Ellaktor S.A. (ELLAKTOR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Costantino, your chorus call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Ellaktor Group conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the Ellaktor Group full year 2024 results. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Efthymios Bouloutas, CEO, Ellaktor Group; Mr. Dimos Revelas, CFO, Ellaktor Group; Ms. Aphrodite Avramea, Head of Strategy; and Mr. Andreas Papanagiotopoulos, Group Treasurer and Finance Manager. Mr. Revelas, you may now proceed.

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Ellaktor's conference call regarding the fiscal year 2024 results. A press release announcing Ellaktor's financial and operating results for the year, the consolidated financial information and the presentation were issued on Friday, April 25. They are all available on the IR section of our website. On our call today, we will share with you a business update and a review of our financial results and our ESG performance. A Q&A session will then follow. Allow me now to turn over the floor to Mr. Efthymios Bouloutas.

Thank you very much, Dimos. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for participating in Ellaktor's full year 2024 financial results. I'm going to follow the presentation that has been uploaded in the site, the date of the publication of the results, i.e., April 24, 2025. Following that date, we had further business developments, which we will also include in today's call. I will follow the presentation starting from Page #3 and give you an update of all the things that we've done in 2024. So starting from the right-hand side, the transactions, we bought approximately an additional stake of 3.5% in Olympia Odos and its operator for EUR 20.6 million, exercising preemptive rights. That was on the AKTOR Concessions level. We also received a nonbinding offer by AKTOR Group on a perimeter of our AKTOR Concessions subsidiary in March 2025 requesting an exclusivity, which was granted until the 30th of April. As of 20th of April, we finalized the SPA, and we signed it at that date. So we are looking for a potential transaction going forward with the sale of our AKTOR Concession subsidiary without including Attiki Odos and a building that belongs to AKTOR Concessions for a total of enterprise value of EUR 367 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis, excluding bank debt and cash and cash equivalents. This transaction is subject to approval of Competition Committee and other legally required approvals and permits. And we expect this -- the target date is the 30th of June of 2025. And obviously, since we have -- we need the approval of the Competition Committee, there is a potential lengthening of the update until the end of July or even potentially the end of September. In terms on the real estate front, we have again signed an SPA in April '25 for the sale of the Cambas and Gournes real estate projects for a total valuation for the assets of EUR 86 million. The counterparty is Dimand, a very well-known real estate developer in Greece and the completion of this transaction is expected to happen by July 2025. In -- at the beginning of the year, we have transferred the Alimos Marina stake to -- from AKTOR Concession to our subsidiary REDS for EUR 31 million. And at the end of the year, we acquired Athens Properties BV for EUR 80 million, adding 10 prime mixed-use building in Athens with an implied rental yield -- forward rental yield of 7.4% for 2025. Then we've delisted the stock, the REDS' stock. So right now, in order to simplify the group organizational chart and processes and reduce unnecessary obligations, REDS' was delisted with an effective date of 21st of June of 2024. And we've also participated in a tender and we won the tender for an expansion of the hospitality sector with a 25-year lease of a 40 key hotel in Kifissias avenue in Marousi. On the environment, in January 2025, following an SPA signed later in 2024, we finalized the Helector sale completion. And also in terms of capital markets activities, we issued a EUR 275 million bond loan that was fully subscribed by Banco Piraeus in order to finance -- to refinance existing debt and cover for general purposes with a drawdown of EUR 177 million currently. That brought us to group liquidity of EUR 293 million as of December 2024 with a solid capital structure. And with that liquidity and the profitability that we had last year, we managed to, a, do a share capital return of EUR 0.50, which was implemented in July '24. So this and another additional EUR 296 million capital return implemented in March '25. Moving forward in Page #6, you can see the key financial figures of Ellaktor in fiscal year 2024. Now group revenue stood at EUR 354 million, 56% lower compared with the same period of last year. We compare actual with actual. As a matter of fact, we have the continued operations, which are lower based on the schedule that we are showing in Page #7. I'm just quoting the totals for simplicity purposes. The group EBITDA stood at EUR 170 million, 26% lower compared with 2023 with the EBITDA margin of EUR 48 million (sic) [ 48% ]. The group net pretax profit was approximately EUR 88 million versus EUR 116 million in 2023, with group net income of EUR 57 million versus EUR 85 million in 2023. Again, at the year-end, our group net cash amount to approximately EUR 226 million versus EUR 308 million and the equity attributable to the shareholders at EUR 757 million or EUR 2.17 per share, outstanding share of the company. With this update, I'd like to turn the presentation over to Mr. Dimos Revelas, our CFO, to give you more color on the results and the business update. Dimos?

