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

Good afternoon to all, and thank you for being with us today, once again. This is our second Capital Market Day. And I promise, we have increased our communication and fostered our dialogue with our stakeholders. As you saw, we are achieving incredible results. We are now out of the box and the sustainability, its future is here. Today, you will see our update plan. First of all, I would like to thanks the financial community, our investor and stakeholders who have trusted us. I can simply say the Maire stock went up significantly in 2023. We feel a deep sense of responsibility. Then I also want to thank all my risk management, the real key player of this important year. Without these amazing people, the result could not be possible. I would like to focus just a few key message. The process of energy transition is incredibly accelerating. Maire is the right place in the right time. Everywhere we look we realize the energy transition is accelerating its speed, the need of energy security and the control of climates change in every day, beating our expectation. We see clients to ask us to develop innovative projects for energy transition purpose, we see massive investments planned by energy company. And we see mega project becoming the new normal. In a few words, we are surrounded by the energy transition. Moving to my repositioning. We believe that my perfectly positioned in the right disinvestment wave, whatever technology our client will adopt to develop the energy transition, we can realize this project. In 2018, we created also NextChem because we thought that the energy transition would happen. And now we are in the right place at the right time. Just to mention a few awards. Our backlog is more than double. We have been awarded the mega projects, Hail and Ghasha in Abu Dhabi in UAE, which is the milestone not only for its sites, but also because it's the first project of its kind to operate with net-zero CO2 emission. That's important. Next came a contribution to the group EBITDA reached 1/4 of the total. The process of technology acquisition continuing, including the reposition of our entity Germany TPI brand. Moreover, in the first months of 2024, we secured also additional acquisition, HyDEP and GasConTec yesterday. I would like to say welcome to Mario and Matteo Dragoni, and Mr. Dr. Balthasar and Dr. Wagner and all the team in our family. On innovation, I would like to just mention a special project I care a lot about. The Green Innovation District, which will be the historical headquarters of the group to create a unique window for our pilot plant to scale up our technology for the future commercialization and an experience center and learning center based in Rome. All these results are made by our people. If the group is growing, it's because they are growing. That is the key for our group. We are focusing in young people development and diversity and inclusion. We want to reach 1/3 of women in board member in all our subsidiaries in line with the parent company and more over half of the new hires will be women. Today, we are much more technology-driven company and this is just the beginning. We are recovering the label heritage of Montecatini, you know the history of our country, to create even greater future. We are leading actor like in the past, and we want to push for the new sustainable industrial cycle made through circular economy and new chemistry. Today, we keep reducing CO2 emission related to our office and site and will reach carbon neutrality 1 year before targets by 2029. So from our side, we promised to continuing achieve important sustainable results. We trust you will keep following us in our growth and support our development. Once again, thank you all for your commitment and for your strong support. Now I leave you in the wise hands of our Chair and the management who will tell you what are planning in the next 10 years. So let's move on. Alessandro, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Fabrizio. Thank you, really. And welcome, everyone, to our 2024 Capital Market Day. It's an honor and pleasure to see so many of you here in Milan, in addition to all of those who are connected online. So as you may remember, at last year Capital Market Day, we presented the new strategic approach for our group. An approach that would allow us to face significant challenges posed by the environment which is significantly increasingly embedding new technologies in the more traditional businesses. The new strategic approach would therefore integrate our technological leadership with our execution excellence as a source of competitive advantage. Well, let's sit together if we got it right in 2023. Group revenues increased by 23% as we sized the growing demand in businesses. In fact, sustainable technology solutions revenues went up over 40%, driven by increasing sustainable technological applications. Our technological leadership was also consolidated as we expanded our portfolio by over 10 solutions, which will help clients reaching their sustainability goals. Order intake, last year, was over EUR 11 billion, as we're successfully leveraging the energy investment supercycle. But the real proof that this strategic approach is working is provided by the 6 integrated projects which were awarded to our group, projects where both business units are involved. But of course, we cannot rest on laurels. There are well-defined global macro energy trends that are demanding a swift response. The energy supercycle required superior sector knowledge and an ability to deliver projects which are becoming larger in size. On the other hand, the decarbonization needs together with an economy which is becoming more circular, require a flexible approach and an ability to provide a proven and effective technologies. We are therefore called to lead in a faster and more complex environment. Faster environment, which require us to step up the pace and accelerate results. Last year's plan was already extremely ambitious and challenging. As such, we were expecting to reach EUR 6 billion in revenues -- in total revenues by 2028 and more than EUR 8 billion in 2032. But well, apparently, we were not ambitious enough, driven by the macro trends we have just highlighted, it turns out that we are going to reach this year the objective which was set up for 2028 last year. We are going to be 4 years early, and we are well prepared to face a more complex environment. We do this simply by hiring the best of the best. Our professional headcount has grown by 24% last year to 8,000 people with 1,300 new engineers worldwide, and we will continue to maintain the best workforce of the industry; numbers, hours, competencies, but above all people, faces and attitude. People who with their commitment stand as the driving force behind what we are sharing with you today. The flourishing of our people is [ a central ], really is a central to our group. Among other initiatives, we developed a dedicated program to let them live and reaching and experiencing through coaching and mentoring activities, focusing on widening their skill and working on their self development, a huge opportunity for both brilliant, professional and senior managers as well who are acting as mentors motivated by a passion, for performance and innovation. Their commitment is a tangible proof that the direction we have taken is the right one. And today, here, with us, we have two voices: [ Vandana ] from our Mumbai office; and [ Maximilian ] from Germany. Please, Max and Vandana join me.

Thank you, and good afternoon to everyone. What a distinct privilege to be here today to share with you my journey within this group. At Maire, we breathe a culture of collaboration. It is through daily exchange of knowledge, experience and ideas that we find a strength in unity. Our group successfully crafted a bridge, connecting the values of its headquarters with a wide brand culture of our offices around the world. This alignment is more than strategic. It is the heart of a collective identity. I took part in Maire Flourishing program. And in this journey, we have been given the chance to engage one-on-one with top management. We had the opportunity to understand the vision of the group and assimilate it within our culture and work methodology. I have been equipped with a plan tailored to my aspirations coupled with clear steps that guide me towards not just meeting my objectives but going further. I'm so proud to be part of a group that allows me to be at the forefront of forging a sustainable future to make to inspire. Is that right [ Maximilian ]?

Indeed, Vandana. And good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'm also proud to stand in front of you representing Maire. As an individual with a passion for growth, I've been fortunate to receive the tools that have allowed me not only to leverage my expertise, but to also expand it significantly. Maire people are indeed supported by a solid structure, which nurtures their talents and enables their self-development. The strategic emphasis on cross fertilization of skills has equipped me with a comprehensive set of competencies that integrates technical knowledge with managerial excellence. Now I feel I face a horizon full of opportunities, day in and day out. Opportunities that not only allow me to distinguish myself but also to contribute with innovative solutions to the projects I am involved in, ensuring their success. What really distinguishes our group are a collective culture and [indiscernible] commitment to collaboration among our people. The level of cooperation and the attention to individual growth are truly distinctive elements that underscore the excellence of our group. It is a privilege to be a part of this team and I eagerly anticipate the continuing journey of growth and success we will have together.

So thank you, Vandana. Thank you, Max. So thank you to both of you for giving us a practical example of how we valorize our most precious assets, people, our people, our colleagues, our organization all over the world. Today, we want to tell you in more details about our strategic objectives, which are at the base of the 2024 industrial plan. We will continue to leverage on a strong increase in energy investment to further consolidate and grow our traditional business. But at the same time, we are tackling clients transition needs, leveraging on our strong process engineering capabilities. All these while speeding up the development of best-in-class technology platforms, which help us consolidate our technological leadership, increase the overall know-how within the group and be a more effective provider of sustainable technology solutions. So let me start this journey together by looking at the energy investment scenario. Sector CapEx are expected to increase consistently over the next decade. Please pay attention to this number, which are expressed in trillions, trillions of dollars. The landscape is undergoing an impressive transformation driven by the need of addressing energy security, climate change and technological improvements. Energy will gradually transitioning away from traditional fuels and the share of investment dedicated to clean energy will sharply increase. In the meantime, conventional initiatives are more and more characterized by decarbonization features, along with energy efficiency and high value-added technology solutions. This paradigm is at the base of our strategic positioning of integrating sustainable technologies with execution capabilities. As a consequence, clients CapEx plan underlying the extent of the current and upcoming opportunities. Massive, massive investments are being undertaken by the main energy company, particularly in the Middle East, international energy company, national energy company, all of them are progressively entering into massive investments. The high CapEx plan are not only driven by an increase in number of projects, but also about their size, the size of the project is increasing significantly. Mega projects are becoming the new normal. And of course, this is an excellent news for us, but only a limited number of players are able to execute such initiatives, and we are one of them. We are one of them. Thanks to our undisputed execution capability to deliver large mega projects. We know how to successfully deliver mega project and we'll keep pushing to continue to be among the best of the best in the industry. To do so there are some elements that are very distinctive to Maire. We are continuing to add technical competencies through hiring and partnership to support growth. In parallel, we are increasing productivity through a cutting-edge digital approach. Moreover, we are strengthening the procurement process with a focus on the valorization of local -- of the various countries where we operate, local supply chains. Last but not least, we are prioritizing a healthy and safe environment across all the projects. And now I will leave the floor to Stefania. Where is Stefania and Massimo, who will deep dive on this cornerstone of our success. So please, the floor is yours.

