Mota-Engil, SGPS, S.A. (EGL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Mota-Engil Half Year 2023 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Pedro Arrais. Please go ahead sir.

Good afternoon. Thank you all for attending this call where we will present first half '23 results and updated goals of the strategic plan. With me I have here Mr. Carl Mota Santos, the Chairman and CEO of the company and Jose Carlos Nogueira, the CFO of the company. As usual, we will start with the key highlights with Mr. Carl Mota Santos. Please move to Slide #4. Carlos, please?

Thank you, Pedro. First of all, good afternoon to all of you that are in the call. It's a pleasure to be today to present the half year results of Mota-Engil. As a snapshot, I would like to highlight the strong performance that the company achieved in this first half of the year represented by the capacity to renovate our backlog with a record level of EUR 12.6 billion despite a strong execution of almost EUR 2.6 billion in this first half of the year, a growth of almost 90% in our turnover that was impact, a very strong performance from the EC business, mainly in Latin America, but also in Africa. An increase of 70% in our EBITDA with the margins at our historical levels, but with a very impressive growth and a very sound growth of the EBIT of 160%. Regarding the net profit, we achieved EUR 30 million after minority interest that is the best result that we achieved in the last 7 years. Looking into the main financial figures, I would like to stress that we are complying with the strategic goal of having a net debt over EBITDA below the 2x, the same targets that we already achieved last year in the end of 2022. And also, we are improving our ratio of the gross debt over EBITDA being below 4x. In terms of CapEx, the company made investments in this first half of the year of EUR 187 million, which 68% of that value is allocated to growth and long-term contracts. We are forecasting for the end of the year, the same value that we performed last year in terms of CapEx. In terms of cash flow generation, we achieved an increase of 22% to EUR 174 million. That is an increase of 22% like I was saying when compared with the first half of 2022. So in a nutshell, these key highlights, I would like to emphasize that the first semester of the year, we had a very sound performance that really feels solid and sustainable growth considering that we accomplished a very significant growth in our turnover into record levels, but focusing on sustaining the margins, on increasing the cash flow generation and also in improving ratios related to the debt, net and gross debt of the company. And with a backlog of EUR 12.6 billion that we closed the first year of -- first half of the year, we'll have -- that will support and will be very important to support our commercial activity and our growth and the commercial activity that is going to be much more selective for the future, looking into contracts with higher margins and with the profile of cash flow that we are looking into. So this is overview of the key highlights of the first half of the year. I'll pass again to Pedro Arrais then in the end, I'll do some remarks, final remarks and also to talk a little bit about the update of strategic plan. So Pedro, please?

