Rubis (RUI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the presentation of the half year results 2020 of Rubis. Please note that this conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Now I'm going to give the floor to Jacques Riou, General Partner of Rubis; and Bruno Krief, Financial Director, for the conference of today. You've got the floor.

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Thank you for being connected, and thank you for the time that you are devoting to us. We are going to present to you the results of the first half year of 2020 of the Rubis Group. Naturally and without any surprise, obviously, the first striking fact amongst the events that have happened during the half year, it's the impact of the COVID pandemic on the activities of the group. I don't have to describe to you the pandemic because you all know about it. That pandemic had effects that were mitigated and restricted, thanks to the activity of all of our employees. We're very proud of having succeeded in maintaining the operational continuity of the group everywhere where it is present in the different countries and the different geographical areas where we are in operational units that are working H 24. That operational continuity was achieved without affecting the state of health of our employees. We had very few cases of COVID-19 in the group amongst the employees of the group and no serious case. And that's a result that we are very proud of. That result, in fact, can be explained by 2 components that I very often put forward. First of all, it's the organization of the group that is very much decentralized and that is based on management teams that have got at their disposal capacity to the responsibilities that they are ours, that they are theirs, that it is possible. So it's a very flexible organization, very decentralized, that gives responsibility to everything and every area and the quality of the teams that makes the difference. Another element that I would like to put forward regarding this aspect is that we didn't call upon any subsidies or public aid at any time. We didn't use short-time work, and all of our employees were entirely paid for the whole period. We consider that it's part of our contribution to the different communities in which we operate. We also set up aids for -- through different associations and societies for the health staff in hospitals and others. Those aids were the same nature in the different countries where we operate. With regard to those aids, we contributed to different bodies like AP-HP, that is the hospital organization in Paris, and also the Paris structure of Bordeaux to help fight COVID. We decided also to maintain dividends for shareholders, and general partners waived part of their compensation. And part of -- the managers waived the dividends for 2019. So quickly, those are the items related to this pandemic, this COVID pandemic. Second element that was a striking fact that is not mentioned among the 3 points that you've got on that screen but that is present all the time, that is the level of the prices of fuel products. As you know, since the very beginning when -- at the time of the different lockdowns that took place in the different areas, there was a price war between the main producing countries of fuel products. And it resulted from a collapse of the prices by 35% to 40%, which was a major element in the -- in our operations. That had an immediate negative effect because we had to suffer negative stock effects and a more delayed effect over the months. That is the one of an improvement of our margins -- of our unit margins, coupled with the possibility of reducing prices for our customers and make our clientele loyal. That's an element that we'll get back to and that was central in that period. Third element, it is something we've talked about already, we talked about in March that is the setting up of a joint venture for Rubis Terminal, the subsidiary of storage of fuel products. And it is a joint venture that we set up with a big U.S. fund that is called I Squared that is present all over the world. So that operation that we talked about already was completed in mid-April. That is during obviously the period of the lockdown. It was a very serious operation, and that folded perfectly according to the agreement that was signed at the end of last year. On this occasion, we also proceeded to the issuing of bonds on international markets that met a great success. We were the first ones to get on -- for the first time on this kind of market, and we reopened the market for those who had never accessed it. Basically, that JV and its completion, its setting up left a strong footprint in the accounts because the capital gain is over EUR 8 million. And from a corporate point of view, it's EUR 230 million. The other point that is essential is that we have reduced our debt drastically at a time when the economic crisis related to the COVID crisis is very strong. And the goals that were ours during the pursuance of this operation continue to enroll as we wish. What were they -- those goals was about for us to take into account the fact that the infrastructure assets in terms of storage of fuel products had reached a level of price that was very high over the years. And -- on the one hand, and so it was to try and take advantage of that; and secondly, to be able to continue investing in those assets in the form of external growth. And to do that, it was necessary to be at the level of the competitors in auction cells to present a level of indebtedness that is -- that wasn't the one of the historical one of Rubis. And that's the reason of this association with our partner that allowed us to deconsolidate this Rubis Terminal asset. And that will allow us to continue growing externally in this field. The last point that is mentioned here, it's the acquisition of the TEPSA company in Spain that illustrates perfectly this -- the previous operation that I was talking about, the JV with I Squared because very few weeks after the entering into the joint venture, we proceeded to the first acquisition of storage infrastructure of fuel products. And we were then able to reach a level of debt for this specific operation plant and paid for the price that is the one of the market that is the average price on the market that is 11x the EBITDA. So TEPSA is a very good business that we've known for a long time. It's one of the leaders of storage of chemicals in Spain. It's present in big harbors. And this presence of chemicals that is -- at least half of the business of TEPSA attracted us and the rest of the business being shared between traditional fuels and biofuels. So that's for the striking events of the period. The key figures of the half year. Sales revenue, as you know, is of a moderate relevance in the sense that it takes into account the effect of the nominal -- the change in the nominal prices. The revenue is -- well, drops without any real consequences. The volumes dropped by 5% and 15%. As far as the constant scope is concerned, we -- because of the strong reduction in -- of the economic business in the different regions where we operate, we had to suffer this drop in volume. It varied according to the products because the products that -- the main needs, I'm thinking of LPG, didn't go down as much, but products like aviation fuel collapsed by 80% at the worst time. Bitumen was rather good as well as storage, but motor gas stations and the big accounts for general trade or industry were -- got more hit in volume, including marine fuels. The stock effects were very strong in the beginning of the period. And finally, we're compensated over time until the 30th of June to be almost entirely compensated, and we could benefit from the improvement in unit margins. We'll get back to that. Third point that you may see when you look at the EBITDA, we consider that the COVID effect would -- has reduced the global margin by EUR 43 million over the period. That obviously impacted the EBIT that -- but that -- it is a limited reduction over the period. As for Rubis Terminal, the business was good because the level is higher than last year, with the France business a bit reduced compensated by Turkey that benefit from inflows of storage by international players and a good level of business in the northwest of Europe, in the Netherlands and in Belgium. In total, they -- net profit, group's share is dropping by 11% but, for the constant scope, by 30%. It's got to be said that there will be comments to be made between -- the transition between the EBIT and the net profit because of the entering into the JV that generated EUR 84 million of capital gain but also depreciation of assets for EUR 74 million. That's -- we will go into more details with regard to capital expenditure today at a later time. But despite the lockdowns in the different countries where we operate, we maintained capital expenditure at a very high level. Shareholders' equity as of the 30th of June, there's a reduction of the equity. That's the effect of the payment of the dividend during the period. And I wanted to make a particular comment about the net financial debt. You may see that we almost do not have any debt left from -- we went from EUR 637 million to EUR 52 million, almost 0 due -- that's due to the Rubis Terminal operation, but also thanks to a very good management of working capital that dropped drastically. I'm going to give the floor to Bruno.

