Atome (LSE:ATOM) — Final results for the year ended 31 December 2023

0:02 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ATOM PLC final results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time via the q and a tab that's just situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Please just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses where it's appropriate to do so on the investor me company platform. And before we begin, as usual, I would

0:33 just like to submit the following poll. And if you would give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. And I would now like to hand you over to CEO, Olivier Massat. Olivier, good morning, sir. Good morning, and thank you very much. Thanks for everyone, joining and attending and and being followers, of the ATOM story and possibly investors. So, clearly, this is, the, you know, results. So it's more more going to be around backwards looking than forward looking, but certainly intend, to spend, very adequate time on q and a. So please do submit questions, and, and we will get to as many as possible. So I will start with the usual slides, about disclaimers as you all know. Right? So the other view of ATOM, right, we are a pure play green fertilizer company.

1:27 Right? And our aim is to have the largest green fertilizer facility in production in the world from 2027. With our first project, now the 145 megawatt Vieja project in Paraguay, which will be expected to produce around 264,000 tons a year of calcium ammonium nitrate and basically generate income from day one of production. We this particular project, VETA, has now finished front end engineering and design, which basically means that the basis for the engineering of the project is now finished. And we are we have selected the EPC, which is going to be Casale and Orbas, and who had actually executed the feed.

2:21 And the offtake agreement is being finalized, and we expect to have it done over the next few weeks so that we can actually get to final investment decision with the investors and start the construction by the end of this year. Obviously, we also have a pipeline of project, which is of the 120 megawatt Costa Rica project, which is essentially going to be roughly a copy paste of Vieja. A second project in Paraguay that we call the 300 megawatt Iguazu project. And both of these projects, we intend to reach agreement for the power purchase, so the supply of power this year in 2024. So, obviously, all of these projects and all of these, you know, let's say, unique business proposition that we have built together and the USP attached to our green fertilizer couldn't happen without a management team. And I really thank them for doing a lot of work this year, and I will go into a few more details.

3:24 Obviously, you know, we're doing it to to make revenue, to generate income, but we don't forget our climate impact. And project number one alone will be able to displace around 15,000,000 tons of CO2 over its project life. Right? And I will go into that a little bit later as well. So let's talk about the backward side, you know, what happened in 2023. So clearly, we are still a developer of projects. So we are in the in the expenditure side. So at the end of the year, we basically ended with a $6,800,000 loss. But importantly, nearly $5,000,000 of this cost were capitalized. Right? And our accountants agreed with us that in the end, all of the money we are spending is going to generate and is the foundation for the project of Vieja.

4:19 So it will become part of a of a project. We obviously you know, this year, we welcome a couple of new investors, including Baker Hughes, and we raised in twin twenty twenty three around $5,000,000. And at every single step of the way, the management team actually followed on on the raises and held its corner at the same share price as all of the new investors. So from an operational point of view, so we upgraded our power purchase agreement to a 145 megawatt. And, for those who had been here since day one, we had started at 60 megawatt that was then upgraded to a 120 megawatt.

5:05 And now the total power supply is a 145 megawatt for the ATOME. We have purchased the land where we did, where we are going to be building the facility and also did the environmental, and social impact assessment on the land with the help of the IDP. And now we actually have the environmental license and the operating license granted, which means we can start construction as soon as FID is done. With the support of the Paraguayan government, we have been granted tax free zone. And as I mentioned earlier, we have basically taken care of the feeds. We have selected the EPC, and the EPC agreement itself is also in its final stages and will be signed the moment we hit FID.

5:55 We have also created National Ammonia Corporation in Costa Rica, which is our JV vehicle for the one twenty megawatt project in the country. And, obviously, the pre PPA that was signed for the 300 megawatts in Paraguay. So obviously, from an operational point of view, what happened since h one twenty twenty four, so we did a placing for $2.5 in February, March. And also, we have put a shareholder facility together with the support of Peter, our chairman, and largest shareholder. And it's for us, it's a very strong sign that as a management team, we will continue to be backing ATOM, and we believe in the company. We believe in ourselves and our business model.

