Soltec Power Holdings SA

MAD:SOL

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Soltec's First Quarter 2024 Conference Call. I'm Almudena Malo de Molina, Investor Relations. On the call with me today is Jose Nunez, who will take you through the key highlights on the financial performance of the first quarter of the year. Afterwards, we will move on to the Q&A session, where we will take your questions. You can submit them now via our conference website.

Now I would like to hand over to Jose. Please go ahead.

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Thank you, Almudena. Good morning everyone. I would like to start my intervention highlighting that we have booked the best Q1 performance in the history of Soltec with record revenues totaling EUR 121 million, 58% increase versus Q1 2023, driven by strong volumes and execution. We have reached an EBITDA of EUR 11 million compared to a negative EUR 4.6 million figure in Q1 2023. It is worth mentioning that this EBITDA was achieved with a strong positive contribution from our 2 divisions. Net profit was positive EUR 1.3 million at the end of March 2024.

Looking now at our operating performance. In our tracker division, we started the first quarter of 2024 with a strong demand for our products, delivering 813 megawatts. The gross margins of our projects remained strong, reaching 24%. In addition, we have a solid backlog of EUR 619 million as of March 31, which gives us good visibility of what to expect for the rest of the year. In summary, we had a very successful quarter in terms of volumes, margins and backlog. In our Energy division, the project portfolio has been moving forward as expected and year-to-date, we have 234 megawatts of capacity under operation, with the addition of 4.9 megawatts coming from the La Isla project. We also have 40 megawatts of capacity under construction and 326 megawatts that are expected to begin construction in September 2024. Our pipeline of projects stands at 13 gigawatts.

Let me highlight that we're also proposing a new management structure to be approved in the Annual General Meeting to be held on June 25 with Mariano Berges, CEO; and Raul Morales, Co-Founder and current CEO of the company, remaining as Executive Chairman. We believe that this new structure will drive operational efficiencies. And in addition, the separation of roles demonstrates our commitment to international best practices in corporate governance and transparency.

Moving now to Slide 7. You can see the significant increases that have taken place year-on-year in the main financial KPIs of the company, reaching an all-time high first quarter with a strong contribution from our 2 divisions. On Slide 10, we can see the broad demand for products across all geographies. In Q1 2024, we have supplied 813 megawatts of trackers, reaching a historical track record of 18.5 gigawatts since 2004 (sic) [ 2014 ]. Year-on-year, compared to Q1 2023, this first quarter of 2024 has booked volumes almost 3x higher than those booked in the first quarter of last year.

As you well know, we work with Tier 1 customers, mainly global utilities, but also EPCs and IPPs for utility-scale projects internationally. This is a key factor that helps us to penetrate different regions. As you know, our backlog is defined as contract signed pending to be executed. As of March 31, 2024, we continued signing new contracts and reached a backlog of EUR 619 million. This reflects the good health of the business and the strong demand in the market. Our pipeline, which reflects contracts that have not yet been signed, but have a certain probability of success, reached almost EUR 17 billion. Out of which around EUR 1.4 billion has a probability of success equal or higher than 50%. We continue to grow our international business and gained traction in new markets but with a clear focus in our 3 main regions: the United States, Europe and Latin America.

In fact, we continue to strengthen our position in the United States. Alma Miller joined Soltec as the CEO of Soltec Trackers America in Q1 2024. And let me remind you that we have a very strong local team in the country and an ever-growing secure supply chain with a logistics center in Texas to support our growth. In this sense, we have closed new arrangements with key suppliers to ensure domestic production, have launched new products for this particular market in order to address or assess its specific needs and preferences. Revenues coming from the U.S. already represent 34% of our total revenues, and we expect them to grow to up to 50% in the coming years. Just a few months ago, we launched a new solar tracker, the SFONEX, with the longest length tailored for large-scale solar projects.

It is the longest dual-row system in Soltec's range with 125 meters. It is designed to adapt to various types of projects, minimizing the need for single works, thanks to its terrain adaptability, which leads to a reduction in cost. These new trackers joins our family of 1P and 2P products. We have a wide range of products that adapt to the different needs of our customers and their projects. As you know, innovation has always been an integral part of Soltec since its inception has contributed greatly to the company's success and differentiation. In this sense, we have developed innovations to optimize our installations through advanced algorithms in order to help our products to become even more efficient.

