Welcome to Hera Group's Q1 2022 financial results presentation. My name is Jack, and I am your operator for the event. For the entire call, your lines will be in listen only mode. However, you will have the chance of having a Q&A session at the end of the conference, and you can record your presentation in any event by selecting star followed by one on your telephones. For assistance during the call, press star followed by zero on your telephone, and you will be contacted by an operator. Now I'll hand it over to the Executive Chairman of Hera Group, Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano. Thank you, and have a good conference. Good afternoon, everyone. We are back to business as usual since some time has passed since we had quarterly presentations before without any constraints. Thank you for being here. We have just concluded our board meeting with an excellent session, including the introduction and welcome of our new CEO, who was appointed today. I'm referring to Mr. Orazio Iacono, who was appointed an hour ago. Let's move on to the performance in Q1. You have seen the figures in our press statement, and these results we're pleased with, given the context in Q1, which was extraordinarily difficult due to entirely external factors, the ones that, of course, everyone is going through. I think there's no need to mention them because the problems we face are having an impact on the entire market. These external events have had a visible effect on energy prices. They have also increased inflation. The government, on an almost daily basis, is forced to adjust those figures up to 6 or 7% in the month of May, which is also something you can see in our graphs. With an always high volatility rate, which stands at about 98 EUR per megawatt hour throughout the quarter, which is four times higher compared to the levels we had over the past two years. Even the price of electricity went along the same dynamics of the gas prices with an even higher level of volatility, with a price which is up to almost 600 EUR per megawatt hour. The average price throughout the quarter stood at 250 EUR per megawatt hour, which is four times the average price over the past two years. Now, this was an introduction that I had to make, although because the dimensions of the phenomenon require that. Although we are quite pleased to see that the major impact still wasn't noticeable in terms of us achieving the goals we had outlined during the business plan. Besides Mr. Moroni, we also have Mr. Fabbri with us today, who is in charge of the market for the entire company, who will be illustrating some specific aspects, given the fact that the themes pertaining to energy were certainly the most important part of our work. Therefore, Mr. Fabbri will give us a hand in giving us an overview regarding this sector. Our management policies had to do with all of the negative effects we faced in this phase, which requires no further comment besides the fact this is an extraordinary negative context. Despite that, we're pleased to note that we have continued to post a growth in our results. As you can see in the second slide here. You'll notice that turnover in Q1 was up 128% compared to Q1 in 2021. This was obviously driven by commodity prices, which I referred to earlier, and which had an especially significant impact, especially over the first three months of the year, which of course are the coldest of the year, which means that these months are typically marked by intense consumption of gas. EBITDA grew by EUR 12 million compared to the same quarter last year, up to EUR 274 million over the period. This is a positive growth, which is consistent with the growth we saw in Q1 last year, and it was driven by a number of different drivers which have emerged, albeit in an easier context, even during Q4 last year. We'll be seeing which drivers allowed us to obtain a positive result even in the Q1 this year. I think these figures also show how effective our management of the market has been, as we'll be hearing, which was, of course, focused on managing the fluctuations we've been seeing for commodity prices, which is, of course, something Mr. Fabbri will be explaining later on. EBITDA, therefore, is marked by a positive result with a +3% compared to last year. The EBITDA result is slightly less obvious. We closed the quarter at EUR 220 million, which is in line pretty much with Q1 last year, where we used to spend EUR 223 million compared to EUR 220 million this year, with a very modest difference, of course. We also have to consider that we had more amortizations compared to the delta perimeter, given the acquisitions we made after Q1 in 2021. We also had increased provisions for bad debt, given the increase in commodity prices. All in all, this was a good impact even in terms of EBIT. Even when it comes to our financial and tax management, figures are pretty much in line with the same results or the same items we had in the same period last year. Now, despite the difficulties I mentioned as a way of exercising them, difficulties which had an impact on all of our suppliers. We were still able to fully execute our investment plans with some slight delays, such as, for example, in the construction services and our general services sector, which was somewhat unexpected, which had an impact on our pace rather than on the targets we achieved. Therefore, we continue to work with our acquisitions and tender management as a way of responding to the managers of our tender process. Also, I should mention the fact that we're also working on the targets we have, which are linked to our business plan and which are very much related to the portfolio of the current activities. When it comes to waste, for instance, we are almost fully done with the revamping of the Trieste waste-to-energy plant and the Ravenna waste-to-energy plant, which is also a waste-to-energy plant, although it is specifically focused on industrial waste. I think referring to it as a revamping is reductive to a certain extent. It was an old plant, and it was almost entirely refurbished. It was a one-of-a-kind plant and therefore, we decided to refurbish it so that we could continue operating it in the best possible way. As far as debt is concerned, we're doing quite well. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio stands at 2.8 times, which means that it is well within the policies that we have mentioned time and time again. As you know, our goal is to stay below three times. Of course, the increase of energy prices has had an impact on the working capital. We've also had higher requests for monthly installments for our invoices, which is something that we granted to some 140,000 clients. These results give us some good results, even when it comes to the underlying figures, as Mr. Moroni will be explaining later, and they go to show how resilient the company is. It is, of course, a way with which we have been facing the perfect storm, the one that we're all experiencing. Hopefully, this perfect storm won't last too long because it is very challenging indeed. We are continuing with our business as usual, and with a high level of confidence. We're continuing to focus on our growth plan, and we're continuing to recognize the EUR 0.12 dividend as we had announced, and which we will be paying next June. As far as EBITDA is concerned, we stand at EUR 374 million with a EUR 12 million growth, and this is something we appreciate even more, if we take into account the negative effects which have been offset, following the WACC review by ARERA, which happened in 2021, besides all of the other difficult conditions on the overall market, which have had a EUR 5.5 million impact. Now, the result of the EBITDA growth stems from a number of different drivers we mentioned earlier. Namely... As you can see on the graph, we have EUR 9.1 million, which stems from our circular economy activities, EUR 6.6 million of which refer to condominiums to increase energy efficiency and for the facade bonuses, which were managed extremely well by one of our companies. EUR 1.4 million referred to some of the commercial offerings and the integration into our portfolio as a way of broadening our offer of value-added services. Whereas the remaining EUR 1.1 million stems from the excellent performance by the Aliplast company, which is a part of our waste segment and which benefited from the increase in the recycled plastic prices. We were also able to further expand our markets and work on efficiencies for a further EUR 4.2 million. With a further 104,000 customers in the energy market, with an expansion of our market share, having been awarded three out of the nine areas for the thank you. To get us through on my part. Let me refer to the energy sector, which over the quarter contributed with EUR 152.4 million. This was a contribution to the group's results. With a growth equal to EUR 1.8 million compared to last year, and with 41% contribution to the group's results over the quarter. Of course, Q1 also had the effects of the normalization of our plants, especially NSG, which in 2021 had had an extraordinary contribution, whereas this year we're down to a more normal contribution. Linked to the thermal electric plants, which have a different rate compared to previous years, which means that we have a 5.6% decrease, which is more than offset, as I was saying in the eco-efficiency sector. Namely, the sector which includes energy efficiency for condominiums, Superbonus, Ecobonus, public administration, industrial customers. We have a marked difference compared to last year, which takes into account the fact that our activities grew significantly over 2021, and therefore we've had a difference between a Q1, which is in line with more stable activities, more average activities compared to Q1 last year, in which things were picking up. Moving on to the supply sector, namely sales and trading, which can be summarized in the growth equal to EUR 800,000. Now, the first element I'd like to focus on is that, with a turnover growth equal to EUR 3 billion, which refers to the growth in commodities, our policies for risk management, which of course dates back to a context in which prices were four times less compared to what we're seeing, allows to have a positive. In euros, of course, account for a broader growth beyond the number itself, because of course this extreme scenario has had an impact on costs, prices. Because our selling activities, we buy energy and gas with a flat profile. We resell it with a modulated profile. Of course, this has a cost. It had a proportion vis-à-vis the price, and therefore, we had increased costs from this point of view, costs which couldn't be recovered on the margin since our contracts had been signed for quite some time, and therefore, the company had to withstand them. They were more than offset by the growth activities we have in the sector, typically, and which