Acciona, S.A. (ANA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
July 31, 2026
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Jose Domecq
executiveGood morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first half 2026 results presentation for ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energía. Before turning into the numbers and specific data on the company, let me frame them within the force shaping our industry today, the infrastructure investment cycle, and within it, energy, one of its greatest exponents. Infrastructure is being redefined. Beyond power and transport, it now encompasses the digital and industrial ecosystems that underpin global productivity. And it has become a matter of national and economic security. Two structural forces drive this cycle, a new era of geopolitics in which countries compete to secure their economies and their supply chains and the technological explosion, artificial intelligence, electrification, digitalization set to raise global electricity demand by at least 40% over the coming decade. With public debt elevated and rates structurally higher, governments cannot build alone. Meeting global infrastructure needs will require more than EUR 106 trillion of investment by 2040, making private capital not complementary, but essential. And private capital is responding because infrastructure offers what investors most value in this regime, high expected returns, lower volatility and decades of durable inflation-linked cash flow. The constraint is not demand and it is not capital. It is the scarcity of bankable, execution-ready projects and the ability of companies to deliver these projects as integrated systems rather than isolated assets. That is precisely the ground on which ACCIONA has built its model. Nowhere in this more visible -- nowhere this is more visible than in energy as renewable energy is no longer an alternative is an asset of national security, generation clean, local, independent electricity is today a matter of sovereignty. Markets are becoming more flexible, but not less volatile and new demand, led by data centers and AI mainly, arrives with buyers seeking firm, long-term, low-carbon supply. Managing volatility is a defining commercial challenge on this space. Storage and batteries are particularly important in this process and where the greatest opportunity lies. This is the backdrop against which our renewables platform and the broader group delivers this half. Let me take a moment to express my greatest condolences to all those affected this summer -- by this summer's unprecedented wave of wildfires across Europe. This growing threat can not only be mitigated through year-round forest management, land cleaning, the removal of residual biomass and wherever possible, the revitalization of depopulated rural forest areas. Biomass plants have an important role to play here, converting forest residues into useful energy, and I strongly encourage public authorities to support this solution to its fullest sustainable potential. And now turning into ACCIONA's numbers and our financial performance. Let me start with ACCIONA Energía results, which are broadly in line with our full year expectations, weighted more heavily towards the second half, albeit with a different mix of prices and output than initially anticipated. Asset rotation remains a core pillar of our strategy and market appetite remains strong. We continued to make good progress on this front, having recently completed 2 additional transactions, the sale of 64 megawatts of hydropower and 361 megawatts of wind assets in Spain for aggregate proceeds of nearly EUR 500 million. We retain a broader pipeline of transactions in advanced negotiations across the footprint, of which only a portion would be required to meet a target. The rationale remains unchanged. We crystallize value significantly above what is implied in ACCIONA Energía's share price and we recycle that capital into the most profitable opportunities within our pipeline. Beyond Energía, the broader group delivered strong half results and the numbers reflect the cycle I have just described. Let me share only the headlines since the teams will walk you through each business in detail shortly. Infrastructure reached the largest backlog and pipeline in its history with EUR 22 billion in construction and O&M alongside a EUR 136 billion concession backlog, up 40% versus December 2025. Including the preawards in the Northland Corridor and Paraíba in Brazil -- Northland Corridor and Paraíba -- this figure raises to EUR 140 billion, which we estimate will generate EUR 61 billion in dividends over the coming decades. It is our integrated capability, construction excellence combined with long-term asset ownership that allows us to commit to entire countries across multiple layers of infrastructure. The numbers prove it works. Infrastructure EBITDA grew 12% this half year and double-digit growth in construction revenue and an EBITDA margin holding stable across growing project base. Consider our 2 largest markets for growth. In Brazil, we opened this month the first section of Line 6 of the São Paulo Metro, the largest public-private infrastructure project underway in Latin America and the recent water contracts will bring service to close to 9 million people in Brazil. In the United States, we continue to scale our managed lanes platform, both organically and by adding new capabilities in construction and delivery. As for Nordex, it delivered 4.9 gigawatts of new order, up 10% year-on-year with margins recovering quarter after quarter and a successful ramp-up in the North American market. That progress has been achieved in a global market where Chinese competition is very intense and does not always play by the same rules. Nordex is a strategic industrial asset for Europe and Europe should act accordingly when it comes to protecting its few remaining champions. As for our other businesses, real estate continues to perform well, further strengthening our portfolio of essential infrastructure. Data centers offer promising -- very promising opportunities, both as an investor and as an EPC contractor. Silence delivered mixed results as demand for microelectric vehicles remains subdued, while the outlook for Bestinver remains encouraging, particularly in alternative assets as co-investor in selected ACCIONA greenfield and brownfield infrastructure concessions. In summary, we are making solid progress across our infrastructure solutions and strengthening our global platform, uniquely positioned to translate structural demand into long-term value. Let me now hand on to Arantza, who will cover ACCIONA Energía and then to Jose Entrecanales for the rest of the group. Thank you very much.
