Titan S.A. (TITC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Geli, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Titan Cement Group Conference Call and live webcast to present and discuss the 9 months 2024 results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Marcel Cobuz, Chairman of the Group Executive Committee; and Mr. Michael Colakides, Group CFO. Mr. Cobuz, you may now proceed.

Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone, and I hope you are doing well wherever you are. Thanks for joining us today. Very happy to report here with Michael, another EBITDA growing quarter with very nice margin expansion, which marks a robust 9 months performance. Close to plus 5% in growth of sales, despite of the impacts of weather in some of the markets and over proportional growth of EBITDA of plus 14.6%, thanks to our improved pricing as well as operational cost performance, which Michael will go more into details. These results are very well in line with our Strategy 2026 targets. If you remember, we remain committed, first, to strengthen our positions in U.S. and Europe, where we have a very healthy exposure to all construction segments, including infrastructure in U.S. data centers as well as residential in some of the European markets, where we have completed to date other 4 bolt-ons for this year, including aggregate expansion projects. A second pillar, a second commitment as part of the Strategy 2026 is to keep developing our capabilities into supplementary cementitious materials and get it faster, faster time to market of new products as we are building our capabilities of market-facing organization. And here, happy to report that we are making progress in securing, trading, and using additional supplementary and cementitious material in all our product portfolio. And the third one, to accelerate the implementation of low-carbon fuels technologies, embrace new carbon capture and storage technologies. I'm very happy to report here that we are making progress on the project, the high light project near Athens as we have recently signed the engineering agreement with Policius. And we are building again capabilities of more than 20 people working on this project as well as digital technologies. And today, we will not make a specific zoom but know that we are progressing very fast with more than 200 people, operational experts in digital rollouts, be it for manufacturing or logistics. And as of today, we have 50 dedicated digital and data analysts working in Titan. We are on track with our project of listing U.S. and preparing the IPO of U.S. business. Michael will go into more details and we are at your disposal to answer questions, although we are going through a highly regulated phase as of now. Looking at the results. After the end of the quarter, we see a strong backlog in key markets. We see positive dynamics on demand and pricing, which makes us confident for a positive outlook to the year. I will finish by saying that the Titan team is mobilized for another excellent year. The level of engagement of our teams everywhere we operate has been recently measured by an internal engagement survey, and it has record-high engagement and enablement. That's also thanks to our refreshed values and purpose, which are cascaded down throughout the organization but also the new families of brands which we have recently launched, TITAN Edge and TITAN Premier, which act as a catalyst for our transformation. With this, I pass it the floor to you, Michael, for more details on the financial performance, and then we will open up for Q&A.