are focused on three axes. On the one hand, we have the growth on the mass business markets and all of our tender activities, for instance. We have a growth on the traditional market with the liberalized market customers. All in all, these two sectors have led to a 12-month growth equal to 100,000 customers. We're also quite pleased with the added-value services we've been able to offer, with a major increase in our photovoltaic activities and retail customers with a positive growth contribution. All in all, we can end our Q1 figures in a very operational way and with results on the sector which are in line with the figures we had last year and with a slight improvement, in fact. In Q1, we also worked to manage these price levels by intervening, by trying to work on reducing risks and taking advantage of opportunities with new offers. We had to, of course, focus on the dilemma our customers face, that is whether or not having a fixed price or a variable price is hoping that prices will decrease over time, meaning that we came up with offers allowing customers to choose which volumes to set at a fixed price and which at a variable price, so that they can have tailor-made solutions, which on the industrial level is quite interesting. We have changed a number of contractual conditions. We intervened on fixed price to industrial customers, trying to block the volumes with a fixed price, applying spot prices on incremental volumes, which means that we had to be very dynamic on our offers. Of course, also had an effect on the so-called shelf contracts for the smaller customers who don't have access to tailor-made offers. Nonetheless, we were able to focus on sourcing, taking advantage of the market volatility, which on a day-to-day basis has a 10-15 EUR volatility for gas and 20-30 EUR volatility for electricity. Therefore, we tried to focus on the below-average prices so that we could have an adequate level of sourcing. Now, these are the activities that we had given the very extreme scenario we faced, but we also tried to focus on our usual axes, such as customer relations, for instance. In Q2, we will be going live with the very first segment of customers who will be served by a new CRM service, which will be replacing the one we've used for the past 20 years and which gave us some very good results. Think of the fact that this system started when we had one million customers, and now we have 30.5 million customers, and therefore, we decided to replace it with Salesforce. The Salesforce platform, which is the best of breed in the segment. Therefore, this year we'll be starting with this change in our, you know, CRM platform, which will be improving our services with better commercial offers for our customers, and it will be fully implemented in 2023. We're also working on efficiencies, and over the upcoming months, we'll be continuing to increase efficiencies in the northeastern part of the country. Already last year, we started rationalizing our activities around the target companies required. We'll be merging with four other companies, and therefore, we will be continuing with the targets we have set out in our business plan. Finally, as the chairman was saying, in M&A, we are continuing to work, which is what we did in 2021. We're continuing in 2022. In the energy sector, we've recently completed a transaction of a small 30,000-customer company, and we're looking to other possibilities on the market. Thank you. Good morning. Good afternoon, everybody. Also on my side, I will continue giving you an update on our EBITDA, moving on to the Networks business. EBITDA is up by 3.6% compared to Q1 2021. We are now up to roughly EUR 135 million, which is an especially positive result, as we said earlier, also because it fully offsets the lower WACC, as the chairman was mentioning earlier. Now, in order to achieve this result, we had the support from all growth and efficiency drivers, beginning with organic growth, as you can see on the graph, which contributed with roughly EUR 4 million, which for the most part refers to the excellent results in district heating, which took advantage of the cold winter and with a higher volume, therefore, with EUR 3 million to our growth. Of course, we had the increase of requests for new connections and third-party activities which had an impact on all of the networks in our portfolio. The second driver here is efficiencies, of course, and the optimization that we've worked on on the full array of our offers. We've had contributions from all of the tariff system, and therefore, the contribution to growth from efficiencies was equal to almost EUR 5 million. We had the update on a cap setting for CapEx and OpEx in gas and electricity. We also had better results in the predictive maintenance sector, allowing us to reduce costs for damage on our networks. We were able to improve the management of our parameters for our tariff systems to have a greater profitability, which together with all the other things I mentioned, it led to the almost EUR 5 million euro growth. Now, this focus on efficiencies, which was accompanied over the years by an investment plan on upgrading our networks, allowed us to have a greater competitive advantage over time, which still continues to be well above the standards set by authorities. As you can see in Q1 this year, the premiums and rewards we were able to obtain in the gas and water sectors contributed to a further growth equal to EUR 1.2 