Sacyr SA

MAD:SCYR

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Good morning. I'm Manuel Manrique, Chairman and CEO of Sacyr. I am accompanied here for this presentation as usual by Carlos Mijangos, the CFO of the company. Thank you very much to all of you, analysts, media, investors, for attending this presentation of economic results of Sacyr, which correspond to the first quarter of 2022.

As we've said in recent presentations, the results of Sacyr continue to show very positive growth rates and profitability. I shall not insist upon talking about the consecutive quarters during which we have had constant improvement. But I think -- because I think you all know about the excellent result of the strategic focus of our business plan, and it's no longer something new. Although for us, it continues to be very relevant and important, the fact that we have recurrent profitable growth. All the more so in a situation of geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, such as the one that currently exists.

The results for the first quarter of this year continue to show the robustness of our business model. We have grown by 13% in our revenue, 25% in EBITDA. EBITDA margin has grown and stands at 20.3% and cash flow has increased by 28% with the awarding of concessional projects with mitigated demand risk and which are focused in strategic countries.

These wonderful results for 2022 mean that we will be able to maintain and even improve our shareholder remuneration policy. The Annual General Meeting, which was held last week, approved two new dividends that will be given in the form of scrip dividends over the next 12 months. In last February, we already paid one of EUR 0.049 per share or 1 new share for every 45 existing ones.

In 2022, we continue to progress in the completion of the construction and the commissioning of some concessional assets, which are very important for Sacyr as we had the opportunity to explain to you at the Investor Day in October of 2021.

In addition to the four greenfield projects in Italy, Colombia and Chile, which are progressing and are at the point of being completed during this year, we have added yellowfield projects for the A3 highway between Naples and Salerno in Italy on the 1st of April and Route 78 highway between Santiago and San Antonio in Chile at the end of March. All of these new assets, which are currently operating and the existing ones in our portfolio take the dividend received by Concessions to EUR 180 million, in line with what we said at the Investor Day.

I would also like to highlight the success in the financing of the A3 as well as the Rumichaca-Pasto in Colombia, which includes a social bond for EUR 262 million, showing our support and our commitment to more sustainable financing. And this commitment to sustainability can also be seen in the high scores that we have received and which position us amongst the leaders in the sector for the main indexes and ratings, acknowledging the responsible behavior of all of the people that work in Sacyr.

And by way of a summary of the main figures, we can see that revenue represents -- well, it has gone up by 13% compared to 2021 during the first quarter, we're always comparing first quarter. EBITDA, EUR 243 million, 25% up on last year. And our participation, our stake in EBITDA of the concession assets, 83% compared to 81% in the first quarter.

And the net profit for business is EUR 40 million compared to EUR 26 million last year. So this is an increase of 57%. And profit after tax could have had a growth of 21%. But in 2021, we had EUR 11 million due to our stake in Repsol, which is 0 this year because it's all through equity. We have an increase of 28% in operating cash flow, up to EUR 150 million. And the backlog as of the end of the year has grown by 5%, reaching the figure of EUR 48.343 billion.

So following this, Carlos Mijangos will give you further details about the results of the group and for each of the divisions and the holding.

[Carlos Gorozarri, executive]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. If we look at each of the divisions, we can see that in Concessions, we have had EBITDA of EUR 131 million and EBIT of EUR 113 million. This means that the margin, the EBITDA margin has gone from 54.8% to 56.5%. If we look at Engineering and Infrastructures, we have EUR 88 million EBITDA, EBIT of 69 million. So this is an increase in the margin of -- it's gone from 12% to 12.7%. And lastly, Services have obtained EBITDA, EUR 23 million; EBIT, EUR 10 million; and EBITDA margin has gone up from EUR 8.5 to 9.4%.

If we look at the contribution of each activity in the group, if we look at the revenues, Engineering and Infrastructures is the one that contributes the most and then Concessions of 20% and thirdly, Services with 19%. And looking at EBITDA, of the EUR 243 million, 54%, Concessions; 36%, Engineering; and 10%, Services. If we bring all of the assets, the concession assets that we have together in the three, then the total, EUR 200 million EBITDA, which represents 83% of the total figure for the Sacyr Group. If we look at the backlog, EUR 48.343 billion, 81% in Concessions, 13% in Engineering and 6% in Services.