Thank you, Carlos. Let's move to Slide 6 to look at the breakdown of the P&L. And here, highlighting a record level of production in a unique semester, achieving 89% growth in turnover with EUR 2.6 billion. That equals the full year of 2021, putting the company in a very different and higher stage in terms of dimension. An EBITDA margin of 14% and a significant increase of our operational results. And even with the expected impact of the debt interest costs in line with the global context that we are living on. The company achieved a very impressive increase of 154% in net profit to EUR 30 million. Moving to Slide 7. We can see here the detailed performance by business units. And very briefly, important to mention that all the business units are showing in the first half of '23 here positive evolution, a minimum double-digit growth with the most relevant growth resulting from the EC division with an increase of 104% impacted mainly by 208% growth in LatAm and 50% in Africa. Also important to mention that the company increased its margins in EC business with the core markets in each region, making the higher contribution to these achievements and proving the positive results from the implementation of the Building 26 strategic plan. So moving to Slide 8. Here, you can see that the company, as Mr. Carl Mota Santos said, sustained the record levels of backlog. And with this achievement, it's important to highlight that even with the impressive execution in the first half. The company was able to renovate its backlog assuring 3 years of activity. Also important to mention that the backlog in June, EUR 10 billion or 80% of the total backlog is concentrated in what we designated as core markets, pursuing the strategic vision to focus on these markets. Important also to mention that the EUR 12.6 billion do not include several contracts signed after June in a total amount of EUR 2 billion and mostly related with railway and industrial services in Africa, supporting a positive revenue stream perspective for 2023 and 2024. Moving to Slide 9. I will not elaborate on that, but you can see here the [ height ] of the railway segment, putting Mota-Engil at this moment as the European company with the highest level of kilometers in execution in railway. Very important to mention that. The capacity and the technical competencies in this segment. Moving to Slide 10. We can see here that the company made a total CapEx of EUR 187 million, with growth and long-term contracts, representing 68% mainly channeled to environment and mainly EGF, our Portuguese treatment company and in Africa, mainly in mining. Important also to mention that Mota-Engil made a significant improvement in terms of optimization in -- we can see here when we look to the EC maintenance CapEx comparing to the sales showing a best performance in equipment management and being, in this sense, a relevant contributor to the improvement in EC margins overall. Moving to Slide 11. Here, you can see that year-on-year, the free cash flow from operations has a growth of 22%. And the consolidation is the -- translation of the consolidation in the recent years of the improvement of the working capital management that allows the company to achieve in June, a solid ratio of 1.6% in working capital. Moving to Slide 12. Here and looking to the debt evolution in more detail, it's important to mention that the debt increase is impacted by seasonality and a relevant level of CapEx in long-term contracts, but the evolution is aligned with the strategy of value creation reflecting -- reflected in a controlled level of net debt-to-EBITDA below 2x as the goal established to be achieved up to 2026 and a relevant improvement in the ratio of gross debt by EBITDA to 3.8x comparing to June of last year when we have 5.7x. Looking to the debt maturity, you can see it right that the company has a liquidity position of EUR 1.1 billion. Over through highlights also