ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. (ACS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. While we wait for the attendance list, which will be shared later by the secretary, I'd like to welcome all of the shareholders who are attending this General Shareholders Meeting via telematic means. I'd like to thank those of you who could not attend and have exercised the representation rights or cast your votes remotely. And I'd like to introduce the panel of this GM, in which we have myself as Chair, our Vice Chair, Mr. Antonio Garcia Ferrer; our CEO, Mr. Marcelino Fernández Verdes; and our Secretary, Jose-Luis del Valle Perez. We also have the other members of the Board of Directors attending by video conference link, Directors Agustín Batuecas Torrego, Antonio Botella García, Javier Echenique Landiríbar, Mrs. Carmen Fernández Rozado, Emilio García Gallego, Joan-David Grimà i Terré, Mariano Hernández Herreros, Pedro López Jiménez ,Catalina Miñarro Brugarolas, María Soledad Pérez Rodríguez, Miguel Roca Junyent and José Eladio Seco Dominguez. We also have attending this meeting our Corporate Director General, Mr. Mr. Ángel García Altozano,; as well as the Heads of Construction & Industrial Services, Mr. Eugenio Llorente Gómez and Mr. José María Castillo. We also have with us Madrid Notary public, Mr. Gonzalo López-Muller Gómez, who is here to draft the minutes of the shareholders meeting. And also, and as we announced in the call of this meeting, we're holding this general shareholders' meeting exceptionally without the shareholders and the representatives being physically present. We have enabled the necessary channels in order to facilitate telematic attendance to this shareholders meeting as well as to allow our shareholders to cast their votes early and to be represented. If the systems and electronic platforms were to crash, this General Shareholders Meeting would be suspended until the systems are up and running again, at which point we would continue the meeting. If that were to happen as soon as possible, we would announce on ACS' website or through the link to this General Shareholders Meeting on our website. Information about the cancellation and the reestablishment of the electronic services and systems. In order to certify that, we have enough quorum, I'm going to give the floor to the Secretary. So that he can read the attendance list, which already includes the shareholders who've registered in order to attend this shareholders' meeting through the telematic attendance link, which can be found on our company's website.

Thank you, Chairman. According to the figures, we have, total shareholders present and represented [ 872 ], of which capital -- shareholders present 92, 22 physically present, 70 have cast their votes remotely. Capital representatives 780. Total number of shares is 192,118, 321, of which present either physically or remotely, 4,575,504 and represented 187,542,817 shares. Percentages. Capital present and represented a total of 61.841%, of which present 1.473% and represented 60.368% Thank you.

As a result, we have a validly constituted ordinary general shareholders meeting on second call. And I'm once again going to give the floor to the Secretary.

Yes, thank you, Chair. Notary, Mr. Gonzalo López-Muller wants us to notify you that if there's any complaints or reservations with respect to the information you have received with respect to the quorum and the number of shareholders with voting rights present and represented and their share of the company's capital, you can notify us by sending us a message through the link telematic attendance, that it can be included in the minutes. If appropriate. The notice of call for this meeting were published in [indiscernible] and the official bulleting of the Mercantile Registry on April 5, 2021. And I understand that given how long the call notice is and the fact that it's present in your documentation and on the company's website, I'm not going to read it out in full. I'd like to notify you that according to chapter 6 of this call, those shareholders or the representatives who wish to participate in the shareholders meeting via telematic means and request clarifications or information about the points and items on the agenda or about the information made available to you or to the National Stock Market Commission since this -- the last shareholders meeting with respect to the auditor's report or in order to present any resolutions can do so in writing and send your questions or comments by telematic means through the telematic attendance link on the company's website, which has been active from 9:00 a.m. and until this shareholders' meeting is validly constituted. So far, we've received none. Those of you want your questions and comments to be reflected or quoted in the minutes, should say so expressly in your comments, these questions and comments will be read out by the Secretary during the Q&A session. Any questions or request for clarification sent in by telematic needs will be answered here live or in writing within 7 days as set down in the Capital Companies Act. Once again, we've not received any written comments or questions between 9 and 12 until this shareholders meeting has been constituted, and therefore, we will not be reading out any such questions or comments.

