. Juan Carlos.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Jorge. We are now ready to take questions from the audience on the conference call. We will start with the audio. Please, operator.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from the line of Fernando Abril from Alantra.

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, analyst]

I have 3 long ones. So first, with regards demand, so very strong Q1 presales figure. I was wondering if you could give us some color with April numbers. And also should -- I don't know if you expect Q2 to beat Q1 numbers, considering the seasonality effect. So this is on demand.

Second on construction costs. So everything you've commented, Jorge, I think it was with regards future WIP units, on those units that are under tender process. So I only want to confirm 2 things: first, that the units that are currently under construction are not suffering any, let's say, changes in budgets from construction companies; and second, that your 10% more or less construction cost inflation for the year guidance or forecast is kind of on average, that meaning even higher or above 10% in the first half of the year and lower for the second half of the year.

And then a third question is with new WIP units that you have reported, 257 in this quarter, I don't know how this compared to your initial budget for Q1. And also, I would like to know what is your expectations for the full year in terms of new WIP units?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Jorge speaking here. So taking -- yes, definitely long and interesting and strategic questions, I would say. I think on the demand -- going one by one, on the demand side, your first question, I think April is also strong. So I think we still continue to see -- despite the economic uncertainty, the war fears, et cetera, I think April continues to be a strong month.

And then I think -- I want to come back to a comment that I made during the slide on presales that I think in an inflationary moment, obviously, construction cost is something that you have to manage very closely. But I would say sales is probably something that you manage -- you have to manage even more carefully. Because keep in mind that at the end of the day, the -- keeping our saving margins, you manage it through both the construction costs and the sales.

So I think we -- the goal of Metrovacesa is to adjust the velocity of sales through pricing in order to be around that 3% of sales per month per project, okay? So as you saw, we were at 3.3% in the first quarter, and we plan to do the same in the second quarter. Obviously, this is not an exact figure, it can go up and down, but it should be our goal. We could have shown more in the first quarter.

But at the end, managing through pricing, you manage -- you have to manage or you have to try to, we call it, microsurgery to keep that level of presales in each of the projects. So again, to answer your question, I think I'm probably answering too long here, but I think we're managing pricing very carefully and not to oversell, but also not to undersell. So given that demand is still strong, we will continue with a similar level to what we have seen in Q1.

I think in construction costs, yes, I mean, the -- keep in mind that obviously, all the units of 2022 and 2023 are with a contract signed, fixed price contract. 2022, 94% advanced, so almost finished. And 2023 with different levels of progress [indiscernible] the contract. And therefore, what we are tendering right now is for new units. And therefore, that 10% inflation is an average for the year, yes. I mean, first and second half of the year more and less, to be honest.

I think it's difficult to answer that question accurately because we do have some projects that we are signing and awarding and starting construction now at the beginning of the first part of the year that have no overhead cost compared to what we planned, and we have some that have 88% and some that have 10%, not more than that. Towards the second part of the year, will it be better off or worse? We believe it's going to get better. And the reason for that is, I think, 2.

The first one is price of steel seems to be now stabilizing. And what we hear from construction costs is that there is less pressure on the steel supply. And secondly, looking at the manpower, we believe that at least 30% of the projects that were to be started in the year, especially from the smaller developers, will not be started. And therefore, construction companies, some of which we have already been talking to, are already seeing that their backlog of new contracts is decreasing, which means that the pressure on manpower will ease up.

I think -- and then you also asked what is the effect of construction cost increase in WIP units. 2022 delivery is 94% done, no impact. I mean there is no reason for a construction company, for a project that has been delivered or will be delivered in the next month to talk about the steel price, steel that was put in the construction site maybe more than a year ago, so no impact. And then in 2023, impact in some of the works, especially those that are in the initial stages. But we see that those impacts will be offset by the different HPA that we are acquiring. So I think no meaningful impact in the margins of 2023 deliveries.

And finally, your third question, which was the construction starts. So I think we are managing this in a way that when -- obviously, when we see that either the margin -- basically looking at maximizing or keeping our margin in the low 20s, gross margin that we've always talked about. So there are some projects that we can launch, no problem, because the construction costs are in line with what we saw. There are others that we see the HPA that we are getting clearly offset the potential construction cost, and we launched that as well.

And in some cases, we are delaying some of the construction starts, which doesn't mean launches. Remember that launches -- we consider launch that when we activate the units and start working on projects -- sorry, we start working on the design and commercialization, et cetera. I'm talking now about construction starts. We may postpone some 1, 2, 3 months, if needed, but without jeopardizing the number of units to be delivered in 2024.

This means that we will have, probably in some cases, a more back-ended second half of the year in terms of deliveries compared to 2022 and 2023, where it will be more, let's say, how do you say, more stable quarter-by-quarter. I think in 2024, due to the fact that we are delaying a few projects, there will be more back-ended, but again, without jeopardizing the number of units to be delivered in [ 2022 ].

