Rwe Ag Ord S/Adr

Welcome to the RWE Conference Call. Michael Mueller, CFO of RWE AG, will inform you about the developments in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. I will now hand over to Thomas Denney. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon from Essen and thank you for joining the RWE Q1 Investor and Analyst Conference Call today. Our CFO, Michael Müller, will guide you through our key highlights and the financial performance of the first quarter, as well as the outlook for the current year. And with this, let me hand over to you, Michael.

Thanks, Thomas, and good afternoon to all of you. We had a good start into 2026. Adjusted EBITDA stood at 1.6 billion euros and adjusted net income at 600 million euros on the back of a strong financial performance. Earnings per share was 0.85 euros, 25% up year on year. We have already achieved 33% of our full-year adjusted EPS guidance, and thus we confirm our guidance, and we are now even more confident of achieving our targets. All of our offshore wind projects under construction are on budget and on schedule to achieve our planned CODs. Furthermore, We have reached key milestones at our Danish, Thor and British Sophia projects. Both projects generated first power in Q1 of this year. We've also secured further long-term earnings. We were awarded 6.4 gigawatts in the UK T-4 capacity auction for delivery in 2029 and 2030. In total, 39 of our assets across gas, hydro, wind, and battery storage were successful. Out of those, four assets secured three-year agreements. Following the annual general meeting in May, we paid out a dividend of 1.2 euros per share to our shareholders. And our 1.5 billion euro share buyback program will be concluded by May 2026 as planned. Let's now take a closer look at the Q1 2026 financials. Despite a weak trading result, we achieved a strong earnings. Adjusted EBITDA was up 25% year on year. In offshore wind, adjusted EBITDA was 570 million euros. Earnings were significantly higher than last year, mainly due to normalized wind conditions in the current year. Onshore wind and solar recorded an EBITDA of 507 million euros. The results mainly increased on the back of organic growth, primarily in the U.S., and better wind conditions in Europe compared to last year. This was partially offset by lower hedge prices in Europe and the U.S. after particularly strong hedge results in last year's Q1. In addition, we had a negative FX effect in the U.S. Adjusted EBITDA in the flexible generation business was 657 million euros. Earnings are significantly up on the back of a €332 million compensation payment for production restrictions of our EMSA power plant in the Netherlands in 2022. The compensation has now been approved by the EU Commission. Our supply and trading business had a weak start to 2026. The Q1 result was minus €84 million. However, despite a weak Q1, we continue to be confident that we will achieve our guidance for the full year. Other consolidation was minus 19 million euros. This is in line with our expectation and based on the timing effect at Ampere. In total, adjusted EBITDA came in at 1.6 billion euros. Adjusted depreciation was higher compared to last year's Q1 due to organic growth. The year-on-year adjusted financial results improved due to an increase of capitalized interest. For adjusted tax, we applied the general tax rate of 20% for the RWE Group. Adjusted minority interest increased due to our partner's share in capitalized interest and Apollo's share in our participation in UMPGIRL. Adjusted net income stood at €608 million, resulting in in adjusted earnings per share of €0.85. The adjusted operating cash flow was minus €2.3 billion at the end of Q1, driven by seasonal effects in operating working capital as well as changes in provisions and non-cash items. Changes in operating working capital were marked by the seasonal purchase of CO2 certificates and an increase in accounts payable. Changes in provision and non-cash items were also driven by seasonal effects in the utilization of provisions. It also includes the cash flow of our phase-out technologies. Net debt increased to 15.6 billion euros due to investments and the seasonal effects in our adjusted operating cash flow. In total, we invested 2.3 billion euros net, mainly in the growth of our offshore wind, onshore wind and solar businesses. At the end of the year, we expect net debt to be at our three times leverage target. For 26, we confirm our outlook. In the first quarter of the year, we delivered a strong financial performance, reaching 30% of our EBITDA guidance and 33% of our adjusted EPS guidance for the full year. We are therefore even more confident of achieving our full year target. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between 5.2 and 5.8 billion euros. Adjusted net income will range from 1.5 to 2.05 billion euros and adjusted earnings per share between 2.2 and 2.9 euros. The dividend target is 1.32 euros per share for this year and reflects our annual 10% dividend growth targets. And now, let me hand back to Thomas for Q&A.