Thank you, Marcel. Good morning and good afternoon to everybody from me as well. Following on from what has been covered by Marcel, I'm very happy to walk you through the financial results for the first 9 months, which present another robust performance achieved by the group. Year-to-date, group sales increased 4.9%, reaching just under EUR 2 billion, recording growth across all the regions we operate. This top line growth was achieved, thanks to higher volumes in all the main products and to an overall improved pricing environment. EBITDA grew to EUR 455 million, up 14.6% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis with margin strengthening, thanks to improved operating efficiencies, improved energy mix and softer energy fuel costs. At this point and as you can see in the footnote of the first slide, let me clarify that the commentary on EBITDA and net profit is on a like-for-like adjusted basis, which is after year-to-date adjustments of EUR 18 million for nonrecurring one-off costs related to the preparation of the U.S. IPO and early retirement program in Greece. I will be referring to the adjustment figures in my commentary as they depict better the evolution of the core business and comparing apples-to-apples comparing to last year. Of course, for your convenience, both adjusted and reported figures can be found on our slides. In the third quarter, group EBITDA grew by 5% on a like-for-like basis, closing at EUR 164 million, supported by the strong contribution of Titan America, which in Q3 managed to increase both in sales and EBITDA by 2% and 10%, respectively, like-for-like, despite the adverse weather conditions in the U.S. Eastern Coast. Net profit after tax for the group grew by 20% to EUR 238 million, while earnings per share for the 9 months reached EUR 3.19. Group leverage ratio at the end of September closed at 1.1x EBITDA. And in August, S&P revised upwards Titan's credit rating to BB+, same level as Fitch, while in September, Titan Group launched a sustainability-linked financing framework. CapEx continues at high levels at EUR 181 million, which have been deployed this year, targeting improvements in the energy mix performance, in the expansion of coal reserves, in logistic capabilities, and increased storage capacity. The execution of the Titan Green Growth Strategy 2026 is well on track, as Marcel commented before. And committed to this strategy, the Ifesos Project Engineering study has been commissioned. Moreover, since the beginning of the year, the group has agreed terms on bolt-on acquisitions for 3 aggregates quarries, 1 clay quarry, and 1 ready-mix unit in the U.S. and in Europe. Now as far as the process towards the listing of our U.S. operations on the New York Stock Exchange. As we have explained, we are bound by the regulatory framework on what we can publicly disclose. At this point, what we can confirm is that we are progressing according to plan as announced back in May and that significant steps have been completed so far. We, therefore, stick to our initial plan and aim to go to the market in the first quarter of 2025. Now turning to the next slide. On top, you can see the graph of the 9 months results, which I just commented on. You can see that EBITDA and net profit after tax is growing. Group profitability margin expanded to 22.9% year-to-date, thanks to the tangible operating efficiencies and against inflation that has still affected increased logistics, labor and raw material costs. During the third quarter, looking at the chart at the bottom of the slide, the group continued on its robust trajectory with sales reaching EUR 662 million at the same levels as those of last year. This performance came as a result of sustained volumes and disciplined pricing with the U.S. and Greece increasing sales for another quarter, despite the serious disruptions caused by the bad weather in the U.S. EBITDA for the quarter closed at EUR 163.7 million or 5.3% up on a like-for-like basis. Now looking at the next slide, we highlight the 12 months rolling performance on sales, EBITDA, and net profit after tax, again, on a like-for-like basis and all showcasing the continuous growth performance trend for over 2 years. The last 12 months sales sum up to EUR 2,640,000,000, a growth rate of 5% while EBITDA growth is 21% up, close to just under EUR 600 million. Net profit after tax is even higher, a growth of 40%, crossing the EUR 300 million threshold. At the bottom of the table, we show the quarterly evolution of the 12-month rolling adjusted EBITDA, which has been on a continuously upward trend for 10 quarters since the second quarter of 2022. Now in the coming slide, there is a more detailed view of the P&L, which indicates that year-to-date sales growth has outpaced cost of goods sold and our EBITDA growth was 15%. Lower fuel costs contributed to this improvement, benefiting from lower energy consumption, higher use of alternative fuels and lower fuel nominal costs. The increase in SG&A includes the EUR 18 million of one-offs, of which EUR 8 million were expensed during the third quarter as I mentioned before. Finance costs declined and despite higher taxes due to higher sales. Net profit after tax increased by 20%, resulting to the EUR 3.20 earnings per share. A comment on the next slide on the evolution of critical cost factors. You can see here that so far this year and after some sharp increases in the volatile period since 2022, we are now witnessing relative stability at levels close to those of 2021. The outlook for critical cost factors for the remainder of the year appears to be stable. Turning to our sales volumes. The positive dynamics of demand in our markets has been mirrored across all product lines, recording volume growth across all main products. Domestic cement volume grew by 3% year-to-date -- year-on-year, while higher cement and clinker exports were also achieved. Higher growth trends were recorded in our downstream products with ready-mix volumes increasing by 7% and those of aggregates by 8%. Similar pattern was experienced during the 9-month period as well as in the third quarter. Now moving to our cash flow. As you can see from the arrow at the center of the slide, the robust year-to-date EBITDA performance of EUR 437 million resulted in a strong operating free cash flow of EUR 186 million, despite increased capital expenditure investments. Year-to-date, we have also invested in bolt-on acquisitions, have paid more in taxes, and have distributed more in an increased dividend payout and buybacks of own shares, again, more than last year. Regarding debt, the debt has increased by EUR 10 million since December but stands at EUR 93 million lower than September of 2023. Taking a look at our capital expenditure projects and the spending year-to-date. Group CapEx hiked at EUR 181 million, fueled by investments optimizing the group cement plants capacity and productivity across the U.S. and Europe, the expansion of alternative fuels usage in all operations, which in Q3 exceeded the 22.4% mark. Further progress was also made with the finalization of some key strategic investments, including, among others, the value-accretive acquisitions of quarries in the U.S. and Greece for the extension of aggregate reserves, including supplementary cementitious materials as well as installation of new ready-mix units in Greece and in the U.S., offering a foothold in more locations. And a couple of words on our debt picture. Group net debt at the end of the third quarter closed at EUR 670 million, down by EUR 95 million compared to September 2023. The continuous improvement in group net debt levels, coupled with the achieved profitability is reflected in the group's steady deleveraging, closing the third quarter with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.12x. Now as you can see in the graph on the right-hand side, the group's next bond maturity is approaching. The EUR 350 million bond will be repaid on November 18, using the group's own liquidity reserves and bank lines. Last, in August, S&P Ratings upgraded Titan's long-term issuer credit rating by a notch to BB+, reflecting the solid operating performance of the group. And this is -- takes it at par with the credit rating of BB+, which we received by Fitch many months ago. Now some words on the regional performance in the various geographies. Now moving to the review, starting with the biggest market, the U.S., where Titan America has delivered another strong performance year-to-date. Sales grew by 4.5%, stretching to $1.25 billion. For another quarter, Titan America achieved a solid quarter performance, thanks to the effectiveness of our vertically integrated business model, providing strategic flexibility and omnichannel access to our end users and against adverse weather conditions, including Hurricanes Debby and Helene. Cement prices remained stable and prices for other product lines have increased. 9-month EBITDA grew by 20%, reaching $283 million on a like-for-like basis, adjusted for $14 million of one-off costs related to the U.S. IPO preparation. Profitability margins strengthened, assisted by efficiency gains, supply chain and logistics improvements as well as thanks to the lower cost of imported cement and softer energy costs. Sales of Titan America in the third quarter recorded year-on-year growth of 3% to EUR 414 million, and profitability marked a new rise, EBITDA growing by 10% on a like-for-like basis to $100 million, even though operations were significantly affected by hurricanes and bad weather that persisted throughout most of the third quarter. Demand was driven by public infrastructure, industrial investments related to reshoring activities. During the quarter, the group finalized the acquisition of a sand and clay [ research ] quarry, providing valuable input to be utilized in a first-of-its-kind calcined clay production line being developed at the Virginia plant with the support of a $62 million-grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Moving now to Greece. Total sales in the first 9 months grew by 8.4%, reaching EUR 324 million. Domestic volume sales grew by double digits in cement, ready-mix and aggregates. Cement pricing remained firm with price increases realized in the downstream segments of ready-mix, aggregates and mortars. 9-month EBITDA reached EUR 49.7 million on a like-for-like basis, adjusted for nonrecurring costs compared to EUR 52 million last year as the regional profitability was impacted by the lower intra-group export prices, which had to be adjusted, reflecting international market prices. In Greece, demand has been driven by the residential segment as well as the infrastructure, which also picked up speed amid the seasonal slowdown of tour-related investments. Large public and private projects advanced across the Greek Mainland. To meet the increased demand, the group established 2 more ready-mix concrete units during the quarter, one to support the project pipeline in the Pelepones, and another exclusively for the Ellinikon project in Athens, Europe's largest urban development project. Also on the production side, thermal substitution grades in the Kamari plant in Athens continue to increase, aiming to reach the target levels of 70% by early next year. Turning now to Southeast Europe. 9-month sales increased by 3.9% year-on-year, reaching EUR 327 million, backed by strong regional market demand and overall price stability. EBITDA reached EUR 128 million, growing by 19% with strengthened margins assisted by lower energy costs and improved operating efficiencies. The region experienced a slight slowdown in the third quarter, following a very strong performance in the first half of 2024 and against a record high third quarter in 2023. This slowdown varied across different markets and can be attributed to some reduced flow of remittances into the region, highlighting the close interdependence of these economies with larger Western European economies as well as being affected by higher interest rates and delays in some infrastructure projects. Our recent investments in the renewable energy sources and alternative fuels continued to improve the group's cost structure. Indicatively, in Bulgaria, thermal substitution levels have reached levels of approximately 50%. Now turning to the Eastern Mediterranean, a region that continues to be penalized by challenging macroeconomic conditions. Sales year-to-date in the region reached EUR 182 million, up by 4.8% year-on-year in euro terms, which would have been 50% if measured in local currencies, supported by growth in domestic cement volumes and by increased cement exports from Egypt. EBITDA reached EUR 14.3 million, down by 21%, having been impacted by the devaluations of both local currencies. In Egypt, while cement consumption remained stable, prices in local currency have recorded increases, indicating a shift towards a more rational approach to safeguarding the sector's financial health after the recent shocks from high inflation and currency devaluation. The group continues to increase the use of alternative fuels and also to maximize its cement export capabilities. In Turkey, demand is driven by earthquake reconstruction efforts, which continue to draw a significant portion of domestic cement production. The remaining consumption is directed towards rehabilitating existing building stock against future disasters. The plant sales were softer compared to the third quarter of 2023, due to decreased exports this year. Prices continued to follow inflation, while our new biomass unit allow us to keep alternative fuel utilization rates above 30%. And a couple of words on Brazil, where as I remember -- as a reminder, we consolidated figures on an equity basis. Domestic cement consumption in the country increased by 4% year-on-year, supported by government housing and infrastructure projects, while in the Northeast, where our joint venture, Apodi operates, demand increased by 6.4% versus last year. Apodi managed to increase its sales volume since the beginning of the year. However, due to competitive pressures, selling prices declined. Apodi posted sales of EUR 86.4 million compared to EUR 96.9 million last year. Nevertheless, thanks to the lower energy costs, EBITDA increased by 18% to EUR 18.1 million compared to EUR 15.4 million last year. And this completes my presentation of the quarterly performance, and I will turn you to Marcel for a commentary on our outlook.