in this slide, that we have already EUR 380 million that are already financed or to be refinanced shortly that represents 60% of the nonrevolving financial needs for the next 12 months. Also important to mention the increase of 200 basis points year-to-date in cost of debt, in line with the increase of interest rates worldwide and also reflecting the increase of [indiscernible] local currency in core markets in Africa and in LatAm with higher rates compared to [indiscernible]. Moving to Slide 16. We can see here a brief overview of each business unit and starting by the European division, it's important to mention the resilient capacity to grow in Portugal that represents 70% of total turnover in Europe. And also growth in Poland with margins being slightly impacted by the inflation context, mainly in Poland. Looking to the future, it's important to mention the expectations regarding relevant investment expected to the next years, starting with the metro expansions and the high-speed train tenders, which Mota-Engil has technical expertise to execute all of these kind of contracts. Moving to Slide 18. In Africa, it's important to mention the double-digit growth in the main markets in the region, the focus on core markets like such as Angola, Mozambique and Nigeria that representing 57% of total turnover in the region. And also important to comment that the risk mitigation scheme is very robust in Africa, considering that 97% of the contracts are denominated in hard currency [effects what] currency and guaranteed by multilaterals in the case of public clients. Also important to comment the positive outlook considering the backlog of EUR 6.4 billion, an increase of 39% year-on-year. Moving to Slide 19. We can see here the contract in Industrial Engineering segment based in Africa with EUR 1.3 billion of backlog, and that will increase in EUR 935 million with the expansion contract of Gamsberg in South Africa and the new contract with [Boto] Gold Mine in Senegal that we very recently announced but are not included in the EUR 1.3 billion. The strategy here remains the same, considering the higher margins compared to the traditional segments of EC business and the long-term contracts that allows the company to have a growth contribution to increase the head of long-cycle cash generation business in the group. Move to Slide 21. Here in LatAm, Latin America showed a very impressive growth of 208% with a turnover of EUR 1.3 billion, with Mexico representing EUR 1.1 billion and also with a positive contribution from Peru and Brazil. With a record level of backlog in the region of EUR 5.2 billion, the company opens positive perspective as we made already last year in the first half of '23. And we are making a positive trend for the next 2 years considering the beginning of several railway contracts in Mexico and in Colombia, and the potential that we identify for the near shoring investments in Mexico in the near future. Moving to Slide 23. We can see here the environmental business evolution in the first half and the turnover was up 16% year-on-year to EUR 254 million, with an EBITDA margin of 21%. Important to mention, considering the last call that the already announced transaction with URBASER considering the environmental assets will be concluded until the year-end. Meanwhile, the company is studying several opportunities mainly in Africa. In last -- in the Slide 25, we can see here the contribution from Mota-Engil Capital and MEXT with a turnover of EUR 64 million and an improvement in EBITDA margin to 7%, reflecting the positive evolution in the Real Estate segment. To the future, and considering the development of some real estate projects in Portugal that are in an early stage, we expect to increase the contribution from this segment in 2024. Now we will move to the Chapter 4 in Slide 27 to present the updated goals in our strategic plan. So I invite Mr. Carlos Mota Santos. Carlos?

