Rai Way S.p.A.

this is the conference operator welcome and thank you for joining the right way full year 2025 results presentation all participants are in listen only mode and after the presentation there will be a q a session at this time i would like to turn the conference over to mr andrea moretti head of ir please go ahead sir thank you operator and good evening

At today's conference call, we will present RightWay's 2025 full-year results, operating achievements, as well as our 2026 guidance. Today's hosts are CEO Roberto Cecatto, CFO Adalberto Pellegrino, and our Chief Corporate Development Officer Giancarlo Benucci. Please, Mr. Cecatto, go ahead.

Good evening from me, too. The fourth quarter and more in general, the entire 2025, confirmed the sound and stable fundamentals of our business. This year, further supported by cost control actions and non-court benefits. As you may remember, in March of last year, we provided an outlook for 2025 guiding for a broadly stable adjusted bid day. We have largely exceeded the target. And while it's honest to say that a big part of the bid came from non-core items, let me say that the operating performance also proved to be better than expected, in particular in the traditional business, both in terms of top line and opportunity to optimize the cost base. Consequently, as shown on slide 4, we maintained the upward trend in our key metrics even during the startup of diversification initiatives, which are already starting to contribute to our medium and long-term growth. More in details, looking at the overall financial result, the 2.4% year-on-year increase in revenues reflects the contribution of both our ANCO customer Rai, supported by inflation and the gradual expansion of the DAB network. and by third-party clients, which on an underlying basis rose by 4.4% over the full year and by, let me say, a remarkable 10% in Q4. Third-party revenues rose We're driving by, first, the excellent performance in the tower hosting of radio broadcasters as they are rolling out DAB networks. Second, the growing utilization of our EP fiber backbone for connectivity services. And finally, by the diversification initiatives which generated over 1 million of Euro revenues in 2025. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, as mentioned earlier, the increase compared to 2024 of over €6 million in absolute terms was driven by these factors. The traditional business contributing approximately €5 million, also thanks to the reduction in external costs. The expected higher absorption of approximately 1 million from diversification initiatives, which we nevertheless managed to contain despite the more gradual revenues evolution. And finally, as anticipated, the level of certain non-core items, which contributed positively to grow for approximately 2 million and 2.5 million euros. The net profit saw a slight decline due to the expected rise in depreciation and amortization and reported one-off costs for over 4 million euros. Excluding the one-offs, we could say that the profit would also have raised the horizon. In terms of capital expenditure, the maintenance component was higher than usual and of course confirmed the recurring level of around 6% of revenues due to some extraordinary activities, for example, relating to passive infrastructure and the cyclical renewal of certain IT components. The development component on the other end stood at around 30 million euros, consistently with the refacing already discussed in the last November conference call. The recurring cash generation to equity holders stood at around 118 million euros, broadly in line with last year, despite the above-mentioned temporary fluctuation in maintenance capex. If we were to consider the over-the-cycle figure for maintenance capex, the trend will still show growth to a level above €120 million. As for the dividend distribution, in line with our usual policy, we confirm the payout of basically the 100% of the profit generated, meaning €0.33 per share. I would like to point out that with this year's distribution, we will have essentially returned to the shareholders the full capital invested in the IPO in 2014. To be precise, 95%. Moving on the operational business update, I would like to focus on the recent progress made on the development initiatives included in our plan. Within a context anticipated during our November call involving certain delays relating to authorization processes or market condition, which we do not believe will undermine the rational or long-term potential of our project, the company has not remained passive. And recent months have brought some positive updates. Regarding the traditional activities and assets, the extension of the radio network for RAI is proceeding smoothly. As of December 2025, it has achieved population coverage of approximately 70% with 179 sites compared to the initial 56% with only 62 sites. and the full scale target of 85%. For the photovoltaic project aimed to creating value from our real estate portfolio, we are receiving permits for the first four sites totaling over 12 megawatt. You can see that on slide six. Let me say that considering the various legislative changes to the authorization procedures occurred while we were working on that, so it took more time than previously planned. But we have already placed a purchasing order and we are about to start construction with the installation time of around six months and first revenue contribution expected by the end of 2026. And in 2026 and early 2027, we expect to receive further authorization, so we can consider 2028 as the first year of full-scale contribution from such a large project, in which we plan to invest more than 30 million of euros, and we expect the round rate contribution to a BDA in the region of 4 million euros. Let's now move to diversification, to slide seven. Today's focus is on data center, in particular on the long-awaited successful completion of the regulatory process for the high-scale data center in Pomezia. It followed the positive outcome of the so-called Conferenza dei Servizi and the signing of the concession agreement with the local council. The authorization set out the physical footprint and size of generator, so the shape, for a project with four independent modules covering 70,500 square meters, 16 data holes, four per each module, and an IT load of approximately 35 megawatt. In parallel, we are also working with the electricity grid operator to define a timeline for high voltage availability. However, the initial phase, at least for the first 6-7 MW, we will rely on the medium voltage line and our own photovoltaic system, which is among those mentioned earlier. Bear in mind that the authorization itself has already generated a significant initial value. A site with an approved project holds a not negligible worth. Let me say that we have an independent expert check that estimated the actual value at 15 million of euro. However, this is not the end goal. we are now starting engaging with prospects also in order to identify the best strategy to develop the asset. Indeed, this asset is authorized, which therefore guarantees a significant reduction in time to market. It's an optimal size and modularity making it compatible with both hyperscale and more enterprise-oriented use. issue flexibility regarding the fit out therefore it's fully a compliant ai compliant if necessary and requested it is located in rome that is a strategic location from several perspectives And last but not least, it has access to our proprietary edge architecture, including regional data center and fiber optics, capable of supporting AI inference and other low latency applications. We are confident about the project's appeal to hybrid scalers, cloud operators, and larger companies. But let me say that our aim is to balance the risk-reward profile of the investment while ensuring the scalability of railway business. Coming back to the mention in the slide four for the regional data center, let me say that we are waiting for a wider adoption of latency-sensitive application, for instance, also AI inference. And completing our network through the hyperscale, we are primarily targeting enterprise customers. As you may recall, in order to improve the commercial effectiveness of this segment, we have expanded our offering to include infrastructure as a service solution. This solution combines physical data centers with virtual storage and computing, essentially data center, server, and the virtual environment. And the move is actually helping to reduce our customer decision-making times and to better channel infrastructure requirements, primarily those underpinning the cloud into our asset. It's a fragmented market with a large number of opportunities, albeit with a small average value. So over time, we expect to see a gradual increase in the contribution to our figures. Our commitment to sustainability has certainly not changed in 2025. On the contrary, its principles have become an increasingly integral part of our business management We will provide an update on the progress of the plan later, but I am pleased to announce that we have achieved one of the key objectives, so the carbon neutrality. I will now hand over to Adalberto for all the details on this year's financial performance, and I will be back at the end to discuss the outlook for 2026. which i anticipate to be in line with the positive trends of the recent years and for some closing remarks please alberto the floor is now yours