Regarding the revenue in the cash flow, the impact on the cash flow of the financial year, the changes are the following. Of course, the cash flow has decreased by 16%, EUR 200 million. We need to make a difference between the EBIT and EBITDA changes. There's also a change in working capital, positive change of EUR 133 million. This is an impact due to the decrease of oil prices. And this has had a nominal impact on the investment in working capital. That means that the cash flow that was invested in the working capital is lower as well. Lower volumes as well, which can be an explanation in lower stocks. Investment CapEx, we -- this is distributed between the terminal inc and Rubis Énergie and Support and Services. So a total of EUR 129 million. Then the net acquisition of financial assets, this represent the sale of 45% of Rubis Terminal titles and a new partner for EUR 186 million and other line related to transactions payment from Rubis Terminal. This was a refund -- an advance refund from shareholders from Rubis Terminal to Rubis SCA and also a specific dividend that was paid to the shareholder after the acquisition, represents approximately EUR 232 million accumulated for these flows. We then have dividends made to shareholders, ordinary and minority interest, EUR 124 million, EUR 1.75 per asset paid in June. And the increase of shareholders' equity, since part of the dividend, was paid in assets. And then we can read about the impact of change in scope. Interaction with the company that we bought in Kenya last year been consolidated in the accounts since the 1st of January, and a change in the net debt of assets held for sale had an impact in the consolidation. For the total of these flows, we see a net financial position as of June -- 30th June 2020 of EUR 52 million. And as Jacques was saying, this is a very low percentage compared to the shareholders' equity and the working capital that is generated by the group. Let's now describe the operational activity of the group. We're not going to talk too much about COVID because we've heard about it for the past 6 months in -- at length. So let's now have a look at these 3 graphs. And we see the concrete -- the real effect on Rubis and Rubis Énergie more specifically, so the impact of lockdown and COVID and the pandemic. So we can a clear impact on T2 from April to June. On this first graph, we see a decrease of total volumes per month compared to the previous 12 months, so decreased 42%. And if we follow the same red line, we see the volumes from April that are progressively increasing, minus 19%, minus 16%, minus 17% at the end of August. And gross margin for retail reached a very low level of minus 38% in April. And we see a slow increase, quite strong increase actually, from the end of Q3, an increase of 1% of the monthly margin in August compared to last year. Q1 was relatively good with an increase of total global margin. And we are -- it's very much concentrated in Q2 and back to normal regarding margins. It's obvious that in terms of volumes and more specifically in aviation and for certain industrial volumes in LPG in certain countries, this is decreasing. So minus 17% that we can see in August regarding volumes. Second significant event during this last 6 months -- but before, I should say a little bit more about volumes. And we can analyze the change of volumes in LPG, aviation and fuels outside of aviation. We can see a strong decrease in aviation, lowest level at minus 86% mostly in the Caribbean area with a shutdown of air traffic, air transport. In July and August, we still have minus 60% compared to last year. And in fact, to remind you that the usual aviation volumes represent 10% of the total volume of the group and 5% of the global margin. We see more nuances in the impact on the profit. We can see that the red line for LPG has been quite resilient. The lowest level in April and May was a decrease of minus 90% -- 19%, minus 24% compared to last year. And we see a slow recovery in June and July and August. Most of this business is about white products. And this has been strongly impacted, minus 38% at its lowest level in April, Q2, and a slow recovery during Q3. Second significant event, the collapse of barrel of oil prices. A strong decrease that started in March, minus 43%; April, minus 61% for Platts, oil prices in dollars; and today, minus 34% compared to last year. Unit margins in the meantime followed a normal tendency, a normal trend. We have a positive increase that was mitigating the impact on storage. And this has accelerated at the end of the period of time. During Q1, we have a unit margin in retail that is 33% higher than last year. This is quite encouraging for the first quarter, and this should continue during the rest of the year. A few words on Rubis Énergie. You know it well. No significant event, no acquisition in Rubis Énergie during the past half year. We can note a certain balance of margins amongst the 3 geographical areas: Caribbean, Europe and Africa, 32%, 36%; a strong increase in volumes in Africa, 45%. A large amount of margins, as you can see, for 32% in Europe for volumes of 16%. This is where LGP is the most present with stability and strong margins. And as Jacques was saying, I'd say that this proves that there's incredible diversification and distribution of sales in geographical area, customer categories, locations, professions, transport, industry, agriculture. And in the end, this allowed the business to be strongly resilient during these troubled times. I'd like to add that this complex positioning matrix per customer categories, needs and upstream and downstream, upstream being support and services to supply and trading and retail, this breakdown of our business in different categories has had an impact on -- a positive impact on the resilience of volumes. Hence, volumes have decreased by 2.5 million of cubic meters during this half year, so it decreased by 5% in constant scope, which is still a very strong result compared to the shock that we can observe on the graph. Gross margin in retail in euros decreased by 9%, 15% in constant scope. The unit margin, however, has progressed by 3% compared to last year. Scope -- change of scope includes the Eastern Africa area because in April, we acquired KenolKobil. So this year, we are comparing 12 months against 9 months. Gulf Energy as well, which is a retail company that we bought in Kenya at the end 2019, that is consolidated since the first of January. So we now -- can now take the volumes into accounts. The difference between constant scope and real scope volumes takes into account 1 half year in Kenya for KenolKobil and for the whole quarter for Gulf Energy. So that's the explanation for this difference. Let's now have a look at our next slide. You can see our EBIT by geographical breakdown with a decrease of 26% in general. In Europe, which is, I think, the -- according to me, the most resilient area, it decreased by 9%. Caribbean with minus 28%, EUR 49 million, and Africa decreased minus 33%, EUR 46 million. In the Caribbean area, the biggest damage was in Haiti, minus 16% outside of Haiti in contribution compared to last year. The island has suffered damages at all levels: the political, economic, monetary levels, in terms of governance as well. Aviation has suffered, fuel volumes in general. And this was exacerbated by the COVID effect. This is applying additional pressure on the decision-makers. The local representatives have started implementing a form of pricing structures or at least started discussing it. So it's quite clear that measures are supposed to be implemented at the end of the second half year. So we have asked for an impairment test, and the price of oil would have been, in Haiti, for EUR 46 million, just so that we could be cautious. We have taken advantage of the added value of the sale of Rubis Terminal so that we could also be