Public Power Stock

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Konstantinos, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Public Power Corporation conference call to present and discuss the first quarter 2026 financial results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr.Georgios Stassis, Chairman and CEO; Mr. Konstantinos Alexandridis, CFO; and Mr. Ioannis Stefos, Chief Investor Relations Officer. Mr. Stefos, you may now proceed.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today's conference call for PPC's First Quarter 2026 results. We will begin with an overview of the group's results from our Chairman and CEO, Georgios Stassis, followed by a review of the financial performance for the period by our Group CFO, Konstantinos Alexandridis. After the conclusion of the presentation, we will open the floor for your questions during the Q&A session. The IR team will be available after the call for any follow-up questions. With that, I will now turn the call over to Georgios. Georgios, please go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today's conference call for PPC's first quarter 2026 results. We will begin with an overview of the group's results from our -- we are moving to Slide #6. We are reporting today a strong set of results for the first quarter of 2026, as you can see Slide 6, with adjusted EBITDA increasing to EUR 700 million, setting solid foundations for the remainder of the year. The significant increase in profitability reflects the growing contribution from the major investments implemented in recent years, while favorable hydrological and wind conditions during the first quarter of 2026 had a positive impact as well.

Significant uplift in the bottom line as well as with net income increasing to EUR 200 million to support the dividend increase for a third consecutive year in line with the provisions of our business plan. Investments at EUR 0.5 billion with the vast majority directed towards renewables, flexible generation and distribution projects, fueling additional growth in the coming years. Our leverage ratio at 3.0x despite our intensive investment cycle being comfortably below the 3.5x threshold set in our financial policy. Turning to Slide 7. Our investment strategy continues to accelerate the transformation of PPC generation portfolio towards cleaner and more flexible technologies. Our transition is accelerating with growth in renewables and flexible technologies, more than offsetting the gradual retirement of lignite assets and significantly reducing our emissions profile.

This is clearly reflected in our capital allocation with 82% of first quarter investments directed towards renewables, flexible generation and distribution networks. As a result, our renewables and flexible capacity increased by 1.1 gigawatt year-on-year, reaching 9.9 gigawatts and now representing 80% of PPC's total installed capacity compared to 72% a year ago. At the same time, the continued reduction of thermal generation and the growing contribution from renewables led to a significant improvement in our emissions profile, while CO2 intensity declining by 36% year-on-year to 0.35 tons per megawatt hour.

Moving to -- on Slide 8 for a deep dive into the Generation business. The total installed capacity at 12.4 out of which 1.7 gigawatt outside Greece. Renewables output increased significantly in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 3.6 terawatt hours, up by 140% year-on-year, driven mainly by stronger hydro production, improved wind conditions and new solar capacity additions. As a result, renewables accounted for 56% of our total generation, highlighting the increasing contribution of clean energy sources. At the same time, thermal generation continued to decline with lower output from gas, lignite and oil-fired units, reflecting both our decarbonization strategy and the completion of the grid interconnection. As a result, CO2 emissions declined by 25% year-on-year.

Finally, our market position remained resilient with PPC maintaining a 34% market share in Greece, while further strengthening its position in the Romanian renewables generation. Moving to Slide 9. Let's look in more detail at the projects completed during the first quarter of 2026. In Greece, we completed the construction of an additional 48-megawatt battery storage project in Florina, Northern Greece, further strengthening our storage capabilities and portfolio flexibility. We also completed our hybrid projects in Astypalaia, combining nearly 4 megawatts of solar capacity with battery storage. The project is a flagship example of our strategy to support the energy transition of non-interconnected islands through renewables and storage with the aim of covering more than 80% of the island's energy needs.

Outside Greece, we continue to expand our footprint in Italy with the completion of a new 22-megawatt solar park in Campania, further strengthening our presence in the Italian renewables market. Moving to Slide 10, which summarizes the progress of our renewables pipeline. We remain firmly on track to deliver our 2030 renewables target of 18.8 gigawatts as outlined in last month's strategic update. Today, our Installed Renewables Capacity stands at 7.2 gigawatts, while an additional 6.7 gigawatts are either Under Construction, Ready to Build or currently in Tender Process. Together, this already represents 74% of our 2030 target. If we add on this, the 6.1 gigawatt of projects, which are in the Permitting and Engineering phase in high and medium maturity status, all these cover 110% of the capacity additions by 2030, the additions we need by 2030. This disciplined approach to capacity additions and pipeline development is a core strength of PPC and one that we will continue to leverage across all our markets.

Moving now to Slide 11, which provides key highlights of our retail activity and the broader market environment in Greece and Romania. With respect to electricity demand, a marginal reduction was recorded in Greece, driven by slightly milder weather conditions, while in Romania, demand marked a 1.2% increase, reflecting the colder weather conditions in the first quarter of 2026. Our market position remained resilient with market share in Greece remaining stable at 50%, while in Romania, it slightly decreased to 15%, reflecting increased competition. Against this backdrop, our electricity sales volume decreased by 3.8% on a year-on-year basis.