Let's have a look now at our Energy division. As you can see on Slide 17, we have a pipeline of 12.6 gigawatts of projects at different stages of development, mainly located in Spain, Italy and Brazil. We are prioritizing key markets and focusing on value creation. We have a backlog of 494 megawatts, out of which 488 megawatts are located in Brazil and 6 megawatts in Spain. These projects are fully derisked. 2.8 gigawatts are at an advanced stage of development. Most of these projects have already been partially rotated and have already generated cash in some way or another for the company. Although additional milestones are expected to be reached in order to further crystallize value creation. We also have 1.8 gigawatts of early-stage projects in Brazil, Spain and Italy. It is worth mentioning that this quarter, we have rotated 400 megawatts in Brazil belonging to this category. And we also have 7.5 gigawatts of identified opportunities in 7 different countries.

On the other side, we have 366 megawatts of projects under construction or in a preconstruction phase and 234 megawatts of projects already under operation. These projects have been developed by Soltec from scratch and are already selling energy or getting very close to it. As I have just mentioned, in Q1 2024, we have completed the transfer of a 400-megawatt project in Brazil to Casa dos Ventos, which was in an early stage of development. The cash in of this transaction totals EUR 4.4 million, of which EUR 1.1 million have already been collected in the first quarter and the rest will be received during the current fiscal year. The impact of this transaction on our EBITDA reached EUR 3.9 million already booked in Q1 2024 with also additional potential impacts to be booked in the near future coming from achieving certain technical milestones. We expect to close additional ongoing transactions throughout the year in Brazil, Italy and Spain.

On Slide 19, we can see the evolution of our project portfolio under operation and under construction. We already have 234 megawatts of assets under operation with the addition of the La Isla project co-developed with TotalEnergies. Also, the El Romeral project has recently started its construction, increasing the current capacity and the construction to 40 megawatts. Finally, the Balsicas project has reached the preconstruction state. We expect the 4 projects we have in this category, totaling 326 megawatts to start construction in September. As you know, our goal is to have between 750 megawatts and 1 gigawatt of projects under operation or under construction by the end of 2025, and we are on the right path to achieve it.

On Slide 20, you can see a quick snapshot of the assets we have under operation and under construction. We have PPAs secured for the plants already under operation or under construction, and we are on track to sign new PPAs for the remaining plants. As for the financing of the plants under construction, we closed the financing required for the Totana IV project at the end of last year, and we expect to close the remaining financing agreements related to these projects that we are currently developing with TotalEnergies before the end of 2024. I believe it is worth mentioning at this point that the company has a very clear investment framework with a very selective and disciplined approach to ensure the delivery of strong returns.

Let's move now to the next section of the presentation, the Q1 2024 financial results. On Slide 22, we have a quick summary of the Q1 2024 financial results for Soltec Power Holdings. As usual, we have focused on 3 key metrics: revenues, adjusted EBITDA and net profit. As I have explained earlier, consolidated revenues reached EUR 121 million, a 58% increase versus Q1 2023. Mostly driven by the strong demand for solar trackers in our main markets. During Q1 2024, we have seen a continuation of the trend we saw in 2022 and also in 2023 in terms of profitability in the tracker division triggered by keeping import prices, mostly supply chain and logistics under control while maintaining a sensible pricing strategy and our consolidated EBITDA margins have been positively impacted, reaching EUR 11 million compared to negative EUR 4.6 million at the end of Q1 2023.

As usual, before we go any further, let me remind you that the consolidated adjusted EBITDA does not only include the EBITDAs generated by our different businesses but also the corporate expenses incurred by Soltec Power Holdings and the consolidation adjustments. Finally, consolidated net profit was EUR 1.3 million compared to the Q1 2023 figure negative EUR 9.6 million.

On Slide 23, we can see how our tracker division reached revenues of EUR 117.4 million, the highest revenue figure ever achieved by Soltec in the first quarter. The EBITDA for the tracker business was EUR 6.6 million at the end of Q1 2024, achieving a margin over sales of 5.7%, which is expected to increase throughout the year as activity levels grow.

On the next slide, Slide 24, we have a comparison between Q1 sales, tracker gross margins and EBITDA margins over the last 4 years. As you can see, our Q1 2024 record-breaking figure has been coupled with high gross margins, which in turn have resulted in the highest EBITDA margin ever achieved in this period.

If we move to the next slide, Slide 25, we can have a look at the breakdown of our sales at the end of Q1 2024. On the left side of the slide, you can find the distribution by activity. And on the right side, we have the distribution by geography. Tracker supply represented 70% of our sales at the end of March 2024, while construction services was 30%. And as we have explained in previous calls, we expect this activity -- construction services to reduce its contribution to the business as it focuses on lower volumes with all the key customers. By geography, we have a good and balanced diversification between our 3 main regions: Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. The U.S. market already represents 34% of total revenues. Europe represents also 34% of total revenues, and Latin America represents 33% of total revenues.

