3/18/2021

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

Good afternoon. This is the Coral School Conference Operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the RIVA Full Year 2020 Results Analyst Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Giancarlo Benucci, Chief Corporate Development Officer of RiveA. Please go ahead, sir.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Thank you and good afternoon. Let me start thanking all of you for joining us today and welcome to our 2020 full year results presentation. As usual, Aldo will start with the highlights and figures of the period. Adalberto will then illustrate the financial details. And at the end, we will welcome your questions in the usual Q&A session. Let me now hand the call over to Aldo. Please, Aldo, go ahead.

speaker
Aldo
Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Giancarlo, and good afternoon to all of you. Today, we are presenting the activities and results of the year 2020, which will be remembered as one of the most peculiar and difficult experiences by all of us. Despite the negative context, Huawei has, however, been able to contain the growth path of its economic and financial results that has been uninterrupted since the IPO, and which we expect will continue and even accelerate in the future. In particular, let me point out the recurring cash generation that in 2020 was close to 90 million and which allows us to plan the development and diversification activities envisaged by our plan. Going now into the highlights in more detail, slide number 4, the economic results are also above the expectation at the beginning of the year. within an adjusted EBITDA up by about 4% to over 136 million. This number has undoubtedly benefited from a temporary reduction in operating costs due to the impact of safety and recovery measures introduced to react to the emergency of the pandemic. A reduction that more than offset the more gradual deployment of certain development activities in the March-May period due to the restrictions. But even excluding this temporary effect, the operating performance, as we will see in more detail shortly, remains very satisfactory. The development investments, which represent one of the engines of our future growth, have increased as expected thanks to the reforming activities but have been supported, as already commented, by a significant recurring cash generation. These results allow us to propose to our General Assembly also for this year a full distribution of the net profit equivalent to a dividend per share of €23.85 and a dividend yield of 5%. From a strategic and operational perspective, first of all, I would like to recall the presentation of the new industrial plan in March, which outlined a clear strategic direction for the near future. During the year, following the finalization of the agreement with RISE, we accelerated the activities related to the refunding, which must be progressively completed in the period between September 2021 and June 2022. At the same time, Looking at customers other than Rai, the commercial effort produced good results, probably not yet immediately evident in numbers, due to the anticipated pressure from MNOs. In reality, net of this segment, performance with third-party customers recorded mid-single-digit growth in revenues and volumes, driven by fixed wireless access operators. From a financial point of view 2020 saw the finalization of the new 170 million euros loan that will cover the financing needs related to the organic initiatives including the industrial plan 2020-2023 and the implementation of the buyback plan completed in November with the purchase of approximately 20 million euros of shares. We are also proud to share today The approval of the first right-way sustainability plan, which gives continuity to the company's straightened commitment to ESG and innovation issues, already started with the preliminary definition of some macro objectives within the industrial plan. We have now outlined new objectives, specific targets, and the portfolio actions, which, as we will see later on, have brought tangible benefits already in 2020. So, in terms of outlook, growth will not stop. Also, in 2021, despite the temporary FX recorded in 2020 have raised the basis of comparison, we expect a further increase in adjusted EBITDA levels. Apart from 2021, as previously mentioned in March of last year, probably in the worst period of the pandemic, we presented an industrial plan that outlined our idea and commitment to evolve our company through the technological update of the networks, the launch of new services, a new digital organization model, and the step up of the size scale through the expansion of the managed infrastructure. totally confirmed on which we are already working not only through the farming but also through the step up of all the other