Maire S.p.A.

S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A.

Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining my ExpressCup 2026 Financial Results Conference. My name is Silvia Guidi, and I'm the head of the Investor Relations Department. Today, I'm joined by Alessandro Bernini, CEO, Maria Novanti, CFO, and Fabio Piccarrelli, next-gen managing director. They will watch you through the operator lights of our business unit. followed by an overview of our financial results. At the end of the presentation, we will be happy to take your questions. Let me now hand over to Alessandro for some introductory remarks.

Thank you Silvia, and good afternoon everyone. The first half of 2026 once again highlighted the resilience of our business model amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Even in this challenging environment, which continues to be characterized by stringent safety protocols, project execution continued without major disruptions, reflecting the strength of our operating platform and the close cooperation with clients and subcontractors. Leveraging our ability to manage complexity across a diversified project backlog, we delivered solid financial results. Revenues reached €3.7 billion, and the EBITDA margin improved by 50 basis points to 7.2%, benefiting from the growing contribution of NEXT Chem's technology portfolio. In June, we also completed the acquisition of Alestra and ETEC, expanding our presence into inorganic chemistry for fertilizers and critical materials. Both companies will contribute to our P&L results starting from the third quarter. The solid operating and financial performance was complemented by a strong order intake of €7.2 billion in the first half of the year, corresponding to a book-to-bill ratio of 2, and leading to a group backlog of €16.3 billion, close to its all-time high. Including the contract secured in July, total EU awards have already reached €8.4 billion in the first seven months of the year. bringing us close to the 9.4 billion target we have set. This acceleration reflects stronger than expected demand backed by energy security and industrial resilience concerns across the board. Equally important, this commercial momentum is enabling us to expand our geographical footprint and enter new markets. In this respect, Argentina represents a significant milestone in our diversification journey. Through the Fertile Pampa project, we will deliver the largest urea plant in Latin America, combining Teclimon's execution capabilities with NETSCAN's proprietary technologies. This award further validates the strength of our integrated business model, and our ability to offer clients end-to-end solutions. Importantly, we are entering this new market with a geo-risk execution approach by focusing on our core engineering and procurement expertise while construction activities will be carried out by S.p.A., a leading Argentine contractor with extensive local experience. This first major contract creates a platform for future growth, positioning us to capture additional opportunities across the wider Latin American market. As our network continues to expand, strengthening our engineering capabilities remains a key priority. In the first six months of the year, we added around 500 professionals, strengthening our capabilities in fertilizers and in the chemistry of minerals and metals through the acquisition of our restaurant and the tech, while enhancing our LNG expertise through targeted hiring. At the same time, we reinforce our proximity to key growth markets with the opening of an exchange regime office Thank you Sandro and good afternoon everyone.

Thanks to the recent awards and the completion of the Valletta acquisition, NextChem enters the second half of the year with a record backlog of €702.6 million, leveraging a technology portfolio exceeding 80 solutions. The €506.9 million order intake in the first half, which includes the consolidation of Valletta's portfolio for €265.3 million, reflected a well-diversified exposure across fertilizers, specialty chemicals, and advanced materials, confirming the relevance of our offering across multiple value chains and geographies. More broadly, we are seeing strong commercial momentum in fertilizers, and we are focusing on large-scale integrated projects, where NextChamp can maximize the value of its platform by offering a full package, including licensing and proprietary equipment, as demonstrated by the recent £13 award. I will now briefly walk you through our recent M&A transactions and explain how they strengthen NextChamp's growth platform for future commercial prospects. At the end of June, we completed the acquisition of Balestra for a total consideration of €184.48 million. The group comprises Balestra, including the Mazzoni brand, a global leader in detergents and surfactants technologies, Boost Chemtech, specializing in fluorine derivatives and gas-liquid reactions, and Balestra India, the engineering hub in Bangalore. Together, these businesses bring market-leading solutions with a proven track record of over 6,400 plant preferences worldwide, significantly accelerating the development of NextChem's technology platform. It expands our portfolio across the full NPK fertilizer spectrum, the chemistry for strategic materials, particularly critical minerals and metals processing, while providing access to global consumer goods customers through soap and detergent solutions. We have already started working closely with Valesca's commercial teams on a number of opportunities, and we are encouraged by the early signs we are seeing, including promising cross-selling potential. Last month, we also completed the purchase of a 70% stake in ETEC, for a total consideration of €11.1 million, of which €5 million was paid up front, with the remainder linked to earnouts. Through ETEC, we gain exposure to the rapidly growing electronic waste stream, with proprietary solutions characterized by high recovery rates, fixed flexibility, and improved energy efficiency. The transaction marks our entry into the attractive precious metals recovery market and adds advanced technologies to Nexchem's circular solutions platform. We are already seeing solid commercial interest from our existing waste management customers, providing early validation of the attractiveness of this value proposition. Together, these two acquisitions are part of a broader strategic initiative aimed at expanding our technology portfolio in mineral and metal processing, with a particular focus on strategic and critical materials. We see significant long-term potential in this segment and intend to further strengthen our capabilities and market position through continuous investment, including additional targeted M&A opportunities. I will now hand it back to Sandro for the operational performance of the integrated ENC solutions. Thank you Fabio.