million. That was a quality premium. Moving on to waste treatment on page seven. In this sector, we had the best results compared to all of the other businesses in our portfolio. EBITDA is up by almost 21%, with a +EUR 10.5 million compared to Q1 last year. This result doesn't include the contribution of the two waste-to-energy plants the chairman mentioned, which are currently being revamped. Now, of course, these good results came about despite the extreme scenario we're seeing. This had an impact in our waste treatment. Of course, we had to deal with higher energy prices and the cost of raw materials, and this partially reduced profitability. But all these negative effects were more than offset by the production of electricity from waste, which benefited from the non-incentivized part. It was able to benefit from the current market prices, and therefore, the net effect, which contributed to the growth of our results, was equal to roughly EUR 5 million net. As the chairman was mentioning, Aliplast continues to work 24/7 at full capacity. It was able to benefit from the increase in the cost of virgin plastic materials, which made Aliplast offer even more appealing, which was very much appreciated. Therefore, its contribution to growth was equal to +EUR 1.1 million. Moving on to our commercial activity, our market expansion. We were able to achieve new customers. Also, given the lower competitiveness of our foreign competitors, they were pretty much driven from the market by the increase in logistics costs. Therefore, for our current customers, exporting their goods became more costly compared to the past, which means that we concluded the quarter with an almost 3% increase of our market volumes. Thanks to the treatment prices that we've seen in Q1, we were able to increase that contribution to some EUR 2 million, and it contributed to our growth. M&A, of course, also has to be considered. It was mentioned a number of times by the chairman. M&A accounts for EUR 4 million growth. Now, before I move on to the following themes, beyond EBITDA, I have to mention that the diversification of our business and our caution policies in all of our businesses allowed our results to be so resilient. Energy, which is the most exposed part of our business, as Mr. Fabbri was mentioning, our policies proved to be solid. In networks, of course, we had the tariff system which guaranteed the full guarantee of our returns. Please take into account that the tariff system is inflated, which is a very positive element, given the current context with high inflation rates. When it comes to waste treatment, the activities and the positioning of their markets allowed us to more than offset the scenario's negative impact. I think these are the elements which, all in all, account for the group's low risk profile. On page nine. Moving on to the figures beyond EBITDA. The first graph shows the 30 basis point reduction in terms of debt compared to the same period last year. This improvement was brought about by a liability management transaction, which we did last year, with the sustainability-linked bond issuance worth roughly EUR 500 million with a long duration to 2024. These resources were used to recall the bonds we had previously with higher costs, and this allowed us already this year to benefit from a decrease in the financial costs. Even when it comes to the tax rate, as the chairman was saying, we have excellent results compared to the previous year, for the most part, due to the effects of environmental technological transformation elements, which allow us to take advantage of some tax benefits in our organization. The best possible summary of our financial and tax results in this first quarter are summed up by ROI and ROE, which aren't significantly different from the same values we had last year, which goes to show that we were able to preserve our profitability despite the scenario. At the same time, we're seeing some high levels of the cost of capital, which has been both invested and as far as equity is concerned, which goes to show how we were able to create value. I'll let you give the floor to Mr. Moroni for the financial dynamics. Thank you, and good afternoon. We closed the Q1 with a debt level which grew. This is something we had already imagined, and we were able to manage it. We closed Q1 with a financial position which, compared to rolling EBITDA, continues to have a resilient and sound risk level, which I think speaks for itself with figures. We spent at 2.8 times net debt to EBITDA, which is a guarantee of the flexibility we would require to be able to operate in the next few quarters. As far as the cash flow is concerned, you can see the results on the graph on page ten. We had operating cash flow equal to EUR 73 million, and two things that I think deserve being explained. Beginning with CapEx, which didn't slow down. In fact, it grew 10% compared to Q1 last year. Despite any possible delays related to the external scenario, which didn't happen, and which allowed us to go along with our usual business and investments. Then, of course, we have the working capital dynamics. It isn't typical for us to see the working capital absorption that we can see here. Although we have some underlying rationale we have to take into account, which were already partly explained or visited the last few times that we had organized conference calls with you. Out of the EUR 300 million here, 100 refer to tax credits for the