Good morning. Thank you for joining us for this live streamed event, during which we will be presenting Elia Group's annual results. We are kicking off with a company first. It is the first time that we are holding an event live from our own virtual TV studio in our headquarters in Brussels. A new TV studio, but familiar faces will be taking part today. Indeed, Elia Group CFO Catherine Vandenborre, and Elia Group's CEO Chris Peeters, are here with me now. Acceleration of the energy transition and new projects that are on the horizon. Catherine Vandenborre will then present the financial results, and finally, we will present you with some of our conclusions and give you an outlook for the years to come. As mentioned, on screen now, you must read the disclaimer before we can continue, and I assume that you have all read it by now, and then we can begin. Chris, our last analyst presentation was held at the end of July 2021. What events from the last six months are worth mentioning? Well, again, like each period when we talk, we see again an acceleration in this energy transition. If we look at Germany, we see that the new government has put higher ambitions even than the government before. In the government before, we already had the change that they said it's not 2050 that were net zero, we go to 2045. Now we see that they 40 GW by 2035 and 70 GW by 2045. That is, of course, an important investment opportunity that we have. Second thing is that in their new development plan, they gave us access to the North Sea. We have a project where we will connect our region to the North Sea, and we will become the first TSO in Germany that will have access at both seas. That means as well that we will have new opportunities to connect wind farms at the North Sea side as well to the grid, and that we can then bring it down to the south to the industrial region of Bayern. That's an important development that we see over there. Indeed, an important development in Germany. What about the activities in Belgium? Are things accelerating there too? Yes, actually as well, that we have seen since last time, the government has taken the decision that they would increase the capacity that will be developed in the Princess Elisabeth Zone. They moved from 2.1 GW to 3.5 GW, which is quite an important step up that they do. As well, just before the end of the year, they have decided that we can develop this with an island, an island that will not only bring this new wind farm's energy to shore, but also that will be a connection point to the future Nautilus and the future Triton C able, on which I will talk later. Okay. Thank you, Chris, for sharing these first insights with us. In the press release that we published this morning, Elia Group provided an overview of last year's most important achievements. We made good progress on major infrastructure works and new cooperation agreements were signed. Catherine, all of these activities, what is their financial impact? In other words, what are our key figures? Yes, Marleen. We invested EUR 1.2 billion last year, and Chris will walk you through the important CapEx project later. The vast majority of these investments is related to the expansion or the strengthening of our onshore and offshore grid, and a small but increasing portion aims at facilitating the digitalization of the power sector. As a consequence, the Group Regulated Asset Base, the RAB, grew with 6.2% to EUR 10.3 billion. In terms of grid reliability, I am proud to say we have achieved a level of 99.999%. It is a sign we provide society with a robust transmission grid that is crucial for socioeconomic prosperity. This is year-over-year an increase of 36 basis points, which was driven by the investment in the grid and very strong performance from Nemo Link. It was partially offset by the lower result of 50Hertz due to higher operating costs, and I will provide you with more details about this later, Marleen. Okay. Thank you, Catherine. Let's have a look at the cover of our next annual report that will be published in mid-April. Its title is Powering the Decade of Electrification. Chris, the energy transition is accelerating, is being scaled up. Do you think that we have reached a kind of turning point in reaching climate neutrality? Well, I think so. What you see now, of course, with COP26, we see that, and as well with Fit for 55, you see that the overall society understands that the urgency of the climate change is there. I think that is, of course, an important step because our mission and our strategies is to be a facilitator of that transition that is needed to achieve this climate neutrality. I think that is the important thing about the Elia Group. From a very first moment, we embrace the future. We said w e will make sure that we deliver to society the needed infrastructure that will accompany this transition. Secondly, we will also make sure that our system is capable to integrate all those renewables and also to capture the opportunities that come from electrification. What you see is the strategy that we developed over the years that has been complemented with additional growth opportunities. We have seen that it's become very fruitful as well that it has a great future because it continues to be true. It's not only about delivering the basics and keeping the lights on, but also making sure that we capture the growth opportunities of this energy transition by investing, on the one hand, into new infrastructure, and on the other hand, into the system so that we can integrate it all and make it work together. Yeah. Capturing the growth opportunities, you said. Well, yesterday, the Board of Directors approved the creation of WindGrid, a new Elia Group company which will respond to growth opportunities in offshore wind. Chris, what was the rationale behind this decision? Well, for us, it's a very logical step. Those who follow us already for a while, but you'll hear it later as well, we are actually a company which is on the forefront of this offshore development. Yeah. We did a lot of those projects in Germany. We did some of them in Belgium already. We have the Nemo Link cable, we have the MOG. We developed quite some capabilities. We have in Germany the first hybrid interconnector in the world that we have operating as we speak. A lot of things have happened over here. What we see is if we look at the size of that energy transition, a lot more infrastructure will be needed. The so-called meshed offshore grid is something that will need to be developed by people who have the capabilities of doing that, and we see ourselves positioning into that area. In addition, what we see is now that the U.S. is picking up as well the shift towards renewable, but also including the shift towards offshore wind. We want to make sure that we capture that opportunity now to move into that space. That's an acceleration for us as a development, as a Group, and therefore we ask for the approval of our Board so that we could move and found this new pillar of our future growth. As well, of course, this is something well prepared before. We already hired the new CEO, which is Markus Laukamp, who's coming from STEAG, coming out of the renewable industry, but also with a long track record together with Essent and with Ørsted. He already understands very well what's happening in the European space. We hope as well that he can then soon scale up to the U.S. Yeah. He will start the 1st of April. Okay. Let's zoom in on some key achievements in 2021. Katrien already mentioned the investment program of EUR 1.2 billion. Can you give some examples of major projects that were realized? Let's start in Belgium. Yeah. As we start in Belgium, I think the most important thing that we've done next to the typical replacement investment that we have to do because we have a bit of an older grid in Belgium, we have done a lot of investments in strengthening the backbone. The 380 kV backbone in Belgium, not in the sense like we have those projects that we talk later about, Ventilus, Boucle du Hainaut, but more in reinforcing the corridor so they can transport more energy than they do today. We replace traditional lines with what they call HTLS lines. We have done that now in the northeast of