Thanks, Alessandro. I'm very happy to be here with Massimo to share this [indiscernible] moment with all of you.

Thanks, Stefania, and good afternoon to everyone. Alessandro, you have said and mentioned several times, massive investment. And let me start saying that we have been increasing our engineering capacity over the last year in order to be ready for such a large growth in awards. As you can see from the slide behind me, in 2023, our engineering capacity posted a 20% growth compared to 2022, reaching an amount of 10 million man hours -- engineering man hours that can be performed on a yearly basis. But this is for us just the beginning. We are continuously expanding the capacity of our operating center. And in parallel, we are adding new operating center worldwide. I think it's worth to mention about India, where, in the last 2 years, we have doubled our engineering capacity, reaching 4 million man hours with the aim and with the target to further grow by adding 1 additional million man hour by 2025. But let me say that is not just a matter of numbers, our growth, Alessandro, is supported and characterized by high productivity and high quality. And this is thanks to the digital innovation. Digitalization, it's always been at the center of our strategy. And these days, we have further raised the bar as we are developing and embracing the most sophisticated tools of artificial intelligence. Today, in Maire, we have more than 2,000 Microsoft Copilot license, which has been made available for all our employees. But on the other hand, we, as Maire, we always remind that digital solution require always the so-called human-in-the-loop approach, where our employees are those who monitor the algorithm and give additional value to the power of the digitalization. In parallel with the increase of engineering capacity and internal efficiency, we have proactively strengthened our procurement process and our procurement organization. Today, we have secured a large number of supplier, vendors, subcontractor worldwide. And Alessandro mentioned, in each country, we give great importance to the local supply chain, this is to comply to our firm commitment towards the country value. It is also worth to mention that in 2023, above 70% of our total spending was with the supplier who has gone through an ESG screening, showing this, our strong commitment toward the target of ESG. And finally, let me talk about the construction. Construction, once completed, marks the achievement of all our efforts. The early engagement of well-proven subcontractor, a strong theme of construction specialists together with the most advanced and sophisticated digital tools are the base to secure high performances during the construction stage. However, great results can only be achieved thanks to the safety and health of our employees and those who work at our site. This is a priority for our group, but it's a priority for all of us. We are always maintaining high HSE standard, and the injury rate at our side, as you can see from the slide, are much lower than the industry benchmark. But now the time has come to better understand how all this principle are implemented in an $8 billion project, and I'm secure -- I'm sure that nobody better than Stefania, a key Project Director of Hail and Ghasha, can explain and can drive us through this amazing journey. So Stefania, floor is yours.

Thanks, Massimo. The $8.7 million Hail and Ghasha acquisition stands as Maire's most ambitious achievement to us. The project consists of onshore portion of the same development, including 2 gas processing units, 3 sulfur recovery units, condensate treatment units with CO2 capture unit and associated utilities and off sites as well export pipelines. This project is also unique because its same is to operate with net-zero emissions. The magnitude of this project can be summarized by a few, but impressive numbers. The total plant area is over 4 square kilometers. An equivalent example is 500 football fields. And over 25,000 kilometers of instrumentation and electrical cables will be deployed, running the same length of the entire Great Wall of China or equivalent to Milan, New York 4x. And talking about the big numbers, more than 3,000 Maire professionals will be directly involved in this project. Part of the over 30,000 contractor staff expected to work at the peak for the project. The execution team spread in the three operating centers will be coordinated by and led by a senior directorate, which will keep a tight control over the whole process. Overall, we bring together an unparalleled combination of expertise, commitment and historical track record. These factors will allow an effective and efficient project delivery. We are already following a fast track schedule approach, aiming at completing the project in 2028. In terms of engineering, we expect to move forward and advance on the 3D model design review in few months. With reference to procurement, we placed the purchase orders on long lead items within the first 2 months. We are also already placing orders with vendors leveraging on existing framework agreements to secure well in advance, quantities and prices. We expect to start the civil works in the next few months and then proceed with the construction phase, leveraging our regional base skilled workforce in line to our commitment to ensure a minimum local content of 50%. What do you say Massimo?

Well, Stefania, I would say that it's really, really, really impressive. And I repeat really one more time. Although we have been involved in several multibillion projects I would say that Hail and Ghasha is defining a new horizon, a new standard in excellence execution. And we look forward to providing regular updates to all of you. So stay tuned.

Thank you.

Thank you, Stefania. Thank you, Massimo. You are great. So now we'll bring you closer to our technological world, guiding you through Maire's leading role in the energy transition scenario. As mentioned earlier, energy investments are increasing with a focus on transitioning to sustainable sources. In the next two sessions, we will demonstrate the resilience of our offering against these diverse trends. Our strength lies not only in developing new technology, but also in the exceptional integration capabilities. We will conclude by outlining our model for technology acceleration and acquisition, which is crucial to sustain NextChem leadership in the energy transition. So let's welcome Mohammed and Giovanni. So they will provide a deeper insight into how we are capitalizing on these trends. So please, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Sandro. Well, Giovanni, as an industry veteran, please unveil to us, the group legacy.

Well, thank you so much, Mohammed, to consider me a veteran. So I'd like to guide you through our history till now to highlight our -- today unique capability and expertise. I want to link the past to now and the future. Indeed, the Italian chemistry is a fundamental part of our DNA. Everything started more than 100 years ago when [indiscernible], a young innovator and chemical engineer, master the production of ammonia by making hydrogen through the electrolysis of water fed by renewable energy. So it means it's something that you already hear sometimes, but you weren't in the beginning on the 1900. In the earlier of 1920, [indiscernible] together with another great name of our history, Mr. Donegani, set up a project and study division within Montecatini organization that was at the time the largest chemical company in Italy. This project and study division, which later became Tecnimont, learned how to integrate and apply the ammonia processes as well as several other processes throughout the world. Tecnimont that became part of our growth, announcing Maire attitude toward the constant innovation while preserving its leading role, and Massimo, so that's where we are now. As we move forward to the future, this legacy of innovation excellence continues to motivate us in our journey to shape through NextChem, the new paradigm of industrial chemistry required by the energy transition. So you can understand our clean solution, we will start from the 1900, capabilities, have long been part of our portfolio, skill and expertise. They provide us with a necessary tool to lead the future of the energy and the chemical industry. Indeed, since the industrial evolution as technology progressed, the war turned towards an ecosystem relying on highly concentrated energy, namely fossil fuels. Finally, at last, 2015 Paris Agreement made it clear that the industry needs a more sustainable way of working, a new paradigm that requires a redesign processes. In fact, the decarbonization problem is, nowadays, the biggest challenge humanity ever faced. Our strength is the ability to provide the right solution at the right time to solve this equation and make it happen. Now from [indiscernible], you can [indiscernible] missing one of the fundamental feedstock of our industry. I don't see listed any fossil oil. We are still natural gas, thanks to the blue processes with carbon capture remain the necessary breach to all the new sustainable scenario. And the last acquisition that we had from GasConTec is the way to proceed and serve the industry in such processes. It's a matter of fact that the energy the transition, they acquire the use of different feedstocks to get the various process that we use daily. Such a scenario requests to master innovative technology to produce sustainable products as well managing sources of clean energy different from the fossil-fuel-based, but there are many rules to choose from without betting on only few one. It's therefore essential to be flexible, innovative, and the [ stem ] approach perfectively fits this need, thanks to our group competitors in engineering ideas. But let me now leave the floor to Mohammed, who everyday makes our strategy alive. Mohammed, floor is yours.