And now we're going to share our corporate video. Oh, there's no video. Okay. There's no video. All right. I'm going to proceed with my speech then. Well, once again, good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Welcome to the General Shareholders Meeting 2021. Given the circumstances, we have, of course, been forced to hold this meeting in a virtual format once again. We have been living through this situation for more than a year now. For almost all of the world's population. This is something we've never seen before. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on families, companies and economies of the world. Three million people have died all over the world so far, millions of jobs have been destroyed. And the world GDP has fallen by an estimated more than EUR 2.5 trillion in 2020. That is twice the GDP here in Spain. The diversity of our activities and services as well as our geographical footprint, have led us to participate very actively in many countries from Canada to Australia in the work that's been done to contain the pandemic and to mitigate its effect. Several companies in the group have collaborated selflessly in adapting the [indiscernible] facilities in Madrid as a field hospital during the most difficult time at the peak of the pandemic. Dragados also was 1 of the companies that participated in building in record time. This specialized hospital is a both [indiscernible] hospital in Madrid. In the U.S.A, our subsidiary Turner played an active part in the design and construction of a number of temporary hospitals together with the expansion of health centers all over the country, providing support for more than 50 hospital facilities. In Brazil, we have participated together with other companies in the country in the purchasing of protection materials, PPEs for health professionals and patients. And that has allowed demand to be covered in more than 1,000 hospitals all over Brazil over the last 2 months. Many different financial contributions have been made from the different companies in the group, including ACS's protection material and medical equipment. These were full PPEs that were essential for the professionals working together with people who had caught the disease. And at the time of major impact of the pandemic. These were in scare supply. We have the satisfaction. That this has meant for the health professionals who are the first time to get those PPEs and certainly contribute to mitigating the effects of the pandemic. And other facets of solidarity based work have been done, several companies in the group, over the world promoted in their workforces campaigns for collective donations to make to collaborate in different chargeable activities such as help for schools, food banks, helping disadvantage, the long list of social initiatives, health assistant services, essential services that have been provided throughout the pandemic with the maximum health and prevention measures that we needed in 1 [indiscernible] hospitals as well as -- and we have guaranteed our cleaning activities in hospitals, in police stations and other structures, and we have invested in the most efficient technologies to do that so that we can guarantee save spaces for our users and so last employees and the relatives of the employees. And among them, as I remembered a year ago, our Vice Chairman, Mr. José María Loizaga Viguri, who devoted a large part of his life to developing the ACS Group. He was a great professional and a great friend, and his contribution down the years was crucial for the success of the group and has helped us to put ourselves into this leading position in the infrastructure sector worldwide. His great strategic vision, helped the ACS Group to grow, promoting and facilitating the successive mergers and acquisitions that have characterized our business track record. I would like to also remember those people who have been directly affected by this pandemic with this terrible impact of the illness this disease. My sincere condolences to you all. It is very difficult circumstances. ACS has performed in operating terms very well in 2020. Given the circumstances, the performance certainly was good. Overall, our construction services activities considered essential in most of the countries during the lockdown period, saw a reduction in their activity between 5% and 10%, as I will say, show you rather in a moment. Abertis, however, recorded a significant fall in its revenues, more than 24% down. Tremendous reductions in daily traffic from the second fortnight of March 2020. Consequently, Abertis's contribution to the group's net profit figure fell by EUR 280 million compared to 2019. Turning to our services area, Clece. This is an area that was able to keep up its level of activity in general. I'd like to say just how proud we are of the social work and the commitment social to the wealth and health of hundreds of thousands of people that has been shown by this company. I also want to underscore the very important work done by the 180,000 employees of the ACS Group all over the world who have worked so effectively and efficiently during these difficult times. Every single 1 of them deserves our deep gratitude and