If we look at the latest concessions awarded during the quarter, if we start with North America, in Canada, we have been given a children's center in Ontario and a road in Texas, a highway in Texas, the US62. 62. In Latin America, we've had the San Antonio highway, Santiago-San Antonio highway concession. And in Europe, we have a transport hub in the United Kingdom in Belfast in North Ireland; a commercial and recreational port in the Azores Islands; the enlargement of a road in Sweden. We have two road projects. You have a road conditioning in the Canary Islands and other also cleaning contracts in Aljarafe and in Barcelona. And we have metro contracts in Madrid.

If we look at the net debt of the group, we can see that it's gone up from EUR 6 billion to EUR 6.964 billion, which represents an increase of EUR 900 million. And the most important thing is the progress of the debt, the recourse debt. We can see with the operational flow, EUR 150 million has been generated. So we have the EBITDA and the working capital. And this is then has other adjustments. Financial result, EUR 127 million and EUR 721 million in investment.

We could say that EUR 500 million is for the A3, which was paid in March. And therefore, the levy paid by the administration and the previous concession, almost EUR 500 million is already on the balance sheet and it starts -- or we started focusing on the 1st of April. There's a one-off effect, which is the appreciation of the currency in Latin America has led to an increase in debt, over EUR 230 million.

So if we look at recourse net debt, we can see that the funds from operations, where we have EUR 23 million from the EBITDA plus working capital, we have to break this down. 27% is EBITDA for nonrecourse debt. And we have a seasonal impact of EUR 15 million. And we will recover this over the year, as we usually do.

If we look at the concessions distribution, they're very few, just EUR 6 million, and the distributions, mainly in the second half of the year. The financial expense, EUR 14 million. And this quarter, there's been investment in concession assets of over EUR 55 million. And in Colombia, we have contracts and the impact is EUR 55 million. The latest scrip dividend payment in February and debt variation due to financing flow. And with this, we talk about the EUR 798 million.

I would like to highlight that there are three concepts here that are specific compared to other quarters: one is the impairment of the working capital, we have an increase in equities; and the third one, the progress of the recourse debt part.

If we look at Concessions, then the revenue, the operating revenue reaches EUR 232 million, so this is a 23% increase, considerable increase in infrastructure concessions, 24%, and 20% for water. And construction income goes up by 39%. And this construction income is adjusted in the consolidated because it's reflected in that section.

EBITDA has gone up by 27% to EUR 131 million due to the traffic behavior in Spain and the opening up of different sections of highways in the different contracts that we are bringing into service. And for water, this is contributing in Chile and also the assets at the end of the year in Algeria and Australia. All of this comes together, and it means we have investment of EUR 1.4 billion in our projects.

And for milestones, we have the -- as we mentioned, we have had that financing of the highway, which started operation on April 1. In Italy, we have the financing of the Rumichaca-Pasto project. We have a multi-branch bank loan of $278 million and another in Colombian peso equivalent to $260 million with local bank funding. And the last one, we have the commissioning of the Santiago-San Antonio Highway, 132.8 kilometers, which will benefit a population of approximately 1.7 million people.

If we look at the main projects which are being executed from west to east, we can see that in Colombia, the first one was Puerta de Hierro. That was begun last year in the center of the country or towards the north, towards Barranquilla. We have Rumichaca-Pasto, which we have opened 57 kilometers and another 11 kilometers this quarter. And this will be completed this year. And we are standing at a figure of 98%. Then we have Mar 1, 98% as well. We've opened up 19 kilometers between the Túnel de Occidente going towards Santa Fe. And with this, we have 85 kilometers opened.

In Pamplona-Cúcuta, we have completed the tunnels, the most complicated part. And we have 62 kilometers functioning. We have a very short urban complex section with technical solutions and engineering teams, which have been quite brilliant, to be honest. They're just finishing the -- we expect it to open in a few weeks. We have Ferrocarril Central -- that was for the AVO. We have Ferrocarril Central in Uruguay. We have Rutas del Este in Paraguay from east to west with 76%, 96 kilometers already opened. And lastly, Pedemontana, we are seeing the completion of sections. And in a few weeks, it will begin to operate. It's 14 kilometers up to the Spresiani junction. We have the A3, which we said was opened on the 1st of April as well.

And if we talk about the contribution of each of the countries to the EBITDA and revenue, we can see, well, Italy is not reflected, that's in construction, as we mentioned, EUR 127 million, and EUR 67 million of EBITDA. And other countries would be Colombia with EUR 82 million, EUR 140 million, respectively, with 4 assets; Chile with EUR 68 million and EUR 31 million to 18 assets; Spain with EUR 66 million and EUR 26 million and 22 assets; and then the other countries, as we can see.