Thank you, Giovanni. So as you said, decarbonization demands resilience, demands adaptation to new regulations and client commitments, which will serve as a pivotal role and force for change. The pace and shape of this transition are not uniform. There is no single path to net-zero across regions, across industries, and companies. We are moving from a world of expectations to reality and NextChem has been able to brilliantly navigate these diverging trends by mastering, once again, the knowledge of the key areas where we operate and thanks to our legacy that Giovanni explained before. The global community understands what needs to be done; hydrogen, circular carbon, sustainable fuels, circular polymers, but the question is how? Starting with nitrogen. The ever-growing population that we are facing is the main driving force for the demand of fertilizer market. Global ammonia is expected to grow consistently by 2030, even more than last year's expectations. More interestingly, we are observing an increase in green ammonia demand, especially driven by non-fertilizer applications such as power generation or as maritime fuel. These new opportunities are significantly reshaping our markets. At NextChem, we are very confident about our positioning in this segment. We have already successfully licensed our proprietary green ammonia technology for a large project in the United States. Green hydrogen will experience a progressive growth while infrastructure and renewable capacity are being developed. Hydrogen can and will be green as an overall production costs are expected to continue to decrease over time. In the meantime, blue hydrogen remains the technology of choice for the short and the midterm. At NextChem, we cover the full spectrum. We continue to advance our technologies in the blue hydrogen production, and we expect to deploy a new concept of steam methane reforming fueled by renewable electricity thus reducing the CO2 emissions and the overall capture investments. At the same time, thanks to our HyDEP acquisition, we are developing our own value proposition for the green hydrogen, as we will further explain in our presentation later on. Our unique offering is rooted in core proprietary technologies. We invest and internally develop foundational, technological concepts that fit within our technology strategy, combined with the ability to collaborate with partners and design optimal end-to-end solutions. The project for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, SAF in Norway with NEF and Paul Wurth, which was recently awarded to us, is a perfect example. In this case, we integrate our next NX CPO technology into a broader process scheme. As NextChem, we will be able to deliver core value to the client, thanks to our process integration capabilities while providing the license and the process design package. Our process expertise enables us to effectively support clients with comprehensive end-to-end solutions while including a complete service offering, as we will explain further on in the presentation. Technology is embedded in our and our strength lies in our ability to integrate it and combine it in an overall solution. A successful example is our waste to X technology platform. And now it's time to give Elena, the word, of the Maire Chemical team to tell you more about that.

Thanks, Mohammed. Let's then talk about the waste to X revolution. NX Circular waste to technology developed by Maire Chemical turns waste into resources. This technology represents an innovative process that converts carbon and industrial and biogenic waste into clean syngas, a crucial building block for producing sustainable fuels like hydrogen, methanol, ethanol and SAF. These products have a low carbon footprint and prequalified to reduce emissions of any kind of mobility; cars, flying and ships. Our journey began in Italy, where we received an important grant from the European Union for our waste to ethanol and hydrogen project in Rome, further affirming the credibility of our technology as one of the most advanced in the waste recovery sector. With Maire support, we are achieving new milestones. This year alone, we've secured 5 international contracts, 2 in the USA, 1 in UAE and 2 in Europe. For example, at the end of 2023, NextChem was awarded with the process design contract by DG Fuels for the facility in Louisiana, capable of producing up to 500 million liters per year of SAF. These projects are a proof of the flexibility of our technology, adaptable to multiple users from producing SAF using 100% biomass to pioneer tire to tire recycling. I guess you all have in mind car tires, we are starting to transform user tires into syngas and then back into the key building block of synthetic rubber. By the way, NX Circular is only one example of diverse components of our portfolio. Giovanni, please, the stage is yours.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Elena. Thank you so much indeed. Our portfolio approach enable us to explore a wider range of alternative solutions to fit the local environment and the market requirements. This approach shows how we are not just developing technology, we are integrating, we are orchestrating them to shape our substantial future. Everything starts from technology. Francesca, Antonio, will take now on our very exciting journey through our technology portfolio. Please, Antonio and Francesca.

Thank you, Giovanni, and good afternoon, everybody. It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and share the stage with our veteran innovation leader.

Another veteran. Thank you, Francesca. So definitely, it is a pleasure to be here with all of you in this special day. Well, thanks to our unparalleled technology development processes, we continue to push boundaries. Our strategy to accelerate our portfolio can be outlined in three main approaches: Make, team up, and buy. Make. So we internally develop technologies that are essential to our positioning in the market. We place equal emphasis on strategic and incremental innovation, ensuring that every solution is differentiated and disruptive. Team up. We identify reliable partners with whom we create a mutual relationship of shared value creation. In this respect, we closed the co-development agreement on catalyst with Clariant. And we developed more specific partnership with Engie, Paul Worth, Bioavia and newcleo, just to name a few. We were among the pioneers in recognizing the value of newcleo's breakthrough technology, which is expected to provide clean, safe and reliable energy to produce carbon-neutral hydrogen by using a small scale modular reactors, reprocessing nuclear waste. Then last, buy. We continuously scout globally to acquire innovative technologies and capabilities in line with our technology road map and associated business plans. In the last year, for example, we expanded our portfolio with new companies such as Conser, MyRemono, and in the last few days, HyDEP and GasConTec. These are pivotal assets propelling our shared vision into the future. When we integrate a new technology, however, is not just an addition, it is about enhancing and molding it with unique capabilities as industrial developers and integrators. Look at our broad portfolio of technological solutions. This portfolio is also enhanced by a comprehensive range of digital services spanning the entire technological spectrum. In particular, we are experiencing growth in sustainable fertilizers and nitrogen solutions. We also highlight the ultralow energy technology, already implemented in 9 projects globally, which enables a 35% to 40% reduction in steam consumption for urea production. In fuels and chemicals, NextChem is able to serve the bio SAF production via proprietary process in collaboration with Bioavia. This modular solution allows to produce an ultralow CO2 sustainable aviation fuel, able to reduce emissions by up to [ 90 ] with the use of fossil fuels. Last but not least, we will add an autothermal reforming technology for blue hydrogen and the methanol synthesis technology, thanks to GasConTec acquisition. This will be pivotal to consolidate hydrogen and fuels and chemicals offering. But these are just a few examples of what we did, just the beginning. Our commitment stands to substantially investing, ensuring that we capitalize on new opportunities and establish ourselves as one of the top 3 leading technology companies in our sectors. Moreover, we plan to expand into new strategic areas such as nitrogen-derived products, synthetic fuels, e-SAF and alcohol-to-jet solution, as well as innovative electrochemistry and electrolysis technologies. This will be among our priorities for future investments. In particular, thanks to the competencies acquired with HyDEP, we are planning to build a green hydrogen offering. This acquisition is instrumental to develop our own innovative electrolysis technology. with an expected time line for a first product of about 2 years. We are further investing in innovative catalyst platforms and associated reactors designs. Far from bear Maire enablers, catalysts play a crucial differentiated role in our business with more than 90% of the chemical reactions being catalytic. In this direction, we are further strengthening our position through an exclusive partnership with the Politecnico of Milan. So a lot is being developed and Francesca will now tell us how we commercialize our technology efforts. Please, Francesca.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Antonio, very insightful presentation indeed. Now let's dive into how we bring all these to the market. NextChem [indiscernible] a complete range of commercial offering common to all the group companies and taking into account the peculiarities. We do provide our clients with feasibility studies licensing, process design package, catalyst, proprietary equipment, and everything is complemented by innovative digital and fast service solution. Each service offer a distinctive value supporting our clients at various project stages. A practical example is the recent award of license process design package and technical services for our Conser technology, which I have negotiated myself with Conser team and which is set to be delivered with -- for a major industrial player in China, investing in the biodegradable plastic field. But let me spare a few words about Conser. After joining Maire's family last year, Conser has been able to expand its offering from being a pure licensor to a supplier of a complete technology package, including [indiscernible] equipment and catalysts. Specifically in this context, Maire support has been pivotal to establish strategic partnerships such as the one with Clariant for the supply of catalyst tailored for concert offering to further boost its technology portfolio. With our group's solid commercial support, extensive capabilities and international presence, most importantly, Conser is also expanding its geographical reach from mainly China to the world. And how do we do this? We do this by leveraging on our regional organization as well as a sister company's network of clients and our strong engineering capabilities within the group. These expansion is strongly driven by Maire's dedication to harnessing Conser expertise, merging it with our strength to cultivate innovative partnerships and commercialize pioneering and integrated technologies. Another example of a different scale-up approach is MyRemono, but will I let [indiscernible] to tell you more about it.

