Brookfield Renewable Corporation (BEPC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Jeff, we are ready to commence the meeting.

Thank you, Jen, and good morning, everyone. 9:00 a.m. time to begin the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Brookfield Renewable Corporation. My name is Jeffrey Blidner, the Chair of the Board my pleasure to chair today's meeting. On behalf of the Board and this management team, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to everyone joining us today. The first order of business, I would like to ask Jen our Co-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, today's moderator set out the voting procedures for the meeting and the process to submit questions.

Throughout the formal portion of the meeting. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or to wait until conclusion of discussion on each resolution prior to casting your vote. If you voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, then you do not need to do anything. By voting at the virtual meeting on any matter, your previously submitted vote in respect of such matter will be automatically revote. To vote on a poll, click the voting tab at the left of your stream. The items to be voted on will appear in call and you can make your selections for each. A confirmation message will appear directly above the item once the vote is cast. We welcome questions from our shareholders, which may be submitted by typing the question into the virtual meeting platform using the questions tab on the left of the page. Please indicate whether your question is of a general nature or if it relates to a motion being considered as part of the meeting's formal business. Please click the send button once you have finished typing your questions. I will read out the question and ask a member of management to respond to it. If we receive many questions that are similar, we will read 1 of the questions and indicate that we have received many similar questions. Only registered shareholders or proxyholders are able to submit questions at this meeting. We will endeavor to answer all questions submitted during the allotted time. We recommend that you submit any questions relating to the motions being tabled as soon as possible. as it may take time for the virtual meeting platform to process them.

Thank you, Jim. I now call the meeting to order and ask Computershare Investor Services, Inc., as representative of Les Waltenbury back to scrutineer. I'll to ask Jen to act as secretary of the meeting. In the unlikely event of a technological failure that prevents the meeting from continuing namewill be rescheduled and you will be appropriately note effect. Now my pleasure to introduce Patrick Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer.

Thank you, Jeff. And on behalf of Conor and the rest of the management team, we thank everyone for joining our Annual General Meeting. Once we get through the formal part of the meeting, I will give a brief presentation, and then we'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Connor and our team look forward to providing more details on our strategy and outlook at our Investor Day in September.

Thank you, Patrick. There are 3 items of business to be considered today as part of the formal meeting. And then we'll ask Jen to outline them for you. .

First, to receive the consolidated financial statements of the corporation for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, and including the external auditor's report. Second, to elect directors who will serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. And third, to appoint the external auditor and authorize the directors to set its remuneration. As mentioned in connection with the business to be dealt with today, all voting will be conducted online through the virtual meeting platform. Voting is now open on all resolutions. In order to expedite the formal part of today's meeting, the Chair has asked Patrick Taylor as proxy holder to move various resolutions. Although this procedure will assist in the handling of the formal matters, it is not intended to discourage anyone from submitting questions in reference to any resolution after it has been huge. Mr. Chip, please be advised that the notice calling this meeting and the Management Information Circular were disseminated to voting shareholders in accordance with all applicable loss. As Secretary of the meeting, I wish you a copy of the notice and proof of mailing with the minutes of this meeting. Based upon the scrutineer's preliminary report on attendance, I confirm that there is a quorum.

And therefore, declare the meeting properly constituted the transaction of the business for which it has been called. Turning now to the first item of formal business, and will table the corporation's consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, either with the external auditors. Properties or annual financial statements have been mailed to shareholders who requested them and are also available on our website. Before moving forward, are there any questions? .

Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions or comments submitted in connection with the financial statements. .

Thank you, Jen. The second item of business at our meeting today is to elect directors who will serve until our next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Then would you please read the names of the proposed nominees .

The 8 proposed nominees for election by the holders of the corporation's Class A shares and Class B shares as far. Jeffrey Blidner, nutrition code Alizar, Carvallo Fila, Meador, Stephen Westwell, Bearing Sara Dele and Randy Ken. Information on all 8 director nominees is set out in our Management Information Circular, which was posted on our website and is available from the company on quest. Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions or comments with respect to the nomination of directors. .

We invite shareholders and proxy holders to submit their vote online they have not already done so. As a reminder, you've already voted or sent in your proxy, there's no need to do anything unless you wish to change your vote.

Mr. Chair. I nominate for election as directors the 8 nominees named in the Management Information Circular dated May 1, 2026. .

Thank you, Patrick. -- declare the nominations closed. Management has received proxies representing a majority of the corporation's Class A shares, 100% of the Class B shares. These proxies direct management to vote a majority of the Class A shares in all the Class B shares in favor of the resolution. And now declare those nominated have been duly elected as directors of the corporation. The third and final item of business today is the appointment of the corporation's external auditor and authorizing the directors to set the remuneration. As stated in the Management Information Circular, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors has recommended an Ernst & Young LLP, we reappointed as the corporation's external auditor.

Mr. Chair, I move that Ernst & Young LLP be appointed the external auditor of the corporation until the next annual meeting and that the directors be authorized to set the remuneration.

Thank you, Patrick. Resolution has now.

Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions or comments submitted in connection with the appointment of auditors.

Management has received proxies representing a majority of the corporation's Class A shares, 100% of the Class B shares. These proxies direct management to vote resorted the Class A shares and all of the Class B shares in favor of the resolution. Voting is now closed on all resolutions. I'm advised that we have the results of the resolution space and the tabulation of votes casted at the banks in the meeting.

Thank you, Jeff. On the appointment of the corporation's external auditor and authorization of Directors to set their remuneration, I am pleased to declare the motion of care. The final voting results will be available after the meeting and posted to SEDAR www.sedar.com.