able to invest in other areas that were considered riskier. So EUR 174 million of provisions were collected, thanks to the situation in Haiti and other parts of the world. In Africa, EUR 46 million profit, minus 41% in constant scope. And this is due to the COVID effect. Last year, we had 9 points in constant scope -- 9 months in constant scope so -- this year so that we could compare the right quarter, first quarter of 2020. And there was a good -- they were good results with KenolKobil in the first part of the year. And then we put aside the second -- we also took into account the second quarter with a strong decrease, so we compare the first quarter of 2019, first quarter of consolidation. This is -- we can see a stronger impact here because of the comparison that we use. Hence, why we can observe minus 41% in constant scope. Let's have a look in constant scope change per geographical area for Rubis Énergie in terms of volumes, margin, gross margin, unit margin and EBIT. We can see here a summary with the different figures. We can see that in Europe, minus 14% for volumes; margin, minus 5%; unit margin, minus 10%. So it shows how resilient the LGP business is, 90% of LGP. So the decrease can be explained by volumes in Corsica and the Channel Islands. This is quite stable. There's even an increase of the unit margin and a decrease of EBIT of only 9%. The Caribbean, minus 15% for volumes. Aviation is significant explanation. Margin goes hand in hand and an increase of unit margin of 2%, decrease of EBIT, minus 28%, which is due to the situation in Haiti, which is also exacerbated by the operational situation and the currency, the local currency. Africa decreased volumes minus 22%, stock effects that were a bit more significant in this area compared to the rest of the group. Minus 25% for margins, and right now, we can see a strong decrease between end of margin and end of the quarter, end of half year. There was a stock effect that took time -- it took time to mitigate it because the stock rotation was very low for the past 3 months. But now we are recovering from it, and we can see that at the group level, unit margin today are higher compared to last year. As of 4 -- Africa, 4 countries, South Africa has been severely impacted, strict lockdown. And in the industrial area, we are very much present in this country. Many factories had to close, and this has had an impact on large volumes. In Madagascar, we can -- we have seen the shutdown of mining in deposit in Ambatovy. So we're the exclusive supplier for this mine, and expat workers had to go home at the end of March. The deliveries stopped until beginning of 2021, so lower volumes, stock effect that has been recovered at the end of the year, thanks to the positive effect on unit margin. KenolKobil in Africa, strict lockdown in Kenya, stock effect as well that has been exacerbated on the total volumes but more particularly on aviation, which is an explanation for the decrease of EBIT by 41%. Nigeria, the business in bitumen, worksites were closed, shut down. Expats, most of the time, had to be sent home. And the country relies strongly on oil imports. The currency was devaluated, and the country has suffered a significant impact of COVID. And in August, however, the future seemed brighter since volumes were higher. And margins were, for the most parts, recovered since we were able to find supplies in bitumen in the area, its lowest level in Africa. And we were able to then have very good margins for the second part of the half year. We are -- we have businesses in bitumen in Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and, more recently, Cameroon and Senegal. And this has been very positive for this period of time. Another African country where we are relatively exposed, Morocco, in LGP. And the lockdown was very strict as well. Many workshop -- work sites, factories were closed, shut down. And we see that this has had a strong impact on the spring, summer season as well. General comments on Rubis Énergie, so that was it for Rubis Énergie. But to conclude this description, I'd say that the cash flow has only decreased by 15%. So cash flow, a cash flow of EUR 143 million in capital expenditure of EUR 63 million, which is due to our usual investment -- a certain amount of investments, expenditure had to be postponed for technical reasons since our suppliers weren't on site, as you understand. As for support and services, that is complementary distribution of energy. There's upstream of the basic business that is distribution, that's the SARA in terms of refining with 12 ships present in trading and supply, so shipping, as I was saying, and logistics. That business, as we're saying earlier, was very much resilient also because results are increasing by 2%. The contribution to the EBIT is EUR 52 million in comparison with EUR 51 million last year. It shows what we're saying before that is presence upstream that is the mainstream for us, which is very complementary of the upstream and distribution. And you have here in bitumen, strong advance of the contribution because as I was saying earlier, the -- we had the opportunity of buying at a low price and store raw materials. And that allowed us to have very good margins and to be very competitive in the second half of the year, well, over the period, in fact. And that generated EUR 8.5 million more in terms of EBIT in comparison with last year. With regard to the figures that you see for SARA that is dropped by 30% of the contribution to EBIT, it's an accounting entry. SARA, the results of SARA are supervised by -- according to a decree that guarantees 9% of return on equity, that is EUR 220 million. And that formula applies to the corporate accounts and not the consolidated accounts, which means that by the end of the year, we should find again the EUR 21 million -- EUR 20 million, EUR 21 million of net contribution of SARA to the EBIT and whatever the operational activity of it, including sales or stocks because it's a specific mechanisms -- mechanism that is associated with this refining structure in Martinique. To complete, you've got here the cash flow of Rubis Support and Services that is also increasing by 18%. Capital expenditure at EUR 39 million, that represents that are very much focused on refining -- on the refinery, that's EUR 35 million to EUR 40 million of maintenance investments over the year. The rest being investments in the Caribbean include the acquisition of a ship. So that's for Rubis Énergie and Rubis Support and Services. Let's now say a few words about the Rubis Terminal JV. Rubis Terminal, that is, as you may see on this graph, that today has got storage capacity of 4.5 million cubic meters. If you take into account the acquisition of TEPSA, that is the Spanish company, the leader in storage in Spain, that the JV has taken over in mid-July, so that's pro forma. The operation has not been completed at the time that we're speaking. So that should be by the end of the fourth quarter that it should be completed. So we go from 3.5 million to 4.5 million cubic meters with TEPSA. Over the period, we added to the existing scope 61,000 cubic meters with the commissioning of new chemical capacity in Antwerp and Rotterdam. You have the new breakdown pro forma of the capacity by country with Spain at 20%, that will represent 20% of the capacity; Turkey, 14%; France, 56%; and Rotterdam and Antwerp together, 10%. You have here the revenues of the JV over the period. Revenues from storage, the storage business, EUR 84 million, increasing by 3.1% in comparison with last year, including 50% that is our stake in the -- well, the warehouse of Antwerp -- the depot of Antwerp. It's interesting to note that the right of use of the capacity increased. It went from 83.4% last year to 86.9%. It shows also the great resilience of that business in the COVID environment. In fact, there was a situation