Naturgy Energy Group Stock price
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
Is Naturgy Energy Group a Top Scorer Stock based on the Dividend, High-Growth-Investing or Leverman Strategy?
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = €28.07b | Revenue (TTM) = €19.59b
Market Cap = €28.07b | Estimated Revenue = €20.29b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = €39.61b | Revenue (TTM) = €19.59b
Enterprise Value = €39.61b | Forward Revenue = €20.29b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
Naturgy Energy Group Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
26 Analysts have issued a Naturgy Energy Group forecast:
Analyst Opinions
26 Analysts have issued a Naturgy Energy Group forecast:
Naturgy Energy Group Events
Past Events
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JUL
22
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about 2 months ago
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APR
29
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
5 months ago
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MAR
24
Shareholder/Analyst Call - Naturgy Energy Group, S.A.
6 months ago
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FEB
18
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Naturgy Energy Group — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Naturgy's first half 2026 results presentation. I hope you're well. This is Abel Arbat speaking from the Capital Markets team at Naturgy. Presenting today are our Executive Chairman, Francisco Reynes; the General Counsel to the Board, Manuel Cobaleda; the Global Head of Financial Markets and Corporate Development, Mr. Steven Fernandez; and the Global Head of Control and Energy Planning, Ms. Rita Ruiz de Alda.
As usual, we will run through the presentation first and then open the floor to questions. Before we get into it, there is a small change in how we manage the Q&A session. From today, we will have the opportunity to ask live questions through the conference call, while we also maintain the possibility to submit the questions in written form if you prefer, okay?
A reminder that the questions should be only given by equity analysts and investors. So at the end of the presentation, the operator will remind you of the mechanics to ask your questions live via the conference call, okay? So with that, I will hand it over to our Executive Chairman, Francisco Reynes.
Hello. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us, and it's a pleasure to address to all of you today on this first half results presentation for year 2026. Before going into numbers, I would like to spend a few minutes on strategic positioning because as you may think, the year 2026 is marking the beginning of a new phase for Naturgy. After this first part, we will then move to financials, first, global and second, business performance. And as a last part, we will look on the year and the half year ahead, 2026 and talk about how we are seeing the guidance for this year.
Therefore, if you allow me to ask you to move to Page #4. Page #4, key messages of that page has to do about the recent changes in the company. And key messages we would like to give to you is, number one, the substantially increase on the free float that today is about 46%. And clearly, if you remember that, it was one of the most important targets of our strategic plan '25-'27. And it has been achieved just after a year that we launched the self-takeover in June 2025.
Second important message is about the overhang during many months since that date, we have been suffering overhang concerns related to the position of certain large shareholders. Now these concerns have been cleared. Third message, it has to do with the current shareholding structure that in principle is leaded by the market over 50% -- 46% of free float with 2 reference shareholders, Criteria Caixa and IFM Investors that are clearly aligned with a common long-term vision for the company with a clear objective to grow and add value.
As a consequence of these movements, we have simplified the governance and as the most important outcome, the special majorities included in the bylaws of the company have been removed. The company now is more agile to take decisions of investments, disposals, financings and other key business decisions.
As we said in the Page #4, we are now very well positioned to take advantage of the strong balance sheet capacity that should help us to accelerate EPS growth. EPS growth, together with an attractive dividend policy makes the value proposition of our company for shareholders, we think, very, very attractive.
And finally, as always, I think that we have been recognized by the market, and it has been our most important objective to deliver our commitments. Our track record of financial discipline, our track record in making the company more operationally efficient and at the same time, deliver our commitment towards value creation objectives have been helping us from our point of view to start facing a new phase with very positive pillars.
If we move to Page #5, I wanted to remark, there are many, many data here, but I wanted to remark why we think today Naturgy is well positioned. First, because of our diversified and resilient earnings profile. Second, thanks to our strategic gas and LNG infrastructure in Iberia that helps to warranty a sizeable generation fleet.
Third, because the sizeable generation fleet, together with a large customer base, help us through a vertical integration strategy. Fourth, with a quite balanced international generation portfolio, that -- which 84% of the output is regulated, as you know, that removes any concerns of volatility.
Fifth, clearly proven track record on capital discipline. And today, around EUR 500 million per year savings on annual OpEx can be compared to the 2018 baseline. That is leading us as the most productive and efficient utility in the European industry.
And sixth, as I said before, an attractive cash yield and balance sheet headroom with a leverage, which is around 2.2x EBITDA with an S&P FFO net debt metric of over 30%. I remember to all of you that 18% is the threshold for maintaining BBB, which means we are clearly far above, give us a very compelling from our point of view, position for our shareholders.
If we move to the next page, we have been talking in the last presentations about the opportunity that an integrated model provides the company as a resilient platform for growth. These pillars that come together in our integrated model are really one of the most important backbones of the company.
Our presence across both value-added changes, gas and power give us resilience, complementarity, operational synergies and integrated margins. This is clearly nonreplicable in the case of the pure player -- other pure players. In electricity generation, we have flexible gas turbines and renewables vertically integrated in Spain and contracted in the case of our electricity generation plants abroad.
In electricity networks, we have a platform for electrification with we consider attractive regulated returns. In the case of the gas and LNG procurement, forming part of the energy management, we benefit from a diversified portfolio. And in gas networks, we play a key role in energy transition, and we consider that it's demonstrated in many countries in Europe that these are enablers of renewable gases to be established.
And altogether, in the center of all our business, over 17 million customers, we provide integrated margin optimization, and they help us to get a natural hedge across the whole portfolio. In our view, this is what makes sense and generates worth much more than the sum of its parts.
We'll move to the next page, please. The platform we have today give us multiple organic growth levers across our core markets, and we have also significant optionality to accelerate. Let me specify some of them. In networks, our objective is to continue to be investing on adequately remunerated and stable frameworks.
In gas Spain, for example, the proposed '27-'32 new framework is continuity based but introduces relevant incentives for digitalization and biomethane introduction. In electricity in Spain, for example, we expect very soon a lift on the investment cap that will allow us to invest more and quickly with an adequate remuneration. In Latin America, the visibility continues to improve and consolidate a much higher level of profitability that we had years ago.
On the renewable side, we see organic growth through hybridization, repowering and storage. These are the 3 key fundamental pillars of our organic growth. We have 1 gigawatt coming online this year and over 2 gigawatts more in 2027 onwards. In this -- over 2 gigawatts of new capacity, more than half of it is around batteries as a clear attachment to the existing renewable generation that will help us to capture higher prices and higher margin in the electricity delivery.
On gas turbines, increasingly is a key actor in ancillary services, as you know. We had almost 5 terawatts of energy in the first half. And in Puerto Rico, 400 megawatts on a tender that we expect to get, in this case, news on the final decision by this summer.
Data centers. We have an opportunity to unlock value, with limited capital, 900 megawatts already in projects under development and 2 gigawatts in our pipeline. In renewable gases, we have the largest biomethane pipeline in Spain with over 75 projects and more than 5 terawatts of energy.
We see a context which is increasingly favorable, but we are seeing at the same time to support our positive vision that we had the introduction of mandatory biomethane consumption targets by the regulators. And on energy -- on efficiency, sorry, further upside is expected in our new efficiency plan, which is supported by our track record and in particular, through the AI and enabled process optimization.
Within that, artificial intelligence may help us to be even more productive and more accurate. In summary, I would say that we have multiple organic growth levers across our core markets. If we turn to Page #8, I wanted just to show 3 important messages on this page. As you can see, our metrics are clearly better than the ones we had in 2018.
That's the reflect of a very tough work by the team in the last 7 years. But altogether, this is translated into between EUR 10 billion to EUR 12 billion of firepower that we are going to give us flexibility for any project based on 2 key restrictions.
Number one is maintaining BBB rating of Standard & Poor's as a floor. And second, maintaining strict capital discipline on value creation. We are not -- I want to remark this idea, we are not a distressed buyer on any project anywhere at any time.
On Page #1, to finish my part of the presentation, I wanted to address exactly the point I mentioned before as discipline for our investment criteria. What we are today is that any capital we want to deploy should be anchored in our famous value over size proposition. And we will guide by clear criteria, which are the following: Number one, in terms of portfolio and risk profile, we will focus on hard currency geographies with a clear bias towards electricity and regulated or vertically integrated assets.
In terms of growth and strategic fit, we prefer projects which embedded organic growth, where there is clear strong industrial rationale and where we can achieve synergies as an upside. What it refers to financial discipline, we look for projects that are accretive in terms of EPS with returns which are value accretive, clearly above our weighted average cost of capital and consistent, again, as I said, on this threshold or BBB rating.
And finally, one very clear restriction for the management team is that we want to control and execute these projects and to warranty that it may happen, we want clear control positions and clear alignment with our stakeholders. So to summarize this first section, I wanted to remark again, the overhang is clear.
The shareholders are aligned. The governance is much simpler. We have a strong balance sheet, and we keep the optionality under financial discipline way of thinking. With this strategic backdrop, I would like to hand over to Steven Fernandez now that will go through the consolidated financials. Thank you for listening, and I give the floor to Steven.
Thank you, Paco, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. It's always a pleasure to be able to come to the market with very good results. And I think that what we have presented today in terms of the first half of 2026 are results to be proud of. Not only are they good results, they are also results that allow us to upgrade our guidance for the full year.
Overall, what you've seen today is a strong operational and financial performance despite the volatile environment. In fact, the earnings growth of 6% is underpinned by the robustness of the integrated model that our Chairman has just exposed. We also continue to generate strong cash flow and continue to apply that cash with discipline.
This led to a decrease in net debt, although we remind you that net debt for the rest of the year should increase by around EUR 400 million, taking into account a one-off Sonatrach payment. We've also taken the chance yesterday in the Board to approve the first dividend against the year results of EUR 0.60 per share, in line with what we announced last year, fully aligned with what we have presented in the strategic plan and which will be payable on the 29th of July.
In headline terms, EBITDA reached almost EUR 3 billion. That's up from EUR 2.8 billion a year ago, and net income rose to EUR 1.2 billion, up from EUR 1.1 billion a year ago. So obviously, you can tell from these numbers that we have now the confidence to confidently upgrade our guidance for the rest of the year.
If we think about it in terms of the evolution by business, looking to Page 12, and we think about it in terms of the EBITDA bridge, growth has been led by our regulated activities, which is also something interesting and by thermal generation. These 2 contributions more than offset softer contributions elsewhere. So if we think about it, for example, in terms of distribution networks, they added around EUR 180 million to the EBITDA line, and they were, in fact, the main driver of growth in the half.
Remember that there is a one-off of around EUR 74 million that we flagged last year, and we also flagged in the Q1 included in this number. Thermal generation contributed close to EUR 50 million on the back of strong ancillary services demand.
And as I said before, these more than offset the lower contributions from energy management, which is down around EUR 10 million. Renewables also down around EUR 10 million and supply, close to EUR 70 million down, which we will cover in Rita's presentation shortly.
So all in all, it's a broad-based delivery that reflects the diversification and the resilience of the integrated model. If we think about it in terms of cash flow, and that's on Slide 13, the picture is one of continued strength and flexibility. Funds from operations remained robust at around EUR 2.3 billion, and the free cash flow after minorities reached almost EUR 1.3 billion, which have allowed us to fund the dividend while still reducing net debt from EUR 12.3 billion to around EUR 11.7 billion.
In this sense, it's worthwhile highlighting that our credit metrics remain solid with FFO to net debt at around 30%, that's 3-0, which is comfortably above the 18% BBB threshold. As I mentioned, net debt remember, will rise by around EUR 400 million in the second half of the year as a result of a one-off Sonatrach payment.
But even so, the balance sheet remains strong and gives us significant strategic flexibility as the Chairman outlined earlier on. With that, I'm going to hand it over to Rita to go over the specific business units, and then we'll finish off with the outlook.
Thanks, Steven, and good morning, everyone. Starting with gas networks on Page 15. Gas networks reported a total EBITDA of EUR 883 million in June 2026, representing a 6% increase when compared to 2025. In Spain, gas networks experienced the remuneration adjustments foreseen in the current regulatory framework with lower demand when compared to 2025.
The new regulatory framework for the 2027-2032 period was published. This proposal maintains a parametric formula, providing continuity with the current model and also providing regulatory stability with a downside protection against demand variation.
The new remuneration model reinforces the strategic role of gas in the energy transition, while for the first time, supporting the decarbonization of gas consumption through biomethane incentives. The next step is now for the Council of State to formally approve the remuneration framework.
If we move to Latin America, where we had growth across the different geographies. In Mexico, positive results mainly impacted by tariff reviews in our concessions implemented during the second half of 2025 and positive FX impact. In Brazil, positive evolution because of regularization from prior periods, along with higher demand for power generation due to lower hydro production in the country and positive FX impact.
We are now preparing the extension concession process expected in 2027. In Argentina, tariff update compensated with currency depreciation and cost inflation and in Chile performance positively affected primarily by improved energy scenario. As announced in the first quarter report, the regulatory review for the 2026-2029 period has already been published with a positive update recognition of -- on the asset base.
In summary, growth in LatAm and improved visibility of the new regulation for gas distribution in Spain, which shows regulatory stability and continuity. Moving to Electricity networks business. EBITDA reached EUR 637 million, up to 24% versus 2025 levels. This extraordinary result is affected by a one-off remuneration adjustment and the regulatory reset in Spain.
If we look to the different geographies in Spain, EBITDA increased 28%, supported by a higher regulated asset base and higher remuneration rates following the implementation of the new remuneration framework that was approved last year. This result also shows an important one-off gain related to the recognition of operational maintenance remuneration corresponding to years 2021 and '22 of EUR 74 million impact. This is indeed a retroactive remuneration.
In Panama, results positively affected by higher demand for high temperatures has compensated for negative FX evolution for the depreciation of the U.S. dollar. The group has a strong commitment to the quality upgrade investment plan that is already reflected in the improved operational quality metrics in our distributors.
Finally, in Argentina, results driven by a new tariff review for the 2026-2030 period for the electricity business in San Juan that was published with positive tariff updates, but partially compensated by FX and cost inflation. In May, another important key milestone was achieved with the 10-year renewal of the electricity concession in San Juan.
In summary, strong results were driven by the positive impact of the new regulatory framework in Spain, together with the recognition of previously outstanding remuneration.
Now turning to Energy Management on Page 17. EBITDA reached EUR 513 million, which shows stability in results when compared to 2025, mainly due to higher margins from hedge volumes that compensate for the termination in gas contracts in December 2025 that we already announced in the strategic plan.
The conflict in the Middle East contributed to higher energy prices and elevated market volatility through the first half of the year and geopolitical uncertainty will remain a key market driver in the next months. The groug has a hedge position for 2026 but was able to capture opportunities from ongoing volatility, leveraging for this on our contract flexibilities, our LNG tanker fleet and also on downstream position.
As you all know, in June, the European Commission confirmed the ban on the long-term Russian LNG contracts from 2027. This affects our contract with Yamal. Let me be clear on 2 aspects. The first one is that security of supply to Naturgy clients is warranted as Naturgy holds sufficient gas with free destiny clauses to cover our gas commitments in Spain and Europe. And second, this ban is structured as a force majeure event by the EU, which relieves standard take-or-pay obligation.
This is Manuel. May I add to that, that the European Commission flagged this measure as a force majeure. So this basically relieves from the take-or-pay obligation of the long-term contracts. But secondly, you are aware that today, the European indexes, the TTF peaked at its high in the last 2 years and even surpassed mid-March when Hormuz started. So probably this should make the European Union to review the ban system because it has to be applied. In a context quite different to the context in which they were decided, which was basically in autumn of '25.
Thanks. Overall, performance in the business was supported by effective hedging and contract optimization, together with a diversified procurement portfolio that warrant the security of supply to our clients in a context of uncertainty and volatility.
Continuing with thermal generation. EBITDA reached EUR 360 million. This is 15% over 2025 EBITDA levels due to higher activity in Spain. In Spain, results improved, supported by stronger demand for ancillary services, where CCGTs have proven to be a backup technology amid increasing renewable penetration.
Naturgy's fleet reliability, flexibility and efficiency remain a key competitive advantage in the ancillary services market. In LatAm, improved performance in the Dominican Republic offset the negative impact of the U.S. dollar depreciation and an operational incident at a combined cycle power plant in Mexico.
In LatAm, negotiations for PPA contracts covering our combined cycle fleet are still ongoing. We expect these agreements to be renewed by the year-end on terms broadly consistent with the current PPAs. In conclusion, combined cycle gas turbines have consolidated their role as a backup technology in an increasingly renewable power system.
Let's turn now to renewable generation on Page 19. Renewable generation reached an EBITDA of EUR 313 million during the period. 3% lower when compared to 2025 levels with 360 megawatts of additional installed capacity. In Spain, results were affected by lower renewable generation due to higher hydro recorded and also a weaker price environment. This was partially offset by the contribution of new capacity commissioned at the end of 2025.
Higher renewable output has resulted in downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices versus 2025 levels. However, the group's vertically integrated position offset partially this impact. In the United States, results are higher when compared to 2025, mainly due to high production and energy prices. New capacity has entered in operation with a further 125 megawatts to be commissioned in this year.
In LatAm, activity was positively impacted by improved output and margins in Mexico and Chile and while in Australia increased output from the commissioning of new capacity, 360 megawatts added, but negative evolution of the mark-to-market valuation of existing PPAs under accounting criteria.
Overall, renewable results were supported by the contribution of new commission capacity despite a lower price environment. Selective growth continues with 360 megawatts added in H1 and further 700 megawatts expected to become operational in the second half of the year.
Last, moving to supply. EBITDA has been EUR 319 million, 17% lower when compared to 2025 levels. In electricity, the sector continues to face margin pressure driven mainly by higher ancillary services costs. However, the commercial strategy has been adapted in order to reflect these new market conditions.
In addition, the impact of lower prices have been largely mitigated by the group's integrated business model and its contracted sales position for 2026. In gas, results were affected by lower industrial demand and reduced margins in regulated tariffs.
Meanwhile, the process to recover regulated tariff deficits remains ongoing. Overall, sector-wide margin pressure, partially contained by the integrated model, both in gas and electricity. I will now hand it over to Steven to take you through the outlook. Thank you.
Thank you, Rita. It's Steven again. So let's turn now to the following slide to look at the outlook, right? And when we start thinking about the outlook for 2026, I think it's worthwhile to start with the market scenario. So forwards for the year for 2026 point to a certain stabilization, but it's fair to say that uncertainty remains elevated.
Oil and gas benchmarks are above pre-conflict levels, and the Iberian pool prices are likely to stay volatile, largely driven by renewable resource. In this context, our proactive risk management, diversified portfolio and operational flexibilities give us both protection on the downside and the ability to capture upside at no incremental risk.
Now recent events on the geopolitical front are, of course, not indicative of lower energy prices near term and fundamentals remain tight as we will see on the next page. In fact, looking a little further ahead, I want to spend a moment on next winter because we frankly believe that planning for the winter '26, '27 must start now to mitigate the risk of shortages and price spikes.
There are basically 4 dynamics worth highlighting right now. One, the Russian gas ban removes somewhere between 10% to 13% of EU supply at peak. And importantly, was approved when the market was still expected to be well supplied. Two, the Hormuz disruption has removed around 20% of global LNG.
Let me make that clear, 20% of global LNG. And there's no clear time line for resumption that into an already tight market. Number three, EU storage is at its lowest level in 5 years with limited economic incentive to refill given the TTF backwardation. And finally, let's remember that storage is highly weather sensitive. That means that a cold winter, for example, as we have seen in the recent years, could risk shortages by February 2027.
So essentially, the Russian ban was designed in a market of abundance, now facing a very different reality, low storage, Hormuz risk and an already tight LNG market. Planning must be made now ahead of the winter. If we move over then to close. I want to close where we began, where the Chairman began really, which was delivery.
Reflecting our strong first half performance, we are upgrading our 2026 guidance with the key metrics revised favorably versus the consensus. EBITDA above EUR 5.5 billion and net income above EUR 2.1 billion, both ahead of consensus. Net debt now expected to close around EUR 13 billion and a dividend per share of EUR 1.8 per share, implying a circa 6.2% yield at current prices.
So to conclude, Naturgy is entering a new phase. We've cleared the overhang. We've strengthened our balance sheet, and we have disciplined growth optionality ahead of us. And all these are reflected in an upgraded guidance for the year. We are well positioned to navigate volatility, as you have seen and above all, to create value for all our shareholders.
As we approach 2027, we'll start working on a new strategic plan. I may add a new exciting strategic plan that reflects the company's full potential. Ahead of this new plan, as regards to our '25 to '27 strategic plan, what we can say specifically as regards our guidance is that we feel comfortable with the EUR 5.3 billion EBITDA guidance and EUR 1.9 billion net profit guidance for 2027, assuming a worst-case Yamal scenario.
Again, EUR 5.3 billion EBITDA, EUR 1.9 billion net profit, assuming a worst-case Yamal scenario. In fact, we feel that there is more upside potential to these figures than downside. And of course, we'll be updating the market on the '27 guidance at the latest at the full time -- full year 2027 results, if not before that. So with that, we'd like to conclude the presentation and obviously, happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you.
Great. Many thanks, Steven, and everyone for listening. So now as we mentioned at the beginning, we'll open the call to Q&A. And as we pointed out at the beginning of the call, we've now given the opportunity to equity analysts and investors to do live questions through the conference call, okay? So if you rather prefer to make questions through the webcast, you can also do so, but we encourage you to participate in the call and make your live questions through the call. So with that, I will hand it over to the operator, if you can please remind everyone of the mechanics to make the questions. Please, operator, go ahead.
[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Pedro Alves from CaixaBank.
2. Question Answer
The first question on energy management and the Russian LNG ban. So you mentioned no shortfall risk given sufficient U.S. LNG volumes, but replacing your long-term Russian linked cargoes with spot or U.S. indexed volumes will likely compress your achievable margins and you commented also that for 2027. So can you please quantify the expected 2027 EBIT delta that you can see for energy management from this repositioning? Could we be talking on a triple-digit million euro negative impact?
And then somewhat related to that, we have seen news of the Spanish Prime Minister and other energy executives visiting Algeria targeting higher pipe volumes and LNG shipments. Can you comment on how could this play out for Naturgy and if this eventually is a real lever for additional volumes in the coming years?
And then lastly, also on the energy management. So you are flagging gas storage at 5-year lows, the TTF in backwardation and the potential risk of shortages beginning of next year if we have a cold winter. Can you please share your level of hedges for next year? And if your hedging book leaves you in a position to capture still relevant upside from the potential price spikes that we may have in repricing of the TTF curve?
If I'm correct, you have assumed that we would be buying some spot cargoes during the next year. What we have said is with the current long-term contracts that we have, basically those coming from Algeria and the States, we have volume enough to supply all our end customers plus our power generation. So if your question relies on this assumption of having to buy relevant volumes of spot LNG, this is not the case in Naturgy.