our sincere recognition for the hard work that has been done and the commitment shown. Thanks to them, we have been able to continue the service we offer to our clients, making sure that our employees and our users are able to work in a safe workspace and increasing the health and safety measures to deal with COVID-19 supporting our suppliers with operating financial measures to guarantee the future of the industry, too. So with all of that, we have managed to reinforce the sound financial position of the group, maintain our remuneration or returns to our shareholders and continue to invest in the future of ACS, making a strong commitment to sustainable investments and the infrastructure market that will give us more stability in our results and also better visibility on future cash generation. On behalf of all of the members of the Board, Directors of ACS, I would like to convey to you to every single 1 of the people who form part of the [indiscernible] Group and who work for its future my sincere thanks. We are a group that has been able to evolve and to transform, right, throughout its history. We have adapted to the ups and downs of a changing sector in a global economic environment with the aim of continued to create value for our shareholders and society in general. Single leading position in the sector requires constant adaptation to the demand of market. That means you have to be 1 step ahead of changes in trends with a dynamic corporate strategy and a flexible organizational structure. For the eighth year in a row, the ACS Group is at top of the world ranking in engineering use record in the category of record, you're familiar with our track record, of course, through the expansion of our businesses in acquisition of leading companies in our industry, both nationally and internationally. The positioning of these companies, leaders in their markets and their long experience in the infrastructure sector has enriched our offering of products and services, improved our competitive edge countries in the world, those economies in North America, Europe and Australia. Undoubtedly, the acquisition of Abertis in 2018 was an important strategic step forward. It's reincorporation to the ACS Group, allowed us to increase our operating diversification on our competitiveness in the sector globally. In those 3 years, going beyond the impact of the pandemic, Abertis has made a positive evolution. It has improved its operating efficiency and also expanded its asset base. Some of those are the recent acquisitions of new concessions, 51% of the company, Red de Carreteras de Occidente Mexico, 1 of the biggest toll road operators in that country, and 55% of the consortium, which is made. The integration of these assets strengthens our platform for growth. In Abertis in North America and facilitates analysis of future opportunities. Furthermore, Abertis is continuing to explore new opportunities for investment in brownfield projects to be able to diversify its backlog of concessions and the -- and its revenue streams. Let me now summarize for you the evolution of operations and our financial position in the group during 2020. This was an exceptionally difficult year because of the economic impact associated by the political impact of COVID-19 pandemic in all sectors. Our net profit totaled EUR 574 million in 2020. This figure, of course, picks up on the impact of the extraordinary results in the -- in Australia, EUR 28 million, that one-off figure. So our adjusted net profit that is without taking into account those impacts, totaled EUR 602 million is mainly due to Abertis's performance whose traffic figures, as I already said, were extremely affected by the lockdown measures in the wake of COVID-19 during that financial year and meant that its contribution was reduced by EUR 280 million compared to 2019. The net profit for all of the other activities in the group fell by EUR 80 million, that is 11.2% down. On the basis of these results, we will be asking today for your approval for the distribution of a total dividend of EUR 1.85 per share. As usual, as we have done in previous years, this dividend payout will be a flexible dividend all in ACS shares. The breakdown of the net profit figure, by activity is as follows: infrastructure obtained a net profit, adjusted profit figure of EUR 321 million, 3% down on 2019. Without taking into account the impact of Abertis, industrial services and EUR 312 million up 5% adjusted because of the impact of exchange rates, and that has confirmed the strength of industrial activity. The net profit of Clece services fell by EUR 18 million impacted by the expenses relating to the health and safety measures that had to be rolled out because of COVID-19. Abertis's contribution to the ACS Group's net profit figure was EUR 35 million negative in 2020 compared to the positive contribution of EUR 245 million the previous year, i.e., EUR 280 million down. That is 29% of the net profit of the whole ACS Group in 2019. As for our operating profitability. EBITDA totaled EUR 2.44 billion. Stripping out Abertis's contribution, EBITDA fell by 8% compared to the previous year. Our EBIT figure totaled EUR 1.48 billion without Abertis. This fall off