initiatives but before going into the details of the financial performance i would like to draw your attention to the positive behavior the performance that the digital dresser platform has shown in recent months so moving to slide number six. In fact, there is one thing that 2020 has confirmed. It's the resilience of the so-called traditional TV, in particular with high-lining the social role that together with the market structure, Italy, as you know, is mainly free-to-air, and the efficiency with respect to the video distribution typical of free-to-air broadcasters, linear distribution of live content addressing a wide audience represents one of the strengths and drivers of future sustainability of this platform. In particular, the strong push that the COVID emergency has brought on video consumption as a result of greater time spans at home and higher attention paid to information has in fact supported not only the uptake of the OTT platform, but also the use and audience of linear TV, intended, of course, as digital terrestrial platform. So, what's the message? It is likely that this period of marked growth will be transitory. However, it would not be fair to compare the trends of a mature platform with those of platforms that are in an early stage and uptake phase. But the message here is that we are not witnessing a replacement, but rather a complementary and coexistence of platform based on different uses on demand and on deferable on broadband, live and directly to a large concurrent audience on broadcast. Which is exactly the direction rebalancing but coexistence when fully operational envisaged in our industrial plan. And even some studies and surveys which begin to be more reliable and representative following the growth of the RTT subscriber base seem to confirm that this complementarity is valid for the vast majority of users. Moving now to slide number seven. This evidence is also consistent with the large amount of work that operators are making to upgrade the digital terrestrial networks ahead of the refinement. The refinement is a process that, among other things, will also allow an improvement in the quality of transmissions thanks to the higher capacity of the T2 technology and the greater compression of the HEVC standard. These large amounts of activities obviously concern also us. In particular, from the upgrade of the networks we manage for Rai, in addition to the new networks that we will manage at regional level, which will have to be completed progressively between September 2021 and June 2022. As you may recall, the agreement signed that we signed with Rai provides for investment of approximately 125 or 150 million, based on the number of multiplexes managed at full capacity, of which one third completed at the end of 2020, so bang in line with the plan. The activity started first with the extension of the coverage of the current national multiplex, one of which will be extended to be the new macro-regional multiplex. When fully operational, the number of equipment and sites will be increased from the original 400 to 1,000, and to date we have exceeded 900. On the other two macro projects, namely the macro-regional UHF T2 ready multiplex and the upgrade of national multiplex to BT2, We have started the installation of new antennas where necessary and of the T2 transmitters. In terms of regulatory steps, the only pending point is the awarding of the remaining four half multiplex. With current visibility, the auction should take place by this summer, so by third quarter 2021, following the rules already announced and commenced. Although we will not have the final confirmation until the outcome of the auction, our base game remains the one with three multiplex managed for RAI. A scenario implies 150 million investments and approximately 60 million euros of additional revenues. Moving now to slide number 8, you find as usual the financial highlights of the 2020. Starting from the core revenues, total 224.5 million euros up 1.4% compared to 2019, mainly as a result of the progressively growing contribution from new services to Rai in presence of a flat-tish CPI and the broadly stable level of third-party revenues with a more balanced customer mix. As already anticipated, adjusted EBITDA reached 136.1 million euros, so a 3.7% increase compared to 2019, bringing profitability above 60% level, 60.6% to be precise. Moving on, at the bottom line, one-off expenses and higher DNA linked to rising investment resulted in 64 million euros net income, so up 1% year-on-year. On the financial side, CapEx in the period grew to 60.6 million euros, boosted by the farming project and in particular by the multi-flex coverage at Centrum project. About net debt at December 30 amounts to 46.1 million euros and includes the effect of the buyback executed from August till November. This level reflects a very strong recurring cash conversion over the year, above 90% exceeding the 2019 figure by more than 5 percentage points. I leave the floor to Adalberto to tell you more on the financial performance. So please, Adalberto, the floor is yours.