Thank you. Thank you, Michael. You can expect from us that we will continue delivering good performance. We maintain a positive outlook for the rest of the year, given a solid pricing levels of our products and healthy volumes. Early indications for 2025 suggest an increased level of group sales with higher growth levels, particularly in the second half of the year. In the U.S., the economy should remain resilient with the anticipated drop in interest rates, mortgage rates should equally soften, releasing pent-up demand for housing in 2025, following an already tight supply. Public infrastructure, that's not news for anyone, and industrial construction should drive the largest share of demand as a continuous flow of federal funds is being directed to infrastructure spending and reshoring investments. And we are well positioned with leading fully integrated platform in those fast-growing regions. Greece has proven to be resilient and economic growth is expected to once again come above the Eurozone average. The main levers to support the economy remains significant with EU funding allocated to the country by the recovery and resilience facility, which is channeled mainly to public but also some private construction projects we are seeing everywhere. Southern/Eastern Europe, as Michael explained, very good demand drivers should continue to grow. So you will see for us a continued effort on operational excellence, which have so far borne fruit as illustrated by the consecutive quarters of our robust group performance. And you should expect from us that we continue at faster pace the implementation of our growth Strategy 2026, driving long-term value creation with meaningful decarbonization initiatives everywhere. With these comments on the outlook, I think we can open up for Q&A, Spyros, and operator, please.