Thank you, Roberto. Good evening to everyone. I would skip slide 8, which provides an overview of the financial results for 2025, and go straight to the details of each metric. So on slide 9, we analyzed the trend of core revenues which grew by 2.4 percent above 282 million euro on a yearly basis media distribution services were up by 2.2 percent it was reflecting a number of effects including The 1.2% increase in Rai fixed consideration due to the CPI indexation. Extensions of Rai's DAB network coverage included in the new services for Rai category, which amounted to €9.7 million, with a growth of 30% year-on-year. And then we have also positive impact from the initial contribution from CDN services. As per digital infrastructure, revenues reach 33.3 million euro, up 4.1% compared to last year. but up almost 5% without excluding some prior real adjustment and non-core items. Such growth benefit from tower hosting, whose underlying growth was 3%, driven by CPI indexation and strong volumes in radio broadcasting, which was up by 35%. The contribution from data centers and connectivity services was also material and focusing on third parties customer. So the 16% of our revenue is not coming from Rai. Generally speaking, they registered a significant acceleration in 2025, especially in the last quarter, thanks to the business development activities. Moving to OPEX, slide 10, we have a 1% increase of cost, which landed at 93.3 million euro on a yearly basis. Breaking down the OPEX, we noticed the personnel costs were up 5.2%, which decreased by approximately 4% when considering only the traditional business. Such increase is mainly due to the renewal of the collective labor agreement that we already commented in our last calls. Diversification initiatives led to an increase of only 0.3 million euro compared to 2024. Other operating costs were down by 3.2%, positively affected by non-core benefits. Excluding these items, the underlying basis grew by 1.6%, driven by diversification initiatives or the startup costs related to these initiatives, which contributed 1.9 million to the increase. Costs related to the traditional business benefited from further optimizations showing an improvement of around 2.5%, mainly related to contribution capacity, energy consumption, travel and lodging, real estate and others. Let's now move to slide 11. where we can see that the traditional business continue to grow, also supported by the efficiency mentioned earlier. The strong performance also made it possible to offset the expected negative impact related to the startup of diversification activities, mainly thanks to careful cost management. Growth also was supported by benefits from non-core items, as you may see in the chart. All these, we are now on slide 12, turns into an increase in the adjusted bid that reached 191.8 million euro with a marginality of 16.8%, positively impacted also by proceeds from asset sale and tax credit on development project included in the line other revenues and income. Just below, no recurring costs are mainly related to M&A activities, voluntary layoff incentives, and ELEASE agreement for our regional offices, which is temporarily accounted for as OPEX until renewal. Moving further down, we see the trend that we already commented of our higher DNA, mainly related to the level of our capex, financial charge. Also in this case, same comment of last call, we have a positive impact from lower interest rates. And this is all for this slide. Let me comment slide 13 where we may give a look to our net financial position so including 27.1 million euro of ifrs leasing net debt close at 136.5 million euro compared to the end of 2024 it increased by almost 10 million euros after paying out 89.7 million in dividends, while the net financial position to EBITDA ratio remains broadly in line to approximately 0.7 times. Overall, cash generation remained healthy and in line with the previous year, with free cash flow to equity stable at 118 million euros, despite strong maintenance activity. As you can see in slide 14, this will support both development capex and the distribution of 100% of our net income, 88.6 million euro as a dividend, subject of course to approval at the next shareholder. The dividend proposal of 33 euro cents per share implies a dividend yield of 5.7% at current market price and brings the accumulated distribution since the IPO at approximately 761 million euro, which confirms once again our strong focus on shareholder remuneration. As per the sustainability aspects, let's go to slide 15. 2025 was the second year of our sustainability plan and we achieved many important targets, as Roberto commented initially. In particular, we are pleased to announce the achievement of the carbon neutrality on Scope 1 and Scope 2 market-based. And I would like also to specify that the carbon neutrality is about the whole company perimeter, so including also our five edge data center. Moreover, in 2025, we also finalized the submission of the SBTI targets. On social, you may also see some interesting KPIs, such as the increase in our training hours. Jumping to the governance pillar of our ESG actions, let me underline the cybersecurity certification we have obtained that are related to the data center and the CDN services. On the right of the slide, you have our five ESG ratings that are basically unchanged compared to 2024. That's all from me, so I'll hand it back to our CEO.

