Thank you for joining us. During this live-streamed event, we will be presenting Elia Group's annual results 2022. For this, we are joined by Catherine Vandenborre and Chris Peeters, the Group's CFO and CEO. Welcome to you both. Today's program is as follows: with Chris Peeters, we will be discussing the most notable successes, the lessons learned, and some more recent events. Catherine Vandenborre will then present the year's financial results. Finally, we will present the outlook for this year and our CapEx program for the next five years. Before we start, we would like to share a disclaimer with you, as mentioned on the slide which is on the screen now. You must read this disclaimer. The slides and the script will be made available online later today, I suggest we now continue. When looking back at 2022, we cannot ignore the war in Ukraine and the effects it had has on the energy markets. Chris, what are your lessons learned from the past year? Well, Marleen, we all have seen with the war in Ukraine and with the energy crisis, that there is a benefit for society to accelerate the energy transition. Before we were doing this energy transition mainly to get rid of fossil fuels and to reduce our dependence, at least, of that. Now we see there is also a important geopolitical relevance by doing the energy transition. Even more important, it will bring stable prices to Europe, and therefore it will be beneficial to keep our industry here and to have affordable prices for our citizens. In that perspective, of course, it is of huge importance and social value, and it will create welfare. There's also a growing awareness about the link between the energy transition and energy security. In May last year, the European Commission published its REPowerEU plan to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuels. One of the measures it includes is increasing clean power. Only one month ago, the Commission published its Green Deal Industrial Plan. It is understood as the Commission's reaction to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Its goal is to put the continent back on the map in terms of investments in renewables, allowing it to compete with the so-called Biden Act. Chris, the will and the ambition to accelerate the energy transition is clearly there. How does this translate into the daily activities for Elia Group on the ground? Well, Marleen, many things have happened. If you look at Belgium, we see that we move for both the Ventilus and the Boucle du Hainaut project, which are both very important for the energy transition. For the Ventilus project, it concretely means that we will start the scoping phase, and for the Boucle du Hainaut, that revision of the sector plan will now be tackled by the regional government. On top of that, we see that in Germany, they progressed well with the implementation of the Easter Package. The Easter Package was focused to accelerate the energy transition. We see that they are really now translating this into real laws. That means that there will be more land for onshore wind. There will also be a new procedure to connect offshore wind farms. That means that they will be connected more easy and more rapidly. They will also simplify the procedures for the grid development, which allows us to have faster permits, because, for instance, we will have to do less investigation of alternative tracks that we have to follow. We can right away, if we think that there is a future upside on the grid, we can already provide an what they call an empty pipe to extend that grid. As well, if we do an increase of the power through a certain corridor, that is with a reduced procedure, so we can get our permit faster. That means that it's well understood by the German government that this transition will only succeed if we have sufficient transmission infrastructure to bring the green energy to the industry and the citizen, and that they fully support this with this legislative package. It means also that, our strategy that is focusing on, the acceleration of the energy transition is even becoming more relevant. Catherine, if you look back at 2022, what is for you the most important moment? I would say, Marleen, our successful capital increase in June that strengthens our balance sheet. We maintained the confidence of our shareholder and the market amidst challenging times and a difficult stock market. This gives us confidence for the future. However, I must say that the environment we are working in has become much more complex. Society must carry out major investment in renewable generation, grid infrastructure, industrial electrification, and digitalization. This means putting in maximum effort at a time of rising interest rates and inflation. Okay. Thank you, Catherine. In a moment, we will revisit some additional highlights from the past year. Catherine, can you already share some initial key figures with us from the past year? Sure. In 2022, our CapEx program increased by 25% compared with the previous year. Elia Transmission Belgium and 50Hertz invested around EUR 1.5 billion together. Our investment program included three distinct categories. Firstly, the further strengthening of the internal grids backbone in both Belgium and Germany. Secondly, the development of offshore infrastructure, which is allowing increasing amounts of renewable energy to be integrated into the system. At the same time, we are coping with increasing electrification of the industrial and consumer sites. This complexity can only be managed with digitalization. By investing in the digitalization of all infrastructure, we can keep all system cost under control whilst also ensuring that markets are functioning better. Yeah. Let's focus a little bit on the number EUR 1.5 billion. That's the highest annual investment amount ever for Elia Group in one year. What effect did it have on the RAB, the Regulatory Asset Base? Yes. This has led to a rapid growth of 5.8%. I will comment on this further later on. In terms of system performance, we again demonstrated very high levels of grid reliability, 99.99% in Belgium and 99.79% in Germany, while ensuring operational excellence, quality, and efficiency. This makes us one of the most reliable grid operators in Europe, despite the very turbulent times. In terms of financial results, Elia Group achieved strong result across all three segments, leading to a return on equity of 7.52%, enriching the upper end of all Q3 guidance. Chris and Catherine already mentioned some of the highlights from the past year. However, we celebrated many more, and we've put all of our key realizations together in one video. Let's take a look. In line with society's desire to fast-forward the energy transition, Elia Group is making good progress on key projects in Belgium and Germany. Many projects involve the reinforcement of overhead lines, like the Avelgem-Avelin interconnector with France, which now has state-of-the-art technology that enables twice the amount of power to be carried across it. The project ensures security of supply and strengthens the integration of the European