Maire S.p.A. (MAIRE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here with us in such a special day. I'm really excited today because we are entering in the second life of our group. And it's the new beginning for us and for me. As you've seen, we have built a leading engineering player having more than [ 100 ] year of history. Now we are the key players in the energy transition. We want to use all our expertise to respond to the growing market requested for the new approach. We are starting a new journey, and we will do it in full, immersive automosphere. Alessandro Bernini is our CEO, and all managers will show you an industrial plan and ambitious goals. Today, on this stage, you will see how we continue to evolve our DNA as a group. How we got a more technology-driven. How much we want to give back value to our society. Today, we want to show -- to share with you the great result we are expecting and we are working for, great result for our people, shareholders and stakeholders. We set our ambition to double our numbers in the next 10 years in terms of activity, people with a new brand strategy. We are committed to significantly increase our profitability and sustainability. We are committed to accelerate the path already started as a past acquisition have demonstrated. Also, our future journey will be supported by the acquisition and internal growth. Personally, I will -- a great responsibility as an entrepreneur to support the great transformation that our planet needs in terms of environment and development. To do this, we have embedded sustainability in our business. We want to achieve social, environment and economic sustainability. Social sustainability. First, our people, who are in the center of our journey. We are inclusive and [ meritocratic ]. Women will grow in our organization in every department. We have a target to reach the gender [ pyridine ] and hearing process. Young energy will be blended with the senior expertise. We must build the team today the management team of tomorrow. Environment sustainability is the key for our industries. We are accelerating our effort to achieve carbon neutrality. For us, the name of the project is Net-Zero 2030. We are focused to let our clients produce some product with a different feedstock. We are working constantly with our supply chain to take a common commitment. Economic sustainability is the only way to grow. We are industrializing market solution in the energy transition. We want to match the expectation of the market. The word for us is innovation. We want to give you an example. We are reading every day how the transition will be impact in our industry and in our life. Look, one of them, the automotive sector. Europe can set to target of the CO2 emission, but should leave to the industry free to choice the kind of technology to be used. In my opinion, for a while, endothermic and electric engine will be together. Companies will choose their way. Maire Tecnimont is already with the best technological solution for the energy transition, one of these are the synthetic fuel. To realize this ambition journey, we are doing an extraordinary effort. We want to thank you, Alessandro Bernini, and all the management. You can see here the management team being there always leading the way to reach our new destination. At the same time, I would like to thank you all the Board of Directors and auditors who approved our 10-year plan and move our ambition one step ahead. I want to thank also our colleague for their everyday spirit of belonging to our group. The senior ones who are sharing their experience to the young talent and become the new driver for the next transformation. That's important for us. And they will be the new leading generation. I want to conclude with an additional message and a promise to all of you. We will improve our communication coming [ frequent ] in closer to you like today. Finally, with the sense of pride, let me announce the rebranding of our company, a new identity, new logo and new tone for embracing all the companies, our group all together. [Presentation]

Make aspire. Make aspire. This is the new. Everybody our this T-shirt is the new strategy also for me. I change already. Thank you. Today, we will share our journey, we believe. And we are unboxing the value of energy. I would like to share this word. [Foreign Language] Albert Einstein. Thank you. The floor -- please, Alessandro Bernini, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Fabrizio, and thank you, once again, your vision, your motivation have energized this group over the last 19 years. And I'm also sure that they will continue to represent a source of inspiration for our journey ahead. So ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome, and thank you very much for taking the time to be here with us today. This is a very, very exciting day for Maire as we would like to share with you our passion for technology and innovation in a world that is at a crucial crossroad. Formally, our journey in India in the energy transition started in 2018 when we decided to launch NextChem. It was an innovative move making Maire the first group in its sector with a dedicated vehicle for the energy transition. Even before NextChem launch, energy transition has been at the core, primarily of our group and at our people. For example, our subsidiary, KT, has been involved in the hydrogen technologies since the early '70s. This started to lay the foundation of our unique expertise in the market. This process improved the cross-integration with the rest of the organization and the cross-fertilization of ideas crucial in the innovation environment. NextChem's focus has been twofold. First, in the technology innovation. Second, research and development of new concept to make energy transition a reality. That was a preemptive move that widely anticipated future trends. From the very beginning, we focus on those areas of expertise adjacent to our core business, areas where we will create value. In this regard, we pursued groundbreaking activities based on biocomponents as a feedstock, revolving around security or aimed at reducing carbon and emissions. As you can see, we are used to anticipate time. And so again, we are here today. So after almost 5 years, Maire announced its know-how, gaining valuable competencies and technologies around sustainable solutions. We established key relationships and partnerships, the basis for innovation and development. Several proprietary technologies were implemented in the meantime, including green ammonia, Circular hydrogen and plastic compounding. All this, while empowering traditional clients reaching out to new ones and expanding our geographical footprint. As a result, we improved our understanding of the trends underlying the energy transition, and we were able to positioned the entire Maire as a top-notch energy transition player. A group effectively equipped for the evolving needs and challenges of the new world. That intuition about clients' emerging needs, coupled with the strong market evolution is now a reality, reaching even stronger momentum. Energy transition is the macro trend that will be with us forever. It's unavoidable. We were among the first and few to realized the need for a paradigm shift. We are among the best and the few to trigger the change directly in the industry and even in the broader society. We want to be a role model. Our accumulated experience is offering us an unprecedented chance to truly lead the market towards an effective transformation, a market that is now facing global pressures that must be addressed. So now Giovanni Sale, our Corporate and Business Strategy Senior Vice President, will illustrate this evolving market trends, and then I will be back to discuss what they all mean to our group. Please, Giovanni.

Thank you, Alessandro. And very good morning to all of you. The market is evolving as always. At this time the evolution is more multidimensional and interconnected. Market is evolving from a traditional fossil-based industrial model where we [ spined ] from the industrial evolution to a new low carbon-based model, through the transformation of processes, economical systems as well as our daily life. The evolution of our society has been always driven by powerful trends, and we are having a [ complicate ] context ahead of us. The global population continues to grow, and it is expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050, fostering the new demand and fair demand of equity prosperity within all the society, while in the background, global warming has increasingly become an irreversible force with life-changing consequence for all of us, and we are experiencing now. So we have to act now. With the awareness that our decision will depend on how institutions are fostering the new environment by issuing policies, regulations on how companies reposition their strategy and how we, as individuals, will change our own behaviors. Corporates, however, have to the central law to unlock the faster global response, to enable such a breakthrough in our industry. We need to put our hands in the engine to modify the existing situation. So we have a complicated equation, a complicated context rest of us. To solve such a complicated equation, the industry are developing breakthrough solution. And we have power class testing. Full security is driving an intensification of sustainable agriculture, achievable through production of sustainable fertilizer, nitrogen-based fertilizer. Industry decarbonization is going to be achieved by alternative hydrogen-based and circular carbon solution, also paired with as much as feasible electrification. Last but not the least, in order to fight global warming, it is necessary to introduce alternative innovative fuels as energy carrier as well as sustainable polymers, meaning plastics obtained through circular model where also waste is finally considered a viable feedstock. Now let's have a look on the expected growth for each one of these four clusters. Let's start with the first one. Now as -- the combined -- okay, green and blue ammonia that are fertilizer [indiscernible] only fertilizer. The combined effect of the need to achieve global fuel security and the energy transition will have a direct impact on the fertilizer market. Nitrogen-based fertilizer will grow along with the demand for lower carbon solutions as the carbon emission will represent an increasing and no variable cost component. Moreover, ammonia, in addition to the existing user fertilizer, will experience an increased demand through new utilization, especially as Maritime fuel, being a well-recognized energy vehicle is something nothing new under the sun. Ammonia is an energy vehicle. By 2050, this new user will grow rapidly and will exceed the current use volumes. The fossil-based ammonia we've been clearly placed by green and blue ammonia that are produced with green hydrogen and blue hydrogen or turning through the famous CO2 capturing. Now we go to the hydrogen. So hydrogen and CCS carbon sequestration. So we have the shiny start in the energy transition, hydrogen. And we got CO2 is a [ naughty genie ] in the atmosphere that we need to capture and put it back in the box. Hydrogen, in addition to be a very well energy carrier is a critical vector to exit the decarbonization of the so-called hard-to-abate industries, such as cement, steel and petrochemical As well, it is the more -- very more important is a critical building block for CO2 securitization, so carbon securitization via the production of systemic chemicals and fuel. So currently, about 80 million tonnes per year of hydrogen are produced, primarily from fossil resources and mainly used for ammonia methanol production, hydrocarbon treating processes in our refinery. By 2040, over 80% will be covered by green and blue hydrogen, giving rise at $13 trillion capital spends by 2050. However, as I said before, this technology has still an enormous untapped potential, considering its key role to reach the climate goals. Carbon capture and storage projects are booming everywhere, and we reached more than 800 million tonnes of CO2 captured by 2030 as for sustainable scenario. So we have a big effort to capture this [naughty genie ] from the atmosphere and put back in the box. Now let's talk about sustainable fuel. As the regulation continues to strengthen, they will drive the demand for no fossil-based fuel across the world. As the need for new energy carriers increase to produce will be pivotal in the commonizing the transportation sector. Let's say, for example, the aviation. In our daily flights all over the world, SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, will allow us to decarbonize 50% of the jet fuel by 2050. In Marine Transportation, methanol, produced from sustainable renewable feedstock, will emerge as major alternative to support the decarbonization. Let's move on to our last market. We will now deep dive into sustainable material. Let me say that now here we are in a sort of cathedral of the polyolefin plastics, let's say, on the science of material. Olefin plastics users are expected to keep growing over the next few decades, mainly driven by GDP and population growth in the credit of the due and fair [ equi-prosperity ] between all the countries and the population. This is a fact, especially in the case of developing economies. And at the same time, in the more developed countries, as we are, increasing consumer awareness our daily life is pushing toward a more sustainable use of plastics. As a consequence, bio-based biodegradable recycled plastic will increase growth -- import also supported by the technology breakthrough , which allow the final products to match the sophisticated need or the transformer of the plastic. Think about our kind of packaging, very nice shining packaging, and more will be easy recyclable. As you can appreciate now a common trajectory can be identified in these four main clusters, represented by [ no doubtedly ], a solid grow, with increase in share of low carbon products, sustainable products. Now countries are developing massive investments, both private and public, to execute and succeed in this revolutionary project. The [oddest ] one in humankind history. Let me say there has never been a project of such magnitude in the history of human kind. Now the -- as I said, the energy transition can be -- is considered -- is a warm megaproject, fueled by over then EUR 2 trillion of public funding, already allocated all over the world. With an estimated EUR 4 trillion to be invested annually to reach the scenario estimated by [indiscernible]. The market opportunity, the funding, the ambition public pledges and the investments are available now, and they are all taking place when we are speaking. Now this massive availability of funding requires a shift towards the implementation phase. And for this reason, world mega project, the biggest project in our history, is looking for a new integrated approach. Let me say that yesterday paradigm is no longer valid. The market required to focus on five key pillars: first, a credible and knowledgeable partner capable of guiding the energy transition complexity, thanks to its technology leadership, setting the path and the example for the whole industry. We want to be also influenced. Second, players with a compressive portfolio solution and the combination of multiple technology to make the energy transition feasible from a technical and economical point of view. Breakthrough innovators, with a forward-looking attitude, willing to explore and apply new solution year-after-year. Fourth, an extensive record and rated ability to apply technological solution to ensure what is necessary to add a flawless delivery of a complex project. It is not an easy project that we are in the end, in a complex and fragile environment. We are living and we know how much fragile environment we are living in our countries. That means the ability to drive a broad ecosystem well beyond the traditional EPC value chain. This is why Alessandro will now explain how we have been evolving in order to continue to lead this revolution.