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, analyst]

May I have a follow-up on demand, just very short one.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Okay. Go ahead.

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, analyst]

Okay. Do you have -- so with this very strong presales in Q1, is there any specific region where it's, let's say, outperforming your initial estimates?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

I think, as I mentioned before, all markets are performing actually well. So we are extremely happy about that because that means that it's stable and durable demand. If I have to highlight some that have surprised us positively, it's probably Costa del Sol, as I mentioned, in the Canary Islands, which -- I think Canary Islands, when -- at the end lives off tourism a lot. And we had -- I would say, 2020 and beginning of 2021, that suffered. But the second half of 2021, Canary came in strongly, and '22 has been -- now that the tourism machine is working again, people are buying homes. So I would say those areas are...

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Scander Bentchikou from Lazard.

[Scander Bentchikou, analyst]

This is Scander Bentchikou from Lazard. Two questions, if I may. Could you remind us what is the management stance regarding the FCC offer for minority shareholders? It looked like a joke with a 50% discount on NAV, and it's a bit tricky because it really reduced equity in a dramatic way.

And my second question is the following. After the FCC offer, there have been the publication of a document that specifies some accounting issue vis-à-vis the CNMV on a certain number of assets, [indiscernible] and the land. So I was wondering if you could help me to understand what stands behind the document because it looks like it puts the company into the regulator spotlight in terms of asset valuation, account payables and other financial debt.

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Thank you, Scander. Jorge speaking here again. On your first question on the management stand on FCC offer, well, let me remind you that from a legal point of view, we have a passivity rule that we have to follow. And therefore, the company, through the Board of Directors, will issue our report on the FCC offer on the 10 days following the acceptance period of the offer.

In order to do so, we have also, as I mentioned, retained a financial adviser, Bank of America and legal advisers through Hogan Lovells and Uría Menéndez that will help the Board of Directors to draft its opinion on the offer. Before that, we cannot make any opinion because, on the other hand, we don't even -- the prospectus is not even approved yet. So we don't know the final terms. So again, I think the Board will express its opinion through the report to be issued on the 10 days following the acceptance period.

On the second question, I think I captured the first part. I'm not sure if there was a second part. The first part was in regards to a CNMV requirement regarding valuation of some assets. I think this is a standard question coming from the CNMV when they revised the different financial accounts. And this was actually a question regarding 2019 and 2020 financial accounts and questions about the methodology and the valuation of some of the assets.

This question was answered. And as I believe, the report, the published -- both the questions and the replies has been published in the CNMV web page. And again, these are standard questions that the CNMV posts when they revise the different financial accounts. And I'm not sure if there was an additional question or it was just about the valuation of the assets and the CNMV?

[Scander Bentchikou, analyst]

No. Okay. It's okay for me. I just wanted to hear that these valuations were okay and the CNMV was convinced, but by your answer and that there are not any holes in the balance sheet.

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

That's correct. We answered that request, and there have been no more questions from the CNMV.

[Scander Bentchikou, analyst]

So please, in your -- I mean, thanks to FCC, please remember that you have minority shareholders.

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

We do.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We currently have no further questions on the phone lines. I will hand over back to Juan Carlos for the webcast questions.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Yes, we do have a few questions from the webcast, starting from a couple of analysts. First from the analysts of CaixaBank BPI, Sofia Barallat, she is asking, has the current inflationary pressure impacted the number of new launches year-to-date? If cost pressure does not ease up in the second half of the year, can we expect any delays in the deliveries of the year 2023 and 2024? And also a follow-up question, do you continue to see development gross margins at around 20% for the next few years?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Well, I think I answered most of those. I think in 2022, fully -- construction work is finished before the summer. 2023, no delays days. And 2024, if we delay any of the construction starts, it will be with 2 caveats in mind: the first one, meaning margin preservation; the second one, meaning that we don't want to jeopardize the units delivered in 2024. So as of today, I'm looking at how we see the construction costs evolve. We do not see any impact in the deliveries of the years 2022 to 2024. We will obviously update you every quarter on how we see the situation going forward.

The second question on the margins, yes, we still see our figure of around on the low 20s for the coming years. And the strong HPA that we are implementing in deliveries of 2024 and beyond, I think, will offset the construction cost increase. And as of today, I cannot -- I think that saying that low 20s is the target figure, this is still in place, and we're managing to achieve that.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Okay. Another analyst, from Banco Santander, Mariano Miguel, he asked several questions. I guess the first one has been answered, but I will read it, just in case. First, on construction costs, what are the main drivers behind your expectation of normalization of prices in the second half of the year.

Second, regarding HPA, given the potential reduction in new construction starts, can we see more pressure on prices, and therefore, HPA above that 5%?