So turning to our integrated ENC solutions operations, let me provide you with an update on activities across the Middle East. Where around 2,500 of our engineers and technicians were deployed at the end of June. As I mentioned earlier, our projects continue to advance through construction and commissioning, driven by the viability of key equipment and materials already on site, as well as by a wide range of mitigation actions implemented with our client. Through proactive planning, rapid logistics reconfigurations, and close coordination with our partners, we continue to ensure operational continuity. For example, all items suitable for container transport were successfully rerouted to alternative tracking and air freight routes, while oversized equipment is expected to continue being shipped by vessel supported by dedicated local logistics arrangements. At the same time, We are diligently documenting all mitigation-related impacts for the recognition of coastal excavations. Looking more closely at Highland Gush, the project reached 75% overall progress at the end of June. This scale of execution is reflected in the hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of concrete poured and tons of steel structures installed, supported by a workforce of 31,000 people currently on site, including construction subcontractors. Maintaining the space required a highly coordinated effort. Following the reduced operability of the Strait of Hormuz, around 600 shipments were rerouted through alternative ports, and approximately 1,500 containers were successfully delivered to the site. These actions have allowed construction activities to continue without major disruptions. Through continuous engagement with our clients, we have also identified multiple execution pathways to support uninterrupted project progress going forward. Moving on to our commercial performance, ENC's order intake reached €6.7 billion in the first half and following the award secured in July is now approaching €8 billion. This acceleration reflects clients' growing need to secure execution capacity for large and complex projects. As a result, our EMC backlog increased to €15.6 billion at the end of June and includes projects across our core segments, spanning gas processing, petrochemicals, and energy infrastructure upgrades, with completion dates extending through 2031. Before heading over to our CFO for a closer look at the financial results, let me briefly walk you through the backlog schedule of this business unit. With a 15.6 billion euro backlog at the end of June, further strengthened by July award, we have built a strong foundation to navigate the volatile environment. Based on the information currently available, around 20% of the backlog is expected to be executed in the second half of 2026, which substantially covers this year's production, while approximately 40% is scheduled for 2027 and another 40% for 2028 and beyond. Importantly, This visibility is supported by a healthy mix of early and later stage projects and a diversified geographical footprint with a growing contribution from Africa, Central Asia and South America. And now I hand over it to Mariano for the final interview.

