ACCIONA posts €116 million profit and increases revenue to €8.77 billion from Infrastructure and Nordex

• ASSET ROTATION: ACCIONA Energía sells a portfolio of hydroelectric facilities in Spain (175MW) to Elawan Energy for €287 million

• INFRASTRUCTURE: Margin increases to 8.7% (+2.3pp), reflecting the quality of contracted projects, and the total backlog stood at €33.89 billion (+6.8%)

• ACCIONA ENERGÍA: Maintains the pace of new installation and reaches 13,944MW (+13.7%), in line with the 1.7GW target this year; consolidates its solid credit risk profile

• NORDEX: Contributes revenue of €3.43 billion (+123.6%) to the group's consolidated income statement; cumulative order backlog of €11.032 million (+4.7% year to date)

ACCIONA ended the first half of 2024 with a net profit of €116 million, in a period marked by the good performance of the Infrastructure and Nordex businesses, the impact of electricity prices and the investment effort of ACCIONA Energía. On a comparative basis, the profits for the same half of the previous year (€467 million) included €402 million of positive non-recurring results derived from the change in the financial consolidation of Nordex and Renomar.

In line with the asset rotation plans announced by the company in March, ACCIONA Energía also reported today the sale of a portfolio of 175 MW of hydroelectric facilities in Spain to Elawan Energy for €287 million.

ACCIONA's results up to June reflect a solid evolution of the company's revenues, which ended the first half of the year with a turnover of €8.77 billion (+24.3%).

Nordex more than doubled its contribution to the group's sales to reach €3.43 billion. Its cumulative order book continued to increase to €11.03 billion (+4.7% year-to-date), placing the wind turbine manufacturer on a clear path of growth and in a leading position within its sector.

Infrastructure continued to accelerate its turnover to €3.79 billion, and, notably, improved its margin to 8.7% (+2.3pp); a clear reflection of the high quality of contracted projects. The business unit also increased its total project backlog during the period to €33.89 billion (+6.8%).

The good performance of these two businesses offsets the lower results obtained by ACCIONA Energía, affected by limited wind resource during the first half of the year and a more normalized average price, €62.7MW/h (-27.3%), after the strong cyclical increases of previous years. The company expects a recovery in electricity prices in Spain for the rest of 2024 and 2025.

In addition, ACCIONA's clean energy subsidiary maintained a good pace of new capacity installation – at the end of the half of the year it had 13,944MW (+13.7%) – and maintains its investment grade credit risk profile.

As announced to the market, ACCIONA Energía is working on several divestment operations in different stages of progress, both for Spanish and international assets, covering a perimeter of around 6GW of renewable capacity, of which only a part is intended to crystallize with the aim of providing sufficient financial flexibility in the medium term.

The first of these transactions, announced today – the sale of a 175MW portfolio of hydropower assets in Spain to Elawan Energy for €287 million – includes 23 hydropower plants located in Aragon, Cantabria and Catalonia. The agreement will generate a capital gain for ACCIONA Energía of €170 million. The transaction is subject to Foreign Direct Investment approval and is expected to close before year-end.

 

CONSOLIDATED GROUP

ACCIONA's consolidated turnover amounted to €8.77 billion (+24.3%), driven by the good performance of sales of Nordex (€3.43 billion, +123.6%) and Infrastructure (€3.78 billion, +4.2%).

ACCIONA's gross operating profit (EBITDA) was €990 million (+7.1%), with strong growth in the Infrastructure division to €331 million (+42.9%) and in Nordex to €220 million when, in the same period of the previous year, the wind turbine manufacturer had recorded an EBITDA of €1 million. The figure also reflects the impact of electricity prices on ACCIONA Energía, which finished the period with an EBITDA of €419 million (-39.0%).

Net financial debt as of June was €8.23 billion (+25.6% year-to-date), reflecting the high investment made in the first half of the year, €1.72 billion. Of the total, ACCIONA Energía invested €847 million, Infrastructure €667 million and Nordex €88 million. In addition, €85 million of investment was allocated to real estate stocks.

