2016 General Shareholders' Meeting. Elecnor increases its 2015 dividend by 5% compared with 2014

Madrid, 18 May 2016.- The General Shareholders' Meeting of Elecnor, held today, Wednesday, in Madrid, approved the Board's proposed 5% increase in the dividend against 2015 earnings compared with the 2014 payout. The total dividend per share amounts to EUR 0.2627, of which EUR 0.050 per share was paid last January as an interim dividend. The remaining EUR 0.2127 per share will be paid out on 8 June as a final dividend. 

Factoring in this 5% increase, the annual dividend growth rate stands at 9.3% over the last 10 years, with payment always made fully in cash. 

2015

The Elecnor Group reported net profit of EUR 65.7 million in 2015, up 12.2% compared with EUR 58.5 million in 2014. 

The main positive factors which affected the Group's 2015 results were: the positive contribution of most Group companies operating in international markets; the profit from the export of Deimos-1 and Deimos-2, Elecnor's two Earth observation satellites, as part of the strategic deal struck last June with the Canadian group UrtheCast; the strong performance of the domestic market in terms both of business volume and profit; and the strong energy output by wind farms managed by Elecnor in Spain, helped by the prices achieved on the  Iberian Electricity Market ("MIBEL").

Consolidated sales in 2015 amounted to EUR 1,881 million, up 9.1% compared with 2014. 

The international market accounted for 54.7% of total revenue and the domestic market the remaining 45.3%. 

Net financial debt

Elecnor ended 2015 with net corporate financial debt of EUR 280 million, compared with EUR 348 million in 2014, down 19.5%. Meanwhile, the Net Financial Debt/EBITDA ratio of the Restricted Group was 2.20x, far lower than the limits established in its financial agreements.

Main corporate transactions

Elecnor, through its technology division Elecnor Deimos, signed a strategic alliance last year with Canadian company UrtheCast for joint projects in the aerospace sector. The agreement included the sale to UrtheCast of Deimos-1 and Deimos-2, Elecnor's two Earth observation satellites, and a series of ancillary agreements. 

Elecnor Deimos and UrtheCast also agreed to work together on opportunities of common interest. As a result, Elecnor became a strategic partner on UrtheCast's “Constellation” programme, the aim of which is to develop the first fully-integrated Earth observation satellites and radar constellation. Specifically, the Spanish company will work on mission control, direct tasking and receive ground stations, mission analysis and flight dynamics, and on the integration and testing of radar satellite payloads in the clean room at Elecnor's Satellite Assembly and Operations Centre in Puertollano (Ciudad Real).

Subsequently, on 15 July the satellites were finally sold for a total joint amount of EUR 76.4 million.

Also, and taking advantage of improvements on finance markets due to the current low interest rates, on 2 June 2015 Elecnor signed a novation contract to modify several of the conditions of the EUR 600 million syndicated loan taken out in July 2014 with 19 Spanish and international financial institutions.

The novation is effective immediately, extending maturity by one year to July 2020, and the margin conditions originally agreed last year are better.

Finally, agreement was reached last year with the banks providing project financing for the solar thermal plants in which Elecnor is participating in Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) on the adaptation of the funding of these facilities to reflect the new reality of the Spanish renewables industry following regulatory changes. These new conditions include an extension of the loan repayment term and a reduction in the interest spread.