Thank you, Francesca. It's a pleasure to share with all of you another big achievement of 2023. And let's talk about plastic waste. In our efforts and progress in the development of sustainable solutions for plastic waste, we achieved a significant milestone with the NX Replast technology in mechanical recycling. Along this year, we have strengthened our position with the acquisition of the disruptive continuous chemical recycling technology, MyRemono. Mechanical and chemical recycling are to be considered a complementary approach with demand for high-grade recycled plastics, growing faster than ever. They are part of the unique room capable of providing effective solutions for a variety of feedstocks with the aim of delivering a sustainable building block for a wide array of applications, particularly, MyRemono's technology can break down PMMA polymers to the original monomers. But what is PMMA? Let's think, for example, about the backlighting of your car. Under our guidance, the technology is in the scale-up phase, moving from the design of our pilot unit for PMMA chemical recycling to the execution of the first process design package for industrial applications. In such framework facilitated by [indiscernible] development, MyRemono was successfully preselected for the EU Innovation Fund. The grant is expected to support us in the implementation of the first-of-a-kind industrial scale plant. This is just the beginning. We are making progress to adopt this technology to other thermoplastic polymers, such as polystyrene, while aiming at a larger market and further optimization for polyolefins recycling. And this extension completes the loop within our vast know-how in technologies and chemical processes for polyethylene and polypropylene plants. What we are observing is not just growth, it's a transformation. With the NextChem at the forefront, acquisitions like this are not just Maire announcement to our technological portfolio, they are the enablers of a sustainable future, propelled by innovation and the broad vision as the one that we are planning to promote in the next years. Right, Antonio?

Absolutely right. Thank you so much sharing with us our vision on chemical recycling. To conclude the journey through our technology acceleration efforts, it's time to unveil one of the most significant innovation endeavors to date. Let me leave the floor to our CEO, who will tell you more about our Green Innovation District. Sandro, please?

Thank you, Antonio. Thank you, Francesca, as well as thanks to [ Emma ]. So here, we recognize innovation is the backbone of the progress. It is the engine of all of our activities. And I am extremely proud to share with you this ambitious project taking place in the historical headquarter of our group. As anticipated by our Chairman, our vision is becoming a reality with the establishment of the Green Innovation District in Rome. This hub of innovation provides a unique platform to leverage an advanced research and development capabilities and facilities and resources, all under the strategic guidance of Maire. This environment is specifically designed to nurture rapid technological advancements and introduce new sustainable solutions to the global market with unmatched speed and efficiency. The district is not merely a center for technological advancement, but also a magnet for talent attraction. Our partnership with the prestigious universities and with recognized research centers ensures we stay at the cutting edge of research and innovation. Featuring the most active pilots laboratory level pilot plants and reactor prototypes, we are redefining the limits of what is possible. But now after having shared with you so many information and details about our technological strategy, I believe it is the appropriate time to go through the numbers to the results of 2023, and who else better than our fantastic CFO, is appropriate to guide you to this result. Fabio, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Sandro, and all, for your inspiring insights. Let's start with the analysis of our financial results in 2023, a very, very strong year. Revenues exceeded our guidance and EBITDA increased double digit. This solid performance is the tangible sign of the effectiveness of our business model. CapEx grew 3x even though some technology investments were shifted to 2024, as you know. Adjusted net cash substantially improved, thanks to strong operating cash flows boosted in part by higher advanced payments. 2023 was a year of delivery, and we are proud to maximize the shareholder return. The Board of Directors today resolved to propose a dividend distribution for a total amount of over EUR 64 million, up by 59% versus last year and the proposed payout ratio has increased from 45% to 50%. Let's look at the consolidated P&L. Revenues were EUR 4.3 billion, up 23%, driven by steady project execution. EBITDA was almost EUR 275 million, up 31%, mainly thanks to higher volumes and an increased operating leverage. The margin was 6.4%, up 40 basis points, thanks to an increased contribution from technologies and high value-added services. In particular, Sustainable Technology Solutions, STS, contributed almost 1/4 of the group EBITDA. Net final charges, not shown in this slide, but let me tell you, were EUR 30 million, slightly up due to higher financial charges of new credit facilities, partly offset by a higher yield on cash deposits. Moving on to the bottom line. The positive operating performance has led to a consolidated net income of almost EUR 130 million, up 43%. Let's break the results by business unit. STS revenues were EUR 262 million, up 43%, thanks to the constant growth recorded in the technologies and high value-added services supporting the energy transition, mainly in Nitrogen Solutions and Circular Solutions. EBITDA was EUR 65 million, up 84% and as a result of higher revenues and the change in product mix. E&C. E&C revenues were EUR 4 billion, up 22%, thanks to a steady project execution of projects, mainly in polymers and fuels and chemicals. EBITDA was EUR 209.3 million, up over 20% with a substantially stable margin. Moving on to the balance sheet. Our adjusted net cash position at the end of December was EUR 338 million, up by EUR 244 million if compared to December 2022. The operating cash flow more than compensated 2022 dividends and the share buyback program as well as a gross CapEx of EUR 77 million. The majority of this amount was mainly dedicated to the expansion of our STS portfolio, while the remaining was mainly related to E&C initiatives and in the digital innovation. Let us now look at the working capital dynamics. The adjusted net trade working capital improved year-on-year reaching a negative level of EUR 379 million. This positive change is mainly driven by the very positive operating cash flow secured by the recently awarded projects in the E&C business unit, including the advance relating to Hail and Ghasha. This dynamic is expected to be the new normal as the increased size of new energy projects will bring higher advances from clients. You have seen throughout this presentation how deeply sustainability is embedded in our operating activities. Now let me also highlight that following the issuance of our EUR 200 million sustainability-linked bond back in October, we reached 37% of sustainable funding at group level. In line with the targets set in our sustainability-linked financing framework, in 2023, we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 11% and our Scope 3 emissions by 5%. The soundness of our ESG integrated strategy has been recognized by various external agencies with top scores across all ratings. We keep on leading our industry with an MSCI ESG rating of AA. Looking at the backlog, 2023 is our most successful year. With the full year order intake of EUR 11 billion for the E&C business unit, of EUR 300 million for the STS business unit. This significant order intake has led to a solid backlog of EUR 15 billion. This represents the most tangible sign of our business growth. and the speed at which we are growing at an increase, respectively, 1.4x and 1.8x for E&C and STS, respectively, year-over-year. Let's now take a look at the E&C backlog schedule and how it will develop over time. 2024 is characterized by a strong visibility as 35% of backlog is expected to be executed this year. So EUR 15 billion, 35% expected this year, driven by projects in Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are progressing toward the construction phases. 2024 will benefit also from the early contribution of engineering and procurement activities in Hail and Ghasha. This, in addition to new awards expected during the year, puts us in a comfortable position to continue achieving strong revenue growth also this year. More on this in the next session. Let's move to the commercial pipeline. We are pursuing opportunities that are worth EUR 56 billion. We continue to see a healthy set of opportunities in the Middle East, the Far East, Europe, the Caspian region. Our strong current backlog and the additional capacity allow us to support the future growth with an increased selectivity based on technology content, geographical diversification and last but not least, expected profitability and more flexible contractual and financial terms and conditions with our clients. We looked at 2023. Now Sandro will guide us over the next 10 years. Sandro?