Thanks, Adalberto. Let me conclude with the expectation for 2026 on the slide 16. Our company and our business have demonstrated in the past strong resilience in any macroeconomic environment. It is also true that the international geopolitical situation, which is far from stable, is causing volatility in electricity prices, which is notably one of our main cost items. Consider that one month ago, Energy Futures suggested a slight decrease in the 26 average price compared to 2025. In only four days after the war erupted, they recorded an increase of nearly 30 euros per megawatt. Although the CPI link included in most of our contracts, hollow was with a certain time lag, of course, to recap any spikes reflected in inflation. In the short term, we believe it is more useful to provide guidance at constant energy price. Let me remind you our sensitivity to them. Given our annual consumption of approximately 70 gigawatt hour, a 10 euro per gigawatt hour change has an impact of about 0.7 million euros on our EBITDA. Under this assumption, we expected adjusted EBITDA in the 2026 to be broadly in line with the previous year, with underlying business growth offset by a negative impact from the level of non-core items. In other words, excluding the non-core impact, we foresee a further year-over-year growth of an underlying basis that you can assume at around 3 million. In particular, this growth will result from two components. First, Far to grow in the traditional business, mainly by CPI-linked increase in the expansion of the AB networks for both Rai and the other customers that are impacting on tower hosting. Second, the contribution of diversification initiatives to ABDA, which, although as planned, is still negative in absolute term, will be stable or slightly improving compared to 2025. also thanks to higher expected revenues. Moving to investment, the maintenance component is expected to remain close to the 2025 levels, once again due to certain extraordinary activities in the cyclical nature of certain components. However, over the cycle, we confer the average level of 6.5% of core revenues. The development components is expected to exceed the 2026 level, reflecting the planned activities mainly on the solar project, the extension of the AB network, and the CDN network expansion. However, on this specific metric, the phasing of certain investments may change a bit, depending on the timing of the permitting process and the speed of commercial uptake. That's all on our side. I thank you for the kind attention and we can now open the line for the Q&A session.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To enter the queue for questions, please click on the Q&A icon on the left side of your screen. When announced, please click continue on the pop-up window. If you're connected in audio only, please press star and one on your telephone. The first question is from Giorgio Tavolini of Intermonte. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thanks for taking my three questions, please. The first one is on the consolidation. I mean, to this extent, you can comment. Should we expect any formal communication by the end of this week regarding the dossier with the EI Towers since the expiration of the MOU at the end of this month? The second question is on the hyperscaler data center. Back to slide 7, if I remember correctly, your previous CAPEX envelope in the business plan envisaged 77 million euros for the first module of the hyperscaler data center. Last week you indicated, you reminded that this project could involve up to 400 million euros investments to reach the total capacity of 36 megawatts. So I was wondering if you can provide an indication of the facing of these additional investments after, I don't know, 2027, so 2028, how much every year? And if you have already some pre-committed capacity on the first set of megawatts, so 5.5, And the third question is on the IFRS 16. I saw there was a steep reduction in the lease liabilities, 27 million euros compared to the usual 35 million, while the lease payment came broadly stable at around 10 million. So I was wondering if it's fair to assume lower lease payments from...