where -- with the collapse of the oil prices, generated contango very strong as from April, which made it possible to fill the capacity in the Mediterranean area, especially Turkey. Also in France as well as fuel is concerned, on the other hand that France was compensated by a weakness in the revenues, fuel storage because our contracts of leases, 80% is take-or-pay, 15% to 20% that's associated with the turnover of the products. That is the output of products with invoicing -- well, bills associated with them -- with it. It can be about mixing, heating of containers. And that was affected by the decrease by 70% of the consumption of fuel in France and everywhere in the world, in fact, in quarter -- in the second quarter because of lockdown. So you have here on the left-hand side the revenues by product. You've got the existing scope with revenues increasing by 3.1%. Oil represents 60% with an increase by 8%, thanks to contango in Turkey, the specialty products that include chemicals in the ARA area. And in France, that's 31%. Well, it's rather flat, plus 1%, with a right-of-use of the capacity close to 98%. And storage of agrifood products with molasses, fertilizers or vegetable oils dropped by 16% for reasons of, well, the expiry of certain spot contracts in molasses, in particular advantageous situation in 2019 as for fertilizers and vegetable oils that behaved rather well. So that's full revenues per -- by product. You've got revenues by country that is on the far right-hand side with France, 64%; Belgium -- well, the Netherlands, 15%; Belgium, 10%; and Turkey that represented 11% with an increase by 87%, thanks to the contango. What is interesting to note, that's the graph in the middle that illustrates, well, the pro forma revenues of Rubis Terminal with TEPSA, the acquisition we made in Spain, that shows that we are going to have a balance of revenues between oil and not oil prices. So we'll go from 60% to 52% of fuel. Chemicals will increase to 36%. And we had also agrifood and biofuel that's TEPSA specialty that will represent 5%. So this new allocation, this new breakdown is favorable. It will prove to be even more resilient, and it will allow us to reduce our position in fuel products. The EBITDA in oil, in fuel -- well, once you've talked about revenues, you've talked about the results. So EBITDA, plus 2%. That's in line with the increase of the revenues. That's for the Rubis Terminal JV. And as for the net group's profit, well, the profit per share of the group decreased by 12% because the net profit includes the effects of the financial reorganization -- well, the raising of EUR 410 million that is at a rate that is not the -- one of the senior debt we had before, plus EUR 100 million of senior debt. So you've got the effects of an interest rate that is applied to EUR 500 million of debt in comparison with last year. And you've got the amortization of the expenses associated -- and it means that the net profit is at EUR 11 million. Beyond that, I would say that the free cash flow of Rubis Terminal is increasing. It goes from EUR 22 million to EUR 26 million, an increase by 18%. You've got here the amount of capital expenditure at EUR 33 million over the period. That includes 30%, the maintenance expenditure that is lower than last year because big effort of maintenance was made over the past 4 years. And we are now in a period where it's -- those expenses will go down. The other capital expenditure, that's for growth, an increase of capacity in the ARA area in terms of the storage of products. So that's to conclude with the contribution of the JV over the period. I think we can now address another chapter that is ESG. Yes, we want to shed light on that matter. Those are important works. Naturally, when we address this part of our activities, we address it in the same way as we do for the rest of our activities that is in a decentralized manner, associating the different management teams with those works. And naturally, those are questions for which it is easy to make them adhere. First remark about the position of the group. We store and sell, according to different subsidiaries, fossil products. That's clear. I just wanted to put forward the structure that is in a general way in Europe. In Europe, we sell and distribute LPG that is considered as transition energy. That's for peri-urban or rural areas, where this kind of energy is difficult to replace for our customers. On the other hand, in the Caribbean as well as in Africa, we distribute more traditional fuels. So we've got to be aware that in those areas, the CO2 emissions do not compare with what we know in Europe because Africa globally must represent 3% of the CO2 emissions of the planet, and that's 50% in South Africa. That is the only country that has got a real industry on the continent. So the African problem from an economic point of view is to develop the economy, and it would be difficult to do so without those different fuels considering the structure of the economy of the countries in Africa. That's something I wanted to underline. As for the environment and climate. First of all, no industrial accident in the group over the period. That's something that we are very watchful about. We are finalizing our carbon footprint assessment. It is something that will be very important in the coming years. We also wanted to participate on a willing basis in an experimental phase ACT that was developed by ADEME and CDP, Carbon Disclosure Project. Those are works that are aimed at assessing the methods to follow the different aspects of the carbon transition on different economic matters. We've worked with rating agencies in terms of CO2 emissions. So now we can use 2 -- the logos of 2 of them. Well, 2 major ones. MSCI, for which we've got a AA rating. So we are part of the 7% of the panel of MSCI that got that very good rating of AA. And we are one of the -- well, part of the 2% of oil and gas because we're classified as oil and gas, which is not totally relevant, but it is the classification we got. So we're part of the 2% of the oil and gas companies that have got a AA rating. And we're also part of the Ethibel Index. So those 2 classifications reward the work done by the group to take into account the different constraints that are imposed on this aspect of our activity now. From a social and societal point of view, we talked about it before. We've worked on making sure our employees are not contaminated. We had very few occupational accidents and incidents. A reduction by 40% over the last years, to give you an idea. And the main occupational accidents are mainly road accidents because we work a lot in areas where there are unfortunately very many road accidents, especially in Africa and the Caribbean, but we are making efforts in that regard. We have -- as I said before, we participated in the efforts to fight the pandemic, supporting different associations and bodies, and we -- but we've talked about it. So we gave a lot of support to many entities in all countries where we're present. In terms of governance, we are improving gender equality within the executive Boards. It's got to be said that we start from, well, a business that traditionally -- where traditionally, there are rather few women. In chemical depots, you don't have many women working there. But nevertheless, it's a movement that is continuing. And we have as many women on -- that is well about a quarter in -- well, members of the Executive Committee as we have women in group. So there's no difference between the employees and the members of the Ex Comms. In terms of compensation, we have protected the compensation of our employees. We've not asked for any aids or subsidies from public authorities. Well, the general matters have taken into account a number of wishes, and we've waived part of our compensation. So those are the efforts of the group in those 3 fields.