6:42 And, also, it gives us a lot of flexibility as we are negotiating, obviously, the equity and the debt at the VETA project level. Obviously, I mentioned the FEED study completion, which has now been done, the appointment of the EPC partners, and where we are on the offtake sorry, the offtake terms, which we certainly expect to be announcing over the course of the summer. Admittedly, we are a little late compared to what we had hoped to do in in and we were expected to have it done in June, but we have a strong progress. Of course, the idea in this is that we need to make sure we have an offtake agreement which give which yields the most value for ATOM and also for us, together as shareholders.

7:33 And from a target point of view, as I mentioned, the project financing for Vieta is expected to be slated by the end of the year as well as the start of construction as everything else will be ready by then. So as far as the management team, for those of you on the call who don't who don't know us, So our chairman and largest shareholder is Peter Levine, who has had a track record of success onto a number of companies, obviously, specifically Imperial Energy that he he he created from very little, if not nothing, and then exited at $2,200,000,000. But importantly, he was also the chairman of two very large engineering companies, Severfield and Kailbray. And that's actually quite key for us because at the end of the day, fertilizer companies, fertilizer projects are are chemical projects. They are industrial projects, and it's all about margins. Right? It's all about making sure that we keep a very keen eye on costs, that we don't overextend, and we also obviously match our expectations and our timelines.

8:39 Personally so my background as I joined ATOM since day one of the strategy putting together the strategy with Peter has been very much on the engineering side. I started with GE and power and water and then went to Schlumberger and have been in the finance world since 2008 when I joined Standard Chartered. And before ATOM, I was with the private investment arm of the World Bank with IFC as chief investment officer of global energy, which was a $7,000,000,000 fund across debt and equity and across renewable assets, battery, hydrogen, and hydrocarbon assets. And the team also, we need very strong local presence in Paraguay. And Jim Spaulding, used to actually run, an Itaipu, so the second largest hydrotube dam in the world where we are getting electricity from.

9:33 And he was the head of the decarbonization strategy for Paraguay, former minister of finance, and also very importantly, on the board of the Inter American Development Bank. So the next step, of course, is we are going to be producing green fertilizers. We have to make sure that we have the best terms and have the best partners and which is where Thelier Baken comes in, and he joined the company last year as head of ammonia and fertilizer markets. And his background was working with two of the largest fertilizer companies in the Western Hemisphere. Sorry. And that's Yara and EuroChem where he was on the board of EuroChem and the head of fertilizers for Yara. Finally, on the board of ATOM, we have Mayrose De Valadares, who's also been here since day one, and she used to be the head of the hydrogen partnership at the International Energy Agency for nearly fifteen years. So she was also very instrumental in making sure we're putting the best project together with the best partners.

10:36 From a shareholder's point of view, as I mentioned, you know, Peter is a a largest single individual shareholder, And and we had we have been very fortunate to have the increasing support of Schroders, who, as we announced yesterday, has now increased its shareholding to 12.1%. And last year, we welcome Baker Hughes, the international engineering company, who is also a specialty maker in a number of hydrogen technical solution, including compressors, where they came in at 6.3%. Finally, we have Trafigura, also one of the largest global commodity trader, and myself at around 3.6%. So I will just go to the next slide. So, obviously, the whole idea is about green fertilizer and developing and delivering the world's first green fertilizer.

11:29 And and why is it? Right? Then what we saw is that when everybody was looking at the hydrogen economy, there there were a number of assumptions made, that, you know, the hydrogen economy will go extremely fast. Mobility will happen faster than what it actually has, that there will be a huge market for ammonia, for green ammonia, you name it. But what we realized is that everybody was looking at decarbonizing heavy transport, decarbonizing some segments of industry, but really, nobody was looking at the fertilizer angle. Right? And and yet, fertilizers is responsible for more carbon emissions than aviation and shipping combined. And secondly, whilst we have a choice of taking a flight, we don't have a choice. We need to eat. Right? So, for us, it was very logical step to look very intently at fertilizer, because today, half of the world's, is fed by fertilizers, which are derived from hydrocarbon.

12:29 But, obviously, by using existing technology, existing power supply, existing infrastructure, you can actually create green fertilizers at industrial scale. So, clearly, for us, you know, the impact is very real, and it's if it was all about how do we make sure we create green fertilizer today, and where we can be competitive with gray without the needs for subsidies, well, you have to look for, low cost of power, baseload power, which I mean, you know, like hydroelectric power, you can run twenty four seven. And this is quite important because we are dealing with fertilizer plants, chemical facilities need to be running twenty four seven. So we went out to look for green power, green, low cost green power, baseload power.