Thank you, Pedro. As we -- as you all know, we published our strategic plan, Building 26 in the first semester of 2021. But the fact is, since then, all the outside world of Mota-Engil and also within Mota-Engil several changes there as occurs. First of all, we -- as you know, we entered into a share capital agreement with CCCC. They became shareholders of the company with 32% stake back in May '21. Also, at the same time, we came out of the pandemic situation, new -- a war in Europe emerged, and the world is not the same as the one that was back when we published the 2021. And the fact is that due to all this and then also due to the performance of the company, we were compelled to review not the strategic plan because we maintain all the key aspects of the strategic plan, all of the strategic access that we proposed back in 2021, but we reviewed several of the goals that we established back then. So bearing in mind, all those changes and necessity to update it, we are now publishing this strategic plan update. Basically, we still maintain the same goals as the company. But numerically speaking, we are changing the components and the percentage of the provenience of the group's EBITDA in 2026, 60% coming out of engineering construction and 40% coming out of business nonengineering construction. We want to maintain at least EUR 250 million of turnover in each and every one of our core markets but also for each region, we need to have at least weighted average percentage within the group above 25%. We want to continue to create value to all the stakeholders of group and one of those measurements that we have towards in that value creation is to be recognized in ESG policies and therefore, in ESG ratings. We want to achieve 16% of EBITDA with an improved cash conversion by 2026 to achieve 3%, the same goal that we had 2 years ago, 3% of net profit by 2026 and also continue to strengthen our balance sheet in order to have a more sustainable activity and with some goals, namely in terms of debt in which we want to keep below 2x net debt over EBITDA below 4x in terms of gross debt over EBITDA and to achieve a solvency ratio above 15% in 2026. Also in the first semester of this year, we build up what is now our legacy, our legacy inspires to commit us to build a better world. And this is the main principle that we'll guide the company performance and the company actuation for the years to come and also we'll have to be done by the managers of the company. So each and every one of us here in the company are now following this new legacy that was published within the company back in the end of June of this year. So moving on to Slide #28. Like I said previously, 5 strategic access, focus on profitability in Engineering & Construction, growth in nonengineering construction, namely in the environmental sector in the concessions, infrastructure concessions and also in the industrial engineering, continue our gross group efficiency program. That is one of the reasons why we are improving our EBIT margins and our net profit and continue the new path towards sustainability and innovation. Alongside with that, a very important goal to keep on the strengthening of our balance sheet through debt optimization and also through the diversification of our sourcings of debt. So we can see on Slide #29, an overview of what are the figures that we are aiming to achieve in 2026. In terms of revenues, we will be -- or we want to achieve slightly above EUR 6 billion to reach an EBITDA of 16%, like I said previously, but also and more importantly, to achieve the 3% of net profit. We are on the path towards that objective. Not only this -- last year, we improved our net profit, but also in the first half of this year, we are improving our net profit. In terms of working capital over revenues, we have our working capital over revenues of 7% in 2026. That is a big improvement of 5% when compared with the beginning of the plan to achieve free cash flow of EUR 320 million so on average in the -- between 2020 and 2026, up to over -- slightly over EUR 200 million. And again, net debt over EBITDA every year below 2x and of course, in 2026 as well, but also in the years to come after 2026. And to reach a solvency ratio that is the proof of the balance sheet strengthening of over 15%. So this is -- moving on to Slide 30, we can see what will be the split in terms of non-EC and EC businesses. So in terms of EC business, they will be responsible for 70% of the revenues by 60% of the operational margins, like I said previously, but will account only for 50% of the net profit. So the non-EC business that is environmental, capital, industrial engineering and also concessions will be responsible for 50% of our net profit in 2026 being also the biggest contributor in terms of CapEx by that year. So this is only a brief overview of what was the review strategic plan that we might -- we did publish today also a separate document about the revision of the strategic plan that you can analyze with further details in that document. So moving on to the outlook and for the final remarks, Slide 32. Regarding the guidance for the end of the year, and considering the stable backlog that we have at a record level of EUR 12.6 billion. And with this 89% growth of turnover on the first half of the year, we are fully convicted that -- convinced that in the end of this year, we'll accomplish a new milestone within the company of achieving of a turnover slightly above EUR 5 billion. That will be the first time in our history. We'll have a growth -- with this growth with stable margins of EBITDA. But improving, like I was saying a little while before the net margins of the company, that is one of the key objectives that we have. We will continue to focus on the cash flow generation. That historically, as you all know, is ever a better performance on the second half of the year when compared with the first semester and keep on with the control that with the goal in mind that will always be below 2x net debt over EBITDA in every exercise until 2026 and after 2026, of course. For last but not least, it's important to mention that we'll start to update quarterly the information of the company that we consider that is very relevant to keep on constant communication -- official communication with the investors community. In terms of final remarks and moving on for the last slide #33. Our commercial strategy will remain the same. We'll focus mainly on the core markets with projects with bigger size. And this way, we fully believe that we will maintain the same level of backlog that we have today. So in the end of the year, we expect to maintain the same level of our backlog, bearing in mind that will execute more than EUR 2.5 billion in the second half of the year. And we consider that the priority is the quality of the backlog in terms of margin and in terms of cash flow profile. So our commercial policy -- our commercial strategy is a strategy that we are much more selective in the types of projects that we want to tender in order to comply with these goals of having better projects with higher margins and enhancing, therefore, also the better profile in terms of cash flow generation. We will achieve the EUR 5 billion at the end of the year with this record level of backlog and process to update our new -- renew our ambitions that it was the commitment that today we announced an upside to EUR 6 billion of turnover to be achieved in 2026. But more important than that, we have to improve our margins special net margin until 2026 and being very focused on as we are today to control our debt keep on below the 2x net debt over EBITDA, and therefore, strengthening our balance sheet. Working on full implementation of our strategies. Our next step will be developing our strategic vision to the concessional business. In order to reinforce our capacity to piece to a higher range of greenfield projects and therefore, deploy even further value for the company. So this is our final remarks, and now we are, of course, available to answer all your questions. So thank you all.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from the line of Miguel Gonzales Toquero from JB Capital.