Belgium to make a strong corridor there in that part, and as well in our connection towards France, where this has been done. That, of course, will increase the capacity of that backbone and ensure that we can have imports of more renewable, but also that we can manage the renewables of the future better on our grid. Yeah. The focus in Belgium was on strengthening the backbone. Yeah. What about Germany? Well, in Germany, you see that we have two movements that were already, of course, engaged in before. On the one side, on onshore, we have the development around the SuedOstLink, which is the largest project that we've ever done in 50Hertz. It's something that we do in collaboration with TenneT. There we connect the north with the south to ensure that the wind energy that we capture in the north can find its way towards the demand centers that we see in Bayern. That is a very important project for the Energiewende in Germany. This year we made big progress on the procurement process. We did the procurement of the converter stations, and that's a big step, of course, of this very important project that we have over there. Not only there, we also already had a number of projects at the sea. For instance, Ostwind 2. Ostwind 2 is now on its way to prepare to capture two additional offshore zones in the coming year. For that, of course, we are now in the phase of laying the cable, the submarine cable. The one on land is or has already been laid last year. That is something as well where we make big progress today. Yeah. Meanwhile, we see new projects on the horizon. You already mentioned the energy island. There's a lot of excitement about this project. Can you give some details? Yeah. Indeed, I think that for good reason, a lot of excitement about it. It will be the first artificial island at the North Sea, and so that's an important step, of course. It's not because it's an island that we're so excited. It will be the first energy hub at sea. Energy hub, why is that concept important? On the one hand, we will integrate the last part of offshore wind that will be developed in the Belgian seas, and so that's important, of course, for the country that can integrate it. As well, we bring actually with the interconnections, the TritonLink link that we will develop towards Denmark and, you know, Nautilus to the U.K., we will make it a real dispatch point. It will be actually the first node of an offshore grid, and Belgium will integrate itself into that. Of course, a lot of technology developments that need to happen over there, which excites our engineers, and so we see there's a lot of excitement around that project. Yeah. You mentioned the TritonLink link, the interconnector with Denmark, another exciting project, I would say. What progress has been made in 2021 on this project? Well, we have concluded the second step of the agreement that we have with Energinet in Denmark. That was based on an agreement between our two governments. They made an agreement that they wanted to have a long-term relationship in terms of energy. In that framework now we have to develop the details of the project. Yeah, we're still looking at what is the exact landing points. It will be a project where we likely will connect two artificial islands. That will also be again. The first, yeah. A first in the world that we will do over there. Again, a lot of excitement around that project, but also a lot of, let's say, work that we have developed. It's 600 km away. It is connecting a country that is not a neighbor for the first time, important to tap into energy of the Nordic sea. Many things around that project as well that excite us a lot. Yeah. A very challenging project, sorry. We have the TritonLink link between Belgium and Denmark, but let's have a look at the map. Two additional interconnectors are currently under development. Chris already mentioned Nautilus in the North Sea, a second interconnector with the U.K., and the Bornholm Energy Island project in the Baltic Sea, another project with Energinet. Chris, how come that interconnectors are so important in the next stage of the energy transition? Well, they bring a number of things in this energy transition. The first of all, and the most important one, is if you look in Europe, you have countries that are short in renewable energy for their final potential that we need to have at the moment that we're net zero, and we have countries that are long, so they have too much renewable energy. You have to, of course, to make sure that there is a transport of that energy from those countries which are long towards those countries which are short. We are serving two times a country which is short, Belgium and Germany are short, and therefore building those interconnectors to tap into that, to support the industry that's also decarbonizing, is a very important step for that transition. That's why these interconnects are so important. Second thing, what you see is that Europe focuses a lot on unlocking the potential of the seas. If we build hybrid interconnects, if we build islands, we of course make it the most efficient way to do that. That's why those new technologies are so important for the energy transition. In the coalition agreement of the new German government, the Baltic Sea is designated as an important area of growth for renewable energy, like Chris mentioned. We'll take a moment to listen to Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz, who will give an overview of existing and future developments in the Baltic Sea. For many years, the Baltic Sea is used to produce offshore wind energy to make the energy transition happen. 50Hertz, as part of Elia Group, is engaged in this business with Ostwind 1 and Ostwind 2 projects. Now we are accelerating. Additional projects will be realized till 2030, Ostwind 3 and Gennaker. Just a few weeks ago, the German government announced a new area for offshore wind development in the Baltic Sea. From the beginning, European cooperation was part of this development of electricity projects in the Baltic Sea. In the 1990s last century, 50Hertz realized the Kontek cable to Denmark. In 2020, we commissioned the combined Kriegers Flak solution together with our colleagues from Energinet in Denmark, the first worldwide hybrid interconnector. With the Bornholm Energy Island to be realized till 2030, there is a great novelty ahead of us. It's not only Danish and German cooperation, also Sweden is one of our partners. This decade, we will realize the Hansa PowerBridge project together with Svenska kraftnät, to realize not only an interconnector between Sweden and Germany, but also to use the hydro power storage capacities in Sweden. It's obvious, this European cooperation, this lot of opportunities for offshore wind capacities in the Baltic Sea is a great proof that maybe the first meshed grid will be realized in the Baltic Sea. It is clear our seas will play a leading role in the next phase of the energy transition. Chris, earlier today, you referred to an important development in Germany, 50Hertz is getting access to the German North Sea. Why is this so-called multi-terminal hub project so important? Well, of course, having access to both seas as only TSO gives also a very important position into the energy trend. Mm-hmm. That's of course something that we always strive for. It gives as well for us additional investment opportunities, because now we also can connect offshore wind farms that are in the North Sea. It is therefore as well for us a proof of the fact that we increased our share a few years ago in 2018, and that we brought on board KfW as a partner so that we can continue to be supportive towards that energy trend, because we still think that Germany will continue to be an important part of the growth engine within Elia. Multi-terminal project is a very complex project, and we ask Stefan Kapferer from 50Hertz to give us some more details. In Heide West, at the coastline of the North Sea in Schleswig-Holstein, we are realizing the first multi-terminal hub to integrate offshore wind energy into the onshore grid in Germany. It's the first of its kind project, a worldwide first project. It's accelerating the integration of renewable energy because it's bundling