ACCIONA earns €467 million, boosts Infrastructure business and consolidates Nordex

ACCIONA posted a net profit of €467 million (+132.5%) in the first half of 2023. The company’s results reflect strong activity in the Construction and Concessions divisions, the evolution of electricity prices in various markets in which ACCIONA Energía operates—lower than a year ago, but significantly higher than the company’s historical averages—and the full consolidation of Nordex since April 1st, after ACCIONA reached a 47.08% stake in the wind turbine manufacturer’s capital.

ACCIONA’s total revenues as a group—€7.06 billion (+36.6%)—include for the first time the contribution of Nordex (€1.54 billion). During the period, the Infrastructure division grew strongly, with revenues of €3.63 billion (+37.3%), thanks to the good progress of projects in countries such as Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom and Brazil.

The gross operating profit (EBITDA) reached €924 million (-13.2%). On the one hand, the figure reflects the evolution of electricity prices in Australia and Europe as a whole, including Spain, with an impact reinforced by the modification of the remuneration parameters in this country. The average generation price obtained by the subsidiary through June was €86.2/MWh, a figure which, in any case, reflects a remuneration significantly higher than ACCIONA Energía’s historical averages. On the other hand, the EBITDA evolution confirms the high levels of activity and profitability in the rest of the group’s units: as a whole, excluding ACCIONA Energía, they have recorded a very solid increase in gross operating profit (+47.4%), driven by the strength of the Construction activity and by the growing contribution of the Concessions business.

Net financial debt reached €7.07 billion (+34.5% since the beginning of the year). The increase reflects ACCIONA’s strong investment effort for the company’s profitable growth, totaling €2.2 billion (+80.7%), of which €1.54 billion (70%) were allocated to ACCIONA Energía, €302 million (14%) to Nordex, €136 million (6%) to the Real Estate division and €116 million (5%) to the Infrastructure division.

ACCIONA’s pre-tax profit reached €691 million (+55.2%). The figure reflects the impact of the change in Nordex’s consolidation method and the purchase of a minority stake in Renomar, a company that owns 494MW of wind power in Spain operated by ACCIONA Energía, which has increased its stake in the firm from 50% to 75%.

ACCIONA’s net attributable income amounted to €467 million (+132.5%).

BUSINESS DIVISIONS

Infrastructure division revenues reached €3.63 billion (+37.3%), with Australia (33%), Spain (18%), Brazil (6%) and Saudi Arabia (6%) as the countries that contributed the most to the unit’s turnover during the period.

The Construction business, with a sales volume of €2.93 billion (+46%), performed particularly well. Line 6 of the Sao Paulo Metro in Brazil, the MacIntyre wind farm in Australia, the Broadway subway in Vancouver (Canada) and the North London (United Kingdom) waste treatment plant are the main projects currently underway. ACCIONA has also begun preliminary works for the construction of the Sydney Western Harbour Tunnel, the largest contract ever in the company’s history.

The Infrastructure division’s total backlog once again reached a record high of €31,73 billion, under the equity method. Construction (68%) and Water (23%) are the business areas that contribute most to the portfolio. Including the projects awarded as preferred bidder in July, the portfolio totals €46,26 billion.

In the first half of 2023, ACCIONA secured new projects worth €3.91 billion, including the North-South Commuter Railway Southline highway (worth €280 million) in the Philippines and the Talabre reservoir’s perimeter walls in Chile worth €245 million.

The Infrastructure business’ EBITDA also grew solidly to €232 million (+55.3%).

In comparative terms, the business unit with the highest growth in gross operating profit is Concessions, with a contribution to EBITDA of €31 million (+109.6%), thanks mainly to the good performance of the Line 6 project. Moreover, this week, the state of Louisiana (USA) selected a consortium in which ACCIONA participates to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the bridge over the Calcasieu River for 50 years. The project is worth US$2.1 billion (€1.9 billion).

With €148 million (+74.8%), Construction continues to be the business unit that contributes the most to the Infrastructure division in terms of EBITDA, followed by Water with €45 million (+2.3%).

The EBITDA margin of the Infrastructure division increased during the period to 6.4% (+8pp).

As a result of the evolution of electricity prices, ACCIONA Energía‘s total revenues amounted to €1.76 billion (-20.2%), of which €903 million came from its generation business and the remaining €856 million mainly from its commercial activity in Spain and Portugal. ACCIONA Energía’s EBITDA totaled €686 million (-24.6%).

ACCIONA Energía recorded a net growth of 442MW in installed capacity during the first half of the year, reaching a total of 12.27GW. In addition, the company had 2,169MW under construction as of June 2023. ACCIONA Energía will add 1.8GW of total new capacity this year, in line with the announced forecast.

The company’s strong investment pace shows the good progress of the projects under construction in Australia (MacIntyre) and in the USA (Red Tail Hawk, Fort Bend, High Point and Union), among others.

ACCIONA Energía also recently announced the launch of a new wind project in Canada (Forty Mile, of 280MW), the start of the construction of two projects in Croatia (Opor and Boraja, of 72MW) and the Logrosán biomass plant in Spain (49.9MW).

During the first half of the year, ACCIONA Energía increased its stake in Renomar and, in a joint venture with ACCIONA, acquired a controlling stake in Solideo, a leading company in self-supply and energy efficiency solutions for residential customers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Nordex‘s turnover amounted to €2.75 billion (+29.5%), driven by the installation from January to June of a total of 3.1GW (+66.2%) of clean energy capacity in 22 countries, with a total of 632 wind turbines.

Gross operating profit for the second quarter was positive (€0.6 million), marking a significant turnaround in the company’s results, and EBITDA for the half-year reached -€114.3 million, an improvement on the -€173.3 million in the first half of 2022,

Nordex’s total backlog at the end of the half-year amounted to €9.8 billion (+0.7%). The Projects division accounted for 68% of the backlog and the Services business for the remaining 32%.

The Real Estate division reported €20 million in revenues (-21.4%), due to the lower number of homes delivered, in line with the schedule for the year, which calls for 95% of deliveries to take place in the fourth quarter. ACCIONA had 2,652 homes in the pipeline as of June 30^th, 2023. The Gross Asset Value (GAV) of the real estate portfolio stood at €1.73 billion (+12%).

Bestinver‘s assets under management amounted to €5.65 billion as of June 30^th, up 10,4% compared to December 31st, 2022. The performance of the most important funds (Bestinfond, Bestinver International and Bestinver Bolsa) stood at a cumulative +17% at the end of the first half of the year.

ESG CREDENTIALS

ACCIONA made significant progress in the first half of 2023 in the main Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) indicators.

The company increased the percentage of women in executive and management positions to 23.1% of the total, increased employee volunteer hours by 205% and now has 4.07% of employees with some type of disability.

In terms of environmental performance, the CAPEX is 99% aligned with the European taxonomy, as a result of a strong investment in renewable energy during the first half of the year.

Regarding governance indicators, the number of female directors stands at a 38.46% share, in line with the 40% target set by the company’s Sustainability Master Plan (SMP) for 2025.