ACCIONA posts €332 million profit, boosting revenues and investment while reducing leverage

• REVENUES: Grew to €8.1 billion (+25%), mostly thanks to good results from ACCIONA Energía (+39.8%) and the Infrastructure division (+24%)
• EBITDA: €1.48 billion (+30.9%), driven by the growth in Infrastructure (+51%) and Energy (+25.1%)
• RECORD PORTFOLIO: The Infrastructure portfolio sets another all-time record at €18.1 billion (+21.6%)
• DEBT REDUCTION: Net financial debt decreased to €4.34 billion (-8.2%)
• INVESTMENT BOOST: Net ordinary investment grew to €1.32 billion (+59.2%)

ACCIONA closed 2021 with a net profit of €332 million (-14.2%), which represents a +62.8% growth on a like-for-like basis. The Group's income statement showed a solid performance with total revenues increasing strongly (+25%), combined with a determined investment effort (+59.2%) and a notable debt reduction (-8.2%).

In 2020, net profit included a positive impact of €79.4 million due to a reversal in depreciation charges as a result of the extension of the useful life of certain  renewable energy assets (from 25 to 30 years) and €145 million resulting from the reversal of the impairment of the company's stake in Nordex, made in 2017. Excluding these two effects, as well as the net contribution of €67.2 million to the Group's 2021 net profit  resulting from the positive court ruling with respect to the Spanish hydro levy, the  like-for-like net profit growth would have been +62.8% year-on-year.

In 2021, ACCIONA Group's revenues totaled €8.1 billion (+25%) and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reached €1.48 billion (+30.9%).  

ACCIONA's net financial debt fell to €4.34 billion (-8.2%). The IPO of ACCIONA Energía in July last year enabled the Group to considerably reduce its financial leverage, increasing its ability to invest and to improve its growth potential, not only in the energy sector, but also in all its sustainable infrastructure activities.

Net ordinary investment in the various divisions of the ACCIONA Group in 2021 amounted to €1.32 billion (+59.2%), excluding a €224 million investment in existing assets in the Real Estate division. ACCIONA Energía invested €819 million as part of its plan to double installed energy capacity to 20GW by 2025. Meanwhile, the Infrastructure division invested a net total of €185 million.

ACCIONA’s Board of Directors has proposed a dividend payout of €4.10 per share from the 2021 results.

BY DIVISION

The Infrastructure division posted revenues of €4.87 billion (+24%), with accumulated EBITDA of €323 million (+51%).

The Infrastructure portfolio broke its all-time record once again and increased to €18.1 billion (+21.6%). During the year, new contracts worth €8.55 billion were booked, including €6.06 billion in Construction and Water projects.

By geographical region, 27% of the portfolio is located in Latin America; 24% in Australia and Southeast Asia; 23% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); 18% in Spain; and 8% in North America.

The main projects awarded in 2021 included the construction of a flood diversion canal in Fargo (US), several water plants in Saudi Arabia, the Sydney Metro West project and one of the sections of the Mayan Railway in Mexico.

The positive performance in Construction enabled this business unit to achieve revenues of €3.63 billion (+30.6%) and an EBITDA of €163 million (+225.2%), a significant improvement over the 2020 results, when the pandemic’s effects were the most severe.

The Water unit’s revenues amounted to €1.05 billion (+7.8%) with EBITDA of €100 million (+18.3%).

The strength of the results of these business units easily compensate the lower contribution of the Concessions business due to the sale of a large portfolio of projects in Spain for €484 million, a transaction completed in 2021.

ACCIONA Energía, consolidated within the bounds of the ACCIONA Group, posted total revenues of €2.47 billion (+39.8%) and EBITDA of €1.09 billion (+25.1%) thanks to its solid business performance in all countries.

The company installed a total of 557MW in 2021, bringing its total capacity to 11.2GW. By country, it installed 140MW of wind power in Australia (Mortlake South), 145MW of wind power in Mexico (San Carlos), 209MW of photovoltaic power in Chile (Malgarida) and 48MW of wind power in Spain (Celada Fusión). The remaining 15MW belong to the Lloseta and Petra photovoltaic plants in Mallorca (Spain), which will supply clean energy to produce green hydrogen in the country's first commercial plant of this kind.

At the end of 2021, ACCIONA Energía had a further 691MW under construction, mainly in the US and Spain. The company plans to install 0.8GW in 2022.

ACCIONA Energía released its 2021 financial results yesterday. (Click here for more information.)

In Other Activities, the Real Estate division posted revenues of €190 million (-5.7%) for the year, slightly less than the previous year because of the lower number of homes delivered in that period (443 in 2021 versus 744 in 2020), while its EBITDA grew strongly to €27 million (+45%).

Bestinver increased its revenues to €128 million (+12.1%) and its EBITDA to €67 million (+7.1%), as a result of the average increase in funds under management and the positive contribution of Bestinver Securities. As of December 31^st 2021, its funds under management stood at €7.05 billion (+10.7%).

SUSTAINABILITY BALANCE SHEET

In 2021, 93% of the ACCIONA Group's investments were aligned with the European Union's taxonomy for sustainable activities, 8 percentage points more than in 2020. Furthermore, the company avoided the emission of 13.4 million tonnes of CO2 (+1.5%) during the year.

ACCIONA closed 2021 as the most sustainable electricity company in Spain and the second most sustainable worldwide, according to the Sustainability Yearbook 2022 published by S&P Global. The company obtained a score of 90 points out of 100.