Thank you, Alessandro. Our first health group income statement continues to demonstrate our resilience through profitable growth. Revenues reached 3.7 billion euros, up 6.9 year-on-year, driven by steady project execution. EBITDA was 266.2 million euros, up 14.7%, supported by higher revenues and improved operating leverage. These resulted in an EBITDA margin of 7.2%, up 50 basis points, also thanks to the contribution from Nexkem higher value added services. At the bottom line, strong operating performance combined with effective financial and tax management delivered a consolidated net income of €157.2 million, up 18.3%, with a margin of 4.3%, up 40 basis points. Group net income was €137.9 million, after €19.3 million of reserves attributable to minority shareholders mainly related to Nest Chem and projects in joint venture. Let's now analyze our financial results by business unit. S.p.A. delivered revenues of €285.7 million, up 46.9%, an increase mainly driven by low-carbon chemicals and fertilizers, Vida rose to 68 million euros, up 39.9%, with a margin of 23.8%, reflecting the contribution of proprietary equipment in the product mix during the period. As a reminder, Nexchem's first start results do not yet benefit from the consolidation of Valestra and Etec. Integrated DNC revenues were 3.4 billion euros at 4.5%. Growth was driven by the steady progress of projects under execution across our portfolio. Alongside the continued advancement of projects in the Gulf region, discussed earlier by Alessandro, we also recorded solid execution progress in Kazakhstan and Algeria. EBITDA was 198.2 million euros, up 80%, with a margin of 5.8%, up 20 basis points. Let's now analyze the cash flow dynamics of the period. The strong operating performance delivered in the first half allowed to support investment in technology expansion and continue to reward the shareholders. As a result, we maintain the solid adjusted net cash position of €301.1 million at the end of June, capex amount to €204 million, primarily related to the acquisition of Valestra and ETEC. The remaining portion was invested in development and scale-up of proprietary technology as well as in accelerating digital innovation initiatives. At the same time, we returned 194.4 million euro to shareholders through dividends and 81.1 million euro through shares by BEX. He concludes our financial review. I will now hand over to Alessandro for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Mariano. Thank you. As we look forward, we continue to see a supportive market environment reflected in a conversion pipeline exceeding €61 billion without considering any potential activities without Let me emphasize this word without considering any potential activities to rebuild damaged infrastructures in the Gulf region. This set of opportunities is underpinned by powerful structural drivers from energy and food security to the increasing impact of geopolitical tensions on global trade and industrial resilience. We are well-positioned to benefit from this environment, particularly through our integrated offering. A significant portion of our pipeline consists of projects where an expense-proprietary technologies are combined with investments, engineering, and execution capabilities. We have also experienced an acceleration of final investment diffusion as evidenced by the 8.4 billion euro of awards already secured in the first seven months of the year, bringing us very close to the 9 billion euro full-year target we had set. Based on the current negotiations, we expect that the ordering paid to exceed this amount in 2026. In particular, looking at the near-term outlook, we see further attractive opportunities in Latin America, especially in gas processing, as well as in Europe across biofuels, mainly soft, and renewables. Looking further ahead, both North and South America and Middle East as well are expected to contribute with opportunities in LNG, gas processing and fertilizers, including large-scale projects expected to be sanctioned in 2027, supporting the long-term growth of our business. So just to conclude, our first half results demonstrated the strength and resilience of our business model. Steady execution, strong order intake, and high diversified backlog enabled us to deliver a solid financial performance even in a complex operating environment. Looking ahead, the mitigation measures already in place in the Middle East combined with the close collaboration we continue to maintain with clients and partners are expected to sustain the project execution through the remainder of the year. Alongside the increasing contribution for projects in other geographies, they provide a solid foundation for achieving the targets that we have set for the E&C business unit. We have also significantly strengthened next-gen with the acquisition of Balestra and Etec. These businesses not only expand our technology offering, but are already enhancing our commercial reach and creating new opportunities across a broader customer base. From the third quarter onwards, they will also start contributing to our financial performance, supporting next cancer growth trajectory in the second half of 2026. We also continue to selectively push additional M&A, particularly in the processing of minerals and metals in line with our strategic priorities. On this basis, we confirm our 2026 guidance. And this concludes our presentation. And we are now ready to take your questions. So, operators, please.

Thank you very much. If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key, then 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key, then 6 on your telephone keypad. The first question is from the line of Kevin Roger of Kepler Chivro. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Yes, good evening. Thanks for taking the time. I have two, if I may, and the first one is maybe let's say a bit tricky. Sorry for that, guys, but just coming back on the Middle East, you have given us a lot of clear information on how you manage, in a way, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz with the alternative route, the freight, et cetera. And we have seen a number of companies this quarter adding additional costs to their P&L, saying that it's subject to negotiation with clients, et cetera. So I was wondering if you can share with us, in a way, those additional costs that you have seen on your site with the truck, the port, maybe the storage, the flight, et cetera. Have you considered those costs in your P&L already? What has been the payments received from the client? So just to understand up to now, what has been in a way paid by Maire in terms of additional costs and what has been covered by clients, etc.? Sorry, you provided us a lot of information on how you manage the situation, but just to understand very well how it in a way leads in terms of accounting costs, etc.? ? And the second question is maybe easier for you. In a sense, you upgraded the order intake guidance because you were up to now around 9 billion, and now you are sending us at least 9 billion. What kind of key opportunities do you have for H226 order that would be material on the order intake side? Please. Thanks a lot.