businesses and condominiums who had some slight delays in terms of ceding their bonuses to companies. Also given the government's decrees, which slowed down the way in which these credits could be managed, and therefore, that is an extremely temporary effect. The remaining EUR 200 million is linked to the commercial working capital dynamics. Half of this figure refers to the installment plans that we granted our customers. The installment payment has been happening in a timely fashion by our customers, which goes to show that our customer base is very solid. Our unpaid ratio continues to be at the same levels we've traditionally had. The dynamics are linked to the current time frame. Of course, the remaining part of the EUR 100 million are linked to the volumes and prices as far as quantities scenario we're seeing within months. We are very much in control of things with a variation as far as debt is concerned, which we expected and are capable of managing. At this point, I'll hand the floor to the chairman for some conclusions. Well, I think the comments you've heard today confirm our growth plan. Although, of course, we have had some conditioning due to external factors. Despite these factors, our results, compared to the extremely positive results we had in 2021. You may remember that last year, things were quite fruitful because EBITDA had grown by EUR 100 million in one year. Those figures are figures that we're still seeing the effects of. Therefore, already being able to compare figures in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021 goes to show how healthy the company is despite the external factors. These are all elements which show how sound the company is. Again, the context is a difficult one. Despite the difficult context, we haven't stopped a thing. This is the message I'd like to convey to you, and that refers to Q1. Then this of course also has very much to do with the usual operation for the company. Even despite the change we had with Mr. Venier not being our CEO anymore. Again, I think we have the capabilities and the means to continue to operate as we've always done. This is a slide that you've grown accustomed to, and it shows how we have always been able to be on track with our forecast. Of course, these are all things which stem from the work we've done in recent years. Despite the difficult context, we continue to have very ambitious projects as shown in our business plan. I think we can continue to strive towards the results we have forecasted. With our usual leadership and with our business as usual approach, we are more than confident that we'll be able to achieve the results. We will be determined to achieving them. Of course, we'll be achieving these results based on our growth, but also based on the track record we have, which our management has proven to be capable of achieving. This is the best possible guarantee you can offer the market. I'll leave it at that. As you can see from these last graphs here, even compared to one year, our business plan last year, the results of this quarter allow us to achieve 40% of the five-year growth we had promised. Although we are only, we've only used up 25% of the time available to achieve the entire amount of our business plan targets. We will continue to work and for the general external context to change, we will be capable of reaching those targets beforehand. If that won't happen, again, we are confident that we will be able to achieve those targets as we have always done in the past. Let me give you the floor at this point without any further comments. Let me just say that as Mr. Hansen was saying, we are very much on track with achieving the results we've set out for ourselves. I'll leave you the chance to ask some questions. Thank you. For any questions you may have. Press star followed by one on your telephone. To cancel your request, press star followed by two. Our first question is by Javier Suarez, Mediobanca. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for the presentation. I have three questions for you. The first is on working capital absorption. The CFO explained the impacts which explain the EUR 300 million working capital absorption during Q1. I was wondering whether or not the guidance you had given with the full-year 2021 number with a working capital absorption equal to EUR 200 million for 2022. Is this guidance still applicable with what the management is seeing on the market? With the installments you've offered your customers, does your guidance continue to be equal to EUR 200 million in terms of working capital absorption by year-end? Is that still valid? That was my first question. The first question is something I was pleased with. The stability of your supply business, it shows how effective your policies have been. I saw a different dynamic in gas vis-à-vis electricity, so can you help us understand how your hedging strategy works on electricity and on gas and how it contributed to the stability you achieved? If, given the current context, you will be envisaging any changes in your strategy moving forward? The third question for the chairman. It's a broader question. You said it at the end of your presentation. I will let you insist. There was a change, a major change of management, and you are the guarantee that there will be continuity that the company has began a number of years ago. Will you confirm that your five-year business plan will continue to be focused on without any