2026 onwards so 10 million flat or should expect a lower this payment thank you all right thank you georgio concerning the first question let me say that the reference shareholders of matters within their own responsibility have an mou due to expire in few days We simply have to wait for an update from their side. I get your point, but at this stage, our position cannot be different. Please, Alberto, for the second question.

Yes, as concerned, the IFNS 16 after is quite complicated. We expect to have again an increase in 2026 because in the next month we expect to have the renewal of an important contract that as of today is under negotiation and so there is no impact on the overall financials. As concern the CAPEX related to the hyperscale data center, let me first just clarify we don't have the commitment as of today because we have just launched the marketing campaign with the conference with the with what we did the last week at the presence of the ministry so we will start now the marketing activities and of course we will keep you informed as concerned the capex we have as you were remembering 76 million euro in our business plan and this is basically the proxy that you may keep in mind assuming one year of delay vis-a-vis the business plan so in the business plan we had the 76 in 2026 and 27 we could have the same overall number, but split in 2027 and in 2028. 76 is related to the very first part of our hyperscale data center. Half of the first building, of course, so a total capacity of between 4 and 5 megawatts. typically the most expensive capacity because there are also capex regarding the entire project that has an impact on the first part of the project and as concern the 400 million euro that roberto mentioned this is related to the full potentiality of our project we have an authorization from the relevant administration to build an IP scale data center of almost 40 megawatt assuming the capacity we are planning we are thinking as of today for the first model the total capacity should be at around 36 megawatt but this is the run rate capacity so in our we just put 4.5 more or less megawatt. In 10-year time horizon, I would say, should be fair to assume 18 megawatts of capacity. But of course, we invest in this business because it gives us an opportunity to increase the scale to the extent that we have commercial opportunities. And so also keeping in mind our financial flexibility, if we will have an interesting opportunity, for sure, we will be more than happy to accelerate the deployment so just to summarize 76 is consistent with the first small part of an entire capacity that could lead to a total investment of 400 million euro but this is a number that will happen after many years thank you very much

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Thank you, operator. So we just thank you all the participants to the call. We will keep you informed about our next marketing activities and we wish you a night evening.

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