13:20 And, also, what we saw is that the largest fertilizer import market is in Latin America. So if you can produce domestically green and you can be at par or cheaper than what is imported, which is typically gray, I e, from hydrocarbons, you actually have a very strong commercial proposition. The other side is what we saw, is that there is has been an increasing push to actually now, have penalties, globally under the fact that these fertilizers, the existing fertilizer market, is highly carbon generative. And what was announced last year is that, there will be, basically restrictions on imports through carbon border adjustment mechanism in Europe, in The UK.

14:09 So from 2026, in Europe and 2027 in The UK, imports of fertilizer of hydrocarbon based fertilizers will be taxed. So clearly, there will be a green premium, through that that, enforcement of a tax. Right? So, at the moment, has everybody has been talking about subsidies, so that's for carrots. But then there is a stick, and the stick has been much more important. And now we know for sure that, obviously, there is an increased imperatives in going for green fertilizers because the food industry is under immense pressure

14:45 to decarbonize. So where are we playing in that? Well, our first product will be calcium ammonium nitrate produced from Paraguay in Vieira, which basically will lead to about 90% of carbon footprint reduction on the use of fertilizers. I mentioned earlier, Vieta alone will displace about 15,000,000 tons, of carbon over its lifetime. To give you an example, that's the equivalent of one Drax plant, right, when it was still a coal plant. So it's not insignificant. Our process is pretty straightforward. We are relying on existing technology. You take a lot of power, a 145 megawatt is actually a lot of power, from hydroelectric capacity, which is the type with them in Paraguay. With that, we basically, create green hydrogen.

15:34 So power plus water where you separate the h two o into HNO. And then once you have your hydrogen with the Haber Bosch process, you create ammonia because that hydrogen is green because it comes from renewable energy. You have green ammonia. And from that green ammonia, you actually go and through further processes, you actually go from ammonia to ammonium nitrate to calcium ammonium nitrate, which is a fertilizer that everybody, can use. It's it's an existing fertilizer market, and it's bags of fertilizer. Right? So we don't have to deal with the issues, logistical issues of transporting hydrogen, which is very difficult to transport in large quantities or ammonia, which also has has issues because of the requirements and the health and safety requirements of moving ammonia. So for us, it was extremely clear. Moving into green fertilizer was the one thing that would clearly generate and give us access to the biggest market and also to give us the biggest return on our investment.

16:42 So from a, business development, criteria, you know, I've talked about three projects in there. But, actually, what is the let's call it, you know, the not I wouldn't say the secret sauce, but clearly, what's what is our business model when we go and we copy paste, copy paste, copy paste to replicate, across a very large pipeline. It's really about having long term feedstock agreement for power. Right? And this clear clearly, the type of power, the quality, the price of power is absolutely key. And the that allows you to take a very low tech risk approach on, on the systems you are going to be putting together. The other side is also leveraging in existing infrastructures, existing markets. You know, our business is very, very focused.

17:27 We don't want to end up having to, you know, build port facilities, build infrastructure, build transmission lines. If we don't have to, that only increases the costs and lengthens the time timeline of develop of, of construction. Also making sure that from day one, we use the best in class environmental and social processes. A number of projects that you may have seen, whether it's in the hydrocarbon world, the renewable world, or the mining world have been unduly delayed because this has been left to the last minute. Right? This is not something that we will do, or that we are doing. And, of course, you know, making sure that we have offtake agreements which match the supply of power. And, of course, it's about aligning yourself with your host government and finding the right partners. Right? So, at present, we are only showing three project and one which is extremely advanced and if not the most advanced in the world. But, clearly, you know, we have been behind the scene, building up a pipeline of projects that hopefully, we will be able to mature to a point that we can talk about it and then expand the footprint of ATOM.

18:35 So from a project point of view, Vieja, which is the most important one for us this year, which obviously and I've talked about it a little bit before. So a 145 megawatt power purchase agreement, which is now done, executed, and ready to go. The land which was acquired, the advisers and the EPC contractors appointed, the environmental and operational license granted, the free trade zone granted, the FEED study completed. And also importantly, as we started the process with Netexis and IDB on the financing side, we have been actually very pleasantly surprised by the support from the lenders who are seeing us really being way forward compared to a lot of the pipeline of projects that they have seen.