several DC power lines offshore and onshore, and it is also connected to the AC power lines in this area and to constructed electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen. This is making it easier to manage the volatility, and it's speeding up the energy transition in Germany. Until now, we talked about speeding up the delivery of infrastructure, but what about system management? You see the increase of intermittent renewables, increasing electrification and sector convergence, European integration, thanks to more interconnectors. Chris, how do you keep the lights on in a system that is becoming so complex? Well, of course, when you see the complexity of the system is increasing at a rapid pace, not only the increase of renewables that we have to integrate, but also on the other side, of course, the demand side that is electrifying. We see more and more demand that is electrifying and in small pieces, like electric vehicles, like heat pumps also at the industrial side. For that, we have launched a digital transformation office. Digital transformation office is really focused on managing that complexity, making sure that we can integrate all those flexibilities in the right way and that we can balance the system of the future. We have a very important concept around that, which is the concept that we say we have to put the consumer in the center. We're not anymore a system that tries to manage the equilibrium by itself, but we try to make sure that customers benefit from using the flexibility in the interest of the system, also in the interest of themselves. For that, we have developed a new market design, which we have proposed to all our stakeholders in June, which we are discussing today. Of course, it's a proposal. We try to see how we can further improve. Not only that, we also launched a hackathon. On that hackathon, what we have done in that hackathon is getting all kinds of startups, universities, MolenGeek was there. We had multiple companies that were joining us. We had more than 100 participants, and we focused on five key areas where they could have a challenge developed about how do we bring some consumer-centric products to those clients. That was a very exciting moment for us because we saw for the first time how this was becoming concrete. Because you can imagine, of course, Elia is a grid operator. We're not a retailer or sell directly, understanding all the difficult needs that potential clients will have in the charging of their cars, but you have done those themes. They get very excited about, "Oh, we can do this," or, "We can make sure that you can get your solar panels charged on your car at work," these kind of projects. We were able to have a couple of interesting winners in a very short period of time, which shows that the infrastructure that we are delivering from the digital side, from the system side, is the right one. That ensures that you get good client solutions, but also client solutions that help us to balance that grid. That is really important for us that we can create that combination going forward. Yeah. Consumer centricity is becoming more and more important. You also have collaboration. Last year, Elia, we had many collaboration projects that were set up. That's a clear trend in our sector. Could you mention maybe the most important collaborations? Well, maybe the first one to mention is Octopus Energy. Yeah, that was maybe for some people a surprise, huh? We made an agreement at COP26 with Octopus Energy. Octopus Energy is specialized in consumer-centric products around digitalization. What they really do is make sure that they have, for instance, products which help you to have your car charged at the right moment. There are products which are of interest, but they have a real-life client portfolio on that. That, of course, for us, is very interesting to see what is then the behavior of the overall portfolio towards the grid. In that combination, on the one hand, we help them how can they valorize that flexibility on our system, and we try to better understand what kind of products will create which kind of behavior on our system. The combination of the two of us make sure that we can make faster progress on understanding what's happening with the electrification needs of the customer. Second maybe important agreement that we had is one that we made together with BESIX. BESIX is a company that is building all kind of warehouses, buildings, et cetera. Another side also owns some of these and is exploiting these buildings and provides smart building applications to us. Understanding how buildings can become the batteries of the future is a really critical thing for us. How they can play their role vis-a-vis the system. How do we see those flexibilities coming from heat management, flexibilities coming from having clean air in the building, flexibilities coming from lighting applications, et cetera, the use of the building at the right moment. There are things, of course, that we want to integrate to make sure that they integrate into our grid, and again, provide the flexibility that is so much needed to integrate more renewables. Okay. I would like to end this overview with the first CRM auction in Belgium, which aims to secure the electricity supply following the nuclear phase-out. I think that everyone agrees, Chris, that this is a very, very complex project. It was a piece of cake. No, of course, it was a very complex project. I can only admit that it was the first time that we had to organize a competitive tender. For, or a competitive auction to ensure that we would have enough capacity after the phase-out. Very important is to maybe understand that the role of Elia is really one of public service. We try to make sure on the one hand, we advise the government on, for instance, the volumes that are needed, et cetera to make sure that we can keep the lights on in whatever scenario that they choose. On the other hand, we are executing the decisions they made. They decided on this CRM mechanism. We are the ones that make sure that the auction is well organized. What we've seen is actually that we were very successful in that. Because of course, the objective that we had was within the constraints that were given, that we would have a competitive auction with many technologies. That's what we have seen. Of course, we still are working on a number of the problems that we have around the permits. Actually, if you look at the real result that we have with our teams, I'm extremely proud that our teams could deliver that in such a short period of time. In a few weeks, government will take, hopefully, a decision. This will definitely leave its mark on 2022 and on the future energy system. Thank you, Chris, for your explanations. Catherine, another key moment in 2021 was the launch of ActNow, our sustainability program. Let's do maybe first a little recap. ActNow includes five different dimensions. We see them on slide: climate action, environment and circular economy, health and safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and governance, ethics and compliance. Catherine, can you talk us through the categories in which we made some progress last year? Sure. Maybe first, being a TSO, our biggest contribution to accelerating the energy transition is via expanding our grid infrastructure and digitalizing the electricity sector for ensuring real-time security of supply in a context of intermittent generation capacities. There, we made considerable progress in terms of commissioning of new overhead lines and cables, as well as in term of evolution of market design with our consumer-centric market design study. However, the carbon intensity of the electricity mix in Germany, which was 404 CO2/MWh at the end of 2021, increased compared with 2020 due to low amounts of winds and a shift towards hard coal and lignite caused by high gas prices in 2021. On the contrary, in Belgium, the carbon intensity in the Elia control zone was lower due to a small rise in renewable production and a good availability of nuclear capacity. Moreover, the Group took some important steps forward in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. First, Elia was again awarded the Top Employer label for the