Thank you, Giovanni. Really interesting. So let's begin to unbox the future, starting from our client-driven DNA. Maire has always been equipped to offer an integrated approach, anticipating clients' needs, providing engineering innovative solutions and applying them to the execution of complex projects. We know how to navigate our stakeholders' ecosystem, supporting them in their decision-making process. We understand they are different by geography, of course, regulatory agenda, available resources or technology focus. For all of them, we customize and integrate offerings in order to deliver the most efficient solutions. We deploy our distinctive competencies throughout the extended value chain beyond the traditional bid design, build phases. Also thanks to our project development skills and the power of our digitalization in optimizing the processes. Our commitment to our client is based on a recognized leadership in the four clusters. We leverage on our strong track record in nitrogen, hydrogen and circular carbon, fuels and chemicals and polymers to accelerate the road to transition of our traditional clients. Let me mention, for instance, some of our flagship projects in this area. In nitrogen, we have the Gemlik Gübre project fertilizer plant in Turkey. In hydrogen and circular carbon, the green hydrogen plant for GAIL in India, a small project, but extremely representative, extremely important also for the Indian government. In fuels and chemicals, the aniline plant for Covestro in Belgium. And in polymers, the EUR 3.5 billion equivalent Borouge 4 petrochemical complex in Abu Dhabi. More and more, we are increasingly supporting our existing and new clients in their energy transformation journey. We also bring our commitment to sustainability clients. We promoted the social development of the local communities in the countries where we operate. It's our tradition. We are used to do it. We foster suppliers' decarbonization to align the supply chain and the subcontractors with the European Union's targets. We commit the ambitious internal target we commit to our people. These are not just empty words. Now, and during the rest of the morning, we will have colleagues on this stage as a tangible testament of what we are telling you this morning.

Sustainability is a journey, a journey that involves the group as a whole, every single manager, every employee and the whole supply chain. We have engaged ourselves on carbon neutrality goals, with a net-zero task force and concrete, the carbonization plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. On our emissions, Scope 1 and 2 and by 2050 on Scope 3. Our top management has these targets embedded in their [ MBOs ]. We want to be enablers of energy transition and circularity for our clients. We are aligning our suppliers to our vision with an approach to sustainability synergical the business. We have already ESG screened 2,400 suppliers, above 2/3 of our expenditure, and we are focused to reach 100%. Furthermore, we create economic and social development at local level with our in-country value and plans and CSR. We contribute to the education and social progress also through the activities of our foundation. We are spreading the values of sustainability and the richness of diversity throughout the whole company because sustainability is a teamwork.

And teamwork is the value that truly shapes Maire, a value deeply rooted in our culture. Teamwork means people. Teamwork means intergenerational dialogue. Teamwork means mentorship. Mentorship is where expertise meets merit, a merit that we reward. Maire recognized that talent is something that belongs to everyone and that we flourish through a dedicated professional development path. Maire offers such a context with more than 200,000 training hours per year. And if you count all the experience accrued by our group, by our people, we have accumulated over 50,000 years of expertise. This is the way the talents from all our tenure succeed. Maire with its successful and scalable operating model is the fertile soil for such a flourishing of billion professionals. The most junior ones that every year send 1,000 of application, but also the more senior ones, motivated by new challenges, passion for performance and innovation. We enable the talents and potential. We are passionately dedicated to their professional development. And they know we are. We share our values. We push our passion for performance. We raise our commitment for impact. We are the leaders who will help to achieve net-zero. We accelerate the transformation. We nurture our goal for best-in-class expertise, people, our greatest commitment. Maire is the place to be.

