Tubacex values the entry of partners to conquer the new green business of 1.5 billion
Tubacex dressed in green yesterday before investors to launch its new strategic plan 2024-2027, which it has named NT2, a play on words between “new transition” and “new Tubacex”. The name chosen by the senior management of the group headed by its CEO, Jesús Esmoris, is a declaration of intent of the Basque tube company's great bet: to conquer the new green world, a business in which it sees a turnover potential of up to 1,500 million in 15 or 20 years. To achieve this, the company considers bringing in new financial partners.
Tubacex has just achieved, two years ahead of schedule, the objectives set in the previous plan. With this letter of introduction, the company wants to convince investors that its future, on which 2,500 employees currently depend, involves turning the Low Carbon area into its crown jewel..
In fact, it is expected that this division will go from absorbing 28% of the investment in R&D&i (2022) to capturing 80% of this item already in 2025.. The goal is ambitious. Historically, the company has been very exposed to the fluctuations of the hydrocarbon market, in fact, today, the Oil & Gas areas still account for 42% of sales..
The company does not hide that the leadership of these new businesses linked to the energy transition may involve sealing new alliances. Not at any price. This was stated by Esmoris during the Captial Markets Day that the company held this Tuesday in Madrid, in which it stated that the group would be willing to transfer a stake to a partner if it provides certain added value and not just financing.. For example, the CEO of the company based in the Alava municipality of Llodio indicated that a point in favor for potential partners will be to pave the way for Tubacex towards a client portfolio that it cannot currently reach..
Hydrogen, ammonia and CO2
The company, which closed the third quarter of the year with a record turnover of 642 million euros, 22% more than in the first nine months of 2022, aims to more than triple its income by the end of the period, which represents reach 2027 with an annual sales volume of up to 1.4 billion. All this, with strict “financial discipline” and an attractive dividend for shareholders, that is, a pay out of between 30 and 40% of the profit, in line with that established in the previous strategic plan..
Debt control will be a priority for the company, according to the interventions of the CEO and the financial director, Guillermo Ruiz Longarte, who specified that the group's goal will be to maintain the leverage ratio below 2 times EBITDA, compared to the current 2.5 times.
“The forecast is that leverage will decrease year after year, although different inorganic growth operations are undertaken,” the company stated.. The idea is that the debt does not overcome this barrier structurally, although the Tubacex plan admits specific deviations from said path.. Regarding inorganic growth forecasts, the CEO stressed that they will seek corporate operations only “when they make sense.”
The group is targeting industrial solutions for new renewable fuels, such as hydrogen or green ammonia, and carbon capture projects, in which it sees an income potential of between 400 and 500 million euros, around half of the total turnover with which the group expects to close 2023, about 850 million.