Arantza Ezpeleta Puras
executiveThank you, Jose Manuel, and good morning, everyone. The first half of the year has been a positive period with meaningful progress delivered across the key priorities we established at the beginning of the year, despite a challenging operating environment. The geopolitical backdrop has continued to worsen, in particular, following the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. So far, this has had no material impact on our operations. Debt reduction has been a key priority this year and we have made substantial progress on that front thus far. As Jose Manuel noted, we recently completed 2 asset disposals in Spain and are also progressing with a number of additional opportunities towards our objective of reducing net debt to below EUR 3 billion by year-end on top of the 3 transactions agreed at the end of last year, South Africa, Mexico and U.S. I will come back later with a more detailed update on the progress of our asset rotation program. The execution of projects currently under construction has also been a major focus during the period with particular emphasis on accelerating the commissioning of the MacIntyre wind farm. Through the blade remediation program currently underway, we expect to be roughly at 80% of the project's capacity operational by year-end, reaching full operational capacity during the first quarter of 2027. Another positive development has been achieving full operational capacity at the Logrosán biomass plant, which allow us to benefit from the strongest spot power prices currently being recorded in Spain and which are likely to remain at elevated levels over the coming months. We have also made meaningful progress in battery storage and repowering opportunities, including the approval of a second large-scale battery project in Chile, the completion of the repowering of the Tahivilla wind farm in Spain and the recent award of a European funding for the repowering of a 126-megawatt wind cluster also in Spain. The transformation of our business development model has also required a significant effort over recent months. We have undertaken a comprehensive review of our existing pipeline in light of our updated strategy, which combines the development of projects for long-term ownership and operation with projects intended for sale to third parties. As part of this transformation, we are also working to reaccelerate the expansion of our development pipeline, providing the company with the flexibility required to increase the pace of growth while maximizing the capture of opportunities according to the capacity of our balance sheet at any point in time. Finally, I would like to highlight a number of other important, albeit less visible, priorities pursued during the first half of the year. These include the extensive work currently underway to implement meaningful efficiency measures with benefits in the current financial year and full impact from next year onwards, targeting cost savings of around EUR 40 million on an annualized basis. Turning to the progress achieved within our asset rotation program. The most significant milestone during the period were the 2-asset disposal completed in Spain during July. On 2nd July, we completed the sale of our 64 megawatts run-of-river hydro portfolio at a valuation of EUR 1 million per megawatt, in line with pricing levels observed in recent transactions involving comparable portfolios. On 27 July, we completed the sale of our 361 megawatts wind portfolio for an equity value of EUR 432 million, implying a valuation of EUR 1.2 million per megawatt, broadly in line with the average pricing achieved across previous transactions executed under the company's asset rotation program. These transactions once again demonstrate ACCIONA Energía's ability to successfully execute an ambitious asset rotation program, which has become an integral part of our company's business model. Taken together, the 2 transactions have secured approximately EUR 310 million of EBITDA from asset rotation and will contribute around EUR 500 million towards debt reduction. Regarding the asset rotation progress, there is further work to be done in second half of the year. We are actively evaluating a number of additional opportunities, representing more than 1 gigawatt of capacity in aggregate, providing sufficient optionality to prioritize those transactions, offering the most attractive economics and the strongest strategic fit. These processes are currently at different stages, and we expect them to progress rapidly over the remainder of the year. These additional opportunities come on top to the 3 transactions agreed at the end of 2025, the sale of our stake in a portfolio of assets in South Africa, the disposals of a minority interest in a solar portfolio in the United States; and finally, the sale of 2 wind assets in Mexico. As we indicated at the beginning of the year and against the market backdrop Jose Manuel has just described, we continue to see a reasonably supportive market environment for renewables. This environment has translated into a number of attractive investment opportunities that have been approved during the period and are now moving towards construction. One of the most notable approvals is the El Romero battery project in Chile with 196 megawatts of capacity and 5 hours of duration. This project adds to the Malgarida battery approved at the end of 2025 and will allow us to reach almost 2 gigawatt hours of storage capacity in the region. Alongside this large-scale project, we have also approved the construction of 2 smaller battery projects in Spain and continue to assess additional battery opportunities across these and other markets. Another important milestone was the approval of the Fleming project, a 235-megawatt peak solar PV plant located in Kentucky, U.S. We reached a positive FID following the renegotiation of a higher PPA price. The approval of 200-megawatt Baní solar PV plant in the Dominican Republic also represents an important achievement during the first half of the year, strengthening our presence in the country with a fourth asset. Both solar PV projects are fully contracted under 15-year PPAs, significantly reducing the risk profile. All approved projects comfortably met the company's investment thresholds, delivering expected returns of more than 200 basis points above WACC and further reinforce ACCIONA Energía's commitment to selectivity, capital discipline and value creation. These recent approvals also provide a high degree of visibility over capacity additions for 2027, which currently stands at 1,148 megawatts. The 2027 delivery profile will further enhance both the geographic and technological diversification of the company with 13 projects across 9 countries, 4 continents and 3 different technologies. Together with the capacity due in the second half of the year, as well as some additional secured megawatts that fall into 2028, we have visibility on 1.75 gigawatts with FID. Turning to 2026. We installed 245 megawatts during the first half of the year with the San José solar PV plant in Peru being the largest contributor. Capacity additions will be significantly weighted towards the second half when we expect to install between 400 megawatts and 450 megawatts. The main contributor will be the 200-megawatt Malgarida battery project, highlighting the speed and scalability with which this technology can be deployed. This acceleration during the second half positions us to reach close to 700 megawatts of installed capacity by year-end, fully in line with our outlook. A further encouraging development in 2026 has been the resumption of construction activity following a prolonged period of limited activity in both Chile and South Africa. During the second half of the year, ACCIONA Energía will need to navigate a volatile and rapidly evolving geopolitical environment and continue delivering on asset rotation, cost efficiency and the construction and full commissioning on some key assets. The progress made during the first half of the year is consistent with our full year outlook of total EBITDA of EUR 1.2 billion, capital expenditure of EUR 900 million and a year-end net debt below EUR 3 billion. With that, let me now hand over to Jose.