fifth year in a row, and the progress we made in terms of diversity and inclusion and leadership were highlighted. Second, the proportion of women who occupy leadership positions in our organization or who form part of our total workforce is increasing. Furthermore, our workforce became more diverse in terms of nationalities, totaling 37 different nationalities in 2021 compared to 32 last year. Finally, an audit of Elia's safety practices was carried out in 2021. It confirmed the professionalism of our safety practices, but unfortunately, our strong track record in terms of safety was overshadowed by a fatal accident that occurred as maintenance activities were being undertaken. An investigation into the accident was carried out, and additional measures are being implemented across the Group to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. The event has reinforced the Group's resolve to make sure that all of our employees return home safely every day. A fatal accident. That was indeed bad news that affects us all. Something completely different now. The regulatory frameworks. Elia Group activities today span several countries and must adhere to three different regulatory frameworks. Nemo Link's framework is fixed until 2044. However, both for Belgium and Germany, a new period will start 2 years from now. Catherine, discussions with the regulators are ongoing. Can you give some more details? Yes, with pleasure, let us start by looking at Germany. What do we know today? First of all, you know it, the regulatory return on equity for the next regulatory period has been set at a post-tax rate of 4.13%. For assets commissioned before 2006, which represent approximately 10% of the asset portfolio, the post-tax rate has been set at 2.87%. Secondly, the investment measures mechanism will be phased out during the next regulatory period and will be gradually replaced by a so-called capital cost adjustment model with a yearly update of the Regulated Asset Base. For offshore, the current cost-plus regime remains applicable. What do I mean by gradually? Well, during a transition period until 2028, TSOs will be given the option of extending existing investment measures mechanism project for another 5 years instead of transitioning them to the new framework. What are the main features of the capital cost adjustment model? First, all onshore CapEx will be treated equally. No distinction will be made anymore between expansion CapEx, replacement CapEx or IT investments. Second, an annual update of the RAB will be undertaken regarding all capital cost of assets with deduction for depreciation or divestments and addition of actual new assets. Third, there will be no OpEx lump sum anymore. Fourth, the clawback mechanism will disappear, and moreover, clawbacks that we paid in the past for already commissioned project will be partly reimbursed. Finally, there will be a different treatment of the cost of debt. For onshore OpEx costs, the current base year approach remains applicable. The OpEx costs are determined by the regulator in the base year and then amended yearly with a defined individual efficiency factor and productivity factor, and increased with inflation. Data on the cost base will be submitted to the regulator in June 2022, and a decision about the new cost base, which is the basis for the further revenue cap, is expected by the end of 2023. Also, the efficiency and productivity factors are expected to be determined by the regulator through the course of 2023. With regard to offshore activities, the current cost-plus regulation for OpEx remain unchanged. Let's now turn to Belgium. You know that the Belgian regulation is fixed until the end of 2023. The first interactions with the regulator over the next regulatory period are currently ongoing. At the end of April, we expect the CREG to launch a public consultation on the different element of the new methodology, and by the end of Q2, a final methodology will be published by the regulator. At this stage, we don't expect major changes to the principles of the regulation, but we don't have visibility yet on the return for the next regulatory period, Marleen. Okay. Thank you, Catherine, for this regulatory update. What about the rising inflation, the rising interest rates? Do they have an impact on Elia Group? Well, for all regulated activities, the increased inflation and interest rates has no significant impact on our result. First, in terms of investment, the real CapEx spend is included in the hub from the moment it is spent, and as such, remunerated. Second, with regard to the non-controllable cost or the non-influencable cost, they are passed through to the tariffs. With regard to the controllable cost in Belgium, the budget is adjusted annually in line with inflation, while in Germany, the onshore base year costs are increased annually in line with inflation. Finally, from a funding perspective, the higher borrowing costs are covered by the embedded debt principle in Belgium, while in Germany, a major part of the funding costs are passed through. Looking at the non-regulated segment in Nemo Link, higher inflation could impact the operating cost of the holding, while the higher interest rates could affect the refinancing cost. In that respect, the EUR 700 million hybrid has a first call date in September 2023, and the EUR 300 million senior bond is fixed till 2028. Finally, with regard to Nemo Link, the cap and floor levels are recalculated annually to consider the average inflation in Belgium and in the U.K. Okay. Thank you, Catherine. We'll come back to you in a moment to talk about the annual Group results. We want to close this first part with a video message from the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo. The following is a statement he recorded for the twentieth anniversary of Elia, which we celebrated last October. Over the past 20 years, Elia has not shied away from a challenge, from grid management to managing electricity flows. Sometimes even becoming a crisis manager in case of market shortages. In these challenging times, Elia has always showed itself to be consumer-friendly and flexible. This was also the way you dealt with the intermittent nature of renewable energy, and how you tackled the recent floods over the summer, where your teams had boots on the ground to repair the damage almost instantly. I know that Elia is ready to take on the future, even more so, to shape the future. Ready for decentralized grids with huge numbers of input and output curves. Ready for the Internet of Things with electric vehicles and the many other innovations that are coming our way. The next 20 years will be even challenging. With more renewable energy and with more supply-driven production, where every citizen will also be energy producer. I know that Elia will be at the forefront of these innovations, and it is reassuring for us to know that we can all count on Elia to manage them well. I wish you a lot of luck and a lot of good energy so that the next 20 years may be as inspiring and successful as the past 20 ones. Thank you. Thank you, Alexander De Croo, and welcome back. Catherine, you already provided us some key figures, but I assume that you have many more. Indeed. Thank you. I propose to start with the Group's full-year results, Marleen. First, Elia Group's revenue amounts to EUR 2.9 billion. This represents an increase of 15.6%, and this increase was driven by higher revenues in Belgium and in Germany, which were partly offset by lower revenues from Elia Grid International, as the international consulting business was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions. The higher revenue in Belgium was due to a higher regulated profit following the increase of the RAB, and higher costs that are all passed through into revenue under the cost-plus regime. In Germany, revenues increased due to the higher energy revenue, which are also passed through, and higher investment remuneration due to asset growth. The EBIT decreased by 6.6% compared with last year, amounting to EUR 540 million. This is a consequence of three elements. First, the EBIT in Belgium decreased by EUR 10.4 million, driven by lower financial costs and lower income taxes, which are fully passed