Thank you, Fabio, very clear, as usual. So you have provided a very detailed picture about the results that we have achieved in 2023. But 2023 is the past. So now it is much better to look at the future. So starting from 2024 guidance. And talking about 2024, I am happy to say that we expect another excellent, not good, excellent year of growth. Our backlog provides a solid platform to deliver a revenue increase of up to 40%. Let me emphasize this percentage, 40%, compared with last year, up to EUR 5.7 billion, EUR 6.1 billion. STS revenues are expected to range between EUR 340 million to EUR 360 million, while E&C from EUR 5.4 billion to EUR 5.7 billion. Profitability. Profitability is expected to benefit from the contribution of more innovative technology solutions and higher value-added services as well as from the ramp-up in particular in the second half of the year of higher margin projects. Thanks to the healthy commercial pipeline, we are targeting to replace the backlog, which is naturally converted into revenues with the production developed all over the year with the new orders of at least the same amount, some of which we are very confident, very, very confident, that could be finalized in the first part of the year and some of them even very, very soon. To support the business growth, we are targeting between EUR 140 million and EUR 170 million of CapEx, mainly dedicated to the expansion of our technology portfolio, including through selected add-on acquisition, such as the recently announced HyDEP and GasConTec. Notwithstanding the higher CapEx and the proposed dividend payment of EUR 65 million, we expect an improvement in net cash compared to the end of 2023. Now let's deep dive into our updated 10-year business plan. Based on what we presented today, we are now setting even more ambitious long-term target, EUR 10 billion of group revenues in 2033 and an EBITDA of about EUR 1 billion. Please remember that just a few years ago, we were talking about group revenues in the range of EUR 1 billion. Now we are talking about EBITDA of more than EUR 1 billion. We expect the strongest growth to take place in the next 5 years. So in the first 5 years of the plan, not in the second half, in the first 5 years, driven by technology expansion and the energy super cycle. In the second half of the plan, while continuing our growth path, we aim to boost profitability, targeting a double-digit EBITDA margin, thanks to a more mature technology business. So let's now analyze together the details for the 2 business units, starting from the STS, Sustainable Technology Solutions business unit. I'm delighted to confirm that Sustainable Technology Solutions will experience an accelerated revenue growth with an annual rate in the mid- to high 20s in the first 5 years, consolidating towards the mid-teens in the second half of the plan. This acceleration will leverage on a strong energy transition market and our ever-growing technology portfolio. EBITDA margin is expected to remain strong all over the plan in the range from 22% to 27%. Notwithstanding the consolidation in the mix, driving the increase in volumes, we are confident that we will maintain this profitability over time, given the high value-added nature of our services and increasing synergies within the group. Let's have a look at the Integrated Engineering Construction solution. In the current market scenario characterized by massive energy investment and a few integrated players able to execute large, complex projects, we will leverage on our undisputed expertise to increase both revenues as well as profitability. E&C will cooperate with STS to capture the increasing demand of project in energy transition as well as in our traditional petrochemical and gas processing segments. As such, we will accelerate our growth even further compared to what we communicated 1 year ago with revenues to about EUR 9 billion in 2023, growing low double digit in the first half of the plan and high single digit after 2028. EBITDA is expected to double in the next 5 years and grow threefold by the end of the period. In order to achieve such ambitious growth, we have confirmed and even strengthened our investment plan. Hence we are targeting more than EUR 1 billion of CapEx in the next 10 years or a yearly average about EUR 100 million in line with last year projections and equally split between the 2 business units. Specifically, in the short run, the focus is to expand our technology portfolio through selective add-on acquisitions and the investment in the validation of new technologies. At the same time, we will continue to invest in internal research and development, of course, to sustain technological excellence. CapEx in E&C acquisition include acquisitions to increase workload capacity, investment to expand our digital solution and sustain our net zero plan and last but not least to support selected project development initiatives. Let's now see in detail these type of initiatives, led by MET development, our project development arm. MET Dev will play the role of enabler and accelerator for the deployment of cutting-edge technologies. The precondition to consider strategic minority equity investment in first-of-a-kind project are both the adoption of our proprietary technologies and the involvement of E&C in the execution phase. We are allocating more than EUR 300 million of minority equity investments to ignite and accelerate more than 30 projects along the 10-year plan. In these initiatives, we are expecting to partner up with third parties more likely infrastructure funds such as Macquarie with whom we have signed an MOU last year, a few months ago. Exit from this investment where applicable is [indiscernible] to take place within two years from the project completion at predetermined conditions. Project dividends and sales proceeds from these initiatives are only partially captured in the business plan as part of the incoming flow fall outside the 10-year period of the plan. Now let's look together at the cash evolution. We confirm solid expectation in terms of cash generation. Indeed, we expect our adjusted net cash to exceed EUR 1.6 billion at the end of the plan. Operating cash flows will more than offset CapEx first, dividends, even taking into account an assumed gradual increase in the payout ratio from 50%, which is the payout of this, year up to 66% from 2026 onward to the benefit of all our shareholders. The acceleration in business results is also companion towards carbon neutrality. We anticipate a net zero plan target to achieve carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 1 year, expecting now to reach our goal in 2029. Please remember that our top managers, including myself, of course, have ESG targets embedded in their variable compensation. And there is a further demonstration of our commitment in 2024, we raised the incidence of ESG objectives in MBOs and long-term incentives from 10% to 20% to deliver at this patient scale attracting and, of course, retaining the right people is the key of success. As you saw at the beginning of our presentation, we have already increased headcount by 24% in 2023, reaching about 8,000 professionals. Over the plan horizon, we are planning to keep increasing our headcount via organic growth and by small M&A transactions. STS growth will be focused on process engineering capabilities and research and development. And we are going to open an STS operating center in the south of Italy, while E&C focus will be on project management, engineering and construction in all the operating centers. All this will be done with a strong commitment on diversity and inclusion. Among the various initiatives, I am pleased to confirm that we are targeting to reach 50% of women in the new hires within 2032. Well, we have come to the conclusion of our presentation. I hope that you have appreciated the 63% growth we experienced in 2023, driven by the excellent result and project delivery. And even the more significant one that we expect this year and beyond, starting from a very solid year-to-date performance. A year ago, we presented the equivalent of what our STS colleagues would call a disruptive technology, a new strategy that would propel us to the new dimension. Well, if you believe in our disruption and bought one MAIRE share at the date of our 2023 Capital Market Day, today you would be extremely better off, particularly 44% better off. Indeed, of course, we do deliver value. So the drivers underlying these value creation stem from a recognized technological leadership in energy transition first. Flexible business model driven by excellent execution capability, the second reason, strong appetite for innovation and the sound and disciplined financial position. Thank you, Fabio. So please allow me to call you friends. So my friends, fasten your seatbelts and come fly with us because the best is yet to come. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone. We will now open the Q&A session. We will start with a question from the audience here in Milan. Then I will be taking the remaining question from the chat. Please limit your questions per person in order to give everyone the opportunity to ask a question. If you are in the room, please wait for the microphone, kindly state your name and company name before asking the question. Who wants to break the ice?

Thank you for the very interesting presentation. Massimo Bonisoli from Equita. And by the way, well done for the full year results and full year outlook. I would start with a more broad question on more strategic question on one of your underlying growth trends, which is decarbonization. So how do you see decarbonization evolving in your underlying industrial customers, especially in [indiscernible] and what the role of MAIRE in this evolution, especially in the next 5 years as you presented the fastest growth of the 10-year plan. The second question is on your order intake capacity. You showed in a couple of slides, the increase of the engineering man hours more than 20% as well as the increase in staff. So what would be your maximum capacity of order intake considering that you just said EUR 5 billion to EUR 6 billion, even EUR 6 billion of book-to-bill this year for a number of order intakes. So can we assume more of that number?