electricity market. In Berlin, tunneling work has officially started as part of the Berlin Diagonal Power Link. The project is being carried out with an underground drilling machine that can be used at depths of up to 30 meters. The project will be an important link in the high-voltage grid in and around the German capital. Our seas are becoming the power plants of the future, which is triggering more offshore development in places like here in Hoboken, Belgium. Representatives from the Belgian government visited the shipyard where 50Hertz and the Spanish utility Iberdrola jointly built the Baltic Eagle transmission platform, which will connect a new wind farm in the Baltic Sea to the onshore grid. I mean, this shows that to speed up the transition to renewable, you really need to connect grids. This is what Elia and 50Hertz is doing, but also connect technologies and connect firms from different countries and really impressed by seeing what is happening here. This is gigantic, but it's also a peace project of our time. Massive amounts of renewable energy, this cannot be weaponized. This is today, here, the future that we see. Earlier this year, 50Hertz connected the Arcadis Ost 1 platform to the German grid. This followed the installation of the electrical equipment on its offshore substation in Aalborg, Denmark, which was a joint project that 50Hertz undertook with the Belgian wind developer Parkwind. Offshore wind energy for the coastal states in the East and North Sea is a central building block to become less dependent on fossil energy imports. The last few months have shown how important that is. I believe the projects that 50Hertz has already realized show that we are excellently positioned for offshore wind energy. We We have the competence, we have the expertise. We look forward to further projects. Building on the group's experience in offshore development, WindGrid, our newest subsidiary, signed a cooperation agreement relating to the development of future offshore wind farms in New England. My part is done. Congratulations, to a very bright future in partnership. Substantial investments in the offshore grid are due to be undertaken in Europe and elsewhere. Elia Group is well-placed for playing a leading role in this. The European wind industry is quite a number of decades ahead of the U.S. That's why we at PPL are so excited about partnering with Elia Group, given the expertise and the experience that you all have here in Europe. Being able to leverage that and bring that to the U.S. is will be incredibly efficient and reliable for the wind industry. As the Euronext Brussels bell rang at the end of June, it marked Elia Group's successful completion of a capital increase. All new shares offered as part of the preferential subscription offer were subscribed. It shows first that the strategy that has been put in place the last years is understood and is accepted by the market and more especially by our shareholders who've subscribed massively to this capital increase. We see also new shareholders coming in. It's fun to be the CEO of this company when you see how each time we make things happen. At Euronext Brussels, Elia Group received the BEL 20 Company of the Year 2022 award as we experienced the highest relative increase in market capitalization. There was even more to celebrate. Chris Peeters. Chris Peeters was named Manager of the Year by the business magazine Trends. Additionally, for the fifth year in a row, Elia was named as one of the best employers in Belgium. Elia is a group that sticks together. They really believe in their employees and help everybody to grow. Digitalization is an important tool for ensuring that the energy transition is both efficient and successful. Elia Group's hackathon in Berlin showed that customer-centric solutions are relevant for keeping bills under control. The final winner, Select Stay °Cozy. Select, a team made up of international students, won with their app called °Cozy. It centers on the smart control of heat pumps to reduce emissions and costs. It makes me inspired as a TSO, which is a dinosaur normally. We open up, and all those young people come, and I see them, you know, hacking together and on stage, and I'm super happy that we managed to open ourselves up as a company. Another example of our open attitude was demonstrated through our open innovation challenge, which focused on sustainability. Sentrisense, a startup from Poland, won the challenge with its sensor that monitors the health of overhead lines using artificial intelligence. 2022 was the first post-COVID year. We were finally able to invite our stakeholders to attend our events in person. 50Hertz held its first Baltic Sea Conference, which aimed to encourage European cooperation. Elia Group's Offshore Innovation Day in Ostend brought together specialists to discuss the role of innovation in the exploration of new offshore opportunities. Elia's Let's Connect event was dedicated to the decade of electrification. The event served as a preview of the study on the electrification of industry that Elia Group published in November. Powering Industry towards Net Zero demonstrates that the decarbonization of industry is occurring at lightning speed. Access to affordable low-carbon electrons is crucial for accelerating the electrification of industry and anchoring it in Europe. As we will increase our electrical infrastructure, the same challenge will have Elia to increase the capacity of the public grid, huh? This will be a prerequisite to keep the energy-intensive industry here in Antwerp, in Flanders, in Belgium. The availability and the stability of the grid is of utmost importance for us to realize our decarb roadmap. It has even been a criterion to invest here in Belgium. We end this year's highlights with Elia Group's first energy islands. Denmark and Germany have signed a new agreement for the development of the Bornholm Energy Island. 50Hertz will realize this hybrid interconnector project with the Danish TSO Energinet. Finally, Elia received almost EUR 100 million from the European RRF Fund to construct the Princess Elisabeth Island. This artificial island, located 45 km off the Belgian coast, will be a key link for unlocking offshore wind potential located in the North Sea. It will also serve as a hub for additional interconnectors in the future. The timing is very tight for the transition. We need to be very ambitious on the deployment of infrastructure. With this project, we show that Belgium basically is running the show in terms of pushing the boundaries of technology and in terms of energy for the future. Welcome back. Belgium is running the show. We will now take a moment to further discuss the Belgian energy island. It was only earlier this week that the contract relating to the design and the construction of the island's foundations was awarded to a consortium consisting of DEME and Jan De Nul, two Belgian companies specialized in complex hydraulic engineering. Elia received several bids from international companies, but based on the criteria included in the invitation to tender, the