19:22 And also that, we are ticking all of the boxes that as infrastructure lenders and investors, they expect to see. Right? So for as far as they're concerned, we have a project ready to go. And as soon as the offtake agreement,

19:36 will be signed, then things will accelerate significantly so that we can actually close the financing this year and start construction. So the major milestone that happened over the past couple of months was the announcement of the end of front end engineering and design. It is the first time and the first one in the world for that scale of project, and it basically goes around the plan design, the processes. It describes the timeline, the production capacities, the warranties that go with it. As I mentioned, you know, the the job done by Cassave and Orbas has been immense. We're talking of over a 100,000 of engineering hours, over 600 documents and reports. I mean, this has been a lot of work to do.

20:23 We've been thankful that ATOM has been our owners engineer supervising all of the work. And thanks to the quality of the work of Caseta and Orbas, now we have decided to continue with them as EPC. Right? And currently, the EPC contract, which which we are finalizing, we'll set out set out all of the engineering, the procurement, the construction strategy, the commissioning, and the schedule. Right? It's all about making sure that we can reach commercial production within a defined time line. Right? And as we have said, the expectation is that we will reach FID by the end of this year, start construction by then. And then by 2027, we will be in operation and producing and delivering fertilizers.

21:09 So the second project, which is, the 300 megawatt of Biguasu, obviously, it's a larger project. You know, the, it's a bit more than double of the data. It's taking a lot of the existing work that we have done with with Vieta and also clearly, you know, shows the alignment that Paraguay has with us and what we have delivered to date. Right? So I think, again, we are thankful for that partnership. And now, we have also finished, the what we call the electromechanical study. So, again, we're showing we're following exactly what we did on VETA. And the electromechanical study in collaboration with ANDE, the power utility, is about showing where will this power be delivered, where are the best possible location, for how long, and how do you make up the power over the next twenty years.

22:06 So that work is done, which then allows us to go into the negotiating phase and to enter into the power purchase agreement in the second half of this year. And as soon as that PPA, will be signed, then we will go into prefront end engineering and design, to, basically further scope the project, on the market and on the location.

22:31 And in Costa Rica, I think we've talked about it a little bit earlier this year. So about, well, now nearly nearly 18 ago by now, you know, we had met, the team at Cavendish, and and we entered into a a joint venture last year to create, the National Ammonia Corporation. And the idea there is very much to copy paste Vieja so that we can really accelerate that project. And Costa Rica for us has been very interesting since day one. It is the other country in Latin America, which has a predominantly green grid. So we have a lot of the same qualities that we are seeing in Paraguay. And also, we are seeing a lot of the same behavior with ICE, the power utility of Costa Rica.

23:17 And we are very thankful to have them as partner as we are now in the final stages from a contractual point of view that will hopefully get us to a PPA by the end of this year so that we can indeed start work on the prefeed now that we would have finished the power connection studies, the road map, the legal review,

23:41 and then have a strong basis with an executed PPA to do all of the technoeconomic work that is needed after that. So from a so this slide, obviously, is kind of an interesting slide, which was put with the help of, Longspur, which shows really what the project means and what it means on valuation ranges. Alright? So we are conscious that because this is the first in the world and whilst you have a number of fertilizer companies which are publicly listed, you know, like Yara, for Europe, like Fertiglobe in The Middle East, OCF in The US, How do you really understand ATOM and the ATOM story and the value creation? And for us, it's very much an infrastructure driven way. Right? It's all about derisking projects, increasing the value of a project that we have. And then when you get to these inflection points, you bring the right partners at the highest possible valuation.

24:40 So as I mentioned earlier, obviously, we're talking to lenders and to equity investors at the asset level. And this gives you a little bit of an idea of how these projects are viewed. Right? And so for us, for Paraguay alone, our forecast returns are over 20%

24:59 when you consider the price of fertilizer. And also, if you consider the green premium that could come come with it, then it increases the IRR. So from us, it's all about, you know, getting into a very rapid commercialization post FID, getting a valuation marker as well, you know, from our equity investors at the asset level, and we need to go and build out. Because once you have created a very solid foundation by actually, deploying the the first project and bringing it to completion, you're obviously derisking the rest of your portfolio and then further value can be given to that portfolio and therefore to the equity of the company. So in summary, alright, I think that's kind of the outlook. We know what have we done so far. We've finished the FEED study.