So just as a quick reminder, right, because you're asking us to quantify the amount contract, and we don't quantify contracts. What we can tell you is we feel extremely comfortable with the 2027 guidance that we provided at the time of the '25, '27 strategic plan presentation, EUR 5.3 billion EBITDA, EUR 1.9 billion, and that is assuming a worst-case scenario from Yamal. So there is potential upside there, but we're not going to quantify how much Yamal contributes right now.
On the Algeria question, you may know 2 things. Number one, as we explained in the past presentations, the pipeline that connects Spain with Algeria, the Medgaz where we participate together with Sonatrach as owners is already prepared to increase its capacity by around 0.5 bcm or 1 bcm between -- depending on the pressure 0.6 to 1 bcm. This is already prepared -- and the relationship between Sonatrach and Naturgy is good enough to plan for increase this volume on the next winter.
The balance sheet that Steven has been speaking about on global EU gas situation has already considered that this volume is arriving. But as you may imagine, with the whole volume that is required by the EU, this is a very, very small part. The pipeline has intrinsically a limitation -- physical limitation to pipe gas on circumstances that can be distributed later into the Iberian Peninsula. Therefore, this incremental capacity is due to the excess of pressure that is provided by the new compression stations, but there is a limitation because of the size of the tube.
Regarding our hedging position in 2027, we have our U.S. gas exposure fully hedged for next year. And we don't have any hedging regarding Yamal LNG contract. However, we will try to optimize our margins, taking advantage of our LNG tanker fleet and our downstream positions as we did this year.
Our next question comes from the line of Alexander Braunshausen from Bank of America.
The first one regarding Spanish electricity networks and the EUR 74 million one-off retroactive adjustment. I don't think we had any detail about the retroactive adjustment that you made in 2025, which I think happened in Q1. And it kind of feels that you disclosing a specific number means that this one-off was perhaps more meaningful than in previous years. So just wanted to get a sense of the delta here and if we should expect something of the same magnitude or not in '27, '28, as you commented on the slides? And if so, given the regulation already in place, what would be the drivers of that one-off in '27, '28?
Secondly, just regarding renewables. I think you are now targeting for 1 gigawatt for the year, and that compares to, I think, a guidance of 1.2 gigawatt that you had given at Q1. So the first question is why the decrease? And equally, why are you only targeting 2.1 gig over '27, 2030, which would mean a drop in capacity addition from 1 gig to 500 megawatts per annum, therefore, not utilizing the strong balance sheet capacity that you have?
And then last and finally, for my third question, I do note that regulation has been more supportive for gas distribution in terms of gas injection targets. You do mention some potential support in terms of consumption of biogas. I'm just wondering if there's any more data or specific regulation upcoming or announcement from the government that we should look at for your EUR 700 million of CapEx in biogas production onto which I think you still have not taken FID for '27.
Let me start on the renewable side first as a strategic view of what -- how are we approaching the renewable CapEx program. Point number one, as you can imagine, as time goes by, the adaptation of the calendar of real investment to our objectives are made more solid than today, we are forecasting the figures we mentioned to you, which are based on the figures you mentioned, but taking into account that 6 months of the year had already gone.
And for the next 6 months, we see how the delivery of equipment and the delivery of permitting, et cetera, may incorporate these gigawatts in operation. Point number two, the reason why the figures are not matching and are decreasing a little is because as the consequence -- is a consequence of our constant adaptation of our prognosis of electricity prices that are making the projects more or less profitable.
As we have been saying every presentation for us, value matters more than size. And therefore, the investments in renewables should be also linked not only to the obligation of increasing number of megawatts in place, but also that these megawatts are profitable.
Therefore, we have been discarding certain projects that at the present circumstances are not as profitable as we thought they were couple of years ago. Then the adaptation of our figures is a consequence of the evolution of the reality of the market.
On electricity distribution, in general, it's not only about electricity distribution, but in general, the problem of comparing apples-to-apples in terms of all the figures is that in our business, because decisions by the regulator are not taken exactly calendar year by calendar year, we have always a very small part of our results that include one-offs. The reality is that every year, we have certain one-offs. But in comparison, the delta is negligible, is less than 2% of the total EBITDA figures.
In our 2026 first half results, we have certain one-offs in electricity distribution compared to last year, which are around EUR 70 million in total. But we also expect new one-offs in coming years because of decisions that are taken late by regulators and adapting.
As you have seen, our accounting policy is more conservative than aggressive and one-offs are normally being positive and with negative impacts. And on gas regulation, I can tell you, the gas regulation is not finished yet. It has been preapproved by the State Council. Then we cannot comment on precise figures till they will be fully released and even less for '28 that we haven't shared any figure for the whole company. Now our commitment, some figures are finishing with the strategic plan '25-'27.
Our next question comes from the line of Arthur Sitbon from Morgan Stanley.
The first one is on the comment that you made on the 2027 targets, the EUR 5.3 billion EBITDA, EUR 1.9 billion net profit minimum. And you were saying you are extremely comfortable with that even assuming a worst-case scenario for Yamal. I was wondering if you could provide a bit more detail on what would be this worst-case scenario for Yamal? And what would be the range of possibilities between that worst-case scenario and a status quo of which, as I understand, is ruled out now, but of still having the volumes of that contract. So that's my first question.
The second one would be on net income growth. I understand that you will present a new strategic plan later on. But I was wondering if the current level of net income for 2026 is something that you are comfortable to grow from even without M&A or if to be able to deliver higher net income than in 2026 in, let's say, 2028 or 2030, you necessarily need to do -- to conduct an acquisition.
Thank you for your questions, Steven here. So worst case, Yamal means no volumes. Okay. As regards to net income, you're asking us to go beyond '27. So we've given you a guidance for 2027 in line with our strategic plan, which is EUR 1.9 billion. What we've said during the call is that we feel comfortable with that level of net income, even in a worst-case Yamal scenario, which I just mentioned includes no volumes coming from Yamal.
I also mentioned that we see upside to these figures, the EUR 5.3 billion EBITDA and EUR 1.9 billion on net profit. Going beyond '27, i.e., '28, '29, '30, give us some time. We promise we are working on a new strategic plan that we'll present to the market where we'll provide you with sufficient visibility so you can actually test us in terms of the credibility. I think we've gained some credibility in the market. Since 2018, every single time we provided guidance, we've met, we've actually exceeded it. But right now, on the 22nd of July of 2026, we're not going to be disclosing guidance for '28, '29, '30 or beyond.
Our next question comes from the line of Alberto Gandolfi from Goldman Sachs.
The first one is going back to your very helpful Slide #7, where you talk about the organic growth levers. My first bet, but I suspect, even given Steven, what you just said, you're not going to reply would be, is there any chance you can help us understand underlying organic growth by Naturgy before any M&A. So if you start from EUR 1.9 billion or EUR 2 billion, you said there is upside to '27. I mean, is this Slide 7 telling us there is a low to mid-single-digit EPS growth before M&A? And if you don't answer that, my backup would be, is there any way you can quantify how much CapEx Slide 7 implies between '27 and 2030.
The second question is, you were very clear on Slide 8 to talk about up to EUR 10 billion, EUR 12 billion of balance sheet headroom. This is very clear. I wanted to ask you, is there more we need to think about? I mean, is there a portion of the business that given the right opportunity, you might be willing to rotate. So maybe your total transformation is not EUR 10 billion, EUR 12 billion, maybe it's closer to EUR 20 billion. That's what I was thinking.
And the last question is very quick, number three. Still on Slide 7, you talked about 900 megawatt projects under development, data centers plus a 2-gigawatt pipeline, any chance you can give more granularity on what you're specifically doing there? Is this connection point? Are you thinking about a PPA? Are you thinking about being part of a wider project in a JV? So what would be your business model here?
So thank you. Thanks Alberto. So it's a good try. It's a good try trying to come up with an estimate for net profit beyond '27. Wait until we provide you the details, right? What we can say, I think, comfortably is that a normal run rate for CapEx for the company would be comfortably at around EUR 2 billion a year as a year. That would be, I think, a baseline that you could work with. And then we're always looking for ways to increase that.
In terms of the balance sheet headroom, the question is whether or not we would be considering any asset rotation. First and foremost, the figure that is included in the presentation, EUR 10 billion to EUR 12 billion does not include any asset rotation, correct? This is simply an exercise of releveraging.
As to whether or not we would be open to the option, we've always said that we have no sacred cows in the company. And obviously, everything depends on price. What I can tell you, nonetheless, is that we are clearly on a growth mode as opposed to a shrinking mode. But if someone comes in with an offer that we cannot refuse, then obviously, I think we all have a responsibility to bring it to the Board and analyze it then.
And as regards to the development of the data center opportunity, the model that we are focusing on right now is a power land model and coupled with PPA, long-term PPA contracts with offtakers. We are not, at this stage, thinking of taking up equity in data center projects, but rather monetizing some of the prime locations that the company has.
And here, we continue to develop the projects, be it through the acquisition of land where we have to, the engagement of offtakers. There is a hurdle that we need to clear for us and for everyone else in Spain that is not developing data centers of grid.
And that is the development of the new Reglamento, the new regulations. which we expect to have cleared by the government, hopefully before year-end. And that is a clear catalyst for us to move forward with some of the projects that are in a more advanced stage.
Our next question comes from the line of Peter Crampton from Barclays.
It's Peter Crampton here from Barclays. And congratulations on today's results and guidance raise. Two questions, if I may. One is around the Capital Markets Day or kind of an event where you kind of update on strategy and targets given a lot has happened over the last year. Is there any idea on kind of rough timing when this could be?
And then secondly, just taking the big step back, is it correct to assume that, obviously, because next year, you have more unhedged volumes, the trends you saw in the first half, obviously, one could extrapolate even more positively to next year?
On the Capital Market Day or at Capital Markets Day, we understand the interest. Again, we are going to be developing a new strategic plan throughout the course of 2027 because as you understand, our current strategic plan ends on the 31st of December of 2027. So we have to have some visibility for '28 and forward.
And so I think it's a safe bet that next year, we will be coming to the market. And when we have a clear picture of the timing, we'll obviously give you a heads up so everyone is organized there. In terms of potential upsides for 2027, again, we're going to fall back. We provide the market with guidance at the time of the full year results. In this particular case, we mentioned that this is going to be at the latest.
So there is a possibility if we have more visibility of providing you more guidance for '27 in the Q3 numbers later this year. Reemphasize, we feel very comfortable with EUR 5.3 billion of EBITDA, EUR 1.9 billion of net profit, assuming a worst-case Yamal scenario. And again, we see upside -- more upside than downside to those figures. Be patient, okay? We are a company that prides itself in delivering on its commitments. We'll provide you more tangible commitments in the coming months.
Our next question comes from the line of Javier Suarez from Mediobanca.
Three questions from me as well. The first one is on the increasing the guidance by EUR 200 million. If you can help us to understand the different components of this increase in guidance. I guess that there is a component of higher natural gas prices, also better ForEx. If you can help us to understand the different moving pieces that has led you to increase this guidance by, again, EUR 200 million.
Then on the firepower that has been quantified over EUR 10 billion. In Slide #9, you are giving some details and also in preference for electricity, but open to selective gas acquisitions as well. So my question is, which is your interest on brownfield renewable asset and how this opportunity to acquire renewable energies compared with investment on regulated assets in the Western world. I'm also interested in your view, and that is the third question, your view on the profitability of investing in new battery systems and your latest thought on the hydrogen opportunity.
Okay. So for the first question, obviously, we have a more supportive energy price environment this year than expected. Remember that at the beginning of the year, prices were close to EUR 27 megawatt hour for the year. Second, we also have a more favorable FX outlook in LatAm than we were expecting in Argentina, in Mexico and in Brazil. And finally, we also had stronger-than-expected CCGT performance in ancillary services that reinforces our view that CCGTs are essential in assisting with increased renewable penetration. So these are the 3 main impacts that made us review our estimations for the year.
Javier Suarez, I think you were asking about the potential interest or views that we have on brownfield renewables. We have looked and we are looking actively at brownfield renewable opportunities, but only those markets where we can actually export or already have the integrated model, correct? Also when thinking about stand-alone growth in renewables, we have to be mindful. We are not technology agnostic.
So we have a clear preference towards wind as opposed to solar. And it's also very important to understand, as I mentioned before, that we are looking for that vertical integration, right? So when thinking about renewables, bear in mind that one of the things that we like about the company, and it's by design is that we are well balanced. So we're not long generation. We're not long clients. We have a clear balance in marginal generation with clients. So when thinking about opportunities as well, that's something that we have to be mindful of.
The Chairman mentioned in Slide 9, the first point was the portfolio and the risk profile. What we are looking to do when approaching growth opportunities is to improve the company's business risk profile or overall business risk profile. So those are some of the questions that we ask ourselves is by doing acquisition A or B, what is the result -- what does the resulting company look like?
So buying large exposure to stand-alone renewals without accompanying clients would necessarily shift the risk towards higher risk versus what we have right now. And therefore, naturally, we look to ways to offset that. And if we can't, then those investment opportunities would rank lower than some of the other ones that we're looking at.
Speaking of which you asked the question about our views on hydrogen is we like hydrogen. We think hydrogen is the future, but it's the long-term future. It's the future of the future. So we think we have to bridge the gap between the current economy and a hydrogen economy.
And one way we think we bridge that gap is through renewable gases. And that's why instead of focusing on hydrogen, we're focusing on biomethane because we think that's what bridges it right now. And in fact, you've seen the Spanish government for the first time in a while, finally present some incentives for the introduction of biomethane. So we think that is encouraging.
In terms of battery systems, we are investing in battery systems in Naturgy, specifically every single new facility on the renewable side that we're building right now has battery systems coupled with them. So we think they're going to be playing an increasingly important role and specifically as we start moving towards capacity payments. So yes, we would agree that this is an area to continue investing as we're doing right now.
Our next question comes from the line of Gonzalo Sanchez-Bordona from UBS.
I have 2 questions. One is a quick clarification on the worst-case scenario that you mentioned earlier on the Yamal for the 2027 guidance. My question there is, you said that means no volumes from Yamal, but I just want to make sure that you are not including any potential take-or-pay penalties. I don't know what is the right word to call it, but basically, it's no volumes, but no further impact than not getting the volumes. So that will be the first one.
And then on the second one, I appreciate that you will not provide guidance beyond 2027, but this is more of a qualitative question is regarding your very good performance in the past few months/quarters on the CCGT fleet in Spain and obviously benefiting a lot from the ancillary services, which partly are driven by the growing renewables penetration, but I guess partly is also driven by the reinforced operation of the grid post blackout last year.
So I guess my question is, how do you see that evolving going forward qualitatively? I mean, do you think as more renewals, more batteries come to the system that can remain stable, go up, go down? Or basically, any thoughts on that front?
This is Manuel. On the take-or-pay consideration, precisely the force majeure, what the basic consequence of raising force majeure and being allowed to raise force majeure, I guess the other party is that you get released from your take-or-pay obligation and hence, for any payment related to the take-or-pay.
Regarding the batteries installation, how this impacts on the ancillary services, this is more in a medium, long-term view. We are expecting capacity payments to be approved by the government once they got the authorization from the DG competition of the European Commission. We expect to see them by the beginning of the year. But this won't change very much the ancillary services market as we know it. It will just be a payment to be available and to have the combined cycles properly maintained. But this doesn't change in any way the ancillary services that we have.
It's true what you say that there's a correlation with the renewables penetration. We've been seeing this in the last 3, 4 years. But the mention that you made to the reinforced operation, at this point, we don't think we can continue to speak about reinforced system because now it becomes the ordinary way of running the system and somebody could think if this way of running the system shouldn't be -- shouldn't have been already in place before the incident of April 28. So basically, it's not a reinforced operation of the system. It's the system that is required by the volume of renewables penetration that is in place before April 25 and not only after April 25.
Thank you, Manuel. I think there is one last question. Operator, if you can pass it through.
Next question comes from the line of Fernando Lafuente from Alantra.
Just a follow-up on the M&A front. So we've recently seen one of your peers use M&A to enter a new regulated networks market. So would expanding into a new European geography through the acquisition of a regulated network asset be something you would also consider as part of your inorganic growth strategy?
Fernando, the answer is yes, provided that it meets the criteria that we outlined in Slide 9, right? And I think there's also an element of size, right? I mean, getting a small footprint in a small European country with limited growth potential is something that would make us look in potentially another direction, right?
But as a general rule of thumb, if it meets the 4 criteria that are outlined in Page #9 of the presentation, then yes, we'll look at it. And I think we've been clear on point one bullet point. We're looking at hard currency geographies, Europe, North America with a bias for electricity, regulated or benefiting from vertical integration. Those are the rules of engagement that we've set ourselves, and that's where we're spending our time actually.
Many thanks, Steven. I think this concludes the questions, the online questions. And there are no other questions through the webcast. I think most of them have been addressed and well covered during the conference call. So thank you very much for joining and listening. The Capital Markets team remains available for any follow-ups or any additional concerns you may have in the coming days. And other than that, many thanks, and have a good summer, everyone.
Thank you.
Naturgy Energy Group — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Naturgy's First Quarter 2026 Results Presentation. This is Abel Arbat speaking from the Capital Markets team at Naturgy. Next to me sits the Global Head of Financial Markets and Corporate Development, Mr. Steven Fernandez; and Global Head of Financial Control and Energy Planning, Ms. Rita Ruiz de Alda. As usual, we will begin with the presentation and then move to a Q&A session. Please submit your questions through the webcast platform, and we will address them at the end of the call.
With that, I'll hand it over to Steven to start the presentation.
Thank you, Abel, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. As Abel mentioned, we're going to go through the presentation. You've had the results publication earlier this morning, and we'd like to focus on a couple of key highlights and then give you room for some questions.
If we go to the Page 4 of the deck, so that will be the energy markets evolution. And that's before we get into the financial results and the numbers for the first quarter. We think it's important to set the stage in terms of context, right? So basically, in the first month of the year, we've seen milder weather conditions, greater supply visibility and a lower geopolitical risk premium resulting in lower average gas and electricity prices in Europe compared to the previous year. However, and this is important to note, this trend reversed following the outbreak of the war in Iran, which obviously has disrupted oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. And therefore, energy prices have seen a sharp increase through March, reflecting that spike in overall geopolitical risk and supply concerns.
If we focus then on the numbers, if we go to Slide #5 really quickly, what you'll see is that we have achieved a strong operational and financial performance in this volatile market that we just described, delivering an earnings growth of basically over 5% versus the first quarter of 2025, which is underpinned by robust performance across the different business lines. Cash flow generation for the period remained strong, which has preserved our valuable balance sheet flexibility, and we'll discuss that later on in the presentation. Also, as a highlight on March, we distributed the final dividend for year 2025, which, as a reminder, was EUR 0.57 per share, which ended up translating to a total 2025 dividend of EUR 1.77 per share, above the initial guidance of EUR 1.7 per share.
Let's now review how the EBITDA evolved across the different businesses, and that's something that you can see on Slide 6. So basically, EBITDA growth was broad-based across the portfolio, really. Regulated activities growth was underpinned by a higher regulated remuneration in Spanish electricity distribution, as you all know, and tariff updates across the LatAm markets, which were partially offset by negative FX impacts. The liberalized or merchant activities and particularly energy management benefited from higher gas prices and volatility following the outbreak of the Iranian conflict. And in the meantime, the thermal generation contribution increased due to the growing need of ancillary services in Spain following the reinforced operations after the blackout.
Finally, in terms of EBITDA, renewals grew mainly driven by increased capacity and very importantly, also higher hydro conditions in Spain and wind output, while supply and renewable gases remained stable. We think that the strong start of the year reflects our diversification, the operational resilience that we have and a very disciplined risk management, and that we feel demonstrates that the company is well positioned to navigate a volatile energy environment through 2026 as it remains. If we move over to the cash flow and the debt, you'll see that funds from operations remained strong at EUR 1.1 billion in the quarter. That's up 9.6%, and that shows the solid underlying business performance. Free cash flow after minorities amounted to EUR 810 million, and that's an almost 12% increase compared to last year, allowing for EUR 548 million of dividend distribution, while at the same time, maintaining or even slightly reducing the net debt levels as you see in the slide.
Key credit metrics remain very robust with an FFO to net debt ratio standing at 28%, and that's well above the 18% threshold for our current BBB rating from S&P and Fitch. And in fact, this is the strongest ratio that we've had over the last few years. So all in all, the balance sheet remains strong, and this provides the company with a significant strategic flexibility that we'll see later on.
So now I'll hand over to Rita so she can go over the main business unit highlights before closing the presentation and opening the line for Q&A.
Thanks, Steven, and good morning, everyone. Starting with Gas Networks on Page 9. Gas Networks reported a total EBITDA of EUR 380 million in March 2026, representing a 2% increase when compared to 2025. In Spain, Gas Networks experienced remuneration adjustments foreseen in the current regulatory framework with a stable demand when compared to 2025. On March, our first draft of the new regulatory framework for the [ 2027-2032 ] period was published and the proposed remuneration maintains the parametric formula, providing continuity with the current model and also providing regulatory [indiscernible]. The new remuneration model reinforces the strategic role of gas in the energy transition, while for the first time, supporting the decarbonization of gas consumption through biomethane incentives. Recommendations have already been submitted, and we expect a final resolution scheme after the summer.
In Mexico, results mainly impacted by tariff reviews in all of our concessions implemented during the second half of 2025 and positive FX impact. The group has recently renewed concession extensions in three regions in Mexico for the next 15 years as expected in our strategic plan, and we expect to renew the remaining four concessions during 2026, 2027.
In Brazil, positive regularization from prior periods, along with higher demand from power generation, mainly due to lower hydro production. The team is proactively preparing for the 2027 concession retendering process with a strong focus on regulatory risk mitigation and early positioning. In Argentina, tariff update compensated with currency depreciation and cost inflation. In Chile, performance affected by FX impact, lower demand and energy scenario. The regulatory review for the 2026-2029 period has been published with a positive update recognition on the asset base. In summary, solid performance in gas networks and improved visibility with the first draft of the new regulation for gas distribution in Spain, which shows regulatory stability and continuity.
Moving to Electricity Networks business. EBITDA reached EUR 253 million, 4% over 2025 level. Regarding electricity networks business in Spain, EBITDA increased driven by higher regulated asset base and higher remuneration rates following the application of the new remuneration scheme. This positive impact has been partially offset by the negative impact of final adjustments related to prior year remuneration.
In Panama, results positively affected by higher demand and lower losses that compensated for negative FX evolution. Strong commitment to the quality of trade investment plan in Panama already reflected in improved operational quality metrics.
Finally, in Argentina, this first quarter, a new tariff review for the 2026-2030 period for the electricity business in San Juan was published with positive tariff updates, but partially compensated by FX depreciation and cost inflation. In summary, positive impact from regulatory framework in Spain and tariff review in Argentina.
