Voltalia SA ($VLTSA)

Earnings Call Transcript · March 12, 2026

ENXTPA FR Utilities Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers Earnings Calls 65 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

Operator
#1

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Voltalia 2025 Full Year Results. The call will be structured in 2 parts. First, a presentation by the Voltalia Group management team represented by Robert Klein, CEO. Afterwards, there will be a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions]. I will now hand over to the speaker. Please go ahead.

Robert Klein

Executives
#2

Good morning, everyone. I am Robert Klein, and I am pleased to present Voltalia's 2025 annual results, together with our CFO, Sylvine Bouan. Before we start, let me briefly outline the structure of today's presentation. First, we will look back at 2025 with a short overview of the year and the key operational and financial highlights. Second, we will provide an update on our SPRING transformation plan. We will share the progress achieved during 2025, the first concrete actions implemented across the group and what we expect as we move towards 2026. Finally, we will conclude with our short and medium-term market environment that continues to evolve rapidly. We will explain how Voltalia is adapting its strategy to this changing context and how the transformation underway will support our future growth and profitability. Sylvine will notably provide more detailed insights on our financial performance and key indicators, while myself, I will focus more specifically on the strategic developments, the transformation of the group and also our perspectives for 2026 and beyond. With that, let me start with a quick look back at 2025 and the main highlights of the year. The KPIs that you can see illustrate the dual challenge we faced in 2025, maintaining operational delivery in a demanding environment while executing the structural adjustments required to strengthen Voltalia's long-term performance. First, we achieved our objective in terms of capacity with 3.6 gigawatts and our EBITDA target with EUR 211 million. Production increases by 4%, but remained below the 5.2 terawatt hour target due to higher-than-expected curtailment in Brazil. Our cash from operations reaches EUR 212 million, showing a resilient level of our operations. Finally, the Group reports a net loss for the year. While this result reflects the challenges faced in 2025 and the ongoing transformation, it also allows us to reset on a healthier basis, address structural issues and move forward with a clearer and stronger foundation for the future. In short, 2025 was a year of transition, a year with operational tensions, yes, but also a year where we took decisive actions to transform the company. Let me now take a step back and look at the evolving market environment because staying relevant today requires solid positioning and the capacity to perform in an increasingly complex market. Curtailment and negative prices are now more frequent in countries where renewable penetration is high. Permitting is also longer and more difficult, which favors developers with strong local experiences and good execution. And in many markets, public support is decreasing, meaning more projects now need to rely on real market fundamentals. Projects themselves are also changing, hybrid solutions with storage are becoming more common. They help stabilize the grid and increase the value of our assets. And global trade dynamics are shifting. U.S. tariffs, for instance, on Chinese projects are pushing more equipment towards other markets, which somehow improves access to competitive prices for energy producers like us. Despite these market challenges, 2026 is expected to be another record year of renewables after 2025 established record level with 685 gigawatt commissioned. So overall, the market is still attractive, but it is still more demanding. We've been talking about renewable market competitiveness. Here is a slide showing the evolution of CapEx, wind, solar and storage. After more than a decade of continuous decline, we can see that solar equipment prices have stabilized and slightly rebounding due to recent policy measures in China. But even with this adjustment, solar remains at historically low cost levels. At the same time, battery storage costs continue to decrease rapidly, reinforcing the shift towards hybrid and flexible solutions. Wind for its part has now reached a more stable cost plateau after years of efficiency gains with Chinese manufacturers now strengthening their position worldwide and not only in China. Overall, costs remain very competitive, especially for solar and storage. This shows that the fundamentals of the sector are still strong even if projects are now more complex and more connected across technologies, regulation and grid needs. So in this market environment, what did Voltalia deliver? Moving now to our operational highlights. In 2025, we continued to expand our asset base with 408 megawatt commissioned and 305 megawatts announced in construction, bringing our total capacity in operation and construction to 3.6 gigawatt. Beyond the pure capacity increase, what is particularly important is the progressive rebalancing, on the right side you can see it, of our geographical exposure. Historically, Latin America has been a major contributor to Voltalia's portfolio, and it now represents around 46% of our installed capacity. Europe 38%, and Africa and International 16%, which will increase in the future. Overall, this evolution shows that our growth is becoming more balanced with gradual diversification by region and by technology. Now focusing on the new opportunities, the future that we are building for the next phase of growth. Since 2025 and early '26, we have been signing new long-term contracts to fuel future growth. More than 400 megawatts then have been secured with governments and utilities. We are also continuing to sign contracts with corporate clients across Europe through our business unit, Helexia. At the same time, we are building the future with additional MOU for large-scale storage projects, especially in Uzbekistan. As for our development activity, it has been reshaped through the SPRING plan. In 2025, we started to streamline our development pipeline, focusing on project maturity and capital discipline to raise the overall quality of our portfolio. This approach already led to a better use of our development resources and EUR 13.8 million reduction in development costs compared with 2024, bringing them down to EUR 79 million. And this development cost reduction will accelerate in 2026. As a result, our development pipeline reached 2 gigawatts at the end of December '25, representing a 30% decrease compared with 2024. This evolution reflects the first concrete actions taken under the SPRING plan with write-off of less attractive projects. At the same time, we continue to create value through selective project sales with a total of 101 megawatts sold or presold in 2025. Now let me move to our service activities. In '25, services grew by 69%. Most of this growth came from external clients who now represent the majority of the activity for both construction and maintenance. In maintenance, we have already passed our 2027 target, reaching 8.7 gigawatts operated for third-party clients. I will now hand over to Sylvine to go through the 2025 financial results, and I will come back. Sylvine, the floor is yours.