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Aldo, and good afternoon to everybody also from my side. As underlined by Aldo, in 2020, the company delivered a good set of results, even exceeding the expectation we had. If you look at slide 9, starting from the top line, core revenues were €224.5 million vis-à-vis €221.4 million in 2019, with the right component growing 1.7% despite the flat CPI dynamic, but thanks to the contribution of the recurring new services You may see in the slide a very strong evolution and growth over year on year. Thanks to this contribution, new services are now up by 55% on 2019, back as anticipated in the nine months. and by Aldo by the NUX coverage extension and the DAB project totaling 10.7 million euro contribution. Last year we had 6.9 million euro. On the other hand, revenues from third parties are broadly stable at 33.2 million euro benefiting from the mid single digit growth from non-M&O customers boosted by fixed wireless access customers, offset by the pressure from the MNO customers, resulting in a more balanced customer mix with non-MNO customers that now represent more than 40% of the third-party portfolio. Moving on to cost slide number 10. As you can see, our cost base amounting to €88.9 million decreased by 2.4% in 2019, having been favorably impacted along the year by the COVID-related measures. However, if you consider the underlying trend, excluding non-core and temporary impacts, we have an overall stable cost base. Let's enter into some detail personal cost reached 45.5 million euro and were basically flat even excluding non-core items and capitalization with the saving coming from covet related impact on the variable component offset by other temporary factors other operating costs fell by 5.1 percent at 43.5 million euro mainly driven by the pandemic impact on energy, maintenance, travel items, in general, all our viable costs. On a recurring basis, the cost related to implementation of new services has been balanced by lower energy price and deficiencies on the rental of connectivity capacity. All in all, profitability reached 60.6% from the previous 59.3%. As you can see, in the following slide, the number 11. Well, I would also highlight the €1,000,000 one-off cost incurred in the year in relation to the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Plan that together with the higher DNA following the rising investment activity mainly developed in SCAPEX and a tough comparison with 2019 figures when we recorded a 1.5 million euro benefit, one-off benefit, from the release of our provisions. This brings the net income to 64 million euro, 1% higher vis-à-vis the 63.4 million euro recorded in 2019. still benefiting from the COVID related tax relief we commented also in the previous call. Moving now to the cash generation on slide 12, you can see how the 9.5 million euro net debt recorded at the end of 2019 increased to 46.1 million euro at the end of December 2020, which Besides, the EBITDA contribution was mainly driven by a relevant CAPEX outflow for more than €60 million, 80% out of which are due to the already mentioned development CAPEX and some small M&A investments. Then we have €5.8 million related to the positive contribution from our networking capital. and 20 million euro of cash out related to the buyback program that we finalized at the end of last year. And then we have the 63.3 million euro of dividend we paid in July. If we strip out the IFRS 16 effect on net debt figure we would obtain a net debt position of about 11 million euro at the end of the year. Lastly, before coming to the dividend proposal, please let me put the light on cash generation. We are in slide 13. Cash generation, which has been quite remarkable in 2020, with 88.9, so almost 90 million normalized free cash flow to equity. up 15% compared to 2019 figures, boosted by higher EBITDA and lower maintenance capex. Of course, these figures must be read together with the 20 million euro cash out with the buyback, these are all the uses that we did, and the 48.3 million euro devoted to development capex and some M&As. Keeping all this in mind, we are proposing to the next Annual General Meeting the distribution of 100% of our net income in the amount of 23.85 euro cents per share, with an implied dividend yield of 5%. This figure confirms once again our strong focus on shareholder remuneration with around almost €360 million equal to 40% of the company initial market cap distributed since the IPO, showing a material progression year after year. That's really all on my side, so I now leave the floor back to Aldo for the closing remarks. Thank you. Thanks.