best offer came from the Belgian consortium, Edison. The Belgian energy island will be built by a Belgian consortium. Chris, I suppose that being Belgian was not the decisive criterion to win this tender. No, Marleen. Although, of course, as a Belgian, I'm so proud that they could win this. The real reason why they could win this was because they had a very, very good technical innovative proposal that was based on caissons filled with sand. They had a very, very competitive offer. Also in commercial terms and contractual terms, they came out of the best. Probably as important for Elia as well, they had a very, very solid safety program linked to it. Safety is, of course, one of the core elements of the mission statement of Elia, and therefore it was for us important that they were scoring very high on those four criteria. This is the very first contract that has been awarded for the construction of the island. More will follow for the submarine cables and the AC and DC infrastructure. Both the project team and subcontractors are really enthusiastic about this project. We caught some of their thoughts during the signing ceremony. What the uitdaging van dit project is, dat het een, ten eerste toch complex is. 50 km op zee, dat mogen we niet vergeten. Dat is toch echt wel, ver offshore. That is the first. Heel snel traject. Dus we zullen de gecombineerde expertise van beide aannemingsbedrijven nodig hebben om het binnen dat, die korte tijdspanne uit te voeren. Ik heb er alle vertrouwen in dat dat ons gaat lukken, maar dat is toch wel de grootste uitdaging van dit project. Het is trouwens zo dat er op dit moment ook een aanbesteding loopt, voor een groot energie-eiland in, Denmark, waar we ook, aan zullen meedoen. Maar er zal nooit maar één eerste zijn en dat is dit eiland. Only one can be the first. Chris, why are you so excited about this project? Well, Marleen, it's a really groundbreaking project. If you look at it's not only the first island that we built at sea, but also it's the most cost-efficient way to bring the 3.5 GW of offshore wind power from the Princess Elisabeth Island back to shore. Not only that, it will also serve in the future as the first hub at sea. First hub at sea means that it will be part of an integrated network. The first thing that we will do is connect the second cable to the U.K., which is the Nautilus cable, also to the island. Later on, we will also connect the TritonLink cable, which is our first direct interconnection towards Denmark. It will be connected to their island, therefore it is the start of a real offshore grid. That puts Elia Group again at the forefront of technology and at the forefront of the energy transition. We made already a first big step a few years ago when we did the inauguration of the Combined Grid Solution, which is the first hybrid interconnector in the world. Also something which was technologically very complex. It's now running in a very reliable way already for two years, and we learn a lot, of course, from that experience. Still until today, it's the only one that actually runs in the world. We see a lot of other people looking at similar solutions that they want to integrate in the way how they unlock offshore potential. Yeah. Catherine, now that the contract has been awarded, what are the next steps? Well, along with the chosen contractors, our project team is optimizing the design of the island. In a few weeks, we'll start a so-called UXO campaign to look for any unexploded ordnance left along the seabed during the two world wars. In a year's time, the construction of the foundations will be underway. They will take about one and a half year to complete. In early 2027, the construction of the electrical equipment will start. As we develop the technical specifications of the island, we have adopted a nature-inclusive design approach. Along with a group of nature and conservation experts, we are working on designing the island in such a way that it will have positive effects on flora and fauna. We are currently looking at the feasibility of the proposals and will then decide what elements will be included in the final design. Okay. Thank you, Catherine. That's all for now for the energy island. Let's talk about another recent signing ceremony, the signing of an MOU with Amprion relating to a second interconnector that will run between Belgium and Germany. This event took place against the background of a Belgian-German energy summit in Zeebrugge, which was attended by the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Chris, what societal value will this second interconnector between Belgium and Germany bring to both our countries? Well, Marleen, we have already seen with the ALEGrO project that this was bringing a lot of welfare. The ALEGrO project was commissioned two years ago, and it's now functioning most of the time from Germany to Belgium, 60% of the time. 40% of the time, energy is flowing from Belgium to Germany. We see that actually we're supporting each other with this interconnector, and that support has multiple dimensions. First of all, of course, it's a strong contributor to security of supply, which is an important topic these days in both countries. Secondly, it helps both of the countries to integrate more renewable because it creates additional flexibilities on the system. Finally, it makes sure as well that we create additional welfare by price convergence, which is of course always important when we build this important new infrastructure. If we look at this specific second interconnector, we will publish a concept note by mid-next year. The real commissioning of this infrastructure is only foreseen by 2037, and that is because we have to first reinforce the backbone at both sides. The German grid needs to be reinforced to have sufficient receiving capacity, and the same needs to happen at the Belgian side. I look very optimistic at this project. We had a very good collaboration for the first project with Amprion. We hope that we will work in the same spirit going forward on this project, but probably even more important, this project again shows how committed we are towards the energy transition in both Belgium and Germany. By linking them stronger, we make this long even stronger, not only by developing faster grid in 50Hertz, but also by linking the two countries together. One of the main concerns during the German-Belgian energy summit was how to keep industry in Europe. To support the electrification of industry, the right infrastructure will have to be built in the short term. We have some statements from both countries' heads of state to share with you about this. One of the many things that Germany and Belgium have common interest is keeping industry in Europe. This was a topic which was not very high on the agenda five years ago. Today, it's top of the agenda. We have talked about the longer term investments we are doing, and they're crucial to keep industry here. Keeping industry in Europe today is a big topic. We're not going to solve it only with the long-term investments. We are really under pressure. This