Yes. I got three, if I may. First of all, on your new EBITDA guidance, you have seen an increase in profitability with margins of 16% compared to the 14% EBITDA this semester. So I wonder whether you could elaborate maybe a little bit more on this, whether this could come entirely by your simplification plan and gain scale in your core markets or there is a product mix component as well? Secondly, regarding the consensus portfolio, I just want to confirm that the equity contributed so far has been around EUR 220 million, whether you could give us the equity commitments in this concession for the next 3 years? And lastly, I don't know if you could maybe guide us on the total CapEx you expect for the year, maybe including investment in concessions. So we can compare with last year that you didn't reported investment in concession by separate? And also, I will appreciate if you will clarify whether your CapEx target of 7% of sales includes these investments in concession?

Thank you for the questions. So I will answer the first question, then I'll pass the word to my colleague, Carlos, the company's CFO, to answer your second and third question. So explaining the 16% target, we'll see it coming out from the 14% that we are now in terms of EBITDA. First of all, we need to understand that today, we have a mix of our business, in which, of course, engineering construction has a much bigger weight when compared with the past. And when we compare it with the previous figures of the plan and in which we have a very high contribution coming out from Latin America that has a lower EBITDA margin when compared with Africa. But of course, Africa and Latin America have a bigger margin in terms of your EBITDA when compared with Europe. So we will achieve the 16% in 2026 by more, let's say, homogeneous composition coming out from Latin America and from Africa with a higher contribution coming out from Africa on one hand, but also with the growth from our non-EC business, namely the environmental sector that as I imagine as we all know, and also coming out from engineering construction -- the industrial engineering. So on the end of 2026, we'll have a mix between EC and non-EC of 60% of turnover coming from EC and 40% coming from non-EC that we will have in terms of EBITDA and a revenue of 70% contribution coming from EC and 30% coming from non-EC, in which the mix between Africa and Latin America will be more homogenous and with a much higher contribution than is today coming out from the non-EC business, therefore, reaching the 16% EBITDA. Alongside with that, is our goal -- it's more than our goal, it's our obligation, of course, to continue to pursue the operational improvement in terms of margins. So we need to buy better. We need to do more with less resources. So that is our mission every day. And therefore, we cannot -- we can never be satisfied what we achieve, and we are looking always to improve our profitability. Moving on to the second question concerning the equity coming out from concessions, I'll ask Jose Carlos to elaborate on this.

Okay. Thank you, Carlos. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Jose Carlos Nogueira. Thank you, Miguel, for your questions. Regarding the equity related with the concessions portfolio. I do confirm that today, the book value is around EUR 210 million. What you see here on the EUR 175 million, it's the equipment and work developed under our new concessions that we have under execution, mainly in Mexico. And this was the value, I would say, invested by the end of June. And of course, we under our strategic rotation of assets strategy. We aim to reach the financial close as soon as possible, and then we will, of course, recognize the equivalent equity in each and every concession under development now. What I can tell you now is that out of this EUR 175 million until June circa EUR 70 million were already received by the financial close, the shift in one concession which is called Nayarit in Mexico. So out of the EUR 175 million, EUR 70 million, it's already cashed in June, but it was only in July. Regarding the third question and about the stable levels of CapEx, I do confirm that our vision is to have the same level of CapEx comparing with last year, which was around EUR 351 million. And I do confirm that this work developed under the execution of the new concession. It's not considering when looking at just the CapEx number that we disclosed here during this presentation.

The next question comes from the line of Filipe Leite from CaixaBank BPI.

I have three questions, if I may. The first one is actually a clarification -- 2 clarifications on the same slide, Page 11, the cash flow provided by you in your presentation. If you can give us the breakdown of the EUR 87 million cash outflow from others? And also in same slide, if you can tell us from the dividend outflow of EUR 65 million, what is the amount related with Mota-Engil dividend and what is related with minorities in other activities and in that case what activities are we talking about? Second question, if you can give us an update on the coming EGF regulatory period, when should we expect the novelties on that front and namely the new regulatory assumptions? And last one, in your final remarks, Carlos mentioned a new concession strategy. Can you give us more details on what will be the changes on your concession portfolio? Are you looking at some divestments and if we can see some of those divestments in short term?

Okay, Filipe. Thank you for your questions. Concerning the three questions that you made, Jose Carlos will elaborate on the first one of the profile of the free cash flow on Slide 11. And then we will answer you on the two others, namely the one from EGF and the concession strategy. So Jose Carlos.

Thank you, Filipe. So regarding the cash flow and the others. As you know, we are -- we have announced the new concession that we are going to have the right of use in a few markets in line this year, which is a little bit of Atlantic railway. As you might be aware, it was on the news as well, we and Trafigura. We have to pay a premium to start the concession contract with the government. So this -- out of this EUR 87 million that we have here in others, it's not in concessions because there's no financial close and right of use delivered by the government, but it's the premium which worth EUR 50 million for other EUR 50 million for Trafigura. So EUR 50 million each here. The other, I can tell us, which is mainly related with the ForEx exposure, not only by the appreciation of the Mexican peso which affects the local debt in local currency, of course, and some cash that we have in some countries in Africa for local expenses and mainly related with the negative evolution of the exchange rates of those currencies. Regarding the one point of your question, and the dividends for the Mota-Engil shareholders, it was like EUR 31 million, the rest it was to the -- our local shareholders in Mota-Engil Mexico.

