Rafael del Pino
Management
Thank you, Begoña. 2020 has been a difficult year with an unprecedented health crisis that has impacted all aspects of our lives. COVID-19 forced governments to impose mobility restrictions, travel bans and quarantines across the globe, which in turn led the economies closing down. In this scenario, we have seen our operations impacted, especially in terms of traffic levels in Toll roads and Airports, although whenever restrictions were lifted, we saw a quick recovery performance, especially in our toll roads in North America. We have taken measures to mitigate the COVID-19 impact through reduction in costs and CapEx plans at corporate and also at asset level. Although also impacted by COVID-19, our contracting business showed resilient performance. Production levels in Construction were strong; and EBIT margin reached 2.3%, which is much better than what we were initially expecting for the year. We were also able to generate a strong activity cash flow in the year, especially helped by improved working capital on the back of better collection terms of Construction and Services, the strong performance of Budimex and divestments that were completed. Ferrovial faced COVID-19 with a record high level of liquidity and a strong cash position. Throughout the year, we have strived to preserve and improve even further the liquidity position of the company issuing corporate bonds, drawing syndicated credit facilities issued through ECB pandemic emergency purchase program. We closed 2020 with €8 billion of available liquidity ex infrastructure; and €1.3 billion in available liquidity lines; net cash position ex infra at close to €2 billion, including discontinued activities. We are following our strategy, which is aligned with the Horizon 24 plan presented a year ago. We are refocusing on the development and operation of sustainable infrastructure with high concessional value, rotation of mature assets and increasing our exposure…