is a global competition. We are under pressure because of the war in Ukraine, of course. Having access to energy, but also financing and also innovation to keep heavy industry in Europe is something extremely important. Onshore wind wird eine zentrale Rolle spielen und der Ausbau Offshore-Wind auch. Ich bin sehr froh über den nächsten Nordsee-Gipfel, den wir miteinander haben werden, mit jetzt noch mehr Ländern, wo es darum geht, wie wir es schaffen können, dass wir die Nordsee in der Tat zu einem ganz großen Produktionsort für den Strom der Zukunft machen. Und zwar nicht irgendwann in einer fernen Zukunft, sondern jetzt in diesem und Anfang des nächsten Jahrzehnts. Das ist die Zeit. Da geht es um milliardenschwere Investitionen und enge Kooperation. Und genau das ist das, was wir uns vorgenommen haben. Keeping industry in Europe is at the top of the European agenda. There is a need for more collaboration and huge investments in infrastructure. Chris, all of these topics were covered in the latest Elia Group study on the electrification of the industry. What will be on the agenda? What will be the topic for this year? Well, as you know, each year we come out with something which is focused on the interest of society. This year is it making flexibility work. Why is this so important? We will need a lot more flexibility if we start to integrate more intermittent renewables. That is something that is really key, that we unlock more flexibility in the system coming from the side of the electrification, because there will be a lot of flexibility available to us. What we see in the vision that we have developed in Elia is actually that flexibility will be the glue of the sector conversion. Many sectors will electrify, and by flexibility, they will connect to the energy sector, and that will really shape how this society will be built. We've seen in the past that something like a car has defined how we do shopping, how shopping malls are outside of cities with large parking lots, to give one example, and so how people commute to work. We think as well that if we start to have, for instance, EVs, that it would not only be used for mobility reasons, but people will also use it for cooking in the evening while they have charged their car during the day with the solar panels of their, of their company, while they were at work. Therefore, it's a very important topic, and a lot of new developments will happen in the coming years thanks to that flexibility. We see the value for society, but we also see the value for us as a system operator, because we need to keep the costs of balancing the system as low as we can. If we can tap into that flexibility that will come in by those EVs, by those heat pumps, by e-boilers in industry, we can balance the system at a lower cost than that we do today. Therefore, it's very important that we give some benefit to society so that they can monetize their flexibility and meanwhile that that helps us as well to balance the system. You create value for the society, it's also good for the company. There were two more recent events that I want to touch upon briefly before we get down to exploring the numbers. Stefan Kapferer extends his contract as CEO of 50Hertz with another five years. Chris, I suppose that you are very happy with that. Marleen, if you look at the picture, you can only see that there are two happy men at the picture. That's because we think Stefan is the right man in the right place. As you know, Germany has very big challenge in terms of energy transition, Stefan has shown over the last years that he is doing the right things. He's very hands-on. He makes sure that we can accelerate on the CapEx delivery and that we, in parallel, develop the needed digital skills to make sure that the energy vendor can be pushed through at the speed that the government wants it to do. Therefore, he has the full support of Elia Group going forward, that we will also have the acceleration at both sides, CapEx delivery and digitalization delivered on time, on budget, and on the needed quality. One, last recent topic that we would like to share. Elia Group is one of the 20 companies that has been selected to be part of the new BEL ESG Index, launched by Euronext. The BEL ESG is the sustainable version of the national blue chip index and tracks the Brussels-listed companies demonstrating the best environmental, social, and governance practices. I think, Catherine, this serves as a great recognition for the ActNow program of Elia, the sustainability program, and it also serves as a perfect link towards the next topic, green financing. Can you give an update on this? Sure. Our sustainable finance ambition was launched in 2020, when we published our first green bond framework in Germany. This was followed by 50Hertz placing of its inaugural green bonds, and shortly after that, ETB also published its green finance framework. Both frameworks are in line with best market practices. In 2022, we successfully placed our second green bond in Germany. We raised EUR 750 million, securing liquidity for the grid expansion needed for the energy transition. Under the framework, 50Hertz finances selected on- and offshore projects. Today, around 90% is allocated to 14 different projects. Also in 2023, we continued on our sustainable finance journey with ETB issuing its first green bond of EUR 500 million. It shows ETB's ability to diversify its investor base to carry out its ambitious investment plan. The transaction is an important cornerstone in driving forward the expansion of our grid and thus the energy transition. We observe that the overall ESG profile of both ETB and 50Hertz remains the key driver for attracting funds that have a very strong ESG commitment. Catherine, you already provided us with a few key figures. Let's now dive into the group's full year results. Indeed, Marleen. Let me walk you through the Group's full year result. First, Elia Group's revenues amount to EUR 4.1 billion, an increase of almost 44% compared to prior year. In Belgium, our revenue was impacted by a higher regulated net profit, higher depreciations linked to the growing asset base, one-off tariff compensation for the financial cost linked to the capital increase, and higher cost for ancillary services. The higher ancillary services resulted from the high gas prices caused by the war in Ukraine and the increase of imbalanced volume caused by the increase of renewables in the energy mix. In Germany, revenues increased as well, mainly due to the higher energy revenue resulting from higher energy prices affecting the balancing and redispatch cost. EBIT increased compared to previous year, totaling almost EUR 600 million. This increase by 11% is driven by the following element. For Belgium, it was the result of the higher unregulated net profit, higher depreciations, and higher financial cost linked to the capital increase, which are fully passed through as a consequence of the regulatory framework. In Germany, the higher EBIT was primarily a result of higher investment remuneration and lower operational expenditures, as prior