Ladies and gentlemen, that completes the formal business of today's meeting. is in no other business, this concludes our meeting. Now that the formal meeting has concluded, our CFO, Patrick will make a presentation on behalf of the management team. At the end of the presentation, he will be available to respond to any questions or comments you may have submitted. Please note that in responding to questions and in talking about our new initiatives and our financial and operating performance, we may make may make forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks. Future results may differ materially. Finally, we would like to ensure that all shareholders who are interested in asking a question and the opportunity to do so. We make every effort to address questions during the allotted question-and-answer period. Over to you, Patrick.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today, I'll provide an update on the outlook for our business, highlight our accomplishments and performance over the past year and outline how we are well positioned to continue delivering long-term cash flow growth and value creation. The fundamentals for our business have never been stronger. Following decades of modest electricity demand growth, we are now seeing a dramatic shift in demand being supported by 3 significant and durable trends. Broad-based electrification and accelerating reindustrialization are driving sustained growth in energy consumption, and those trends are being further amplified by digitalization and AI. . Together, these trends are creating an unprecedented demand for power. As a result, there is a significant opportunity ahead for those with scale, capabilities and the access to capital required to deliver reliable, secure and scale energy solutions. Meeting this demand will require an any and all approach to energy supply. The scale of future power requirements is simply too large for any single technology to satisfy it on its own. With that said, renewables are expected to play a major role in the energy solution because they are the lowest cost and quickest to deploy technologies available today. And in an environment where energy security is increasingly important and continue to win on that criteria as well. Brookfield Renewable is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the significant demand growth and requirements of the grid going forward. Today, we are 1 of the largest renewable operators and developers globally. Our business benefits from global scale, leadership across major technologies, deep operating and development expertise, an investment-grade balance sheet and 1 of the most experienced teams in the sector. Turning now to our results over the past year. 2025 was another record year for our business, building on our long-term track record of value creation. We generated record FFO of $2.01 per unit and commissioned more new capacity than ever before, bringing online 8 gigawatts. We generated a record $4.5 billion of asset recycling proceeds and committed or deployed $8.8 billion into new investments, all while maintaining our BBB+ credit rating and best-in-class balance sheet. We also entered into several important strategic partnerships, including agreements with Google and the U.S. government, further demonstrating our ability to provide large-scale solutions to some of the world's most sophisticated counterparties and setting us up for our business to cause continued growth. . This recent performance continues to build on our long-term track record. Since 2012, we have delivered 11% annual growth in FFO and 8% annual growth in FFO per unit, while increasing distributions per unit by 5% annually. Importantly, as the demand backdrop for our business has strengthened, we have seen our growth continue to accelerate. Over the last 12 months, our scale, diversification and differentiated operating and development capabilities have helped us deliver 13% growth on a total basis, an FFO and 12% from an FFO per unit growth perspective, all while supporting another 5% increase in distributions. As we look ahead, we continue to see significant opportunities to grow through both development and strategic M&A. On the development side, we are positioned to deliver at a run rate of 10 gigawatts annually by 2027. At the same time, we continue to identify and execute on attractive acquisition opportunities where we can acquire high-quality platforms, strengthen our market positions and create value through our operating capabilities. Recently, we announced our acquisition of Boralex, a leading renewable power platform with strong positions in strategic markets, including Quebec and France and a large development pipeline in key growth markets that aligns well with our long-term growth strategy. We also increased our stake in Esam, our Columbian renewable platform with a large hydro portfolio where we see significant opportunities to create value through further contracting of our hydros and development of wind and solar assets. Another way we are helping secure our growth is through our partnerships with large corporate customers and governments who increasingly require solutions that combine scale, reliability and execution certainty. Building on our landmark renewable energy framework agreement that we signed with Microsoft in 2024, this past year, we signed a first of its kind hydro framework agreement with Google where we will deliver up to 3 gigawatts of hydro capacity by 2032. We also entered into a strategic partnership with the U.S. government through Westinghouse to support the deployment of at least $80 billion into the development of new nuclear generation across the United States. Alongside increased development and growing M&A we have been scaling our capital recycling activities, which has become an increasingly important component of our strategy. In 2025 alone, we generated a record $4.5 billion of proceeds through a combination of platform sales minority interest sales, direct asset sales and the launch of a private renewable vehicle. These activities strengthen our funding model, enhanced returns and provide a recurring source of capital to support future accretive growth. Throughout our significant growth, we have remained disciplined in how we finance the business, providing us flexibility to invest through cycles and capitalize on attractive opportunities. We maintain a sector-leading BBB+ investment-grade balance sheet and ended the most recent quarter with approximately $4.7 billion of available liquidity. We are financed primarily with fixed rate nonrecourse debt and the average tenure of our corporate debt is now at 14 years, the longest duration in our history. Before we conclude our prepared remarks, we wanted to comment on our structure. As our business and the broader capital markets continue to evolve, we continuously evaluate opportunities to enhance shareholder value. To that end, we announced with our Q1 2026 results that we are undertaking a formal evaluation of the potential simplification of our corporate structure through the combination of Vet and PC into a single publicly traded corporate entity. Potential benefits could include improved trading liquidity, increased index demand and a simplified reporting framework. In closing, we believe the opportunities ahead for our business have never been greater, with demand for power continuing to accelerate, driven by durable long-term trends. We delivered record operating and financial results in 2025 and believe we are positioning the business for a period of outsized earnings growth while remaining well placed to achieve our long-term objectives of generating 12% to 15% total returns and 5% to 9% annual distribution growth over the long term for our investors. We look forward to providing an update on our strategy, growth outlook and opportunities ahead at Brookfield Renewables Annual Investor Day on September 29, 2026. With that, we would like to thank everyone for dialing in as that now concludes our prepared remarks. We would now be pleased to answer any questions. Jennifer, would you please announce our first question? .

Patrick, Mr. Chair, there are no questions to be invested.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions or comments, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time for joining us today.