Global Dominion Access, S.A. (DOM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, and thank you very much for participating in this call of the first quarter of 2025. Before starting, I would like to remind you that once the presentation is over, and as usual, we will move on to the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] So let's kick off with the presentation. And we have Roberto Tobillas, the Director General, and Patricia Berjon, who's the Director for Corporate Development.

Hello. Good afternoon, everybody, and many thanks for attending this call of Q1 2025. This morning, we held our AGM, and our CEO, Mikel Barandiaran, reviewed the year 2024 in quantitative and qualitative terms and also presented information on what the first quarter of 2025 has been like. Now we have a new organizational structure and reporting structure that we'll explain later on. But apart from approving the results of 2024, during the ATM, we've also approved the distribution of EUR 50 million in dividend, which is equivalent to EUR 0.10 per share. But let's talk about the results of Q1. But before doing so, I would like to make a mention of the current context in which we find ourselves where uncertainty and geopolitical events are here to stay, as we usually say. And the most recent of these events is the tariff war initiated by the North American government, and that has impacted all of us. And in this respect, Dominion has a diversified position in terms of geographies and businesses. And as regards to tariffs, this doesn't affect us directly as suppliers of services because we are also present in the States, although it is clear that this could have some kind of indirect effect because of the consequences this could have in macro variables like interest rates or currencies or the impact on some of our customers. But as regards to the figures for Q1 that we've shared during the AGM, we are dealing with a very active quarter with several new relevant contracts that we will point out later and an increase in growth in organic terms above the guidance and an improvement in operational profitability. And at the same time, we've also advanced a lot in the simplification process covered by our strategic plan 2023-'26. But in order to interpret the income statement that we're going to be looking into now, we have to bear in mind that the divestments in activities carried out in the last few months have been significant, mainly the sale of industrial maintenance services for Serveo. And due to this impact in terms of turnover and in terms of all the margin lines, during the -- on this presentation that you have at your disposal, we've included a column with the profit and loss account of Q1 2024 pro forma, and we've eliminated the figures that correspond to the divestments made. And let's say that what we're saying is that this impact of these activities is about EUR 36 million in terms of turnover, EUR 1.8 million in EBITDA in the quarter and EUR 1.2 million in net profits. And this pro forma figure that has the same perimeter as the current figure that we are about to present here with which we are comparing these results in the first quarter of 2025. But now -- let's move on now to talk about the figures of the quarter. The first thing is that organic growth at constant currency has been 7%, whilst the total growth of the company has been minus 7%. As a result of these inorganic elements that I mentioned before and which have subtracted minus 13% and we have the effect of ForEx, which is negative at minus 0.7%. And margins still grow and operational profitability of the business is still improving, driven by two reasons. Well, first, the approach that the company has regarding activities in business that are more profitable and related to sustainable industrial transition. And secondly, the divestment activity with lower margins. So the contribution margin now stands at 16%, whilst EBITDA reaches 13.6%, over and above the figure of 12.3% that we reported for the first quarter in the previous fiscal year. And we're still gaining operational traction in terms of turnover as well as in profitability, and we are fulfilling our strategic plan. It's also relevant to point out that during this quarter, we already felt a significant reduction of financial expenses associated with a reduction of interest rates, although this reduction is not applied to EBIT profits because there's a negative compensation because of some exchange differences that have been very high, mainly brought about by the depreciation of the United States dollar. And this reduction in financial expenses has had a positive effect as regards interrupted operations and which covers the financial expenses resulting from the Cerritos wind farm and which have being reduced by more than EUR 1 million. And this means that we have a profit in continuous operations of EUR 9.9 million, and net profit of EUR 9.9 million, which means that there's been growth of 22% and 49%, respectively, compared to the first pro forma quarter of 2024. In other words, we've had a very significant increase in our net results as a consequence of better operating results and also because there's been a reduction in balance sheet expenses, both financial as well as taxes. And by segments, and with these results in mind, we have a new breakdown whose objective is to continue with the simplification exercise and make much more visible the different trends, drivers and strategies that we're going to be applying in each one of them. So therefore, we believe that we also have to use different assessment criteria that should simplify our comparison with other peers. But this new reporting is divided into 2 major areas. We have, on the one hand, Global Dominion Environment and