speaker
Aldo
Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Alberto. Here we come at slide number 14 to an issue on which the company has put a lot of effort throughout the year and of which we are very proud. I'm talking about the first sustainability plan approved by our company through which we reinforce the commitment already anticipated in our industrial plan by detailing for each pillar, as you remember, environment, social, governance and innovation, the sustainability strategy for now until 2023 together. This slide provides a snapshot of the key goals and targets of the plan, which focuses on six strategic directions, addressing nine of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. the fight against the climate change, the pursuit of health, well-being and growth of our people together with the social and cultural development of communities, and the safety and security standard of the value chain, and the alignment of ESG government systems, and investment in technological innovation of both the company and the country. And these guidelines are backed by specific initiatives, most of them already ongoing as you may appreciate from the results already achieved in 2020 and needed to match qualitative and quantitative targets like on the environmental front, the carbon neutrality by 2025 to be pursued through the confirmation of the purchase of 100 of electricity from renewable sources, as was already in the case in 2020, and the implementation of initiatives to reduce energy consumption and environmental impacts, such as those that in 2020 allowed us to cut CO2 emissions by 36% compared to 2019. On social level, one of the key objectives is to promote the work-life balance with the configuration of an agile work model accessible at full capacity to at least 45% of employees, thus confirming what has already been successfully tested during the COVID-19 pandemic. As for ESG governance, that we will continue to develop systems and controls aligned to the best practices and integrated with sustainability profiles, for example integrating ESG objectives in the Management Incentive Plan. And finally, Rewe's technological footprint will allow us, also through the 200 million euros development investment included in our industrial plan, to promote innovation and diversification of the company for the company and at the same time contributing of the digitalization of our cancer. So this plan also reflects the outcome of a process of progressive engagement with the main ESG rating agencies already started in 2020 with the aim to improve Rayway's positioning with respect to the evaluation of leading international ESG formation providers such as CDP, MSCI or Sustanalytics. Moving now to the expectations for 2021. The indications we are sharing today are based on two main assumptions. Firstly, the three multiplexes managed by Forai after the reforming, that as I said before, although the final confirmation will come only after the auction, remains our base case impacting both the revenue step up and the total reframing investment figures. And second assumption on the current visibility, of course, on the pandemic. In particular, we expected 2021 adjusted EBITDA to be slightly above the 2020 reported level, meaning that when excluding the temporary opex reduction recorded last year mainly as a result of the coded of the coveted measures and the slightly negative cpi contribution the underlying growth could be more marked and evident driven by the step up in right contrast starting from the second half looking at the investments of the capex both development or maintenance capex are expected above 2020, in particular for the development component, the increase is driven by the reforming activities. As for maintenance capital, let me just confirm that the expected run rate level post-network upgrade remains at around 6% of core revenues, so about 15 million per year. And as a final remark, 2020 has been the first year of execution of our industrial plan. A year that, first of all, proved once again the visibility and cash generation guaranteed by a contract backlog of over 1.5 billion euros, as well as the solidity of the business model confirmed also in the distressed economy caused by the COVID emergency. and our ambitions for the future remains totally unchanged. Also in the context of possible inflectionary environments and increased interest rates as the market is now anticipating. Indeed, let me remind that our main contract with Rai and all the tower costing contracts are CPI linked and as a rule of thumb, every 1% of inflection translates into approximately 2 million EBITDA. At the same time, considering a top line not directly linked to a business cycle and the limited current debt exposure, an interest rate hike could have a negligible impact on our numbers. So we do not even fully agree with the perception of Rayway as a pure bond proxy. Okay, the visibility. Okay, the dividend. But looking at the targets of our plan, we should be approaching an above average growth phase, driven by the full impact of the reforming and the new efficiency opportunities enabled by the digital transformation of the operating model. So targets that remain, of course, valid. As fully valid remains our commitment to the industrial plan execution, also with regards to capital allocation and exploitation of financial flexibility. We aim to enhance the long-term growth through the introduction of new services and the expansion of the asset portfolio. Although we are not yet at the point of being able to share the details, but the plan covers four years, we are working on the setup of the main initiatives and services. We are confident on their feasibility and on the potential tangible contribution to accelerate the company's growth profile. That's all on our side. We can now open the line for the Q&A session.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