Deep diving now into our retail activity on Slide 12. Despite the highly competitive environment in both Greece and Romania, PPC maintained resilient market positions, supported by our strength of our brand, customer loyalty and continuous enhancement of our product offering. In Greece, we launched new retail products, including PPC myHome Maxima and PPC myBusiness Dynamic, while continuing to expand our value-added service portfolio and modernize our retail network with 7 stores renovated since the beginning of 2026. In Romania, competition remains intense, but we continue to strengthen our commercial offering through new products such as PPC Ore Smart+ and (Happy Hour 2.0), while focusing on customer segments with higher growth potential.

At the same time, our Fiber business continues to scale rapidly, surpassing 12,000 customers in the first quarter of 2026, supported by ongoing network expansion and high customer satisfaction levels. Moving to Slide 13 for an update of our Distribution business. We maintained our investment maximum momentum through the first quarter in both Greece and Romania, consistent with our strategy to modernize and digitalize our networks. While this investment activity has translated into improved reliability indices in Romania, our Greek network faced challenges this quarter as indicated in the relevant indices. Reliability was temporarily impacted by extreme weather events in Western Greece due to heavy rainfalls causing unexpected disruption to the network during the first quarter. However, we remain focused on long-term resilience, including the rollout of smart meters which continues its upward trend and offers significant growth potential, particularly in the Greek market.

Moving to Slide 14. I would like to provide an update on the EUR 4 billion capital increase that will be proposed to our Extraordinary General Meeting on this Thursday, May 14. As outlined in the strategic update, this equity raise is designed to accelerate our investments in Greece and Romania and capture significant growth opportunities in Central and Southeast Europe and start the construction of a 300-megawatt data center in Kozani in Greece. As a reminder, this is a non-pre-emptive equity raise by a fully marketed offering, ensuring we attract high-quality institutional interest. Our largest shareholders, the Hellenic Republic and CVC fully support this transaction. the Hellenic Republic intends to maintain a 33.4% stake post increase and CVC has committed to subscribing at least pro rata to its 10.3% ownership with a total participation intent up to EUR 1.2 billion. Regarding the time line, following EGM approval and subsequent pricing, we expect completion by the end of this month. We will launch a concurrent 3-day Bookbuilding process for both the Greek public offer and the International Institutional Offering. Management will be fully available on a virtual roadshow during this period. The record date for the priority allocation will be the day the book building process starts. This is a growth capital increase. It is the engine that will allow us to become a champion in the Central and Southeast European landscape and lead the region's data center development, positioning us as the #1 utility in the region by 2030.

Let me now pass it on to Konstantinos for the financial performance analysis.

Thank you, George. Turning to Slide 16 for a brief overview of the commodity environment during Q1. Starting with natural gas, TTF prices remained volatile throughout the quarter. Markets were initially supported by strong LNG and pipeline supply before colder weather and higher storage withdrawals tightened balances during January. While prices eased temporarily in February, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East later in new concerns around LNG supply flows and supported prices towards the end of the quarter. Overall, average TTF prices in Q1 2026 were down 15% year-on-year. Moving to carbon. EUA prices also experienced elevated volatility. Prices rose above EUR 90 per tonne in January, supported by colder weather, lower renewable output and stronger gas prices before correcting on softer sentiment, ETS reform discussions and fund liquidations.

Prices later partially recovered following the European Commission's rejection of proposals to suspend the ETS. On average, EUA prices increased by 3% year-on-year in Q1 2026. Finally, European power prices broadly mirror developments in gas and carbon markets. Prices increased sharply in January, particularly in Southeast Europe, driven by stronger thermal generation demand during colder weather conditions. However, Prices softened later in the quarter due to weaker demand, stronger renewable output and lower fuel costs before partially recovering in March. Overall, average dam prices in Q1 2026 declined by 28% year-on-year in Greece and by 11% in Romania.

We are now on Slide 17, presenting the key financials for the period. As George mentioned, we delivered a strong start to the year in Q1. Despite slightly lower revenues, mainly due to lower volumes and softer power prices in Greece and Romania, our profitability increased, reflecting the continued shift toward lower cost generation. Adjusted EBITDA rose to EUR 0.7 billion, up 51% year-on-year, boosted by the strong performance of our integrated business, but also supported by improved contribution from our distribution activities. At the bottom line, adjusted net income after minorities reached EUR 0.2 billion, a significant increase compared to approximately EUR 80 million in Q1 2025. Further details on EBITDA and net income evolution will follow later in the presentation. In terms of investments, we deployed EUR 0.5 billion during the quarter, focused on renewables, flexible generation and distribution.

While elevated investments and working capital movements resulted in negative free cash flow, our balance sheet remains robust. Net debt stood at EUR 6.9 billion at the end of March, in line with our business plan, while our leverage ratio improved to 3.0x, supported by higher operating profitability. Proceeding to Slide 18 for the revenues evolution of the group, which recorded a 5% drop. This decline is mainly driven by lower energy sales, reflecting both volume and price effects. On the volume side, this relates to lower demand in Greece and market share pressure in Romania. On the pricing side, lower power prices in both countries also impacted revenues. As a result, total revenues declined to EUR 2.3 billion in Q1 2026. On Slide 19, we see the key drivers behind our EBITDA growth. We delivered a 51% year-on-year increase in the first quarter with our Integrated business acting as the main driver of this performance.