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#3

Thank you, Robert. Let me share with you the key financial highlights for 2025. Starting with turnover, Voltalia recorded a 16% increase at constant exchange rate, reaching EUR 588 million. This growth was driven by services for third-party clients. As Robert mentioned earlier, EBITDA reached EUR 211 million, in line with our target. EBITDA remains stable compared to prior year, reflecting the resilience of our operating activities. As for the net result, the Group recorded a net loss of EUR 128 million, out of which EUR 103 million reflects exceptional impact. I will walk you through in detail in a few slides. Eventually, our financial structure, our cash flow from operations stands at EUR 212 million, which represents almost 50% of our investment cash flows in '25. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 10.3 compared to 9 last year. Deleveraging is our target for 2026. I will now zoom in on the main financial drivers of the year. Starting with operational performance. What are the main components driving us from 2024 to 2025 EBITDA? The Energy Sales activity benefited from a EUR 7 million volume effect, while the price effect decreased by EUR 25 million. First, it's explained by the volume impact. So what composed the volume, commissioning of new plants, better resources, especially in Brazil. However, on the other hand, we had availability below expectation due to maintenance works performed during the year and a shutdown of our biomass plant we mentioned during the year in French Guiana besides the perimeter change with the full year effect of the asset disposed in France in 2024. As for price effect, while we had a negative impact due to the early generation revenues that we gained in '23 and in '24 in Albania and in France, we benefited from our inflation index PPA, especially in Brazil. Development activity, so it increased by EUR 6 million. It combined both, an additional contribution from asset disposal and the lower prospection costs. Renvolt is the new brand name of our construction and maintenance business unit continues to develop third-party activity, thanks to which EBITDA contribution increased by EUR 10 million. Voltalia Hub, it includes other business units such as Triton activity, Helexia Services. Triton activity commissioned its plant in French Guiana in October while Helexia Services is back to a positive contribution to EBITDA. This explains the increase during the year. Finally, before the variation of curtailment effect, we ended up with an EBITDA of EUR 217 million. Speaking about curtailment, let's take a short stop to share last news. To remind you, curtailment occurs when the grid operator requires producers to temporarily stop injecting electricity into the grid, though the plant is technically able to generate. In 2025, Voltalia experienced 1 terawatt hour of curtailed production in Brazil, representing around 23% of its production above the initial expectation. The main reasons of the gap were Brazilian grid operator, ONS has adopted a very conservative approach to ensure system stability. The booming of the distributed generation capacity created a bottleneck of the transmission grid. And last, our expectation to get more visibility in the third quarter and finally later in 2025. Where do we stand? We continue actively participating in renewable energy working groups to lobby reducing curtailment and obtaining compensations. On the regulatory side, it's worth noting that we reached an important progress with the adoption of a new law released finally in November, allowing compensation for past curtailments related to grid reliability. Current estimates made by the Brazilian operator represent more than EUR 20 million of potential compensation for Voltalia. In the meantime, Voltalia remains fully committed with stakeholders and authorities finding long-term solutions and mitigating the operational future curtailments. Let me walk you through our development and Energy Sales activity. Starting with Energy Sales from an operational standpoint, the production increased by 4%, driven by 16% increase in installed capacity. At constant exchange rate, turnover of Energy Sales declined by 8% to EUR 316 million with an estimated average price of EUR 64 per megawatt compared to EUR 76 last year. This mainly relates to the early generation production I mentioned before despite a higher production and higher better resources. Importantly, our price visibility overall remains very strong, indeed, with 77% of expected future revenues secured through long-term power sales contracts, most of which is indexed to inflation. Turning to development. First, prospection costs, they decreased by EUR 3 million during the year. In addition to that, I'd like to mention that the total cash spent on development of projects decreased by EUR 14 million down to EUR 79 million in 2025. This decrease reflects our refocusing on maturing the pipeline rather than fueling the pipeline. The pipeline now stands at 12 gigawatts. Moving to EBITDA from Energy Sales and development activity. As you can see on the slide, it amounts to EUR 203 million, down 8% with an EBITDA margin of 64%, slightly above last year, thanks to a close monitoring of costs, out of which the EBITDA from development reaches EUR 16 million, up 63%, driven by continuous asset disposal, including 3 operating assets, which were -- for which we sold and services were attached related to the sale. Though we are hit by negative effects, 2025 demonstrates solid operational execution and long-term visibility on revenues. Having a look now to Renvolt, which includes Construction and Maintenance Services activities for both external and internal clients. Renvolt shows outstanding activity in 2025. We have more than 900 megawatts under construction, mainly across Ireland and Spain. At the same time, Renvolt operates 2 gigawatts in Europe and Africa for maintenance and continues its expansion. On the financial results side, here, we disclosed the external activity contribution. It's an overall turnover reaching EUR 229 million, up 76% year-on-year, driven mainly by construction. As for EBITDA, the performance is strong with an EBITDA increased by 87% to EUR 20 million. Construction represents the main contribution, while maintenance also