Excuse me, this is the Coruscant conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. We will now pause for a minute as callers join the queue. The first question is from Jacob Bluesone with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

speaker
Jacob Bluesone
Analyst, Credit Suisse

Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking the questions. I had two questions, please. Firstly, just going back to slide six, which is quite interesting where you show increase in viewing of linear TV over the course of 2020. And I'd just be interested, I mean, is that something you've seen or is your impression that that is you've seen a similar increase across all platforms, or do you think linear TV has actually seen an increase in its share? So you show the absolute level, but I'd be interested in any thoughts around the relative viewing of linear TV. And then just secondly, on the guidance, I don't know if you're willing to comment, but you have a consensus of EBITDA of about 138 for 2021. Is that a consensus you're comfortable with?

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

Thank you.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Hi, Jacob. Starting from your second question, yeah, the consensus, as you've already said, for 2021 is at around 138 million euros of adjusted EBITDA. We usually do not comment consensus. We have provided the guidance, but let me say that we are comfortable with the number. While coming to your first question, And on the share, let me say that the share represented by linear TV in Italy remains very high, much higher than in other countries for several reasons. We are, I would say, above 70% represented by the linear television on the total video consumption. In any case, let me say, Dan, if you compare the performance of the digital segment, the trend, of course, is different, but it's something logical considering that, as also highlighted by Aldo during the presentation, you are comparing a mature media with digital platforms that are in early stages. But keep in mind that when presenting our plan and the scenario in terms of evolution of video distribution and fruition, we have never denied the progressive rebalancing in terms of platforms supported by broadband, smart device, on demand, and so on. We basically said the opposite, that the rebalancing will continue, but our point and what we said is that at the same time, if we try to look at a run rate scenario we see not a replacement but a complementarity of the different platforms, translating into a broadly balanced opportunity for our company.

speaker
Jacob Bluesone
Analyst, Credit Suisse

Thank you. If I can just ask a follow-up as well. You highlighted the strong growth, particularly for fixed wireless access. I think we saw something similar at InWit. I'm just sort of interested in what do you think is sort of driving the fact that we're suddenly seeing this step up in fixed wireless access in Q4? Is it just it tends to be lumpy or is there some sort of step change that's happened in the market in the last few months? I realize it's something that's been discussed for a while, but just it seems like it's suddenly accelerated.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Basically, the growth in the fixed wireless access contribution has been not only in the fourth quarter but throughout the entire year. Let me say it's driven by, I would say, more players pushing for this kind of technology that is proving to be quite efficient in particular in the area. with digital divide. I mean, in Italy, three years ago, you had only a few small companies offering this kind of technology. As of today, it's becoming the reference technology also for big players in digital divide areas.

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

Thank you. That's helpful.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

The next question is from Fabio Pavan with Mediobanca. Please go ahead.

speaker
Fabio Pavan
Analyst, Mediobanca

Yes, hello, good evening, and thank you for taking my two questions. The first one refers to something we just discussed. So it seems 5G and FWA will be key part of this strategy the new government aims to implement. My questions are, did you have manager ready to meet with a new government representative? Would you share the view that consolidation in the broadcasting space would ease, eventually speed up in the refarming process? The other question is about the other option for external growth. Clearly, the feedback seems to be you are still at work on that. Can we expect something concrete to happen before the end of 2021?

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

Thank you. Could you repeat, please, your first question, Fabio?

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

Ciao, Fabio. Thanks.

speaker
Fabio Pavan
Analyst, Mediobanca

Yes, ciao. Yes, actually two parts. First of all, I was wondering if you already have managed to meet the new government representatives. And the second part of the question is if you would share the view that consolidation in broadcasting tower space would ease actually the reforming process and directly support in the plans of the government for

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

I would say that the consolidation is at this stage independent from the reforming process. reforming process could give some help in reducing some integration costs in a hypothetical scenario of consolidation, but clearly the rational and the synergies arising from a potential consolidation of the sector are independent from this. uh so i don't see a direct link but this of course in this context as as you may see from from the slide that we present we confirm our commitment on the pillars of our of our business plan that include, of course, this opportunity for the company.