Jose Carrion
executiveThank you, Arantza. Good morning, everyone. Let me now walk you through ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energía's financial results for the first half. Consolidated revenues reached EUR 10,142 million in the first half, representing a 10% year-on-year increase. Our EBITDA for the first half stood at EUR 1,153 million. That is 26% lower than the first half of last year, primarily driven by the profile of asset rotation gains, which are expected to materialize in the second half. EBITDA from operations, however, grew by around 4% versus the previous year. Breaking this down by division, infrastructure delivered robust results with an EBITDA of EUR 384 million, up 12% year-on-year, 12%. Nordex showed exceptional momentum with an EBITDA of EUR 354 million, which is an increase of 30%. Other activities reported an EBITDA of EUR 52 million, 5% lower than last year, while energy delivered an EBITDA of EUR 388 million, which is a 57% decline. This reduction is largely due to the absence of EBITDA from asset rotation in the first half, unlike in H1 of 2025, which included the sale of the hydro asset portfolio to Endesa. Attributable net profit for the group was EUR 83 million. However, including the 2 transactions of energy assets, which we completed in the month of July, pro forma attributable net profit would have been -- would have reached approximately EUR 360 million. Ordinary CapEx was 40% lower year-on-year, reaching EUR 743 million, mostly due to lower investment activity in ACCIONA Energía, while net financial debt stood at EUR 8.2 billion at the end of the period. Pro forma net debt, including the 2 asset rotation transactions completed in July would have been EUR 7.7 billion. Turning briefly to our ESG results. ACCIONA's capital allocation remains strongly aligned with our sustainability objectives, with almost 97% of our CapEx aligned with EU taxonomy. And sustainable finance remains a key pillar of our funding strategy. Today, 81% of our gross corporate debt is either green or linked to sustainability objectives, further supporting the alignment between our financing structure and our long-term sustainability commitments. On this slide, you can see the main drivers behind the evolution of the group's net debt during the first half of the year. Operating cash flow was slightly negative at minus EUR 132 million, mainly due to working capital movements, reflecting the typical seasonal pattern of our business, particularly in infrastructure. Net investment cash flow amounted to minus EUR 726 million and financing and other cash flows reached minus EUR 383 million, including the impact of the change in the settlement mechanism for the acquisition of EUR 1.3 million of our own shares through equity swap contracts. As a result, net debt, including IFRS 16 reached EUR 8.2 billion at the end of June. And importantly, approximately EUR 3 billion of this debt is associated with assets that are either under construction or have not yet reached full operation, primarily in ACCIONA Energía, which represents EUR 2.1 billion out of the EUR 3 billion and property development. Let me now go through ACCIONA Energía's financials in a bit more detail, complementing Arantza's overview. The overall performance is aligned with the full year outlook provided at the 2025 full year results presentation. The mix of output and prices has been somewhat different from what we expected with better prices in the international portfolio offsetting the weak start of the year in Spanish pool prices due to the high hydro volumes and slightly weaker output relative to our expectations. We expect the year to be significantly back-end loaded across the P&L in terms of debt reduction, given the strong outlook for Spanish prices in H2 and the concentration of asset rotation transactions also in the second half. Starting on the right-hand side of the slide, consolidated production grew by 4%, reaching 12.5 terawatt hours. On a constant perimeter basis, output is roughly flat, while new assets added 1.6 terawatt hours and asset rotation deducted 1.1 terawatt hours. The average captured price fell by 14% to EUR 54.8 per megawatt hour, driven by a decline in Spain of close to 30%. Prices in Spain last year were relatively strong, particularly for our fleet. And we also benefited from a one-off regulatory accounting item, which worsens the year-on-year comparison. Prices in the international portfolio were almost flat despite the depreciation of the U.S. dollar with Chile being particularly strong. Moving to the left-hand side of the slide, total revenues fell by 12% to EUR 1,228 million, reflecting the lower generation prices and lower energy supply business revenues. EBITDA from operations of EUR 388 million falls by 17% relative to EUR 464 million last year. Adjusting for the contribution of assets sold last year and the positive regulatory one-off in Spain in H1 2025, the variation in EBITDA from operations would, in fact, be positive in H1 2026. There are no asset rotation results in the first half, which compares with EUR 443 million of gains in the first half of 2025. And as a result, total EBITDA for ACCIONA Energía falls by 57%. Between EBITDA and pretax profits, depreciation and financial charges were slightly lower than the previous year. We have also recorded a write-off of EUR 15 million of the Moura PV plant in Portugal, reflecting the end of its feed-in tariff period. And we have also provisioned EUR 21 million of restructuring costs. As a result of these extraordinary items, EBT for the period is 0. Attributable net profit is negative EUR 18 million, but including the 2 asset rotation deals completed this month, ACCIONA Energía's net profit would have been closer to EUR 285 million. Net investment cash flow amounts to EUR 324 million, very similar to last year. The last year's figure was a combination of EUR 935 million of gross CapEx and close to EUR 600 million of disposals. So different in how or in the nature of the net investment cash flow. Net debt at the end of the period stood at EUR 4.4 billion relative to EUR 4.2 billion at the end of December. And pro forma for the 2 asset rotation deals announced in July, it would have been closer to EUR 3.9 billion. In terms of ESG highlights versus ACCIONA Energía, I would like to highlight following Scope 1 and 2 emissions despite the start of operations at the Logrosán biomass plant, thanks to lower fossil