on the other, Global Dominion Tech Energy that cover the 3 transitions that are encompassed by Dominion and GDE is focused on sustainable industrial transition includes circular economy businesses, in other words, management of waste from the moment of collection until it is taken back into the production process, industrial cleansing, water treatment and water management. And on the other hand, we have decarbonization activities. And what we're talking about here are energy efficiency solutions and reduction of emissions. And it's important to say that both activities have meet all environmental requirements as the main driver, and they also have a very extensive diversification in sectors, geographies and clients. Global Dominion Environment accounts for 43% of the total level of turnover and 32% of the company's contribution margin. And this quarter, the turnover will be EUR 140 million, and it's grown organically by 6% compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, reaching a contribution margin of 11.6%, and we expect that this will be increased through operational improvements and synergies. And this is going to combine organic growth with inorganic acquisitions that will extend and supplement the activity portfolio that Dominion already has. And this growth is supported by our leadership in the sector and by the new contracts that are being awarded. And in this regard, and in Q1, there's -- well, we have some of the new contracts that we have received, like, for instance, a new contract for the cleansing of water recirculation pumps at a Greek refinery. This is a new customer in a new geography or we have the dredging, spinning and drying of the sludge of purification plant located in the north of Spain, which is a big area of opportunity. And now moving on to Dominion Tech Energy that addresses the energy transition and the social digital transition, which includes solutions for connectivity for technological integration and the digitization of businesses as well as all the services and projects for the electrification and generation of renewables. And within this segment, we will be reporting on services and on projects. So on the one hand, we have GDT services that covers these activities of electrification, telecommunications and logistics and commercial activities, and we'll be closing the first quarter with a business figure of EUR 150 million, which means that our turnover has grown by plus 12% compared to the same period of the previous year. And the contribution margin stands at 17.6% of the sales, which is a high percentage that covers the high operational profitability of businesses such as logistics or commercial. At an aggregated level, GDC services accounts for 44% of the total sales and 48% of the company's contribution margin in this first quarter in the same way that we have with GDE, as mentioned before, and the services under the GDT umbrella are highly recurrent. And we also have a very good dynamic in the first 3 months of the year, we've signed new contracts. And we have, for instance, the maintenance of electric recharging infrastructures for the transport company of Barcelona. We also have electric operational services for medium and low-voltage systems in Santiago de Chile for 3 years. And as regards to telecommunications, we are now going to build, operate and maintenance the external network of the fiber system in the region of ValparaÃso, and we also have operations in Claro in Colombia, and we are going to be reaching out to the region of MedellÃn. And finally, GDT projectors includes 360 vision projects and where we will also include things like hospitals, data centers and renewables. And this leaves or sets aside the industrial projects that are included under GDE. And GDT closed the first quarter with a business figure of EUR 35.3 million, which represents a slump in invoicing or in turnover of 2% compared to the same period of the previous year, whilst the contribution margin is also dropping by 4% and now stands at EUR 8.7 million. We can see how the projects still shows that they have a flatter kind of performance that has been brought about by macroeconomic uncertainty and also because we still have to materialize the divestments of renewable assets in the short term that we've already spoken about. At an aggregate level, GDT projects represents 30% of the total sales and 20% of the contribution margin of the company. As regards to our future visibility in GDT projects, the portfolio has grown if we bear in mind that now this portfolio only covers energy projects and social digital projects and stands at EUR 440 million, which means that things are looking very good for the segment's evolution over the next quarters. As regards to the balance sheet movement, although we are not presenting any details or any position related to the net financial debt, well, the only thing we can say is that in Q1 this year, no cash consumer movements have taken place. And in this regard and in the case of the financial debt supported by assets, we are still continuing the divestment or the main renewable infrastructure we have in the Dominican Republic, whose farms are producing energy and whose sale is very advanced. And then we have the wind farm of Cerritos in Mexico that is working, and we hope that it will be producing power in the next few months so that it could be divested. And both landmarks will simplify the assets and the structure of Dominion's balance sheet, and this means that we will be achieving the objectives of the strategic plan. So that's all for me as regards to review concerning the main figures and the main events that have taken place in Q1 this year. And now we're going to move on to your questions. Thank you very much for your attention.