Before we start taking questions. A few words on the outlook, as you were able to see reading the slides. The group's resilience during these troubled times is quite exceptional, quite outstanding, both in Rubis Énergie and in our equity joint venture, Rubis Terminal. You see that the volumes that were strongly impacted in the past 2 months of the second quarter, the volumes increased, are still increasing. And of course, even if they haven't reached the levels of 2019, they're still increasing. International prices are still low. The foundation of unit margin has been increasing compared to 2019. Rubis Terminal business that was very good during the first quarter is still following this trend during the second quarter. In March, we had announced that our goal for the year wasn't obviously going to be to reach the same result than in 2019, but our goal was to at least achieve the results of 2018. And what we've been observing so far is that we have been able to stay aligned with those goals. Approximately EUR 57 million of net profit between now and 2018, and our goal is to do better than our revenue in 2018. And this, if I may add, despite the consolidation of Rubis Terminal by 45%, as you know. So this is the current situation, where you trust that our businesses are resilient. There's internal growth as well. And as you have noticed, we have an extremely resilient financial situation, very -- no debt, and we are going to be able to continue in this direction. And as you saw, we have only needed a few months to trigger an acquisition in storage in Spain with TEPSA. We consider that our group is thriving and is going through an exceptional situation. It's a strength in cash flow which puts us in an excellent situation. We cannot wait to see to be able to keep this evolution for the next few months within our group. This is what I had to say regarding the outlook, and we will be happy to answer your questions with Bruno.

