Strong growth in all economic and financial indicators solid backlog of eur 325 million significant cash generation from operations with marked deleveraging.

• Value of production EUR 148.6 million, up 121% over 2022
• EBITDA EUR 40.5 million, up 281% over 2022. EBITDA Margin of 27%.
• EBIT more than quadrupled to EUR 35.3 million with an EBIT Margin of 24%
• Net profit at EUR 29.2 million, almost four times that of 2022
• Net Financial Position of EUR 9.7 million, a clear improvement from EUR 19.2 million in 2022
• Backlog as at 28 February 2024 of EUR 325 million

Naples, 19 March 2024 – Next Geosolutions, a leading international company in the field of marine geosciences and offshore construction support services operating mainly in the energy sector, with a focus on renewable energies, announces its consolidated financial statements as at 31 December 2023 prepared in accordance with the Italian GAAP.

Giovanni Ranieri, CEO of Next Geosolutions Group commented: “We are undoubtedly satisfied with the results achieved in 2023, which point to a growth trend in the business. The commercial strategies implemented over the past years and efficient cost management now allow us to report triple-digit growth in volumes and margins. We also believe that the future will bring further growth and great satisfaction for the Group, given the current backlog for future orders and the recent start-up of projects of national and international importance, with major partners in Italy and abroad. I am referring, among others, to three major contracts awarded to us by the most important Danish developer of the most significant offshore wind farms in Northern Europe, as well as to the activities assigned by Prysmian and Nexans for the construction of the Tyrrhenian Link, a project involving the installation of a system of submarine power cables to connect Sicily, Sardinia and the Italian peninsula“.

MAIN ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL RESULTS AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2023
Production value for the financial year 2023 amounted to EUR 148.6 million, up 121% from EUR 67.2 million in 2022. This increase is the direct result of the effective commercial and business strategies implemented by the Company, which not only enabled the value of production to grow, but also made it possible to obtain larger orders.
NextGeo operates mainly in the renewable energy source market, which accounts for about 86% of the value of production and is developed in the Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) and Interconnector segments. In particular, in the area of OWFs, in 2023 the Group worked on several projects (mainly in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the East Atlantic Ocean and, more recently, also in the Mediterranean), such as “Hollandse Kust West Alpha and Beta, Ijmuiden Ver Alpha, Beta and Gamma” with the Dutch state company TenneT, TSO B.V., as well as contributing to the development of Wind Farms in the North Sea on behalf of a well-known Danish operator (projects in German, Swedish and British waters). In the Mediterranean Sea, the company carried out various activities for market players 7 Seas Med and Ichnusa Wind Power (of Copenhagen Offshore Partner group). In the Interconnector market, NextGeo group contributed with its services to the installation of many of the most important submarine electrical interconnection infrastructures in Europe during the year, such as: the Tyrrhenian Link (Campania-Sicily-Sardinia), which, with a total length of about 970 kilometres and a capacity of 1,000 MV, is an infrastructure of international significance; the Eastern Green Link (Scotland-England), the Celtic Interconnector (France-Ireland), along with numerous other projects.

Production costs show less than proportional growth and their share of the value of production falls from 84% in 2022 to 73% in 2023. This trend, which can be attributed to the acquisition and management of larger job orders, has led to significant economies of scale.

EBITDA amounted to EUR 40.5 million, reflecting the positive impact of the significant investments completed during the year, both in terms of the acquisition of additional vessels and related equipment, and through the insourcing of certain professional roles. These investments have led to an improvement in operational efficiency, resulting in a reduction of the time needed to complete certain tasks, while also raising the quality of the services offered. The combined effect of these factors, together with a 121% increase in the value of production and an 11% reduction in the incidence of production costs, contributed to a significant improvement in the EBITDA Margin, which rose from 16% in the previous year to 27%.

EBIT amounted to EUR 35.3 million, compared to EUR 8.4 million in the financial year 2022. Despite the increase in depreciation and amortisation, the EBIT Margin is extremely positive, rising from 12% of production value in the previous year to 24% in 2023.

Net profit amounted to EUR 29.2 million, which is about 4 times higher than the EUR 7.4 million in the financial year 2022.

Net Invested Capital increased by 50% to EUR 58.9 million due to the completion of major investments in vessels and related equipment. In particular, we would like to highlight the completion of work on the conversion of a vessel acquired in 2022, with the implementation of a geotechnical drilling system, which allowed it to be reclassified as a geotechnical drilling offshore vessel.

Net financial debt, as a result of the strong economic performance achieved and the careful management of working capital, decreased by about EUR 9.5 million, from EUR 19.2 million to EUR 9.7 million, benefiting from the significant cash flow generated by operations, despite the considerable level of investments made.

The Backlog stands at approximately EUR 325 million as at 28 February 2024, of which EUR 204 million relate to contracts that will be performed during 2024.

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SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE FINANCIAL YEAR

• Award of several deep geotechnical investigation contracts in the offshore wind farm sector in the UK, Sweden and Germany with the addition of a major Danish developer to the client portfolio, which consolidated and strengthened the group’s position in the offshore wind farm sector not only in the Netherlands, where Next Geosolutions is present and operational since 2020, but also in the UK, Sweden and Germany.

• The company won the contract for activities within the framework of one of the most important interconnections in the Mediterranean area, with the Great Sea Interconnector order. The HDVC electricity link between Greece and Cyprus is one of the longest and deepest submarine cables in the world to date.

• Completion of work on the conversion of a vessel purchased in 2022, with the implementation of a geotechnical drilling system. The new offshore geotechnical drilling vessel (NG Driller) has been deployed since December 2023 in the Italian projects for the construction of two floating offshore windfarms, named Hannibal and Scipio, for the customer COP. In conjunction with the above-mentioned naval investment, new geotechnical personnel were added to the Group’s staff for the (technical, operational, etc.) management of the geotechnical sampling system.

• Completion of a sophisticated Fast Remotely Operated Vehicle (Fast ROV) geophysical survey system, which can carry out survey activities at a much higher speed than systems currently on the market, thus enabling a reduction in the time and cost of carrying out activities while maintaining the quality of the data acquired.

• Completion of work on an autonomous navigation system on the NG Coastal nearshore vessel.

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ABOUT NEXTGEO

Next Geosolutions (NextGeo) is a leading international company in the field of marine geosciences and support for the construction of offshore infrastructures in the energy sector, with a particular focus on renewable energy. Founded at the end of 2014 and part of the Marnavi Group – Italy’s largest shipowner operating globally in the offshore sector – NextGeo offers high-quality consulting and engineering design support services and turnkey solutions, thanks to significant established know-how in the offshore sector. With an extensive fleet of state-of-the-art DP 2 class vessels, belonging to and/or owned by the Group, and a multi-ethnic team of more than 200 qualified and experienced professionals, NextGeo provides a wide range of services from specialised consulting in the field of marine geophysics and geotechnics, environmental and archaeological surveys to the identification and removal of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance Disposal investigations), as well as offshore construction support services. NextGeo ended 2023 with a value of production amounting to EUR 148.6 million and a net profit of EUR 29.2 million.

CONTACT
INSTITUTIONAL PRESS OFFICE
Angelo Brunello – angelo.brunello@cdr-communication.it
Tel. +39 329 211 7752
Stefania Trevisol – stefania.trevisol@cdr-communication.it
Tel. +39 347 878 2490