Now turning to Energy Management on Page 11. EBITDA reached EUR 237 million, which shows an increase versus 2025 of 20%, mainly due to higher margins that compensate for termination in gas contracts. Naturgy is not directly impacted by the supply shortages as we don't have gas procurement contracts from Middle East. This allows us to ensure full continuity and security of supply of our customers. As a consequence of the supply disruption, there has been an increase in energy prices globally as well as an increase in volatility. The group's exposure to gas prices in 2026, however, is limited, driven to proactive hedging implemented ahead the conflict.
However, the group is now focused on risk management and potential capture of opportunities and optimizations from ongoing volatility, leveraging for this on contractual flexibilities, LNG tanker fleet and downstream positions. As we mentioned in February, we have reached a price agreement with our gas supplier, Sonatrach, for the period '25, '27, which provides us visibility in the context of energy price volatility.
Overall, performance was supported by effective hedging and optimizations together with a diversified procurement portfolio that warranty security of supply in a context of uncertainty and increased volatility.
Continuing with thermal generation, EBITDA reached EUR 179 million in 2026, 11% over 2025 levels due to higher activity in Spain. In Spain, results increased, supported by higher demand for ancillary services from our combined cycle fleet, but this was partially offset by lower revenues and output from nuclear plants, mainly due to shed refueling outages. Naturgy holds the largest CCGT fleet in Spain, acting as a backbone to energy security of supply.
In LatAm, improved performance in Mexico CCGTs and higher production in Dominican Republic, offset by negative impact from U.S. dollar depreciation. In conclusion, CCGTs are key to meeting Spain's growing need for ancillary services.
Now let's turn to renewable generation on Page 13. Renewable generation reached an EBITDA of EUR 185 million during the period, 8% over 2025 level. In Spain, renewable generation was 10% higher when compared to '25, and this was mainly due to stronger wind and hydro output. It's important to remember that we had exceptionally high hydro levels in February 2023. Higher renewable output has resulted in downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices versus 2025 levels. However, the group's vertically integrated position offsets this impact.
The group continues to pursue selective renewable growth, focusing on recovery and battery hybrids. In the United States, results are higher when compared to 2025, mainly due to higher production and higher energy prices. New capacity has entered into operation, and we have a total 125 megawatts to be commissioned in 2026. Naturgy has successfully completed the disposal of its U.S. renewable project portfolio that did not meet return thresholds, reinforcing with this decision, the group's strategic focus on disciplined capital deployment.
In LatAm, activity was positively impacted by improved output in Mexico due to recent maintenance improvements, but negatively impacted by lower prices.
Finally, in Australia, negative evolution of the mark-to-market valuation of existing PPAs. Additionally, 360 megawatts are under construction that will become operational in 2026. Overall, results from renewable generation were higher, driven by commissioning of new capacity in 2025, increased production in Spain and the successful disposal of the renewable project portfolio in the U.S., in line with the priorities set out in our strategic plan. Electric growth continues with 1.2 gigawatts of capacity currently under construction and expected to come into operation by the end of 2026.
Last, moving to supply. EBITDA has been EUR 166 million, in line with 2025 results. In Electricity, the sector is experiencing margin pressure due to higher system ancillary services costs. However, commercial policies have been adapted to reflect this new market conditions. Margin pressure from lower prices has been contained by the group's integrated position and contracted sales for 2026. In Gas, higher margins in Industrial segment together with lower losses in regulated tariffs. Overall, results are stable with higher electricity costs offsetting improvements in gas margins.
Now I will hand it over to Steven for conclusions.
Well, thank you, Rita. We move over to Slide 16. Looking at the energy scenario for 2026, energy markets continue to reflect geopolitical uncertainty, of course. Spot prices of relevant oil and gas benchmarks remain high and the current forwards indicate that prices are expected to gradually normalize during the second half of the year, however, clearly remaining above the levels that we saw in January and February prior to the conflict.
The Iberian pool prices are expected to remain volatile and largely dependent on renewal resource as we move into the spring and summer season. And this scenario reflects continued volatility, particularly in the first half of the year, followed by normalization as the year goes on, but obviously subject to the evolution of the geopolitical environment. So in this context, I'd like to focus on a couple of points for the year ahead.
And if we go to Slide 17, I think that looking ahead to the balance of the year, we do see a number of important developments that give us increased confidence in the trajectory of the business. I think the key message is that we have had a strong start to the year, clearly, and visibility for the remainder of 2026 has improved. And this is not driven by any single factor, but rather by a broad set of initiatives across the portfolio, like regulatory clarity in networks, disciplined energy management, selective growth in renewables and renewable gases and opportunities to optimize our thermal and supply positions. So if I start with networks, we do expect the final regulatory framework for gas distribution in Spain to be a key milestone. This should provide overall greater clarity on future remuneration and reinforce the value of one of our most resilient businesses.
In LatAm, we're also focused on the retendering of concessions in Rio and Argentina, where our objective is to preserve and strengthen long-term value in attractive regulated platforms. In Energy Management, the priority remains security of supply and disciplined risk management. Now we're using our physical portfolio and hedging capabilities to manage volatility in a prudent way while preserving upside where appropriate. Importantly, this is not about taking directional risk. It's about extracting value from our integrated position, our procurement capabilities and our market expertise. We are also evaluating additional gas procurement opportunities, which could further enhance flexibility and optionality.
In thermal generation, we continue to see value from our role that our assets play in the system stability, particularly in Spain through grid support and voltage control. These are increasingly important services in our power system with growing renewable penetration. In addition, in Puerto Rico and Mexico, we see concrete opportunities to extend or reinforce the value from our existing capabilities. For example, in Puerto Rico, the Board of Directors approved yesterday the participation in a tender for CCGT. And in the meantime, we're also progressing on the negotiations of the PPA extensions in Mexico, and we expect to have visibility on that during the course of the year. In renewable generation, execution remains a core priority. Now throughout the presentation, you see that we have 1.2 gigawatts under development, that should be we have 1.2 gigawatts under construction. And in fact, following yesterday's Board of Directors, that number is now 1.6 gigawatts. So clearly, we are continuing to build on our renewable platform and focusing on delivering that pipeline with discipline, and that is an absolute critical point for us. At the same time, we are also prioritizing repowering and battery hybridization in Spain, which can unlock additional value from existing sites and obviously improve the quality of our renewable portfolio.
We will also continue to analyze bolt-on acquisitions. But obviously, as always, with a disciplined capital allocation approach. And I'm sure there will be some questions on that moving forward. On renewable gases, we are progressing on more than 70 projects currently under development. And as you know, this is an area where we believe that the company has a differentiated position, combining gas infrastructure, customer relationships, project development capabilities and a clear role in the energy transition. We are admittedly still at an early stage, but the pipeline gives us confidence that this can become an increasingly relevant growth vector over time.
Finally, in supply, we are adapting our commercial offering to reflect the current market conditions as expected, while maintaining, at the same time, a balanced integrated position. Now bear in mind, this is important because it allows us to serve customers competitively while protecting margins and preserving flexibility. We also continue to explore data center opportunities subject to the publication of the applicable development framework. And in this sense, we are encouraged by some aspects of the new draft regulation, which will reduce speculation in the sector and position strong players like Naturgy at a significant advantage relative to others. In general, as you know, data centers could represent an attractive source of incremental demand and infrastructure growth over the medium term. So overall, the message is quite clear, actually. We entered the rest of 2026 with better visibility, multiple levers of value creation and a portfolio that is well positioned across regulation, markets, growth and flexibility. We remain disciplined, but the start of the year gives us confidence that the business is moving in the right direction and certainly better than we initially expected.
Finally, our healthy balance sheet also continues to be an important source of strategic optionality. It gives us the flexibility to continue assessing growth opportunities from a position of strength while remaining fully disciplined on capital allocation. And in this sense, we have continued to advance in our analysis of potential opportunities with a clear focus on Western Europe and the United States and with a bias towards electricity-related routes, including networks, renewables and vertically integrated business models. That said, our approach remains unchanged. We will be selective, financially disciplined and patient. We do not feel under pressure to deploy capital for the sake of growth. We will only move forward where we see a clear strategic fit and an attractive risk return profile and the potential to create sustainable value for our shareholders.
Let me close with four key messages, if I may. First, since late February, we've seen a more volatile energy market environment, and our focus has been to manage that volatility with discipline, prioritizing security of supply, prudent risk management and the strength of our integrated portfolio. This is an environment where flexibility matters, but the key point is that we are not taking directional risk. We are managing our position carefully and extracting value from the capabilities we've built over time.
Second, the business is performing well. Earnings are up 5%, supported by a robust performance across the different businesses. And importantly, this is not dependent on one single driver. We are seeing solid delivery across regulated activities, energy management, generation and supply, which gives us greater confidence in the quality of the earnings base.
Third, our balance sheet remains a clear strength. It gives us strategic flexibility and importantly, growth optionality. We continue to advance in the analysis of opportunities with a focus on Western Europe and the U.S., as I've mentioned, with, again, a clear bias towards electricity, including, again, renewables, networks and vertically integrated business models. But it's important to highlight that our approach remains disciplined. We're not in a rush to deploy capital. We will remain selective and we'll only move forward where we see strategic fit and an attractive risk return profile and a clear path to value creation.
So overall, we think we are well positioned for the balance of 2026. We've got improved visibility, a resilient portfolio, disciplined credibility and flexibility to navigate volatility and a healthy balance sheet that allows us to preserve upside optionality beyond the current year.
And with that, I'll hand over to Arbat and any questions you may have.
Thank you, Steven and Rita, and thank you, everyone, for submitting your questions through the webcast. So we're going to start covering a few generic questions, and there are a number of questions related to guidance for 2026, which I would summarize as following the strong performance in the first quarter of the year, do we see space to exceed our 2026 guidance? And what are the main business dynamics or moving pieces in that guidance?
So we will update the market as we usually do on the H1 results. What we can tell you is what we just mentioned in the presentation, the year has started very strongly. It started ahead of our expectations. But we are talking about the Q1 results. So we need to see how the world evolves, how the volatility evolves. And before we're in a position to provide more indications of guidance beyond, again, emphasizing the fact that we started very strongly ahead of expectations. I don't know, Rita, if you want to add something to that?
Then there are a few questions as well around balance sheet capacity. And I would summarize them in terms of if we can comment on our balance sheet headroom and if we are open to pivot our strategy towards growth.
So the balance sheet headroom, I think there's an easy calculation you can do, which is looking at our FFO net debt right now, 28% and look at the limit of 18%. It's not as straightforward as that, obviously, because it depends what you're going to be using that balance sheet for. It depends if you're buying a company, the profile of that company, how much leverage that company brings along, how much cash flow, et cetera. So it's a little bit more complicated than just a pure mathematical calculation, but a back of the envelope calculation is something you can actually do. The reality is that there is balance sheet headroom, okay? Interestingly, I would say, yesterday, we had a Board of Directors, and one of the messages coming from the Board of Directors is unanimous support for the company to actively explore growth opportunities. And that could take the form of organic growth, additional organic growth or where appropriate, inorganic growth. And that's exactly what we're doing. The move right now is we are canvassing the market. We are looking for opportunities. I can tell you that we've done quite a bit of work since we last spoke. We have a pretty clear view of what could be available and what could be of interest to the company. Obviously, this is not something that we're going to discuss publicly here. We've also made great strides in terms of being ready for the right opportunities. So in that sense, we also have financing available if and when we require it from a number of institutions. So all we're doing right now is deepening our analysis of a number of opportunities that we have identified and hopefully be in a position to bring something to the Board as those become clear.
Thank you, Steven. Also relating to M&A criteria and preferences. Do we have a specific preference on electricity or gas? And also, there's a question around potential bolt-on acquisitions in renewables and whether or not we prefer several small or medium-sized acquisitions rather than a large one and also as it relates to operational assets or pipeline?
All right. So you summarized like a lot of questions in I'll start with the last one and then you remind me Sure. Bolt-on acquisitions, yes, we are looking at bolt-on acquisitions on the renewable space specifically. And to be more precise, those are opportunities for operating assets. So we're not looking to further develop our pipeline. We do have a rich pipeline. But we do look at operating assets that provide upside. So for example, if you're looking at wind assets, you'd be looking at wind assets that have the ability of repowering, for instance, right? In terms of whether or not are we open to do small acquisitions or one large one? Again, the world is not as simple as that. What I can tell you is that we're open to do the right acquisitions, be small or large, actually. Right now, in the pipeline that we have for actual transactions, we are actively engaged in processes for bolt-on acquisitions, so reasonably small sizes. And our analysis also includes transactions that are of higher value or rather bigger size, if you may. There is a clear bias for electricity, but we don't shy away from gas either, right? And there could be some opportunities that combine those electricity and gas, right? But it's very important for us for you to understand that when we think about growth, we're not thinking about simply a step-up in EBITDA, right? So it's not what we're looking for. We don't look for adding on x hundred million euros or whatever amount of EBITDA. But we look for opportunities that beyond the step-up in EBITDA you can have from the acquisition that provide an organic growth path moving forward. So if you start thinking about the world and depending, obviously, on your vision, then that allows you to basically start narrowing the number of opportunities.
Thank you, Steven. I think you covered the main questions on the M&A topic. So perhaps a question more related to organic growth and which are the areas where we see greater growth potential for organic development?
So I think a couple of areas that I mentioned in the -- that were mentioned in the presentation. A good example would be CCGTs, the tender in Puerto Rico. We think that's basically organic growth. And that's an interesting -- it's an interesting project. It's a tender, so it's not a foregone conclusion that we're going to win, but we think we're well placed, right? But that's one area where we can actually benefit from; a, our presence in the island. So we know that, and we feel comfortable with the risk associated to it; two, our ability to manage projects and specifically CCGTs; three, our ability to also incorporate into the value chain, the gas procurement contracts that can come from our procurement division. So we see value there, and that would be an example that, that project, in particular, would be slightly north of EUR 1 billion of development over a number of years. Another area that we are looking into growing is repowering in renewables, hybridization renewals in Spain as well. So those are the clear evident areas. But there's one in particular that where we're waiting for regulatory developments to see whether or not we can increase the amount of investment, and that would be electricity networks in Spain. There are numbers, unlike some of our peers who include in their strategic plan assumptions whereby their CapEx is presented above the regulatory limit, and therefore, the number is high. Our strategic plan does not include that. So we limit our CapEx to the regulatory limit. And if there is a scenario where we can actually -- if we are actually allowed to increase that amount of CapEx, then there is upside in electricity distribution in Spain as well, and that will be an area that we will be keen to explore.
Thank you very much. Okay, so still on -- I guess, on the generic side of the group, there's a question on data centers and whether or not we can expect some deal or partnership announcement in 2026? And what are, in our view, the main competitive advantage to be a key partner for hyperscalers in Spain?
So with the publication of a new [ Royal decree, ] where the regulatory development still has to be published, I would say it's fair that the development of data centers in Spain is right now at a standstill pending the publication of this, right? And once we have more clarity, both ourselves and offtakers, data center developers, et cetera, that's where we're going to see a significant acceleration. What we bring to the table are very two simple things. Number one, actually, with the new regulation, the cost of blocking capacity increases dramatically. And therefore, one of the objectives of the new regulation pursued was getting rid of speculation, and there was quite a bit of speculation by blocking connection points. That's going to disappear. That's going to free up a lot of connection points, and that's going to be interesting. It's going to eliminate a lot of PowerPoint data center developers, and it's going to focus the attention on the strong incumbents in the sector. And what we bring to the table today is access to connection points, access to power, access to land. And those are the three ingredients that are required from offtakers for the development of data centers. Now whether or not we'll be in a position to announce something by year-end it's going to depend on how soon we have more regulatory visibility. Certainly working towards it. Our teams have, as I mentioned in the past call, have already identified sites that could be of interest. Some of them are for hyperscalers, some of them are for just more traditional data centers of capacities of 30 megawatts or whatever. So we are in a position to move forward when we have more clarity, hopefully, it's this year.
Excellent. So one last question before we get into specific business highlights and units. It relates to the positive working capital movement in the period despite the rising gas prices. And whether or not this strong cash flow generation can mean an improvement in the net debt by year-end.
Thank you, Arbat. So in this case, working capital evolution is positively affected by obviously seasonal demand patterns and also by the negotiation of contracts even in a context of increasing prices. However, the debt remains low as we expect to settle certain liabilities in 2026 related to supply contract agreements and payments to the CNMC, as we already explained in February. As a result, we anticipate an increase in debt over the coming months of 2026. But probably we will provide you an update on the debt with the guidance in July.
Thank you, Rita. Perfect. So let's now move on to the various questions per business unit. And I'm going to start with Spanish gas networks. The first question relates to the new proposed regulatory framework, 2027 and 2032. And if we can comment our views on the proposed framework.
Yes. So first, I will highlight that the proposed distribution framework reverses the downward remuneration trend of the last two regulatory periods. This trend was mainly driven by regulatory adjustments as well as demand reduction. So I think this is an important point. Second, this draft also reinforces the crucial role of gas networks going forward and provides stability and visibility to the sector with the continuity of the parametric formula and with a cap and flow mechanism. For the first time, this regulation introduces two new incentives focused on network digitalization and biomethane, responding to a long-standing sector request and supporting the decarbonization of demand. Nevertheless, on our point of view, the outcome remains insufficient as it does not adequately reflect the impact that high accumulated inflation and decreasing interest rates in the recent years had on distribution activities. We will continue to promote in this sense, a constructive dialogue with the regulator with the aim of reaching a remuneration framework that ensures the financial sustainability and adequacy of the activity. We have already submitted our recommendations, and we expect a definitive proposal at the sum.
Thank you, Rita. So a few -- a couple of questions on our networks, Latin American activities. One is a generic question on a general update on the regulatory reviews, and if there is any specific update to comment on. And the second one relates to the retender process in Rio de Janeiro and whether we have any updates on that front.
Okay. So the main priority in LatAm is obviously the concession extensions. We already had three concession extensions in Mexico. Also, we expect Argentina in 2026, Brazil in 2027 and Panama in 2028. Additionally, regulatory management continues to be a key priority in Latin America as we aim to obtain tariff reviews and updates which compensates for ongoing inflation and FX depreciation. In this sense, we have a positive tariff review in Argentina in electricity and also a positive regulatory review of our asset base in Chile.
2
On the Brazil tender, what we know is that it will be a tender. We have to see what the conditions for the tender are before making the decision on what the move will be for the company. Obviously, this is something that we're following very closely. There are elections coming up in the state, and therefore, that introduces a certain level of uncertainty in terms of the timing. But clearly, I mean, when we think about Brazil, when we think about the concession tenders in [indiscernible], surely, I think everyone would agree that the incumbent has a certain advantage over newcomers in its ability to better price risk than someone else, right? But having said that, I mean, look, we'll see what the outcome is. You have to bear in mind that there are two outcomes here, basically. Outcome number one that we win the retender when it comes to market and we keep operating the asset as it is. Outcome #2 is that we lose the tender, and that gives rise to a right for payments to [indiscernible]. So either way, there is basically no downside scenario in this particular case.
Excellent. So let's now move on to the questions in energy markets, and let's start with energy management. There are also a number of questions, which I would summarize in trying to understand and measure the potential upside from the current scenario and whether we can quantify the value of this flexibility in the current environment.
Thank you. So well, as you all know, following the recent conflict in the Middle East, gas supply has tightened, leading to higher prices and increased volatility. The key uncertainty now lies on the duration of this conflict and also on the timing of a subsequent normalization of traffic through the state. However, it's important to understand that the group's exposure, as we have explained many times to gas prices in 2026 is partially limited by proactive hedging previous to the conflict. And -- but now the focus of the company has shifted into risk management and also into capturing upside from ongoing market volatility, leveraging for this on contractual flexibility, downstream positions and on our LNG tanker fleet.
Thank you, Rita. Then a specific question on the situation in Yamal and whether is there any update on the Yamal LNG contract? Will deliveries cease from 1st January 2027? And how could the volumes be replaced if that is the case?
Okay. So as we already explained in February, there are two processes underway in parallel. One is related to sanctions and the other one is related to tariffs. In July, the European Commission is expected to renew the sanctions, which would require minimus approval. And if these sanctions are confirmed, we would not be able to divert these volumes to other destinations. To the date, there have been no further updates in the regard. So I think we have to wait and see what happens in July. This ban affects to the import of 38 terawatt hour of gas imported both into Spain and into France. And we will expect to compensate with LNG gas portfolio or access to market volumes.
Thank you, Rita. Another question on that business unit relates to the recent LNG tender in Argentina, what happened? Were those margins expected to be above our current margin for the rest of the portfolio. But more broadly, a general question on the situation of that tender process in Argentina.
Okay. So Naturgy successfully participated in a highly competitive tender for the supply of LNG in Argentina. However, the Argentine government ultimately decided to keep EASA as an intermediary for this operation. I think that -- well, first, naturally has been a regular supplier to Argentina, which I think is important. And winning this tender reinforces that the group has capabilities and experience in this type of operations.
Thank you, Rita. Okay. So we can now move on to thermal generation, and there is a specific question on the Iberian blackout from April 2025 and what could be the impact of the ongoing CNMC investigations and sanctions to Naturgy.
So regarding the sanctioning proceedings opened by the CNMC, Naturgy has received only 11 procedures, and we are carrying out an extensive analysis to ensure a rigorous and timely response to these procedures. The potential impact of these fines are ranging from EUR 600,000 to EUR 6 million. But I think that it's very important to highlight that none of these proceedings are related to the blackout incident.
Okay. Thank you, Rita. So we can now move on to renewables. And there are a couple of questions related to potential and incremental renewable growth opportunities. We mentioned in the presentation, we have 1.2 gigawatts of additional capacity potential capacity coming online. So can we provide some color on that progress and our ambitions in each region?
Okay. So as you mentioned, we have 1.2 gigawatts under construction in Spain, U.S. and Australia.
1.6.
1.6 that will become operational in 2026. In Spain, as Steven also mentioned before, we are focusing investment in repos of existing wind plants and also in battery hybrids as well as finishing the projects under construction. In the U.S., as I mentioned during the presentation, we have reached an agreement with CIP for the sale of 11 [ photvoltaipelines ] and storage projects. And this disposal is aligned with the group's strategic focus on disciplined capital deployment and these projects specifically didn't meet our expected profitability. As Steven has mentioned and -- is that the group prioritizes value creation, and we are constantly analyzing opportunities, both organic and inorganic with a preference for vertical integration and very selective international.
One question on renewable gases in light of the new incentives that are part of the gas distribution regulatory framework proposal. So biogas seems to have taken more support from the regulator in this draft gas regulation. Does that bring more visibility to the EUR 800 million growth CapEx that was envisioned to 2027 in our plan?
So it's true that biomethane seems to have taken more support with the incentives recognized in the distribution remuneration model. However, we are expecting a specific policy package to be published in 2026 that will accelerate biomethane production and is used for decarbonization. In this sense, the group has made strong progress with the development of our biomethane portfolio with more than 75 projects in our pipeline. However, our investment plan has been delayed by slow administrative processes. So apart from these incentives, we need administration collaboration in order to achieve our decarbonization objectives and investment plan.