Thank you, Massimo. Very interesting your question, of course, as usual because you are one of the those who normally raise a very interesting question. But however, decarbonization. So decarbonization, it is something which is not restricted just to few players. Decarbonization characterize all the industry, for sure, with a different speed because in some countries, in some regions, the sensibility to the decarbonization started a long time ago. So there are regions of the world which are well advanced compared to others. But progressively, the entire world and the entire energy players are moving faster into the decarbonization. And they are asking for basically technological solutions primarily, which help them in identifying the most efficient and the most economical, sustainable solutions to decarbonize their industrial processes. And of course, this is the role of MAIRE Group and in particular of NextChem to provide primarily solutions. We are quite agnostic. We are not focused on specific issues. We are able to provide primarily the best solution. And then, of course, if we retain the technology, the solution can be accompanied by the technology and all the packages, all the services, which we can provide after having provided our technology. But for sure, we can work efficiently on the mainstream, which are requested by the market. There are -- based on our radar screen, we are noting 2 different speeds, which have also characterized our update in our 10 years plan. Last year, we were convinced, for example, that the green hydrogen and all the products which come from can be generated with the green hydrogen should have been -- should have a faster process. Now green hydrogen and green derivatives remain the target for the industry, but they will come on stream a little bit later. It's a matter of the middle of our 10-year plan. Whilst in this particular moment, the time to market for a blue solution, blue in terms of blue hydrogen, blue ammonia, whatever you can discuss about the CO2 capture is the product which is primarily requested by the market. And of course, we are effectively on this stream. We were on this stream before, but from yesterday, thanks to the acquisition of GasConTec, we are even more effective, even more efficient, we are -- now we can provide the technological solutions and technological expertise on blue hydrogen, blue ammonia and all the products that can be generated through this technology. So for sure, in the first part of the plan immediately from now on, from 2024 and for the next 2, 3, 4 years, based on our analysis, the blue solution is the predominant one and is affecting all the projects, both the project and the activities of the STS business, but indirectly, of course, attracted the same opportunities in the E&C because the technological solution must be accompanied by the execution capability. And this is a stream what we are -- that we are assisting and for this reason, we have decided to invest in enhancing our portfolio for the blue capacity. Then in terms of the second question, if you are satisfied with the first one, moving into our capacity. As we have, I believe, clearly disclosed in order to be prepared to manage higher volumes and more complicated projects, we have invested a lot in increasing our workforce in particular during 2023. But of course, this growth is not -- has not been stopped. We are continuing this increase also in the first part of this year and is due to continue also all over 2024. For this reason, recently, we have opened an additional new office in Mumbai, it will be the sixth one. But at the same time, of course, we don't want to concentrate everything in India, even if India is [indiscernible] due to remain one of the most important pillar of our technological capacity and the execution capacity as well and we are looking at other opportunities. Some of them has been already identified, and we are moving faster in order to have secured very soon this additional workforce in other regions, basically, Eastern Europe and Italy as well. So with the combination of what we will have available thanks to the organic growth and this small, middle-sized acquisition, I am referring to organization ranging between 200 and 300 people, we will be able even to deliver, of course, higher volumes and be involved even in a more complicated projects. For this reason, EUR 6 billion that we are targeting in 2024 is just a starting point, accelerated compared to the previous plan because we were targeting EUR 6 billion, as I was saying, in 2028. But now we are already well equipped. We have a spare capacity, which makes possible for our group to be involved in additional projects. But because we have a commercial pipeline that unfortunately, I have to say unfortunately, is extremely healthy, we should need to double our size in order to capture as much as possible the opportunity which are already in the market in many regions of the world, predominantly from Middle East. And Middle East means E&C and STS as well because Middle East has started later compared to the other regions of the world. But now thanks to the huge amount of money that they have available, they are progressively and very quickly moving into the decarbonization. So the 2 business units has a lot of opportunities over there. North Africa, Algeria in particular, they are investing a lot in enhancing their gas production capacity because they have the commitment that they have to satisfy and without investments, they will not be in a position to maintain and to satisfy the contract that they have signed, in particular with European importer plus the Caspian. Caspian region is another region whereby a lot of investment are flowing in particular from abroad. The local companies are dedicating increasing their investment capacity, but considering that, in particular, natural resources available over there are quite cheap, but more than cheap or huge, so for sure, they have to identify the best solution on how to evacuate the product. But compared to the past, whereby they were predominantly focused in just evacuating their natural resources for energy purposes, now they have started to use the natural resource as the feedstock for the downstream. So they are developing an industrial infrastructure very quickly because they are conscious, they have to recover compared to many other countries. And of course, we want to be there. We have incorporated our joint company, and we are dedicating a lot of effort over there because they are even more concentrated on decarbonization more than any other country. So for this reason, we are interested in those regions because the combination of our propellers, the execution capacity, the technological solution can deliver a lot of satisfaction. I repeat I would like to have a double organization today in order to capture as much as possible the opportunities. But I am satisfied with what we have on board because, as I'm used to say to all my colleagues, the mouth is larger, but we must have the stomach appropriated in order to digest everything. So this is my answer for your second question.

Marco Cristofori, Intesa Sanpaolo. Congratulations for the result and the plan. My first question is on the APC activities. You say that the average size of a project is growing, and we are also forecasting an increase of the profitability on the margin. So is there a relation between this or there is something else that would allow you to increase [indiscernible] margin. And also, Fabio mentioned that net working capital would remain negative for a much larger amount, and this is structural. This is due to the large project that you are waiting for? And my second question is more, let's say, on STS. There was a lot of news flow on this company recently and the company is growing rapidly. So any idea to eventually list this company in the future and eventually when?

Well, let me introduce the answer to your fourth question. And then as far as the working capital, I will leave the floor to the master in working capital, Fabio. But so you are totally right. And I believe that we have already provided a quite a good insight about what we expect in terms of EPC project moving forward, in particular, in the Middle East region, but not only in the Middle East, also I also was saying the Caspian region, Southeast Asia, North Africa, all of them based on what we are seeing now is all in these regions, what is prevailing are projects which normally range between $2 billion to $4 billion equivalent because, of course, there is a portion which normally is denominated in the local currency. Because we are talking about the opportunity of the various energy companies or conglomerate to take benefit of the very healthy momentum, they would like to leverage on a very good market momentum in terms of pricing. So the problem -- the real problem, which I am convinced that they have to face is the capacity to deliver those projects from qualitative contractors because for sure, what we are seeing now is that -- all of them, in particular, Middle East clients or potential clients are interested in having secured the cooperation of qualitative players in the -- when I went saying qualitative normally, I tend to include the European one and of course, U.S. players but mainly western-based players. So those companies, which in terms of cost structure, they have a cost structure, which is similar to our own. So we are not talking about a very effective forest competition, even if compared to the past, also the forest contractors, forest competitors. They are not interested anymore in playing just with the prices since they have a faced and sustained huge losses in the recent past. Now they have a lesson learned, which is extremely effective also for them. So for the time being, at least, we can leverage on the technological issue, which, for sure, from the time being, some forest players, they do not retain so far. So they are capable to deliver massive execution capacity, but when it is necessary to deliver also the technological solution and the technological capacity for the time being, they are out of the picture. But however, this apart from the competition, for sure, the development of new reservoirs and the involvement of the various clients in predominantly downstream investments, downstream means very often billions of investments. I do not consider the LNG investment because we are not interested to play into the liquefaction. But of course, another stream, a very important, which has embedded a lot a multibillion project are also liquefactions, gas liquefaction projects. But talking about our own for sure, downstream project and midstream project plus the development of new natural resources reservoir implies a very huge amount of money but shared in the lower number of projects. For example, Hail and Ghasha, which in totally, if we consider also the drilling campaign and the first part of the upstream activity is a project which, all in all, worth in excess of $30 billion. It is a unicom, no, absolutely no. Now in Kazakhstan, it is onstream the development of one of the most important gas field after Kashagan, which is Kalamkas and the global development of this gas reservoir will imply more or less the same amount of money. Saudi Aramco has launched an important stream of investment, which, of course, involves our capabilities because the transformation of oil into chemicals. Refined products are no longer requested with the same size as compared to the recent past. So if Saudi since doesn't want to reduce their daily production, they have to identify something else on how to use the oil. And the best way to use the oil in terms of economic return is to use the oil as a feedstock to convert into the traditional product of the petrochemical. And believe me, they have launched the project -- a stream of investment, which implies a 54 plants each one of several billion dollar each one. So we are talking about a huge amount of money, and they are a split over a period of 10 years. So it means that at least for the next decade, the super cycle of investment, in particular in the midstream and downstream is due to remain and of course, I repeat, the problem will be to have secured from the clients, the most efficient and qualitative competencies to realize those investments. So I am very confident and, of course, happy to take benefit of the super cycle.

He is confident, I am confident because working capital will be a consequence of the new acquisitions we are expecting. If you know we have closed this year with the benefit of the 5% advance payment from Hail and Ghasha, but we started the year with the first milestones. If this is the flow of business we will acquire in the near term, we are quite positive to be able to maintain that level of support from working capital. Actually, in mathematical terms, with business growing, we should be able to grow over time, but we are conservatively assuming the same amount of working capital support for the foreseeable future.

I don't remember the third question.

Yes. NextChem.

What we intend to do with NextChem with all these announcements -- recent announcements?

As I was saying before, NextChem and I believe that we have already approved this year with the excellent result that we have delivered that is due to increase significantly their performance and the performing -- the growth of the performance of NextChem leverage only 2 issues. First of all, of course, leveraging on what we have already onboard because we have already a lot of opportunities that we are pursuing with the technological portfolio that we already retained but with the 2 acquisitions that we have secured recently and I'm referring to HyDEP and GasConTec, we are in a position to move even quickly into the 2 streams that based on our expectation. And based on what we have already in our commercial pipeline, it will be possible to enhance and to accelerate the growth that previously we have depicted in a much longer period. So this -- for this reason, also we have decided to revise a little bit of the timing of the investments compared to the previous plan. With the previous plan, the magnitude of investment is almost more or less the same. We are still talking about EUR 1 billion equivalent. But now we have decided to anticipate as much as possible in the first part of the plan because there are too much opportunities that we want to capture and in order to do that, we have still to announce to expand our technological portfolio. We are investing a lot with our own internal resources, with our research and development competency with the process engineer competencies in order to fasten the development and to have proved some technologies in the stream that we have decided to invest, SAF, hydrogen, ammonia as well as polymers. So polymers coming from bio-source, but we are conscious that we need to accelerate this process. And in order to do that, we have already identified some targets. We are not talking about a huge amount of money because we wanted to maintain the financial discipline that we were talking during the presentation. But coherent with what we have already identified and coherent with the cash generation from our operating activity, we have already settled a set of acquisitions that will take place moving forward, in particular in 2024. And this will contribute, of course, to the growth of NextChem because we are looking at two elements. First is the time to market. We are developing solutions, which will be available in the mid long range. But basically since we want to capture the benefit of the market, which is already delivering, we must be ready today. And for this reason, all the investments that we will decide to proceed will be characterized by the time to market, combining also what will be available on board of the various entity that we will acquire with the resources that we have on board whereby the combination of the 2 capabilities will make possible even to enhance those opportunities and primarily also based on what Francesco has explained. We don't need to put in place and to set up a commercial platform for our own technology. We have already in place a very effective and efficient commercial platform, leveraging on the regions. We have organized our group by regions and in each individual regions, we have specific dedicated resources, high-level competencies which are able to promote firstly, and then to a company, of course, also the technological solution with the most appropriate technological competencies.