The first question is from the line of Athanasoulias Nikos with Eurobank Equities.

I have 2 questions from my side. The first one relates to the U.S. operations. Given the weather-affected quarter that you had and I think the previous one was also affected by weather, is this the base on which you expect revenue and volume growth in 2025? Does this increase your prospects as projects get delayed and there will be potentially a bottleneck in the next years? And the second one relates to an announcement that one of your European peers, Heidelberg, made just today that it's launching a program focusing on efficiencies, their [indiscernible] network in Europe. Is there any similar potential to pursue similar actions for you? Does this relate to the CapEx that you made for your consignor income [indiscernible] ?

Let me take the question about the U.S. To start with, there was no impact of weather in Q2. Q3 was the quarter that was seriously affected. The impact in Q2 was very minimal. Wet weather and hurricanes in Florida are not unusual. This year, the impact was -- the events were particularly harsh and extreme and the impact was much more severe than other years. So it should not be construed as a regular event that we will have so significant impact. The outlook for 2025, of course, in every year, we do expect some slowdown because of the weather. It's part of our planning but not as much as this year. The outlook for 2025 for the U.S., especially for the second half, is quite optimistic. The election results, I think, will support that development. Whether we are happy or not with that outcome is another question. But the impact on the annual performance of Titan America, we expect a new record performance in sales as well as in profitability, very much in line with what we had originally budgeted for the year. Let's go back to the question on operational efficiencies. And I think we are running a very tight ship at Titan, leading on multiple fronts on cost leadership and operational efficiencies, improving reliability of our assets everywhere where we operate in Europe. And more specifically, we are focusing on fuel cost and power cost. And here, we have different drivers. I think the use of alternative fuels, these are low-carbon fuels replacing fossil fuels with a price per gigajoule, which is almost divided by half. We have achieved records level in the month of September close to 25%. And just as a comparable, 2 years ago, we were at 15% to 17%. So that will be a continued driver for us not only doing the right investments like the one which was mentioned in Kamari, but also developing waste streams, prioritizing biomass user and adapting our assets. On the power cost, not only our investments in our own captive solar panels but also the various agreements we have to reduce the power cost, reduce the power consumption are again a second driver. And the third one is the digital. And I think in the previous quarter, Michael walked us through the various digital initiatives like the real-time optimizers, machine learning and artificial intelligence enabled to manage maintenance cost, to manage the power consumption and thermal consumption. So overall, we expect results to improve. But again, just to take an example, our performance in alternative fuels usage, the 24% which I mentioned, has reduced the specific fuel cost by close to 17% this year. I think that's an important anchor to keep in mind, showing our commitment to improving operational excellence.