[Operator Instructions] [Foreign Language] Emmanuel Matot from ODDO.

My first question, is the current context favorable for the acquisition within Rubis Énergie? This is a historical part of the group, and we have seen no improvement in -- at sales since the beginning of the year. Can we say that we need to get back to normal in this particular context to be able to see more acquisitions happening? And I also wanted to comment on the companies that were acquired in Kenya, just KenolKobil. What should we expect? For 2020 fiscal year, we were supposed to see improvement from this year. And I guess that because of the crisis, this has had an impact on our performance. Can you maybe comment on this? Do you still predict the same figures that had been predicted at the time of the acquisition? Two other questions. Tax -- taxes during the first half year, 37.5%. I just wanted to a few comments from Bruno regarding the tax level and Rubis' dividend policy. I guess that the net profit is going to decrease this year since we're going through some unprecedented times. So is there going to be an impact on the dividends?

To answer your first question in terms of acquisition, this crisis reminds me of the previous one in 2008, 2009. Back then, we were in the same situation. We had no debt. And in the following months, year after the crisis, we managed to acquire extremely profitable company acquisitions that allowed us to develop our activity further. I'll be honest regarding Rubis Terminal JV. After 10 years of continuous growth and economic development, we consider to becoming even more liquid than what we are currently. Obviously, we hadn't predicted COVID, but we're never going to be able to know what is going to trigger a major crisis. And it's natural to fear that another crisis might happen in the upcoming years. So in this context, we could say that we're in a comparable situation than 10 years ago. We have extremely solid businesses and a strong financial position. Obviously, we need time, and I hope that groups that will stop investing will make a decision anytime soon. But I'm convinced that in the upcoming months, there will be some opportunities in terms of acquisition. This is what we are hoping for. And this is why we must also be patient so that we can let things evolve. It's only September and still too soon after the end of a crisis to see a strong change in parts of the economic -- different economic sectors. So this is an answer -- my answer to the first question. So we're working on it, and we are hoping that is going to happen soon. We can never really talk about what we can imagine in terms of acquisitions. We're always surprised ourselves by what may happen. It's actually quite surprising to see what kind of assets would be triggered. So regarding the dividend policy for the past 25 years, we've been increasing the unit dividend per year. And of course, I cannot fully commit to this, but our aim is to maintain this dividend within Rubis. This is a constant goal.