progressed. EBITDA margin remained stable, 9%, similar to last year and on track to our long-term trajectory towards 10% to 12%. Let me now walk you through the main elements of our P&L statement below EBITDA. Main changes below EBITDA are depreciation, amortization and provision reaches EUR 142 million, up 41%. Other noncurrent income and expenses reaching EUR 66 million multiplied by 4 over the period. Those 2 items as well as the discontinued activities amounting to EUR 28 million reflects the major decisions implemented with the SPRING plan. I will come back to that in the next slide. As a consequence, operating income EBIT reached EUR 4 million compared to EUR 98 [indiscernible] million in 2024. Financial results amount to EUR 89 million expense, 24% increase compared with last year. This reflects increase in project debt linked to the growth of our portfolio. As Robert mentioned before, in total, commission and construction capacity represents 700 megawatts in 2025. Despite higher interest rate environment, the average cost of debt remains strictly controlled at 6.14%, similar to last year. Finally, we report a loss on discontinued operation of EUR 28 million, referring to exits of several nonstrategic countries and activities. After taking minority interest into account, the Group share of net results stands at a loss of EUR 128 million. We will detail this is driven by 2 factors: first, curtailment impact; and second, exceptional items related to the SPRING transformation plan. So let's deep dive in the SPRING effect. Execution of SPRING started first semester 2025. Concrete actions were implemented in 3 main areas: definitive criteria to increase project and pipeline selectivity, review the asset portfolio and review and refocus of activities. The results in EUR 103 million negative impact is coming from write-off of projects from development pipeline for EUR 47 million. This is following the review of projects, again our new selective criteria. Clearly, we made the cleaning of our pipeline. Projects that no longer met the standards were written down. This impact is mainly reflected in other noncurrent income and expenses. Second, impairment of assets and minority shares in other businesses represent EUR 20 million. We also conducted a review of our asset portfolio, prioritizing the ones that best meets our profitability targets. The related adjustments are recorded in depreciation and amortization. Then the SPRING transformation costs themselves amount for EUR 8 million and are booked under other noncurrent income and expenses. Regarding exceptional items below EBIT, the review and refocus in activities lead to exiting 5 countries and disposing noncore business. This amount to EUR 28 million, mainly impacted in discounted operations. The financial impact reflects necessary decisions to reset the group on stronger foundations and prepare the acceleration of the transformation from 2026 onwards. 2025 net results was at the end of the day, mainly impacted by 2 exceptional items. As I just explained to you, the SPRING exceptional cost amounting to a total of EUR 103 million and on the other hand, EUR 36 million curtailment effect. Excluding these 2 items, as you can see on the right-hand side of the slide, net result would have been positive at EUR 11 million. Now moving on our balance sheet. Out of our total gross fixed assets of EUR 3.7 billion, the largest share corresponds to plants already in operation, 72%, contributing to our operational cash flow. Regarding the debt structure, 70% is composed of project finance or bridge to project finance. This debt is nonrecourse, directly linked to specific assets. Overall, our debt structure remains well balanced, consistent with the way renewable infrastructure platforms are typically financed. Let me now comment on the cash flow. During the year, operating activities generate positive operating cash flow driven mainly by the EBITDA generated by our assets for a total of EUR 212 million, fueling almost half of the cash needed for investing. From financing side, the net increase in cash of EUR 232 million includes both project debt reimbursement, while the project debt additional one were raised for [indiscernible]. Our closing cash position is EUR 315 million, keeping in mind that on January 26, we repaid the convertible bond for EUR 250 million. So overall, this slide illustrates 3 key messages: a solid asset base denominated by operating renewable assets, financing structure largely based on project finance, disciplined management of cash and financing. With that being said, it's also worth mentioning that during 2025 year, we secured a new syndicated loan of EUR 244 million, designed to refinance and extend the corporate debt facilities that were initially maturing in May '26. This new financing has 3-year maturity with the possibility to partly extend to 5 years, providing additional flexibility to the group. Beyond simply refinancing existing debt, this facility also supports the implementation of the SPRING transformation plan. The facility was arranged with diversified pool of leading French and international financial institution and banks, demonstrating their strong support of Voltalia's long-term plan. To conclude on our debt position, the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 10.3x at the end of 2025. Despite the well-balanced structure of the debt between corporate and project, it's our target for 2026 to deleverage. We plan a trajectory to reach 7.5x to 8x in 2030 with a first step in 2026 of a range between 8x to 9x. The monitoring of the debt is also about its structure. We'd like to draw your attention to the lower maturity of the residual project debt 13 years, while the average remaining life of our PPA is longer, 5 more, 18 years. This alignment between contractual revenues, debt maturity provides strong visibility, stability for debt services and additional contribution profitability after the debt repayment. In addition, our debt is remotely exposed to variation since 53% and 4% is fixed or hedge, pre-hedge, only 18% remains variable. We monitor carefully our financial position in 2025 anticipate corporate refinancing, but SPRING execution plan is also about deleveraging Voltalia to a target range of 7.5 to 8. Now let's have a look at the 2026 SPRING execution plan with Robert.

