Renta 4 : Revenues slightly down, in line with our expectations. The higher contribution from Musel, REVU and COPEX did not offset the effects of lower regulated revenues. EBITDA slightly down despite the stability in operating expenses, due to lower results from investees because of the deconsolidation of Tallgrass, which is not offset by the higher contribution from Axpo and TAP, despite this, it exceeds our forecast and allows EBITDA to beat guidance, as well as improving by more than 1% our expectation and by more than 3.5% that of the consensus. Net profit includes the negative effects from the sale of Tallgrass and the GSP arbitrage. Excluding these effects, it would grow by 3.2% compared to 2023, thanks to a more favourable financial result from higher revenues relative to the remuneration of available cash, thus exceeding the target of €270-280 million.
Operating cash flow declines by close to 20% due to the extraordinarily positive working capital differential in 2023, excluding this effect, the evolution would have been positive. Despite this decline in operating cash flow, the sale of Tallgrass allows us to reduce net debt significantly, in line with the target and our forecasts. Net debt stands at €2,404 mllion at an average cost of 2.6%.
They announce a share buyback programme for €20 million or 1,500 million shares, or 0.6% of its current capitalisation, with the programme ending on 30 June 2025.
At the conference we will be looking forward to the 2025-2030 strategic update.
The positive evolution of the income statement, showing figures better than targets and consensus, as well as the reduced share buyback programme, pending the strategic update, could be positively reflected in the share price, we reiterate our overweight recommendation, P.O. €19.21.