So Filipe, going to the second question, going to the question that you made about EGF and regulatory period. As you might be aware, we are now in the regulatory period between 2022 and 2024, the end of 2024. Our current revenue -- our current asset base, so the asset base that is used to calculate the tariffs on the revenue and asset base model is EUR 380 million. And we are going to enter into the next period -- regulatory period in the beginning of 2025. So during next year, 2024, will be the negotiation -- the presentation of the investment plans to the regulator and to the brand and, of course, negotiation with the regulator in order to establish the bar the revenue, the asset prices for the following period, that is 2025 until the end of 2027 and of course, to stipulate the tariffs in each and every concession. It's worth to mention to you also that relating to this, we are now, as you might be aware, the pursue that is the strategic plan coming out from the government to achieve the goals in 2030 was published in the end of June. So all our concessions will have to present their plans in order to comply with these objectives for 2030 and 2035 by the end of this year. So we are starting now the working group with the government in order to establish the investment plan bearing in mind those strategic rules that the country has to comply with in 2035. And it's a very ambitious plan for 2035. And that will, of course, will impact the plans for the next regulatory period and the regulatory periods to come. Answering to your question about concessions, look, Mota-Engil in the past was the second biggest player in concessions here in Portugal. So as you all know, we were the biggest shareholder of [indiscernible], that was the biggest -- second biggest player in the market with a very intensive activity here in Portugal, but also with activity outside of Portugal. We sold that business back in 2012, so 11 years ago. But nevertheless, we always maintain this know-how on this capability of tendering to concessions, namely concessions in greenfield model in order to leverage construction contract. That was mainly done in the last years, in the last 10 years in Latin America, especially in Mexico, but also we've been doing that in other countries, namely in Africa, which recently not only the concession that Carlos just mentioned, will be to corridor that is responsible for EUR 50 million out of the EUR [87 million] of the common other stat you asked, but also some concessions in other markets, namely in Kenya. So the reality is that today, we have a very important portfolio of concessions that we feel that is not duly valued by the markets. It is not duly valued by the market because probably we are not exposing that value in the certain way. So we are in a very deep analysis. We are analyzing and we are reflecting in order -- if we should create or not a new vehicle that could concentrate all our portfolio concessions, not only in Latin America, could be one example or another one for the other concessions in Africa. So I cannot elaborate much more on this because this is a process that we are beginning, but I can share with you that we want to evidence more the even value that we have today coming out from our concessions portfolio. The concessions has been a way to leverage construction. Our model is by rotating those concession, rotating the equity that we invest in those concessions so that we can leverage more projects. We are not finishing that strategy for the time being. But nevertheless, we are in a very deep analysis if we should or not change our strategy towards concessions and having, let's say, a patrimonial approach to those projects in terms of the management of the group.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Artur Amaro from Caixa Banco de Investimento.

I have two, if I may. The first one is related with EBITDA in the Environment segment after a 27% year-on-year drop and the margin also came down from around 32% to 21%. Just would like to understand what's behind what justifies the EBITDA drop and the margin drop? And the second question is related with the amount of leasing and factoring that you have by June '23 and that you're not included in your net debt figure. And that's it.

Thank you for your questions. So I'll ask Jose Carlos to answer both questions, not only the one from the explanation of the margins of environmental sector, but also the one concerning leasing and factoring. So Jose Carlos?