On Slide 26, we have a quick summary of the key financial metrics of our Energy business. Our revenues reached EUR 3.2 million in Q1 2024 and adjusted EBITDA was EUR 4.9 million, due mostly to the contribution generated by the assets under operation, the Araxá and Pedranópolis projects in Brazil and the impact of the transaction closed in Brazil with Casa dos Ventos. It's worth mentioning that our healthy pipeline under development is evolving over time and capturing the attention of relevant players, leading to many currently active M&A processes, which will be completed in 2024. In addition, as usual, we also expect to see additional contributions positively impacting our income statement and cash flow coming from assets already sold in previous years as they reach new development milestones.

On Slide 27, we can see our debt profile as of Q1 2024. Debt is split between the corporate debt linked to our tracker business and the debt linked to our Energy division. The debt related to our tracker business, EUR 94.1 million is mainly related with the syndicated revolving credit facility. For the Energy division, that is mostly related to the projects under operation in Brazil, which account for EUR 57.8 million. At Incus facility we signed at the beginning of 2023, which totaled EUR 70.6 million. Additionally, we have other minor facilities and impact of IFRS 16 leases, which elevate our gross financial debt calculation to EUR 258.8 million compared to EUR 257.3 million at the end of 2023. Our consolidated net financial debt at the end of March 2024 is EUR 230.3 million versus EUR 220.4 million at the end of last year.

On the next slide, as you can see, you can find information about the renewal of the syndicated facility of Soltec Energías Renovables Soltec trackers which includes a revolving credit facility for up to EUR 90 million and a bank guarantees line of EUR 110 million. This agreement allows the maturity of this financing to be extended to September 30, 2024, with a tacit extension to November 30, 2024. During this period of time, the company will reassess its financing needs to meet its backlog of more than EUR 600 million and the expected growth of the company. Soltec has hired KPMG advisory to help us with this process. The syndicated financing was first signed at the end of September 2018, and it was extended and increased at the beginning of 2021.

Let's move now to the last section of the presentation. To wrap things up, I would like to make several comments about the evolution of our businesses. First, we're seeing strong contributions for our 2 divisions. Our tracker supply business has had its best performance in a first quarter in the history of Soltec with record revenues and a solid gross margin of 24%. We have continued to reinforce our position in the United States during the quarter, and revenues coming from that particular market already represent 34% of the total. In the Energy division, our portfolio has continued to evolve, adding new capacity under operation and under construction. In parallel, we have continued our asset rotation strategy. In terms of financing, we are reassessing the company's financing needs to link them with a new business plan.

We are proposing also a new management structure to be approved on the Annual General Meeting on June 25 with Mariano Berges as CEO; and Raul Morales as Executive Chairman with the goal of raising operational efficiencies. We are focusing on activities with strong contribution in terms of value creation. We're also working currently on a new business plan for the coming years that will be presented to the market in the second half of 2024. In summary, we have a massive growth potential ahead of us. I would like to be able to share with you. Thank you.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

Thank you, Jose. We can move now to the Q&A session. We've got several questions from Ignacio Domenech from JB Capital. The first question is excluding the Bill and Hold agreement from the fourth quarter 2023, what was the EBITDA contribution from the tracker business?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Well, essentially, about 50% of the sales that we've been booking in Q1 2024 are coming from the Bill and Hold arrangements that were signed last year. So about 50% of the sales are basically coming from last year and 50% are basically related to Q1 2024.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

We've got another question from trackers. What dynamics are you currently seeing in the U.S.? And how are your new products penetrating in this market?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Okay. There are many topics here, I guess. First, let me start with the products. I guess, these new products we're launching for the U.S. market are kind of trying to address specific needs and preferences of this particular market. And I guess they are having a pretty good success, initial success because they have just been launched very recently. But we are confident that they'll be able to help us increase our market share in that particular market. Now regarding the dynamics of the U.S. market. Many things have been happening lately in the United States and perhaps we should touch a little bit a few of them.

First one, new tariffs have been imposed on Chinese goods. Now these tariffs could be somehow called preventive tariffs because they're really trying to tax things that are not being imported so far very much from China, like electric cars that obviously are being imported as we speak. But they are expected to be imported in a much higher volume in the near future, then batteries, modules and many other components steel and many other components. Now obviously, this will have an impact on the U.S. market. But keep in mind that the majority of the modules that are being imported to the U.S. market that are not coming from China. They're coming from Southeast Asia. And now we can talk about that particular topic as well because there have been petitions coming from local manufacturers -- U.S. manufacturers also kind of asking for tougher stance from the U.S. Commerce Department on antidumping regulation regarding what's coming from Southeast Asia.