Thank you, Efthymios. Let's move to Slide 8. As a business update, the usual segmental business update that we provide on the concession front, we had the collection of a claim of EUR 42.5 million coming from Thermaiki Odos, that story dating back more than 10 or 12 years, which was finally settled. Attiki Odos was handed over to the Hellenic Republic on October 5, 2024, while Aegean Motorway successfully refinanced its debt with the result being a collection of EUR 55.8 million at the level of AKTOR Concessions. We have been provisionally awarded the Tavropou Irrigation Networks, which is a new project for us. And as Efthymios mentioned earlier, concessions issued at EUR 275 million bond to refinance debt and for general corporate purposes. Most of the capital increase was then upstreamed to Ellaktor and along with other available liquidity, made the capital return that we implemented in March 2025 possible. We still actively participate in a wide range of PPPs and concession projects with -- and awaiting various outcomes. On the real estate, as already mentioned or highlighted to be precise, we broadened our asset base through the strategic acquisition of 10 prime mixed-use building locations in the city center of Athens. While we also expanded into the hospitality sector with a 25-year lease of a rather small hotel in Kifissias Avenue. The Alimos Marina project is continuing and progressing according to plan, actually at an accelerated rate I would say, while we still [ ridge ] and the real estate sector still enjoying enhanced liquidity and capital flexibility once we have the completion of the 2 -- of the sale of the 2 large real estate assets, the Cambas and the Gournes projects. On the environment, despite -- we classified it as a discontinued operation in 2024, but the major developments are highlighted here. We signed a EUR 12.5 million contract in Germany and another EUR 4 million contract for the execution of the project construction of a cell for the sanitary landfill of Saline slag and another EUR 65 million contract was signed with -- in a joint venture with PPC for the turnkey construction of a high-efficiency CHP plant in Kardia Power Station. Let's move to Slide 10, where a snapshot of our P&L is portrayed. We generated a consolidated EBITDA of EUR 170 million with a margin of 48%, of which EUR 150 million with a margin of 59% is attributable to continuing operations. In terms of year-on-year variances, the group EBITDA declined by 26% and continuing operations EBITDA by 34%, mostly impacted on one hand by the Attiki Odos contract, which was terminated in the beginning of the fourth quarter and on the other by the capital gain of approximately EUR 50 million from the Smart Park that was registered in 2023. So we had a base effect there. On the next slide, which is -- which are the major highlights of our balance sheet structure. On the asset side, we had an increase in investment and associates due to the reclassification of Olympia Odos as our stake increased to 20.4% and we also saw a marked decrease in receivables caused by the reclassification of Environment segment on one hand as assets classified as held-for-sale and loan repayments from AKTOR, EUR 72.5 million, Thermaiki Odos EUR 21 million; and Aegean Motorway, which was also mentioned earlier, EUR 57 million. On the liability side, the equity decrease was mainly due to the capital return implemented in 2024 and the payment of dividends to minority shareholders, predominantly of Attiki Odos. A debt reduction of EUR 175 million was driven by AKTOR Concessions loan repayment towards Eurobank. While the trade payables decrease is driven by the reclassification of environment as held-for-sale and the expiry of Attiki Odos concession, which, in essence, drove down the respective amounts, the interoperability amounts and the accrued expenses. The decrease in other current provisions is again linked to the handover of Attiki Odos and the respective decrease of the heavy maintenance expenses. On the next slide, we provide our usual net debt breakdown. Total indebtedness as at year-end amounted to EUR 427 million, of which EUR 370 million is linked to Moreas, while cash and equivalents are standing at EUR 293 million, of which EUR 32 million attributable to Moreas. Excluding Moreas, our net cash position was EUR 204 million compared to EUR 302 million a year ago. Page 13, as it is evident, the key flows for the year are related to the group's investment and financing activities and in particular, a, transactions-related inflows of EUR 240 million from the sale of the remaining stake in ANEMOS and Helector; transaction-related outflows of EUR 145 million associated with the acquisition of the shares of REDS not already owned by Ellaktor and the acquisition of Athens Properties BV. Inflows from loans repaid amounting to EUR 140 million, mostly from Thermaiki Odos, Aegean Motorways and AKTOR. Repayment of bank indebtedness totaling EUR 170 million and dividends and capital returns totaling EUR 203 million. This is the capital return plus minority dividends paid. In the appendix, you are also provided with additional information on the P&L by segment and on the segmental breakdown of the group's net debt. Let me now turn over the floor to Aphrodite to walk us through our ESG performance and key metrics. Aphrodite?

Good evening. When we assumed management of the group nearly 4 years ago, sustainable development was identified as the top strategic priority. Since then, we have systematically and consistently expanded our ESG initiatives, embedding sustainability into the group's overall strategy and reshaping decision-making and operations accordingly. The introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which is a well-known CSRD, which applied for the first time to the fiscal year 2024 report found us largely prepared and in a good shape to meet the challenge. Our ongoing efforts to enhance ESG performance have continued to bear fruit. This is evidenced by the ratings across nearly all major ESG rating agencies as we achieved the highest score among the primary ATSE listed companies according to Bloomberg. We received a B rating from CDP for climate data disclosure, and we also got an impressive 98% ESG Transparency Score from the Athens Stock Exchange. You can always find analytical data in the presentation and in the sustainability statement embedded in the group's financial results. I will now hand over the presentation to Mr. Bouloutas, the Group CEO, for the closing remarks.

Thank you, Aphrodite. Prior to including -- to opening up for the Q&A session, I would like to make some short comments. Four years ago, when we embarked upon the management of the new Ellaktor, we've focused our attention on the operating profitability of all companies, optimized as much as we could all the operations. We managed to reach a zero profitability for AKTOR Construction, which was, if you remember, EUR 115 million negative EBITDA at that particular point in time. And throughout 2024, we managed to return together with the EUR 174 million and the EUR 296 million, the total distribution for our shareholders amount to EUR 470 million, a sum which is equivalent to twice the market capitalization 4 years ago when this whole new strategic, let's say, restatement of the group started. If I recall correctly, the number of the market capitalization was EUR 230 million, and if you take into account the share capital increase that we've done of EUR 120 million, our current market capitalization, together with the distribution amount for at least 100% shareholder return over a period of 4 years, which accounts for an IRR north of 19% on an annual basis. Every step that we've taken was effectively reducing the risk of -- the risk profile of the group with the aim to maximize the shareholder return. During the remaining part of the year, we will focus on achieving the milestone transactions that we have signed and effectively doing the financial closing of the 2 large transactions. And following that, the group -- the Board of Directors will convene. And by September, we will provide you a strategic update on our next moves. I would like to close now the presentation and open the floor for possible questions.

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you very much. No further, let's say, comments from us. Have a good evening.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling. Have a pleasant evening.