fuel use at other biomass plants and our CSP plant in Nevada as well as continued progress of decarbonizing our fleet. We have a strategy of replacing diesel with HVO across the company's vehicle fleet and have used it also in the cold start-ups of Logrosán. It is also worth highlighting that the accident frequency index fell significantly to 0.13. And fortunately, there were no fatalities in the period. In terms of net debt evolution at ACCIONA Energía, operating cash flow amounted to EUR 160 million. Net investment cash flow, as discussed, amounted to EUR 324 million of cash outflow with no asset rotation proceeds in the first half. And financing and other cash flows are negative EUR 135 million with EUR 10 million of dividends paid and the rest mostly related to movements in FX and interest rate derivatives and IFRS 16 lease principal. Switching to the operational review. On this slide, you can find the key drivers for our Spanish generation business. On the lower right-hand side, you can see the breakdown of price drivers with a notable decline in achieved prices in the market, reflecting -- reflective of lower pool prices and hedging providing some pickup, which has led to an achieved market price of EUR 50.6 per megawatt hour. Additionally, regulatory income has increased materially in the current review period 2026 to 2028 as in the previous review period, no wind vintage was entitled to regulatory income. The effect of the banding mechanism is slightly negative as we amortize net regulatory receivables accumulated in previous reviews. Last year, we had a positive one-off in the banding mechanism that represented close to EUR 5 per megawatt hour. All in all, the final average price in Spain we recorded fell from EUR 80.9 per megawatt hour to EUR 59.3 per megawatt hour, a decline of 27%. Achieved regulated prices are closer to -- close to EUR 87 per megawatt hour, while hedged and merchant prices were EUR 54 and EUR 47 per megawatt hour, respectively. Volumes in Spain fell by 9%, mainly due to asset rotation and underlying output was flattish. With declining captured prices and lower output due to asset rotation, Spanish EBITDA from operation falls by just over 50% to EUR 83 million. Moving to the international business. On this slide, I would like to highlight the flattish international average price of EUR 52.6 per megawatt hour, which is better than expected, particularly taking into account that the U.S. dollar has depreciated around 7% relative to the first half of 2025. Chile is doing especially well despite lower output, thanks to very strong PPA margins in the supply activity, which is reflected in the average captured prices. International output grows by 12% to 8.5 terawatt hours and represents around 70% of total production. In absolute terms, this is growth of around 0.9 terawatt hours, driven by perimeter changes. That is new assets contributing 1.4 terawatt hours with MacIntyre, Juna, Aldoga and Tahivilla as the main contributors and an impact from disposals of 0.5 terawatt hours corresponding to assets sold in Peru and Costa Rica. On the next slide, you can find the detailed breakdown of the contribution of different regions. EBITDA from operations in the international business grew by 5.8% to EUR 305 million, thanks to the contribution from new projects and better prices at constant exchange rate. FX, however, had a negative impact in the Americas, as you can see on the graph -- in the graph on the right-hand side corner of the page. Turning to infrastructure. The first half of 2026 was characterized by strong execution across all businesses. Revenues increased by 12% to EUR 4.5 billion with 82% coming from OECD markets. EBITDA grew at the same pace, reaching EUR 384 million with solid performance across construction, water and concessions, while EBITDA margins remained stable at 8.6%. Before discussing the individual businesses, let me briefly explain our new way of reporting our backlog. From this quarter onwards, we are representing -- or we are presenting a single design and construction and operations and maintenance backlog, which includes all D&C and O&M contracts across construction, water and concessions. We have also added the average contract life of this backlog, which at 30th of June stood at 2.6 years. And we believe this provides a clearer and more consistent view of the business and how we expect backlog to convert into revenues. Under this new methodology, backlog stood at EUR 22.4 billion at the end of the half, remaining at record levels, broadly flat compared with December and despite the high level of execution during the period. It is not only worth highlighting the size of the backlog, but also its quality. Around 85% of the backlog incorporates contractual risk mitigation mechanisms, including collaborative contracts, contracts related to our own concession projects, price revision clauses and long-term O&M contracts. It is also well diversified both geographically, with a strong concentration in OECD markets and by type of solution. Turning to construction. We achieved revenues of EUR 3.7 billion. That is an 11.2% increase year-on-year with stable EBITDA margin of 7.3%, reflecting the quality of the backlog, which I was just referring to. Geographically, there is an increased contribution from the United States, supported by works related to our own concessional assets in the SR 400 and the I-10 highways. And in Spain, which represented around 18% of our construction revenues in the first half of the year, we're increasing our focus on private sector projects. These represented the vast majority of the awards in the period, around 80% in H1 2026 versus 30% in H1 2025, incorporating higher quality and lower risk opportunities, mainly driven by data center projects. In the water business, revenues grew by 15% to EUR 740 million and EBITDA by 12%. One important milestone of the first half has been the consolidation of our water business in Brazil with 4 recently awarded concessions, Pernambuco, Sanepar, Cesan and Paraíba, reinforcing a long-term recurring revenue platform serving 9 million people for up to 35 years and with EUR 4.6 billion of associated investment in total. Moving to concessions. The portfolio remains young with 90% of it still under construction and therefore, with limited P&L impact today. Sales grew by 82% and EBITDA reached EUR 62 million, reflecting the commissioning of the Kwinana waste-to-energy plant