Now from our point of view, all these new tariffs or petitions are being dealt with as we speak in the U.S. market, we'll obviously increase the price of modules, sales and modules, which will have an impact on the U.S. market. But we believe that at the end of this year, at the beginning of next year, 2025, the price of modules should be between in the U.S. between $0.30, $0.40 per watt, which is not much higher than where it used to be before these measures were considered. So we initially do not expect to see significant impacts in the short term in this market. Now having said that, longer term, capacity is being built in the United States. It is estimated by the end of this year, probably we'll see about 40 gigawatts of module manufacturing capacity being already available in the United States with an additional 20 gigawatts being available at the beginning of 2025. And there are plans for another 70 gigawatts coming in probably over the coming years.

So there's also a significant amount of inventory in the United States, 20 gigawatts perhaps at the end of this year, 30 gigawatts, something like that. So even though new tariffs reimposes Chinese goods, there are petitions in order to probably get a tougher view on imports from Southeast Asia. We do not expect to see significant changes in the way the U.S. market has been behaving. And as you know, and we've just mentioned it, about 34% of our revenues came in the first quarter of the year from that particular location, from that particular geography. So we are very positive for basically what the U.S. market could offer us in the second half of the year.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

We've got another question about the Energy business. Beside from product sales in Brazil can you give us some detail on further asset rotation throughout the year?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Okay. We are -- as we have explained earlier, essentially, we have open processes right now, M&A processes in Brazil, in Italy and Spain, and obviously, as we always do because it's part of our job, it's part of our business. So we expect to see new developments coming in very soon and we will see additional contributions towards our EBITDA before the end of the year.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

The next question is about debt. Are you planning to increase the trade line facility in the Industrial division?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

As we explained, we are right now in the middle of a revision of our business plan, the backlog we have is significant, over EUR 600 million. The growth we're seeing in the market, and this is particularly true for the United States, but also for a few other markets such as Southern Europe and Brazil is significant. So we're evaluating with the help of KPMG Advisory or future needs. And as soon as we have defined them, obviously, we will share them.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

And the last question from Ignacio is about guidance. We are already in the first half of the year, and the market is still missing 2024 objectives. Can you provide some color on 2024 guidance? And when are you going to announce the new strategic update?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Okay. The new strategic update will be ready by the -- well, in the second half of this year, probably after the summer. So far, what we can say about 2024 is that, if you remember, we shared with the market that we expected volumes for the tracker business to be between 5 and 6 gigawatts. In addition to that, we also have the Bill and Hold amounts that could not be booked as revenues in 2023 and therefore, it will be booked in 2024. And that's basically the guidance that we can provide regarding the tracker business. Now if we're talking about the Energy business, we did provide visibility on the projects that we'll be achieving ready-to-build status both in Italy and Spain at the beginning of the year. So that's basically what we can say for now. As soon as we have the strategic review completed, we'll be able to probably basically provide additional information on this particular matter.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

And we've got another question from Tomas Reis from CaixaBank. Could you give us some guidance on your long-term financing strategy and whether we should expect asset rotation of operated assets in the near future?

[Jose Francisco Jimenez, executive]

Let me start by explaining a little bit the financial strategy that we're currently following linked to the business plan that was presented to the market back in -- or shared with the market back in 2022. So essentially, we were talking about a significant investment that will take the company from basically not having operating assets to having a portfolio between 750 megawatts to about a gigawatt at the end of 2025. In order to obviously finance this particular investment, we were talking about 3 different sources. First one, 70% approximately of the CapEx would have to be involved would come from nonrecourse prefinance debt, tailored to the individual projects. Then we would have about EUR 100 million of equity coming from the Incus facility we closed at the beginning of 2023. And the remaining amount, which is about EUR 100 million, EUR 150 million will come from the proceeds we are obtaining and we'll be obtaining in the near future as well coming from the asset rotation from our development activities, okay?

Now having said that, are we open to selling operating assets? Well, it depends on the valuation, obviously, if the valuation that we could get on those assets adds value to our shareholders? Yes, for sure. Why not? We're flexible there. But obviously, it will have to make sense. It's not part of the initial plan, and we'll only do that in case, as I said before, that will add value to our shareholders.

[Almudena Malo de Molina, executive]

Thank you, Jose. There are no more questions on the platform. We can conclude with this, our first quarter 2024 conference call. Thank you.