The next question is from the line of Mavridis Andreas with Alpha Finance.

Congratulations on another strong quarter. I just have a few questions from my end. The first question is regarding CapEx. We see that CapEx for the 9-month period is at EUR 181 million. Should we expect around maybe EUR 60 million to EUR 70 million in the fourth quarter, bringing full year numbers to around EUR 240 million, EUR 250 million? And then maybe a little bit,, if there's any color for 2025? Are we expecting similar levels? Second question is regarding the -- considering the potential policy shifts that may follow from the U.S. election results this week, especially regarding infrastructure spending, environmental regulations, and maybe the construction incentives in the U.S. How is the company anticipating these changes? And how will they impact demand, maybe the cost or the regulatory requirements for the company in the coming years? And then a final question on my end is regarding a press announcement yesterday regarding the acquisition on Stuarts Draft, Virginia for DM Conner Sand & Gravel. Is there anything else that you could tell us a little bit more about the effect it's going to have in the Mid-Atlantic presence? And how is it going to strengthen the aggregates and minerals portfolio?

Maybe I'll start with the last question. We are very happy with this completed acquisition in Virginia of an aggregates and clay quarry, and very happy also to be the beneficiary of a DOE subsidy for clay calcination technology. This shows the maturity of a market, which is embracing new cementitious materials, particularly in infrastructure projects. So if I have to put things in perspective, we are working today on -- and we were the first one to introduce the Limestone Portland cement in U.S. with lower carbon footprint and higher profitability. We are working on a number of technologies to improve the downstream performance of our products, particularly in ready-mix as well as in blocks. And Horizon 3 is for us to work on this new generation of materials like calcined clay. So all this is good news. And having this acquisition will accelerate, and it shows also the type of capabilities we have in Titan America to bring fast to the market these new products. Do you want to take that other question?

Yes. Some comment on the environment, if you wish, again on the elections in the U.S. A reminder that the infrastructure bills that were passed by the previous Congress, they were bipartisan supported. Both parties had supported those bills. The need for spending on U.S. infrastructure is universally accepted and supported in the U.S. So we see even more spending perhaps being allocated in that field. On the environmental front, it's unlikely that we will see anything more restrictive, if you wish, or more costly coming from a Republican rather than a Democratic President, especially from the current one. So that doesn't mean that we will stop our own initiatives. We are committed to reducing our carbon footage. Marcel mentioned about the new products that we are aiming for. It will not distract us from our own path and our own goals. The outlook for the U.S. for -- sorry, there were a couple. The outlook for Europe's operation is that we will continue to invest both in the -- for the production side as well as on logistics and storage, which are very important since we have a significant volume coming through our import terminals. I would like to comment that our performance in Q3 despite the weather conditions, which if you compare us to what our peers have reported so far, Titan America had an excellent performance in Q3. We have positive evolution of sales as well as profitability so we remain very, very optimistic about U.S. -- Titan America.

Regarding CapEx, is there any comment?

CapEx in line of what you referred to, EUR 240 million looks a realistic target for the year, similar for 2025. We are going through some intensive CapEx, which the bulk of it is oriented towards growth, expansion of capacity, efficiencies, alternative fuel investments and so on. So it's not maintenance spending. It is -- the bulk of it is to reduce cost and to expand capacity and revenue.

We have no further audio questions at this time. We'll now proceed with the webcast questions. So first question from our webcast participant, Auguste Deryckx from Kepler Cheuvreux. And I quote, "Hi. With the IPO of the U.S. activities, you will raise around EUR 500 million. Your ND/EBITDA will thus be close to zero at the end of Q1 2025. I understand you intend to invest to strengthen your current activities, but with this level of leverage, you will have enough to do more. What is your priority, M&A, dividend, share buyback or something else?"