Robert Klein

Executives
#4

Thank you, Sylvine, for the comprehensive review of our 2025 financial statements. Now I would like to highlight the SPRING strategy and where we stand today in its execution. What do we mean when we say that 2025 laid the foundations of our transformation. SPRING is not about adjusting a few processes. It is about rethinking how Voltalia operates, where we allocate our resources and how we create value over the long term. First, we refocused the Group on our core activities, geographies and technologies. In '25, we stopped development activities in 5 countries and exited several noncore businesses. This allows us to concentrate on solar, onshore wind, storage in markets where we can reach meaningful scale. Second, we simplified our operating model with the creation of Renvolt. And third, we launched a strong performance and efficiency program. This includes stricter governance, a more selective portfolio management and a reduction in both development and structure costs. In '25 alone, cash expenses fell by EUR 16 million on a run rate basis and our workforce decreased by 7.6%. In short, '25 was a year we set the foundation. From '26 onwards, the benefits of this transformation will expand and will accelerate. Shifting to Renvolt, then Renvolt has clearly evolved beyond internal service provider, which was the aim at the beginning a few years ago to become a commercial platform serving third-party developers and investors. This allows us to clearly separate energy production and development activities from service activities while improving operational efficiency and visibility. We initiated Renvolt carve-out in 2025 and it will be finalized this carve-out in H1 2026. Renvolt is bringing together around 400 employees across 12 locations, mainly in Europe and Africa and as demonstrated by Sylvine that Renvolt had a strong commercial momentum in 2025. We now move to Helexia, our on-site solar generation such as solar rooftop on large buildings and energy solutions for commercial and industrial clients. Today, Helexia employs around 430 people and has a strong portfolio with 770 megawatts of secured capacity, including then 552 megawatts already in operation. Geographically, the portfolio is well balanced between Europe and Brazil with about -- you can see 2/3 of our activity located in Europe. One of the key strengths of Helexia is its high-margin business model with an EBITDA margin, which is around 70%. With SPRING, the organization has been strengthened with the appointment of a new CEO of Helexia and the company has launched a transformation program built around several key initiatives aligned with SPRING key levels. After the reset actions in '25, '26 will mark the acceleration phase of the SPRING plan. Of course, we continue to deploy the same transformation levers, but this year, they will have more tangible effects on profitability and deleveraging. On refocusing, we continue to reshape our portfolio. The country exit process initiated last year will continue with the objective of reaching 12 core geographies, which will remain within Voltalia, allowing us to concentrate capital and execution on our highest priority markets. On cost discipline, '26 is clearly a year of acceleration. We will drive additional cost savings, both on our development and structure costs. As a reminder, our objective is to reach EUR 45 million of run rate savings on average over '26 to '30 compared with '24 cost base. In '26, structure cost reduction will be supported by workforce optimization projects representing around 10% of the Group, including France, Portugal and Brazil. Of course, these measures will be implemented in full compliance with local regulations in close dialogue with employee representatives. On the operating model, we completed a key milestone with [indiscernible] carve-out, as I explained earlier. Finally, SPRING fully enters its full financial phase with EUR 300 million to EUR 350 million of asset disposal by 2028, some, of course, already expected in 2026 and the