Thank you for the presentation. Really stage to see the amount of growth that you see in the business over the next 10 years. And I think that reflects the amount of mega projects that you expect to develop in the period. And I was wondering, can you talk about these mega project? And it was given, as you know, the bigger project becomes, the more complex it is, and especially for Hail and Ghasha, and there's a lot of H2S so it's quite technically challenging. How do you think about the risk execution profile of these mega projects, especially when you have probably developed more in parallel in the next few years. And those mega projects also have led you to increase the number of employees of the quarter, I think, year-on-year. That is a big increase in terms of employees in an organization like yours. And how do you manage the oversight on employees? How do you manage the quality control? And how can maybe AI help you in delivering the productivity in those engineering resources? Also on the mega projects, are you potentially concerned that some of those may not materialize because there's not enough supply chain. The supply chain cannot sustain the number of projects that are probably likely to materialize, especially in the Middle East in terms of especially engineers. Are there enough senior engineers to design the projects? And also, second part of the question is on CapEx, equity investments, EUR 300 million to EUR 400 million over the plan. Can you give us a bit more granularity on the largest project where you -- where they will absorb cash? And what type of returns do you see on those equity investments?

So let me start in a disordered way. But first, for sure, some of those mega projects will be delayed. But of course, it's good because it is almost impossible that all those projects could take place in the so short period of time because it is useless to say that there are no sufficient execution capabilities available in the market. So it will be natural that some of them will be delayed. And it is, of course, good for us because we cannot take a benefit and capture everything in a short period of time. So it is better for everybody. And Aramco, for example, has already declared that their plan which originally was concentrated in a much shorter period of time now has been extended to the much longer period. So it is better for everybody, better for the client and better also for ourselves. This, however, will not modify our plan because it is based on expectation that this stream is due to be much longer than the 10 years. But this we are talking about 10 years, there are no problem at all. First, in terms of capacity, as I was saying, we are not worried about the capability and the possibility to integrate in our workforce additional capacity because all of them which enter into our organization, first, they have to be trained. They are with the concordance of those colleagues, which have much longer experience, they have to spend quite long period of time or some months in order then to understand and to be trained with our own processes, but consider that we are not only talking about new graduates, we are talking particularly in India to people which are already used to cooperate with us because we were used to refer to them on a contractual basis. Now we do not retain -- we do not believe that it is no longer possible. It is appropriate to have them on board on a structural -- in structural terms, but our people mainly which are already used to cooperate with us, they know very well our processes, our procedures and more than that, they already know very well the people of the group. So it is not a real problem. In terms of governance for mega projects, I believe that we are not a newcomer. We are on the project execution stream since several decades. So we know very well on how to manage. In particular, we have strengthened primarily our -- apart from the traditional operating competencies. So the engineering in the various discipline, project control, project management, contract management, subcontract management, more than that, of course, risk management. Risk management is one of the pillar which started with the process during the commercial activity and accompany the project up to the conclusion. So the combination primarily of the risk management and all the other capability that we have with a long experience, we are not afraid to manage even mega project. Hail and Ghasha, in particular, then now we have to decide to set up a specific dedicated organization with the most experienced people in the various disciplines, and they are fully dedicated to the project execution. And for this reason, we are even in advance compared to the -- what is the timetable of the project execution. We are even in advance and the client is extremely satisfied. Then I don't know if what I have still to mention, there is something.

There was a question which I can take on the CapEx. I think you were referring to the EUR 320 million, which was supposed to be put in several projects throughout the life. I don't know if you recall the slide, but there were certain preconditions. Let me go back on these preconditions. First of all, we need to have one of our technology involved because the basic principle is that we support or we put our own money where our technology are involved. Second, and is an end, you also need to have the EPC contractor performing the plant, which is logical in a way because you don't want to have a different view between who provides the technology and those who perform the plant. The third one is that it is a minority investment. So let me say, the green light for us to proceed is that someone else is taking the majority of the investment. The fourth element of check is that if there is a majority investors, it will be, first, to look at IRR. So we will proceed only to the extent these investments provide a decent return. And fourth and last, we are not going to be there for long. We are not long owners of minority financial assets. So what we tend to do is to agree with the majority shareholder a way out, which is normally a couple of years in our business plan when the plant is in operation. Let me give you...

Returns as well.

Sure. Let me talk about 2 projects in the circular economy, which are up and running in the engineering phase. One is sannazzaro, the one we have with ENI and Iren. It's a 3-party agreement where we all put our share of the money, it's in the engineering phase. We have been already working with both of them to understand what is the best financing strategy. Clearly, the project has to provide a decent IRR. So this is the proof that will need to be given as soon as the FEED activity, which are currently going on will be proven. And then we expect to be able to minimize the equity involvement of our participation and to the extent possible also of the other participations through the involvement of infrastructure funds that, as you know, do and search for this type of opportunities.

So decent IRR means like more than 10% probably.

Well, definitely, it has to be something which is at least single digit in a normalized interest rate scenario, so probably double digit in this interest rate scenario. Not to mention that on another of these projects, we have a grant and grants usually help sustaining -- are made for this.

[indiscernible]. So first off, Silvia, I'm afraid that you have to update the chart on total shareholder returns because you have to include the today's 40%.

It was as of yesterday.

Okay, fine. Then I have a question for you, Sandro. It's actually a follow-up. How larger projects, more complex better for you because you are the best in class in terms of technology, but obviously, higher execution risk. How selective you can be. So can you actually cherry pick all the best projects in some of profitability, flexibility and in terms of your know-how or you are actually bidding for all the EUR 57 billion commercial pipelines. So that is my first question. The second question is for you, Fabio. It's very short. Back on the envelope based on the backlog you have 80% visibility on '24 revenues. Is that correct?

It is. Slightly more.

Let me provide you with a very short answer. I don't know if it will be enough. We believe that it is much better to have our organization concentrated in a small number of projects, which a bigger size, more than a wider range of projects in a wider geographical areas, so spread over the world, which, for sure, individually could be less risky, but putting everything together, if you are targeting a growth in volumes in the region of -- from 6 to something else, but growing, for sure, it is much better to have your attention and focus on a limited number of projects, particularly in the regions, which we know very well, we are used to work there since a long time. We know very well the local environment. We know very well the local supply chain. We know very well the execution capacity available in the country. So just to say that in our view, I don't know if it is appreciated by you or not because I know that you like very much the diversification. But when talking about the project which imply the execution much better to have concentrated your organization is a limited number of projects even of a bigger size because we are not worried about the size. We could be more worried if I should serve the market spending from Southeast Asia up to Australia and to U.S. much more risky, believe me. Absolutely, absolutely. So this is the reason why when altogether, we have humbled about, it is appropriate to take onboard Hail and Ghasha of $9 billion. No one spent even one second to answer. Yes, it is appropriate. Then when we look at the other opportunities in setting up a priority. Now we are in a position to look at our commercial pipeline in a more -- we can be more selective. We can be -- we can appreciate those projects, which primarily requires our technology because we would like to work in an integrated way. And secondly, of course, marginality. And this is one of the pillar why moving forward, the marginality and the EBITDA of the group taken as a whole is due to grow because there will be the result of this policy moving forward.