So, Kevin, let's start with your first question. First of all, let me say that I don't care very much about what the other contractors have said or what they are doing. I am more interested, of course, to our situation and to manage properly what is going to happen or what will really happen in the meantime. As you have already mentioned, We are talking about extra costs which have been caused by extraordinary events beyond the possibility to manage them by the contractor. So apart, and I have to say that apart from the contractor protection, I have to confirm precisely that the behavior of the client located in that part of the world are extremely reasonable and cooperative. They recognize that the nature of the extra cost must be reimbursed. So they have already opened a specific process aiming at collecting the amount that we have incurred. So we have no doubt S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A. S.p.A. the commercial pipeline and the opportunities that we see in front of us in the incoming probably weeks, not months, weeks, because for some of them, based on what has been already clarified by the clients, they would like to sanction some of these projects that we are working on from a commercial standpoint during the month, even during the month of August. So we expect that most likely in the third quarter additional projects, additional contracts will be signed and additional awards will be secured by our group. And which are, as we have already clarified during the presentation, some of them are located in Europe, because there are a couple of projects very interesting because one of them relates to a major SAF plant located in Europe, whereby our expertise in managing these type of technologies will be extremely helpful. So we are confident that based on the ongoing discussion, this will be secured very soon. Then there are another project in the petrochemical space Not a big one because, as you know, petrochemical infrastructures have not the same appeal as they were in the recent past. But there are still some specific projects concentrated on some specialties which we know very well how to execute them, and we are looking carefully at the possibility to secure one of them once again in Europe on an EMP basis, so engineering and procurement, leaving the construction to somebody else who will not belong to ourselves. Then renewable, very big renewable infrastructures, are going to be sanctioned the various potential clients have already secured the related licenses so everything has been already submitted so now it's just up to them to decide when they want to start so I am really confident that putting everything together the target of 9 billion that we have set for 2026 will be we are very well positioned to exceed even significantly this amount of our guidance. So, really, I am very, very positive. I am not mentioning, of course, other projects which for sure will be assigned, will be awarded in the second half of the year, but they do not have a very big size because we are talking about the feed. So, which means the first step of giants projects for which then the EIPC project will follow, but not in 2026, will follow in 2027. So, in other words, in the second half of the year, Most likely, we will be engaged in the first part of the engineering activities, which then will follow, will roll over to the RPC, but only in the springtime, first quarter, second quarter of 2027. And we are talking about super giant projects that most likely we will be engaged in. We pay attention to them through alliances with other contractors based on the expectations of the various clients. So this is what we have in front of us in the second half of the term. Perfect.

Thanks a lot for all this. Thanks. Have a nice evening.

The next question comes from the line of Massimo Bonisoli of Ecuador. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Good evening. Thank you very much for the presentation. I have two questions, and one back to the Middle East. Sorry for that. I will try anyway. Could you provide some color on the main challenges, if any, you are facing in negotiating S.p.A.

give us some more color on cash flow generation for second quarter and networking capital thank you let me start with your first question and then hand over to the second one to Mariano it's not a matter of challenging for the extra cost it is you have just two justify and to properly document them and then there are no discussion at all the various clients but in particular one located in the area has already opened the process which is based on three different streams the first one relates the collection to the collection of the direct cost incurred of course the major cost the extra cost relates to the logistic cost because as you know Very often we have been obliged to reroute the goods which was expected to be delivered straight two ways, and then we have been obliged to route in another way. But to the extent you are able to document and justify those costs, there are no discussions. So I don't see really any challenge in having recognized the coverage of those costs. Of course, then, this is the first stream. Second one relates to indirect cost. So the cost, the extra cost generated by the increased general cost due to the conflict in the Middle East. But also in this case, to the extent you are able to prove and document properly, there are no discussions. We have already had this experience in the past. when we have managed properly the costs associated with the COVID, when we have been obliged to leave Russia, all of them were very similar, very similar circumstances, and we have never lost even one euro. And considering that in these circumstances the behavior, the attitude of the client is even more positive, I do not expect to face any major challenges.

Yes. Considering the net cash flow and the operating cash flow in particular, you must know that the financial discipline is one of our key issues in our strategy, and in those periods it is very, very important. But focusing on the changes of the period, considering the amount of the world, Thank you very much, gentlemen.

The next question comes from the line of Jamie Franklin of Jefferies. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Hi there. Thank you for taking my questions, and thanks for the color on the Middle East. Just one small follow-on from that. Just wanted to clarify, you mentioned on Hale and Gasher a rerouting of around 600 shipments. Was that all a 2Q event, or is that split between 2Q and July so far? And then my next few questions on NextChem. So great to see the backlog reaching new highs at $0.7 billion. With it becoming a lot more material now, just wondering if you can give us a sense of phasing, so roughly what percentage is for this year and what is for beyond, and is it still right to think of next-gen backlog as being fairly short cycle with a sort of 18-month duration, or does it have a bit of a longer tail as it grows further? And then finally, just on the NETSCHEM M&A pipeline, you outlined two concrete opportunities at your last call, and obviously ETEC ticks the box for one of those. I just wanted an update on the second one. Thank you.