majority by first half of 2027. Like this, we accelerate cash generation and deleveraging to bring in '26 a net positive result and the decrease of our net debt to EBITDA ratio, as mentioned earlier by Sylvine. I will take now a moment to share our outlook before opening the floor to questions. Let me start by our DNA, our mission, improving the global environment while fostering local development. We have set clear environmental and social objectives for '27, '30, and we are progressing pretty well. Our performance in CO2 avoidance, stakeholder engagement, co-use of soil and carbon intensity already show solid progress and confirms that we are on track. It is worth noting that we already exceeded in 2025 the '27 target for co-use of soil. Now related to our '26 objectives, which we are presenting today. Starting with operational targets. We aim to reach around 3.7 gigawatts of capacity in operation under construction, including approximately 3 giga in operation. Regarding the financial side, we are targeting EBITDA in the range of EUR 210 million to EUR 230 million, including EUR 190 million to EUR 210 million from Energy Sales. We confirm a positive net result. These objectives somehow show the expected early effects of our transformation and their impact will grow as we move forward. I'd like to remind our objective, 2027 objectives, which are the following. From an operational standpoint, we are targeting around 4.2 gigawatts of capacity in operation under construction, including approximately 3.7 gigawatts in operation, reflecting then the continued project delivery and a more mature asset base. On the financial side, we are targeting EBITDA in the range of EUR 300 million to EUR 325 million, including EUR 270 million to EUR 300 million from Energy Sales. The important thing, the progression towards this level from '26 -- level of performance from '26 to '27 is mainly driven by 4 factors. First, the full year contribution of recently commissioned assets and the growth in installed capacity. Second, improved operational availability across the portfolio. Third, a gradual reduction expected curtailment impact in Brazil. And fourth, service activity also continued to grow, providing additional and more resilient EBITDA. It was for '27. Now let's look ahead to 2030. Our objectives integrate the structural effects of the transformation now underway. Operationally, we target around 5 giga of capacity in operation under construction, including approximately 4.5 gigawatts in operation. On the financial side, our ambition is centered on a gradual improvement in margins driven by a more selective portfolio, improved performance across our asset base and the commissioning of higher margin projects. As a matter of fact, we target an EBITDA margin of 70% to 72% for Energy Sales by '30 and 9% to 11% for Renvolt. As a conclusion of today, 2025 was a pivotal year with external challenges, but also decisive actions to reset the company through the spring transformation. We started simplifying the model, streamlining the portfolio and strengthening our governance. In '26, we accelerate the transformation with a refocus on core activities and priority geographies with selective divestments and capital allocation. We improved operational performance through stronger execution, lower cost and simpler organization. We strengthened financial discipline with clear deleveraging actions, project monetization, partnerships and improved cash generation. These priorities rely on solid foundations, long-term PPA, development engine creating value through selective sales, hybrid and storage capabilities which we are going to increase and strong positions in emerging markets. Overall, Voltalia is moving from expansion to selective execution focus driven by value creation. All this with clear financial ambitions for 2026, EUR 210 million to EUR 230 in EBITDA, a positive net result and lower leverage. Thank you very much for listening. And now I'm sure a lot of you cannot wait to ask your questions. So let's now open the Q&A session.

