2023 was the year when Sacyr completed its strategic shift towards infrastructure P3 management with the incorporation of new assets into its portfolio and the sale of its two main services units: Valoriza Servicios Medioambientales and Sacyr Facilities.
The 2023 balance sheet is reflective of the company’s continual value creation strategy thanks to said focus on P3 assets, currently making up 93% of the group’s EBITDA.
The EBITDA increased 7% in 2023 to €1.5 billion, while profitability (measured as EBITDA margin), grew in 430 basis points to a record 33%.
Operating cash flow skyrocketed by 20% and stood at €848 million.
Net profit reached €153 million, 39% higher than the €111 million obtained in 2022. Turnover was €4.6 million.
P3 asset valuation: €3.3 billion
The sustained value creation strategy in Sacyr’s business model is reflected on Sacyr Concesiones’ asset valuation. This figure was €3.3 billion at 2023 year-close, €443 million higher than in the valuation performed for the 2021 Investor Day.
Sacyr has 70 P3 assets with an average lifecycle of 26 years. The company has experienced great success in the past months with four new contract awards: a section of the I-10 in the United States, the Via del Mare and A-21 highways in Italy and El Loa Airport in Chile.
The company has over €600 million committed equity in signed projects for the next four years and has a significant pipeline of 34 projects under review in its target markets.
In this sense, according to PWF magazine, Sacyr has consolidated its position as the third transportation asset developer and one of the largest infrastructure P3 developers in the world.
Drastic recourse net debt reduction
One of the main objectives in the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan was the drastic reduction of recourse net debt, which has been cut down by 51% and went from €546 million as of December 2022 to €269 million by 2023 year-end. The ratio of recourse net debt to recourse EBITDA plus P3 asset distributions ratio is 0.8 times.
The successful sale operations of VSM and Sacyr Facilities, as well as the rotation of minority shares in Autovía del Eresma (Spain) and the N6 (Ireland) contributed to reaching last year’s debt reduction goals.
The company remains firmly committed to recourse net debt reduction and control.
Improved shareholder remuneration
Shareholder remuneration is one of the cornerstones of the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. In 2023, the company increased shareholder remuneration to 13.6 cents per share, delivered in two scrip dividends in January and July, bringing the annual yield to 4.9%.
Evolution by activity
Concessions/P3 - Sacyr Concesiones obtained a €940 million EBITDA (+7%) thanks to the good operating performance of the asset portfolio, the projects in Colombia and the contributions of the Ruta 78 and Los Vilos highways and Buin Paine Hospital in Chile, and the P3 assets’ revenues are directly linked to inflation.
Sacyr continues to demonstrate its capacity to deliver and commission new P3 assets. Since 2022, it has brought eight assets into operation and the Ferrocarril Central project in Uruguay and Pamplona-Cúcuta highway in Colombia will start providing service in the upcoming months.
Engineering and Infrastructure. - The construction’s unit strategy prioritizes profitability versus volume, so the EBITDA increased by 10% to €570 million, despite income went down by 14% to €2.7 billion.
EBITDA margin stood at 21%. Removing the financial effect of the activity of the Italian Pedemontana and A3 projects, profitability was 4.6%, compared to the 3.7% in the previous year.
The backlog of this business unit climbed to €7.5 billion, with a slight increase compared to 2022. 51% of the backlog comes from Sacyr Concesiones projects and guarantees 33 months of activity.