in the second quarter of 2025, while EBITDA was up 13% year-on-year. Looking ahead, we continue to see a large universe of opportunities. We have a pipeline of 66 identified greenfield projects, representing EUR 205 billion of total investment to be tendered in the near future in our key geographies. This includes the I-24 managed lane project in Tennessee and the I-285 project in Georgia, for which we have submitted final bids in July and expect awards in late August and October, respectively. And in addition, ACCIONA was shortlisted for the I-77 South Express Lanes project in North Carolina. While the local planning authority canceled the project in May, they have announced that a new vote will take place in September on whether the project will go ahead or not. Other major tenders expected for the next 12 months include the EASL transmission line in MISO in the U.S. for which we have already submitted a bid, the I-495 South Express Lanes and the I-285 West in Georgia. The New England REZ transmission line in Australia, the São Paulo Metro Line 6 extension in Brazil and the second stage of Northland Corridor Highway in New Zealand, among a few others. Given how relevant our concessional projects have become for the group, and more importantly, how relevant we expect them to become in the next decade, let me spend a few minutes going into a bit more detail. We currently manage 80 assets in 12 countries, representing a total investment of EUR 39.6 billion, with 77% still under construction, that is including water and concessions. You can see on the slide that North America and Latin America represent around 3/4 of the total equity invested and committed in our portfolio. Our concessional assets backlog, defined as the future concession revenues attributable to ACCIONA's stake in each project, increased by 40% to EUR 136 billion, which is mainly driven by the incorporation of the Pernambuco water concession in Brazil. If we were to also include preferred bidder projects, that is the Northland Corridor project and the Paraíba water concession project, the backlog would exceed EUR 140 billion. This portfolio is expected to generate approximately EUR 61 billion of dividends and cash distributions to ACCIONA over the next 49 years. We have already invested around EUR 1 billion of equity and have committed a further EUR 1.9 billion through 2035, resulting in a total equity investment of close to EUR 3 billion. Importantly, this portfolio combines a balanced risk profile between financial and intangible assets, a strong weighting towards transport concessions and a broad geographical diversification across North America, Latin America, Australia and Europe. As you can see on this slide, these equity commitments are well distributed over the next 10 years with no significant concentration in any particular year. Given our strategy of holding relevant but not necessarily controlling stakes in these large concessional projects, together with a typically long period between project award and the first equity funding requirements, we have considerable visibility and flexibility to plan for capital requirements in the coming years. Importantly, as presented on the slide, the equity commitments expected over the next 10 years are fully covered by the dividends and cash distributions generated by the portfolio itself, which highlights the self-funding nature of this platform. With respect to Nordex, since the team presented results 2 days ago, I will not go into details. Let me, however, highlight that Nordex contributed EUR 354 million to ACCIONA's EBITDA, which is 30% higher than last year. And that included -- last year included significant provision reversals. Excluding these reversals, underlying EBITDA contribution to the group would have increased by 89%. Moving to other activities. In Living, our real estate business revenues jumped by 56% to EUR 131 million, driven by a higher-value product mix in the first half of 2026 versus 2025. And EBITDA was up 74%. Our gross asset value stands at EUR 1.6 billion, largely unchanged versus 2025 -- December 2025. Moving to Bestinver, and with this, I finish. Bestinver also performed well with assets under management growing by 8.5% to EUR 8.3 billion. And beyond its financial contribution, Bestinver is becoming increasingly strategic for the group as a vehicle with potential to channel third-party capital to co-invest alongside ACCIONA in selected greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects. And with that, let me hand it back to the Chairman. Thank you.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you, Arantza and Jose. And just to close, I think it's clear that these results are on the right track to capture the enormous infrastructure opportunity ahead, infrastructure in the wide sense of the world, energy, transmission lines, data centers, transport, urban services and urban infrastructure and, of course, water. With that, I will just say that we comfortably reiterate our outlook for the year, which, as you surely remember, was EUR 2.8 billion to EUR 3.1 billion in EBITDA, investment cash flow of EUR 2.2 billion to EUR 2.5 billion and net leverage below 3x net debt to EBITDA. As I say, we reiterate all 3. So thank you very much, and now we move on to the Q&A session.
Jose Domecq
executiveWe have undertaken all questions, and let me start by passing on to Arantza, the first one, which is from Bank of America, Alexandre Braunshausen, who asks, from 2027 onwards and following the 360-megawatt wind sale, how much of your Spanish renewable portfolio will still be regulated? And when do remaining subsidies expire?
Arantza Ezpeleta Puras
executiveYes. Thank you, Jose Manuel. So the bulk of our regulated assets are wind and biomass. The current wind regulated assets started its regulatory life in 2008, and we'll be exiting it from 2029 onwards progressively. As regards the biomass plants, the plants that were commissioned in 2005, 2010 and 2011 started -- have a 25 regulatory life, whereas the current biomass plant that is currently being commissioned, which is the Logrosán plant, will have 20 years of regulated life. This results in the following expected regulated production, which is for 2027 and 2028, 1.9 terawatt hours. For 2029, it decreases to 1.6 terawatt hours. And in 2030, it goes down to 1 terawatt hour. And progressively from then onwards, it will be decreasing as the assets [indiscernible] its regulation.