Well, let's start off with the questions from the chat. We have [ Juan Carlos Piñedo and Rafael Pérez ] from [ Prensa ] and they are asking about the Cerritos wind farm in Mexico. How is the sale looking? And what kind of divestment policies do we have in place?

Cerritos is normal according to the program we had, and well, it's something that was stagnant for 2 years. And we are being much more cautious now. And now we are fine-tuning the wind turbine generators. And of the 22 wind turbines, there are 17 of them connected. And what we can say is in the next 2 or 3 weeks, we believe that by the month of June, we will have all of them connected, and we'll see what the ramp-up looks like. But in any case, as we said and within this first quarter, we will be ready and the project will be up and running. And from that moment onwards, well, we will consider the nonbinding offers we have already received, and we will continue with the sale process. And as it's mentioned in the balance sheet, it's an asset that is available for sale, and we will try to maximize the price. There's appetite. There are offers. So let's look at them, and we are going to be involved in this competitive process. And to the greatest possible extent this year or perhaps in Q1 next year, we'll give you an answer, but we do want to sell Cerritos. So everything is normal. And in the meantime, we have a lower financial cost because of the interest rates and the producing energy. So that means that we will be minimizing the relative impact that we suffered last year in terms of process and in terms of implementation too.

There are several questions on the chat that have to do with the Dominican Republic, [ Juan Carlos Piñedo ] again and Luis Padrón and [ Arroguet ] from Augustus Capital, but let's try to summarize them to answer all 3. We have the divestments of the Dominican Republic. Is this going to be done by the year 2026? Or when is this divestment going to be made in the Dominican Republic wind farms?

Well, this is what we mentioned previously. After calendar process in which we've selected binding offers, what we can say, and this was mentioned by the CEO during the AGM is that we've signed the acceptance of the binding offer. We are currently negotiating the purchase contract for the shares. And this is something that also has to do with settling the equity. So we're talking about the first 260 megawatts. And not only that the projects are already producing revenues. In other words, they are producing spot energy. And we think that both of them are going to reach their commercial operating date by June 1. And that's when the PTAs will come into force, too. And I think that it will be by the end of Q2 or Q3. Let's see if we can formalize the sale of the operation. This is what was mentioned by the CEO this morning. We have this issue of uncertainties and tariffs and so on. But we believe that this is a divestment operation that has been properly closed and that we will be able to materialize that, as I say, in a very short period of time. This as regards our position. And this is what we said, we have an enterprise value of about EUR 400 million, and you have to subtract the debt. So in the end, we know that we have on the balance sheet, we have the part that has to do with the equity value or the investment in shares. And in a way, recovering that investment will make the infrastructure debt that we had will be at 0, will go down to 0. And then we will have the normal debt, which will be tiny, below 0.5x EBITDA in the case of the traditional business of Dominion. So that is the summary. So we're on track, and we are fully convinced that we will get things done.

I'm going to give the floor to Carlos Treviño from Santander, who's raised his hand.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you, Carlos.

Perfect. Could you give me the total backlog of the company? Sorry, can you hear me?

Sorry, sound from another call is coming in.

Could you give me the total backlog of the company apart from what you've already mentioned in the case of Tech Energy. What about services and projects in Tech Energy and in Environment too? But when are you going to give more information with the new operations?

Carlos, I'd say that this split of the company to give you more visibility, it's made us think about those projects or those services that were very rapid rotation projects lasting 2 to 3 months or that backlog that we were allocating more to the industrial side of things or things that had to do with industrial sustainability. When Patricia was talking about the backlog of EUR 440 million, it's very similar to what we had last year, too, in the 360 projects that are larger and are more technological. So what we can see in global Dominion environment is that the approach has to do with the world of sustainability and decarbonization. And what we have are some projects and services that are recurrences. And this is -- these are projects that are closely related to services. And as I say, most of them are executed in a very short period of time, 3 months, except for some more specific or more relevant projects, but we believe that the dynamics of that division really don't deserve any portfolio information, but it doesn't really take you anywhere.

And there's also a question from [ Virginia ] on the chat that has to do with the portfolio, too. Well, those EUR 440 million, is that comparable to the portfolio that we closed in 2024?

I think not. But I think that a good reference is that until last year, we reported EUR 637 million, which is what we closed 2024 with, with renewables, energy projects and digital projects. And right now, I think that what we would have is this figure. So in other words, the industrial projects that would be under the element of GDE. And as Robert said, we've spoken about our portfolio that had larger projects that were consumed purely annually. And there was a rotation and they were consumed which is what Robert said, and they are much more associated with services and where there's a statistical recurrence and therefore, it doesn't make too much sense to separate them because they are much more integrated. I'm only going to give historic information so that we can compare this with the new report. Well, we're going to be doing so in every quarter whenever we do a presentation, we will also present the segmentation, a segmentation that allows you to compare yourself with the corresponding quarter of 2024.