kind of rolling change given the change in your head of management? Thank you very much. Now, Javier, let me answer your first question. As far as the EUR 200 million, which is our forecast. For the time being, there are no elements leading us to believe that things may differ. Obviously, as you have read yourselves, a decree was approved by the government which envisages payment in installments for consumptions in May and June. We still don't have all the elements available to assess what kind of impact this decree may have. Let me explain. We still don't know whether or not these installments will include any kind of interest rates. If there will be any upfront payment targets or not. Therefore, we'll still have to wait and see until we have all the information available to assess the impact. Of course, of the EUR 300 million I mentioned, roughly 100 should be deflated given the suspension of the fiscal credits. Of course, with the seasonality thing, another amount will be reduced. And we'll have to wait and see which effects of the government's decision will end up covering the normal dynamics which refer to our working capital. Plus, we'll have to see the price dynamics from now to year-end, and we'll have to see what effect that will have on gas stocks within year-end. Therefore, we still have some elements which aren't entirely clear. Again, for the time being, we have no element which leads us to say that that figure will be different in any way. Let me answer your second question on hedging. Let me just simplify things by defining our sales activity into two macro categories. We have a fixed prices on the one hand and variable prices on the other. The fixed prices, of course, are more complex to manage, although they are quite simple from another point of view. Whenever we deal with large customers or large numbers of smaller customers at the same time, we buy the same product on the forward markets with the same formula, which means that we try to have a timely compensation of sales and acquisitions. Of course, this is hedging on a mass level, so to speak, because, of course, the product that allow us to have a specific profile for each individual customer is something we have proceeded to take into account, and it is very effective. For our variable cost customers, we have the national price or TTF price, which is a natural hedging on the spot market. In this case, hedging is simple and the risks are very limited indeed. Well, my dear Javier, I want to thank you for your question, which was very kind. I know that time is a factor, and I myself are subject to time. In order to deal with the risks, I am here despite having a broken leg, just to reassure you that we will continue to work in line with our plans. I also wanted to have other managers together with me today. I also want to thank Mr. Venier for all of his work. I talked to him this morning, and he is, of course, still a very important to the company. I think my presence, the presence of other managers here, go to show that there are no risks of any changes. As the founder of the company, I would refuse to deal with any changes or risks. Therefore, rest assured that, as long as I'm here, I will defend, both the past and the future. Of course, no longer present in the overall scheme of things that I would have to make my decisions. I think that is, the only thing a manager could do, and this would be the best possible way of doing it. I am lucky enough to be joined, and supported by, top-level managers, some of whom I, introduced today, and others who I will be introducing in the future, just to give you an idea of how solid our team is. Thank you for your question, and I think I gave you a very full answer. Thank you for being, very clear with an important question. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next question is by [audio distortion]. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for your presentation. I have a follow-up question on Javier's question on energy supply. Just to have a better understanding of the risks in the future, in the upcoming quarters, maybe, or for 2023 even. The risk linked to lower margins, which we haven't seen so far. I'd like to congratulate you for the way you've been managing the energy supply side of things, especially for gas. I was wondering if you see a potential risk linked to procurement costs in the next few quarters and even 2023. The second question is related to the Superbonus for the energy efficiency of buildings. Recently we've been reading of political frictions within the government. We've read that some parties oppose this measure, which I think is working very well. As far as your company is concerned, not so much for 2022, but for 2023 and 2024, I'd like to see what risks, if any, you see vis-à-vis your business plan forecast. Were this measure to be suppressed or were this measure to be worsened, which is something some political parties would like to do to change, to modify the Superbonus. I'll leave it at that for the time being. Thank you. Well, let me answer as far as our procurement forecasts are concerned. Obviously, we have to consider the availability of gas for Italy. Of course, we are considering a scenario in which the gas will be available. Otherwise things will be far more complicated. It would require a solution as a system. Which means that, for the time being, we're working on our usual sourcing activities. We have already started buying