25:50 We've appointed the contractors. We expect to have the, contract and the project funding, by the end of this year with a significant help of the offtake contract, which is really the main driver that everybody from an investor point of view, from an offtake from a sorry, from a project finance point of view is waiting. And by the end of this year, we will certainly go and target to have a 300 megawatt PPA done and dusted as well as in Costa Rica have made significant advancement, which will help us get into the prefeed. And as I mentioned earlier, go one step above when it comes to the valuation of the pipeline. And with this, thank you for that. I will, then we can move to the q and a session.

26:36 And, of course, this presentation will be available on the ATOM website. Olivier, that's great. If I may just jump back in there, and thank you very much indeed for your presentation this morning. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the q and a tab that's situated on the right hand corner of your screen. But just while the company take a few moments to review those questions that were submitted already, I would just like to remind you that a recording of this presentation

27:00 along with a copy of the slides and the published q and a can be accessed via your investor dashboard. Olivier, as you can see there, we have received a number of questions throughout your presentation this morning. And thank you to all of those on the call for taking the time to submit their questions. But Simon, at this point, sir, if I may now hand over to you to chair the q and a with Olivier. And if I pick up from you at the end, that would be great. Thank you very much. Thanks very much. Olivier, due to the company change in direction from hydrogen to now green fertilizer. Do you see any further future changes in direction for the company? Or is green fertilizer now the focus? So it's a good question, and thank you.

27:46 The when we created ATOM, we were very clear since day one that we were going to be looking at ammonia and derivatives and that there was going to be an element of hydrogen when it comes to mobility. That was back in '21. And and what we have seen since is that at least on the hydrogen part of the business, right, the, the mobility was just just an end use of just hydrogen. That market was going to be extremely slow, right, which is why we really went in and we totally focused on ammonia, but especially agriculture. Right? So as I mentioned earlier, what the realization is that today, 80% of all ammonia is focused on agriculture. Right? So if you want to go and make sure you have a market, you know, start decarbonizing the existing market instead of trying to create other markets.

28:37 And then from a fertilizer point of view, what what you will have seen, of course, is as we hire Telier, for us, it's become very clear. You know, we are very unique. And up until about a year ago, we were the only one really focused on this, on the green fertilizer aspect. And and we are still the only one publicly listed. So giving the opportunity to to investors, into that to that window. But, we've seen three companies appear since last year, which was one company called Fertig High, in, in Europe, focused of projects in Europe. Obviously, having to rely on a fair amount of subsidies because the price of power in Europe is three times the price of power that we are having in Latin America. And the sales price of fertilizer is actually lower in Europe than it is in Latin America.

29:26 Another one called ATLAS AGRO, which is backed by Macquarie, which has which has given it an indication of investment of around 300 and, I think, $50,000,000. And just last week was announced a company which is backed by KKR, and both of these companies are private. So we know we are exactly where we need to be, and I think a number of, investors in the hydrogen industry have also realized that, you know, we were we were we were right earlier and that we are exactly in the right direction. Thanks, Olivier. There are a number of questions on offtake. I know you can't go into significant detail on this because you're still finalizing negotiations.

30:13 But let's start with a couple of them. Do you expect to receive a green premium for the output from Vieta is the first one. Second one is, will offtake agreements be part of your copy and paste for future projects? Let's start with those. Okay. So clearly so today, right, we know that you have very small quantities of contracts today, which have a green premium. And and I think there was one that was signed between OCI and Macallan, the whiskey producer. Was it maybe a year ago. Right? So they're not massive quantities, but you have increasingly discussions and realization of green premium.

31:01 So in our offtake agreement, what we have is is indeed a line of sight of green premium, but it is doesn't form the basis for our offtake agreement. Right? What we are going to do and what the discussions that we are having with a number of off takers that have basically put terms on the table of the heads of term that we are negotiating is very much a a position where they will off take a 100% of the production of the ATOME for the next ten years, with a specific price formula and some protection mechanisms as well for us. So this is actually really novel, into the industry, for fertilizer because whilst in the power industry, so if you look at LNG projects or liquefied natural gas projects, they have long term contracts which are indexed on a basket of coal, oil, gas into specific regions.