speaker
Aldo
Chief Executive Officer

About the timing of the potential deal, it's difficult to comment on timing. It's an opportunity that has an operational and financial rationale, but which from a strategic point of view, for a way, makes sense if done in a certain way. A way that finds a certain consensus but makes it depend not only on us but also on the alignment and actions of several other stakeholders. So it's difficult to comment on timing, but believe me, in the meantime, we are not sitting on our hands, not only in pursuing this opportunity, but also in setting up the other opportunities that we consider material and complementary to the consolidation list.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

The next question is from Andrea De Vita, Banca Acros. Please go ahead.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

Yes, good evening. My first question is on what I read this morning on the Southern Quaternary related to potential interest on Rai Television, your current company, and the different scenarios related to the content distribution network, so CDN, which has obviously to do with the strong growth in streaming. and the potential to develop a proprietary network or other scenarios which could, in theory, involve you as a preferred supplier or as the manager of this infrastructure. So I would like to know your position on this point, if there is actually an opportunity in this sense. And the second question related to the timing of the... the MUX auction if there is a possibility of delays in investment or in revenues related to the contact with Rai. So if I have to suppose the 0.5 million lower revenues per month, should the government not be able to assign the frequencies by July?

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

Let's start from the last question. At this stage, clearly, we don't see this risk. I know that there is a lot of work from the government in order to be ready to start everything really in the short term. And then there will be some time in order to make and prepare the offer by the bidder. that the guidance to have an outcome by the third quarter is confirmed. So we don't see this risk, absolutely. For the other question, probably Aldo can... Yeah, the other question is about the CDN.

speaker
Aldo
Chief Executive Officer

We welcome the press on the relevance of the CDN. we can have a role in all the NDVH scenarios, also considering the peculiarities in terms of capillarity and quality of services that we think the CDN of a public broadcasting service should have. So I could say it's consistent with our 2022 plan, industrial plan.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

Okay. May I? My previous question was, if there is no, I understand that you believe that there will be an option, but maybe the option will not take place in the due time frame. So what does the service, the reframing contract with Rai provides for in case there is no option? So this is something that you don't want to happen, but it could happen. No, no, no, no.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Andrea, we want to ask, don't mind. We didn't get your question correctly before. Let me say that with the visibility we have today, the auction should take place in time. But in any case, just to answer your question, the market is very simple because it's what has been written in the contract we signed with Rai. In case of management of two multiplexes, we will have 6 million lower additional revenues and 25 million lower capexes. So, considering that in 2021 the impact will be only for six months, the six million lower additional revenues will translate in three million lower additional revenues. That's it.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

So, on a monthly basis? Okay.

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

No, no, not on a monthly basis.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

On a yearly basis.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

No, no. My question is... Sorry, we can take it offline, but I would like to explain later my question.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

No problem.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

Give us a call. It's not a one-off. The question is, it's not a one-off. Clearly, sooner or later, the spectrum will arrive. My question is, if it is later, should I take out the monthly lower revenues? Probably yes.

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

Andrea, my question was, if I get the spectrum, if I start in September, I will get three months less.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

No, actually, if my understanding is correct and you are asking if there are impacts assuming a different timeframe.

speaker
Andrea De Vita
Analyst, Banca Akros

A different timeframe.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

No, we should not have an impact if in September we will have the assignment of this frequency. We should not have an impact on the contact. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

The next question is from Stefano Gamberini with Equita. Please go ahead.

speaker
Stefano Gamberini
Analyst, Equita

Good evening, everybody. Sorry to come back still on the main topic. In my view, that is the potential deal with eight hours. Just to understand, first of all, if you have a deadline for reaching this deal, what I mean is a such long story that probably, and there are a lot of stakeholders that should understand who should be involved, that probably is too difficult to reach an agreement with all of them. So what is your deadline regarding this deal? And second, what are the other measures, investments, M&A deals that are under analysis on your side, considering the optimization of your leverage? And this is the second question. regarding what would be an optimal leverage for your company. It's still valid something in the region of four to five times that BDA. And in this case, how we can reach this target without this deal with eight hours, considering all the difficulties that are already going on.

speaker
Moderator
Conference Moderator

Thank you.

speaker
Aldo
Chief Executive Officer

So, starting from your question, it's an easy answer because there's no deadline regarding the consolidation date. And about your second question, Giancarlo?