Operator

Operator
#5

[Operator Instructions] Okay, for the moment, we don't have any questions from the con call. So I will switch to the written question. Let me see it on the screen. Let's begin by the first one. It was in French. I will switch it in English. What about the Canudos wind farm in Brazil? Is it operating at 100% capacity? Or is it being swapped?

Robert Klein

Executives
#6

I will take this one. Thank you for the question. First of all, just to remind you that Canudos entered into operation around 2 years ago. Since that moment, it's been operating with an excellent availability over 97%. Somehow it's been throttled -- I mean away not taking into account the curtailment because it's a wind farm, which is also being curtailed like most of the -- all the wind farms and solar farms in Northeast Brazil. But regarding availability, it has a very appropriate macro [indiscernible] detection system. No accident has been related to approach this commissioning and there's not a very negligible diminution of the availability because of this detection systems. It is working well and very good availability.

Operator

Operator
#7

Second question related to Brazilian data center. Brazilian data center route seems promising, but Voltalia, you will no longer mention it in this presentation?

Robert Klein

Executives
#8

Indeed, we are progressing pretty well and especially in Brazil, and it's a trend which somehow is a little bit slowed down because of the curtailment as the energy price is one of the main factor in which investors in data center are going -- having some plan to invest in Brazil. And we will, of course, communicate as far as we have some news regarding our development of data center in Brazil, but still going on. It's true that we have not tackled that subject in the presentation, but you will know it in time when there will be some progress.

Operator

Operator
#9

Question related to curtailment. For the curtailment in Brazil, are you expecting [indiscernible] to be compensated at 100% of the curtailment period and based on which means [indiscernible] projection of the period based on estimated production during that time?

Robert Klein

Executives
#10

Well, we are confident that we will be compensated though probably not fully. You've seen that we have excluded any compensation from 2025 as discussions with the ministry and the regulators are still ongoing. For the past -- November of '25, low enabled compensation reliability curtailment, based on earnest curtailment we are not at the level that we would like and that's the reason why we are still negotiating with the regulator and the ministry in order to increase the level of compensation we should have.

Operator

Operator
#11

Still no question from the call. I will move to see if we have other questions. When you speak about positive net results for 2026 and onwards, do you mean after curtailment in Brazil?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#12

Yes. Actually, indeed, we built our target for 2026 with confirming a net result -- positive net result and we do confirm that this would be post the impact we assume to get for the curtailment. And besides that, just for you to better understand, we consider curtailment would be similar to the one we faced in this year so that we have a consistent and prudent approach.

Operator

Operator
#13

Let me check for a question. It's seems -- let's check about [indiscernible] working. Can you talk about the Artemisya project in Uzbekistan please? When would it is to be expected? Are you looking at another development in [indiscernible]?

Robert Klein

Executives
#14

Then regarding the Artemisya project, we signed together with the government last year, we expect a project of 100 megawatt of wind and 100 megawatt of battery storage. We expect battery storage to enter into operation end of 2027, while the wind project will take some more time for the construction and then with an expectation of COD starting operation in 2028, which are the first phases of the next projects that we are tackling in Uzbekistan. They are more, as I mentioned during the presentation, with even a bigger project for battery storage that -- for which we have signed an MOU, and we expect to confirm that project together with the government.

Operator

Operator
#15

In your target of 3 gigawatts in operation by the end of 2026, compared with 2025, have you made any assumption about disposals of asset currently in operation?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#16

Yes. Thank you. So indeed, we do confirm that the target we define now for the capacity is already included but we expect to dispose whatever its assets -- future assets to be -- could have been solely operative. So yes, we do confirm that [indiscernible].

Operator

Operator
#17

Let's move to another one related to EUR 16 million reduction in development costs in 2025 and the continuation of this reduction. Can you give us some indication of your objective for 2026 for the long term?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#18

So indeed, we mentioned about cash cost reduction. So this amount, it's actually the total cash cost that we clearly stated in September with the SPRING plan to better monitor cash cost reduction. At that time, we were mentioning a target of EUR 35 million. And actually, it's on track. So what we show here is that we already started the beginning of the year to work and to reduce. So we did half way, let's say, in 2025, and we continue to increase this target to reach the EUR 35 million, which is recurring, let's say, full year estimates that we target for 2027. So 2026 will be in between the 2.