Thank you, Carlos. Artur, regarding the first question and the margins on the environmental sector. As you know, and as we said, in Portugal, the margins remained stable. And we have to look at this environment margins evolutions, looking at the end of 2022. As you remember, it was not like we are seeing in this -- comparing with the first half of 2021, it was 24%, which was more close to the 21% that we have now. And what happened -- what is more important here to clarify it's what happened during the first semester of 2022. As you know, on our international markets, namely with a more visible project, which was the collection of the waste in Rwanda and Angola. The government we closed the first set of contracts and we renewed the contract. What happened is that the government was not happy with the work provided by the other suppliers. And when we entered into the new contract because they delayed a bit during the end of 2020 and in the beginning of 2021. There was liability was, let's say, to be collected in our new contracts to be executed. So of course, when they took it as emergence at that time, it was very important, everyone was talking about the waste level of waste in Rwanda. So we executed a very important level of waste collection at that time. Of course, being emergency, it was paid differently with different margins and conditions to, would say to repost the normality regarding the waste in Rwanda. So the first half of 2021 was mainly affected by this set of work supplied at that time in order to give back the normality to this waste collection. And then we started to execute the normal concept that we are doing now, which is 2 sectors in big sectors in Rwanda. So for comparison reasons, we have to compare more the EBITDA stable by the end of 2022 with the first half of 2023, which was from 24% to 21% now. Regarding the second question. Leasing and factor, it was -- it's worth now like around EUR 620 million.

The next question comes from the line of [ Joao Vermejo ] from JB Capital.

Hello. Good afternoon, everybody. It's always a pleasure to be on the call. First of all, congratulations for the outstanding results. I would like just a confirmation that the EUR 175 million that is reported on Page 11 as a cash outflow under concession is just normal CapEx from the construction division for your own concession. So that's the clarification. The second one is more strategical. You have a negative free cash flow during the first half, which is understandable in light of the very high CapEx that you need to cope with the backlog you have and also because working capital comes from maybe a normally low level. So it's a certain normalization is understandable. But my question is taking into consideration the extremely high level of backlog that you guys have. Maybe you will continue to have negative cash flow in the next coming years. Is there a plan you're thinking about in order to change the capital structure of the group?

Joao, nice to hear friendly voice. Hope you are okay. So answering your first question of the EUR 175 million, yes your question, the answer is yes. It affirms CapEx spend by the Construction division in order to concession that still don't have the financial close. But like Jose Carlos was saying a little while ago. It's important to mention that these projects that mainly are in Mexico are expecting to have the financial close during this year. And one of them that is [ CMRO ] of Nayarit that is a road concession already got the financial close during July. So if it was in the end of July, this figure would not be EUR 175 million, it would be EUR 105 million, so below EUR 70 million that were already cashing by our construction company there. Answering the second question, I will ask Jose Carlos to answer. But let me just say no, we do not have any thoughts and we will not have any changes on the capital structure of the company. So that is a clear answer from our side, but Jose Carlos will elaborate more on our questions concerning that.

Very well and complementing just because of the simple fact that it's not needed. Just to remind you, Joao of our strategy regarding namely the receivables or the collectors that we started to establish 5 to 6 years ago. 2022 was the first year, namely on the well-known or called -- it's not in our view, exotic markets, we were facing some constraints regarding the overviews, let's say. When talking about the backlog that we have now and we are -- and then the execution, it's important to remember, again, that it has quality not only in terms of margin size, et cetera, but mainly because it has coupled a financing strategy behind that, which supports the cash flows that you are -- we are seeing now, meaning that as you know, typically in Africa, where we were facing most of the constraints bottleneck there regarding the receivables. We started to, namely on the sovereigns or the exposure to public clients having always a contract with a financing solution, the typical called [indiscernible], which means that on the balance sheet of our clients, the government in this case, meaning that we started to the projects having the purity that we have the financial means allocated to the projects and available since we invoice to our clients. It was a change in our strategy. It's true. If we can to be -- started to be a solution for our own needs in terms of cash flow protection because we were having this bottleneck on the receivables, but it ended up being a competitive advantage because, as you know, we started to bring financing solutions from multi-laterals, DFI, ECA which are much more competitive when compared with commercial or typical commercial financing institutions. The tenure is bigger, the price is better so the clients found out that Mota will have the ability to bring financing solutions to our projects and having on their side, the more sustainable transactions in terms of facilities to support these contracts. So we changed completely the approach. Of course, we had to recycle at that time, that's why it started 5 to 6 years ago and '22 was the first year in which we collected during the 12 months, the whole profits of this implementation of this strategy. But just for you to remember, it's on the presentation as well. Namely in Africa, 20% of our contracts are received in Portugal or in countries where we have the capacity to -- or no constraints on the repatriation. In terms of foreign exchange protection, 97 of those contracts are in hard currency or hard currency pack. And we took very carefully as well care of the quality of the clients as well. So this is a backlog under execution with not only the quality in terms of profitability, but with this mitigation strategy in place. So this is why we are very confident in '22 was the first year again. This first half showed the same we are very confident that we are going to be stable in terms of cash flow generation.