Jose Domecq
executiveVery good. Jose, you take the second.
Jose Carrion
executiveThe second question coming from Oscar [indiscernible] and Jose Porta is around capital gains and underlying EBITDA from operations. Your guidance is EUR 1.2 billion, and the capital gains are already beyond EUR 300 million with EUR 1 billion of asset spending and 500 megawatts of new disposals. Does that mean that the capital gains would be much higher than EUR 300 million? And if so, do we maintain the target of EUR 1.2 billion of EBITDA in the guidance? Firstly, I think it's important to mention that although asset rotation activity is backloaded in the second half of the year, we expect the capital gains or the EBITDA from asset rotation associated to transactions that have not yet been announced or not yet been signed to be not as significant as those that we have materialized in the first 2 transactions. They could add some EBITDA from asset rotation to the ones already secured but not as significant. With respect to EBITDA from operations, the first half EBITDA operating results were affected by extremely high hydro output in February and low power prices in Spain as a result. We expect the second half of the year to be significantly stronger. We're seeing forward prices above EUR 100 per megawatt hour. And we will -- we also expect to have higher contribution from recently connected assets such as the Logrosán biomass plant and the progressing connection of MacIntyre. Therefore, we maintain, as we have said, our guidance -- total EBITDA guidance, and we believe that EBITDA -- we believe EBITDA from operations will also be stronger in the second half of the year, and we do not think it merits any revision of that target.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you. The third question from Oscar Nájar at Banco Santander and Pablo Cuadrado, JB Capital, is about whether we expect the cash of the rotation transactions come in at 2026 effectively. And if -- should not -- should that not be happening within the year, if we would consider hybrids or any capital improvement measures involving maybe third parties? Okay. There are, as you are fully aware, a number of transactions underway in negotiation that will likely be closed within the year. But of course, the year is a theoretical date. Transactions may take longer as a result of approvals or negotiations. But we do not foresee the necessity to undertake other ways of capital balance sheet enhancement. However, they would always be available, should they be needed. The next question, Jose, you take that one.
Jose Carrion
executiveThe next question also from Oscar and Flora relating growth in ACCIONA Energía. The question is, it looks like an acceleration in 2027 beyond 1.1 gigawatts of new capacity. Will you need further disposals to keep net debt to EBITDA below 3x? As we have communicated to the market, our medium-term growth target is to -- in ACCIONA Energía is to deliver between 1.0 and 1.2 gigawatts of new capacity per annum with between 0.4 and 0.5 gigawatts of asset rotation. So we -- the 1.1 gigawatt in 2027 will be right in the middle of that range. However, we do believe the company has the capacity to generate pipeline and projects -- greenfield projects well beyond that medium-term gross asset -- or gross new megawatt figure. If we were to do so, however, we would also need to rotate beyond the 0.4 to 0.5 gigawatts of asset rotation or run rate asset rotation target, of course. The next question from Flora Trindade, Pablo Cuadrado and Beatrice Gianola from Mediobanca. Regarding asset rotation, can you provide more granularity on the remaining EUR 0.5 billion to EUR 0.6 billion of expected asset rotation proceeds this year, and how much visibility you currently have on signing versus closing? We have several transactions advancing in different countries and different technologies, and we are negotiating -- we are in a negotiating situation. And therefore, anything that we say regarding these transactions and that is -- could be interpreted and could weaken our negotiating position. Therefore, we prefer -- we feel that we must be deliberately vague at this stage on how those transactions are progressing and what they entail in order not to weaken our -- or not to impact the potential transactions that we are working on. But we do reiterate the target, and we think we have sufficient flexibility to meet our leverage objectives by year-end.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you. The next question is about MacIntyre. Arantza, could you please take that one?
Arantza Ezpeleta Puras
executiveYes, sure. The next question comes from Pablo Cuadrado, JB Capital, and it's about the MacIntyre update. Can you update us in the situation about the commissioning and production of MacIntyre in Australia? Do you still expect to have all the megawatts commissioned by year-end and thus fully productive during 2027? So regarding the commissioning process, MacIntyre has already passed hole point 4 and is now preparing to start the next hole point, which will start by mid-August. The blade repair works continue to progress as expected, and we are expecting to have around 80% of the capacity operational by year-end and the full capacity operational by the end of the first quarter of 2027.
Jose Domecq
executiveAnd next, please.
Arantza Ezpeleta Puras
executiveYes. So next question is also coming from Pablo Cuadrado, JB Capital. So -- and it's related to the Spanish production guidance. So the guidance on consolidated electricity production in Spain has been cut to 8 terawatt hours from 8.5 terawatt hours, which is the main driver on the cut as a deconsolidation on weaker load factors. So our outlook for the Spanish production has not changed. The asset disposal that had been recently closed in Spain were fully incorporated in our full year assumptions and will not negatively affect the production -- the outlook of the Spanish production. And in fact, the -- on a like-for-like basis, first half of 2026 has been better in terms of production than the first half of 2025.
Jose Domecq
executiveOkay. Question # 8. Jose, you take that one.