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

On the optimization of the capital structure, you mentioned just external lines, M&A. Let me say that optimization can be reached and achieved not only through external lines, so not only through M&A, but also through organic investments. It can be a mix of both. And the areas of interest of potential investments are the one we put and we explained presenting our infrastructure plan, so new infrastructure mainly related to data center potentially both edge and upper scale. On the, let me say, target leverage, Alberto?

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

On the target leverage, Of course, looking at the market, we are also represented in one slide in our industrial plant presentation. Looking at the market, we have flexibility, as you mentioned, by the way, until four or five times the EBITDA. Of course, the potential consolidation of the broadcast structure is important. the ideal scenario to change our capital structure. If not, we are working and we will try to do something on some diversification opportunities in order to try to reach a better capital structure.

speaker
Stefano Gamberini
Analyst, Equita

Mimi, thanks. Just a quick follow-up. When could we expect an update of the business plan considering these potential opportunities that could arrive or not, just to understand to have an update on the potential growth from investments?

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

As of today, we are not assuming to update our business plan in the next month, also because these are impacts that should come from something non-organic. So, if hopefully we will be able to do something, at that stage we will be able to give an updated business plan.

speaker
Stefano Gamberini
Analyst, Equita

clear. Many thanks.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

Just to be clear, all the opportunities that we commented in the context of our industrial plan are opportunities on top of the organic trends that we included.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

The next question is from Giorgio Tavolini with Intermonte. Please go ahead. Mr. Tavolini, your line is open.

speaker
Giorgio Tavolini
Analyst, Intermonte

Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. I have three very simple yes or no questions on my side. The first one is on the 2021 budget law that has introduced the possibility of realigning the tax value of goodwill and other intangible assets. Some of your peers already announced some tax schemes. Are you interested in those schemes? The second one is on the buyback. Last year you set an absolute size of 20 million euros. Is that correct that for this year you do not have a specific absolute cap on the size of the new buyback program, apart from one on the number of shares? And the third one is on the electromagnetic limits. Do you have any visibility from the new government and, I don't know, technical tables on the opportunity from the loosening of the electromagnetic limits in Italy? Thank you.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

So let's start from your first question. Of course, something interesting, but unfortunately for us, we don't have such interesting amounts that could be included in these tax opportunities. So there is nothing on our balance sheet that could give a material impact from this. On the buyback program, could you Kindly clarify your question.

speaker
Giorgio Tavolini
Analyst, Intermonte

You were referring to the limits... Yes, last year you basically set a cap, a size for the buyback program, 20 million euros. For this year, you asked a new buyback authorization for the new program, but you didn't set any specific absolute size. No, no, no.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

It's just that it is one of the points that will be presented in our general meeting, but we don't have any buyback program approved.

speaker
Giorgio Tavolini
Analyst, Intermonte

Okay, okay.

speaker
Adalberto
Chief Financial Officer

As you may see, this is something that we do all the years. So each year we present the same authorization in order to have flexibility, but there is nothing approved.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Well, on your question on the electromagnetic limits, we do not have specific updates, but let me say, as you know, that for us it's less of an issue considering the location and the size of our towers. So it's something affecting more the the Perco towers and the rooftop rather than the huge broadcasting masts. Thank you.

speaker
Conference Operator
Conference Operator

Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.

speaker
Giancarlo Benucci
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Okay. Thank you to all of you for joining the call, and bye-bye. Speak soon.

Disclaimer

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