If we analyze the Engineering and Infrastructures, we can see we have -- revenue has gone up by 10%. We have the current execution of projects in the United States, Italy, Chile, Colombia. And this covers the concession contribution of Pedemontana as we have always said. Because of the specificities of that Italian project, it has increased EBITDA by 16% and the margin goes from 12% to 12.7%. And it stands at EUR 6 billion, this portfolio -- sorry, this backlog.

We can see for Pedemontana, we have a revenue figure of EUR 562 million, EBITDA of EUR 21 million with a margin of 3.7%. This margin is affected slightly by the situation in the sector due to the increase in raw material prices. It's important to highlight that almost 50% of the backlog is for concessions. And this represents 26 months of activity.

And as milestones, we have our entry into Sweden, a 17-kilometer road. And the design and measurement risk and geological risk corresponds to the client. Therefore, it's mitigated. And then we have also Canada, the awarding of the children's center in Ontario.

If we talk about the main awards for this quarter, we have the Belfast Transport Hub, EUR 121 million; the section of US62, EUR 23 million; and the repair of the port of Vila do Porto in the Azores, EUR 21 million; we have several real estate developments for major developers in Spain, EUR 75 million; the conditioning of the LP1 Road in La Palma for EUR 46 million; and the Zafra bypass for EUR 19 million.

If we talk about service stations or service areas, we have 3% growth in revenue. EUR 250 million is the figure we have for this. EBITDA has grown by 13% going from EUR 21 million to EUR 23 million. And environment has gone slightly down in terms of revenue. But if we look at EBITDA, we have to compare it with the extraordinary one-offs last year because of Filomena storm. Therefore, the level is maintained at a significant level with new contracts. And we start with Reus, Santurce and Torrejón and also the green areas in Madrid.

In multi-services, we have good growth due to the award and the return of activities for many business -- sorry, buildings and facilities. They are carrying out their activity, such as metros, airports, public transport and office buildings as well as the recovery for Cafestore. We have 9.4% EBITDA margin and a backlog of over EUR 3 billion.

The main awards, we have the street cleaning contract for Mairena del Aljarafe; contract for cleaning of depot, garages and stations of Metro de Madrid; the cleaning, pest control for Correos, the post office buildings and also office cleaning services for Repsol; and street cleaning and maintenance of parks and gardens in Arroyo de la Encomienda in Valladolid.

And now I give the floor back to the Chair.

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

So now we make ourselves -- we put ourselves at your disposal for the questions that the analysts may have.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Luis Prieto.

[Luis Prieto, analyst]

I have two questions, if you allow me. The first one is if you could shed some more light about impairment that we saw related to Pedemontana and if you could tell us what is happening. What's going on? What has led to this development, those results?

And secondly, in the AGM, you said it was the time to be more ambitious in terms of objectives. And I would like to know the levers that are behind this. I would like to know a little bit more and understand that a bit better and if you're not concerned about the uncertainty, if it will lead to further increases in costs and if we could see a more dramatic situation, perhaps.

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Well, I understand that the first question refers to the increase in raw materials. It's true that there is an increase in raw material prices and there is scarcity of some of them, as we already said, in wood, copper, cement. And it's necessary, in the AGM, and I said again, that the government should take more dynamic, more energetic steps and measures to compensate this variable. Some have already done this in Spain in 2021, 2022. They covered for the compensation or offsetting in price reviews.

But it's important to continue in order to have activity and to create employment. And in conversations with the administration in almost all countries, we're talking about this in order to limit this impact. It's true that it has an impact on activity, profitability, with the exception of Pedemontana. We're talking about 0.1% down to 3.8% -- well, from 3.8% to 3.7%. But I would like to just say something in order to understand the significance within the group.

Our group, we're talking about EUR 1 billion in EBITDA, approximately. And understanding that construction and -- well, between EUR 80 million or EUR 100 million. That's the size. So the effect of EUR 20 million, EUR 30 million will have an impact of 2% to 3% for the group. This is an impact, of course. But I mean, we have an impact, but it's not significant.

