“ACCIONA’s model – based on zero-emission energy, but also in transmission grids, regenerative infrastructures, innovative water solutions, low-emission transportation, and urban environments adapted to the new social and economic reality – is more necessary than ever,” said José Manuel Entrecanales, Chairman and CEO of ACCIONA, during its Annual General Meeting held today at the company’s new headquarters in Madrid. In his speech, he took stock of the last twenty years of ACCIONA’s history – which coincide with his tenure as Chairman – “a period in which we have nearly tripled our stock market value, increased our EBITDA by almost four times, and multiplied our net profit by two and a half times.”
According to the Chairman of ACCIONA, “despite an increasingly volatile environment fraught with significant unforeseen events”, the company has achieved important objectives during this period. Among them are taking ACCIONA Energía public in 2021, reaching a record level in ACCIONA’s infrastructure portfolio, becoming the second largest non-Chinese manufacturer of wind turbines, producing desalinated water at an affordable cost both for human consumption and agricultural irrigation, building electric motorcycles and cars at affordable prices, managing the savings of more than 50,000 customers, etc.
In summary, José Manuel Entrecanales stated, “in today’s ACCIONA you can see much of the technical excellence, innovative spirit, creativity and rigour of our predecessors, who laid the foundations of what our company is today.” He continued, “when we took over the family business in 2004, we sought to deepen the values we had inherited, updating them to what we consider to be the greatest challenge and, at the same time, one of the greatest business opportunities of our time: sustainability.”
In this context, he noted that ACCIONA’s revenue has increased by 320% since 2004 while the company’s emissions have decreased by 83% over the same period. “This is concrete evidence of the fundamental principle that underpins our company’s strategy; that it is entirely possible to decouple economic growth from emissions growth,” he stated.
CLIMATE IMPACT
In his speech, the Chairman of ACCIONA dedicated a prominent passage to climate change, in which he reviewed humanity’s historical milestones in its fight for decarbonization. “Unfortunately, the Kyoto protocol and subsequent agreements have had little success and, today, twenty years later, we find ourselves with CO2 concentration figures in the atmosphere above 425 parts per million, about 15% higher than in 2004, and unprecedented levels of global warming of around 1.5ºC.”
However, the Chairman of ACCIONA highlighted the anticipated reduction in fossil fuel consumption as a positive development. According to José Manuel Entrecanales, “in the next decade we will see peak oil consumption and a progressive but rapid decline in the subsequent years. As a result, we will see a steady decrease in global emissions,” he added.
For the Chairman of ACCIONA, the Iberian Peninsula is “one of the world’s paradigmatic examples in replacing fossil fuels in electricity production.” “There is probably no energy quasi-island in the world the size of the Iberian Peninsula with such a low penetration of fossil fuels in the electricity generation matrix: 13% in the first five months of 2024,” he said. In his opinion, “it is possible to manage the electricity system that supplies one of the world’s top fifteen economies, with more than 60 million inhabitants, with only 13% of fossil fuels emitting and 67% of renewables.” The rest is mainly nuclear energy.
However, José Manuel Entrecanales warned that “in this new model of a predominantly renewable electricity system, regulatory adjustments are essential to avoid the price distortions that inevitably produce the temporal or climatological concentration typical of solar or wind power, which discourage investment both in Spain and in other countries that see our example as a model.”
BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS
In his speech to the AGM, José Manuel Entrecanales highlighted the major milestones of 2023: the historic record in infrastructure contracting and portfolio; the record in new installed megawatts (1.7GW) and a radical change in Nordex’s economic and financial trend.
The Chairman of ACCIONA emphasized that “in the Infrastructure business, from a human point of view, it was a sad year due to the passing of our colleague Luis Castilla, who led the division to achieve record highs in its portfolio (€34 billion), in contracting (€9.4 billion) and in sales (€7 billion), with a slight increase in operating margins and, overall strong performance in the three main strategic lines of the division: Construction, Water and Concessions.” José Manuel Entrecanales highlighted to shareholders the completion of significant infrastructure projects, such as the Follo Line tunnels (Norway), the Quito metro (Ecuador) and the Site C dam (Canada).
In Energy, he highlighted reaching 13.5GW of installed renewable capacity globally, “consolidating key markets such as Australia and the US, opening new ones like the Dominican Republic and Peru, and resuming investment in countries like Canada, India and Croatia.” In his speech, he acknowledged that in 2023 there was “high volatility in energy prices and significant evacuation limitations due to lack of network capacity, trends that continue in 2024, although with a better outlook for future prices in recent weeks.” He continued, “I am also confident that we will maintain the investment pace this year, reaching around 1.7GW of additional installed capacity.”
He also highlighted that Bestinver’s funds “achieved their best year of profitability in the last decade, consolidating its position as the best independent manager in Spain.” In addition, he mentioned to the Mobility division, where Silence maintains a share of nearly 15% in the European electric motorcycle market and 25% in Spain. He announced that the company is “about to complete the development and launch of our urban car with interchangeable batteries.”
The Chairman of ACCIONA also highlighted the change in trend in Nordex, “establishing itself as the second largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world, excluding the main Chinese manufacturers.”
“As a result, among other things, of the increase in our global market share and the historical record in contracts, we have achieved operating profits that augur well for future years,” said José Manuel Entrecanales in his annual review. In his opinion, ACCIONA “is a solid, efficient company, very well positioned and with excellent prospects for the future.”
José Manuel Entrecanales emphasized ACCIONA’s contribution to wealth creation for society as a whole, known as social cash-flow, which in 2023 amounted to €19.4 billion (+59%), mainly distributed in payments to suppliers worth €12.5 billion, €2.1 billion in tax contributions and €1.9 billion in wages and salaries.
ACCIONA’s AGM approved, among other matters, the 2023 annual accounts and the Sustainability Report for the year, as well as the distribution of a gross dividend of €4.85 per share, which will be paid on July 4, 2024.