31:57 And and and pretty much, you know, you you agree a specific, specific number, and you have that visibility. In the fertilizer industry, it is has been historically a lot more volatile, because, farmers buy fertilizer at the absolute last minute. Right? So because it depends on how much it rained, how much sun there was, you name it. So we spent a lot of time, quote, unquote, educating the fertilizer, companies, into what we need And also how do we find an arrangement as off takers, as long term off takers where we're they will guarantee to take or pay our production for long term. How how we can basically, let's call it, you know, share the upside when the upside is created on the green.

32:47 Right? So is it going to be the basis for the next project? Clearly. Right? This is part of our, special formula. And the whole idea is also to find an offtaker, which becomes a strategic offtaker. So project one is going to have its dedicated offtaker agreement. But clearly, this is part of a blueprint for the further projects. Thank you. Question on the Costa Rica grid. Is Costa Rica's power from hydro, is that from other sources? So the Costa Rican power makeup is actually it's it is mostly hydro, and then you have a large amount of wind and solar. And you actually also have one, HFO plant running at the moment because there wasn't enough rain, over the past, El Nino.

33:39 So indeed, I think it is above 96% renewable. And in the discussions that we have had with this, it's all about the partnership on how we optimize that power with them. But having a hydro is absolutely key. Right? This is also part of our strategy since day one. Doing hydrogen derivatives projects, on solar and wind alone is possible, but brings a whole raft of issues with them, and also increases cost if you have to produce and if you have to have twenty four seven supply to reduce the cost of your end product. So I'm explaining a little bit too much on this one. So the answer is yes. Costa Rica is mostly hydro, but this is also why we are going after that type of power.

34:27 Okay. There are a number of questions on project funding and in particular, your thoughts on ongoing equity stake for ATOM. So perhaps you'd like to So the projects so for those of you who have looked at, let's say, infrastructure projects, renewable project, power projects. Right? So your ability to put more leverage into a project, and what I mean by leverage is also more debt rather than equity, is depends on the quality of your purchase, your power purchase agreement and the quality of your offtake agreement, one. Number two, on the experience and the number of, basically financing that you can show. Right? So, and so that they are comparable. So as a green fertilizer project, and as a developer, we will be the first one. Right? Which means that whilst if I was doing a, let's say, a solar plant, in Latin America, with a long term offtake agreement with an industrial, I would expect somewhere between 70% to 80% leverage.

35:37 So 70% of debt, 30% of equity. When it comes to, our project, we expect something a bit more reasonable around sixtyforty, so 60% of debt and 40% of equity. That said, because we hit exactly in the middle of a fairway of basically food security and climate, the development finance institutions such as IDB, IFC, GFC, also KFWDG, had expressed a very, very strong interest into the project, and we spent a lot of time making sure we're restructuring it in the best possible way so that they can give us the best possible term. So that's the debt side. And so we are very encouraged in the way it's going. And, of course, once they will know for sure what are the terms of the offtake agreement, we will be able to shave a little bit more on the structuring and on the pricing. When it comes to the equity side, I think most of the infrastructure and hydrogen investors that you would have heard about, you know, are also into the same vein of understanding long term power purchase agreement, long term offtake agreement.

36:44 And so for them, they also we have a number in in in in the data room as well. And when we talk about the type of partnership and how they come into the project, clearly, you know, coming into the project and the SPV of the project is one thing. But being able to show to them that, hey. We have actually a line of sight on project two and project three coming very quickly, you know, enables us to have, let's call it, a wider strategic discussion about potentially investing in project two and three and helping us accelerate these projects. Thank you. In terms of the construction facility and plant, are these going to be fixed price contracts? And when do you think you'll actually be breaking ground?

37:32 So yes, fixed price, absolutely. I think it's also one of the reason that we've taken more time than what we expected is that I don't think it's it's anybody has missed the issues around inflation last year, and and which has spilled a little bit over this year, but not that much. And so whilst, I think with our partners, clearly, we are in a zone which hasn't seen as much inflation as others. You know, if I have to look at what's happening into The US or into Europe today, where the hydrogen sector has been overheated, because of the IRA, because of the EU green deal, Clearly, we wanted to make sure that we would be isolated from that as much as possible. So I would say we spent another an extra 4 to 6 months, on engineering, doing value engineering to reduce the cost. And number two, working with the potential suppliers to fix the cost and and so that we have basically fixed price turnkey slash guaranteed maximum price. So this is very much the EPC, that that that we have discussed with Casale and Nobass that they have agreed to work on on that basis.