would have been 7.6%. As you know, our business strategy over recent years has focused on reinforcing our leadership in the key regions in which we operate keeping a geographical footprint in our activities that is always balanced. Let me summarize for you the evolution of the most important regions for the ACS Group. Sales in the ACS Group in 2020, totaled EUR 34.93 billion, down [ EUR 10.319 billion ]. Those were measures that we rolled out as of middle of March last year in most countries. And of course, with the greatest impact in Asia Pacific and South America, 6%; Asia, 5%; and Africa, the remaining amount, 1%. It's notable that the first 5 countries contributed in 2020, 82% of the total sales of the group U.S. which represent 45% of total; Australia, 15% Spain. In North America, we are still leaders. And we have good outlook for growth. Total sales for the group in the United States in 2020, were USD 18.06 billion, down 4.7%, else total CAD 2.53 billion, that's up 5.2% on a year-on-year basis. Australia was affected by the adjustment made in the Gorgon project. Without taking that impact into account, sales fell by 13.8% to AUD 8.92 billion in 1 of the regions that has been most affected by the preventive measures taken to combat the pandemic. As for ACS's sales in Europe, they fell by 4.2%, mainly in Spain, when they fell by 8.8% worth. And Germany, they grew by 27. 2%. In December 2020, our backlog totaled EUR 69.226 billion in like-for-like terms, that is to say without taking into account any changes in our perimeter, mainly the sale of 50% of lease or the impact of exchange rates would entail a reduction of [ 33.7% ] compared to previous year. By markets, our backlog in U.S.A. increased by 3% in local currency to USD 32.76 billion that is the result of the major awards in the year, including the construction of the new San Diego International Airport in California, the expansion of the Wexner Medical Center Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The construction of the new headquarters for the Department of Transport in Massachusetts in Cambridge, the expansion of the 50 toll road between Watt Avenue and Interstate 5, in Sacramento California. The construction of the access toll to the wastewater treatment plant in Cedar Creek in the state of New York, the refurbishment of optative treatment for COVID patients in New York and the refurbishment of the state Hospital in Austin, Texas. Contracts in Australia were affected by the severe national restrictions I mentioned before. Of course, due to the pandemic, and that meant that there were delays in awarding of new projects. Our backlog at the end of the year totaled AUD 28.17 billion with awards -- very significant awards, such as the 5-year extension on the mining services in late Vermont. In Queensland, the development of training facilities for the Department of Defense of the Australian government in North Queensland and a number of different maintenance services contracts for clients in the oil and gas sector in Western Australia and in Victoria, and the extension and improvements made to 2 toll roads in Victoria and Queensland. Lastly, the backlog in Europe had an excellent performance during the year, supported by the growth in contracts awarded in Spain and Germany. Backlog in Spain grew by 7.1%, underpinned by recent awards of renewable energy projects and totaled EUR 7.99 billion at the close of 2020. Other major projects were the construction of a new logistics center for Amazon in Huesca as well as mechanical facilities, climate control and other work that's being done on 2 warehouses, also for Amazon and West Gen [indiscernible] in Spain. The maintenance contractor for the conventional railway network in Spain, the contract with Vodafone for the rollout of the 5G network in Spain and the installation of energy systems and auxiliary system for the high-speed lines and the convention line. In the [indiscernible] node in Germany, the backlog totaled EUR 3.49 billion at the close of the year with a growth of 16.1% compared to the previous year. The main awards tunnel in the A7 toll road, that's Hamburg. The development of the Borwin5 offshore platform for the conversion of wind power in the North Sea and the new operating activities was translated into sound cash generation in 2020. Operating cash flows before any variation in working capital and unused working capital entailed an outflow of cash of EUR 220 million, whereas CapEx and operating leases totaled EUR 865 million, mainly in the mining activities, which are more capital intensive. Our energy and concession asset rotation policy generated funds in 2020, totaling EUR 444 million. These mainly corresponded to the partial sale of renewable assets again transport concessions in Spain. Our free cash flow totaled EUR 1.24 billion as a result. Some of that money has been earmarked to pay for the dividend, the [ EUR 1. 