year costs were marked by a peak in the maintenance cycle. This was partially offset by one-off regulatory settlements. Finally, the contribution from associates to the group's EBIT dropped by EUR 9.9 million, mainly driven by the Nemo Link interconnector, which reached the cumulative cap in 2022. The Elia Group's net profit increased by 24.3%, reaching EUR 408 million. This result was mainly driven by a strong operational and financial performance of our regulatory assets, with Germany contributing around 55%, ETB around 40%, and Nemo Link 10% to the net result. The non-regulated activities contributed negatively to the result, as we continue to ramp up our investment in view of developing international offshore activities. With a net profit attributable to Elia Group shareholders of EUR 342 million, Elia Group realized an adjusted ROE of 7.52%. Catherine, an important driver of all those results is the growing asset base of Elia Group. How is this reflected in the RAB, the Regulatory Asset Base? Indeed, Marleen, the Regulated Asset Base is a key driver of our remuneration. Driven by the realization of the investment program, the RAB of Elia Group increased by 5.8% year-over-year, amounting to EUR 10.9 billion at the end of 2022. For Belgium, the RAB increased by approximately 1.5%, while in Germany it increased by 10.9%. Despite realizing the enhanced CapEx plan, the RAB growth in Belgium was slightly moderate. As part of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Elia received a capital grant of EUR 99.7 million for building the Princess Elisabeth Island, as this project directly contributes to a greener economy, being a cornerstone investment for unlocking the offshore wind potential at the North Sea. The capital grant is deducted from the RAB in accordance with the regulatory framework. Nevertheless, as illustrated on the graph, the RAB of Elia Group has increased considerably over the last few years due to the realization of major infrastructure works in Belgium and Germany, both onshore and offshore. These were carried out to enable the establishment of an integrated European energy system that includes large amount of distributed renewable production and cross-border electricity flows at the lowest possible cost for consumers. Over the next five years, we are confident that we will be able to pursue an anticipated high growth of around 14% on average on an annual basis at Group level. Let us now turn to the net debt of Elia Group. We carried a total net debt of around EUR 4.4 billion, which represent a decrease of 9.3% compared to last year. This decrease is primarily due to three item. First, operating cash flow generated by the TSOs. In this respect, the operating cash flow of 50Hertz was negatively impacted by the high energy cost and recovered from tariffs, but with a time lag. Second, the EEG cash inflow in Germany resulting from the evolution of the energy market prices year over year. Third, the capital increase that took place at the end of June with net proceeds amounting to EUR 583 million. As I mentioned earlier, Elia Group invested roughly EUR 1.5 billion in infrastructure. These investments were mainly financed by cashflow from all operating activities, but also external funding. Besides accessing the equity market, Elia Group also tapped into the debt market to strengthen and secure its liquidity position for its further expansion of the grid. As already said, Eurogrid GmbH issued its second green bond in September for EUR 750 million at a fixed rate of 3.28%, so securing part of the liquidity for its upcoming on and offshore projects. After this transaction, Elia Group's average cost of debt increased slightly by three basis point to 1.7%. Today, Elia Group only has fixed rated debt outstanding. Following the announcement of our EUR 15.9 billion CapEx program for the period 2023-2027, that we did end of December, as well as the revised financial policy targets, S&P Global affirmed Elia Group's BBB+ rating, but revised the outlook to negative from stable at the end of December 2022. These are the figures for the group. Let's zoom in now on the different segments of Elia Group. We start in Belgium. Six months ago, at the half year presentation results, sorry, we reported that Belgium was well on track to reach the performance targets. Earlier, we saw the increase in the RAB. How does this translate into the year-end figures for Belgium, Catherine? Indeed, Marleen, Belgium achieved results in line with our expectations. Let me take you through the key figures. I explained earlier why the revenues increased, so let us move straight to the bottom line. The net profits came in at EUR 157 million, up by almost 20% year-over-year. The key drivers of this increase are, first, a higher fair remuneration, up by EUR 12.1 million, driven by both the asset growth and a higher equity following Elia Group's capital increase. Second, the contribution from incentives increase by EUR 1.4 million, reflecting a solid operational performance by ETB, primarily linked to a better performance on the incentive for innovation and influenceable cost. The net contribution of the incentives also benefited of a lower average tax rate. The employee benefit and tax provision decreased by EUR 7.9 million due to higher contributions to plan assets and higher discount rates. The result indirectly benefited from the one-off tariff compensation for the financial cost linked to the capital increase, up by EUR 3.6 million. These are accounted through equity under IFRS, as you may know, these costs are fully passed through to the tariffs under the embedded principle. The higher level of assets under construction led to an increase of the capitalized borrowing cost by EUR 1.7 million. This resulted in a return on equity of 5.4%. You already referred, Catherine, to the successful capital increase. Can you tell a little bit more on the impact that it has had on the financial position of Elia in Belgium? Yes. Supported by the recent capital increase, like you said, ETB has a very solid capital structure. The balance sheet was strengthened with around EUR 287 million of equity, representing the net proceeds of the capital increase allocated to the Belgian regulated activities. Together with profit reservation, it ensures an equity portion above 40% of the Regulated Asset Base in order to finance our further organic growth. In addition, anticipating the rising interest rates environment, ETB concluded various interest rate hedges to limit the interest cost of further debt issuance, and this to the full benefit of consumers. The fair value of these contracts amounted to EUR 48.9 million at the end of 2022. The company's liquidity position remains robust, and both the sustainable revolving credit facility and commercial paper were fully undrawn at the end of 2022. ETB's credit rating was reconfirmed by S&P. It stood at BBB+ with a stable outlook. At the end of 2022, ETB has a well-balanced debt maturity profile with a weighted debt duration of 5.4 years and an upcoming bonds maturing in Q2 2024. The average cost of debt