Three, on the commercial real estate business, apart from Clesa, are you receiving interest in any other areas? If so, can you give us some more color? And four, on your ESG plan, what percentage of A energy efficiency certifications do you target in future deliveries?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Okay, Mariano. Sorry, I took a little longer. I was writing all your questions. So I think the first one, I think I already mentioned it, the drivers that we see on what we are contracting right now, the main issue when you start a construction is the cost of steel and the cost of [indiscernible]. And what we are seeing in the last weeks is that the cost of steel is stabilizing and, in some cases, even going down.

But more important than that, I think is -- for me at least, is a sentiment that I get from the construction companies when we talk to them. And I think they are in a situation where they see stabilization going forward. So I think that's one reason. And the second one is that I mentioned, less launches and therefore less pressure on manpower, which links very nicely on your second question, which is HPA, and will HPA be actually higher. I think it's already a good figure. And I think we have to manage, as I mentioned before, to achieve that 3% number of units being sold.

Again, just as a reminder, at least 3% means that you sell 100% of the project in 33 months, which is more or less the timing before -- between launching, commercialization and the [ new win ]. And so we will -- if we can achieve more HPA and still keep the demand in this 3%, we will do so. But if we have to keep HPA a little bit lower so that the speed of sales doesn't stall, we will actually do so. So I think our 3% to 8% that we're achieving in a significant number of projects is already, I think, a very healthy figure. And I wouldn't actually expect more than that as of today.

On your third project -- question, sorry, talking about commercial, I think there are -- yes, there are other projects that are on the pipeline that I think are very important, for one of them being Puerto de Somport, our office park in JV with Tishman Speyer. And as the lease up of the building continues, we will start working on Phase 2, which is another building for 20,000 square meters and obviously selling the plot related to that phase.

And then also projects like Loinsa in 22@ district where we have an office project for 32,000 square meters, where as I mentioned I think in the last results presentation or the previous ones where we have already worked on the design and applied or will apply soon for the building permit in order to make sure that we advance on and reduce the timing in the project so that when an investor comes in, we've already applied for the license or in close time to get the license and therefore make the project more attractive. And it's getting more questions than before.

And finally, I would say as well, la City Metropolitana in Barcelona, we're close to the Fira, close the expo center where we have 135,000 square meters. Also, we are having some conversations there. Nothing too explicit yet, but definitely, I think commercial, we'll -- towards the second part of the year, we will bring more color into the land sales and into the forward purchase agreement arena.

And your fourth question, which is related to the ESG and A project, we have a target for A and B, not a specific target for A. And this is to reach more than 85% on A and B.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Okay. Thank you, Jorge. We have also questions from -- sent by e-mail to us from an investor regarding to the takeover bid. We get a question, to what extent is this takeover bid going to change the strategy and profile of the company, particularly with respect to the focus on cash flow generation and dividend distribution?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

Okay. Juan Carlos, thank you. It's important to remember that this is a partial takeover offer, meaning that maximum the offeree would retain 30% of the company. And therefore, that -- it is the intention of the Board of Directors at this point that the strategy remains unchanged. And as a reminder, what our strategy is, is to continue with our strategic focus on delivering residential units, 2,500 in the medium term. Also to maximize the value of our commercial portfolio in 4, 5 years at the maximum value to that part of the business.

And finally, reduce the -- or optimize the land bank size, and this is done through development launches and also through land sales, all with the goal, I think, which is to distribute a dividend of 80% plus of the free cash flow generated. And that will continue to -- that is the intention of the Board of Directors. And this should continue to be like this, as we have demonstrated in the -- since 2019 when we started our first distribution.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Thank you. Another question from -- again, from an investor and related to the takeover bid. What could happen with the liquidity of the shares after the takeover bid? Is it possible that Metrovacesa will no longer be listed in the stock market?

[Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, executive]

So I think it's important to -- from the information that we have until now, which is the announcement by FCC, is that they value the permanence of Metrovacesa as a listed company. And they have no intention to change that in any way. So I think, first of all, important to say that not us, the company, but the FCC having said that the company will remain listed, meaning that you will be able to buy or sell shares going forward.

What are the impact on liquidity? I think will depend. At the end, it's difficult for us to predict. Right now, it will depend obviously on what percentage of the company ends up taking or not the offer. And as I mentioned before, we've retained financial and legal advisers, and that will also help us to indicate that this becomes an issue to design actions in order to make sure that we maximize value and that we can take care of all our shareholders, minority and big shareholders.

[Juan Calvo, executive]

Okay. Thank you. We don't have any more questions from the webcast or e-mail, and I believe we don't have on the audio conference call. So I guess this concludes the conference call for the first quarter results. So we thank you all for participating. And as always, the Investor Relations team will be available for any follow-up questions that you may have in the next few hours or days. Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you so much for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.