99 ] per share dividend that was approved at the last General Shareholders Meeting. Total return to our minority partners has also been maintained mainly with a payout of EUR 234 million in dividends throughout 2020. The group has continued to invest in concession projects and energy projects. Let me highlight for you some of the key projects, EUR 561 million in energy assets, mainly renewable but energy assets, such as the Kincardine project in Scotland. This is a floating wind platform. Also, we have onshore wind farms in Latin America and a number of different solar projects in Spain and the Americas, high-voltage lines in Brazil and the water treatment plant in Chile, EUR 72 million in transport concessions for Iridium and HOCHTIEF front, EUR 275 million structured projects. We've also devoted EUR 798 million to financial investments. They were to increase our stake in HOCHTIEF and CIMIC, totaling EUR 443 million, and in increasing our ACS treasury stock, that entailed an outlay of EUR 355 million, and we will be earmarking that for the payment of dividends in future financial years through a flexible or scrip dividend system. In total during 2020, net financial investment and project investment totaled EUR 1.706 billion. In 2020, ACS has made significant efforts to improve the competitive and financial position of our Australian business, CIMIC. Impact on profit were limited, driven by the sale of 50% of Thiess, so we should point out that the payments that were required to exit the Middle East market were offset with the resources obtained, EUR 1.265 billion from the sale of 50% of that mining services subsidiary, Thiess. Additionally, CIMIC decided to gradually reduce its use of factoring lines. In fact, the factoring line balance for the whole group decreased by EUR 493 million in 2020, particularly during the last quarter of the year. As a result, the impact on our debt of nonrecurring activities was EUR 156 million. While the effects of currency depreciation versus the euro had an impact of EUR 278 million. ACS, the end of 2020 had a net debt of EUR 1.82 billion, that's 0.7x the group's EBITDA. That's up EUR 1.766 billion in the year. And it is due, as I've just described, to our investment efforts, particularly for renewable energy projects, also investments in infrastructure concessions as well as in increasing our stake in various group companies. Value creation has always been a priority throughout ACS' history. The group has constantly evolved and transformed in order to offer attractive shareholder remuneration in the long-term as well as sharing value creation with the various stakeholders and society as a whole. We have built a solid and competitive group through the integration of many different companies under decentralized operational business model but knit together by a common business culture based on a strong focus on operational efficiency, being customer-centered and strictly managing risk whilst maintaining sustainable, profitable growth. One of the main metrics for value creation is the increase in our market cap over the years, as demonstrated by this example of a shareholder who invested in ACS 20 years ago whose investment would have grown by 526%, including dividend payments, with a medium or average annual return of 9.6% as compared to a 4% yield of the IBEX 35 in same period. In parallel, if we look at the group's net profit in that same time period from 2001 to 2010, we can see that accumulated net profit totaled EUR 14.669 billion, of which about [ EUR 8.20 billion ] the stock markets experienced significant volatility and drawdowns caused by the pandemic globally. And so ACS's shares closed the year, 18.2% down adjusted by dividend. We trust that the share price will soon reflect its fundamentals, boosted by the group's financial and economic strength and also driven by the transformation process that we're involved in and by the prospects for significant growth of our various businesses. We're aware of the value creation cannot be analyzed only from the financial perspective. In fact, different stakeholders as well as our investors and shareholders, financial institutions and other market actors are increasingly focused also to -- on our nonfinancial metrics including the environmental impact of our activities and its aspects has been widely recognized by different actors and agencies in the area. In fact, both have been included in the procedures Dow Jones Sustainability index. Let me now review the group's main sustainability metrics in 2020. So as our environmental trends, we've managed to reduce our total of direct and indirect emissions by almost 20%, confirming our global goals of increasing our energy efficiency and fighting climate change. The social area, we continue to reinforce our health and safety policies with training and prevention programs that are critical to our activities. In fact, in 2020, we've increased by 53.8%, mean expenditure per employee on health and safety measures to a total of EUR 1,197 per employee a year. This has been reflected in a fall in our accident rates in all of our areas. We also continue to move forward with our gender diversity policies, promoting the inclusion of women and women represent over 40% of our total head count. I'd also like to mention something that I -- we are particularly pleased with, and that is the 10,050 people amongst our employee of our total headcount. These are workers from vulnerable groups, including people with disability, people at risk of