Jose Carrion
executiveThe question relates to the asset rotation deals announced in South Africa, Mexico and the U.S., which were supposed to close in the first half of 2026, but this has not finally been the case. What is driving the delay in closing these transactions? And is it linked to regulatory approvals? In South Africa, we're making good progress. We have -- we are expecting to close in Q4 of 2026 with most of the CPs having already been achieved. As per the transactions in Mexico and the U.S. with Mexico Infrastructure Partners, the counterparty seems to be having some problems and some difficulty in meeting their commitments. However, we do have a number of alternatives on the table regarding these and other assets, which give us comfort that we will be able to achieve our targets by year-end.
Jose Domecq
executiveOkay. So that's away with the questions on ACCIONA Energía. So we will undertake now the answers to the questions on ACCIONA. The first question comes from Flora Trindade at Caixa, Pablo Cuadrado from JB Capital Markets, Jose Porta from Kepler and [indiscernible] at ODDO. And it's about an update on strategic alternatives at ACCIONA Energía. What are the next milestones and decision points? Several funds have shown interest in acquiring the whole company. Do you still think this is an extremely unlikely scenario? Or you think the situation has changed after receiving the expression of interest from these funds? When do you expect to take final decision on the strategic review of ACCIONA Energía? Shall we expect a final decision during Q3? It's a difficult question because, as you can imagine, ongoing negotiations -- well, we haven't yet started the negotiations because we only received the first signs of interest, but they will be ongoing in the next months. And therefore, I would be very uncomfortable with making statements on what the potential opportunities may be. However, I may -- just may say that there is a good set of -- there's appetite. There's a good set of opportunities of different types and different alternatives. And it's -- basically, I would say that it's too early to say. As for your very direct question of whether it's extremely unlikely, let me just say that it's unlikely, but it's definitely a possibility that could -- will be considered within the options. Next questions come from -- next question comes from BofA, Alexandre Braunshausen. The 2 managed lane bid awards, when they will be awarded? What share would we be looking to keep in the consortium? The 2 are being -- will be awarded in August and in October, the I-24 in August and the 285 in October. And we've also submitted a transmission line offer at MISO in, which will be awarded in Q4 this year. And the share in the consortiums is, in the case of the 285 and the I-24 is 1/3, is 33%, and in the MISO is 50%?
Jose Carrion
executiveIt's 1/3.
Jose Domecq
executiveIt's 1/3 or -- 1/3. We do intend to stay in the -- in our equivalent in the same percentage, at least until the operation of the concessions. So the maturation period will take a few years, and we do not intend to change our position in those assets in the short run. You can take 3, Jose.
Jose Carrion
executiveA question also from Bank of America regarding the reversal of provisions at Nordex. We have not -- you have not reversed any provisions from Nordex this time. How much is left in your books? And given good results and any potential guidance upgrade, could you reverse some provisions again in the full year? Just a confirmation, we have not reversed any provisions in the first half of 2026, and the amount that is left on our books is negligible. We do not expect any further provision reversals in the second half.
Jose Domecq
executiveQuestion #4 from Oscar Nájar. Good underlying infrastructure business. What can we expect going forward in concessions and water? Well, as I mentioned, there will be very important awards coming in August -- coming or not coming, who knows -- in August and October. But whether we are awarded or not, there's a very strong pipeline. There will be new concessions coming in North Carolina, in Virginia. And there are -- we have the competitive skills to make us a very capable [ contendant ] to these projects. And yes, we are very bullish on the opportunities, but not only in concessions, in transmission lines, in data centers, in water projects. So in the next decade, I am very confident that these projects will be transformative for ACCIONA. Last week -- or today, I think -- it's actually today, we signed the Northland Corridor in New Zealand, which is the largest concession ever to be awarded in New Zealand. So our footprint and capabilities in each of those countries where we operate is demonstrating to be very effective and with enormous growth in each of them. #5, you take that one, Jose.
Jose Carrion
executiveQuestion #5 is around working capital levels. We know it is seasonal, but what are you expecting for the full year? It makes sense after a couple of positive strong working capital. Is it due to less down payments? It's a question from Santander, Oscar Nájar, and from Pablo Cuadrado. The evolution of working capital reflects the seasonal pattern physical of our business, particularly in infrastructure. Of the EUR 857 million of outflow that we have reported in the first half. The breakdown is ACCIONA Energía contributes minus EUR 22 million; Nordex, EUR 271 million negative; and the rest of the group, the remainder, which is EUR 564 million, of which the majority is our infrastructure business. Regarding Nordex, it is -- it relates to the high level of order intake in Q4 2025 that brought a lot of down payments from customers, as well as to more preproduction works this semester, which implies a working capital ratio, which is stable at minus 8.3%, in line with the guidance -- with the Nordex team's guidance of minus 9%. For the rest of the group, particularly infrastructure, the working capital movement reflects the consumption of advanced payments on major projects with strong execution in the first half of 2026, particularly Western Harbor Tunnel, the Central West Orana project, and while the advanced payments with -- from recently awarded projects are pending. We expect in the second half, as is usually the case, to -- for cash generation to be stronger, and therefore, we expect full year 2026 working capital to improve in line with previous years.
Jose Domecq
executiveQuestion #6 from -- Flora Trindade at Caixa Banco asks, in Slide 22 of the presentation, you include EUR 280 million of perimeter changes and others. Can you please provide more granularity on this outflow? Jose, you want to take that one?