Just as a thought, right, as a fact, so you guys know what we're talking about right now. If we look at year 2025 last year, 140 plants, 1-4-0, 140 plants presented the documents for environmental authorizations, and that's fundamental for them to go ahead, 140 in the whole country. Of those 140, 40, 4-0, were from nitrogen, okay? The total amount of environmental authorizations granted in the whole of Spain in the year 2025 was 20 out of 140. So clearly, up until now, it hasn't been a clear priority for administrations, both regional and national. What we are encouraged to see when we think about the new CNMC draft regulation is that there is a clear shift in the authorities or the administration towards a greater support for biomethane. And I may add, by the way, that this is not something that happens overnight out of miracle, but this is a function, among other things, of the tremendous effort that the biomethane team here at Naturgy and the company as a whole has been making in talking to the regulator, talking to the government and explaining the benefits from higher rollout of biomethane. So hopefully, these efforts will translate into higher permitting than last year. And if that is the case, an acceleration of biomethane, where today, we can say without any hesitation that Naturgy is the lead player better positioned than anyone else to capture the growth linked to biomethane.
Thank you, Rita and Steven. And let me take the opportunity to circle back with one additional question related to biomethane and clarify that gas distribution networks don't require any modifications to accommodate for future biomethane injection. So the networks are already prepared to distribute biomethane. As a matter of fact, biomethane is just natural gas and the only thing that changes is its origin, and how it's extracted. But the future biomethane injections and those incentives do not require for modification into the existing gas networks.
Okay. And with that, we can move to the last question, which is on the supply business as follows. It says you flagged in the past a very competitive market, but other peers have recently passed a more optimistic message for margins. What's your view? Can you comment on the supply margin dynamics, market shares and competitive dynamics?
Yes. So generally, I insist that both in gas and electricity, the sector is experiencing high levels of competition with high churn ratios. Additionally, increasing costs from ancillary services in electricity have impacted negatively, and this requires adaptation of commercial policy. However, I think it is important to highlight that our customer portfolio for 2026 has already been contracted. This provides us with a strong visibility into the year margins, which remains solid, and we are now looking into 2027 portfolio renewal.
Perfect. Thank you very much, Rita. This finalizes all the questions we've received with the exception of two very specific numeric questions that the capital market will respond in written form at the end of the call. And then just remind you that the management team will be on the road for the next couple of weeks. So we are going to be in the U.S. next week in New York and Boston. So if any of you around and willing to see us, please feel free to reach out. And also, we're going to be in London on the 12th and 13th May. So looking forward to see as many of you as possible. And in the meantime, feel free to reach out with any additional questions. Thank you. Thank you very much for participating in the call. Cheers, and bye-bye.
Naturgy Energy Group — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
Naturgy Energy Group — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Naturgy Energy Group, S.A.
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. If you allow me, before I officially start this AGM, I would like to share with you a video that summarizes joint and in-depth work that we have done this year and after being shared and approved by the AGM has to do with our corporate purpose. Our corporate purpose has been defined as a goal that aims to facilitate the relationship that we all have with energy on a daily basis. By trying to improve the relationship with our employees, collaborators, public authorities, regulators, suppliers and especially so with the over 20 million customers that we have distributed through our geographies. So without further ado and before we officially start, allow me to show you this video that summarizes our commitment.
[Presentation]
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, just like in previous years, I'm honored as the Chairman of the Board of Directors to welcome you to this ordinary AGM that the company holds, as we have in the past, both remotely and in person simultaneously. I would especially like to thank the presence of the members of the Board of Directors who are here present and also the representatives of the most significant shareholders. Especially this year, I have the honor of welcoming the representatives of Sonatrach, Mr. Noureddine Daoudi and Mr. [ Adalah, ] who are also with us here today. One more proof of that commitment and the fruitful relationship and long-lasting relationship we've had for over 40 years. Therefore, we officially open this session.
The holding of the meeting was convened on the 24th of February on the website of the company, the CNMV and in several daily newspapers. The agenda was made public both in the publications made and in the attendance card you have with you. So let's consider it read. Yes.
Now I'll give the floor to the Secretary, who will give you the data on the quorum of attendance.
The summary of the list of those present that is is the following: present shareholders, 165 holders of 660,169,932 shares accounting for 68.09% approximately of share capital; represented shareholders, 450 holders of 104,070,250 shares that account for 10.7% of the share capital. In total, 750 shareholders, holders of 764,240,182 shares, all of them with voting right and accounting for 78.8% of the share capital. In this figure, we also include the treasury stock shares. However, they do not have voting rights. These figures may change depending on the latest shareholders that may join us remotely until 4:00 a.m. -- until 9:00 a.m., sorry, in the website. The final quorum will be published on our website. According to Articles 193 and 194 of the Companies Act and #9 of the regulation of the AGM, we have the legal requirements to declare this AGM duly formed.
Regarding the attendance rights, I declare this AGM duly constituted in a first call. The presiding panel of the AGM will be made up by the directors who are here in this room and also by the Secretary and myself. I would also like to inform you that according to Article 203 of the Companies Act and also as we published in the call, we have asked the presence of the public notary of Madrid, Mr. Fernando de la Camara, who will take the minutes of the AGM. I'll give the floor to the public notary.
Thank you very much, dear Chairman. I'm Fernando de la Camera, public notary of Madrid. I have been asked to take minutes of this AGM. And according to the regulation, I would like to ask if there are any questions or comments made regarding the quorum of the AGM. If you'd like to make any comments, we will register that in the minutes.
Therefore, I would like to thank the shareholders. Those who wish to take the floor after myself and the Secretary's presentation, if you haven't done so, please make sure that you hand in a form with your question to the people in the room. Also those who are present remotely, you can send your questions and ask for the floor via the form that is available to you. Once the Secretary and myself carry out our presentations, we will jointly answer any questions you may have. If any shareholder wishes for the public notary to take little note of the question, please make sure that you give us the text that you will be using or please state so in the online form that we have. Once all the interventions are finalized, we will vote the proposals for resolutions and the secretary will give you some instructions on how that will proceed.
I'll read it quickly because these are the same rules that we've had in previous AGMs. First, the voting of proposals for resolutions included in the agenda will be done using a negative substruction system. All shares present or represented will be deemed in favor of the motion after substracting votes corresponding to shares whose shareholders or proxies declare themselves to be voting against it or abstaining or he leaves before the end. The same for those who participate remotely if they leave the room without exercising their voting right.
The voting of proposals for resolutions not included in the agenda will be done using a positive substruction system. That means that all shares present or represented will be deemed against the motion after substracting votes corresponding to shares whose shareholders or proxies declare themselves to be voting in favor or abstaining even if you leave the room before the vote takes place. And the same for those remotely, if they leave the room before exercising their voting rights.
I would also like to inform you that for those shareholders or proxies who are present in the room or present remotely, please make sure you inform us of your desire to vote. I would also like to inform you that the shareholders or proxies present in the room, if you wish to leave in record that they left the meeting or your voting decisions, please do so by informing those at the table outside this room. And also for those attending online, please make sure that you let us know before leaving the room, those -- your direction of vote.
We will first vote the proposals for resolutions presented by the Board of Directors and afterwards, those presented by others. We will also consider approved all those that cannot be voted because they go against one -- are incompatible with one that's already been approved.
Okay. So now let's move on to talk about the report for the year 2025. My presentation will have 4 sections. And at the end, we'll have the proposals for resolutions that will be voted as explained by the Secretary. First, I'll talk about the results of the year 2025, then we'll look into the transformation process that we started in 2018. Obviously, we will also talk about the current situation of the company and what to expect for year 2026. And finally, we will update the shareholders on the new shareholding structure of the company.
As for the results, we have experienced an energy market, and I would like to remind you that this chapter ended on the 31st of December 2025 because unfortunately, afterwards, many things have happened, as I will mention on the Section 3 of my presentation. Until the 31st of December 2025, we had an energy market that come down in the second half of the year as we can be seen in terms of the raw material markets and the forecast for the CO2 market and electricity markets.
In this same environment, we have also, due to the devaluation of the American dollar versus the euro, we have seen effects on all the other currencies where we have activities present, especially in Latin America. Despite that environment, we can say that today, the company -- we can say in 2025, we were able to reach the best results and the best metrics after our 183 years of history.
I would like to underline that the level of investments was higher than the profit achieved that the contribution in terms of taxes and fees was over EUR 12 million. And that the dividends to the shareholders, including the complementary shareholder, will nearly be EUR 1.7 billion. All of that with a clear policy of financial discipline that has allowed us to withhold our net debt.
The P&L account, you can see it in the documents that were given to you or the information that you've had on the website. And on the website, you'll also have the summary of this as well as in the website of the CNMV. I would like to say that we have given to the EBITDA or to the operation margin, in terms of gas and electricity, a combination of 55%, 45%, and they are quite balanced in terms of the origin of those businesses. Part of our businesses are related to infrastructure, what we call the network business, and another part of our business is related to energy markets businesses. In terms of currencies, 3/4 of the business is related to activities in euro and dollar, and the weaker currencies account for about 1/4 of our P&L.
As for the balance sheet, we have a net debt of EUR 12.3 billion. And you can see that when we look at the included debt, we have included some treasury stock that were acquired with the self take of EBITDA that we did in the second half of the year. That allows us to say today that our level of debt in terms of net debt over EBITDA is one of the lowest in the sector. Our credit rating is BBB according to Standard & Poor's. And also the company has a level of liquidity of approximately EUR 10 billion in order to face potential eventualities or investments that we may wish to carry out.
In terms of the cash flow, we had a powerful cash flow this year that allowed us to make investments for over EUR 2.1 billion. The destination of those investments mainly focused on 2 areas: our energy distribution networks for gas and electricity; and everything that has to do with energy transition activities with renewable generation. Less than 20% of the investments were made on other businesses. All those investments have been done, obviously, as should be, following a strict financial discipline rule that ensures value creation.
Net debt had ups and downs, obviously, as in any other financial year. We have included nearly EUR 1 billion of the buying of treasury stock. The average cost of debt has been contained. In fact, it has been reduced from 4% to 3.9%. And in terms of the rating agency metrics, mainly S&P, we have about 9-point-something points versus the minimum required to maintain our BBB rating, which is our goal.
As within all of those items, I would like to talk about the dividends. As I said before, we require your approval in order to close with the complementary dividend. The company has also carried out important financial activities, especially refinancing loans or credits that were to mature or bringing forward those that could mature in the near future with operations that accounted for a total of approximately EUR 11 billion.
In the strategic plan 2025, 2027, we promised to make an attractive dividend policy, establishing a floor for each of those years. For 2025, the floor was EUR 1.7 per share, of which the shareholders have already -- I'm also a shareholder, we have already received EUR 1.2 so far. And we would have to add to that the EUR 0.57 that, together with EUR 1.2, would mean that we will receive EUR 1.77 per share. With this payment of dividends, we will be increasing by 10% the dividend that we paid out in the year 2024.
We can say that with the closing of 2025, we have once again over met all the commitments we had with the shareholders and the market regarding the EBITDA or operating profit, the net results, the debt and the dividend per share. If you remember, those 4 metrics were communicated to the market in June last year, and they were updated in September. Therefore, we gave a guideline to all shareholders of how we expected the year to end. The year has ended above all the figures expected and with the aim to fulfill all the objectives that we had set.
To sum up, we have had good results. The profitability has improved. The reason for that improvement is our constant improvement policy for operations and our way of operating. Also we've had capital discipline that has allowed us to maintain a robust balance, the proactive management of risks that hasn't affected our achievement of our goals and serving in our commitments despite a complex environment.
In the year 2018, if you remember, we started a transformation phase that we communicated to you on the AGM of that year. And it was focused on several action levers. I would like to talk about what we have done since then because as you can imagine, an industrial company with this inertia requires some time in order to take stock of whether the changes have been fruitful or not.
First, we spoke about working to make the company -- to make sure the company was ready for a more responsible future in terms of energy transition. During this period, we have decided several things. First, we have closed down our coal factories, and we have increased our renewable sources. We have done so by maintaining the flexibility required with our CCGT fleet, that is what we call flexible generation and give flexible generation to the system that has been so important since the blackout on the 20th of April. In this period, we have increased by 80% our operational capacity in terms of renewable energies, and we have reduced by 30% the emissions.
The second axis was constant improvement. We wanted to make sure the company would be more efficient and more -- would be more prepared for whatever could happen in the future. First actions took place on the OpEx, our daily activities. In the year 2018, when we compare versus the margin of the company, our OpEx accounted for 36%. Now after a significant reduction, we can say that our OpEx has been reduced to 25%, which means a recurrent saving of over EUR 500 million per year. If we compare that to our peers, we could say that we are very well positioned.
When we talk about improvement, we also talk about reducing volatility by hedging all the operations that could be exposed to the market. At the time, our volumes exposed to market indexes accounted for less than 30%. We have finished 2025 with a hedging of 100%.
And the last axis of action has to do with a balance between the energy that we sell and the energy we generate so that in terms of intramarginal generation, we can be at peace when we have fixed price contracts. This obviously had a deviation in 2018 from 10 to 20 terawatts hour of energy. We can say that we have managed to balance this out in 2025. And therefore, we can give predictability, peace of mind and stability to our results and commitments.
The third axis had to do with efficient use of our capital. At the time in the plan, we said that we wanted to strengthen our commitment with financial discipline or investment discipline. In this sense, we can say that nearly the EUR 41 billion that we have generated in cash, of those, over EUR 16 billion have been devoted to investment; EUR 11.7 billion have been devoted to remuneration to the shareholders as dividends; over EUR 8 billion have been devoted to our tax obligations. We have also reduced our debt by making our company more solvent. At no point have we lost sight of that investment discipline with which 4 basic criteria, investing only in projects that give us industrial control, investing in those assets that give us returns higher to our capital cost, prioritizing our investments on the 2 businesses that will be the spearhead of our future, which is energy networks and renewable gases and always within the perimeter of making sure that we wouldn't put at risk our credit rating. This has to do with the solvency required by the credit rating agencies when they analyze our company.
Within this effort, I would like to say that just like we started 2018 with the level of debt that was 4x EBITDA, we now have a debt level that has been reduced by half in terms of comparative ratios. And so during this period, we have said 2 times in our history where we have looked at specific matrix -- patching system what we call specific strategic plans. We had a strategic plan in 2018, and we set another strategic plan in 2021. Each of them, as you can see, with different metrics because at the time in 2018 and then in 2021, we considered or the Board of Directors considered that these were the metrics that should be aimed at. Each of them have been fulfilled and even exceeded, giving a lot of credibility to the management team, which are, in fact, the ones who achieved all these metrics.
And this has been reducing to -- can be summarized into different ratios, what we call, in general, value creation. We have improved, clearly improved everything that has to do with the return on invested capital, ROIC. And that return, as you can see in the graph, we are today the company that has a return on invested capital higher than the average of our sector.
Going beyond the return on -- for the shareholders, which allow us to look at the profitability that a shareholder would obtain when we look at the generated profit. We have gone from having an ROE of 9.2% to 21.5%, above our sector's average. And finally, if we look at the performance of our share since the first strategic plan in 2018, we can see that even when we look at difficult times like the pandemic or the beginning of the war on the Ukraine, a shareholder who had invested on the 1st of January on 2018 by the 31st of January 2025 would have obtained 10.4% net annually without considering, obviously, the tax obligations and also without considering if this was leverage on debt.
Another important axis of the strategic plan was the improvement of customer care. We set the customer as the core, as the main asset that any company could have, increasingly so in this sector that has seen how we have gone from more happy customers, the customers that are increasingly demanding. And we can see how the team has worked a lot in order to lead to improvements. For instance, if we look at the customer satisfaction when they call the call center that has improved significantly. Also the resolution of incidents after the first call, that has improved, in fact, has doubled. In terms of digital customer care, this has really made it easier for our customers to contact our company and also the average time of activation that has been reduced by half. We know we need to continue working. We know there's a lot left to do, but everything that we are doing in terms of the customers is -- not only can be seen in these figures, but also in the feedback that we have given what others make of us.
As the video said, the other important pillar in our management has to do with people. Our commitment with people are what makes our company have received -- we have, in fact, been considered one of a Great Place to Work, not only in Spain, but also in all the other geographies where we operate. For the first time -- it's the first time the Spanish company has achieved this.
In terms of ratios, I would like to say, for instance, I would like to talk about the employee satisfaction that has increased significantly, and that is measured objectively in an independent and anonymous manner. We have also increased training programs for our employees. For instance, we've increased -- and we have now 99% of our employees participating in training programs. We have increased our ratios of women in management positions, exceeding the recommendations by the government of a minimum of 40%. And we have reduced the frequency of accidents at work. Maybe this is the area where we are not so proud because would like to stop having accidents at work. In fact, over the last few weeks, as you have seen, it wasn't enough to employees, but employees of 2 of our collaborating companies have had 2 deaths. We are not happy about that, and we will continue to work a lot on that area, not only to make sure our contractors are more -- offer more caution, but also to improve this index. This index has improved, but not as much as we would like it to.
Also, the company has continued having programs that demonstrate their commitment with society, both in terms of strengthening our commitment with supplier. And in this case, I would like to talk about our -- the importance of our long-term contract and our long-lasting relationship with our friends from Sonatrach who are present.
Also, the company has carried out special support programs and has carried out actions. For instance, during COVID, all our commercial actions also due to the war in the Ukraine and more recently, we have made efforts to resolve to make sure that we move ahead in the reconstruction plan after the DANA storm in Valencia.
We also want to strengthen our support with the site focused on 2 axis: education and digital training. I would like to say, and these are the figures up to the 31st of December, we have over 1,500 volunteers amongst our employees that show our company's commitments, not just with the company, but also with those who need it the most.
If it's okay with you, I'll move on to Section 3 that has to do with the year 2026. I think no AGM in any other energy company such as ours, we all need to talk about what's going in the world, including oil prices, gas prices and why not, also the performance of the currencies, especially the dollar. We have seen that in the year 2025, the U.S. dollar behaved well, depreciated and was devalued, and lately, we've seen also valorization or greater value to the dollar. In this environment, this will increase volatility in the energy markets and also in financial markets. This will translate into growing uncertainty.
What does Naturgy do in such a situation? First of all, I would like to say that our gas supply commitments are not originated in the Middle East, which means we do not have suppliers in that area of the world. And therefore, we are more protected. We are protected, thanks to several things. First of all, because we have long-term LNG contracts until 2042 that do not originate from that -- from the Middle East. So we have -- we can be [ calm ] about that. Also, we have a very robust, strong full relationship with Sonatrach since 1969, and we hope this will continue to be the case. I think the presence here of the CEO of Sonatrach is a clear proof of that commitment in the long term. And I would also like to remind you that just like Sonatrach, we also have a stake in the Medgaz, which is the physical exclusive connection between Spain and Algeria, and that allows us to continue receiving gas in a stable manner. Moreover, the company will continue to capture opportunities wherever we can, but without putting at risk the comfortable situation that we have. I'd like to say that in terms of Naturgy, our customers nowadays in this context have other supply guaranteed.
Year 2026 will also be a year of hard work, hard work in all the areas of the company, in the businesses and in the corporate areas. And here, I have tried to summarize the 2 main axis of action, which are the 2 -- our 2 main goals and leaving 2025 behind. In terms of networks, we hear a lot about it lately. Over the next few weeks, we will start discussing the new regulation for gas distribution in Spain for the period '27-'32, an important milestone for the company. And in Latin America, we will be discussing the extension of concessions or new public tenders that could take place.
In terms of energy management, we will continue to proactively manage risk, not only in the year 2026, but also in the forthcoming years because our philosophy of avoiding uncertainties and having peace of mind has meant that we have been proactively managing risk. We will also continue to assess new supply opportunities. We need LNG diversification, and we need to give greater visibility to this privileged relationship that we have with our supplier and our Algerian shareholders, Sonatrach.
In terms of thermal generation, we will continue, and we already have the most important fleet of CCGTs in Spain to give peace of mind to -- and stability to the system whenever needed. And we will maintain that fleet with flexibility, efficiency and in a perfect state of operation. And we also have our CCGTs in Mexico where we had to start renegotiating the terms and conditions for the next few years.
In terms of renewable generation, we continue to grow selectively, especially supported in certain important levers, such as the possibility to repower all the operating plants and to create hybrid projects or even adding battery storage capabilities to make them more competitive. Also, we will have to finalize the execution of the ongoing developments that add 1.2 gigawatts of operation.
In terms of trading, and we said so in the video, we continue to highlight that. We are a company that's especially focused on customers, nearly 20 million customers that we have distributed across the globe, and we would like to continue improving their satisfaction and our service. Therefore, we'll continue to improve our operating model. And thanks to new tools such as the installation of the new commercial [indiscernible], we'll continue to improve advancing in the use of technologies to continue improving our customer satisfaction.
And finally, renewable gases, they are [ practically ] in fashion. We've always believed on them. But given the latest events, this gives greater importance to energy self-sufficiency. We know we won't be able to replace everything, but we will be able to have more renewable gas. So we have over 75 projects of biomethane in development at different degrees of the licensing, and we will promote those projects and their connections to the network. We have the ones that have connected most of those projects to the network, and we will continue to do so.
So we face the year 2026 with many challenges ahead. But we have a company that's very well positioned to capture improvements, and we hope that in the next AGM, we will be able to ratify that with our figures.
In the past month, there have been changes in the shareholder structure, which I'll explain now. But before that, I would like to talk about the share price. The price share this past month has changed due to external factors, the first one being the so-called liberation day and tariffs, it caused the first drop in our price and later events such as placements of shares, packages, share packs by some shareholders. Obviously, the size was relevant. So there was a discount that it caused relevant drops such as the one in December and the one in March. The good news is that the company was able to face these changes while holding the share price above the price that it had at the beginning of 2025. The current shareholder structure has significant changes compared to the one we had a year ago.
The stake of our shareholders has changed. And as a consequence of that, I would like to highlight 3 things. Today, our company has more relevant free float compared to what it had. And if we look back, the free float is the highest in the past 25 years. And thanks to the takeover bid in 2025 plus later changes on the 25th of November, we were back to MSCI indices. And therefore, we were part of the indices that prove liquidity in our company. And as you can see on the screen, today, there are shares being traded in the market on a daily basis 9x more compared to last year. Our company has more liquidity. It is easier to buy and sell shares compared to the past. So we've managed to be a truly traded company. We are at the service of the market and the nonrepresented shareholders.
Regarding the Board of Directors, as a consequence of the exit of GIP, the 3 seats in the Board were waived and the Board, considering the events that will take place in the future and prove more uncertainty moving forward, thought it fit to create a committee that we call strategic view or vision committee, to analyze details that at the end, the Board makes a final decision.
So as a consequence of the changes in the shareholders in the proposals today, you would see individual proposals according to the law. The first one is the appointment of Mr. Lars Bespolka on behalf of IFM as Proprietary Director. The second, the renewal of Board members, Ramon Adell and Jaime Siles that have been Board members for the past period of 4 years. On the last one with my abstention, the proposal to renew my mandate until 2030.