through as a consequence of the regulatory framework. The EBIT in Germany reduced by EUR 67.2 million. This was a result of increasing staff and IT costs and a peak in the maintenance cycle. The contribution from associate was up by EUR 40.2 million, reflecting the very good operation and financial performance of Nemo Link. Elia Group's adjusted net profit increased by 6.6%, reaching EUR 328 million. This result is driven by the very strong performance of Nemo Link, and more than offsetting the decline in German result. With the net profit attributable to elia Group shareholders of EUR 276 million, Elia Group realized an adjusted return on equity of 7.66%. Let's now turn to our Regulated Asset Base, which is a major driver of our remuneration. Year-over-year, the RAB of Elia Group increased by 6.2%, amounting to EUR 10.3 billion at the end of 2021. For Belgium, the RAB increased by 5.2%, while in Germany it increased by 8.8%. As you see on the graph, the RAB of Elia Group increased considerably over the last few years. Over the next five years, we are confident that we will be able to pursue an anticipated RAB growth of around 9.5% on average on an annual basis. Let us now turn to the net debt of Elia Group. We carry the total net debt of around EUR 4.9 billion, which represent a decrease of 34.5% compared with last year. This decrease is primarily attributable to the fluctuation of the EEG cash balance, the renewable support mechanism in Germany, amounting to EUR 2.1 billion at the year-end. The EUR 2.1 billion will have to be paid back to consumers. As mentioned earlier, the Group invested roughly EUR 1.2 billion infrastructure. These investments were mainly financed by cash flow from our operating activities. Additionally, ETBE issued commercial paper for EUR 60 million, and Eurogrid took advantage of favorable market conditions to issue a EUR 500 million bond, securing its liquidity for the upcoming investment program. Following this issuance, the average cost of debt of Elia Group reduced by 22 basis points to 1.67%. This is largely to the benefit of society as the cost of debt is mainly passed through. Today, Elia Group only has fixed rated debt outstanding, and its Standard & Poor's rating remains unchanged at BBB+ with a stable outlook. Okay, that's for the Group, Catherine. Let's zoom in on the Belgian segment. Halfway through the year, we reported that Belgium was well on track to reach its performance targets, and earlier we saw a solid increase in the Regulated Asset Base, as you explained. How does this translate into the year-end results? Belgium continued to perform in line with expectations, Marleen. Let me take you through the key figures. Revenues increased by 19.4%, totaling almost EUR 1.2 billion. As to the adjusted net profit, it increased by 5% to EUR 131 million. What were the key drivers of this increase? First, a higher fair remuneration, up by EUR 6.2 million to EUR 105 million. This was driven by an increase in the regulatory asset base, resulting to higher equity. Second, the contribution from incentives and efficiencies increased by EUR 5.1 million, reaching approximately EUR 31 million. This increase reflect a strong operational performance. The net contribution of the incentives also increased as a result of the lower average tax rate. Finally, the result was positively impacted by lower damages to electrical installations. Those positive elements were offset by lower capitalized borrowing costs and higher employee benefit and tax provision. The lower capitalized borrowing cost is due to a lower average cost of debt and a lower asset under construction compared with 2020. The employee benefit and tax provisions increased since last year's provision benefited from a one-off change in plan asset of defined benefit plan of EUR 3.9 million, and a reversal of a tax provision of EUR 1.6 million. In line with the regulatory framework, this resulted in a return on equity of 5.36%. Okay. We mentioned earlier that good progress was made on major infrastructure works. In Belgium, we invested more than EUR 370 million in the grid. What was the impact, Catherine, on the financial position of Elia? Well, Elia continues to have a solid capital structure. It has liquidity portion slightly above 40% of the RAB. Equity rose by 8%, mainly due to the reservation of the 2021 profit, the revaluation of post-employment benefit obligations linked to an increase in the discount rate and lower allocation of equity towards Nemo Link. The company's liquidity position remains robust. The sustainable revolving credit facility is fully undrawn, while also EUR 240 million of paper remains undrawn. The ETB credit rating from Standard & Poor's remains at BBB+ with a stable outlook. Finally, ETB has a well-balanced debt maturity profile with a weighted debt duration of 6.4 years and cost of debt of 0.91%. Also, I'm pleased to say that ETB progressed further along on its sustainability journey after a sustainability-linked RCF in 2020. ETB published its Green Finance Framework at the end of 2021, paving the way for further green bonds issuance. Earlier, we mentioned that Germany remains a core entity of the Group, contributing to around 50% of the Group results. What were the drivers behind 50Hertz performance in 2021? Yes. Starting with, resources increased by 18% to reach 1.7. This was driven by higher energy revenues, which were passed through, and a higher investment realization from asset growth. The adjusted net profit came in at EUR 165 million, down by 14% with last. The key drivers of the results were the following. First, higher operational costs, which increased by EUR 35 million since 2021 marked a peak in the maintenance cycle, and increased cost linked to the further expansion of our business and digitalization efforts to manage increasing complexity in system operation. The growth of our activities and the increased complexity of operation also led to higher personnel costs, increasing by EUR 14 million. Secondly, ongoing investment program led to increased asset remuneration with EUR 9.6 million. At the same time, depreciation cost EUR 10.6 million. Additionally, on the plus side, the financial result improved by EUR 95 million, driven by low interest expenses as high interest rate bonds refinanced with favorable conditions in the second quarter of last year. Moreover, we had a loss on provisions due to increasing forward interest rates. Finally, the results benefited from higher regulatory settlements and related provisions, up EUR 3.6 million. It is important in 2021, 50Hertz benefited from important one-off regulatory settlement amounting to EUR 29.6 million. This all resulted in a return on equity of 0.85%, excluding hedge accounting, which I will comment on when we move on to the next slide. If we were to exclude one-off effects linked to regulatory settlements, the return on equity would have been 8.23%. If we now turn to the balance sheet, we can see that 18.2% due to a change in our accounting policy. Hedge accounting applied as of 2021 on the contracts entered into by 50Hertz for hedging risks or fluctuation in the expected amount of grid losses. This change, which took place in the context of strong energy prices, resulted in a hedge reserve after tax amounting to EUR 250 million, and recorded in other comprehensive income, so increasing the equity. However, as the cost for grid losses are almost fully passed through to the tariffs, the fair value of those future contracts has no relevance for the current or further profitability of the company. Therefore, the hedge reserve is excluded from the regulatory return on equity reported for the German segments. Coming to the liquidity position of 50Hertz, it remains very strong at EUR 3.7 billion, with all revolving and overnight facilities fully undrawn. In the EUR 2.8 billion cash position, like I already mentioned, amount of EUR 2.1 billion of EEG cash is included and has to be given back to the consumers. The maturity profile is well-balanced, with a weighted debt duration of 6.4 years. There has been no change to the rating of Eurogrid. This remains at BBB+ with a stable outlook. Yeah. That was financial information about the regulated activities in Belgium and