remained unchanged at 1.9%, as no new debt was issued over the year. Okay, that's for Belgium. Let's now turn to Germany. Earlier in the presentation, Catherine, you already mentioned the strong increase in revenues that was driven by the higher energy revenues and the higher investment remuneration. What about the 50Hertz bottom line? What was the effect on the results there? First let me say that the net profit came in at EUR 236 million, which was up by 43% compared with the previous year. There were several key drivers behind this result. Firstly, the ongoing investment program led to increased asset remuneration, which was up by EUR 54 million. At the same time, depreciation cost increased by EUR 26 million. Both were impacted by the partial commissioning of Ostwind 2 in late 2022, leading to a full year of imputed remuneration. Secondly, onshore OpEx and other costs decreased by EUR 12.3 million, mainly following the ramp down from last year's peak of the maintenance cycle and lower losses on asset disposal and trade debtors. This was partly offset by the growing workforce, which was driven by expanding business activities and the complexity of our operations. The financial result improved by EUR 43 million. This increase is almost entirely due to the macroeconomic and inflationary environment, which pushed up the forward interest rates compared to previous year, impacting the valuation of long-term provisions. These provisions are mainly linked to congestion income from international onshore and offshore interconnectors and are to be returned to grid customers over a period of 20 years. These effects were partially offset by lower regulatory settlement and related provisions, which were down by EUR 13.2 million. In 2022, 50Hertz mainly benefited from the final settlement of the offshore lump sum for the year 2018 and the review of the 2019 regulatory accounts, which amounted to EUR 15.9 million. In 2021, the regulatory settlements originated from the refunds of clawback amounts as part of the transition towards the capital cost adjustment model in 2024. This all resulted in a return on equity of 11.3%, excluding hedge accounting. If we were to exclude one-off effects linked to the regulatory settlement and the non-cash effect from discounting the provision for congestion income, the return on equity would be around 9%. Let us now look at the 50Hertz financial position. The total equity increased by EUR 252 million to around EUR 2.2 billion. This increase was primarily driven by the additional capital that both Elia Group and KfW injected into Eurogrid to strengthen the balance sheet and in light of its CapEx program. The transaction demonstrates the strong relationship between shareholders and the company's commitment to realizing the energy transition. Since 2021, 50Hertz has applied hedge accounting for the purpose of reducing the risk of fluctuations in the expected amount of grid losses. Driven by a drop in energy prices in the last quarter of the year, the fair value of this contract dropped, leading to a decrease in the hedge reserve to EUR 91 million. As the cost for grid losses are almost fully passed through to the tariffs, the fair value of further contract has no relevance for the current and future profitability of the company. Therefore, the hedge reserve is excluded from the regulatory return on equity reported for the German segment. The liquidity position of 50Hertz remains strong at EUR 4.2 billion, with all revolving and overdraft facilities fully undrawn. At the year-end, the EEG cash position amounted to EUR 2.9 billion. As you might know, the parliaments abolished the EEG surcharge in order to support households and companies in light of increased electricity costs. The cost for promoting RES are now financed through the energy and climate funds, and 50Hertz will continue to act as a trustee in this regard. We currently forecast that the EEG cash balance will remain stable at the current level by the end of the year. Following the issuance of the Green Bond, the average cost of debt increased slightly from 1.4%-1.52% at the end of 2022. The maturity profile remains balanced with a weighted debt duration of 6.8 years. At the end of 2022, and following the announced CapEx plan for 2023-2027 and Eurogrid's updated financial policy, S&P confirmed its BBB+ rating, but revised the outlook to negative from stable. Yeah. That were the results from Germany. Besides the results in Belgium and Germany, Elia Group also operates a Nemo Link. We have non-regulated activities. How did this third segment contribute to the results, Catherine? Our third segment had a positive contribution of EUR 15.2 million to the Group's net results. The key drivers were as follows: Firstly, Nemo Link contributed EUR 37.1 million to the Group's result, representing a decrease of EUR 9.9 million compared with the prior year. The contribution was the result of a very strong operational performance. The interconnector has an availability rate of 99%. Also important electricity prices spreads characterized by many flows reversals between Belgium and Great Britain. Those spreads were mainly driven by important differences in gas prices between Great Britain and Europe due to a different relationship with Russian gas. As announced during the presentation of our half-year result, Nemo Link reached the cumulative revenue cap. As part of its cap and floor regime, revenues that exceeded the cap will be returned to the consumers. In this regard, Nemo Link and the Belgian and British regulators have approved a reimbursement of around EUR 137 million for consumers as part of a within period adjustment. This will result in grid tariffs being reduced by EUR 67 million in both countries. Besides Nemo Link, the result from our non-regulated activities were affected by a higher cost linked to the setup of WindGrid and the ongoing screening of business development opportunities in light of the expansion of our international offshore activities. Finally, we continue to further develop re.alto services. Okay. Last element before we turn to the outlook is the dividend, policy. Catherine, what can we expect there? We will propose to the General Assembly an increased dividends amounting to EUR 1.91 per share to the General Assembly in May, I think. This represent an increase of 9.14% in line with inflation, and takes into consideration our CapEx plan and also our commitment to execute our organic growth strategy. One last point. We still need to cover the outlook for 2023. That's your last slide for today, Catherine. I would say this year, more than ever before, Elia Group's focus lies in speeding up the delivery of infrastructure and developing a consumer-centric system and market solutions in the lead up to net zero without compromising on operational excellence, quality or efficiency. Given the complexity of our infrastructure works, the need for additional staffing resources, the need to improve our IT architecture and associated tools to manage the increasing complexity of power system operations, we will experience increased pressure