And with regards the review of the strategic plan, which is I have understood to be your concern, what we discussed in the AGM and what we said, well, what we've seen is that in 1 year, we had a strategic program for 5 years. And during the first year, because of the data that we have, this is significant -- there has been a significant increase, significant progress. So we're not going to just relax with what we said. We're going to be more ambitious.

And I could give you some examples. Back then, we said that the plan would have EBITDA of EUR 1.2 billion in 2025. And we've had, at the end of this year, EUR 993 million already at the end of the last year. But what's more, if we think of the last 12 months, March to March, we have EUR 972 million. I think that we are obliged as a company to be more ambitious, and we're going to be more ambitious. But the cash flow, well, the same thing, we said we were going to have EUR 1 billion for 2025, and we're already talking about EUR 700 million, EUR 762 million for the last 12 months. So we're going to be more ambitious. We're going to make bigger commitments.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Joao Safara from the Santander Bank.

[Joao Safara Silva, analyst]

I have two. First of all, just -- I would like you to remind us about the targets regarding debt. The recourse debt, as far as I remember from the document, about EUR 200 million reduction. And I think a part of this would have to be -- would be the sale of assets. And the idea I had at least was that we would see something during the first half of the year. I'd like to know if I'm right in this understanding or if you could explain a little bit more about this target.

And the second question is to try to understand the progress of the different projects that finished this year and if you could perhaps talk about dates when you're expecting this. As Carlos mentioned, I understood that you have some coming to close or being completed in a few weeks' time. I would like to understand the development or the progression, which is slow perhaps.

And from our point of view, perhaps a little bit ignorant, but when we talk about Rumichaca, it should have finished in 2021, but it's still in a similar position to as it was at the end of 2021. And also I'd like to know about the progress of Pedemontana, if you could give more information about those, about the progress of those highways.

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Yes. First of all, with regards to the reduction of debt, we would ratify what we said on the Investors Day. We said that at the end of the year 2022, the figure for net debt, net recourse debt, would start with 4. And we said -- we made a commitment that it would start with 6. And then we reached the conclusion that we could be talking about EUR 200 million reduction. So we still say that it's going to start with 4 by the end of the year.

If we talk about the progress in the first quarter, it's quite logical, it's seasonal, it's systematic. Every month in this sector, this happens. Well, if you remember last year, it was around EUR 1 billion. And I said we're going to make a commitment to reduce it by 300 million. It's going to be less than EUR 700 million. And we reached that. And now that we're talking about EUR 800 million and something, we are committed to get it down to a number that starts with 4.

It's going to be less than EUR 600 million, and we're going to do this. We're going to do this over the year. The dividends, for example, for Concessions tend to come at the end of the year, at the end of the quarter. So the distribution is different in the different quarters. But I would repeat that it will begin with 4. It will be less than EUR 500 million at the end of 2022.

And the other question was about the dates. And I think we've beaten records in all of the countries where we are present. As a company, where we have a joint venture with another Spanish company in AVO in Chile, I don't think we can recall any activities. All of the ministers and the directors there have said it, and I say it, this is such an important job, project, it's so important. It's been done so well with engineering, which is such a level that we think we're going to finish it ahead of time, in a few weeks' time. It's been an absolute and total success.

If we talk about the concessions in Colombia that you referred to, I think that we are the company that -- or one of the best, let's say, one of the best companies in fulfilling the 5G program -- sorry, the 4G program for concessions in Colombia. Techniques in Colombia are very complicated. It goes beyond that even, the unexpected events and the landslides and the appropriation.

And sometimes, this takes -- well, we had an indigenous village. The problems with that haven't been resolved. And often, these issues are completely outside of our company, beyond our control. But I would invite you to talk to any authority in this sector in Colombia, and they will say, they will tell you that we have set very high standards when it comes to quality and execution times for all of the contracts.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Luis Prieto.

[Luis Prieto, analyst]

I have a question related to cost inflation. What should we think about the impact on inflation on pending projects and concessions in the future? Because we could be looking at an increase in the necessary investment, I'd like to know for things that are alive and are still pending investment, things we have in the pipeline. How do you see this?

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Well, let's see, Luis. The projects that we have awarded, inflation is in our favor, as we've repeated. Normally, they are updated in line with the Consumer Price Index. And the cost is 20%, 30%, the increase. So that's always beneficial. And the new ones, well, we will study them to try to get the most appropriate provisions. But the ones that we are pending, which are pending construction, well, I've already answered with regards to them.