38:43 And when we look at the various technology suppliers, you know, including, of course, you know, Baker Hughes as one of our investors, It is also very clear, and they have also accepted that, it will be fixed. And, actually, the formula that we have with our EPC is that if we make cost savings along the way, we will also benefit for some of the cost savings during the construction period. Clearly, as I mentioned earlier, right, we have now, shortlisted, if not selected, most of the technology suppliers along the value chain, which means that they are all ready to go the moment we press the button of FID. So, you know, it means that can we start work and break ground by the end of this year? Absolutely.

39:32 And, actually, I was looking at Google Maps yesterday. And if you look at at the Vieta site of you you see now how the Buerodeo substation Elitro substation is. And you see just across the road, the Vieta site, and the outline of the Vieta site as we had to start clearing some of the land to do some testing for the environmental social impact assessment. So as I mentioned, everything is ready to go. Now the remaining miles in front of us is the offtake, which will then allow us to accelerate the debt and the equity conversations. Thank you.

40:19 Final question, Olivier. Do you think the output from Viezza will end up? Where do you plan to sell the product? So we so if you remember, so Vieja is expecting to produce around 264,000 tons of calcium ammonium nitrate. The nitrogen market fertilizer, nitrate fertilizer market in Latin America or in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina alone is around 30,000,000 tons. So clearly, you know, we have a market at our doorstep, which is already, you know, a very healthy and premium market on gray. But as I mentioned earlier, not to ship, because we have bags of fertilizer to ship it into Europe can actually be quite cost competitive, if we have the right green premium in Europe as well. So for us, from our point of view is we we believe we strongly believe that, we will not only be able to sell it into the local market at a good price, but actually, we're seeing more and more green premium being discussed even in Latin America, and and and I'll explain to you why.

41:24 If you look at the Yara website, you know, they have signed with a potato grower company called Papas in Argentina because potatoes is actually one of the, vegetable which uses the most fertilizer, and they have an angle as a food company to decarbonize some of their production. But if I am in Brazil and I am a citrus producer in Brazil, so oranges, for example, the reality is, they will sell these oranges to Tropicana, and Tropicana will then sell that orange juice into Europe. So the push from a Tropicana on its farmers in Brazil is very high to also decarbonize. So we don't necessarily need to actually ship our fertilizer into Europe to actually have a line of sight on the type of green premiums that are expected to be found in Europe.

42:19 Thank you very much indeed. Jake, hand back to you. Perfect. Olivier, Simon, thank you very much indeed for being so generous of your time then, addressing all of those questions that came in from investors this morning. Of course, if there are any further questions that do come through, we'll, of course, make these available to you immediately after the presentation has ended just for you to review to then add any additional responses where it's appropriate to do so. And we'll publish all those responses out on the platform. But, Olivier, perhaps before really just looking to redirect those on the call to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to yourself and the company. If I could please just ask you for a few closing comments to wrap up with, that'd be great. So I think the closing comments so So we the biggest comment I can make is number one, thank you all as investors for believing in us.

43:06 We know that the markets in The UK haven't been easy. And if I look at some of our other hydrogen companies on the LSE, clearly, I think our investors believe in us more than they do for other companies. And and so, we certainly, as a management team, want to thank you for it. You know, we are doing our absolute best. Obviously, we are personally incentivized because we have put our own money into the company just like you have. So, you know, we may be late on a couple of things because we set ourselves incredibly aggressive targets. But just rest assured that the only reason we are late on some of the aspects is because we are still trying to negotiate the absolute best deal for all of us. And then, the last comment I will make is to thank actually the entire ATOM management team.

43:52 You know, we are all joined at the hip, and I'm very thankful for the work and the expertise that they bring, because, clearly, we we can tell you from behind the scene, we as a company are increasingly recognized by the entire, not only fertilizer world, but the hydrogen world. So, again, thank you. Thank you for being part of the ATOM story. And, well, I guess, watch this space because, clearly, you know, the moment we will be signing the offtake, we will announce it. Olivier, that's great. And thank you once again for updating investors this morning. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as you'll now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the management team can really better understand your views and expectations? This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the company.

44:39 On behalf of the management team of ATOM PLC, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session. So good afternoon to you all. Thank you.