Operator

Operator
#19

[Operator Instructions] A question relating to data center. No, we already have done it?

Robert Klein

Executives
#20

We already answered, yes.

Operator

Operator
#21

Let me see other question. Okay. In your reporting, you have split Helexia activity between electricity production and services. It seems to me that this activity were fairly integrated. Can you give us more detail on the new operational organization?

Robert Klein

Executives
#22

First of all, as we mentioned during the presentation, we have a new CEO in Helexia and Helexia basically is conducting the same level of the SPRING transformation project that we are having towards Voltalia. However, it's a pretty autonomous company, which is a kind of different market even if we have sales of energy with different typology of assets and 2 different clients. Then as I mentioned, Helexia have more 400 people working in there. Some of the countries are the same as Voltalia, but let's say, acting as a separate company in terms of operating model.

Operator

Operator
#23

Okay. Question related to PPAs. Have you seen more interest in signing PPAs in the last couple of weeks following increases in energy prices?

Robert Klein

Executives
#24

Well, we've seen that there is a reflection from the war in Iran towards the price of energy in short term. It has not sorted already effects on the appetite for signing long-term PPAs. But if the war continues to grow and continue to last in time, we may have some reflects from the buyers in order to protect their demand of energy with longer term -- longer PPA duration and probably higher prices as well. Then we don't know what's going to happen, but it's true that some Bloomberg for instance, made an article regarding a potential project in increasing the appetite in signing long-term PPA. But for the time being, we have not seen especially demand growing for the last -- during the last 2 weeks.

Operator

Operator
#25

One question related to any positive earnings, one effects from disposal are included on your EUR 210 million and EUR 230 million guidance for 2026?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#26

So just as a reminder, in our activities, we have energy sales and development activity. And within development, we do mature future project as well as dispose greenfield or sometimes brownfield assets. So somehow we do have this asset rotation within our target of EUR 210 million and EUR 230 million which are part of our business model. So indeed, some are included in our guidance, yes.

Operator

Operator
#27

[Operator Instructions] One question. Yes, Philippe, we can see your questions, so we will answer it. Is your net profit 2026 target is based on recurring net profit growth?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#28

So indeed, it's a good question. We mentioned that we do a positive result in 2026. This positive net result for us is confirmed with a range of EUR [indiscernible] million EBITDA. So we do confirm that we will reach positive net result with especially high range of the target that we stated for EBITDA in 2026. Just a reminder also, regarding the EBITDA SPRING effect, I'd like to draw your attention to any platform business unit, sorry, disposal we perform through the SPRING transform plan is recorded below EBITDA because it's a platform business unit, so it's not affecting the EBITDA. Just a short reminder about the IFRS.

Operator

Operator
#29

One question related to the level of curtailment. What is the level of curtailment Voltalia is considering within 2026 and 2027 EBITDA?

Robert Klein

Executives
#30

As far as we are still in discussion with the government regarding the past curtailment and the compensation. And of course, we are fighting in order to increase it to the level of the full loss that we suffered in the past and we are still negotiating the future compensation. We are pretty prudent in 2026 with an amount of EUR 35 million between EUR 30 million to EUR 35 million of losses due to curtailment in '26. It means pretty the same level of what we've been impacted in 2025. As far as '27 is concerned, we believe that normally during this year, we should reach an agreement for the past and for the future. That's the reason why we have considered in 2027 an impact of EUR 20 million coming from curtailment.

Operator

Operator
#31

One other question on the great momentum in the European market, France included for maybe opportunities of assets in operation for sales and extremely interesting price. Any plan to M&A or even in ready to build?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#32

So first of all, there are several momentum. Let's say, we have the current events with geopolitics, which are indeed creating some pressure on the electricity price. Overall, there is a European momentum with some potential assets to be purchased or to be sold. What we would like to remind is that -- and it's something we mentioned while working currently in September, we mentioned it, it's about the platform and the partnership. So in our view, what we are working on is to create and develop some regional platform, and that's why I mentioned it because Europe could be one where we look for co-development and/or co-investments. So for us, it's typically the kind of structure we want to share risks and opportunities together with other and to deploy within some region. So could be Europe, could be [indiscernible] since Voltalia's DNA is about emerging, also in emerging markets. So the way we see the M&A is more about partnership within Voltalia.