Construction, for us, we always try to talk to the administration and through the concessionaire or when the constructions. We are seeing a reasonable response. Nonetheless -- and I've said this, but nonetheless, we're talking about an impact of EUR 20 million, EUR 30 million per year, which is 2%, 3% of the EBITDA of the group. I don't know whether I'm answering or not. If not, perhaps you might want to clarify your question. I mean, that's what I've understood.

[Luis Prieto, analyst]

Can you hear me?

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Yes. We can hear you, yes.

[Luis Prieto, analyst]

Could you hear me now?

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Yes, we can hear you, Luis.

[Luis Prieto, analyst]

Sorry. My question was, well, for example, thinking about when I make an offer and I have a price for a concession project, I'm referring to if materials go up by 25% or something like that, 10%, 15% or depending on different factors, I'm talking about the initial investment, whether this could affect how we bid for future projects is not critical, it's just to see how you are seeing this or viewing this.

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

I've answered that very question. What you've just asked is what I've just said, we are having conversations with all administrative bodies sometimes through the concessionaire when that's the case. Other times, it's direct. And we are obtaining reasonable answers. So it's not unanimous, but it's reasonable. For example, in Spain, they have increased in 2021. They've used a formula which has been used also for 2022. And this is a reasonable solution.

Does it absorb the entirety? No. There's always a little bit that the company has to absorb, but it's something that we can withstand. And we've already assigned a value to this EUR 20 million, EUR 30 million per year, which is 2% to 3%. And so when prices increase, what we do there, we talk to the client and we say this is extraordinary. In general, in Italy, that's been resolved. In France, it's been resolved and in Spain also. In many countries, it's been solved quite well. And around the world, in general terms, well, I've already mentioned what we see the impact has been.

[Operator]

We have no further questions via the phone. I shall give the floor to the team to answer questions from the webcast.

[Unknown Executive]

The first one is from Daniel Gandoy, JB Capital, and it's two. Could you update information about the situation for sales of assets, if you could give us some clues about the timing? And secondly, given the evolution of the Repsol price, would it be reasonable to carry out advanced monetization or a partial one for these derivatives?

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Well, the sale of assets, well, we can't talk about the time scales or the calendar because this follows a process. When there are sales, you have to ask whether there are sales or not. And if it's true, well, in the AGM, we said that -- in other words, last week, we said that we are always willing to strengthen our balance sheet with new assets. I imagine you're referring to that, to have a greater financial robustness. And we would do this in the most appropriate way at any given time.

I didn't talk about any sales as far as I know, I don't know if anybody else has talked about that. I would like to give an example. Last year, we had two acquisitions: the integrated water cycle and, well, we financed this without recourse; and when we acquired 50% of the desalination plant in Australia. I think these are clear examples of how we are strengthening our balance sheet. And with regards to the other one, Repsol, the cost is very important, and we're not going to do that today.

[Unknown Executive]

Next question, I think it's already been answered by the Chair about the acquisition of new concessions. We go to -- we'll now go to a question from Joao on the phone.

[Operator]

Yes, the next question comes from Joao Safara from Santander Bank.

[Joao Safara Silva, analyst]

This is one last question to take this opportunity. If we think about the pipeline a year ago, bearing in mind that the concessions, they take some time, have there been any changes in terms of the pipeline? I mean, this question is related to the increase in the cost of projects. If this has meant that some projects were eliminated from the pipeline, or have there been any changes in the opportunities that you saw a year ago compared to now?

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

Yes, Joao, I'll answer. We always have different projects monetized, and we monitor them and we begin to study them. Those projects, in some cases, we have seen that they weren't coming in. And so we didn't bid. And for that reason, we have an investment committee which analyzes projects. And if they don't meet the metrics, then we don't go for them.

But also there have been projects with prices from 2 years ago. They didn't -- they weren't included. We talked with the administration and they modified the conditions. But it's always the same thing really. We offer projects which meet the internal requirements according to the type and the country. And right now, we are involved in many processes. We had 2 in Colombia just over the last 10 days, in fact.

[Operator]

Thank you very much. There are no further questions on the phone. I give the floor to the Chair for any final comments.

[Manuel Manrique Cecilia, executive]

If there are no more questions, I would repeat my wish that everyone has good health now at the end of this time in the pandemic. And I would like to thank you for your presence and interest. And we say goodbye until the next event, during which we will present our results for the first half of 2022. Thank you very much, and have a very good day.

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