gas, with a view to Q4 2022 and for 2023, of course, to cover sales at a fixed price. But also when it comes to the electricity sector, as you know, the electricity business is very much linked to gas. You know that a large part of electricity is produced by gas. Therefore, we have already started working on covering the sector. Of course, what still needs to be done is to conclude the acquisition for the thermal year. We're slightly delayed, but we have been even more delayed in previous years. The entire market is still continuing to understand the market dynamics, even for storage. In the past, some years, we started buying early in the year. Other years, we started buying in July. Therefore, this year, given the complex scenario, we may see some slight delays. Of course, if or when gas will be available for our country, we'll be able to manage our sector. A large part of the gas is at a variable price, and it will correspond to being used to supply gas in the shade credit market. Of course, we'll have to be making the acquisitions back-to-back with sales. Let me answer the question regarding the condominiums business and the opportunities linked to the Superbonus. Let me begin by specifying that this business grew following the publication of our business plan, which means that our business plan has a very limited figure compared to the which is more linked to the usual energy efficiency policies that our group has always had. Therefore, the activities linked to the boom in this business is an upside. As a multi business, we are capable of managing our portfolio in a very efficient way, and we're continuing to generate value. As far as the government decrees, which are being studied and which we've read about in the news or the ones that have already been implemented, of course, they have brought about a certain slowdown. Although these slowdowns, for the time being, are set within a business continuity scenario without any problems. We've been able to manage all the new rules set up by the government in a normal way. Also, because compared to more fragile players, we've been able to set up a very solid process, as recognized by Italy's financial institutions that we've been recognized as being very efficient. Of course, were it that the new rules for this specific business, that there may be further slowdowns or reductions in the business. But again, for the time being, we don't see an imminent risk from this point of view. Of course, we'll be ready to come into effect. Yes, we can hear you very well. I have another question on waste. Specifically with the various simplification decrees to favor investments in infrastructure in Italy, waste, biogas, or waste-to-energy plants. Do you think this can speed up investments even as far as Hera is concerned? Specifically for biogas plants and waste-to-energy plants, despite the fact that for the latter, construction does require quite a long time frame. In any case, do you see new capacity or new excess capacity, new projects coming on, compared to the ones you have finished in your business plan? As I was mentioning earlier, what I can say is that I'm quite confident. Our presence in this sector and the fact that we have very many different types of technologies in our wind portfolio makes us very expert in the use of these technologies, and therefore, we often have the possibility of venturing into joint ventures with other operators, as well as having the possibility of having plenty of opportunities as a company. Each of these segments, which are a part of the waste business portfolio, allow us to be pioneers, leaders, and very innovative as far as biomethane is concerned, which is something which is very trendy nowadays. It's something that we've been using for the past three years now. Our first plant was built three years ago. We will continue to grow with all of the available drivers. As I was mentioning in my previous answer, you will be seeing some very tangible responses, some tangible projects which will be made visible both in our commercial initiatives in the waste sector and in our new assets. As I was mentioning earlier, we're strengthening the asset base we have with the revamping or refurbishing of our plants. We're close to giving you some news regarding the strengthening of our asset base, because of course M&A in the waste treatment sector was something that went quite well last year, but we're already working on some news for 2022. We are working on supporting our asset base, not just through revamping activities, but also with new initiatives, which may not be huge, but they exist on the list. You may remember the Aliplast acquisition. When we made that acquisition, some considered it to be something marginal. But the truth is that things went quite differently, which means that we are happy to find some niche solutions which then end up being a lot more successful than what many thought they would have been initially. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have no further questions for the time being. For any further questions, press star followed by one. Thank you. Very well then. Thank you. In the near future, of course, we will be introducing our new CEO. Of course, the industrial projects and the team that will be managing all of our industrial projects are sitting here around the table with me. We'll continue to work as hard as we've always done, so we can achieve our projects. Thank you very much indeed.