Operator

Operator
#33

You mentioned staff reduction that could represent 10% of the group workforce in 2026 and this project already been partially provisioned in your 2025 P&L. What is your estimate of the total associated cost in cash and P&L for 2026?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#34

So as for the staff, let's say, monitoring and that reduction that we are planning. So first of all, we've been working a lot of attrition in 2025. And indeed, we target a 10% reduction. Nowadays, we are working on the targeted and structure organization. We have recognized in our books 2025, what we can book in terms of accounting [indiscernible] I would say. Otherwise, as for 2026, we do include the figures in our budget. But I'd like to remind you as well that we disclosed, and I disclosed earlier EUR 9 million of cost of restructuring, cost of SPRING. So all these cost are also to cover the reduction that we are planning and that we mentioned this morning.

Operator

Operator
#35

We have several questions related to dividend. When are you planning to pay dividend? And do you expect it to pay in the coming years after?

Robert Klein

Executives
#36

Yes. Indeed, as per our last presentation last September, we are reinforcing the fact that we expect to pay dividends from 2028, thanks to all the efforts and the levers that we are putting in place with the SPRING transformation. Then 2028 will be the first dividend that will be distributed.

Operator

Operator
#37

[Operator Instructions] Okay. A question from Claire. You mentioned development cost of EUR 79 million. Are these all recognized as OpEx? Or is it capitalized? If so, could you please provide the breakdown if all of them are recognized as OpEx? Could you explain how to reconcile the development EBITDA of EUR 15.9 million with EUR 79 million development, it gets very precise this disposal amounting to EUR 95 million.

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#38

Okay. I'll try to answer as clearly as I can. Actually, you're right, Claire, to mention that the EUR 79 million is development cash cost. So this amount represents the total cash I invest, whatever it's -- to get the permission, secure the land, get the grid authorization, ensure that it's financially reliable. So all this cash cost, it's actually out of 100%, 80% to 90% depends on the stage of maturity goes to the balance sheet and's then the remaining part goes to the P&L. It's what we call the prospection because it doesn't reach the criteria -- 4 criterias to be a future project. So the EUR 79 million refers to the full amount which goes in the balance sheet and the EUR 3 million savings I was mentioning compared to the prior period was only related to the saving on the prospection cost, which is between 10% to 20%, let's take an average of 15% goes to the P&L. Hope it clarifies.

Operator

Operator
#39

Your capacity under construction is mostly solar. Are you stepping back from wind?

Robert Klein

Executives
#40

Indeed, you're right, our capacity under construct for '26 and '27 uphold a lot by solar, that we are not stepping back from wind. We have wind recently, and I mentioned earlier the project of Artemisya with 100 megawatts. However, you must know that especially in Europe, it takes more time to develop wind than solar. That's the reason why. And this reflects of representing that. Then we are still developing wind, I repeat it and reinforcing our development in wind as that is a very good match when we are talking about hybrid projects with wind, solar and battery storage today represents a very good solution in order to go towards flexibility.

Operator

Operator
#41

How do you explain the cautious EBITDA guidance for Energy Sales between growth between 0% to 10% when operating capacity increased more and the base effect relatively low with a negative price effect?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#42

So I will take this one. Indeed, we have a target for EBITDA 2026 of EUR 210 million and EUR 230 million. And we reached EUR 211 million for 2025. You mentioned the increase in capacity. I just would like also to remind that I mentioned some disposal of assets so in 2025, which have a perimeter effect. Without considering this perimeter effect, we would grow by 15% between 2024 and 2026. So this is consistent and in line with the capacity. So all in all, we have build our objectives based on prudent approach, reminding also I mentioned that the curtailment is similar to how much we booked in 2025. Therefore, this is a rationale why the target was set at EUR 210 million to EUR 230 million.

Operator

Operator
#43

Then next question, what is the impact -- the expected impact on D&A for 2026 of 2025 impairment?

Sylvine Bouan

Executives
#44

So almost nothing. Most of it relates to some development in progress. So almost nothing.

Operator

Operator
#45

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Robert Klein

Executives
#46

Thank you very much, everyone, who assisted to that presentation. Then you've seen that we have made quite a lot of progress in 2025 in order to put the foundations for the transformation with a great acceleration that we're expecting in 2026 and beyond with the effects that we have presented today. Thank you so much for your questions as well, and see you soon. Thank you.

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