on our cost allocation in 2023, which is the last year of the regulatory cycle. Elia Group aims to realize an adjusted return on equity of between 6%-7% for 2023, in line with what we communicated during our capital market day back in 2021. Note that this return depends on the return on equity of our regulated activities in Belgium and in Germany, and also on the contribution of our non-regulated activities, including Nemo Link. Additionally, this return already anticipates higher funding costs. In Belgium, we aim to achieve a return on equity of between 5%-6% while investing around EUR 690 million. In Germany, we aim to achieve a return on equity of between 8%-10%. As mentioned earlier, this return excludes the effect of hedge accounting on future contract for grid losses, which are accounted through other comprehensive income. In 2023, 50Hertz Transmission intends to invest roughly EUR 1.5 billion. For the third segment, we expect it to report a loss of up to EUR 5 million to the group result. Subject to the availability of the interconnector, Nemo Link is expected to contribute around EUR 20 million to the result, considering that the cumulative cap over the five-year regulatory period is expected to be reached. On the final note, I would like to point out that this guidance obviously doesn't take into account any potential M&A transaction. It's now back to you, Marleen and Chris, to conclude today's presentation with some investment guidance. Thank you, Catherine, for your comprehensive presentation of the annual results. Let's have a look at the investment program of the next five years, and we start in Belgium. Chris, what big trends are likely to appear? Well, Marleen, we already announced November when we had the quarterly update that our CapEx plan has an important increase for Belgium. It moves from EUR 4 billion to EUR 7.2 billion, and this is the result of the acceleration of the program, but also because we are in an inflationary environment. What needs to happen in Belgium is relatively clear. Belgium is a country that is energy short. It means it needs to develop to its full potential the domestic renewable energy, and on top of that, it needs to complement that with interconnectors to other countries that are long in this renewable energy. For that, of course, we talked already about the island. We not only need to build this Princess Elisabeth Island, we also need to reinforce the backbone so that we can receive all this energy. If we talk about reinforcing the backbone, it's mainly about the existing corridors, but that will not be enough. We also have to develop additional hosting capacity, that brings us then back to the projects Ventilus and Boucle du Hainaut, which are key if we want to receive all the energy coming from the sea into Belgium. If we deliver that, we will have a much more robust network that will be ready for the future and to ensure that we can fully decarbonize the industry. In terms of Regulatory Asset Base, we expect a growth from these plans, which is around 15% for the next five years. Okay. Let's turn to Germany. The CapEx program for the next five years has also been substantially increased in Germany, Chris. Yes, indeed. At the same announcement in November, we declared that we moved from EUR 5.6 billion CapEx plan to EUR 8.7 billion CapEx plan. 65% of that will be dedicated to the onshore development of the grid. Most important project, well-known SüdOstLink, which is one of the most important corridors between the north and the south, so connecting the offshore wind energy towards the demand centers in the south. It will have an extension, which is called the SüdOstLink extension, what's in a name, and that will increase the capacity to 4 GW over that line. Not only that, it will extend the line to the full north. In addition, in the last network development plan, there was a new project, which is called the NordOstLink. You see it here on the map. It's connecting Heide with Klein Rogahn in our network, and therefore allows in the future that wind farms that are in the German North Sea will be connected to the south of Germany through the network of 50Hertz. This is a project that we will do together with TenneT, but it's a very important project, of course, for the development. If you look at the rest of the onshore grid, one of the important projects that we showed earlier was as well the Berlin diagonal power link. That's a very important project for Berlin because it will increase the security of supply of Berlin, and on top of that, get Berlin ready for the electrification of society. We then look at the offshore side, you see that we will have Ostwind 2, Ostwind 3, and Gennaker project that will be delivered in the coming period, which means that we will connect an additional 2 GW of offshore wind from the Baltic Sea. Of course, also talked about before in this communication, the Bornholm Island. We have also an island project in the Baltic Sea. It's connecting not only 3 GW of offshore wind close to the Bornholm Island to the German mainland, but also to Denmark, and therefore serving as a hybrid interconnector. A lot of exciting projects on the way and therefore, of course, a RAB increase that we will see around 13% for the next five years. We presented the financial figures, we presented the outlook. Is there one final thought, Chris, that you would like to share with us to end this presentation? Well, Marleen, every year we more or less say the same thing. We need to accelerate the energy transition, but probably everybody has seen in the last year it becomes very important. It's not only about climate change, it also has become something about becoming more independent in terms of energy and getting to affordable green energy fast. That is important because that will allow us to anchor our industry in Europe and to give low prices to citizens that are independent then from countries that we don't want to be too dependent of. Elia is fully ready to support that. You've seen the nice project that we have delivered and the nice pipeline of project that we have to develop this. Also at the digital side, we are making big steps forward to allow flexibility to be integrated. Of course, it's not only Elia that needs to be ready, also, the authorities and the regulators need to be ready. We need to have, of course, more, acceleration at the site of permits and also a decent framework in terms of attracting capital going forward. If we have this all together, we look forward to really support governments to deliver the energy transition and to deliver this on time and even faster than we are delivering it today. Indeed, we need the tools to fully support the acceleration of the energy transition. Thank you, Chris. Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest we now move on to the Q&A section. Yannick Dekoninck, our Investor Relations Manager, will guide us through this. Yannick, could you share the first question with us, please? Okay. Thank you, Marleen. I propose to start with Juan Rodriguez from Kepler Cheuvreux. Welcome that you participate to our analyst meeting. Juan, the floor is yours, please. Thank you, Yannick. Thank you for taking our questions. I have three on my side, if I may. The first one is on the CapEx plan. I saw on the press release that you're willing to go with this EUR 15 billion+ CapEx plan if the regulatory framework supports the investment. Can you please elaborate on this? I would like to better understand if the case is not very supported, would you revise the plan downwards, or how are the discussion advancing on with the regulators on this sense? That would be the first one. The second one is on the recent news flow that we've seen over German government willing to take stake in some of the country TSOs. What are your conditions for this to move forward, up until what level you're willing to sell a stake or a minority stake, if that would be the case? Could minority disposals will be an option for capital reinforcement ahead of the upcoming CapEx plan? That would be the second one. The third one is kind of a housekeeping one, is, are you expecting any capital grant for 2023 that might impact or is already included within your RAB target of EUR 12.3 billion by the end of the year? Thank you. Maybe, comment from my side on the CapEx plan. Obviously, as a TSO, we are committed to deliver this. It's up to the regulators to provide a framework that allows us to deliver that. We are in discussions at both sides. Has been reviewed, and that the return on equity is expected to decrease on the next regulatory period, starting as from 2024, in Germany. Based on the information we have today, knowing that all the discussions are not finished, especially regarding the reference for the cost, the well-known beta, but also the efficiency factors, individual and general efficiency factors. We expect the return on equity to be in the next regulatory period between 7% to 9%. Important to note in that context is that there are different components of the expected return on equity. First component is what we call the fair return. It's usually based on expected evolution or past evolution depending on the regime of the interest rates, and then efficiencies and possibly leverage. What we have seen when the regime has been redefined for Germany is a decreasing fair remuneration level from 6.65% in the current period to 4.13%, 4.13 expected in the next regulatory regime. That's where that we believe that with the current macroeconomic environment that we have, the 4.13%, and also depending a little bit on further evolution of the interest rates, might have to be revisited. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, thank you. I'm also very pleased to welcome today Mafalda Pombeiro from Goldman, that just recently started covering the Elia share. I would say, Mafalda, the floor is yours as well. Thanks a lot, Yannick. Welcome everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I think most of them have been answered right now. I have just a remaining one if that's okay. I mean, last November, you upgraded your CapEx once again to nearly EUR 16 billion, as was previously referred in the presentation. Since then, we've seen increasing pressures from political. I mean, increasing political support for further acceleration on energy transition investments in Europe. Would this imply or could this imply further CapEx upgrade in the near future for Elia? Maybe a bit too early, but I think worth asking. If so, I mean, how do you actually balance those investment needs with your balance sheet coping capacity? Thank you. Maybe I will first comment on what we think that the impact could be on the CapEx plans on the recent pressure that we see, and then maybe Catherine can give a comment then on the balance sheet consequence that we have. Today, we don't have yet a clear view because, of course, the changes in the law are very recent. Now, we have to see what the impact will be. Most importantly in this is, of course, accelerated permits could lead that some of the projects would be put forward. It's not yet clear which project would be impacted by that and which one not, because of course, some of these things have to do with what you have to justify towards society, as I explained before. The number of alternatives you have to provide and to see which then the best in the interest of society. The reduced numbers of that, and it's not yet clear which of our projects will already be part of that new regime and which still will have to be delivered within the former regime. We will give updates as soon as that is becoming fully clear and we understand what's going to happen there. To give the short answer, it's not yet sure. If something would happen, it could be that some of the projects, a limited number, would have a earlier start, which would then lead that by the end of the period, you might have some of the projects that will have a little bit further developed into the, into the CapEx layout that we need for that. Catherine, you can say what we would do if that would happen. Yeah. Maybe to build on your answer. What you said in the CapEx plan that we mentioned was indeed it was more backloaded that front-loaded. Your question was also relating to the near future. Do we expect change years in the near future? In the very near future, no, we don't expect change years, to be very clear on that. Because still it will take time before that all law are passed and taken and that we finished the examination of the very concrete consequences. Let's say medium term, and long term, it could indeed lead to a kind of reshuffling of the timing of some investments, on which of course we'll come back, if it's the case. In terms of financing of the balance sheet, I mean, we continue on the same way as we always did in the past. Meaning that, like I already said, we'll try to finance what we can finance through subsidies and grants coming from utilities. That's the first element. Second element, we will continue to reserve profits coming from the different affiliates. Third element, we will finance the remaining portion by a mix of debt and equity. In that context, we will follow the current practices that we have. In Belgium, we finance the grid according to the regulatory or regulated gearing ratio, 60% debt, 40% equity. In Germany, we finance according to approximately 75% debt and 25% equity for the remaining portion. That's the policy we will continue to apply in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mafalda. Last but definitely not least, I would like to give the floor to Joren Van Aken from Degroof Petercam. No further questions from my side. I think everything has been answered. Thank you. Okay. Okay. If there are no further questions, thank you, Yannick. I suggest we bring this presentation to a close. Thank you also, Chris and Catherine, for your contributions today. Thank you, Stephanie Luyten, and Helen Burgese, and the whole technical team for your support behind the scenes. A recording of the presentation, the slides, and the script will be made available online later today. Thank you for joining us and enjoy your weekend.