Let me start with the first one, and then I hand over to Fabio for the second one. The 600 cargoes which have been railroaded relates to all the shipments which took place up to now. So it is a very updated situation. Because of course it is a situation which unfortunately is not yet over. So it is due to continue also in the following days, our rest of the situation will improve dramatically. But, I repeat, notwithstanding the situation, 600 relates to the candles that we have been able to manage since the very beginning of these geopolitical events up to now, up to yesterday morning. So, this cover also July.

Let me take on the two questions on NETSCAM. The first one was on pacing of NETSCAM portfolio going forward, if I understand correctly, whether the acquisition of Baletta is lengthening it a little bit. Let me say that Ballestra is hunting more or less the same kind of business that NETCAM already had, so licenses, PDPs, proprietary equipments, but it also had an element of EMP, likely more relevant than what NETCAM had, and some of their contracts might extend slightly longer than the usual 12 to 18 months, which is usual for an extent. So the blending of it might extend it slightly, not substantially, again for this type of products. The second question was related to the M&A opportunities. You know that Balestra is active on post-hits, and post-hits mean phosphoric acid, which comes from the same pattern where minerals are treated. So in a way, Valletta is already active in the minerals and metals sector. Etek is probably at the opposite of the spectrum. While Valletta is at the very early treatment of phosphatic rocks, Etek is at the very end at this point in time Which is the refining of what we call electronic waste or batteries. In between, there are a lot of additional opportunities because the value chain is quite long. And it entails a lot of growing industries. mentioned the electrification industry, with all that has to do with batteries, not only the recycling, but the filling of batteries with lithium. It has to do with precious metals. It has to do with all the rare earths that you need to treat for the production of chips. So we are looking carefully at a couple of additional opportunities for M&A. one which is probably closer than the other and we will you know get to those we told you about those in due course but yes we are looking at other opportunities in that section that's great thank you very much

The next question comes from the line of Marco Cristofori of Intensa San Paolo. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Good afternoon, everyone. Two questions, if I may. The first one is strategic, if you want. There are several geopolitical analysts that are saying that the current crisis in the Middle East is squeezing in the sense that it should remain as it is for years. So it's a what-if question. If this would be the case, what could be the strategy of Mayr? Exiting or reducing the presence in the area? Or I don't know. And my second question is on Nest Cam, which is gaining size and track record to be valorized in future. So if you can update us on the potential of valorizing Nest Cam in 2027. Thank you.

I'm S.p.A. Let me answer to your first question with this most strategic one. I don't see, just in few words, I don't see any element which plays against the division to abandon Middle East. The Middle East was, is, and is due to remain also for the next decade, one of the most important markets for technology operators and contractors as well. Despite what is presently going to happen, all the major companies based in that part of the world they have not modified their investment program or even better sometimes they have also accelerated their sanctioning of certain major investments so unless the situation will deteriorate dramatically which reasonably If it is due to happen, it is not a problem just for the contractors. It is a problem for the entire world. So I truly believe that we must be rational and not just, of course, not taking decisions of this nature, strategic one, just based on what is happening in just a few weeks time. So, just to be short, I don't change the strategy to maintain our presence in the countries of Middle East. We, of course, we would like to diversify our presence in other areas of the world, but this doesn't mean that we, in the same time, we abandon the Middle East. We remain, we are there, and we remain even in the future. And aiming at having a more balanced portfolio of projects in other regions of the world. But for sure, a significant portion will continuously remain in Middle East in the moving forward.

As far as NextCam is concerned, we will keep on maintaining a look at the potential valorization of the company. But as we said in several occasions, It will have to be at the right time and at the right price. We've always said that there's a good time for everything. The company will keep on growing because of internal or external growth through M&A. I think we have demonstrated to be fast enough to adapt to the market environment, nuclear, It's definitely something which will take medium to long term to deploy for obvious reasons, while our entry into the metals and minerals market can provide very good growth opportunities in the short term. So we'll see how it goes. It's definitely something we have in the radar, but we are in no hurry. We will do it as and when the market will recognize the profit value to an extent.

Thank you. Quite clear.

At this time, there are no more questions. Therefore, I hand the conference back to Silvia Guidi for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much to everyone for participating in today's call. For any follow-up questions, please be free to reach out to the Investor Relations Department. Our next call will be on October 27th when we report our nine-month results. You can also find details from our investors conference after summer on our website. Thank you again. Have a great evening and have a great summer break. Thank you.