Thank you, Sara. Thank you, Ilaria. So it is clear that Maire is a living organization. Thus, today is evolving once more. We are now completing a bit of renovation that brings a specific change of mentality. Maire from now on will be structured in sustainable technology solutions and integrated engineering and construction solutions. Two sides of a UNICUM, sharing the 4 common areas of business. 2 business units for an organizational standpoint, two enablers of change for our clients and our business, with the flexibility to act as two independent bodies when most appropriate. The new structure unlocked the full potential of integrated solution, leveraging cutting-edge technologies in order to deliver a future proof plan. Let's go now into more details about the activities executed by each business unit. The first one, sustainable technology solutions will gather the high value-added services carried out by the group. From technology licensing to process design and engineering services, from proprietary equipment to digitalization and selected specialty solutions. This business unit is the home for solution in the energy transition, designed to enable innovative and sustainable processes leveraging our consolidated know-how in hydrogen and carbon capture technologies, giving a new life to waste and creating new processes from nonfossil feedstock. By the nature of its activities, this business unit will be characterized by, of course, lower volumes, but high profitability. The other business unit, integrated engineering and construction solutions, will carry out all the activities of an energy service provider, including FEED engineering, procurement and construction as well as the upgrading and revamping of existing assets. This business unit is the home for complex plans designed to provide access to the latest technologies. We will continue to deliver future-proof technology advanced plans through the integration of our specialized know-how and the world-class engineering expertise. As such, this business unit will enjoy higher volumes and a profitability in line with this type of activities. We are extremely, extremely excited about this new structure. It represents a key source of competitive advantage vis-a-vis our peers. As the new structure will boost the growth of our technology business, it will also position Maire in a different peer group, along with players which are more technology-oriented and providers of high value-added services. By the nature of its activities, the Technology Solutions business is being executed through a variety of legal entities. NextChem, first, Stamicarbon, MyRechemical, MyReplast Industries and the newly acquired, Conser. We are, therefore, sending up NextChem Holding, which will group all the current as well as the future legal entities and technologies of the group in this area of business. On the other side, integrated E&C solution will be carried out by Tecnimont primarily as well as KT and MST. But there is, of course, one more thing, is the project development, which is the Maire's big enabler. We are enhancing this function, which was created a few years ago and already implemented in specific projects around the world. This includes a set of activities carried out by Maire to start the engine of those projects, which otherwise would have remained on the starting block. It is functional to both business units. It is the fuel that can start the engine. The starting block is the co-development and partnering and in parallel, the industrial and financial aspects. From an industrial perspective, we secure long-term feedstock and then offtake contracts. From a financial point of view, we coordinate the most appropriate capital structure, attracting industrial investors and financial sponsors as well as coordinating the application for public funding, an important activity to support the energy transition projects. Maire's project development is a [ UNICUM ] in the energy service providers landscape. And it allows us to be at our client side from day minus 1. So let's keep unboxing the future by looking at our growth engines. In riding the new cycle, we have upgraded our business model, where Tech and the EPC work in symbiosis, but can also live independently. Up to now, tech has been hidden by the execution business, and the market couldn't value it properly. Now we are enhancing the technology side and its growth prospect, which allowed the group to maximize its valuation. In fact, we unlock the embedded technology value by selecting independently the best niche where we want to be a tech leader. The continuous interaction and cross-fertilization of ideas and solutions will increase the internal synergies to a higher level and ensuring an integrated approach for our clients. Lastly, we announced our flexibility while decoupling technology and EPC business. In fact, we push technology-driven and execution-driven opportunities independently from each other. This will maximize the overall value of our group, thanks to significant growth opportunities of each business line free to exploit its full potential. So definitively, how are the two lines of business growing? What are the underlining drivers? So our Technology Solutions business growth will be driven by the increasing need for energy transition technologies as the new world is demanding a high level of sustainability. The industrial ecosystem is stepping up its investment in response to the important pressures that Giovanni presented earlier, opening up a new set of opportunities, including in nontraditional industrial sectors, such as cement, steel, paper, just to name a few. Second, innovation and the search of new proprietary technologies will provide additional sources of growth by increasing Maire market share. Antonio will deep dive on this matter later, providing an overview of our technological unique offering. Third, the development of additional technologies is also being pursued through external acquisitions. CatC and Conser are just true current examples of the trend that is intended to grow over time. For sure, decoupling tech from EPC give us the chance to create synergic offerings, feeding additional business to the other part of the organization, with the common objective to increase our market share. On the other hand, the significant track record of activities related to Energy Services remains a fundamental importance for Maire. And this pillar is evolving to expand integrated services. So speaking for a while of engineering and construction, there are powerful drivers, which will ensure a significant growth of this part of our business. First, our end markets are going to experience strong growth in the years ahead, as shown earlier, driven by powerful factors. This by itself will ensure a meaningful upside and boost to this line of business, also thanks to our leadership in our traditional market. Second, the growth in our Technology Solutions business will bring additional opportunities that will have to be executed. Third, growth will also originate from revamping and the upgrading of existing plants as clients are adopting their asset base in order to comply with more stringent regulations and as well as market needs. Fourth, our presence in the extended value chain allow us to be more proactive as -- and pursue FEED business as well as provide further value-added services, such as operations and maintenance. And now we want to give you tangible examples of our new successful model already active in Maire, already acting as a synergic reality.

We already know how to make this journey successful, how to grow our technology in IP-based businesses and how to leverage on our technologies to boost our E&C businesses. As mentioned by Alessandro before, Maire will have 2 distinct business units going forward. First, NextChem, representing all our technology companies; second, Tecnimont, representing all our E&C companies. The synergistic business model of Maire has been already successfully applied in a sustainable nitrogen cluster. A very strong focus on developing -- growing NextChem's technology company in the fertilizer industry, semi-carbon, while reinforcing synergies with Tecnimont's E&C world-class capabilities. This successful testimonial of Maire's synergistic business model has resulted in 2 things: accelerating growth of our global technology leadership position and significantly boosting our track record of our E&C businesses. Undoubtedly, NextChem's leadership in the nitrogen value chain, is driven by excellence in innovation, technology development and successful commercialization. As of 2009, Maire started investing in technology for the fertilizer industry, which has resulted in an impressive growth by more than quadrupling revenues, EBITDA, readjusted IP portfolio and a high-performance organization in less than 15 years. Maire's focus on growing its technology leadership, combined with its open licensing business model, has resulted in a market share increase from approximately 40% to approximately 60% in the urea technology business. NextChem's technologies in the nitrogen space are used in more than 260 plants worldwide, which is more than half of the total worldwide capacity. In addition to this, our E&C business, Tecnimont has benefited strongly from Maire's synergistic business model. Since then, Tecnimont, as one of the licensed contractors, has grown its global market share in the fertilizer E&C industry by securing 12 EPC and EPCM contracts in the last 13 years. One of our most recent awards is the blue ammonia project of OCI in Beaumont, Texas. This is our story, and it's a story of success. Within the sustainable hydrogen cluster, Maire's business model is already tested and proven, but it's evolving further. More energy-efficient technologies, low-carbon technologies, green nitrogen-based technology solutions will be added. Now NextChem has been replicating these practices and successes taking benefit of an excellent track record in the nitrogen cluster across the other 3 clusters: hydrogen and circa carbon, fuels and chemicals and polymers. In these clusters, our portfolio of sustainable technologies and solutions will grow fast, driven by our synergistic business model, which further accelerates growth and success, both in a sustainable technology solutions business as well as our integrated E&C solutions businesses. We have done it, and we will do it again.

So we'll talk about fertilizer experience with Mohammed, but we are more than a nitrogen solution within our group. From [ sea ] fuels and seeing chemical from waste with our Maire chemical company, room or a lead, or even more complex project from [ sea ] fuel, from a circular carbon solution, but -- which are our ingredients. Our star main ingredient is the main concern of the other entities is the CO2. And let's start from numbers. 57 gigatons of CO2 were remitted the last year. And if we do nothing, it will reach 70 gigatons by 2050. CO2 is everywhere. It comes from any production processes like furnitures, plastics, fuels, sodas, processed foods, ceramics, glass, just to name a few. That also means that for us the opportunity to capture and utilize the CO2 is everywhere. From cement, steel producer, waste energy, paper mills, power plants and to support the decarbonization of our traditional new clients. What we do? We combine different technologies, integrating know-how to ensure a smooth and reliable operation. We do capture CO2 from large emitters. And we have the stronger reference with more than 6 running plants in India and Middle East. And soon one in Italy, with the front-runner plant to feed the first CO2 storage app in the Mediterranean area. Then we have prioritized the CO2. The prioritization of CO2 will be the game changer. And we are going to combine the CO2 with the second ingredient, that is hydrogen. The hydrogen could be green, blue, circular. And just to give you an example, we are supporting Southern Italy, waste-to-energy players in decarbonizing their industrial processes. By capturing 250,000 tonnes of CO2 to produce a low-carbon fuel that is methanol for the shipping industry in the decarbonization. To visualize 250,000 tonnes of CO2, try to meet -- to feeling more than 2,000 towers like we are now. So an impressive volume. So in front of such amazing market opportunity, what we have? We have technologies. We have the engineering muscles and we know how to industrialize complex plants. We know how to do it.

Thank you, Daniele. Thank you, Mohammed, a very strong guy. So you showed us how our two business lines are already working synergically together. You gave us just the first new ones about our technological breadth. Now I ask Antonio Batistini, our Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, to explain it in more detail. Please, Antonio, take the floor.