social exclusion, victims of gender violence, victims of terrorism, and even long-term unemployed. Finally, our corporate governance model has been strengthened in 2020 adopting the regulations of our Board of Directors, our general risk management and control policy, our sustainability policy and our policy of communication and involvement of stakeholders. We intend to comply with the best national and international corporate governance standards, emphasizing the growing importance of nonfinancial corporate information, reflecting our commitment to transparency and full disclosure. All in all, in sustainability, we have achieved the majority of the targets that we had included in our 2020 plan that was launched 5 years ago. As we described in the integrated report that has been made available with you. We are now moving on to the next phase. We're already working on the 2021, 2025 strategic sustainability plan. We're aligning our targets with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, with a particular focus on fight against climate change and joint value creation. Also, as I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, in 2020, different companies in the group and its employees have demonstrated this commitment by contributing in an altruistic way to volunteering activities in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Let me now just review our macroeconomic context, we are seeing signs of economic recovery. Vaccination is speeding up in most of our footprint, which means that in the second semester, we expect significant global growth once the mobility restrictions are lifted. We expect the developed economies, which suffered GDP in 2020 of 4.7% to be growing again. In fact, the IMF has predicted GDP growth of 5.1% for 2021, 2.6% for 2020, particularly the western countries. The IMF's forecast predicts a recovery of the region's GDP of 4.4%. And Spain will be the country where the highest growth rate is expected with 6.4% after experiencing the biggest drop in the region in 2020, with its GDP falling by 11%. North America is also showing strong GDP growth. In Canada and the U.S. forecasts GDP growth of 5% and 6.4%, respectively. Estimates for the Australian continent are 4.5% GDP growth for 2021. Different policies to promote economic recovery are aligned in certain respects. All major countries are announcing significant recovery plans in order to boost their economies after the pandemic and focused on driving activity. To a large extent, by investing in infrastructure, building our companies in hardest hit sectors and distributing funding in order to avoid the destruction of businesses to the lack of working capital. In this context, we have to consider our group's unique position. ACS now has a more flexible structure. We've diversified our business risk and adapted to global trends in the infrastructure markets. We'll continue to invest significantly over the coming years in order to increase the recurrence of our cashflow, and reduces the more cyclic aspects of the construction business, partially offset by our geographical diversification. In this sense of various M&A activities, as you know, last March 31, we reached an agreement with the French infrastructure, multinational, Vinci, for the sale of a large part of our industrial business, including as well as the engineering and construction areas of ACS' Industrial Services business, 8 PPP projects, mostly energy, as well as the platform for the development of new and renewable energy projects. Within that perimeter, the group will receive a cash payment of EUR 4.982 billion when the deal closes, by the end of this year, once the necessary authorizations have been obtained from -- particularly the competition authorities, an additional payment of EUR 14 million for every gigawatt developed in future 8.5 -- in the next 4 to 8.5 years to a total of maximum of EUR 600 million, a number which will probably be reached in just a few years, given that's their track record and the execution of these types of projects; 3, a stake in 49% of the company that will acquire all the renewable energy assets that will be developed by Industrial Services up till 2029. There's a backlog of potential projects of almost 25,000 megawatts, mostly in PV plants and wind farms scattered all over the world, assets that will bring in market price once they are commissioned. This joint venture owned 51% by Vinci and 49% by ACS should and will be generating significant value in the near future. According to estimates from various national, international financial analysts, our stake in this company will enable us to take advantage of our broad experience in a sector which has tremendous growth potential at renewable energies. And it will also strengthen our focus on sustainability and reduction of emissions in the fight against climate change. In parallel, ACS will be retaining the energy concession business, including the Zero-E assets, renewable energy assets in Spain and Latin America as well as another 15 concessions with a current estimated value of approximately EUR 1.4 billion. Zero-E is the company that owns the renewable energy assets, mostly PV assets that were acquired in 2017, when