 

BUSINESS UNITS

Total revenue from the Infrastructure division amounted to €3.79 billion (+4.2%), of which the Australia & Southeast Asia region contributed 35%; Spain, 20%; Latin America, 20%, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), 18% and North America, 6%. EBITDA was €331 million (+42.9%), with a solid margin performance of 8.7% (+2.3pp).

The total Infrastructure backlog reached €33.89 billion (+6.8%). In addition, the division has pre-awards pending signature as of June 30, amounting to €4.08 billion. Among the main awards in the first half of the year are the first batch of tunnels of the Suburban Rail Loop East project (Melbourne), the Alkimos desalination plant (Perth), the Ras Laffan 2 desalination plant (Qatar) and the Surrey skytrain stations (Vancouver).

The Construction business achieved revenues of €3.12 billion (+6.6%), with an EBITDA of €236 million (+60.0%) and a margin of 7.6% (+2.6pp). The growth of the business is visible in works such as the Collahuasi desalination plant (Chile), the walls of the Talabre Dam (Chile), Line 6 of the Sao Paulo Metro, the expansion works of the Palma de Mallorca airport and the Western Harbour Tunnel in Sydney.

The Concessions area recorded €26 million (+11.8%) in revenues and €41 million (+34.9%) in EBITDA, driven by the greater contribution of Line 6 of the Sao Paulo Metro and the Fargo-Moorhead canal (USA). ACCIONA was awarded two new concessions in the first half of the year, both in Peru: the Lima Peripheral Ring Road and three transmission lines of the Hub-Poroma concession. The portfolio of concessions for transport, social, transmission lines, treatment plants and water infrastructures currently consists of 75 assets.

Revenue in the Water business was €545 million (-10.6%), due to the completion of relevant projects in design and construction, which are not yet offset by the large contracts in the portfolio which remain in early stage, such as the desalination plant in Casablanca (Morocco) or the Alkimos desalination plant in Perth (Australia).

In the first half of 2024, ACCIONA Energía had a turnover of €1.33 billion (-24.2%) and recorded an EBITDA of €419 million (-39.0%), figures that reflect the evolution of electricity prices. The average revenue obtained during the first half was €62.7MW/h (-27.3%).

Net profit was €65 million, a figure that, in comparative terms with the same period of the previous year (€405 million), also reflects the accounting impact of the evolution of prices as well as the change in the consolidation method for Renomar last year, in which ACCIONA Energía increased its stake in the wind power developer to 75% with a non-recurring capital gain of €145 million.

Total clean energy production reached 13,441GWh (+7.7%), thanks to new assets commissioned and good hydro production, and despite low wind resources during the period.

ACCIONA's 100% renewable subsidiary increased its total installed capacity to 13,944MW (+13.7%). The company had 1,734MW under construction at the end of the period, mainly in Australia (MacIntyre and Aldoga), Spain (Ayora and Logrosán), Dominican Republic (Cotoperi), Canada (Forty Mile), India (Juna), Croatia (Boraja) and the Philippines (Kalayaan).

The company aims to build a total of 1.7GW this year for the second consecutive year.

Nordex contributed €3.43 billion (+123.6%) in revenue to the consolidated group's income statement. Its EBITDA rose to €220 million, with an increased margin of 3.4%.

The wind manufacturer installed 592 wind turbines in 20 countries in the first half of the year, totalling 2,972MW, 73% in Europe.

Its cumulative order book through June amounted to €11.03 billion (+4.7% year-to-date) and turbine orders during the first half of the year amounted to €2.99 billion (+27.0%), equivalent to a total of 3,357MW.

Turnover in the Real Estate area increased to €81 million (+304.6%), with 165 homes delivered between January and June 2024, compared to 24 in the same period of the previous year. For the year as a whole, ACCIONA expects to deliver 1,200 homes, mainly in the fourth quarter. The pre-sale backlog as of June 30 amounted to 1,421 units. Gross Asset Value stood at €1.87 billion.

Bestinver increased its turnover to €52 million (+7.8%) and its EBITDA to €23 million (+22.1%). Average funds under management were €6.30 billion (+14.5%).