And if we look at how projects have evolved in Tech Energy, where there's an internal slump, what do you think that -- when do you expect to go back to growth again? Because let's say that the analysis of last year was a little bit more favorable. When do you think that the business is going to go back to growth again going to grow again?

Well, Carlos, this is going to depend a little bit on how things go with the projects in Italy as projects become ready to build and because you know that -- and you know that our strategic orientation is about getting a majority partner. And then I think that this was mentioned this morning by Mikel Barandiaran and Antonio Pradera. It's this tariff situation that is affecting certain decisions more that have to do with the implementation of projects or projects that have to do with the allocation of funds. Let's say that we are still waiting for a project in Nicaragua, another one in Chile that we think are about to arrive. But as regards projects, well, they are, as they are and at a given point in time, perhaps the figures will be somewhat low in the quarter, but then all of a sudden, you recover what's happened throughout the year in the following quarter. This is what things are like. And the projects are there. And as I say, there will be certain temporary effects. And as soon as we have that trigger, as soon as we have things in mind, we will have a significant landmark for our activities or milestone. And by Q2 or Q3, I think that it will be possible to see that the results will be somewhat better than the previous year because of these values, these troughs that we are seeing happening all the time.

Okay. We have [ Rafael Pérez ] and he's asking, can you say anything about any ideas about Phone House?

Well 3 or 4 basic ideas. With Phone House, we want to generate value. We want to apply a different kind of orientation now that we've removed all the current portfolios for us. It's a commercial outsourcing business, and we're looking for top-level partners like Vodafone, Orange or Odos or Repsol and other additional partners and so with having these people as a commercial partner, we can generate value together. So what we're doing is applying the Dominion philosophy and culture 100% as well as financial discipline so that we can organize operations properly. And we also want to maximize returns and the results that we obtain along the way. But in any case, and what we have always been telling you people, this has to do with the world of commercial services, and we believe that it has a minimum amount of relevance. It's like a tiny drop of water in the sea as regards to the service operations of Dominion. But as we're saying, this is just another division, and I'm more involved in this more personally from the corporate unit and with the idea of generating as much value as we possibly can through these operations.

Okay. We can continue with Juan Uguet from Augustus Capital, who's got a couple of questions here. The first one is the divestment in Cerritos and the Dominican Republic. Are they total or partial?

Well, we believe that the divestment in Cerritos is total, and we believe that the divestment in the Dominican Republic with the goodwill we have there and with our presence there could be partial over time, although we don't have any problem at supporting a possible buyer. I think that I explained this. This was explained by the CEO at the Investment Day. So there's nothing wrong with having liquidity on a 2-year basis, but always maintaining presence there because this, let's say, protects our presence in the country and could also offers more possibilities of carrying out additional projects. But I'd say that as regards to Cerritos, it would be 100% and the Dominican Republic would be a big majority.

And the second question is simplifying the group structure will facilitate in organic growth after several years without any relevant operations. Can you carry out any operations with a subsidiary by combining companies and allocating part of the capital?

Yes, the answer is yes. This gives you more visibility and this simplifies things, too. I think that today, this was mentioned at the AGM and perhaps in our M&A world is much more related to Dominion global environment. And we believe that our ambition is as usual. We want to grow and I think I've also explained this. I think that Mikel Barandiaran explained this. We are very diversified in Spain, in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East and India, et cetera, and America, including the States. And why not? Because there's a pipeline of M&A opportunities of different sizes. And as you know, this always has to do with whatever the sellers want to do, and they are there. They are definitely there.

Well, there's just one final question here for you. The final question is, are you going to buy back shares once you've sold the Dominican Republic? This is from [ Rafael Pérez ] from [ Prensa ].

I think that I fully subscribe what the CEO said to the extent that we believe that we're going to feel comfortable with the ratio of net debt and with the commitment we have in terms of paying the dividend. We'll have to look into what kind of capital allocation we make. Well, definitely, there could be M&A and there could also be certain levels of buyback considering what things are like right now. And if the Board considered that these stocks are interesting.

[ Carlos Piñedo ] from [ Augustus ] is asking if there's any exclusion plan being contemplated for your listings.

Well, as the Director General, I cannot answer this because we don't have the CEO nor do we have the Board members present. But you know what we're like at Dominion, and you know that everything can be addressed. But the truth is that I cannot answer this kind of question. I can't do that.

We have no further questions in the chat. So we're going to finalize this disclosure of the first quarter of 2025. Thank you very much for your attendance, and we hope to see you soon. Bye-bye. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]