Thank you for the question. And I would like us to go back to the priorities of capital allocation as we explained them at the time of the Strategy 2026. With or without IPO, they will not change. We will continue allocating capital for organic growth, capacity expansion in some key markets to enhance our market-leading positions, robust pipeline of investment in technology. As for the M&A, you see that we are also performing, completing bolt-ons, particularly as we double down on aggregates and supplementary cementitious development but also possibly value chain adjacencies. And finally, we gave some guidance on the dividend payout so that will continue as highlighted last year. As more can be -- will unfold with the listing and IPO, we will give you more details in the first quarter next year.

We have another question from one of our audio participants, Woerner Tobias with Stifel.

A couple from me. When we look at the EU Next Generation Recovery plan and the impact on Greece, can you just sort of give us a sense where you feel you are in terms of the spend now and what the time horizon is, i.e., as a total of the spend coming your way in Greece? Secondly, also, I'm not sure whether that was discussed already. When I look at sort of indices available across Europe and specifically for Greece, it seems that pricing is a little bit more challenging in August and September. Is that fair?

Thank you, Tobias, for your question. Look, Greece is growing very nicely on the domestic market. And meeting our customers, we see a very strong backlog for the next 3 to 5 years, at least, EUR 5 billion in backlog across projects in infrastructure, highways, airports but also projects like the urban -- the largest urban regeneration project, Ellinikon here, which is 5x the size of Monaco. And it will consume 2.2 million cubic meters of concrete over the next couple of years. That's a project over 15 years time line and we have just decided to have our second line, second ready-mix line with assets dedicated to this project. So we see the backlog, we see the pace, and we are allocating capital to keep that pace. On the pricing, we are happy with the pricing dynamics of the market. And as we deploy in the market new products, particularly low-carbon products, part of our branding family, TITAN Edge, we have just launched a new product of cement, Pozzolanic, using natural pozzolana for ready-mix applications, structural applications called [indiscernible], which is very well received by the market and with a nice price positioning. And we are seeing also good pricing dynamics in aggregates and other materials.

If I may follow just up in a similar vein. One of your peers today talked about the [ G&A ] and how much they think is still available. I mean, you don't play across the whole of the U.S. You play in 3 markets. Maybe could you give us a sense of what the run rate of that spend is at this point in time in your markets?

We are very happy with, again, the exposure we have in our markets, both in infrastructure exposure but also in housing. I think for a total housing deficit across U.S. of 3.4 million homes, 800,000 are in our mega regions. Similarly, we see Virginia as the state of data centers, massively investing in data center, and we are very well positioned with dedicated products to this. And again, being vertically integrated like we are with strong ready-mix and including portable ready-mix operations, that allows us to satisfy very demanding projects, including highway, bridges. And again, in our market, that's the equivalent of 52 million short tonnes over the next 5 years between roads, resiliency, water infrastructure, airports, ports and waterways. So yes, there is a ramp-up, which we expect to accelerate in 2025 and onwards.

The next question is from one of our webcast participants, Mr. [indiscernible] with [ Pantelakis Securities ]. What was the EBITDA impact from Hurricane Milton during third quarter '24? And what does it mean for cement demand longer term?

Milton, as I commented before, was excessively damaging for the business in the sense we didn't lose any money or had no damages to our fixed assets but it did result to lost sales. Many of our clients were either flooded or left without power for several days. So sales have been lost in October, which I mean, I can't give you a very specific number but it will be over EUR 10 million of an EBITDA impact for the quarter. Still, that doesn't change our outlook for the year. And I mean, it's not lost projects. It's just projects, which moved later into time. The project that was supposed to end in January will now end in February and so on. The impact on our operations has been fairly insignificant compared to some of other players in the market. What I would say is that we have been trained to face hurricanes. Our fixed assets when we -- every year, we're asked whether there are any damages to the plants, to the import terminals. We are very well prepared to face these storms when they come.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Cobuz for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. Again, very happy to share with you another EBITDA growing quarter, margin expansion, which makes -- which marks this very robust 9 months performance. Well on track with our strategy, highly motivated teams, and positive outlook. Thank you again, and see you at the next quarterly call.