Thanks, Andrew. Good morning. Thank you all for being here with us today. It's very exciting. So now I'm going to share with you how we are in boxing the future through our technology leadership. Technology is a feature that keeps on distinguishing us through the years. And it is something that now we need and want to further accelerate in order to become a global technology leader in the energy transition. As we have seen up to now, the market is fast evolving, and our technology offering genuinely fits and even anticipates articulated industries and market needs. Technology has always been part of our heritage. Ever since Nobel laureate, Professor Giulio Natta, discovered polypropylene in the '50s, Maire has been researching and developing, but mostly applying technological solutions at industrial level for several decades. Our technological proprietary portfolio over the course of the years has constantly increased more than 2,000 patents at the end of last year, supporting a 4x increase of revenues from 2009, a strong demonstration that we constantly go well beyond the [ fewer ] R&D and that we bring innovation to significantly impact the market. Our technology leadership has been flourishing and expanding in new transition venues, by continuous incremental and breakthrough innovation carryforward in our 4 R&D centers across the board. We will be able to maximize revenues and margins coming from the implementation and integration of distinctive technologies. We stand ready to shift gears, and we will accelerate on the energy transition growth path. Let me now give you a glimpse of what we have done, we are doing and we will do in terms of technology classes. Firstly, we have a proprietary technology portfolio, which is considered the leading and most efficient one in the production of various fertilizer technologies. Here our aim is twofold: one, reducing the carbon and the energy footprint in the fertilizer value chain. For example, our ultra low energy technology with fortified less energy consumption; and two, developing new nitrogen-based solution synergic to the current offerings such as biostimulants, to further support and boost limited ground productivity. With additional new tech, we will complement our portfolio, working on key differentiators, improving energy efficiency, making green all the building blocks and the steps of the production process and developing tax and equipment to accelerate user ammonia as a fuel and as an energy carrier. Let's move on to our second cluster, hydrogen and circular carbon solution. On one side, we will continue to expand our leadership on the industrial manufacturing of hydrogen by means of distinctive production technologies for both clean hydrogen and green hydrogen. On the other side, we will look at profitable ways of capturing and valorizing CO2, transforming a real problem into a valuable opportunity. Let's start from hydrogen. As Giovanni has shown earlier, hydrogen will increasingly become a vector of the carbonization. More specifically, on the clean hydrogen side, we will leverage our strong and IP-protected technologies in steam-methane reforming, such as our unique cost-effective electric blue SMR, explore a new catalytic cracking of methane and provide new solutions to produce syngas and hydrogen like our catalytic partial oxidation process, which is well fitting for the steel industry decarbonization. On the green hydrogen side, instead, we are developing disruptive and cost-effective eye pressure up to 300 [ bars ] electrolytic solution to lower overall hydrogen cost and enable its direct storage and transportation. On the circular carbon side, instead, we ensure market reach by integrate state-of-the-art proprietary solutions with best-in-class technologies and carbon capture from our mine to cryogenic. We provide innovative integrated systems and proprietary equipment for industrial sector's decarbonization. All of this while developing new frontiers of utilization. First, the most effective mineralization IP; second, hydrogen and CO2 together as a basis of our new e-fuels and chemicals from ethanol to SAS, jet fuels and methanol, which bring us here, in MyRefuels and chemical technologies offering are synthetic and e-fuels and chemicals. In this area, we are innovating in many fronts, from the development of a new steam free dry reforming reactions, where CO2 reacts with bio or natural gas to form syngas, to catalytic and electrochemical processes for the reduction of the CO2 to carbon monoxide and its combination with green hydrogen. In parallel, we own an innovative and proprietary integrated solution of best-in-class proven and value-adding license of recycling, municipal solid waste by gasification the so-called waste-to-chemicals in MyRechemical. We also have bio-based solutions for renewable fuels and chemicals where we develop technologies to make second-generation nonfood competing biofeedstock transform properly in new fuels from [indiscernible] HVO to SAF technology or second-generation bioethanol. We cover all the spectrum of the new technologies. And we have strong running references. We know how to make biochem working smoothly, and we will see this also in the next cluster. In fact, our technology offering in polymers is wide and among the richest. It is building on our strong roots, established over decades in the traditional world and value chain of polyolefins. Our sustainable offering spreads into 3 groups: plastic upcycling, chemical recycling and biodegradable and compostable polymers and monomers. Among the first player with the overperforming plant, we licensed our mechanical plastic upcycling technologies to give new life to [ rigid ] plastic waste. We offer proprietary know-how in catalytic depolymerization of thermoplastic polymers, such as PT and polystyrene, following also the recent acquisition of the CatC technology from our Biorenova colleagues. And finally, the new frontier. We make it possible to develop bioregradable and compostable polymers by our acquisition of Conser, a position that we will further expand with new technologies aimed at enabling the same processes, starting from green monomers. In addition, we developed and we will continue to develop IP position for the production of biopolymers. Well, you have seen we will open our tech box, and we will not stop here. Thank you.

Thank you, Antonio, for your inspiring presentation of our technologies. This portfolio is the real propeller of our growth and value. So after having presented our DNA, our industrial model, our tech portfolio and our evolved to lead path, now let's highlight another pillar of Maire's distinctiveness, our financial strength, starting with our financial results. So who can do it to explain it better than Fabio Fritelli. So Fabio.

Thank you, Sandro. Thank you, Sandro. You have seen throughout this presentation how ESG principles are important for us and how deeply embedded they are in our activities. Our hard work in developing and implementing our ESG integrated strategy has been recognized by various external agencies, which have increased their ESG rating of our group. We have gained top scores across all ratings. We are well above our peers when we look at Bloomberg, and we are first quartile in our industry group for Sustainalytics. We are proud of these achievements, but we also know that our work is not finished. We must continue our efforts in order to improve our standing even further. This is going to be an ongoing commitment. That said, let's start with the analysis of the 2022 financial results. My job, by the way, is easier because I talk about the past. My colleagues have been projecting the future. 2022 was another very strong year in terms of order intake as we were awarded EUR 3.6 billion of new orders. This represents the third largest intake since 2010, a level which lies above the average of the last 12 years for the second year in a row. The fundamental drivers, which are characterizing our clients and markets, continue to remain extremely strong as also highlighted by Giovanni in his presentation. At the same time, we continue to be awarded new projects in a variety of geographies. And last year's order intake has been even more diversified than the year before. Due to the current favorable environment as well as the new strategic repositioning of our group, we expect 2023 to be another solid year in terms of awards. Thanks to the strong order intake over the last couple of years, our backlog stands at EUR 8.6 billion. We are showing on this slide, in the 2022 pro forma backlog, broken down by the new business units. The figures are consistent with the type of activity and the different duration of the projects in each business unit. The geographical diversification of the order intake has also led to a backlog, which is spread across a variety of countries and regions, minimizing the geopolitical risk, something which is quite relevant in these times. As technology solutions grow, you will likely see a further diversification as new geographies will be accessed. Moving on to the commercial opportunities. Our consolidated pipeline has increased to EUR 54 billion at the end of last year, up about EUR 7 billion in 2022. We continue to see a healthy set of interesting opportunities, driven by the resilience of our core business, strongly supported by powerful business drivers. Such a positive environment bodes well for our group's growth prospects, the years ahead. Finally, when looking at the pro forma pipeline at the end of last year, we can appreciate the value of our integrated approach as more than EUR 11 billion would be E&C business originated by our Technology Solutions side. 2022 consolidated revenues were EUR 3.5 billion, up 21%. Such an increase was mainly driven by the execution of the significant backlog as some of the most recent projects experienced an acceleration that compensated the missing Russian revenues. EBITDA was EUR 209.3 million, a 20% increase versus 2021, thanks to higher revenues and to our ongoing attention to G&A. The EBITDA margin was in line with 2021 and with the market's expectations. Net income was EUR 90.4 million, up 12%. Now what you saw was the past. As a result of what we have been presenting today this morning to you, I would like to explain how we are going to report our numbers from 2023 onwards. As the old business units have replaced -- have been replaced from January 1, we will report our 2023 financial data according to the new, new ones, sustainable technology solutions and integrated E&C solutions. And contrary to what we have been doing up now, revenues and the related P&L items will be allocated to one or the other business unit according to the type of activity, as shown in the slide. As such, the new and old business units will not be directly comparable. Now in order to facilitate the comparison with the 2023 guidance and the 10-year strategic plan, we have also prepared, on the next slide, some 2022 P&L items on a pro forma basis. This is the way we are going to report our income statement going forward. You can appreciate the Technology Solutions business that enjoys a higher level of profitability as volumes are more concentrated in E&C. Alessandro will explain how our business is going to evolve, starting from this base and the significant contribution that technology solutions will have both as a standalone business and as a figure to the engineering and construction business. Let's move on to balance sheet and let's analyze the cash flow dynamics. Our adjusted net financial position has improved for the 11th consecutive quarter and now stands at EUR 93.8 million. Such an improvement has been driven by a significantly healthy cash flow generation of EUR 266 million in the period, EUR 266 million this year as projects started to shift gear over the course of last year. The positive cash generation more than compensated the EUR 60 million in dividends and the EUR 121 million in additional outflows due to taxes, net financial charges, CapEx and acquisition of treasury shares. As we will continue on our growth trajectory in the immediate future, we expect this trend to remain positive in 2023. Let's now take a look at the working capital dynamics. Last year, working capital has improved by about EUR 108 million to negative EUR 113.8 million. Such an improvement has been mainly driven by the positive effects of project advancements on account receivables and payables and amur netting on advances to suppliers and from clients. This graph is further proof of the ability of our projects to generate cash as well as the effectiveness of our working capital management. Please remember that our net working capital was positive EUR [ 288.8 ] million at the end of March 2020. This implies an improvement of EUR 400 million in almost 3 years. Let me repeat it, we were positive EUR [ 228 ] million in March 2020 when COVID strike. We are now EUR 113 million negative. It's EUR 400 million of improvement. In conclusion, Maire continues on its growth trajectory. The solid fundamentals underlying our business have led to a double-digit growth in 2022. In parallel, the steady execution of our projects has contributed to a significant increase in our net cash position. Our total backlog provides a solid foundation to this year's revenues and beyond. At the same time, a strong commercial pipeline of over EUR 54 billion, supported by a leading technology portfolio, will continue to deliver new projects. Alessandro will now provide you more details about our growth and for this year and beyond. Alessandro?