Jose Carrion
executiveThis relates -- the main element within this line relates to the EUR 200 million -- or EUR 200 million of this EUR 281 million to the modification of the settlement mechanism for the derivative on the -- of ACCIONA's own shares, the parent company shares, as well as principal repayment under IFRS 16 and a few other changes. But the main element is the settlement mechanism for our share buyback program, which represents EUR 200 million of that figure.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you. Next question also from Flora on data centers. We have mentioned in the past that our current development capacity linked to data centers stood around EUR 800 million -- sorry, 800 megawatts. The question is how much of this could you believe -- do you believe could be monetized within the next few years? Frankly, our pipeline in different stages of development is more like 2 gigawatts -- over 2 gigawatts, definitely in different stages of maturity and in different countries, in Brazil, in the U.S.A., in Chile, in Spain, in Italy and in the Philippines, other countries where we have a pipeline. However, the probability of monetizing these assets within the next 24 months, I would say, is limited. As you are aware, we will try to bring these assets to maturity and to brownfield, and that will probably be when the right moment for monetization. But that will not be -- I wouldn't expect that to happen within the next 2 years. I'd say, it's too soon. July 2028, I think it's early for monetizing. Next question on Vertical Earth. Can you take that one, Jose?
Jose Carrion
executiveThe next question is on the Vertical Earth acquisition. Could we share more details? Does this contractor have similar levels of profitability as ACCIONA's construction division? And how important is it for our U.S. operations? To the first part of the question, yes, Vertical Earth is a profitable company, a small company, but we think a very high-quality company. In terms of investment, it is not very relevant in the context of ACCIONA's CapEx -- total CapEx for the year, but it is extremely relevant in terms of strategic fit and strategic purpose in the U.S. over the next many years as we build out our self-performance capabilities in the country with the upcoming pipeline of significant projects, particularly in the Southeastern states of the U.S.
Jose Domecq
executiveOkay. Next, Jose?
Jose Carrion
executiveNext question is regarding the gain from our instruments linked to the equity swaps. Is the EUR 42 million gain from fair value instruments linked to the financial settlement of the equity swaps? That is correct. We have changed the liquidation mechanism to a physical settlement. And therefore, the positive P&L reflects the valuation at market value up to the date where the settlement mechanism was changed and is fixed at that point, which represents that EUR 42 million gain that is reflected in our P&L this half.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you. The next question from Fernando Garcia at RBC is about divestment in Nordex. Let me reiterate that we are a stable shareholder. And Nordex is a strategic asset for ACCIONA. It is doing, as you are undoubtedly aware, very, very well, and particularly now that is also growing strongly in the U.S. And our involvement in the industry spans more than 25 years. So we do not see Nordex as a temporary investment, very much on the contrary, as an industrial holding, not a financial holding. And the recent share performance has not changed that view. Next question from Fernando Garcia also. It's corporate action on concessions or Bestinver. We are -- I suppose, linking Bestinver and the concession sector, you mean to ask what's the role of Bestinver in the concession scope. We are, as I mentioned, normally investing as a -- with financial investors in our concession business. And we believe there's a position -- there's a role to play for Bestinver in that as a general partner in some of those projects in the greenfield and eventually in the brownfield part of those projects. So yes, we believe there's an important role for Bestinver in the concession business, in the infrastructure development business in the coming years. Next question from Jose Porta...
Jose Carrion
executiveSo next question from Jose Porta at Kepler is around construction margins. Construction continues to deliver comfortable margins above historical averages. To what extent do you believe 7% EBITDA margin reflects a structurally better quality backlog versus simply favorable project execution? I think it reflects both things, undoubtedly having a high-quality backlog with, as we have explained, 85% of the contracts having some sort of risk mitigation clause, whether it is projects for our own concessions or projects with price revision clauses or projects with -- collaborative projects or O&M projects -- O&M contracts. That is undoubtedly an important factor, but good execution is also an important factor. But if you have a tough contract with bad execution, or a bad contract with good execution can still go wrongly because unforeseen things can happen. If you have a good contract and good execution, that is more unlikely to happen. So that is -- I think it is a bit of both.
Jose Domecq
executiveThank you. And the last question is from Jose Porta at Kepler. And it's an interesting question, difficult to answer. Assuming the asset rotation program is completed as planned and leverage moves comfortably below 3x, how should we think about capital allocation? Would incremental cash be directed towards accelerating renewable growth, increasing concession investment or increasing shareholder returns, or I suppose all of the above? Difficult to say, Jose. It depends on a number of variables. It depends on the quality of the projects, of the pipeline we come across in the coming years. It depends on balancing out the sectors. It depends, of course, on the degree of comfort -- of comfortably -- when you say comfortably below 3, if it's very comfortably below 3, then maybe a portion will be allocated to shareholder returns. So I can't really advance what our policies there will be other than we will try to balance out the interest of all our stakeholders, all our -- the different time lines, so maybe investment, if it's good opportunities, immediate return in shareholder return and dividends. It is too open a question to give you a specific answer. But in any event, it will be a very high-class problem. So thank you very much, and I look forward to seeing you. And of course, we are open to answering all the remaining questions and any clarifications you may need directly, and look forward, as I said, to our next results presentation at beginning of 2027. Thank you very much.
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