COBRA was awarded the biggest wind farm projects rather PV projects in Spain for a total of EUR 1.5 billion. ACS Industrial sale enables us to realize the value that we've created of the ACS and focus the group on a construction and concession platform that will be more sustainable and able to generate more recurring profit and position itself as a leader in the most developed market. For the future, we are convinced that our ability to create value needs to be focused on those sectors and activities where our extensive experience and the resources that we have can be used more effectively. Funds we have obtained from this divestment will be allocated mostly to increase our exposure to the concession business, taking advantage of the opportunities to invest in transport infrastructure, particularly toll roads. For this reason, we've expressed our interest together with other potential partners. And as long as it has support of the Italian government in the acquisition of Autostrade per l'Italia or ASPI, it's combination with Abertis, where Atlantia owns 50% would enable us to create a leading infrastructure concession group investments that the different western governments are working on to drive social economic recovery after the pandemic. But also the group is looking at other alternatives to ASPI in the toll road area, since that's a very dynamic market where there are many opportunities. Also ACS, has identified a set of potential greenfield infrastructure concession projects with a total expected investment of EUR 250 billion to be executed in next years in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe. As I said before, these countries have already announced the acceleration of these projects in order to drive economic growth after the pandemic. We'll continue to invest ACS' future, focusing on sustainable investments and the infrastructure sector. It's what we do best, and it's what we will continue to do. We are convinced that our ability to create value has to procession model, such as toll roads and the development of renewable energy assets like wind farms for PV plants, in this case, through our partnership with Vinci, sectors and our activities where our extensive experience and resources can be used most efficiently. And of course, we are still global leaders in the construction business, particularly in North America, with a turnover of more than $20 billion, our American businesses led by Turner and Dragados USA are in a leading position in the U.S. present almost in every state and segment, which puts us in a very relevant competitive position in order to participate in the expansion and infrastructure development plans that the federal government is planning to promote. In Australia, we also have a significant presence in construction. CIMIC still has a significant position and has very good growth prospects. Also in Europe, the different businesses with in the group are seeing increased demand with new projects, particularly in Spain, Germany, economies will soon return to pre-pandemic levels. Recovery should be seen very clearly in Abertis figures after a year, which has been significantly affected by mobility restrictions all over the world. In 2021, we're seeing traffic grow in highways. And therefore, we expect its profitability to also increase. A positive forecast mean that we expect the group's net profit to grow in 2021 by over 25%. So we are immersed in a transformation process in the group, posting our activity in construction and concessions, whilst maintaining the profitability and efficiency targets that will guarantee to you, our shareholders an appropriate return on your investment and which will enable us to continue to move forward in the sustainable growth path that creates value for the -- once again, with over 180,000 people, engineers, architects, university graduates, experts, technicians operators and so many other professionals, so many different backgrounds and specialties in over 40 countries who are committed with this project. Our professionals work every day with dedication and excellence. It's part of our group's business culture. I'd like to thank them now more than ever for their effort and their commitment in these very difficult circumstances, and for their ability to adapt and demonstrate their solidarity when it was needed. Future is not passed in stone, but I think that flexibility and an ability to adapt will be crucial factors in order to build the necessary infrastructures to move towards a more sustainable future. And that's where our group wants to be ready to build major projects, develop new infrastructures and offer quality services in all the countries within our footprint. In view of these new opportunities, we will continue to work with the same professionalism and commitment we've always demonstrated, which has enabled us to become 1 of the global leaders in the infrastructure sector. I hope that in the next General Shareholders Meeting, I'll be able -- once again, thank you very much, everyone. Now I would ask the Secretary, please, to read out the proposals that the Board of Directors is submitting to this General Shareholders Meeting for a decision to be taken on them.