Germany. We also have non-regulated activities like Nemo Link, like other activities. What are their results in 2021? Well, it performed very well. The adjusted net profit came in at EUR 31.9 million, and the key drivers as follows. First, the contribution from Nemo Link rose significantly, up by EUR 39.7 million. The overall availability in 2021 was 99.1%, making it one of the highest performing assets in the world. In addition, the market price spread increased compared with last year by EUR 8 /MWh. This followed from the strong nuclear availability in continental Europe and increased gas and carbon prices in the U.K.. Consequently, Nemo Link's total contribution to the Elia Group's result increased to EUR 47 million. Second, the segment's result benefits from lower negative regulatory settlement following the 2020 salary review by the CREG, and also reduced operating loss of re.alto, reflecting tight cost control measures and initial fee income. Finally, holding costs increased by EUR 1 million due to higher operating costs driven by business development activities. Okay. Last element, before turning to the outlook, Elia Group's dividend policy, what can we expect there? Yes, we will propose an increased dividend amounting to EUR 1.75 per share to the General Assembly. This represent an increase of 2.34% in line with inflation, and takes into consideration our CapEx plan and our commitment to executing our organic growth strategy. Okay. We still need to cover the outlook for 2022. It's your last slide for today, Catherine. Yes, indeed. We can say Elia Group is confident that it will be able to realize an adjusted return on equity of between 6.25% and 7.25% for 2022. This return depends on the return on equity of the regulated activities in Belgium and Germany, but also of the non-regulated activities included Nemo Link. Let's look at the three segments. In Belgium, we remain confident about being able to achieve a return on equity of between 5% and 6% while investing around EUR 425 million. In Germany, we aim to achieve a return on equity of between 8% and 10%. As mentioned earlier, this return excludes the effect of hedge accounting on forward contracts for grid losses, which are accounted through OCI, the other comprehensive income. In 2022, 50Hertz intends to invest approximately EUR 850 million. For the third segment, we expect it to make a contribution of between EUR 10 million-EUR 15 million to the Group's result. This will strongly depend on the performance of Nemo Link, given its contribution to this segment. On a final note, I would like to point out that this guidance obviously doesn't take into account any potential M&A transaction. Back to you, Marleen, and to you, Chris, to conclude the presentation with some investment guidance. Okay. Thank you, Cat, for your comprehensive presentation of the annual results. We want to end the section with a video message from Lutz-Christian Funke, the Secretary General of KfW Bankengruppe, the German investment bank, our partner with whom we own 50Hertz. The following is also a statement recorded for the 20th anniversary of Elia, which we celebrated last year. The last 3.5 years, we were allowed to share you in our partnership at 50Hertz. A collaboration which we feel is on one hand very focused and efficient, and on the other hand, even more importantly, very open-minded and trustful. Bringing energy, people, and industry a more and more tremendous task. We're honored to stay with you together in a close partnership, realizing German and European energy efficiency in the coming years, because time is of essence. Lutz-Christian Funke. It's time to go to look at the long-term outlook. The Belgian CapEx program for the next five years is now on screen. Chris Peeters, what big trends are likely to appear? Well, what you can see is that we have a CapEx plan for the next five years of EUR 4 billion. In that is in the first period, mainly, replacement and reinforcement. As we have shown before, we are reinforcing the backbone part of the investment. What we see as of 2023 is a second wave of important investments. What is in there, first of all, of course, the island, we talked about it, but also Ventilus and Boucle du Hainaut, two projects are very important for the energy transition in Belgium, and they will be there for important amount. The Ventilus project will be EUR 620 million over that period, and the Boucle du Hainaut project will be in there for EUR 565 million, of which EUR 250 million in this period. That's for Belgium, and then the medium-term outlook for Germany. Well, in Germany, you see as well an increase of the CapEx. It amounts now to EUR 5.6 billion for the five-year period. That has to do with the SuedOstLink corridor, where we will start the building of that corridor and therefore investment program in this biggest project we ever had in Germany will happen. Second thing is we will also start the SuedOstLink+ project, which is what we call before the empty pipe. The empty pipe will be filled with a cable of 2 GWs. It will not be for the five-year period, but it's an important project as well for the future. Then we see in offshore the Ostwind 2 project that will be finalized in this five-year project. Overall, also the connection of the Ostwind 3 project. Even more importantly, the Gennaker project, a project which was not on the map a few years ago, will be fully delivered in that period, is 900 MW new offshore investment, and therefore having an important contribution in the coming period. To briefly summarize the outlook, Elia Group's CapEx plan amounts to EUR 9.6 billion for the next five years. I would say, Chris, busy times are ahead of us. Yes. I'm very, very happy when I look what we have done over the last couple of years and what we have ahead of us. We have positioned ourselves more and more as a central player into this energy transition. We already have done many things. We went more international. We have refurbished the Group into a Group that is a real Group now, integrating much more the different TSO that we have, but also the new activity that we are developing now. On top of that, we have invested massively into digitalizations. Also, we are ready for that more complex future. You see here a very proud CEO because I have a very competent team, and we feel confident about the future that we have ahead of us. Yeah. A proud, but also a very enthusiastic CEO. Thank you, Chris. Ladies and gentlemen, we've shared a lot of figures with you and have received a lot of clarification from Catherine and Chris. I suggest we now move on to the Q&A session. Yannick Dekoninck, our Investor Relations Manager, will guide us through this. Yannick, could you share the first question with us, please? Thank you, Marleen. I will now give the floor to Olivier Van de woude from KBC. He can maybe ask already his first questions after this presentation. Yes. Thank you. Good morning, Catherine and Chris. Thank you for the presentation, for taking my questions. The first one is about Belgium. There is a discussion recently going on that the nuclear electricity production facilities might stay open. If that would be the case, eventually it could have impact on your investment plan going forward, given that a lot of the investments are based on the fact that electricity production would actually be more decentralized, instead of centralized. What are your views on that, and what could be the impact on the investment plans from Belgium, mainly? Yes. Okay. The overall impact on the investment plans will be quite limited because anyhow, in this energy transition, we have to prepare for a future with more renewable integration, and so those projects will happen anyhow. You might have some slight changes, of course, because if you look at the plan of the nuclear exit, there is a number of replacement capacities that need to be integrated into the grid, and therefore, of course, also some grid investment need to happen. Those might change depending on the scenario that the government will choose in the end. In the end, this is a very small part of the overall investment program that we have ahead of us. It was very clear. Thank you. The second question, if I may, is about. Yes, you