Congrats for the very good results and impressive presentation. Two quick questions with no Part 2 or 3 or others. My first question is on mega projects. I'm wondering if still on mega projects and opportunities on mega projects for the STS. I mean, is it too early to think about mega projects in STS with high technology content? And so basically, if there will be, are you prepared in terms of technology? I mean you have to scale up technology, make other experimental phases also? My second question is on flexibility in terms of engineering capacity. I don't want to be the back eye on this question. In terms of flexibility, if something went wrong in the future. I mean lower revenues, lower opportunities and so on. Do you have also flexibility in terms of engineering capacity on a downwards to reduce your engineered capacity and your higher headcount?

Two very important questions, Roberto. Let me start from the second one because useless to say that the flexibility is the mantra of our industrial model. We are conscious that, of course, presently, the cycle is extremely healthy and extremely supportive for growth but we are conscious that our business is a cyclical business and could deserve not in the medium term, at least for the next decade, unless there will be, let me say, a global storm in the world. But considering the present situation, there are no sign of modification in terms of investment plan. But -- however, we would like to maintain our flexibility. Why we are -- we have decided to grow particularly in certain geographical areas because, of course, we would like to retain this flexibility. There are regions whereby, of course, if we would be obliged to lay off personnel, we are in a position to do it in other regions, no. But of course, it is not a matter of business. When you have trained, you have provided experience and you have grown the competencies of your population, you have to do your best, of course, in order to retain it. But -- however, the last leverage to which we refer in the efficiency as you have appreciated, a significant part of the marginality increase that we are targeting all over the 10-year plan is due also to the efficiency because we would like to leverage on digital solutions. Artificial intelligence will play even a continuous more significant role in our industrial processes. So this, for sure, in another is a tool which emphasize the flexibility that we'd like to retain even in a much bigger environment. So for sure, we are not worried about this issue, which I repeat is one of the mantra of our industrial model. Then you are talking about mega projects any particular those which are backed by STS technologies. For sure, there is a stream of projects for which we have to deliver the first of a kind, as I am referring, for example, the project that presently are on the FEED phase in Italy, Sannazzaro first then we are moving faster into another one in Rome, but not only in Italy because in also other regions, in particular in the stream of the waste tweaks, there are a lot of requests to spending from Europe to U.S., even Middle East. In all these regions, there is a lot of interest in this particular stream of activity. But of course, we expect that as soon as the first of a kind project will be operating, and most likely the first one will be the project located here close to Milan, we expect a huge wage wave of investment in such a direction because Valora is waste because the liver hydrogen, singles and [indiscernible], which represent one of the most important product required moving forward. So in a certain way, you are right, of course, but for this reason, we are dedicating also to the development of this project, the best resources that we have, in particular, starting from process engineering capabilities. And as soon as the project will move into the execution capability, Tecnimont. The big machine of Tecnimont will deliver the capability to execute them. We are not worried because we are talking about in this circumstance project moving from EUR 500 million to EUR 800 million, huge amount of money. But today, for -- our machine are medium-sized projects. So we are not worried about the execution of these type of projects.

Francesco Sala, Banca Akros. Congratulations for your results. Just 2 questions. It seems that the bargaining power in the sector has shifted towards contractors. So I wonder how this change the contract. Whether we should assume less risk vis-a-vis the same profitability as before? And the second is the Middle East is a bit less boring than we would like. So I wonder whether you have seen any change in that area in the last few weeks?

Change in particular in the regions of the Middle East where we are located and we are operating. I'm referring to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, as well, there are no major changes. All of them are predominantly concentrating making money. This is their first target. All the rest is just a matter for newspaper. But for the industrial players, the primary goal for all of them is to make money. And of course, we would like to contribute to their money and also to take out from the their pocket some money, of course, first. Then how is changing the contractual framework, is not changing significantly. For sure, they are -- the clients based in that part of the world, they are conscious that they will have to face a shortage in terms of execution capacity. So they have to accept conditions, which probably they wouldn't have been able to accept in the recent past. For example, just to mention one of them, Saudi Aramco. It was, in the past, recognizing the advanced payment was extremely difficult, extremely difficult, even some time impossible. Now in -- when releasing their invitation to bid, they are contemplating the traditional contractual framework as we are used to apply in the rest of the world. And it is a real sign of change because I repeat, all of them, they are conscious that we have to face the shortage in terms of qualitative execution capacity in the short and medium term. So I don't want to say that I am not worried, but because we have to pay always a lot of attention when discussing and finalizing the contractual framework with the client, but it is less confrontational compared to the recent past because of the reason that I have explained before.

Thank you very much for sharing the encouraging news. I'm from ICBC, the Chinese Bank. So I have 2 questions. The first one is about your -- how you manage the funding risk of your individual projects. So are you adopting the strategy from the parent to support the project? Or are you making use of the local financial institutions to support the project? This is the first question. The second question is what's the biggest challenge you foresee in the future or in 2024 for the company?

I'll take the first. You have to take the second. You want the first. No, you're absolutely -- well, thank you for the question because ICBC is a very relevant financial institutions, not only in China, but it's becoming present worldwide, not only in Europe, I know this. But regional banks are key to us to be extremely frank. We tend to explore as much as possible the capabilities we find locally. If you take the Emirates, where most of our projects are at this point in time, we have been able to secure all our bonding lines. So the lines needed to provide the performance bonds to the client and our working capital facilities locally. So they are very, very relevant. We have prospects in Southeast Asia at this point in time. And even there, we are tapping local banks. But clearly, that very much depends on the development of local regional banks. Some areas are more developed than others. Some are -- have bigger stomach than others. So we always have the backup.

Has been widened. It has been expanded, thanks also to the latest acquisition. The second one is to demonstrate, to confirm because I know I have appreciated from a lot of you that you are a little bit scared about our capability to deliver properly the execution of Hail and Ghasha. So Hail and Ghasha, in 2024, we will deliver most of the engineering portion of the project. And if you start properly with the engineering activities, then you are able to place properly the orders to the supply chain and you are then able to start in time with the execution. So we have to prove to all of you of course, primarily to our client, but to all of you that what we are doing is not something exceptional, is just bigger but is what we are used to deliver since a long time. So -- and we will prove it. And I consider this one the challenge of my team. But I am more than sure that

[Audio Gap] M&A or if you can share some details on it. And on the E&C business, therefore, if it's mostly organic. Based on this, the results of the second question.

I pass the floor to you for the first.

Of course, as we have stated, we are targeting for this year, for example, a level of new orders, which will be possible to maintain the book-to-bill ratio at least equal to 1. So it means that we would like not to reduce our backlog, which presently worth something close to EUR 15 billion moving forward. Of course, you have not to look at the individual quarter, look at the entire period. Of course, our commercial pipeline has already embedded a lot of projects, some of which you will appreciate very soon that will be part of our portfolio. Are we scared about that? No. Of course, we are not stupid. If we decide to enter into a new contract because we have already secured the appropriate organization, which makes possible to execute it properly. And then moving forward, of course, some of the project that presently are under execution, of course, we have to deliver, we have to complete them or for some of them progressively will move from the engineering activities, the engineering phase to the execution phase, whereby our engineering workforce is less involved and so there will be a much more an additional workload capacity, which can be converted -- reverted into the new projects. So if we have to target new orders at least in the region of EUR 6 billion, which is the amount that we are targeting in terms of revenues, it is because progressively over the 12 month period, considering the already existing workforce available, which can be dedicated to the new project. And those capabilities, which will be made available from the project which are presently ongoing, they will deliver an additional capacity, which will make possible to start the execution without any major problem and even maintaining a level of flexibility that we'd like to retain because, of course, there are always uncertainties which could affect the project execution, and we must be well equipped in order also to manage uncertain.

Let me take on the first one. And to answer, let me use the example of the recent acquisitions we have made. So let's go back to the past year. We had Conser and MyRemono. This year, we have had HyDEP and GasConTec, which we're filling gaps in our path. And we have bought these 3 companies of the 4 -- 3 of the 4 companies are already revenue generating. So in a way, and they are self funded in a way. So this is the type of target we shoot for unless like in the case of MyRemono, we take companies which have a concept, and we help them deploy a pilot plant, which will then become an industrial reality going forward. On your question, how much of the next 5 years are covered with things we already have in our portfolio, I would say, the vast majority and give you 10% to 15% of additional revenues, which are brought by new technologies. Second part of the plan, this percentage is clearly higher because all our business plans have been made with the contribution of the managing directors of all the controlled entities, and they will indicate which -- they have indicated which technologies they need going forward, clearly a long shot.

Thank you very much.

Of course, there is nothing else. So thank you very much to all of you. Really, it's a pleasure to have spent with you how long, two hours and alpha, which is quite -- I believe it's enough also for you. Thank you very much once again.