Thank you, Fabio. Thank you for having explained so clearly the results that we have achieved in 2022, which, for me, are really exciting. And even more exciting, if we consider the environment, the headwinds that we have been obliged to face all over 2022. But now we have discussed about the past. Of course, today, most of you are here to listen something about our future. So let's discover the killer together. So -- and start -- let's start together to discuss about the 10 years plan, starting from 2023 guidance. So Maire -- very interesting slide. Maire will significantly benefit from this transformation since the day 1. In 2023, we will continue to grow across the board, and in particular, the implementation of the new strategy is expected to have a beneficial effect on the technological side with an increase in its profitability. The execution of our significant backlog, as already explained by Fabio, will lead to a double-digit growth in revenues and EBITDA this year. We are also forecasting a significant increase in cash flow from operations, which enables Maire to cover the 2023 investment plan, which is expected to be 4x larger than last year, 4x, to distribute the 2022 dividend proposed to shareholders equivalent to 45% of net consolidated income and to maintain at the end of 2023 a solid net financial position in line with 2022. And now let's move now to our 10-year strategic plan. A typical strategic plan cover a range of 5 years. Today and first time ever, we are going to present a 10-year strategic plan. The unprecedented transformation that are characterizing our times have just begun and will continue to impact our business for years to come. Similarly, the technological evolution that is emerging today will be at the center of this transformation for the next 5 to 10 years at least. Technologies takes time to be validated before being ready for their commercialization. It's for this reason that today, we are further expanding our outlook beyond the traditional 5-year span to reach 2032, a long enough period to appreciate the implementation of our announced business strategy. With that in mind, Maire has ambitious group's targets by 2032 driven by a consistent growth of both of our business units. Our ambition is to double revenues by 2032, double revenues, growing at an annual rate of 8% to 10%. Such a growth will directly drive a significant increase of our EBITDA, which we expect to grow more than threefold by 2032. The significant increase of our technology business will also have a beneficial effect on the overall profitability over the next 10 years' time. Such a growth is also based on a substantial investment program aimed at expanding and consolidating our leadership position. As a result, we expect more than EUR 1 billion to be allocated as a CapEx among the 2 business units with about 10% of this amount to be incurred already this year in 2023, given the 2 current acquisitions and other potential targets already identified and the acquisition already closed. Our CapEx plan is not impacting our financial solidity, as already seen in the 2023 guidance. Net cash will more than double by 2027 and almost ten-fold by 2032 even after allowing for a potential increase in the payout ratio, up to 2/3 of the net consolidated income in the second half of the strategic plan. So I am simply excited to share the sustainable technology solution will have an impressive growth with an annual rate ranging between 18% to 20%, confirming its engine role in the overall group growth. EBITDA margins are expected to increase to 20%, 25%, given the higher value-added nature of these activities and remain at these levels once steady state is reached as typical in comparable businesses. As most of our efforts are being dedicated to this area, investment will be predominantly concentrated in this business unit. But now let's move on to integrated E&C solution, which will drive our group's volumes growth across the business plan life cycle. This boost is for the most part driven by the technology solution-generated projects that will contribute up to 1/3 in 2032. Revenues growth will also be driven by the expected transition to the blue and green solutions, which will reshape the group's backlog. EBITDA will almost double across the period driven by several factors: penetration in new markets with higher profitability across new geographies and sectors, growth in high profitability services such as feed and operating and maintenance and lastly, the opportunity to further leverage economies of scales and learning. Growth in investment will be driven by co-investments in sustainable technology solution-generated projects, recurring investment to support digitalization and net-zero and mostly organic investment to support Maire's human resources growth. So now let's talk about how we will deliver our plan. We will do it by getting at the full speed our resources and our teams, building upon our distinctive operating model structured with competency in centers and regional centers. We will integrate resources and capabilities with a planned growth of more than 30% by 2027 and by more than 70% by 2032. The most significant add-on will happen in our core function with above 75% capacity increase in our engineering workforce. Maire is well set to grow organically and [ hire ] resources from the market but also combining acquisition of selected competency centers in high-potential areas. And now let's involve some of our colleagues to hear from those who are on the front line about our successful operating model.

Okay. Maire has a historical international presence in many countries around the world. Over the years, we have built and strengthened our regional model and divided our global presence into 15 regions as of today. Such a strategy makes us possible to have an in-depth understanding of local realities and geopolitical interests, guarantee the mitigation of risks and the social economic growth of the territories where we operate. It eventually enables us to best serve local institutions, our customers and partners by bringing Maire's entire offerings closer to the specific needs of the market. This is what happened and is happening stronger than ever nowadays in China. In these 60 years of history on the ground, we have successfully positioned our engineering as highly skilled services in the market. With the recent acquisition of Conser, we further consolidated our leading position in providing high-end engineering services in our sectors in China. We delivered and are delivering more than 80 projects all over the country. We built strong and sustainable relationship with local entities. As a result of these significant performances, we now joined forces together to implement projects even outside Chinese borders. We developed our procurement competencies and local suppliers' management know-how. We shaped our business model to satisfy the evolving change of our customers based on breakthrough technologies in various clusters, in conventional and energy transition sectors. There is an old Chinese saying in Taoism that I'd like to share with you is this: the highest good is like a natural running of water, needs to constantly adapt to the situation. To maintain the steady flow, it requires wisdom and courage. In China, as in the rest of regions, we are ready to scale up.

We speak about adaptability, and what else can be more relevant than talking about Maire operating model. I'm here to share my personal experience on the same. We are very proud of our operating model, which is robust at the same time, adaptable. It's built around work share between Milan, Rome, Germany, seamlessly integrated with international competence center in Mumbai. We also have regional centers, which ensure adherence to local requirements. I have seen it personally evolve from scratch through the years. In fact, I started as a piping and layout engineer in Mumbai 36 years ago. We were just 200 people in the Mumbai office. My Italian experience started in 1997, and I was part of the team which realized the integration right from the word go. Now we are a large group of multinational engineering team, 5,000-plus people able to deliver projects across the geographies with impeccable quality. Our operating model is built on know-how of many decades in a platform of processes, systems, which are homogenous across the group, which ensures business and process continuity. Last, but not least, we have people who have worked in multiple projects together and support each other in achieving project objectives. We also have top-up capacity coming from our loyal network of local partners. Thanks to the 26 years of integration and the homogeneous platform, we master competence acquisition and capacity buildup. As part of the growth plan in the last 2 months, we have successfully identified an additional office in Mumbai and recruited more than 300 engineers in less than 2 months. This new Mumbai office will add 1 million more man hours to our delivery capacity in few months' time without losing any productivity. All in all, our journey growth -- journey of growth is continuing. And we are ready to meet the capabilities to serve the business plan presented by our CEO.

Thank you, Satya. Thank you, Christina. Christina has traveled from China to be here with us today. So thank you very much. So both of you, you and Satya, you are 2 pillars of our model. But we have, for sure, a wider team of pillars in our group, some even younger than me and you and Satya, not only myself, also yourself and all of them sharing our same commitment. So well, we have come to the end of our presentation. There are significant challenges in front of us, but Maire stand ready to face them head-on and embark on this journey stronger than ever. Our confidence stems from our recognized technological leadership in the energy transition, supported by a flexible and adaptable business model spanning the entire value chain from project development to life-cycle support. Throughout its history, Maire has always demonstrated its superior execution capability to deliver a significant backlog, but at the same time, we never stopped growing. We always kept fostering growth through continuous breakthrough innovation, while our experienced acquisition platform acted as a multiplier of our expansion, all this without forgetting, of course, to maintain our traditional financial discipline that allow us to enjoy a strong financial position. Today, we are unboxing our technological embedded value so that you can buy growth at today value price, very modest. So you have to appreciate it. I hope you have perceived our ambition and enjoy this day, a new day, a really new day starting day for Maire. So now the presentation is over. And Fabio, myself, Giovanni, we are ready to answer to any question you may have. Thank you very much to everybody.

[ Marco Christopher ] from Intesa Sanpaolo. A couple of questions if I may. The first one is, let's say, more strategic is just to understand, in your view, which are the main elements that differentiate Maire Tecnimont from your peer? In other word, which are the key factor that should allow Maire Tecnimont to outperform versus other EPC player? My second question is about remuneration policy. You talk about a 45% payout this year, but could be increased. Just to understand, there are any conditions by which it could be increased? And secondly, are you going to introduce maybe a buyback in future or the payout is totally devoted to dividend?