can, Olivier. Yes. Thank you. It's about WindGrid. The press release states that you are looking to projects in Europe and beyond, and you mainly mentioned three ways in the presentation. But we also look at other regions because why is the U.S. so important, apart from the fact that offshore wind capacity will increase a lot there. That's also affecting other regions. Are there advantages in the U.S., or do you maybe see that you have certain advantages in U.S. over other regions, for example, or why is the U.S. so important? Yes. If you look at the U.S., it's at its starting point to go into offshore wind, and it has the combination of the typical U.S. large plans. They right away go into the hundreds of megawatts, even the GW kind of renewable offshore wind farms that they want to integrate, combined with a relatively weak onshore grid. You need to have somebody that is able to have the full integration of this renewable energy into the system. It's not only about laying cables at sea, it's not only about building platforms, but it's also understanding how you integrate that into relatively weaker systems that we are used to have in Europe. Therefore, of course, the expertise that we have as an operator of an onshore grid in two different countries with all the complexity that it has, it gives it an advantage compared to players that are purely only project execution. That is one. Of course, as we are at the start of this, the earlier that you are, the more of course, that you are able to take benefit on building that position, do learning in the early phase, and then scale it up later on. That's why we have this additional focus next to Europe on the U.S. as we speak, because most of those standards will already happening in the coming months and years. Maybe to add, let's say more financial aspect, to that, Olivier, there is also a fact linked to stability of political and regulatory framework that we want to have in the countries where we potentially invest. In that context, Europe and U.S. perfectly fits with this requirement for sufficient stability, protecting the value of the investment over the longer term. Okay, thank you. That was actually part of my third question as well. I would like to get an idea. Have you been looking at projects in preparation of WindGrid? Why did those projects not go through, for example, until now? Just a bit of flavor why you decide not to participate in certain tenders or do you have certain criteria that you need to match for a project? What we have done so far is we have basically done more exploration, trying to understand how the dynamic of different projects is working, seeing what kind of role that we play. Can we play a separate role in infrastructure? Do we have to partner with other players? It depends a little bit on the market that we're looking at. That was an important part of the preparation work that we did. We did scouting, which is still continuing these days about what is the potential of the U.S. market as well, and could we do a potential partnership or M&A over there to have really boots on the ground as well, because we think that is absolutely necessary once we start to invest. This was really more the preparation phase. Now we will have our new CEO coming in first of April, and that will of course then accelerate the speed in which we will develop in those projects. Of course, being said with that, those projects still needs to be built, so don't expect huge CapEx outlay in the next year or in the first years afterwards. It is first making sure that we win projects or that we shape projects to our hands and that we based on that, of course, then can later on do the execution of those projects and potentially then operate or sell them off at the end. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Maybe last question to finalize it. It's mainly about transmission interconnectors and the transmission of energy from offshore wind farms to the coast. I know you can't be involved in energy production anyhow, but as you look at storage, can you be involved in there or is that not something that WindGrid will do projects related to that? No. Storage as well is excluded, especially in the European framework. I think that in the U.S. framework we haven't analyzed yet, but it's not part of the project today. Today, the focus is really on integrating the energy into the onshore grid, having then the submarine cables that bring it to shore, and as well then the platforms comparable to Denmark, the platforms that we have in Germany to bring the different windmills of a farm to that central point and then bring it to shore. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Olivier, for those interesting questions. We may now give the floor to Juan Rodriguez from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please, Juan, go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, and good morning. Thank you for taking our questions. I have a couple on my side, if I may. The first one is on guidance, more specifically on 50Hertz. We see that you're signaling an 8%-10% return on equity, which seems broadly in line with your 2021 performance. Can you please walk us through the bridge from 2021 to 2022? More specifically, it seems below the 9%-11% that you were targeting for the period at CMD last year. Is this why the Group guidance is below the 6.5%-7.5% target? This will be my first question. It's on 50Hertz. Thanks. Okay. I will take both the question on 50Hertz and the overall question on the guidance. I think if you want to compare 2021 with the 2022 guidance, there are two elements to have in mind. The first one is indeed on 50Hertz. First, in 2021, we had a peak in the maintenance activities, but we also had a number of one-offs, approximately EUR 30 million regulatory one-offs. That of course we don't expect to come back in 2022 or to come back in the same magnitude in 2022. The 9-11 guidance that we give is a guidance on average on the 5-year period, and then we guide more specifically year-on-year when the time comes for it. Second, more generally on the overall guidance, Nemo Link has had a very exceptional year in 2021 with a performance of EUR 47 million net profits, Elia share, so 50% of the total net profits of Nemo Link. You know the mechanism of regulation of Nemo Link, there is also a cap mechanism, which is a cumulative cap over 5 years. In 2022, we could possibly reach the cumulative cap, and so the EUR 47 million that we had last year, we don't expect to repeat it, to reiterate it in the same magnitude in 2022, and so because of the cumulative cap. Those are the two elements which explains the guidance for 2022 compared to 2021. Excellent. Quite clear. Thank you. A second one on my side, if I may, is on your inflation adjustment within the tariff mechanism. With seeing the recent movements that we've seen in inflation over recent months, will all of the upside that we see in inflation be adjusted to 2022 tariffs, or can we see some of it to be passed on through 2023? In terms of tariff adjustment. Yeah. There are two things to have in mind. The first is what is the impact on the net profit, and the second is what is the impact on the tariffs, and so on the cash. In the presentation, I gave some explanation on the impacts on inflation and possible higher interest rates on the CapEx, on the OpEx, on the cost of financial debt. From this presentation, you can conclude that it's passed through, so there is really a mechanism by which the cost of the company, the OpEx costs, are inflated year after year in Belgium, in Germany. CapEx, they are taken into consideration in the RAB from the first euro cent which is spent. In case there is inflation being applied on CapEx as well, it will be covered by the RAB mechanism. From a net profit perspective, it's immediately passed through. From a cash flow perspective, the tariffs they are not modified every year. They are modified according to a schedule which is defined by the regulator, which is not the same in Belgium and in Germany. In Belgium, we have a reset of the tariffs every four years. In order to have the cash impact compared to the budgeted amount, you will have to wait for the reset of the tariff. In Germany, the