So with this report, this is the end of this part of the AGM. I hope I was able to properly explain the most relevant milestones of our company that are shown in our P&L and the balance that were made available to you and that will be necessary to make the decisions here.
So now the group will open the floor. I remember your Secretary said earlier that shareholders that want to request the floor haven't submitted the question form, they're kind of invited to do it now. And if you're taking part in this AGM online, this is the end of the deadline to submit the questions. The Secretary will give the floor following the order of request.
We have 4 questions. I think the 4 of them are on site. And this is the following -- this is the order. First of all, Mr. Enrique [indiscernible] He's present in our AGM, and I read the question on his behalf, but this year I paid attention. I apologize.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, dear shareholders, representatives of the media and general public in general. I'm here as a shareholder and in particular, as the holder of preferred shares issued by Union Fona today, it's part of Naturgy.
More than 20 years have gone by since the products were placed, in particular, since 2005. We are preferred shareholders. Back then, we trusted the company and we gave it -- we lend our money 20 years have gone by. 21 years during which many of us have trapped without a solution to recover our investment, 21 years of lack of liquidity, uncertainty and very often frustration. I think that it's reasonable to say that this situation is not something we like. In particular, many of us are getting older. We would like to have that money at our disposal enjoyed and recovered while we're still alive, which is normal.
We have to remember that other large companies such as Repsol, Telefonica, Endesa, they also issued preferred shares -- preferential share. And with time, they ended up amortizing them. That meant an exit for the shareholders. So we are struggling to understand that the situation is maintaining indefinitely. That's why if it's just as an act of kindness to those of us who trusted the company more than 2 decades ago, yet to act with kindness, I request a clear and convincing answer by the Board.
Is there a real intention to amortize these shares? And what's the deadline? Preferential shareholders deserve a dignified solution. We're not requesting privileges, just this and a reasonable exit to a situation that has lasted too much. I would like to urge you to deal with this issue urgently, and please don't postpone this decision, which has a direct impact on the shareholders' trust after 21 years. We're not giving up. We continue to insist. We'll continue to come to the AGMs and request a fair solution until we're given an answer and a solution. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Enrique. Second, Mr. Jose Antonio del Variojo.
Good morning Mr. Francisco Reynes, Chairman, Board members, officers and Naturgy Energy Group S.A. employees. I would like to congratulate you for the great job you did in 2025 and which the company obtained a historical profit of EUR 2.2 billion, 46% higher than 2024. I hope that part of this profit goes to your salaries so that you're entitled to continue to do a great job.
Recently, GIP Fund controlled by BlackRock sold 11.40% of the share capital at a price of EUR 25.20, which is below the EUR 26.50 of the takeover bid, and it's far from the EUR 29.58 per share that other companies achieved, companies such as Iberdrola and Endesa, they work in the same industry.
And my question is as follows: is this sale impacting the current prices of our share, which is trading at -- I think it's EUR 20.20 or EUR 20.06 today, I'm not sure. There are rumors saying that Roga CVC and Cruporinalia are considering to sell their stake more or less at the same price, EUR 25.20 because they came in at EUR 19. If this happens, how do you think the share price would behave in the stock market?
I'm sure you know this and you can let me know. Why cannot reach a maximum price? What do you think is slowing down Naturgy's share price? Cr and Caixa close to 30%. And IFM, they want to increase the stake. An agreement by both entities would enable the takeover bid. Mr. Francisco Reynes, Naturgy Energy Group is a bubble gas group. And given since the beginning of the war between EU and Israel and Iran, the gas price in Europe has increased 60%. Our gas comes from Algeria. A, this has not been impacted by the war. And our exports to Europe have increased the price. How will this impact the results in 2026?
This debt of EUR [ 12.637 ] billion, is this a comfort zone? Can it be reduced? It could be increased by corporate purchase? If 2026 ends up being a record year, would the Board consider increasing dividend up to EUR 2 per share for the profit of all its shareholders if it doesn't hinder solvency? We're going to see each other for 4 more years. I don't know if the Board is considering you have the CEO and the Chairman. I don't know if the Board is considering a CEO. Otherwise, we'll see each other for 4 more years.
I would like to request our Chairman that for next year's AGM, we can have a venue that matches the company's image and a time for the AGM which is more around midday because this time of the day, there are traffic jams everywhere. And we're doing so well, we could have a regular cocktail for shareholders.
Thank you. You see that we are improving year after year. We have a breakfast. We've started at 10 instead of 9, but there's always room for improvement. Now we have Sonia [indiscernible].
Good morning. Mr. Reynes, last year, in April your appointment as Vice President of the Board of Caixa was communicated. As a shareholder, I would like to know which are the implications of this appointment in terms of dedication and commitment regarding your responsibilities of Naturgy's CEO. That's my question.
Thank you, Ms. Sonia. Fourth, Mr. Pedro Maria Fernandez is going to ask 2 questions.
Sorry, I submitted the papers and I wanted to get them back. Thank you very much. I would like to request the Board to explain which measures are being implemented by Naturgy to prevent a complete blackout such as the one we had last year. And could you also please explain if there was any responsibility by Naturgy and if this event has caused casualties in Spain? And also regarding the installation of solar farms. Are these being installed in farmlands? What kind of installations are you having? Are you removing crops, plantations, et cetera. So how are you dealing with this type of installations?
No more questions, Mr. Chairman.
So no more questions. So now the Secretary and myself will answer your questions. Don't we have questions online?
No, only these 4.
So I'll start with Mr. Moreno's question. Unfortunately, he's not going to get what he wants. But I can assure you that the company, as the Secretary will explain later, has an important fiduciary obligation, which is equal treatment for [indiscernible] shareholders.
Mr. Chairman, the question, as the shareholders said, is similar to the ones asked in previous AGMs and in the talks we've had in the past. To give some context to the other shareholders, preferential shares are debt securities issued perpetually. They're not considered to be amortized. It means that they cannot -- they don't have liquidity because as shares, they can be sold in the regulated market. In exchange for this perpetual nature, they have preferential conditions. They receive interest even the shareholders don't receive a dividend. That's why they call it preferential.
And second, the interest rate is usually higher than the market rate. In particular, this issuance, we need to pay interest at Euribor 3 months, we were a differential of 165 basis points, 3%, 6%, 7%. In 2024, it was 5%, 6%.
Regarding liquidity, they do have liquidity, but like other traded products, they could go up and down compared to the initial acquisition price. Therefore, they could be sold. A different issue would be having capital gains or not like with any traded product. And regarding your particular question, the Board has not agreed the amortization or a repurchase process as we did many years ago. The Board, however, has considered this when we knew that he wanted to be here and has not made any decision regarding this.
So Mr. [indiscernible] question, you asked so many questions that I would need a long time to answer them all, but you said mainly 2 things. You thanked us. You thanked the team as a whole for our job, and I really appreciate that on behalf of everyone. I can assure you that this is not an easy job. It's not easy to get it right. And this is a joint effort. This is a team sport.
And second, a minimum of 4 years, I made a good decision. I think you've made a good decision. I would stay for 4 years in the company, even 40 years more. You asked many questions. So I'm going to answer in general. But if you need more details, we could do this privately after the AGM.
If I knew what's going to happen tomorrow, I would probably be here with a different face. That's the market, right? Things happen. And these past months, even years, we've seen things that were quite unexpected. But you're right, our share resisted. And probably it does not reflect its full potential today. There could be many reasons behind this. But we know that we need to give better explanations. And probably this is one of the challenges we have, not missing out on the party that other shares from other companies had.
In the meanwhile, I have to tell you that you didn't miss anything as a shareholder if you're not going to sell because you had a profitability per dividend, which was more relevant compared to other shares without the risk of other executions that could be entailed but riskier investments. I have to tell you, to be honest, that the company is prepared to do things, but to do things that make sense, to do things where it's best to invest that -- not to invest. And we have a department which is highly interested on this, on making it happen, but making it happen in the right way. And even though the balance allows us, as you said, to do things, we're not under that obligation, and we're not going to do this at any price because something, as you mentioned in your question, is important. We don't want to risk the company's solvency. The company needs to be solvent. If you ask me what's my main concern personally, I don't want to be the last top 10 in 183-year history. And for that, we need to continue to do reasonable things.
Shareholders can decide to come in or go out. I could mention thousands of shareholders that can be here or not. This is the advantage of being a listed company. You can buy and sell shares. Everyone that comes here will be more than welcome. And those who leave, well, I'm sad for them because they're going to miss on several things, but that's their decision.
In the case of Credelia, you said it yourself close to reaching 30%. And therefore, as you know, the Spanish law forces companies to launch to take a bid if you're above 30%. If you get the stake and distribute the treasury stock on the shareholders, this is where they are. The rest of our shareholders, if they are present and they're engaged in the Board, I'm sure that they see more potential than they say. So don't listen to rumors, I would say, pay attention to the figures, to our results, to our communications, where we try to stay far from any speculation. We focus on facts and events. This period, 2018 to 2025, many things have happened, and we've met all of our commitments. And I think this is what should be highlighted.
I know that I haven't answered many of your questions, but I'll be happy to get into detail later on. Otherwise, it would be too long. I hope you're happy with my answer.
Regarding your suggestion regarding the cocktail and the venue. If you remember, we started to come here when we lost traction of shareholders because our floating capital was lower. Obviously, you've confirmed what we've discussed internally. We need to go back to what we used to do where when we were a company that allowed shareholders to come for a longer period of time and we gave a breakfast before the AGM and a cocktail after it. So we take due note.
I think I'm not forgetting anything, but I'll be happy to answer your questions with more detail.
And regarding Ms. Pedro's questions, I would like to give you 3 key messages. First of all, my role, and I'm proud and satisfied to say this and also thankful because being here working in Naturgy, besides being a great opportunity for any professional, I'm really thankful that they consider me for this role. My role is exclusive, my dedication is exclusive. I only have an executive role in Naturgy, as I said earlier.
Criteria has a CEO with delegated roles from the Board and the shareholders. So no doubt there. But in case you have doubts, I can tell you that I voluntarily decided not to receive any remuneration regarding my role in Criteria's Board so that there were no doubts about it. And I gave the remuneration in that Board to Caixa Foundation. It's a very good place to make a donation. I would like to encourage you if you want to make donations to donate to that entity. So these were the 3 main reasons why the Remco unanimously and Naturgy Board unanimously allowed my appointment as Nonexecutive Director in Criteria's Board. I wouldn't be there if it wasn't in these conditions.
And I have to tell you, since I have the opportunity here, I mentioned earlier a proposal about my renewal. If you approve it, I'll be honored to continue to work for this company until 2040, and this confirms my total devotion to this company. There are many challenges ahead of us until 2030, and that dedication will allow me to take them.
And then we have Mr. Fernandez's question. The installation of solar farms and the incident back on the 28th of April. Solar farms, obviously, Naturgy complies with the legislation. It submits the proposals for their environmental impact assessment. This is what the regulations say. What do we do? We go beyond it?
First of all, because of social -- model, we consult with the tenant. We don't usually buy. We lease long term. And we consult with the holder, but also the neighbors and the town council or local associations. We have different initiatives. We try to use solutions based on the area customs, which is usually cheap and not really cars because for that, the panel should be higher.
In [ Andalucia ], we need to transplant some olive trees. They've been transplanted, and we've had our first harvest. And in Extramadura, they usually requires with a 1:1 ratio. If we install panels in 1 hectare, we need to implement compensation measures in 1 hectare. It's usually best conservation. So neighbors tend to be very happy. Usually, the price is not the same compared to some panels, but they're usually happy with it, and the regional government is happy because we protect different species of birds that would otherwise be exposed to some risks. So we go beyond the legislation.
And regarding the blackout, you're asking about 2 things, now and then. Currently, the first recommendation of the 300 pages of the document published last year, the first one, the most important one is to have real-time monitoring of tension. The National Grid, [ without ] a phone call, they tell the machines, the power plants, what they need to do. So they follow the voltage in real time. This existed technically, but really National Grid didn't implement this back then. Now it's implemented, and that is the first one. Electricity, we're like 15%, 16%; client generation, we're sixth with that market. But in real-time monitoring, power plants that are enabled to do this, out of the 10,000 megawatts that we have now, 58% of them are ours, which proves that we are spearheading this process because the security of supply is something greater for us with our CGTs.
What happened back then? None of the report makes a decision. CNMC has declined to study the cost exclusively focusing on proposals moving forward. The same goes. Some operators and generalists wanted to see this report and [ causes and copers. ] The first page says that this is not its goal, and you won't find it anywhere in the document who -- who is responsible for it. It focuses on recommendation.
What can we know about who caused it? As I said, we have a partial view. We don't know the whole system, just our part, which is approximately 1/6. So we can speak about that 1/6. And about that, we can say categorically that none of our facilities, conventional or renewable generation facilities or distribution facilities were triggered due to internal causes that were all triggered, disconnected due to external factors, usually an excess of voltage.
And this is what the regulations say: to prevent any damage, they're disconnected before causing a damage because otherwise, the machine will be burned. All of them were triggered because of external factors. And although people speak about that instant, 12:33, it is important to know what happened in previous hours or days. And I can tell you that Naturgy has a fleet of 17 CGDs. The operational were properly maintained. That evening, 10 were functioning according to the National Grid request. 3 4 continued and others from other operators continue, they continue to work that morning. Whether they were enough or not, we don't have the global view of the system. So I cannot give you a full answer on this.
The causes will be established by court. Unfortunately, this will take a long time, first of all, because this is scattered throughout Spain. And only when this reaches the Supreme Court, a final decision will be made, but I can already tell you that these 2 reports explicitly say they're not trying to find a culprit. They just try to make suggestions for the future.
I hope that with the explanation of the Secretary about the last question, we can consider concluded the part that has to do with the shareholders' participation. And now we go to the next part of the AGM, which is the voting of the agreements or the resolutions proposed. But before that, the Secretary will present to you normally the level of compliance that we have in the company when we look at the recommendations made by the CNMV for all listed companies.
Yes, it's something that I have to say in application. I would like to say that of the 64 recommendations that the CNMV includes 6 of them are not applicable to Naturgy in terms of subsidiary that doesn't apply. Of the 58 that apply, we fully complied at the 31st of December 2025 with 48 of them, 6 partially complied with and the other 4, we have given an explanation because -- why we consider it's better not to fulfill them. Obviously, there will be reasons for that. The last 2, those that we partially fulfill and those who we think is better to fulfill in a different way, you can find explanation to why in the last few pages of the corporate governance annual report.
For those that we have given explanation, the Board considers still that it doesn't apply to Naturgy, for instance, recommendation 17 on the number of independent directors. We consider that rather than fulfilling a recommendation, we have to fulfill the law, which talks about proportional representation of shareholders. And therefore, by default, we cannot have a majority of independent directors. So we cannot fulfill the recommendation, but we fulfill the law.
With regard to the recommendations that we partially fulfill, for instance, 52 53, they have to do with the shareholder configuration and the number of independent directors I mentioned or also 48 that talks about separating the Appointment and Remuneration Committee into 2 committees. We think that this is not effective. And we believe that the Appointment and Remuneration Committee can fulfill its duties. And therefore, given the low amount of independent directors that we have, if we were to split them, there will be problems on representation. So therefore, we decide to maintain the Appointment and Remuneration Committee as it is.
Okay. And now the Secretary will read the proposals that are subject to approval one by one, obviously, and we will explain how to speed the process and how we will execute it in order to speed the process.
In order to speed the process, if there are substantial majorities, we will indicate if each proposal has been approved depending on the votes already considered. Basically, those that have already voted in favor or against or abstentions, all those will raise their hand in the room or will leave us with the vote as they wish. We'll only say that we will look at those votes already on the table without having the need to detail those in favor, against or abstentions. I also propose that those who are present in the room and wish to vote against or abstain, simply raise your hand after the reading of each proposal. And I also propose that at the end of the vote, you can come close to the voting table together with me and the notary in order to take detailed note of your name, number of shares and how you wish to vote.
For those who wish to vote remotely, they can do so through the online form that is available and your votes will be counted and will be communicated to the public notary so that it's included in the minutes.
At the end of the voting, the result will be made public on the website from tomorrow in the section of the AGM 2026 entitled quorum Voting and Resolutions. I would also like to say that according to Article 11 of the AGM's regulation and the items of the agenda, given that -- I will make a summary given that the full text has been available before the convening of the meeting.
First proposal approving the annual accounts, the management report of Naturgy Energy Group for the year closed 31st of December 2025. Approved? It's considered approved.
Second proposal: To approve the consolidated annual accounts and the consolidated management report for Naturgy Energy Group S.A. for the year 2025. Approved? It's considered approved.
Third proposal: To approve the nonfinancial information statement, the consolidated one according to the management report of Naturgy Energy Group. Considered approved.
Fourth proposal, this one regarding the dividend, approving the following proposal for the result of the capital share closed on the 31st of December 2025. The dividend, this is an amount of global gross amount that will be equal to the sum of the 2 amounts. Those that have already been in the interim dividends have already been paid out and the supplementary dividends. We've already paid [ 1 trillion 99 billion 936 million 366 ] corresponding to the 2 interim dividends of the period 2025 at EUR 1.20 per share with a number of shares that were not considered treasury stock.
And second, supplementary dividends that are proposed now, which is the amount the result of multiplying [ EUR 2.57 ] per share for the number of shares that do not have the condition of treasury stock at the date where the holders were registered in order to receive the supplementary dividend. Of that dividend, we have already paid EUR [ 969 ] million on the 30th of July and the 5th of November. The payment of the supplementary dividend of EUR 0.57 will be paid on the 31st of March.
The Board is empowered with the power of a replacement in order to carry out wherever it needs and all the necessary actions in order to make sure we distribute and including, but not limited to, appoint an entity that should act as a payment agent. And then we have the remnant, which is the amount that comes from deducting those dividends from the total distribution, which is [ 3 trillion 273 million 201,502 euros ] Is it approved? Approved.
Fifth proposal: To approve the management carried out by the Board during the year 2025. Approved? It's considered approved.
Sixth proposal. This is a vote that has been done by this consultation, not binding. Approving the annual report on the remunerations of the directors of Naturgy Group approved by the Board of Directors on the 17th of February 2026 and the text has been at the disposal of the shareholders together with the other documentation. Approved? Considered approved.
Seventh proposal related to the Board of Directors' composition. 7.1 to reelect and appoint the Board after the report of the Appointments and Remuneration Committee, Mr. Ramon Adell Ramon. Approved? Approved.
7.2, reelect and appoint the proposal of the Board and with the approval of the Appointment and Remuneration Committee for 4 years, Mr. Jaime Siles Fernandez Palacios. Approved? Considered approved.
7.3, reelect and appoint of the Board's proposal and the Appointments and Remuneration Committee proposal and Mr. Francisco Reynes Massanet. Approved.
7.4, to ratify an appointment through cooptation and appoint the proposal of the Board and the Appointment and Remuneration Committee, Mr. Lars Bespolka for 4 years. Considered approved.
Given that the 4 directors are present, will you fulfill the requirements? And is there any conflict of interest? No? Perfect. Approved.
Eighth proposal: To authorize and approve according to Article 515 of the Companies Act that the extraordinary AGMs will be called with a minimum notice of 15 days as well as soon as the company offers the shareholders the effective possibility to vote remotely until the holding of the next ordinary AGM. This is something that we ask for every year, even though we've never had to do it. Approved? Considered approved.
Ninth, this is not for voting. This is just to inform you. We inform the AGM of the amendments to Article 20 of the regulation on the organization and operation of the Board of Naturgy. We have included in the second paragraph of [ third ] section the duties of the coordinated Board so that it has the same wording as the recommendations of the CNMV guidelines because part of the text was not the same. So the full text effect of this section is at the disposal of shareholders in the proposal of resolution and can be read on our website.
Tenth and last proposal: To delegate to the Board with express power of replacement granted to the Chairman, Secretary or director or directors whenever it is deemed fit in order to execute, complement, develop, interpret or formalize any of the resolutions approved by the AGM, being allowed to carry out any modifications needed in order to in order to have it -- make it effective, and to delegate and empower vastly as allowed by the law to the Chairman, Secretary of the Board or any of them indistinctively so that they can -- they are able to sign as many documents as needed in order to carry out these resolutions. Approved? Considered approved.
Given that all the proposals have been approved, we consider this AGM duly closed.
Before we say goodbye, first of all, I would like to thank again on behalf of the Board and of the management team, the trust that you have given us all as the management team will continue to work as much as we can in the best manner possible to fulfill our commitments for the year 2026. And as the Board of Directors, we will make sure that all this work is supervised.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Naturgy Energy Group — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Naturgy Energy Group, S.A.
Naturgy Energy Group — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our full year 2025 results presentation. This is Abel Arbat speaking from the Capital Markets team at Naturgy. Next to me sits our Executive Chairman, Mr. Francisco Reynes; the General Counsel to the Board, Manuel Garcia Cobaleda; the Global Head of Financial Markets and Corporate Development, Mr. Steven Fernandez; and the Global Head of Control and Energy Planning, Ms. Rita Ruiz de Alda.
Today's presentation is a bit longer than usual as we aim to cover the results, but also to address some of the key themes and opportunities for 2026. As usual, we will start the presentation and then move to the Q&A session at the end of the call. Please, as usual, submit your questions through the webcast platform.
And with that, let me hand it over to Steven Fernandez to kick off the presentation.
Thank you, Abel, and good morning to everyone. Thank you for joining our webcast to discuss the full year numbers for 2025 and the outlook for 2026. So before moving into the detailed review, I would like to highlight some of the key messages for the year. As you have seen in the results presentation, 2025 was a strong year for Naturgy, where we met our guidance, once again, reinforcing our track record of consistent delivery. The successful execution of our 2018 to 2025 transformation has underpinned the value creation of the company, and, we hope, our credibility.
Now looking ahead, our 2026 guidance is well supported by business fundamentals, a very proactive risk management, as you will see throughout the presentation. We remain fully committed to the energy transition with gas increasingly recognized as essential. Also, our strengthened balance sheet provides strategic flexibility.
And on the capital markets front, the tender offer on our own shares and subsequent placements have also led to a significant increase in the free float and stock liquidity, resulting in the return to major indices like the MSCI. Finally, the governance of the company has been adapted to align with the long-term objectives and ambitions of Naturgy.
Now we move over to the consolidated results. Starting with the evolution of the energy markets, as you can see on Page 6 of the presentation, gas benchmark softened during the second half of the year with TTF declining by 23%, the Henry Hub by 6% and JKM by 14% compared to the first half of the previous year -- of 2025, sorry.
Brent prices were also lower, both in the second half of the year and year-on-year, averaging $66 per barrel in the second half of 2025 versus $77 in the same period of 2024. Iberian pool prices for its part increased from EUR 62 per megawatt hour in the first half of the year to EUR 69 in the second half of the same year, owing mainly to the usual seasonal patterns with lower renewal generation in the second half of the year.