The other 2 questions regarding KenolKobil in Kenya and other countries from Western Africa. From the 1st of April 2019, we have acquired this company. We bought a company with not enough managers. The managers who had left, left behind very bold trading operations with losses that were then an impact of this in 2019. So that's the past. But in the meantime, we have put in place a new manager, new teams. We've taken control of things again. Contracts on certain aviation volumes were -- are not part of our company, and we can see that the situation is much healthier. And some profits that have reached levels that we have expected of $50 million of EBITDA. So this was the case until March 2020, then COVID happened. And the second quarter of 2020, there has been a strong impact on stocks, on storage, on volumes. We won't be able to reach our goal -- target of EUR 45 million of EBITDA for 2020, as you know. But once COVID behind us, we'll be certain that the place of KenolKobil on the market will allow us to find this level of revenue again of EUR 45 million, EUR 50 million. We just have to wait and see. Let's wait until COVID is in the past. Our first quarter was an excellent test. It was a positive test of the current team, and this is a good hope for the company to be profitable again. So this is a comment on this country and Western Africa in general. There was a question on the tax level. If I focus on tax related to Rubis Énergie activity and Rubis Support and Service, we are looking at 20% of tax, so similar to last year. For the first quarter, you must have noted a discrepancy of 20%, but this is due to our operations and the sale of Rubis Terminal with different levels of taxes, and this has increased our rate of 20%. 20% is the structural tax level within the group with Rubis Énergie and Rubis Support and Service. So there's nothing new in terms of this tax level. Are there other questions?