Thank you very much. A really very interesting question in particular the first one, but of course, also the other one. I believe that during the presentation, we have tried to convey to you what are -- which are the elements which differentiate our group with the others. I believe that this rely upon our DNA because if you analyze the various sectors of business in which we operate, for example, hydrogen. Hydrogen is the magic word today. Everybody are talking about hydrogen, but who has the experience in managing this element? For sure, our group. Our group deals with hydrogen since the '70s. It's more or less 50 years period, very long. Regardless how it is generated, green, gray, whatever you want, what is important is when you have hydrogen, what you want to do with this element. And we have this experience. KT operates in this business, as already stated, since the '70s. But of course, not just the hydrogen, fertilizer, for example, nitrogen, so urea, ammonia. Stamicarbon retaining more than 55% market share in nitrogen business. So who else can compete with us? No one. The remaining players in this space cover individually 15%, 20% as a maximum. We cover more than 55%. Then leveraging this experience and knowledge and know-how, we have moved into the specialty of this business. And no one else can do it because only if you have so long history, long-standing knowledge, you can develop similar activities. Then polymers, we are talking polymers. Who else other than Tecnimont. Tecnimont, it was part of Montecatini Montedison. So more than [ 100 ] of history in polymers. And of course, the knowledge on how to deal with polymers in the traditional way, of course, created the basis, uncomparable, unparalleled basis compared to the others in knowing how to deal with polymers. So we have covered almost all the elements. And then takes also to the recent acquisition that the recent developments that we made in our technological portfolio, which we have expanded with other technologies, including Conser, for example. Who else retain this technology, which makes possible to produce biodegradable plastics, but with the fossil fuels, fossil source. No one else. So I believe that these are just a few examples, but we can continue, probably should be necessary more than one day to explain all the peculiarities that this group has and no one else retain this for sure. But I believe that without -- excuse me, without forgetting also not only the technological side, which is, for sure, the most critical component, but also the execution side. We have already proved to be able to manage multibillion projects even in harsh environment. Only a few other contractors can do it. So we retain the technological portfolio, which is uncomparable with anybody else as well as the capacity there to put on the ground the technological solution. So I believe that as these 2 components makes our group unique as we have tried to convey to you with the presentation. Then talking about dividends. Dividends, we believe the consideration that we did this year when we have decided to move from the traditional 1/3 of the net consolidated income, forget for a while last year, which was quite a unique year because we have tried in one year to remunerate the effort, which also our shareholders has suffered during the COVID period. So we have tried to recover in one instance also what they have, you have renounced during a very, very dangerous times. Now considering the satisfactory results, exciting for me, but you have to decide if it was exciting or not exciting. We have validated the possibility to increase the payout ratio from 33% to 45%, which based on our expectation in the short and medium terms, considering that a significant portion of the spending of the investment that we have forecasted in the next 10 years period, which will be in the range of EUR 1 billion. A significant portion is concentrated in the first part of the plan in order to reinforce our technological portfolio and to speed up the starting of those projects which require [indiscernible] to be accompanied also by the service provider. Then since in the second half of the year, in the meantime, the size of the group will be increased, thanks to the growth that we have planned all over the period -- all over the 10 years period but with a significant increase in the first 5 years. Then it will be possible, thanks to the increased cash flow from the operating activities primarily. This is the first element. Second, the annual spending will return to a more normal level, of course, consistently high because in order to maintain our technological portfolio, we have to maintain a certain deck of investment, but for sure, a little bit lower compared to the first part of the plan. So the combination, lower spending, but more important, higher level of cash flow generation from our industrial activities will make it possible to increase the remuneration for our shareholders, which we have estimated could be in the range of 2/3 of the net consolidated income, which means more or less 66%. Of course, this will be verified all over the length of the plan, but this is our plan. And this is how our strategic plan has been designed and the amounts that we have disclosed in terms of targets. For example, net financial position at the end of the plan consider this type of policy. As far as the buyback, of course, this question, it is more appropriate for our shareholders. But I believe that considering that the floating stake of our stock is already quite limited, I believe that in order to maintain a sort of attractiveness for our investors, should be better to maintain at least the present level of floating stake. So at least for the time being, other than what is necessary to satisfy the internal incentive plan for the management, but more particularly for the entire population, thanks to the co-investment plan, which is referred to all of our population of our organization, this is what we expect to buy in the next few years' time. Then if the situation then will change, we will act accordingly. But it is not in front of us today.

Just one question on the investments. I wonder whether you can share with us some examples on what you are going to invest to. If I understood correctly, you are thinking about co-investments. And secondly, I wonder whether there are -- what your criteria are in terms of IRR or payback period when you make an investment decision, if you can share with us also this side of your business plan.

Maybe I can take this one. Yes, okay. Let me try to give you the 3 main categories of investments we are reporting in the business plan. We have some selected -- can you hear me? Yes. We have some selected M&A transactions in the plan, 2 of which have been recently announced. These are not going to be major acquisitions that will change numbers in a way, are relatively small acquisitions compared to the size of the group, and they are envisaged over time. We are shooting for precise technologies here and there. And over the plan, you have some activities or investments in this side. Then you have what we call recurring CapEx to maintain your technology and footprint and develop other technologies. And then you have another line of capital expenditures that are what we call the minority equity. We may invest into the first-of-a-kind projects. As you have seen in this presentation, we are presenting ourselves as a technology provider. We are presenting ourselves as a -- someone who can develop, who can deploy the work, the engineering and construction arm. And we expect our clients to request our group to be co-investor when deploying a new technology or a new concept on the market. So the CapEx plan you see in the business plan, which is, as we are saying, approximately EUR 1 billion is a mixture of these 3 activities. The last one I was just mentioning is clearly made with a minority stake, is normally made by leaving on the ground the marginality, so not investing more than what we do on the operations side. And clearly, the IRR we expect from these projects has to be at least equal to the WACC, to the -- the average cost of capital of the group.

And first -- just to complete, of course, we are not interested to remain involved in this type of investment for long. As soon as the investment is completed and the project demonstrated it is capable to deliver what we have promised and what we have helped to deliver, then, of course, that must be already a clear agreements, which define the procedure on how to exit from this investment, of course. And this -- the margins which is realized on this transaction is expected to boost the industrial results. We are not, of course, financial investor. We are industrial players. So this is -- can be considered, must be considered an integration of the industrial results coming from the services that we are delivering to the client.

Roberto from Stifel Europe. I have a follow-up and one question on the outlook. My follow-up is, again, on the CapEx. CapEx on technology will be very important. This is distinctive for an E&C company with a high technology component. I'm wondering if you can quantify your CapEx and what -- which is the amount versus the competitors? Just to compare with the potential competitors in technology, any indication on revenues in terms of percentage of revenues or other drivers could be useful for us. My second question is on outlook and specifically on the biorefining products and biochemicals. I'm wondering if the -- specifically on, for instance, for biorefined products. Do you see the electrification of transportation as a risk on biorefinery? And so biorefinery and biorefining products volumes in the future. And in -- among chemicals, what are the biochemicals are you looking at in terms of higher profitability?

Very good. Just to talk a little bit about your first question, Roberto. Of course, we have clearly indicated in our presentation how much we intend to dedicate to strengthen our technological portfolio, which is in the region, of course, over the 10 years' time, EUR 400 million, EUR 450 million. It is not, let me say, just the best guess because this will rely upon 2 lines. First, this amount refers to initiatives, which are already carried out today internally, thanks to projects which have been already started today, which we are carrying out with our own internal resources, with our process engineers. And of course, our expectation is to be able to finalize them, some of them very soon, some others in the medium terms. And this will lead, of course, the possibility then to capitalize and consider them as investment. Then on the other side, of course, since we are extremely interested in the time-to-market technologies, of course, this is another capability that we have internally to evaluate if it is better to proceed internally with our own resources, with our own workforce or to pay attention to something which could be on the market. And we have -- of course, we are moving in the both direction. And whatever we have indicated in our business plan refers to technologies which have a specific name and surname, is not just a best guess. We are already in discussion with some counterparts. We are talking about technologies, not M&A, big M&A transaction but specific counterparts which have been able to develop specific technology, but they have not been able to prove that they are able to deliver on a commercial scale. So we are there. Only entities like our own organization can be able to take over the testimony from, let me say, a phase whereby an idea has been developed, but no one has been able to industrialize. So we are there. And of course, this is part of our activities, in particular, Antonio Batistini, you had the pleasure to know before. [ He ] is first responsible, of course, to coordinate the internal activities, but more specifically to look at the market to investigate, to analyze and to propose what could fit for -- to serve our growth strategy and what it is what we are doing so far. So just a sort of proportion, more or less 40%, 50% refers to internal initiatives, on which we are already working today, and the rest rely upon technologies or agreements which are already under discussion today. So for this reason, we are extremely convinced that the boost coming from this technology, for the commercialization of this technology will be transferred into our P&L in the short term and of course, then even in a higher percentage moving forward. This is as far as the investment strategy is concerned in the technology side. Then as far as the other more technical question, I can leave to our -- Antonio probably.