The next question comes from the line of [ Joao Safara ] from Banco Santander.

I have two questions, just very simple questions. The first on the famous Slide 11 of the cash flow performance. I just wanted to understand, honestly, I don't recall, but where do you allocate the lease expenses in those columns? I mean I assume that would be in CapEx. But if you could just remind me. I would appreciate that very much. And then the second one, just on I mean, how should we think about the cash flow committed to the projects also in percentage terms? Out of what I recall, you have roughly EUR 400 million of cash position. What is the percentage of cash that is prepayment or cash that is restricted? And those are my two questions.

Joao, thank you for your questions. Jose Carlos will answer most of your questions, not only the lease expenses but also the prepayments that you are asking about. So Jose Carlos?

Thank you so much. Regarding the first question and the lease expenditures, of course, here, we -- on the famous 11 slide, we are talking about the net debt, excluding leasing and factoring. So the expenditures are on the financial interest but not in terms of the gross starting point, but in terms of the P&L, it's there. Regarding the second questions and the advanced payments. So during this first semester, the evolution of the down payments coming out of the clients, the projects. It was around EUR 400 million. It's important to clarify that when we have a contractual advance payment, it's not a way of the client to give us liquidity help, let's say. They have all the advance payments, they have a purpose, starting with the classic ones, namely mobilization and the setup of the sites, let's say. But typically and very important to support our procurement strategy, which is important to buy in anticipated way and to be sure that we are going to have this special materials or goods or supply sometimes, meaning sometimes dredging for instance, to have this assured since the beginning. And when the time comes, it's going to be applied because they are very important to the development of the project and to comply with the terms. So just to avoid the -- and to be very, very clear that this advance payments, they don't affect at all our net debt because they are allocated to goods, supplies, et cetera, et cetera. In this particular key case of the first semester of 2023, we have the effect -- out of this EUR 400 million in advance payments. We have the effect of the Trem Maya project in Mexico. Just for you to be aware, we have -- out of this EUR 400 million, we have EUR 375 million, it's from Mexico, namely for inventories that we have, as you know, to obligation to term -- to conclude most of the works by the end of this year. So we have to -- we have these inventories now to be applied and to be then invoiced to the client, EUR 375 million out of which EUR 230 million are inventories. And then we have with this amount of production that we are delivering each and every month. We are talking about EUR 275 million in average of works to be invoiced every month that has to be, let's say, financed as they need working capital to that. So this is mainly related with that. What is important to say is that these advance payments are not affecting this net debt, which was the same or partially the same in 2022. In 2022, We had a high level of advance payments as well coming from Mexico and from Nigeria, they entered on the very end of 2022. And of course, we could not use the whole amount to put on our -- on the suppliers hand, let's say. And it remains -- but out of that EUR 350 million, if I remember well, of last year, we just not could allocate like EUR 120 million or EUR 125 million, which remain in our treasury. The other -- the rest of the amount must be delivered to the -- but allocated to mobilize, to set up the sites, to buy the inventories, to advance to the suppliers. This evolution on the net that fits your question, it's completely regarding the financing of this CapEx, EUR 187 million. And these investments are worth developed under the new concessions, EUR 175 million.

There are no further questions from the conference call. We'll start now with written questions. Mr. Arrais, please go ahead.

Just to finish the call, I would like to thank you for attending this call.

So thank you all. This is Carlos speaking. Thank you all for attending the call. And we are available for further questions through our [indiscernible]. Have a good afternoon to all.