mechanism is a little bit more complex. It might be depending on the type of cost, one year, two year, or even a little bit longer. Net profit full neutrality cash, depending on the timing of the reset of the tariff, which can be indeed a little bit longer than just some months. Okay. Excellent. Quite clear. A last one on my side, not to take too much time on the floor, as I see that no more questions coming, is on the net debt and especially on the EEG mechanism in Germany. We saw that there was a positive one-off as well in 2021 from the additional cash in from higher prices on top of the reimbursement. In 2022, can we expect some of these to be paid back or assigned? Or how do you expect this for 2022 or in that sense? Yeah. I think you. Yeah. You need to see the cash linked to EEG as not being part of the cash of the company. It has to be seen as being completely neutral from a cash perspective, but also from a rating perspective. The EEG let's say balance is not considered for the credit metrics and so for the rating of the company. In case there is an excess, let's say, of cash, it has to be paid back to the consumers. In case there is a deficit, which happens in 2020, it has to be recovered through the tariffs of the next period. Okay. Just to follow up, we can imply that this will be paid back in 2022. Yes. The EUR 2.1 million debt that you see has to be paid back. Of course, in 2022 there will be a number of fluctuations compared to the budget. We'll see at the end of 2022 what is the situation. Is it an excess? Is it a deficit? That's completely neutral for the value of the company and for the rating of the company, Eurogrid's. Excellent. Quite clear. Thank you. Thank you, Juan, for the interesting questions. Maybe Quirijn from ING, do you have any pending questions left? Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Oh, that's fine. That's fine. I have a couple of questions. First question was a remark from Catherine on the regulators and the net debt treatment, or let me say, can you maybe elaborate on that, what you mentioned there, what the regulatory framework impact will be on the net debt treatment? That is my first question. Then with regard to the. Could you be a little bit more explicit? Sorry? Yes. Sorry, Quirijn. Could you be a little bit more explicit? Impact of regulators on net debt. No. Exactly. You said something about 2024, the new regulator, situation there, and that might also have an impact on the treatment of the net debt. There was a remark. Okay. There was a sentence in that in your presentation. Okay. I will take it. Maybe that's my first question. Yeah. Yeah. I will take the question then immediately. What we have in terms of evolution of the financial cost and the way the financial costs are covered by the tariff, and especially in Germany, you have a situation where today for offshore, it's a cost plus mechanism. In case of changes in the financial conditions of the debt, there is a full coverage. For onshore, there is a mechanism which is so that for, let's say the debt which is included in the financing of the base year, it's covered, it's a kind of pass-through. For the debt which is linked to investments measure, this debt has to be, let's say, concluded at a level of interest rates, which is below a given reference by the regulator. The regulator sets a reference, and we need to conclude the debt below this level of reference if we don't want to suffer from negative impact. That's what I meant by this regulatory element. It's not at the net, on the net debt as such. It's on the financial cost and the coverage of the financial cost by the regulation. Okay, thank you. About the market in Germany. The Energiewende that was for 2023. What is the idea about this progression here? Because it looks to me that, let me say, the Germans are behind schedule. Maybe there's something more to tell about what is the progression, effective progression there. My final question is with regard to the EUR 9.6 billion CapEx. That excludes, in my opinion, Nautilus. Is that correct? Okay, maybe that I take first the part on Germany. What you see is, for the projects that were approved by the government, we are on schedule, so we have no delays to speak of. It's true that if you look at the overall Energiewende, and especially now the targets that they've put themselves for 2030, 2035, let's not yet look at 2045, a lot of new investment needs to happen. We expect that in the acceleration of the Kohleausstieg combined with then the targets that they've put themselves in terms of reaching this net zero by 2045, that indeed they need to further accelerate. We've seen that by the indication that they will put more weight on looking for additional offshore zones into the Baltic Sea. That's one of the things that we see happening now. We expect as well that more is there to come, but it's very, of course, very difficult for us to say at this point of time. The government is just in place working on the plans and seeing how they move forward with that in the coming period. If it answers the question, which I believe I will take the last one on Nautilus, Quirijn. Nautilus is well included in the plan. The fact is that Nautilus is expected to be commissioned, let's say, of course, beyond 2026. The portion of the CapEx linked to Nautilus in the plan that we present might be relatively minor, but I will come back to you with the exact figures we have in those five years time horizon regarding Nautilus. Which is not included. And, uh. Yes, sorry. Go ahead. No, no. Go ahead, sorry. No, the only thing I wanted to say is that the TritonLink cable, on which we give more information, is not included in the five-year plan. Nautilus is included, but TritonLink is not included. Because it looks to me that the TritonLink is a very expensive one. That is a 600 km length, I think. Is that correct or- Yes. Not correct? No, it's indeed. We're still studying on what is now the exact trajectory that we will follow. This is a discussion that we will have the cable between the two artificial islands, the one on the Danish side and the one on the Belgian side. That would connect for the first time those two islands. It's about 600 km between those two points. We estimate, but it's a very early estimate, we're still working on on on, let's say, very early plans of that, is a bit, a little bit more than two two billion, so EUR 2.3 billion-EUR 2.4 billion. Very, let's say, hard to really, let's say, make a precise figure because a lot depends, of course, about, first of all, what are the landing points? Are they on the island? Are they on land? That will make a difference in the length of the cable as well, the kind of infrastructure that we need to develop for that. These things are a little bit early stage. The reason also why we don't have them yet in our plans is we have not yet talked about them in our federal development plan, and that's typically what we do to get some assurance as well from the government that that is the direction they want to go. We now have this covering element where the government has this bilateral with the Danish, around the energy collaboration that we will have. Of course, it needs to be made concrete to the projects thanks to the study work that we do together with Energinet as we speak. On the amount that you mentioned, Chris, and like you said, it's still very preliminary. I think the entire CapEx amount for the cable, not the Elia share. It's not Elia shares. Typically, we will have 50%, but of course, depending then where you take it. Is it the island? Is it the on-land point that is integrated in that 50% that we have? That could change then the amount that goes to Elia. Okay, thank you. Thanks for the good results. Are there still any pending questions from one of the analysts? No? I think, Marleen, that we can close the analyst call. Okay. Thank everybody for having participated. Yeah. Thank you, Yannick. If there are indeed no further questions, I suggest that we bring this presentation to a close. Thank you, Chris, Catherine, for your contributions. A recording of the presentation along with the slides will be made available on our website later today. Thank you for being with us and stay safe.