If we move over to Slide 7, in terms of FX, we saw a broad-based depreciation across most of our operating currencies versus the euro. The U.S. dollar weakened meaningfully, particularly in the second half of the year, and it's continued to do so in 2026 so far, with LatAm currencies, including the Brazilian real, Mexican peso and Chilean peso also depreciating.
Now we turn over to the full year 2025 results. We have a quick snapshot of some of the key metrics of these figures. EBITDA reached EUR 5.3 billion. This is a record level for the company. Net income reached EUR 2 billion. CapEx in the year amounted to EUR 2.1 billion, in line with the estimates that we had for our strategic plan. And net debt ended the year at EUR 12.3 billion. In this period, we've almost paid around EUR 1.3 billion in taxes and levies. So overall, the company has met its guidance despite a year of challenging environment, and these robust results reinforce our track record of consistent delivery.
The year's performance was also supported by continued improvements in operational efficiency and very strong risk management, which have translated into higher profitability and visibility. At the same time, the strong cash flow generation and our capital discipline have allowed us to reduce our net debt levels below our 2025 guidance. So as a result, we end the year 2025 with a strengthened balance sheet that provides the company with strategic flexibility.
If we move on to the income statement, EBITDA remained in line with last year, again, as a reminder, at record levels, with net income slightly above, in part due to higher minorities in 2024 for the reversal of TGN provisions in Chile. These earnings, we believe, show strong resilience and are supported by a balanced mix of activities, risks and currencies, as you can see on the right-hand side of the page.
If we move over to Slide 10, which is the capital allocation, the cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 4.5 billion, which have allowed us to, one, fund EUR 2.1 billion investments, as I mentioned before, distribute close to EUR 1.7 billion in dividends and execute the tender offer of our own shares, which, for the most part, has already been placed in the market.
The investments remain focused on networks and renewables with EUR 1 billion allocated to networks and around EUR 800 million to renewal generation, allowing us to reach 8.1 gigawatts of installed capacity at year-end 2025. So we take all this together, these figures, we think, clearly demonstrate the strength of our cash flow generation and, of course, of our disciplined approach to capital allocation.
In fact, if we move over to Slide 11 in terms of cash flow and net debt evolution, you can see that free cash flow after minorities stood at around EUR 2.2 billion, EUR 800 million above 2024. That's 58% above.
Net debt for the year closed at EUR 12.3 billion, which is broadly stable versus the figures from last year, 2024, correct, with net debt to EBITDA at around 2.3x. And of course, this includes approximately EUR 1.7 billion in dividends, as previously stated, and the EUR 941 million of shares repurchased net of the subsequent placements that we executed.
The average cost of debt stands at 3.9%, in line with 2024 levels with around 66% of the debt locked at fixed rates. And the FFO-to-net debt stands at around 27%, which is comfortably above the threshold required for a BBB rating. During the year, it's worthwhile highlighting that we completed around EUR 11 billion of financing operations, reinforcing our liquidity and extending maturities. So all in all, our balance sheet remains solid and again, provides the company with strategic flexibility.
If we think about shareholder remuneration on Slide 12, for fiscal year '25, we are proposing a total dividend of EUR 1.77 per share, representing an almost 11% year-on-year growth and above the DPS floor of EUR 1.7 per share committed for the year. This includes two interim dividends of EUR 0.60 per share each and a final dividend, which we are announcing today of EUR 0.57 per share, which will be payable the next 31st of March, subject to the AGM approval. The final dividend per share has been increased to account for treasury shares as these shares do not receive dividends and its corresponding amount is redistributed among the outstanding shares.
So all in all, when we think about 2025, we've delivered on our company's guidance across basically all metrics. EBITDA reached EUR 5.3 billion, slightly above our guidance. Net income was above EUR 2 billion, also above the EUR 2 billion guidance. The net debt closed at EUR 12.3 billion, which is below our guidance of around EUR 13 billion, and the DPS amounted to EUR 1.77 per share, which is above our minimum commitment of EUR 1.7 per share. So all in all, this consistent track record of delivery once again reflects the company's commitment and delivery.
So now I'll hand over to Rita, who will take you through the operational business performance in each of our businesses in greater detail.
Thanks, Steven, and good morning, everyone. Starting with Networks on Page 15. Networks reported a total EBITDA of EUR 2,735 million in 2025, representing a 5% decline when compared to 2024. This decrease was primarily driven by a one-off positive impact in Chile last year and the depreciation of several Latin American currencies, most notably the Argentine peso, but also Brazilian and Mexican currencies.
In Spain, gas networks experienced remuneration adjustments foreseen in the current regulatory framework as well as increased demand in the residential segment due to temperature effects. In electricity, EBITDA increased driven by a higher regulated asset base and increased contribution rates.
On December 23, the new regulatory framework for the 2026-2031 was finally approved, introducing an OpEx remuneration model with a regulatory rate of 6.58% compared to the 5.58% in the previous period. In Mexico, results mainly impacted by negative foreign exchange effects compensated by tariff updates in July. And in Brazil, results were also affected by currency depreciation.
In Argentina, a substantial tariff increase was implemented in 2024 and 2025 to offset inflation. In fact, the new regulatory review approved for 2025-2030 period provides visibility and also includes mostly inflation adjustment that allowed to compensate for FX devaluation during the year. In Chile, performance declined when compared to last year due to an extraordinary effect in 2024 related to TGN conflict, which is now officially closed. In Panama, results were negatively affected by lower demand due to temperature effects and increased operating expenses from higher maintenance activity to improve quality standards.
In summary, comparison is affected by an extraordinary impact in 2024, currency depreciation in LatAm, and I will also highlight the publication of the distribution model for electricity distribution in Spain.
Now turning to Energy Management on Page 16. EBITDA reached EUR 815 million, which shows an increase versus 2024 of an 8%, mainly due to higher margins on hedge sales. The group benefited from effective hedging in a context of high volatility and uncertainty. It is important to highlight that we have reached a price agreement with our gas suppliers, Sonatrach, for the period 2025, 2027, which strengthens the good relationship between both parties and provide us with visibility in the context of energy price volatility.
Finally, last October, Naturgy signed a purchase agreement of 1 million tonnes of LNG with a U.S. gas supplier starting in 2030. This agreement strengthens the group's positioning and its commitment to a diversified LNG portfolio as a key enabler of the energy transition. Overall, the period benefited from effective hedging and diversified procurement portfolio. And furthermore, the group is building new capabilities that reduce risk and enhance optionality.
Continuing with Thermal Generation, EBITDA reached EUR 837 million in 2025, 39% over 2024 levels due to higher activity in Spain, partially offset by lower revenues in Latin America. In Spain, the increase in results was supported by higher demand for ancillary services from our combined cycle fleet. Naturgy holds the largest CCGT fleet in Spain with 7.4 gigawatt acting as a backbone to energy security of supply. Furthermore, the group obtained a favorable court ruling confirming the reimbursement of the hydrocarbons tax related to the 2014-2018 period.
In Mexico, production and margins remained stable. However, revenues from availability markets and prices declined, mainly due to an exceptionally high revenue base in 2024. Overall, CCGTs remain essential for ensuring system stability with an extraordinary contribution in 2025 following the positive ruling.
Let's turn now to Renewable Generation on Page 18. Renewable generation reached an EBITDA of EUR 586 million during the period, slightly above 2024 levels. In Spain, renewable production was 7% lower when compared to 2024, mainly due to lower wind and hydro generation given the exceptionally high levels of hydro production in 2024. This negative impact was partially offset by the commissioning of new installed capacity.
In the United States, results are higher when compared to 2024, mainly due to higher production and higher energy prices as the completion of the construction of its second solar plant in Texas. In LatAm, activity continues with impacts due to currency devaluation in both Mexico and Brazil.
And finally, in Australia, performance was supported by increased production, more than 100%, driven by the additional installed capacity implemented during the final months of 2024. Investment includes 1.2 gigawatt of power under construction that will come into operation in 2026. All in all, higher results in Renewable Generation due to commissioning of new capacity that reinforces vertical integration and selective growth.
Last, moving to Supply. EBITDA has been EUR 535 million, 17% lower when compared to 2024. It is important to remember that in 2024, we had an extraordinary impact due to the positive ruling in favor of Naturgy regarding tariff subsidies. Gas margins have shown resiliency, but negatively affected by regulated tariffs with legal process for recovery underway. In terms of electricity, the group has expanded its client portfolio in a higher competitive environment. However, it was impacted negatively by increasing costs.
Finally, our AI-enabled digital commercial platform drives efficiency and improves client service through a significant simplification of product and processes. Overall, stable volumes and margins pressure partially offset by integrated position and operational efficiency.
I will now hand it over to our Executive Chairman. Thank you.
Hello. Good morning to everyone. Thank you for joining. And thank you, Steven and Rita, for this wrap-up on 2025 results. I wanted just to spend a few minutes talking about the overview of the transformation we have conducted since 2018, which demonstrates that the company has been focused, as you will see later, in delivering or even exceeding our commitments that were placed in two strategic plans that were already ended.
The six key messages I wanted to share with you are about our decision in 2018 to get strongly involved in the energy transition. Our important target to move Naturgy into a more reliable, efficient and derisked company. All this transformation being done under the umbrella or clear financial discipline. As a conclusion of these targets, achieving a much stronger balance sheet, which demonstrates that our commitments are firmly achieved by the hard work of all the team. Finally, as you will see, the conclusions of all this work is that we have improved in the main metrics as return on capital employed, return on equity and total shareholders return.
In Page 22, you have it in your hands, and I will not go in big details, but the most important thing is that back to 2018, we have decided to change the face of our portfolio generation, betting on more renewable generation, maintaining the flexibility that our gas turbines are providing to the system and moving ahead in a transformation that has brought us to a very important share of the non-emission technologies.
On Page 23, one of our key mantras during the last 7 years has been around making the company more efficient. We really believe that a company will survive as more efficient it is. And the efficiency is shown in this page as an important change from a 36% OpEx over margin to a level of 25% of it.
It's important that this work has been done streamlining by all the different business units and in particular, as a demonstration of three pillars that has been driven this efficiency to an end is a portfolio simplification that started back in 2019, OneGrid as a philosophy to extend the best practices across all the business units in the company and leveraging on genAI, in particular, on the commercial field to improve not only our cost, but also our client service.
On the other side, and with the aim to make the company more reliable and less volatile, we have been focused every year to secure the level of pricing by hedging our LNG portfolio, we did change it from 30% -- around 30% of volume hedged at the beginning of the period to 100% volume hedged in the last year we closed. In parallel, as a business decision, we have decided that a way to self-hedge our fixed price sales contracts of electricity with clients could only be supported by our inframarginal base of electricity generation.
In this period, we have been generating around EUR 40 billion of cash flow -- EUR 41 billion of cash flow. And the solid use of these sources has been divided between three major destinies. One is investment. The second one is shareholders' remuneration and the third one is back to society through taxes and levies. As you can see, this equilibrium has been maintained, in particular, to create a much more solid company for the future with a high degree of investments.
The conclusion of this work is that we have been able to reduce our leverage, we're reinforcing the balance sheet and as a result, it provides us a strategic flexibility for the future. The level of rating has been able to be maintained as a BBB from Standard & Poor's. And today's liquidity is already around EUR 10 billion.
If you look backwards to 2018 and 2021, there have been two strategic plans in place that were shared with the market in June 2018 and at the end of 2021. Each of it had four important indicators as a target. As you can see in the slide, in all these different targets, the company and the team has been able to meet or exceed the expectations provided to the market with a consistent delivery through the years.
In conclusion, the company has created value for its shareholders. If we look at from the ratio point of view, we have clearly increased our efficiency in ratios like return on investment capital and return on equity. As you can see, we were at the time, clearly below our peers. And today, in comparable terms, our metrics are clearly above peers' average. If we will go back to the market and despite of all the different turmoils that may have around the equity markets, the total shareholders return for our shareholders could be clearly above 10%.
This is what we have done in this period of work, 2018 and 2025. The company has not stopped. This has been the case since 183 years of existence. And now I think that we want to tackle the most important issues that we have for the year 2026, which hopefully, Steven will clarify to all of you. Steven?
So thank you, Paco, and I'm super happy to be able to discuss this part of the presentation with you because when we look at some of the questions that are coming in as we discuss this presentation, we think we address a lot of those in this particular area.
So we focused on some of the key themes for 2026 that we know the market is looking at. And I would like to start off perhaps with the first one, in no particular order, but on Page 29, a word about the rising value of flexible generation. So we are seeing a structural shift in the Spanish system where CCGTs are playing an increasingly important role. It's worth highlighting that just a few years back, having CCGTs in your fleet was seen as something potentially negative. We kept on defending their relevance, and we are seeing that play out today. So we do see an increase in the value of flexible generation.
In Spain, it's worthwhile highlighting that our thermal installed capacity of 7.4 gigas of combined cycles and 600 megas of nuclear, and the CCGTs located in key areas provide grid support and operational flexibility, making the company a best-in-class operator. Potential capacity payments are only assumed from 2027, so not included in the 2026 guidance.
In LatAm, as you know, we also have a relevant fleet, specifically in Mexico, where we are engaging in discussions for the extensions of the PPAs. However, we do expect lower margins and lower availability in the excess capacity market for those combined cycles. So all in all, when it comes to the rising value of flexible generation, we see that the fleet's reliability, our flexibility and the fleet's efficiency are one of the key elements of the company's competitive advantages in this business.
Another area that I would like to touch on has to do with supply. So we are getting a lot of questions on supply, and we'd be happy to answer most of them. But before we go on to them, hopefully, this slide clears some of the elements.
So we continue to focus on competitiveness and operational excellence. So some of the key drivers for 2026 include a stable market share and volumes to preserve margins. So we're not engaging in a battle here to gain market share at all. We rather preserve margins. And this is in the context of a highly competitive environment. We have a well-balanced and vertically integrated position, which is also something worth highlighting. And we are experiencing and focusing clearly on excellence in client service and efficiency, which is supported by the new digital commercial platform the company launched, what we commonly know as NewCo.
Some key elements about this. So when we think about NewCo and the impact of this new digital commercial platform, we've seen a simplification and reduction of the number of energy plans offered to our clients from 634 previously to about half of that, 342 in 2025. So there's simplification easier to understand by our clients. We also have improved significantly the first call resolution from 80% in 2024 to 94% in 2025. And this has resulted in an increase in the customer satisfaction levels from 9.4% in '24 to around 9.6% in 2025.
We also have more margin visibility into 2026 based on the high percentage of already contracted sales. So for example, if you look at electricity, around 65% and 75% of -- is contracted for industrial and retail segments, respectively. And if you look at it in terms of gas, the numbers are 75% and 80% contracted for industrial and retail segments, respectively.
We also have a limited exposure to lower margin regulated tariffs in the sales mix. As you can see, overall, we can say that margin pressure during the year should be contained by our integrated position and high percentage of contracted sales for 2026 and together with what we think are the right ingredients for client retention and attraction.
If we move over to another interesting part of the business, which is energy management, we will continue to reduce our gas risk profile. I think the group has been very vocal about this, and we've been able to show very clear successful results. All this while maintaining the security of supply and optionality.
So some of the key drivers for this area include an agreement with Sonatrach on the price until 2027, which increases our commercial visibility. And obviously, this is subject to the customary commercial -- the customary authorizations.
Moreover, our total gas exposure for 2026 is negligible, thanks primarily to our hedging efforts with risk significantly reduced through 2028. This is made both with U.S. volume hedging and residual positions offset by short sales. In addition, the hedge volumes are closed above current market levels, preserving the company's potential.
Our long-term procurement strategy is also focused in prioritizing security of supply and disciplined risk management. So we have made progress on the following areas. We have executed a long-term U.S.-sourced LNG gas procurement agreement with Venture Global starting in 2030, which is public. And we have up to two 2 new bcms under long-term SPAs with additional procurement opportunities under evaluation. So we are actively engaging the market. We also have a proactive management of the upcoming EU ban on the Russian gas imports effective 2027. So all in all, the company keeps reducing the gas risk profile, increasing the visibility while obviously maintaining the focus on security of supply and our optionality.
In terms of networks, in Spain, in electricity distribution, the new regulatory framework increases the financial remuneration, as you know, to 6.58%, although with a strong adjustment to OpEx remuneration. Our investment plan in this strategic plan, which I remind you is around between EUR 300 million and EUR 350 million a year, is subject to the approval of the government network planning, which we're still awaiting. So we expect in 2026 to have a one-off recognition of remuneration also from previous years.
In gas distribution, we should have the new regulatory framework from October 2026, and that covers a time span of '27 to '32. We expect the current parametric formula to be maintained with some adjustments to remuneration parameters. And we should also see an acceleration in biomethane production and distribution. So Nedgia in that sense, distributed last year 170 gigawatt hours of biomethane, which represents a 53% increase versus 2024. Finally, in gas distribution, we also expect a gradual rollout of smart meters.
So in essence, when you look at both areas, both electricity and gas in networks in Spain, we believe that visibility has improved, and we expect stability in gas.
If we move over then to renewables, it's worth highlighting that our development remains disciplined and return-focused with 1.2 gigas under construction that will come into operation throughout the year 2026.
In Spain, in particular, we'll continue benefiting from our low-risk and flexible portfolio, which is focusing on repowering and battery hybridization. Execution will focus on high-return projects, as you can imagine, and the opportunity to capture value from unique assets, suitable specifically for data centers and pumped-storage solutions. On top of that, 640 megawatts of additional capacity and 115 megawatts of repowering will be fully operational by Q4 '26.
In Australia, we will have some additional capacity, around 360 megas, with supply contracts supported via long-term PPAs.
And lastly, in the United States, we will see additional capacity to the tune of around 125 megas coming operational in 2026, with supply contracts supported via long-term PPAs of between 10 to 15 years. In addition, in the U.S., we will see asset rotation, and we will seek asset rotation opportunities to projects under development.
So overall, I think renewable growth remains focused on profitable and selective investments. This goes to our mantra of value over size. And this will continue to contribute, of course, to our vertically integrated position in Spain.
Moving on to biomethane. Biomethane, we believe, in Spain presents significant long-term potential of around 160 terawatt hours because it's an efficient solution to decarbonize the transport, the residential, the industrial sectors as gas networks are already ready to distribute the gas, the biomethane with no modifications.
In this sense, Spain's biomethane plants have doubled from 12 to 24 in 2025. Nedgia or the gas distribution business, biomethane distribution has also seen a material increase, as I just previously mentioned. And the forthcoming Spanish policy package should provide regulatory tailwinds from 2026, accelerating biomethane production and the use for decarbonization.
So we continue progressing in the development of our portfolio with more than 75 projects, that's equivalent to more than 5.5 terawatt hours despite the investment plan being delayed due to slow administrative processes. So it's worth highlighting that we're admittedly not going as fast as we'd like.
And this is shown by the 20 environmental authorizations in Spain versus 140 under review, of which 40 belong to Naturgy. So we continue to become the leading energy player in biomethane in Spain. We continue to push for the right regulation, and we are ready to accelerate our CapEx plan once visibility on this front improves.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to discuss data centers a little bit, right? And when we talk about data centers, we work and we deliver results as opposed to deliver expectations with no results. So let's talk about the data center opportunity here.
Spain is one of the fastest-growing data center markets. It is supported by competitive costs and a strategic geographic position, which make the country an attractive hub for international data traffic. We believe the company is very well positioned to benefit from this. So we combine 8 gigawatts of thermal capacity with 5.7 gigas of renewables, which, together with our multi-energy focus provide us with the flexibility, and this is very important, to adapt to the clients' energy needs. So in addition, we also offer integrated solutions, combining grid access, energy and network resilience and redundancy.
So in this context, Naturgy's business model is evaluating opportunities to monetize suitable power land and provide long-term PPAs and energy services, while the investor retains control of the data center assets. That is our model. We hold close to 3 gigas of locations with suitable access or potential for obtaining access to power consumption, of which around 500 megas in renewables, 400 megawatts in combined cycles and a conservative 2 gigawatt pipeline.
So in conclusion, we see this as an opportunity to unlock value with very limited capital deployment. We are working in this area, and we are optimistic in our ability to deliver. We recognize that the process won't happen overnight, that capturing value from DC expansion may take a few years, but we also recognize the unique position the company is in to capture some of this growth.
Finally, if I move over to LatAm. This year, we'll see relevant tariff reviews across businesses and the preparation for concession extensions. In Panama, the main drivers will be the 2026 to 2030 tariff review, which should include both inflation and higher losses recognition. And we are also seeing higher demand and the continuation of the ongoing quality upgrade plan.
In Mexico, the '26-'30 tariff review will also reflect inflation recognition. And additionally, we expect industrial demand to recover from '25 levels.
In Chile, the '26-'29 tariff review will come with full asset value recognition. And in supply, we're seeing a slight margin contraction due to the expected energy scenario.
In Brazil, the focus is on the preparation for the concession retender in 2027. So we have a lot of questions about this. The reality is that the government has the ability to retender the concession. We'll look at the tender conditions when and if they are published, and we'll make the decision on whether or not to go ahead. But suffice it to say, the company is uniquely positioned to continue operating these assets.
In Argentina, the gas review for '25-'29 was approved in April. And while the electricity tariff review for '26-'30 was approved in February 2026. So both reviews, very importantly, incorporated the inflation recognition.
So in summary, we do expect ordinary tariff reviews across businesses in LatAm with demand continued to grow and with the company ramping up and getting ready for the retender of the concession in Rio.
And with that, I hand over to our Chairman for the last remarks.
Thank you, Steven. And again, thank you for listening to me. Two important messages for 2026. If you remember, one of the key topics of the strategic plan 2025, '27 was to be a truly listed company again. And that was translated in one word, increasing liquidity. Increasing liquidity has been the aim of what it was behind all our plans during this year, and we have been able to achieve our targets even 2 years earlier than the finish of the strategic plan '27.
In terms of liquidity and after the BTO that we launched in June 2025 and after the placement of the shareholder GIP of 7% of its stake by December '25, this is the new configuration of our shareholding base. It's important to remark that now the free float is above 23%. And one demonstration that the company is becoming more liquid is that if you compare the ADTV of shares in January '25 with January '26, the volume of shares traded has been multiplied by 5x.
On the governance side, I want to highlight first a very important message. Naturgy's Board is a solid and peaceful room. All the plans that we have submitted to the market for your consideration has been approved by unanimity and all the changes that were going to happen have been also approved by unanimity of its members. Therefore, for many things that has been written, we have the privilege to have a very committed and devoted Board that works for the benefit of all shareholders, large and/or small.
What we have done is to adapt the new equilibrium of shareholders to the new circumstances of the bylaws of the company, including a respect of the proportional representation for the stakes of every shareholder. In this regard and after the placement of GIP, the Board unanimously have decided to change one board seat from GIP to IFM. These numbers, which are not only pure mathematics, would also like to reflect the long-term commitment of the shareholders in the company.
