Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Stefano Gamberini - Equita SIM S.p.A., Research Division - Analyst : Three quick questions, if I may, from my side. The first is the topic of the rising of electromagnetic pollution limits still on the table or the political agenda or definitively out. The second, do you have some novelties about M&A dossier? Do you have something on your table, something is changing on the market and so we could expect some small acquisition as you have in your Business Plan targets by year end? And finally, just a clarification about the OLOs target. If I understood correct that you expect to reach around 1,000 OLOs in the second part of the year? Or this is just a target in order to reach your growth of 2026 and will be reached probably later on? Diego Galli Stefano, thanks for the question. On the EMF, yes. No, the topic is still on the table of the government. The government is well aware of the topic. And yes, it's on the table. I would say, actively on the table, let's see what will happen, difficult to make forecast, no clear visibility of the next steps. But yes, I would say, absolutely on the table. On the M&A, yes, we constantly also assess a small bolt-on, the opportunity to broaden the perimeter to acquire part of sites. And clearly, we keep on looking at land and part of lands. So yes, we monitor, we assess and we are open, and we would like to make some small bolt-on to broaden quickly in a rapid manner our perimeters. With regards to the OLO and OLO trends, the -- we have the 1,000 -- sorry, I was before I probably made the -- made confusion on the OLO, we have a run rate of broadly 400 to 500 tenants per quarter, and this is what we expect to keep to year end.

Question: Usman Ghazi - Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division - Analyst : I've got 2 questions, please. The first one is on tax. Obviously, you've highlighted that for the full year, you'll come in quite below the EUR 35 million that you were planning at the start of the year. I can also see that in the cash flow, there's a EUR 14 million kind of payment or advanced payment made for the goodwill treatment. So I just wanted -- sorry, with the goodwill tax prepayment. So I just wanted to check if anything has changed REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 26, 2023 / 4:00PM, INWT.MI - Q2 2023 Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA Earnings Call with respect to your kind of tax outlook that you gave at the Capital Markets Day? Or is it that there's just a bit less tax in this year, and there's going to be a catch-up in 2024? So that was the first question. And then my -- the second question was just going to the site additions that you've done, obviously, very strong number in Q2 and you're guiding to do 800 this year. I mean, if you keep this kind of run rate, you're probably a year ahead of your site build-out target that you gave at the CMD, right? So you'd probably be done well inside 2026. Is this possible? Or do you expect that this year, for some reason, is it weaker then things kind of begin to moderate back to normal levels next year? Emilia Trudu - Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane S.p.A. - Head of Planning & Control Department, CFO and Administration, Finance & Control Director Usman. Yes, the EUR 14 million are related to the goodwill tax payment and are in line with our expectations. While the -- let's say, the cash out for tax above recurring free cash flow slightly below -- lower than our expectations. So we do expect this level to remain low on full-year basis. Diego Galli On New Sites, honestly, we are satisfied with the [connection] speed that we have achieved. Q2 is a strong quarter. Q1 was strong as well. Q4 last year was strong. So now we have really strong track record and delivery machine though we cannot yet say that we are ahead of plan. Hopefully, we will get there because actually, just let me clarify the 800, I did mention is a combination of the slightly less than 600 for the MSA, which we guided explicitly for and the broadly 200 related to the other 2 programs, the Open Fiber and the next-generation EU. So the current delivery is solid, is robust. We're very happy and overall in line with the Business Plan.