The question was specific on biorefineries and if electrification is about displays, if I understand correctly biorefineries. So it's a question that can be shared equally between Giovanni on the market side and Antonio on the technical side. I'll leave it to you.

Okay. From -- thank you for giving me the chance. Thank you for the question. Technically, we think that today, we are mostly exploiting the electrification of the light transportation media so the automotive market, primarily because there is no real easy to distribute and accessible technologies to utilize alternative systems. So if you take emerging synthetic fuels or e-fuels, these could be utilizing internal combustion engines. And they provide neutrality of emissions or slight negativity to the emission. So clearly, electrons, provided they are produced from renewable electricities and not from standard electricities, add to the advantage in that sense. However, we are also imagining that if we develop an alternative way of cost effectively and easily and derisk ability to distribute, for example, hydrogen could be a much more effective way of decarbonizing the energy transition in the mobility area, going from light mobility to trains to maritime applications and possibly even to plane, but that's a very long journey to come. So we are working on technologies that could completely derisk the storage and distribution of hydrogen and easily release hydrogen with no need of very high pressurized systems to be installed, for example, in cars or in trains. So you can operate with a very simple, say, water-based solution that can release the hydrogen, and the hydrogen can feed internal combustion engines or fuel cells to generate electrons and still maintain electric engines going. So it could be applied on both the 2 areas. These will be very disruptive because the base of storage of the hydrogen that we are scouting and developing will be built on carbon capture CO2. So that will really mean decarbonizing the energy transition, and that will be a major breakthrough. So maybe all the numbers. If we realize that with a little bit of acumen, a little bit of passion, but also a little bit of luck because in life, we also need a little bit of luck. But we think we see the end of the tunnel. This could really boost the numbers well above what we presented today, but we didn't want to overpromise or overcommit. We want to surprise you. On the chemical side, on the biochemical side, the monomers that we are bidding on is -- one is on the acetic acid side. We believe that we can have technologies that can allow production, cost-effective production of acetic acid in a carbon-neutral way. So utilizing CO2 and producing and enabling monomers, which are largely utilized captively and on the merchant market as the acetic acid. The other one is the lactic acid. Today, lactic acid is produced primarily through fermentation. We believe there is another path to produce it chemically in a more cost-effective way and solving the limitations of the existing PLA polymers, which are utilizing one of the [indiscernible] is complicated, I don't want to be complicated, form of the 2 monomers that you can create and as all these limitations of temperature resistance and mechanical properties, which are hindering the success of PLA as a replacement of polyethylene.

Antonio, I must stop you. You risk losing all of them.

No, no. But these are the monomers we're backing on. And...

So just to make it simple, you are going towards specialties more than commodities. Is that the...

Yes. So we are moving on one side to decarbonize, the energy transition on the other side to enable...

That's because the...

Green specialty.

Specialties with a -- they have higher margin than commodities, so...

On the synthesis, yes. On the chemical recycling, we want to enable circularity in the production of the large commodity polymers in this cost-effective way. That's the new acquisition that we made.

Michele Baldelli, BNP Paribas. I have 2 questions and then go to unboxing the numbers instead of the future. So on the 2023 and 2032 CapEx plan, how much is first, the Rome project with hydrogen? If you can...

Sorry?

The project in Rome in the hydrogen that if you have a CapEx there, and this is the reason probably in 2023 that they are going up. Second, how much is capitalized R&D of 2023 or 2032 anyway? And how much is M&A related? And linked to this, how much of the EBITDA increase that you foresee in the coming years is related to M&A, okay? Then other 2, let's say, simpler questions, I would say, but still interesting. On the new divisions, so just sorry that I get lost with the names but is the smaller one. Basically, how much is the weight of Stamicarbon in that one in terms of revenues? And if you can confirm that this is above average margin. The other question is on if you can provide a little bit more visibility on your pipeline order intake 2023, given there was not that much orders so far.

Let me start from the last one. I believe that moving into other details as far as who contributes to the expected results of the technology, Sustainable Technology Solution division, I don't know if it is so interesting, also because due to the new organization, of course, we maintain the various boxes because each one has trademark recognizing the market. But moving forward, they cooperate in a very integrated way. So it is not so meaningful to know who will contribute the result inside the Sustainable Technology Solutions. So it's much better to look at the business unit taken as a whole. For this reason, we have concentrated these legal entities under the same umbrella, which is NextChem Holding. So it is irrelevant who contributes. It is more interesting, let me say, to look at eventually to the various clusters of business. [indiscernible] is running the nitrogen business. Maire Chemical is taking care of the waste [indiscernible] technology. Maire [indiscernible] is taking care about the chemical compounding and recycling. So everyone, each one has a specific mission, but all of them operates in a very integrated way. In particular, the research and development departments operates in a very integrated way. So it is not so meaningful. So I believe it is better to appreciate the growth that we are expecting to deliver, in particular, in the Sustainable Technology Solution in 2023, which is an important growth. It is still, let me say, in a phase whereby the real growth is expected in '24, '25 because a lot of the technologies which are presently under development will come on stream. But already this year, there are -- you will appreciate at least a double-digit increase, both in terms of volumes and in terms of marginality. And the same will be replicated in the Engineering and Construction business, thanks to the huge backlog that we have already on board today and even more thanks to the new project which we expect to get in the incoming months and possibly in the incoming weeks as well. So I believe that this is the message that we would like to convey to you. Please concentrate your analysis, your attention, your evaluation on these 2 specific word, which, as we have stated, can operate integrated way, but they have been structured from an organizational standpoint to act independently in the market. The E&C solution can work also taking benefit of technologies of a third party, not necessarily only our own technology as we have done so far. And this will continue moving forward. Of course, our intention is to push the client to take benefit of the integrated services, having a single point of responsibility. And this will take benefit -- create benefit for both business for this reason. We have declared that based on our analysis and the expectation in the second half of the plan, in particular, the technology solution is the real trigger, is the real locomotor, the real engine for the growth of our business since it will create more than 1/3 of opportunities also for the other part of the group. So...

I think there was a specific question on investments in Roma, right, in the grant we got for the waste to hydrogen and methanol project in Roma. So when looking at -- I guess the audience knows that we have been able to convince, as a matter of fact, the European community to devote EUR 194 million, so slightly less than EUR 200 million, to a project that should change, in our opinion, the way we manage nonrecyclable waste in -- in this case, in the [indiscernible] region. And we were able to be awarded a EUR 194 million grant that will be contributed to the project for increasing the remuneration of the project, the IRR of the project and also make it feasible. We are now working on the front-end engineering design of that project. We don't expect CapEx to -- for the development of the plan to be material before 2024. So it's not included in those numbers.

Massimo Bonisoli from Equita. I have 3 questions, quick quite short. One is on -- you mentioned before you intend to unlock the value and show your capability in technologies for the energy transition. Do you intend to spin off the STS division once it has enough, let's say, revenues and EBITDA in the future and can be separated to the other division? The second question on margin evolution in 2023. You provided a 6% to 7% EBITDA margin range. So how do you project the evolution of the EBITDA margin in 2023? So can we see the 7% already in Q1? Or let's say, it's more a progressive way of the evolution of the margin? And the third question is on the CapEx. Just to understand, I saw the slide that depicted the net financial position to be more and more positive. But is there a scenario where you stop CapEx if you are worsening your net financial position, and so you have a sort of threshold for financial leverage?

So let me start with the first answer, then I leave to you the floor because very financial. So you have asked about our willingness to proceed in the future with the potential spin-off, but Massimo, we are open, of course, to all opportunities to the extent everyone, yourself, you will appreciate what we are doing. And you will recognize the appropriate value to this entity, which now is well separated. It is -- you can identify and value it very specifically. So then to the extent, you will appreciate it, we are open to all the possibilities. We are not, of course, contrary. We are in the market. And to the extent this will be useful to boost additionally our investment program, why not? why not? But presently, it's not on the table.