If we go back -- if we go ahead on 2026 forecast, we want to share with you how we see this year, which has started very bumpy. And as we see a scenario in both energy prices and exchange rates, very challenging. We see a market that is again deteriorating a little versus the last half of 2025. And in particular, in what it reflects to the price of electricity, we are seeing more depressed electricity prices in the first half of '26 compared to last year.
When we go to the exchange rates, there are also some visions based on the forwards of last 11th of February that we are seeing a certain stable evolution in Chile, Brazil, probably a little decline in the U.S. dollar and a continuous, now less, decline on the Argentinian peso.
With all into account, what we can provide to you today is a vision of our figures in 2026 which, as you will see, may think less affected than this challenging scenario, in particular, because of the proactive hedging policy of our volatile business and our proactive regulatory management of our infra business.
We can tell today that we see EBITDA for this year at a level of 2025. Net income slightly below than 2025, but clearly above EUR 1,800 million with an investment around the same level than last year. That will provide us room enough to continue delivering the messages of our commitments and in particular, a dividend that was established as a floor for this year '26 on EUR 1.8 per share. As you know, we regularly pay our dividends in three steps: one after the first half results, the second after the third quarter results and the third at the time of the AGM.
If you allow me to close this first introduction after going to your Q&A session, just to remember which are our key fundamental messages for the investment community. One is about 2025 results, strong as committed. Second, about the transformation 2018-'25, a clear transformation from different points of view, operationally, financially and shareholder base. Third, on the guidance 2026, supported by our aim to maintain risk management in our core. Firm commitment to energy transition by investing with financial discipline. A balance sheet that give us this strategic flexibility. Increased free float as part of our key fundamentals. And governance adapted and aligned with long-term objectives and ambitions.
Thank you very much for your time. I give the floor to Abel, who will manage the part of the Q&A session.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, everyone, for submitting your questions. In the meantime, we have the pleasure of having some of our business heads joining the discussion and helping us to address the more spicy questions with Pedro Larrea from Networks, Carlos Vecino from the Supply business, Jorge Barredo from Renewables Activity and Jon Ganuza from Energy Management. But before we get into the specific business questions, let's address the more -- the questions more related to the group and business strategy.
So starting with guidance 2026. There's a question around underlying assumptions for guidance 2026 and how it compares to the former strategic plan and whether we are comfortable -- still comfortable with the 2027 targets and what offsets the more challenging scenario?
Thank you, Abel. So I think we've mentioned during the presentation that we expect increased investment in Networks and also tariff reviews in LatAm, that will bring higher results in the following months. Also, we've mentioned that we have a 1.2 gigawatt under construction of new renewable capacity that will also enter into operation during 2026 and 2027. Third, we still see the thermal generation will remain strong in the following months. And also, I think it is also mentioned during the presentation that there is one positive retroactive impact in electricity distribution in Spain expected in 2026. So I think that all these impacts will compensate for the margin decline expected under energy scenario.
Thank you, Rita. Now questions on net debt. Some analysts recognize that net debt came better than expected in 2025. And wonder if we can elaborate on the drivers of the increase in net debt to 2026 of EUR 13.5 billion.
Okay. So we are expecting to pay some liabilities in 2026 regarding supply contract agreements and also some payments to the CNMC, for example, the one regarding electricity price caps from 2023 that we provisioned, but we have to pay. So therefore, we expect some debt increase in 2026, in line with the guidance. However, operational cash flow will remain solid in 2026.
Thank you, Rita. In line with the lower-than-expected net debt delivery in 2025, there are some questions around balance sheet capacity. And recognizing that balance sheet capacity, where do we see organic growth opportunities? And also, are we contemplating any inorganic opportunities? And what would be the criteria of these potential inorganic opportunities?
So thank you, Abel. We recognize that we have balance sheet headroom and flexibility. I think to answer the question, the first thing that we need to remember is that we have a very clear commitment to a BBB rating. So that is fundamental as a starting point of any discussion. To keep that rating right now, we have to meet a number of metrics to focus on one in particular, FFO to net debt has to be above 18%. We're running right now at a level of around 27%. So you can do the math on how much additional leverage capacity the group has. It doesn't mean that we're going to be using it. So we don't want to stress the balance sheet, but it means that we have the ability to deploy or to put our balance sheet to work.
When we think about investments, you also have to think about our mantra, which is very clear as well, which is value over size. And we've been following that since 2018. We will continue following that. So by no means are we going to be jumping into the market doing crazy things. We're very rational and very disciplined as a company.
So when we divide between inorganic and organic, organic, I think the company has provided you with guidance for year 2026 of around EUR 2.1 billion. In terms of inorganic growth, as you can imagine, we're constantly monitoring the market for attractive opportunities that make sense for the company, that create value for our shareholders, that do not stress us. We're looking for opportunities that are not dilutive, that are accretive from the beginning. We're looking at opportunities where we can actually export our know-how. I think you've seen in the presentation, the track record the company has from '18 to '25. We've been able to develop best-in-class expertise in certain areas. And these are areas that we would look to be able to leverage on when thinking about acquisitions.
Do we have anything on the table today? The answer is no. But we do have a very good team that spends a lot of their time looking at opportunities. And when and if one of those fits what we're looking for, then we'll bring it to the Board and decide whether or not we want to go ahead with them.
If you allow me, Steven, just to remark on a very important fact that reinforces Steven's words. Since 2018 until now, that has been more than 7 years, there have been a lot of rumors about different potential projects that the company may get involved. And as you have seen, we haven't lost the financial discipline and our commitment to firmly stay on the words that Steven has said, and I would like to remark, value over size. This is going to continue. And this is the main reason why we are not obsessed about inorganic growth. We are obsessed about value creation.
Thank you, Steven. And Mr. Chairman. There is a question on the upper end of a net debt-to-EBITDA range, but I think that Steven already answered that by stating our commitment -- our firm commitment to a BBB rating. And as a result, there's not an upper end of net debt to EBITDA, but rather a commitment to a BBB rating. We're more guided around the FFO-to-net debt criteria.
There's another question around cash flow and in particular, on working capital. What are the key moving parts of the change in working capital during 2025?
Okay. So the evolution of working capital is significantly influenced by seasonal demand patterns, fluctuations in energy prices and also with the negotiation of gas contracts with our suppliers. And this has been the case in 2025.
Thank you, Rita. There is also a lot of interest around the data center theme. I think that Steven covered very well the topic and our positioning on the matter. But I guess it's worth clarifying a few of the questions. So let's go with them.
Are we contemplating any kind of partnerships, and how imminent a deal could be? Also, a deal on power land could be expected already this year. And also, what exactly is the self-consumption capacity for data centers?
So partnerships, we don't envisage -- our model for development in data centers or to capture the opportunity presented by data centers does not envision any partnership per se. In other words, we're not going to be getting involved in the construction of the data center. We're not going to be getting involved in the running of the data center.
We're going to be getting involved in the procurement of energy. We're going to be getting involved in the procurement of permits, and we're going to be getting involved in the selling of electricity and selling of the power land. So that's our business model, right? We do think we have a unique position to capture part of this growth because of the locations where we operate, which are, by the way, generating quite a bit of interest from a number of parties.
As to whether or not we should expect any deal this year, all we can say is that the company is working to make this potential a reality. And when we have any news to share, we'll obviously be happy to do so with the market, but we're not going to anticipate things ahead of time.
And I think the other question had to do with self-consumption. There's two different alternatives that you can do as a data center, connect directly to the network or do self-consumption, which has its own advantages. The majority of developers are looking for self-consumption. So that's one of the -- that's the area that we're focusing on.
Thank you, Steven. So we can now move on to the specific questions around the various business units. So let's start with electricity distribution in Spain.
And the first question relates to how the new regulatory framework for electricity distribution in Spain affects us in terms of our investment plans or strategic ambition?
Okay. Thank you. So as you all know, the CNMC has already published a definitive resolution for the new regulatory framework covering the 2026-2031 period. The published proposal introduces a shift to an OpEx-based remuneration model with an increase in the contribution rate to 6.58%. This new model finally defines investment cap in 0.13% of gross domestic products. The group considers that this new regulatory model creates value and provides the distributor with a solid growth path for the coming years that is consistent with our strategic plan estimates.
Thank you, Rita. Another question also related to the new framework, and it relates to our views around the new OpEx standard and the new incentive mechanism, if we could share our views on the new regulatory changes.
So we think that the new model fails a little bit in order to incentive -- to be more efficient in the future. That's our perspective.
Okay. Also, during the presentation, we mentioned the retroactive one-off recognition from previous years. Can we clarify the concept behind this recognition, this one-off recognition?
So this is mainly contribution related to maintenance activity from previous periods in the past that depends on court rulings that are currently being published.
Okay. Thank you very much, Rita. Let's now move on to questions around our gas distribution activities in Spain. And there are a number of questions around our expectation for the new regulatory framework in gas distribution for the period 2027 to 2032.
Okay. So regarding timing, we are expecting a first draft of the remuneration methodology should be ready probably the next month in 2026 as the final distribution model should be expected by the end of the year. From our point of view, continuing with the parametric model will be a desirable option to provide both stability and predictability to the sector.
I want to highlight that the current model has proven to be efficient. It has provided system stability and the remuneration has fallen significantly in the recent years as a result of the drop in demand. However, parameters should be -- should reflect exceptional inflation of the current period. Furthermore, we foresee this new regulation as the opportunity to incentive renewable gases, smart metering and the decarbonization of the gas networks.
Maybe just highlight that we have been arguing and I think everybody is now acknowledging that gas networks are a strategic asset for energy in the country. Gas networks actually distribute 1.5x the amount of energy that electricity networks do, and they are around 6x more efficient than electricity networks. So -- and by the way, gas demand has been increasing consistently for the past 20 years. So everybody, I think, today is acknowledging the long-term strategic value of gas networks in Spain.
Thank you very much, Pedro. So moving now on to networks in Latin America. The first question is around the retender process for the Rio de Janeiro concession, and if we can share any updates or views on the matter.
Well, a public process for extending concessions is the base case. In this case, there was an opportunity, at least the [ regulator threw it ] like this, that it could have been more efficient to make a renewal with the current concession holder, but just the politics timing in the Rio de Janeiro state haven't made this possible. So we are now back to the base case of renewing within an ordinary process.
And maybe two comments on my side. One is we have been in the past 2 years, having a very candid and open relation both with government and regulator, and we have been successful in unlocking a number of discussions we have been having like tariff reviews, asset values, et cetera. And we plan to continue to do so. So we will continue to be openly having open conversations with both regulator and government.
Second is that there is no questioning of our management of the concession of our management of the assets. So there's no negative valuation of our performance as a concession holder so far. And we will continue again to have this open relationship with the government and see what comes out of the retendering. And there is a number of regulatory discussions that are open and that we are having just as normal course of business.
Thank you very much, Pedro. One last question on regulatory networks in LatAm, and it mainly relates to the key drivers coming into 2026 and 2027.
Okay. So regulatory management continues to be a key priority in Latin America as we aim to obtain tariff reviews in most of our distributors in LatAm and updates which compensate for ongoing inflation and FX depreciation as well as tariff updates that reflect investment plans in those geographies. I think it's important to highlight that in the case of Argentina gas, the new tariff review published this year includes monthly adjustments for inflation, which is a very important milestone regarding high inflation rates in this country.
Thank you, Rita. And a final question on not networks, but on Latin America. And it's related to the reclassification of our Chilean renewable assets that are now reclassified as held for sale. So why is that a decision? Is there any read-across for other renewable assets in Latin America?
So thank you, Abel. No, there is absolutely no read-across for any assets in LatAm or anywhere else. The reason why those assets are held for sale quite simply is because they did not meet or are not meeting our return requirements.
So let's now move on to the energy management questions. So starting with the more generic questions. So what is the -- our views on the gas outlook and the expected performance of the energy management division in 2026 and 2027 compared to the strategic plan?
Okay. So regarding energy scenario forecast for the next months indicate a moderate gas price level environment in Europe, mainly driven by increasing exports from the U.S. However, we are nearly fully hedged this year, and we have margin visibility throughout the next months.
Regarding contracted volumes, we anticipated already in the strategic plan that we will have lower contracted volumes in 2026 due to contract expirations. And these effects will be mitigated through our diversified gas portfolio and our ability to access to market volumes.
Overall, while we foresee a more challenging environment in the next few years, due to rising global LNG exports that we actually anticipated this in our strategic plan, we rely on LNG as a key enabler of the energy transition in the future. That's why we signed a new contract with U.S. gas suppliers starting in 2030.
Thank you, Rita. Tons of questions around the levels of hedging and exposure and sensitivity to moves in the TTF, Brent and Henry Hub. I think that throughout the presentation, we clarified and guided towards the very limited sensitivity and the high levels of hedging. But if there are any comments that we can add, please?
No, I mean, basically -- thank you, Abel. If we are hedged for 2026, that means that we are -- we have no impact or negligible impact associated to any variation on the TTF or Henry Hub or even power prices. So I think that for 2026, we are fully hedged. And for 2027, we are mostly hedged and the same could also be said for 2028.
Thank you very much, Jon. Also, a question on the Sonatrach price review. And if we can comment on the main elements of that review and why it's helpful to the group.
Of course, we cannot disclose any of the commercial details, but I think that the most important thing is that it allows us to have a 3-year outlook of how the prices are going to evolve. That helps on our supply business, it also helps in our overall cash position. But especially, I think that it strengthens the relationship, the long-term relationship partnership that we have with Sonatrach, and it reflects that we can work even in a challenging condition or environment like the one that we've seen in the past few months and the past few years.
Thank you very much, Jon. A few questions as well on the European ban to importing gas from Russia. What is the current status? And what are the sort of alternatives that we are considering in line of the current situation?
So I think that we always talk about the ban, but actually, there are two overlapping measures that have different scope and different time line. On the one hand, we have a sanction that is a full ban on Russian LNG. So it not only covers that we could not import LNG to Europe, but we could not do anything with the LNG. But the time line of that sanction is until July 31 of this year. And if it doesn't review, it will die off.
And then there is the second measure that is the ruling that was approved by the European Parliament in February. And the scope there is more limited. The scope of that ruling, it limits itself to the import of Russian LNG to Europe, but it would allow eventually diversions to other markets or other countries. So I think that the first thing that we have to look out is whether the sanction will be renewed on July 31 or not, and that would mean a different scenario for a company like ours.
And finally, on this business unit also a few questions related to acknowledging that we signed a new contract with Venture, are we looking for other alternatives to replace or to top up our current gas procurement volumes?
So I think the security of supply in energy is a bit like the saying that you have in English that you fix the roof only when it rains, and we don't like to work that way. We think that we have to work in advance. And that's why we are always looking to different procurement solutions that would increase the security of supply and would increase our diversification. We are having talks with the different parties. And if we find something that makes sense and is sensible for both parties and it strengthens our supply procurement portfolio, of course, we will move ahead with that.
Thank you, Jon. So now moving on to the thermal generation, particularly a number of questions in Spain. So what's our view on the outlook for 2026 and beyond on the role of CCGTs and its contribution by ancillary services? How sustainable do we think this is?
Okay. So as we mentioned during the presentation, we don't expect capacity payments in 2026. We expect them to be published for 2027. And what we see is that CCGTs will continue to play a key role in this -- in the current environment, and we don't expect this to change in the near and the medium term. This translates into higher demand and production in ancillary services market that guarantee the system stability and the security of supply.
We are nevertheless taking a more conservative assumption in CCGT's production for 2026. And also, it's important to understand that probably the launch of new voltage control markets, the entry of new batteries or the development of new infrastructure will obviously influence some restriction in the future, but we insist that CCGTs will remain essential as a backup technology.
Thank you, Rita. Moving on to a few questions on the renewable businesses. And the first one relates to renewables in Spain. We continue to invest in renewables in Spain. There is around EUR 430 million of growth CapEx in 2025. Do we still find returns are reasonable? What kind of -- what's our focus in Spain and our competitive advantage?
Okay. So regarding renewables in Spain, we are conscious that they face significant challenge, for example, delays in permitting and also limited profitability due to negative prices. However, for this reason, we are focusing our investment during the next months in repos of existing wind plants and also in batteries and finishing the projects that we have under construction. As we always defend, we seek a multi-technology and balanced position that allows us to meet the demand of our customers. And we are, therefore, committed to renewals, but always under selective growth that guarantees profitability.
Thank you, Rita. There is also a related question around our views about curtailments and how we see the curtailments evolving this year and in the current dynamics, I guess.
Okay. So curtailments of renewable energy have increased significantly in the recent months. We expect them to decrease with the entry of new storage capacity in the next months and years.
Thank you, Rita. There is a question about the amount of hydro, nuclear and renewable terawatts in Spain that we have hedged already. I think I guess it's worth highlighting our positioning between how we manage our power generation and supply.
So I think we have several times mentioned that we have an integrated position. So we sell at a fixed price, the energy that we produce. So in this sense, we have a hedged position between production and sales.
Thank you, Rita. So we can now move on. There's a question around biomethane. And so what's our latest views on the current state of administrative authorizations and the potential of this activity?
Okay. So we are expecting a policy package to be published in 2026 that will accelerate biomethane production and its use for decarbonization. In this sense, the group has, during the last years, made a strong progress in the development of biomethane portfolio with more than 75 projects in pipeline and 40 of these projects are already waiting for permitting. However, our investment plan has been delayed by a slow administrative process. We expect administrations to collaborate in order to achieve these objectives. But however, this means that 2027 investment plan will be partially delayed.
Thank you, Rita. So moving now to the last part in the Supply business. So our Supply EBITDA performance has dropped versus last year. How could we describe the competitive landscape in Spain between electricity and gas?
Okay. So generally, the sector is experiencing high levels of competition and churn ratios, especially in electricity, and we expect them to remain both in retail gas and electricity. Even in this context, the group has expanded its client electricity portfolio.
On the other hand, a substantial portion of the customer portfolio for 2026, more or less 70% or 80% of our sales have already been contracted. This provides us a strong visibility into next year margins, which remain solid. Finally, the group is focusing on excellence in client service and efficiency, supported by our new digital platform that we call NewCo.
Thank you, Rita. Okay. So -- and also a question on Supply around the evolution of our Supply margins and whether or not we are maintaining market shares in both gas and electricity segments.
Yes, we expect volumes to remain solid, as I've already mentioned, we've already -- we have most of our customer portfolio already contracted, and we see continuity in this sense.
All right. Many thanks, Rita, and this finishes the questions that we've received through the webcast. So thank you, everyone, for joining the presentation. The Capital Markets team remains available for any further questions you may have.
And the management team is going to be on the road for the coming weeks in London, Continental Europe and the U.S. So we hope to see as many of you as possible. And many thanks again. Thanks, everyone, for joining.
Naturgy Energy Group — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone. This is Abel Arbat speaking from the Capital Markets team at Naturgy. And we thank you for joining our results call for the first 9 months of 2025. Next to me sits the Head of Financial Markets and Corporate Development, Mr. Steven Fernández; and the Head of Control and Energy Planning, Ms. Rita Ruiz de Alda.
As usual, we will begin with the presentation and leave Q&A for the end. Please submit your questions in written form, through the webcast platform during the presentation and we will address those at the end of the presentation. So without further ado, I'm going to hand it over to Steven to start off on the presentation.
Thank you, Abel, and good morning, everyone. As you have seen this morning, this presentation is basically divided into 3 main sections that we're going to go through. Firstly, we're going to review the results for the first 9 months of the year. Then we're going to give you a little update on the reestablishment of the company's free float following recent moves. And finally, we're going to give you some glimpses into the outlook for the remainder of the year 2025.
If we move over to the results, the key highlights that we'd like to discuss basically, as you can see, we've had an overall robust operational performance amid a challenging and uncertain geopolitical backdrop. We are, as a result of that performance, on track to deliver on its 2025 guidance, building again on a track record of commitment and delivery.
On the capital markets front, we have increased the free float for the company and subsequently, the share liquidity, positioning us to return to the MSCI indexes. As a reminder, the free float for the company has increased from 10% to almost 19% in record time and preserving value for shareholders. As a result of this effort, as I mentioned previously, liquidity has improved, and the monthly average trading volumes are up 2x versus the first half of the year.
Our solid balance sheet also continues to provide flexibility and optionality. And we also remain committed to an attractive shareholder remuneration. As a reminder, the second 2025 dividend of EUR 0.60 has been approved by the Board, and it will be payable on November 5 on track for a minimum annual total DPS of EUR 1.7 per share.
If we move over to review the results, what you can see is that average Brent prices were 14% lower in the first 9 months of the year compared to the same period last year, decreasing from $83 to $71 per barrel. In contrast, natural gas prices increased across key benchmarks. For example, the TTF was up 26%, the Hub up 58% and JKM up 17%. Hence, we have witnessed a decoupling of gas and oil indexes during the period.
Geopolitics also weighed on energy markets during the first 9 months of the year, although volatility has thankfully gradually eased in recent months. Iberian electricity pool prices for its parts showed an increase from EUR 52 per megawatt hour in the first 9 months of 2024 to EUR 63 per megawatt hour in the first 9 months of this year, mainly driven by higher demand for gas-fired generation in the period, along with higher gas prices.
As a result of this scenario, we take a quick look at the results for the period. EBITDA amounted to EUR 4.21 billion. Net income amounted to almost EUR 1.7 billion. A reminder that the dividend that we have paid so far this year amounts to EUR 1.1 billion and net debt for the group amounts to EUR 12.9 billion, which, by the way, does not include the proceeds from the bilateral sale and subsequent total return swap we have entered into.
The results, therefore, maintained record levels while delivering on shareholder remuneration and maintaining a strong balance sheet. As we will review in the coming pages and especially with the help of Rita, during the third quarter of 2025, market trends and business dynamics have remained broadly in line with those that we had seen in the first half of the year.
Moving over to the income statement. EBITDA remained in line with last year, although 2025 shows stronger underlying results as it does not include relevant extraordinary items contributing to it as 2024 did. And in terms of EBITDA contribution by business, 49% was generated by networks and 51% by energy management, generation and supply.
In terms of activities, you also see a balance here with 54% of the EBITDA being generated by gas with the balance from electricity. And again, in terms of the geographical diversification, a little bit more than half of the EBITDA generated in Spain with the balance coming from all our other operations abroad.
The group's diversification across businesses, activities and geographies continues to support its earnings resilience. And the way of its regulated activities provide us with cash flow predictability. So all in all, the earnings were [ 6% ] higher compared to last year in the period, reaching almost EUR 1.7 billion.
If we turn over to the cash flow, free cash flow after minorities reached almost EUR 2.2 billion, demonstrating strong cash flow generation for the first 9 months of the year. In this period, the company invested EUR 1.2 billion, roughly of which 45% was allocated to networks, 35% to renewables and the balance of the business accounting for 20% of these investments. This growth -- this shows greater focus on the networks CapEx versus renewals compared to 2024 and is aligned with the company's financial discipline.