More questions in the waiting list. Charles Scotti from Kepler.

I've got 4 questions. First question on an explanation on the rating, the stabilization of volumes. Since last June, Rubis Énergie's volumes have decreased. Why isn't there an improvement of volumes? And what do you predict for the second half year? Would you have more information on countries that have been impacted by the impairment on the first half year? What happened, concretely speaking, in Haiti -- or the revenues in Haiti? And third question on the 10th slide of the presentation. When you rate gross margin, do you talk about the absolute value of gross margin? And if so, is it about constant scope, including KenolKobil? And regarding your guidance after 2018, could you confirm that you are referring to EUR 254 million, and in the 2020 results, you're not taking into account the one-off result and more particularly in Haiti and other countries?

I will answer the last question. Yes. I was referring to the EUR 254 million of 2018. I agree with that. And regarding the extraordinary events, it should be the same more or less at the end of the year. So there won't be a significant impact compared to today, the revenue. So the idea is to do more than the EUR 254 million of 2018. And in the extraordinary events, we should take into account the 47% of Rubis Terminal that was part of it at the time in 2018, and that won't be the case today. I'll let you answer the other question.

You were talking about these volumes in H2. H1 has been -- suffered from it. You saw that July -- since end of June, if I don't take into account aviation, that keeps suffering. There's been a decrease of approximately 50% of air traffic since COVID -- the beginning of COVID. Aviation only represents 10% of volumes and 5% of margin. But if you look at other projects such as LPG and white products, end of August, we see minus 6%, minus 8%. And we were explaining that for some countries, the trend in Madagascar, some mining depots in Morocco, tourism was impacted by COVID during spring and summer. This is going to keep being the case until the end of the year. We have minus 10% compared to last year. However, when we go to unit margin, we see that they're doing rather well. You saw in the graph -- the previous graph. And the impact of oil prices is only going to confirm this trend. So we are not concerned regarding unit margin for Rubis Énergie during the second quarter. To answer your question regarding the impairment test on Haiti, I think we have described the situation, political, economic, currency-related situation, governance-related situation, which has all been exacerbated by COVID, which has also an impact on international companies working on all products. So -- because we anticipated this and we wanted to be cautious, we have implemented this provision on the cost of oil in Haiti. What does it mean? Well, last year in 2019 -- compared to last year's results, we can expect for 2021 a decrease of 48% of the contribution of this country. So this is what could happen. Haiti is one country in the Caribbean area, which is area that represents more than 50% of the group's revenues, so it's got a prime position. And the group can clearly face a difficult time in Haiti for the next few years. There was a question on the complementary provisions, total of EUR 174 million. And this is due to debt to -- for instance, the sale of Iranian asset in 2018. So this is why we are adopting a cautious attitude, taking into account the political situation and the sanctions that will have a clear impact on the position of all the bitumen operators in the area. You were talking about the 10th slide regarding gross margin level. I think the question was about whether or not it was a global gross margin. Yes, global gross margins. It's not unit gross margin. No, it's in millions of euros. We compare it by the month of the previous year. There can be a difference compared to the unit margin that we deliver. So this is a growth of 3% compared to last year. Since the gross margin is composed by stock effect, the previous upstream margin -- and upstream margin and downstream margin. So for this graph, we chose a time frame including August on the graph. And this shows you the -- an illustration of the margin behavior. Gross margin in August, global gross margin, that is increasing by 1% compared to last year. And the unit margin is Page 12. Yes, Page 12.

You mentioned that part of the compensation of the mergers would be cut until the price of the share goes over EUR 50.

Yes. What I'm saying is that -- well, statutory rules, and it was decided to block half of the dividend for 2 years, the other half being devoted to paying taxes. So half is available but blocked for 2 years. But if the share price goes over EUR 50 again, that is what was decided to make sure that we better align the interests of the different stakeholders.

Next question is from Mourad Lahmidi.

The first question is about your guidance. We've understood that you want to do better than 2018. That was already 17% under 2019. And in the first half year, you're at minus 11%. So it seems that -- well, things are improving from a gross margin point of view. Could you specify your guidance, maybe fine-tune it to give a range -- a short range? That's my first question. The second question is if we set prices at the current level, what would be the benefits in terms of working capital requirements?