Let's go back to CapEx. You had 2 questions on that. One, how much is recurring CapEx, if my understanding is correct, and then how we are going to finance those, and whether we are bound or we are tied to make certain investments or not. Recurring CapEx are needed. We want to feed a technology arm, which is going to produce solutions, deliver solutions in a trajectory that is not going to be the 5- or 10-year business plan that we have seen to date. We are talking of a transformation. Giovanni gave you ideas in his presentation that will take decades. We will be using gas in 2050. We will be using oil in 2050. So in a way, it's a long journey, not going to be something which will end at the end of the 10 years business plan. This is to say that recurring investments on developing our own technologies will be needed to keep on maintaining a competitive advantage vis-a-vis other players. When you go to specific CapEx, nobody is asking us to make those. It's our own choice. We are expecting to be able to self-finance those CapEx. And if you look at our liabilities going forward, they are not going to -- or that is not going to increase materially, if any, actually. And again, we will do it if there is convenience in doing it and clearly, if all these circumstances apply, is not something but for the recurring CapEx that we are setting milestones in our development plan.

And please keep in mind that our shining star is the financial discipline. So for sure, whatever we'll do, each individual investment has to satisfy our minimum requirement, which is a return which should be at least equal to our internal weighted average cost of capital. So having this in mind, then, of course, we evaluate on time to time the various investment with -- having in mind also another issue, which is I repeated, time to market, time to market. So if we do an investment, we are not interested in investing today and having a return in 5, 10 years' time. Should be rarely just one out of the entire plan, but the 2 basic elements are if this investment is capable to generate return, economic and financial, tomorrow and satisfy this minimum requirement, which the -- whereby the IRR should be at least equal to the weighted average cost of capital. These are the 2 point of references in evaluating each single investment.

Sorry. The projected evolution of the EBITDA margin was the second question, sorry.

Sorry, in 2023.

In 2023.

Of course, a significant portion of the EBITDA expected this year will be generated by E&C division. And you know that normally, the dynamics of this type of activities doesn't deliver, let me say, significant spikes quarter-on-quarter. So in terms of economical performance, we expected to deliver a quite stable marginality all over the year and possibly experiencing some additional growth in the second part of the year as soon as some activities belonging to the technical business unit will start to deliver return. So first part aligned with the results we have delivered so far with the [ space ] to improve in the second half of the year.

Alessandro Pozzi, Mediobanca. Just a couple of questions from me. First of all, thank you very much for the presentation. Very detailed insight on the future of Maire. And I would like to start from a slide I've seen in the backlog. And I think about 20% of the backlog is generated by the STS at the moment, the Technology Solutions division. How is that going to change over the plan? And are you proposing yourself as a technology provider or the clients are asking to be technology neutral? So I was wondering how you manage the 2 because on one side, you obviously have big array of technologies. But the other side, you're also trying to decouple a bit the 2 divisions. And also you mentioned about new geographies as we go through the energy transition. So I was wondering if you can give us a bit more color on which geographies do you think will pop up over the next few years.

Thank you for the questions. Alessandro, I was thinking for...

Let me start from the second one, which then triggered the answer to the first one. For sure, let me say, based on our analysis and the experience and thanks also to the feedback which is provided by our commercial people and project development people, it is, to say, reasonable to expect that most of the opportunities, in particular in the, let me define it as energy transition space will be expressed by those part of the world, which for sure are ahead compared to other geographical areas. And I'm referring, first of all, Northern Europe, for sure, U.S., as well as all those countries which they have been forced for other reason to start with an accelerated program in the energy transition space. And I'm referring, for example, to India, which has recently declared to dedicate more than $85 billion equivalent to announce to boost the energy transition process or then finally, those countries which have available -- the companies based over there have available huge amount of money. And I'm referring to Middle East, which could be -- could appear to be strange that those countries which -- whereby their economy is prevailing based on oil and gas could be interested in investing in the energy transition, but it's not true. All of them starting from Abu Dhabi, which, for sure, is the leader, is a country which is able to guide more or less all the countries located in that part of the world as well as Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, in particular, both companies because at the end of the day, countries identify themselves in the companies. [indiscernible] from one side, Saudi Aramco on the other side. Both of them have declared that a significant portion of their future spending will be concentrated in projects, which, for sure, in a way or another has a green angle, CO2 capture, the process which -- whereby the feedstock is different compared to the traditional natural resources or investing in fuels, which satisfy better the market requirements like ammonia. But for sure, other than these countries whereby we are there, we are facilitated because that part of the world is our second home, we are there since the '70s so we know very well the region as well as we know very well India. More or less half of our organization is based over there. And recently, we have also announced our organization moving from a portion from Mumbai to New Delhi in order to be -- to have the possibility to serve and have a much, let me say, stronger dialogue with our local counterpart, our potential clients both private and state-owned entities, all of them also because India has a very growing population, natural resources very poor, a few gas fields in the southern part of the country, but for sure, not enough to satisfy the huge demand which comes from approximately 1 billion population. Then U.S. and Europe, while U.S., of course, they are extremely sensible to the environmental issue. But more than that, the Inflation Reduction Act is boosting a lot of investments in this space. And Northern Europe. Northern Europe, they have a sensibility about the global warming, which has already driven their investment in the energy space over the last 5 years, even more than 5 years. So for sure, they are not 1 step 2, 3, 4, 5 steps ahead compared to many other regions. So in our idea, these are the regions whereby most of the projects in the energy transition space will be originated, and we are there. Of course, we have an organization also in this part of Europe. We are pursuing some project in particular in the carbon capture space and then more than simply capture, how to transform them -- to transform, let me say, sort of waste into a valuable feedstock, this is our valuable technological proposition. So this is, let me say, the geographical landscape, which, for sure in our idea, support a lot our commercial pipeline in both spaces. For sure, technological standpoint, we believe to have already on board a technological portfolio capable to serve the clients' needs and then, of course, to, as I am used to say, to put on the ground the technological solution, transforming the technological idea into industrial installation.

The master here says that we are going too long with -- so this is the boss. I don't know, he's telling me. But let's do the following if you all agree. I think we can close now, record the question because there are a lot of questions from the webcast. And we will take care of those later on. We have been, if my understanding is correct, asked to close the session.

So there are -- I have seen that there are few persons that have not been satisfied. Mick, for example, that has tried to lift his hands several times, but we can have a separate...

5 minutes more, I think. It will allow us 5 minutes more. So if you want to take the last question.

Okay.

Yes. It's Mick Pickup here from Barclays. Can I just ask about what wasn't in the presentation? So I think many investors understand your technology and your opportunity set. What they don't like is the risk in E&C. So how does this new strategy make your margins more sustainable in E&C? And secondly, there was no mention of gas or upstream projects, and that's been a big part of your business of late. Are you now withdrawing from that space? Or is it just a case of this is what the focus will move to over time?

Well...

E&C -- the question is we have been focused on technologies, where is E&C going if my understanding is correct. And the first part of your question was -- so marginality on E&C and?

So the question is the risk in your business has been E&C execution. You talk about opportunity. Everybody has known about opportunity for a while, but investors are scared of the risk in execution. So how does your new model address lower risk in execution?

So lower risk in execution is the question, how our model is addressing this, which I think it's a quite relevant topic. And the second one is on gas, am I understanding -- is my understanding correct.

In terms of how to manage properly the risk associated to the more traditional E&C activities, I believe that we are already well equipped. We have invested a lot, more or less starting from 2013. At least I remember as soon as I have joined this group with my predecessor, we have decided together to strengthen as much as possible this type of -- this very important aspect, in particular, when we have decided to move in a more in-depth way also in the EPC space, for sure, it is unavoidable. So we have dedicated -- we have a dedicated organization to supervise the risk in the various -- not only from a project standpoint, but of course, on -- at all the levels of the risk, including political risk, counterpart risk, whatever you want. But for sure, the most relevant and the most critical and what we analyze in a very in-depth way if the risk associated and generated by the projects. We have a very, very specific and, I believe, effective and efficient procedure, which is managed on a daily basis. And since the day minus 1, not plus 1, minus 1. As soon as we decide to look at the potential commercial opportunity, immediately, the commercial department works together with the risk management department because, for sure, the risk coming from an EPC or an EP project must be managed primarily with an appropriate contractual framework. It is fundamental. And second, of course, the operational activities must be accompanied all over the length of the project with an appropriate dedicated function, with the appropriate KPIs, with an appropriate reporting system in order to verify on how the risk evolve over time. This is what we have in place. We have even announced this year leveraging on an already existing, very efficient model we have decided to step up. We have additionally announced the talents which belongs to the specific dedicated organization and now leveraging also to our organization model, which leverage on the regional presences. We take care and take benefit of the information coming from the various regions, which created the basis to have a very comprehensive framework. It made possible to evaluate better how we are managing the risk of our operational activities.

And as for gas, which was part of your question, we keep on believing that gas is going to be key and one pillar of our E&C solutions. It is into the fuels and chemicals cluster. You're right. We should have said so. Say stop.

So unfortunately, we are obliged to stop. I cannot say anything else. Thanks to all of you. Really, thank you. And I strongly hope to see you again next time with our stock value approximating EUR 10 per share.