Also note that EUR 169 million of hybrids were amortized during the period, which means only EUR 330 million of hybrids remain outstanding. We will continue to follow a strict financial discipline, deploying capital to ensure value creation on our investments. As a reminder, we believe in value over size. So all in all, strong cash flow in the period to back investments and shareholder remuneration, as you can see.
But if we then turn over to the net debt, you can see that the balance sheet remains strong, actually stronger than we had anticipated. In April and July, Naturgy distributed its 2024 final dividend and first interim dividend for 2025, respectively, both of them in cash at EUR 0.60 per share for a total of EUR 1.1 billion spent year-to-date. In June, the company also completed a EUR 2.3 billion tender offer on our own shares. And already in August, we were able to undertake a successful placement and return 2% of its capital to institutional investors in addition to 3.5% to a financial institution with whom we have signed a TRS.
This places net debt as at the end of September 2025 at EUR 12.9 billion with a comfortable net debt to last 12 months 2025 EBITDA of [ 2.4x ]. Moreover, as you have seen, in October, the company also managed to undergo a second placement of treasury shares amounting to 3.5% of the share capital, which will be reflected in the net debt figures as of the year-end. The cost of debt remains at around 4%, while the percentage of fixed rates has decreased to roughly 66% in the lower interest rate environment.
So all in all, you can see we have a strong balance sheet with low leverage post recent capital market transactions and free float increase that provides the company continued flexibility and optionality.
And with that, I'll hand the turn over to Rita, who will go over the businesses.
Thanks, Steven, and good morning, everyone. Starting with Networks on Page 10. Networks reported a total EBITDA of EUR 2,098 million in 2025, representing an 8% decline when compared to 2024. This decrease was primarily driven by one-off positive impact in Chile last year and the depreciation of several Latin American currencies, most notably the Argentine peso.
In Spain, Gas Networks experienced a remuneration adjustments foreseen in the current regulatory framework as well as increased demand in residential segment due to temperature effects. As highlighted in our latest results presentation, a public consultation was launched in July targeting companies in the sector and marking the start of the regulatory review process for the 2027-2032 period. In line with the regulatory calendar, a draft proposal is expected to be published by year-end or early 2026.
In electricity, EBITDA increased driven by higher regulated asset base and the publication of the 2021 and 2022 definitive remuneration as well as retroactive impacts. The CNMC has already published a second draft of the resolution of the new regulatory scheme for the 2026-2031 period and the companies in the sector have already sent validations.
In Mexico, results mainly impacted by negative foreign exchange effects compensated by tariff updates in July. In Brazil, results were also affected by currency depreciation. In Argentina, EBITDA has improved following a substantial tariff increase implemented in 2024 to offset inflation. At the same time, we are observing a rising trend in FX volatility, largely driven by electoral milestones.
As mentioned in July, a new tariff review was approved for the 2025-2030 regulatory period, in line with our strategic plan estimates. This new regulatory review provides visibility to 2030 and includes monthly inflation adjustments within a stable regulatory framework. In Chile, performance declined when compared to last year due to an extraordinary effect in 2024 as the partial reversal of the provision related to TGN conflict. As we already mentioned in the last presentation, this legal process is now officially closed due to an agreement between both parties.
In Panama, results were negatively affected by lower demand due to temperature effects and increased operating expenses from higher maintenance activity to improve quality standards. In summary, comparison is affected by extraordinary impact in 2024 and currency depreciation in Lat Am.
Now turning to energy management on Page 11. EBITDA reached EUR 718 million, which shows an increase versus 2024 of 18%, mainly due to higher margins on hedge sales. On average, European gas prices were 26% over 2024 levels. As mentioned during the strategic plan presentation, the group is fully hedged for 2025, having adopted an active risk management approach in the context of high volatility and uncertainty. The figures already reflect current market conditions for gas contracts in 2025, while negotiations with Sonatrach are still ongoing.
The group is continuously evaluating new gas sourcing opportunities to complement our portfolio as we consider natural gas, a key enabler, for the energy transition. Finally, last week, the EU formally adopted a prohibition on the purchase import or transfer of LNG exported from Russia into the European Union. The prohibition will be effective starting in January 2027 in the case of long-term gas contracts, such as the one which Naturgy holds with Yamal. Overall, the period benefited from effective hedging and diversified procurement portfolio.
Continuing with thermal generation, EBITDA reached EUR 523 million, 22% over 2024 EBITDA levels due to higher activity in Spain, partially offset by lower revenues in Lat Am. In Spain, the increase in results was supported by higher demand for ancillary services from our combined cycle fleet. Naturgy holds the largest CCGT fleet in Spain with 7.4 gigawatts, acting as a backbone to energy security of supply. In Mexico, production and margins remained stable. However, revenues from availability markets declined, mainly due to exceptionally high revenue base in 2024. Overall, CCGTs continue to play a key role to ensure system stability.
Let's turn now to renewable generation on Page 13. Renewable generation reached an EBITDA of EUR 452 million during the period, slightly above 2024. Spain renewable generation production was 8% lower when compared to 2024, mainly due to lower wind and hydro generation, given the exceptionally high levels of hydro production in our basins during 2024. This negative impact was partially offset by the commissioning of new installed capacity and higher electricity prices.
In the United States, results are higher when compared to 2024, mainly due to higher energy prices. The group completed construction of its second solar plant in Texas, which has recently started operations. In Lat Am, activity continues with impact due to currency devaluation in Mexico and Brazil. And finally, in Australia, performance benefited from the additional installed capacity added when compared to 2024. All in all, higher results in renewable generation due to commissioning of new capacity and selective growth prioritizing value over size.
Last, moving to supply. EBITDA has been EUR 500 million, a 16% lower when compared to 2024. It is important to remember that in 2024, we had an extraordinary impact due to the positive ruling in favor of Naturgy regarding tariff subsidies. Leaving this aside, the business performed relatively stable when compared to last year despite incremental margin pressure and competition. As margins have shown resiliency supported by higher visibility on procurement costs, but negatively affected by regulated tariffs.
In terms of electricity, the group has expanded its client portfolio in a highly competitive environment, leveraging on its integrated model and diversified generation mix, however, impacted by increasing adjustment services costs.
I will now pass the floor back to Steven to update you on the free float and outlook.
Thank you, Rita. So I'll take you really quickly to Slide 16. Naturgy has increased its free float to return to the MSCI indexes. On the 24th of June of this year, as I mentioned previously, we successfully completed a voluntary partial public tender offer to repurchase up to 9.1% of our share capital aimed at restoring the company's free float and enhancing share liquidity. The offer targeted 88 million shares, again, 9.1% share capital at a price of EUR 26.50 per share, totaling EUR 2.3 billion. All reference shareholders participated in the tender, reducing their shareholdings, as you can see in the right-hand side of the page.
Aligned with the strategic plan '25-'27, our objective was to reintroduce the repurchase shares into the capital markets to improve free float and liquidity. And to this end, we executed a series of transactions this year. On the 4th of August, we completed an ABB of 2% of the share capital. We signed a bilateral sale and executed a bilateral sale for 3.5% of the share capital to an international financial institution. Both transactions were priced at EUR 25.9 per share, reflecting the tender offer price adjusted for the EUR 0.60 dividend paid on the 30th of July and thereby preserving shareholder value.
On the 7th of October, just a couple of weeks ago, we also completed a second ABB for 3.5% of the share capital. Following these transactions, Naturgy's treasury shares now represent approximately 0.9% of the share capital and our free float has increased to almost 19% versus 10% in the previous year. Through the disposal of approximately 9% of our shares and the reduction of reference shareholder stakes, Naturgy has reaffirmed its commitment to enhance share liquidity and increased free float, which are, as you know, key steps towards inclusion in major stock indices, particularly those of the MSCI families, where on the following weeks, specifically on 5 November of this year, we'll hopefully have some good news. these transactions were overall executed swiftly and at a value-preserving terms for shareholders, hence, delivering a key strategic plan objective in record time.
If we move over to Slide 17, and we look at the share price and the liquidity evolution, share price remains above the levels at which the tender offer was launched, considering the dividend of EUR 0.60 paid in July. And liquidity has substantially improved with monthly average daily trading volumes of around 2x the volumes in the first half of the year.
So in essence, we have managed to increase the free float and liquidity, reducing the holdings of our reference shareholders as intended while preserving shareholder value. And all of this has been achieved in barely 4 months. If we look at the rest of the year now, in terms of the energy outlook for the -- the current market forwards are anticipating a generally less favorable energy scenario for the TTF in the last quarter compared to the first 9 months of the year, but still maintaining levels of around EUR 32 per megawatt hour.
On the other hand, market forwards for Iberian electricity pool prices are pointing towards average levels of around EUR 72 per megawatt hour, above the 9M '25 numbers, but below the comparable period in the fourth quarter of last year. Finally, Brent prices are expected to remain just below $70 per barrel, while CO2 prices are expected to remain fairly stable. So in essence, the current energy outlook and market forwards are aligned with our expectations and the basis of our guidance for the year-end. Indeed, when you think about the guidance, we are on track to deliver our 2025 numbers.
After the results presented today and the perspective for the remaining of the year, we are obviously in a position to reaffirm this guidance for EBITDA, for net income, for DPS at a floor of EUR 1.7 per share and improving our net debt outlook from an expectation of a little bit less than EUR 14.7 billion to approximately EUR 13 billion by year-end as a result not only of the good performance of the businesses, but also as a result of the placements in the treasury stock.
Our short-term priorities, however, remain unchanged. If we look at them on Page 21, for networks, we are looking for a final regulatory framework for electricity networks in Spain. We are proactively engaging regulators for Nedgia, so that's gas distribution and negotiation of extension in concessions in Lat Am, Brazil and Panama. We are continuing to advance in our OneGrid initiative, which implements operational best practices across geographies.
In energy management, we maintain gas procurement contracts aligned with market conditions, continue to assess, as Rita mentioned, new gas procurement opportunities as a key energy transition enabler. And we are proactively managing the risk both through physical and hedging alternatives. In thermal generation, we continue to look for capacity payments. We continue to play a key role in the security of supply through flexible generation in all the markets where we operate. And we are engaging in the initial discussions for PPAs extensions in Mexico.
In renewables, we continue to look at selective renewable growth, and that's basically focused on repowering, hybrids and batteries. And we continue to execute our ongoing developments. In renewable gases, we continue to ambition leading the biomethane in Spain. We have more than 70 projects under development currently. We are promoting networks injection and adequate regulation. And as a result of that, you can imagine that we are actively engaging all authorities to make sure that this is a viable alternative for the energy transition.
Finally, in supply, we continue to look to grow our client base and continue to evolve our operating model, deepening our excellence in client service and maintaining a balanced integrated position. As you can see from the slide, we remain fully committed to executing on our strategic plan.
So finally, to conclude before opening up the floor for questions, we are proud, we are happy to report a strong performance achieved amid a backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty. This resilience reflects the solid fundamentals of our businesses and the effective execution of our strategic priorities and the hard work of all people from Naturgy. We are on track to deliver our 2025 guidance, building on a strong track record of commitment and delivery. We have increased the free float and liquidity to return to the MSCI indexes, delivering a key strategic plan objective in record time and at value-preserving terms. We retain a strong balance sheet, providing the company flexibility and optionality. And we continue to deliver on our DPS commitment of a floor of EUR 1.7 through the payment of a second interim dividend of EUR 0.60 payable on the 5th of November.
And with that, happy to conclude our presentation and open to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Steven and Rita for the presentation. So let's start responding to the questions received through the webcast, and we're going to start touching on a few generic or more strategic questions before getting into the business questions.
So the first set of questions relates to the current balance sheet flexibility and what are our strategic priorities around this. What would be the preferred route to deleverage at the moment, either deploying M&A, increasing shareholder remuneration, maybe additional share buybacks or a combination of the above?
Thank you, Abel. I mean, it's a wonderful problem to have. A company with a solid balance sheet that provides flexibility, and I highlight optionality. So the best way to answer this question is we have a strategic plan that goes from '25 to '27. We're going to stick to this plan. We're going to meet the targets in this plan. This plan does not contemplate inorganic growth, and it contemplates investments that have been disclosed to the market that provide shareholders in Naturgy with value creation. If market conditions change and we are in a position to identify more organic growth opportunities that continue creating value for shareholders, and obviously, accelerating that organic growth could be an option.
Alternatively, if opportunities present themselves for inorganic growth that makes sense, that could also be an optionality that we will explore. But I think the most important point is, again, to highlight our strategic plan does not contemplate external growth and it contemplates organic growth that focuses on delivering value as opposed to gaining footprint or size.
Thank you, Steven. And in this context, would the company consider any further measures to increase the liquidity similar to the ones that we have executed in recent months?
The company has a treasury stock position right now of 0.9%. Look, I mean, we're in no rush to deliver that to the market. We'll do that when and if the conditions are right at a time of our choosing. What I would say is that having done the bulk of the work, that 0.9% is not really going to move the needle.
Thank you, Steven. Then there are a few questions around our portfolio of businesses. And if we think that there is anything that we consider noncore or that do we have any plans for portfolio optimization in Lat Am. Again, I think that Steven already mentioned that the plan is only based on organic growth, but do you want to...
So the plan does not contemplate disposals or sizable disposals. We have taken quite a bit of time to review our existing portfolio, are satisfied with the positions that we have. We see potential in the countries where we operate in Lat Am, and we have no intentions at this stage in rotating assets.
Perfect. Moving on to a more specific question around free cash flow. There's a question around the positive working capital contribution in the 9 months 2025 and whether or not do we expect any reversal of that positiveness into Q4?
The evolution of the working capital in the company is normally influenced by seasonal demand patterns, fluctuations in energy prices and also the negotiation of gas contracts with our suppliers. In this case, working capital evolution is strongly affected by balanced regularizations with our gas procurement suppliers in 2024 and 2025. We could expect partial reversal of our working capital in the future according to contract agreements.
Okay. Thank you, Rita. Moving now on to various questions on each of the businesses. And I'm going to start with Networks and Networks Spain and particularly Spanish electricity networks. There are a number of questions around the second regulatory proposal, how it compares versus the current one, what's our opinion on its attractiveness, the treatment on OpEx and so on and so forth. So perhaps we could give high-level view on the topic.
Yes. Well, as probably everyone knows, the CNMC has already published a second draft of the resolution of the new regulatory framework covering the 2026-2031 period and companies in the sector have already submitted their comments. The published proposal introduces a shift to a TotEx-based remuneration model, along with an adjustment factor linked to increasing contracted power. The second proposal reduces OpEx cut, but still fails to incentivize efficiency and instead penalizes the most efficient operators. Moreover, the proposed methodology does not incentivize reaching the investment volumes outlined by the ministry, which are necessary to achieve decarbonization goals. We expect a final resolution before the end of the year.
Thank you, Rita. So Again, a number of questions on how this proposal on electricity distribution in Spain could affect the upcoming regulatory review in gas distribution. So could we share our views on the Spanish gas networks' upcoming regulatory review? Do we have any visibility? Do we expect any changes in the current methodology and parametric formula?
Okay. So the CNMC indicated that the first draft of the remuneration methodology should be ready by the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026. From our point of view, continuing with the parametric model would be a sizable option to provide stability and predictability to the sector with appropriate adjustments to reflect the exceptional inflation of the current period. Furthermore, we see this new regulation as an opportunity to incentive new renewable gases, smart metering and also to bet for the decarbonization of the gas network.
Thank you, Rita. Okay. So now moving on to Networks Lat Am. There are a few comments around the FX headwinds that we've experienced this year. And how this is expected to impact the company going forward and also with a view of the EUR 3 billion target by 2027.
So in terms of the developments in Lat Am networks, I would say that we have 3 main priorities. The first one that is the most important is obviously the negotiation of the concessions in Brazil in 2027 and Panama in 2028, as Steven mentioned before. Second, obviously, we are also -- one of our key priorities is to manage regulatory management that -- so we aim to obtain fair tariff reviews and also inflation updates to compensate for inflation -- for depreciation rates.
In the case of Argentina gas, as I mentioned before, the new tariff review published this year includes monthly adjustment inflation, which is an important milestone for us. And additionally, we continue to focus on what we call OneGrid initiative, which consists of sharing implemented operational best practices across geographies in order to position Naturgy as best-in-class operations and continued efficiency gains.
Thank you, Rita. We move now on to the questions around our liberalized activities. And in particular, there are a few questions on energy management. So perhaps starting on what's our expectation for energy management margins in Q4 and also what's our outlook for gas prices and spreads going forward? Can we comment on our hedging levels and the key drivers going forward?
So forecast for the upcoming winter indicates a moderate price environment for gas in Europe, mainly driven by adequate underground storage levels. We have an 83% storage levels currently in the European Union and the absence of major changes in the global LNG demand market, particularly due to declining demand from China in the last months.
However, main price drivers will be more linked to winter temperature trends, demand requirements for power generation and potentially geopolitical developments we've seen in the past. In this context, the company will actively optimize both physical sales and financial hedging to manage its risk exposure and the underlying scenario. Likewise, negotiations with Sonatrach for 2025-2027 gas procurement prices are ongoing with -- to maintain gas procurement contracts aligned with market conditions.
Thank you, Rita. Then a few questions on the recently approved ban of importing Russian gas into Europe. And the questions primarily relate to any contingency or breach of contract risk. Then there is also questions around the margin contribution from our contract from Yamal and possible replacement alternatives to that contract.
So yes, on Thursday, the European Council officially approved the 19th sanction package, which includes a ban on Russian LNG imports effective in January 2027 for long-term contracts. The European Commission is working to provide a legally sound and effective toolkit for companies to achieve the targets avoiding legal problems. While the contribution from the affected contract relevant for Naturgy is 35 [ kilowatt ] hour per annum. The impact is expected to be mitigated through our diversified gas portfolio and access to market purchases. As we mentioned during the presentation, we continue to assess new gas procurement opportunities as we are confident that natural gas and LNG constitute a key energy transition enabler in the future.
Perfect. Thank you, Rita. Now a few questions on Spanish thermal generation, in particular, around the contribution of flexible generation or CCGTs in the context of higher demand and production in ancillary services. Do we expect this contribution to be sustained over time? What is the run rate that we expect for 2026? And if we can comment as well on our expectation for capacity payments and whether we have more visibility on this process?
Okay. So we expect more visibility on capacity payments and its design in the coming months. However, at the moment, there are no further indications on the matter. What is clear is that CCGTs continue to play a key role in the current environment, and we don't expect this to change in the near or medium term. The reinforced operating mode translates into higher demand and production in ancillary services that warranty the system stability and the security of supply. However, the launch of capacity payments, the incorporation of new batteries or the development of new infrastructure will obviously influence how restrictions are allocated in the future.
Thank you, Rita. A question as well on data centers and what is our role? Do we see opportunities in the data center and how Naturgy is positioned to take advantage of the data centers build.
So I mean, thank you, Abel, for the question. We are exploring opportunities that data centers present in Spain, namely through the procurement of energy and specifically on some of the sites that we have available, which are generating interest from international players with whom we are in the process of engaging discussions to see how we can work together. What I can tell you is that the model that we are pursuing is not one where the company will take up equity stakes in the data centers themselves or the data center projects themselves, but where the company will be in a position to provide access to the grid and provide electricity as demanded by the investors.
Thank you, Steven. Now there's a question in renewable gases. What level of capacity is being developed? When we think these projects will start to see commercial operation dates? And what's our view in terms of what is needed for this business to take some speed and start gaining some critical mass? Can we comment on that, please?
So look, what I would say is that this is a key area that we are developing right now, although admittedly not at the pace that we would like. We see renewable gases as a key solution for hard-to-abate businesses. They can already benefit from existing infrastructure. So we don't have to build brand-new infrastructure like in the case of hydrogen, for example. And by the way, when we say renewable gases, we mostly mean biomethane. So what the team has been doing so far is developing agreements and joint ventures with a number of other developers that provide us with access to good locations, good sites, which is our first process among a series of other processes, including the procurement of feedstock, et cetera. That will allow the company to jump-start its operations once we have adequate regulation that supports the development of biomethane in place.
And therefore, the team is not only paying attention and spending time in identifying sites and signing agreements, but also in lobbying and explaining to the government and the regulator why it's important to develop a biomethane regulation that allows for the high-speed development and deployment of all the CapEx potential. So as a reminder, the strategic plan contemplates initial CapEx for biomethane, but the bulk of the CapEx, the way we look at it based on our assumptions, falls outside of the scope of the strategic plan. So it's highly unlikely that you will see very significant CapEx being developed or deployed before the end of year 2027.
Thank you, Steven. Okay. So there are a few questions as well around the supply business. There is some margin construction in the recent quarter. So the questions relate around the outlook for energy prices and margins in gas and power supply in Spain and what are the repricing dynamics and so on and so forth.
Okay. So generally, the sector is experiencing, as you mentioned, high levels of competition and churn ratios in both gas and electricity. In the electricity segment, the group has expanded its client portfolio in a highly competitive environment. However, churn rates still remain high across the sector. In the gas segment, margins have remained resilient, supported by improved visibility on procurement costs, but negatively affected by regulated tariffs. Looking ahead, we expect margins in both gas and electricity to remain solid, leveraging on our integrated position. And we also anticipate maintaining or even growing our customer base, continuing the positive trend of serving electricity during the year. Additionally, the group is improving customer service and operational efficiency, thanks to the new digital platform.
Okay. Thank you very much, Rita and Steven. I think that broadly concludes the questions received. There are a few more detailed and quantitative questions that the team will address subsequent to the call. And other than that, thank you very much for joining the results presentation, and we remain at your disposal for any additional questions you may have. Thank you so much.
Financial data from Naturgy Energy Group
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 19,591 19,591 |
3%
3%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 11,927 11,927 |
4%
4%
61%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 7,664 7,664 |
2%
2%
39%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 900 900 |
1%
1%
5%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 5,318 5,318 |
4%
4%
27%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 1,624 1,624 |
4%
4%
8%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 3,694 3,694 |
7%
7%
19%
|
|
| Net Profit | 2,091 2,091 |
4%
4%
11%
|
|
In millions EUR.
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Company Profile
Naturgy Energy Group SA is engaged in the production and distribution of natural gas and electricity. It operates through the following segments: Gas Distribution, Electricity Distribution, Gas, Electricity, and Rest. The Gas Distribution segment includes the regulated gas distribution activity; the services for third-party access to the network; as well as the activities related to distribution. The Electricity Distribution segment offers regulated electricity distribution business and network services for customers. The Gas segment comprises of gas infrastructure, supply activity, and Unión Fenosa Gas. The Electricity segment consists of generation and commercialization in Spain and the Global Power Generation activities. The Rest segment covers the exploitation of the coal field belongs to Kangra Coal (Proprietary), Ltd in South Africa. The company was founded on January 28, 1843 and is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Spain |
| CEO | Mr. Massanet |
| Employees | 6,678 |
| Founded | 1843 |
| Website | www.naturgy.com |