Thank you. Chairman as the text of the proposal is very long, and that has already been published on the company's website and on the CNMV's website. As I did last year, I will just summarize them for you. With regard to the first item on the agenda, that is the approval of the annual accounts and the distribution of the results, EUR 857 million we have the dividend. So we have EUR 46 million, which is the interim dividend that's been paid out, and the remaining amount would go to reserve. So as you've already heard, there will be a flexible dividend system through -- via the cash or the share take up. Then there is the approval of the consolidated non-financial information statement corresponding to 2020 fiscal year. There's also the approval of the management of the Board of Directors, the reelection of Ms. Carmen Fernández Rozado with the title of Independent Director for 4 years. And also the election of Mr. José Eladio Seco Dominguez, also for 4-year term. There's also in a report on those reelections. There's also a consultive vote there. On the remuneration. There's also the point about the flexible dividend. The formula is included as in previous years, to work out the amount of the dividend depending on the share price, 5 days before the announcement of that dividend. But moving on to Item 7, authorization is driven to acquisition of own shares, treasury stock 8 and 9, delegation of partners to members of the Board, execution and formalization of agreements. And of course, the very last item is, of course, that the knowledge of the modification that we made to the regulation on the Board of Directors at 17th December 2020 affecting a significant number of articles. For the purposes of it being recorded by the notary in preceding the meeting, let me also say that as required by the CNMV, ACS has continued to permanently update its corporate governance system and in this respect, this meeting on December 17, 2020. The Board of Directors amended its risk management and control policy to adapt it to the content of recommendation 45 of the Good Governance code for listed companies, also amended its Corporate Social Responsibility policy, which is now called the Sustainability policy to adapt it to the content of recommendations 54 and 55 of the Good Governance code and it also amended the content of the communication policy, a policy for contact with shareholders, institutional investors and proxy advisers, which is now called the Communication Information policy for financial economic information nonfinancial information, corporate information and contacts and in negation with shareholders and other stakeholders to adapt it to the dissemination of privileged information through social media post by the CNMV, October 2020. Also at meeting for 17th December 2020, the Board of Directors amended its rules of the procedure. That's the regulations in order to adapt them to the recommendations of the Good Governance, cleary notified by the CNMV, June 2020. And with regard to this general shareholder meeting, that the shareholders have had the opportunity to read the publication of the notice of the shareholders meeting and the reports on the functioning of the Appointments and Remuneration committees and of the Audit committee. As you already heard, they have been no question or voting. Given the representation that there is and the remote voting and voting that has been made. To summary for you, there's a majority vote approving all of the proposals and the details of the votes for and against and extension will be published, of course, in the proceedings of the notary and on the website as of this afternoon. Thank you very much, Chairman.

Well, in that case, since we've completed the voting on the proposed resolutions of the General Shareholders meeting. I'd like to thank all of you once again for your attendance and the trust you've placed upon this Board of Directors.

Actually, Before our Chairman, Mr. José Eladio Seco Dominguez and Ms. Carmen Fernández Rozado, who are attending the General Shareholders meeting remotely, I'd like to ask them both so that we can include it in a minute whether they accept this nomination and whether there's any legal incompatibility? Mrs. Carmen?

Yes, I do accept this appointment, and there are no incompatibilities. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. José Eladio?

Yes, I do also accept this appointment and state that there are no incompatibilities.

Very well. Now that both of them have accepted this appointment and so that it can be included in the minutes. I'd like to state that our former Director and CEO, Mr. Marcelino Fernández Verdes has stated in the Board of Directors on March 31, 2021, his desire not to continue to be group Director and so was not up for reelection.

Okay. In that case, now that we have completed the voting on all items on this General Shareholders Meeting agenda. I'd like to once again thank you for your attendance and for the trust that you've placed on this Board of Directors which you've confirmed with your votes, and we will now close the session. Thank you very much once again for attending. And I do hope, as I said before, that next year, we'll be able to hold this General Shareholders Meeting in the usual way and see each other face-to-face. thank you.