Calendar schreef op 29 september 2022 18:51:
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Denk niet dat je daar veel waarde aan moet hechten. Het gaat om de
operating cash return. Ik geef toe dat dit hieronder niet echt makkelijk leest.
Proportional operating cash flow is the basis for our operating cash return metric, and it is fundamental to the performance of our business and the value creation indicator of all our activities. It reflects the proportional earnings of our entire portfolio that is including joint ventures and subtracts proportional operating CapEx, which is sustaining service and IT CapEx that is required to keep the business running at the highest operational standards and it also deducts the IFRS 16 lessee.
In the first half of 2022, we generated higher proportional EBITDA, and our proportional operating CapEx was lower, resulted in a higher proportional operating cash flow, as you can see in the graph. In total, the proportional operating cash flow increased by 20% compared to last year's first half. If we then compare it with the consolidated cash flow generation, which is obviously the IFRS reporting, our consolidated cash flow generation was also strong during the first -- during this quarter and during the first half. Reported operating cash flow of €260 million compared to proportional operating cash flow of €347 million.
Now moving to free cash flow before financing increased to €48 million compared to €60 million negative last year, so an improvement of slightly over €100 million. In the first half of 2022, we generated significantly higher cash flow from operations and also driven by higher dividends from our joint ventures, which reflects the cash flow generation ability across the portfolio. The dividend generation of the joint venture was significantly higher than the net results of the joint ventures. Sustaining service and IT CapEx also known as said, as operating CapEx was lower versus last year. Growth investments were significantly higher as we closed our transaction with Aegis in India in the second quarter of 2022.
The divestment of our Canadian assets and comp plan into this joint venture also resulted in divestment proceeds in the first half of 2022. As we have mentioned in the past, joint ventures are becoming more important to our business. Also looking at industrial and gas investments going forward, you may expect that the more joint venture is coming. The key value drivers that we see in the joint ventures are threefold.
First of all, we want to make sure that the cash return on capital in these joint ventures and in any company we own, drive the performance of such an activity. But secondly, for a joint venture, it's very important to have a healthy leverage to drive the ultimate return on equity. And the third element is to make sure that we distribute dividends to the maximum to drive the cash position of Vopak. And these 3 priorities are proactively managed in the company.
As we mentioned during our Capital Markets Day, we will focus on cash generation for our portfolio.
Operating cash return is defined as the operating cash flow divided by the average capital employed. The first half of the year is usually characterized by a lower operating CapEx in the second half year due to timing and phasing of operating CapEx.
For the first half year, we had a solid operating cash return of 11.4%. The current expectations for the full year is an operating cash return of around 9.5%, subject to market conditions and currency exchanges. Our long-term target of operating cash return of at least 10% by 2025 remains unchanged. However, we will look at the year-end to evaluate this target going forward, also taking into account the impairment charges we took during this quarter.