Our international footprint had a considerable contribution, accounting for 21% of group EBITDA with Romania standing out as a key contributor, adding EUR 145 million to the group's results. I will provide more detail on the performance of each segment in the following slides. Next, on Slide 20, a few words on the evolution of our Integrated business. The improvement versus last year was mainly driven by stronger performance in the retail segment as an effect of milder weather conditions in Greece, reducing power prices. At the same time, in Romania, along with lower power prices, the improvement versus Q1 2025 is explained by the fact that as of July 2025, the tariff caps have been lifted, creating opportunities for additional profitability. On the Generation, profitability remained resilient in Greece despite lower wholesale prices, supported by significantly higher hydro volumes due to improved hydrological conditions.

Better wind conditions also contributed positively. In Romania, the impact from stronger wind conditions was even more pronounced given that the majority of our installed capacity in the country is wind based. Now proceeding to Slide 21 for a view of the Distribution activity. In Greece, performance recorded a slight improvement year-on-year, supported by the implementation of the new distribution network usage charges since the second half of 2025. In Romania, the DSO activity also delivered a better performance, mainly driven by higher distribution charges, which positively impacted regulated revenues. In both countries, this additional profitability is in line with our business plan assumptions.

Proceeding to Slide 22 for a view on the EBITDA to net income bridge. The strong EBITDA performance that we discussed in the previous slides has also been reflected in the bottom line with adjusted net income after minorities reaching EUR 234 million, tripling year-on-year and the respective earnings per share followed the same trend. Let's now move on Slide 23 for an overview of our Investments. We maintained a high level of Investments in Q1 2026, deploying EUR 0.5 billion, broadly in line with last year with a ramp-up expected in the coming quarters. Distribution networks remained a strong component, reflecting our focus on digitalization and resilience in both Greece and Romania. At the same time, investments in renewables increased and are expected to accelerate further as multiple renewables projects are gradually maturing. Geographically, 72% of investments were allocated to Greece, 23% to Romania and the remaining 5% in other countries. Overall, our investment focus continues to reposition the group towards future growth areas while enhancing operational flexibility across the portfolio.

Moving to Slide 24, focusing on the group's free cash flow. Our strong operational performance more than offset the seasonal working capital outflow, resulting in solid FFO of EUR 229 million and highlighting the strength of our cash generation. Working capital was negative at EUR 437 million, mainly driven by the redemption of the nonperforming receivables securitization program that's expected to be replaced by a new one by June 2026 that will have better terms, both with respect to cost of debt, but also higher amount. This is expected to positively impact Q2 working capital. Favorable impact from Customer Trade Receivables demonstrates our efforts to improve collection performance. At the same time, CO2 and hedging had an unfavorable impact due to the high volatility recorded within Q1 2026.

Overall, free cash flow remains in line with our expectations, reflecting the increased pace of investments as we continue to expand across markets and technologies. Turning to Slide 25. Let me walk you through our debt profile and liquidity position. Despite our ongoing investment program, our liquidity remains strong, supported by a well-balanced mix of fixed and floating rate debt as well as EUR 3.6 billion in undrawn credit lines as of March 2026. The average cost of debt remained stable at 3.8% during the quarter. With regards to debt maturity profile, which is well spread over time, when looking over the next 3 years, we hold a total of EUR 2.4 billion, out of which EUR 500 million is a sustainability-linked bond maturing in July 2028.

The remaining maturities mainly relate to long-term loans and revolving credit facilities, which we expect to refinance in line with our funding strategy. Last, let's move to Slide 26 to review our net debt evolution and leverage position. As expected, net debt increased during the first quarter, reflecting the continued execution of our investment program. Net leverage stands at 3.0x, providing sufficient headroom to support our growth while maintaining a solid credit profile. We remain firmly committed to keeping net leverage below our self-imposed threshold of 3.5x. With that, I hand it back to George for his concluding remarks.

Before I conclude, let me provide you our full year guidance for 2026. We are on Slide 28. Following the strong first quarter, we are reiterating our guidance for adjusted EBITDA at EUR 2.4 billion and adjusted net income at EUR 0.7 billion. As I mentioned during our full year 2025 results, our confidence to meet 2026 targets is backed by strong fundamentals.

First, favorable weather has bolstered our retail margins. Second, high wind and hydro output across our core markets have optimized our generation mix. Finally, our renewables pipeline execution is well advanced, being on track for the additions that we target for the year. With respect to the dividend policy, this does not change, and we target for a DPS of EUR 0.80 this year, a 33% increase from last year's EUR 0.60, reflecting our confidence in the group's sustainable growth. In our concluding slide, Slide 29, let me wrap up with the key takeaways. We are delivering on our strategy with disciplined execution across all key pillars. Our first quarter performance clearly demonstrates the strength of our integrated business and the stability provided by our distribution activities.

Our capital deployment remains focused on renewables, flexible generation and distribution networks, supporting the next phase of profitable growth. In renewables, we already have 6.7 gigawatts of projects under construction, ready to build or in procurement tender process. Together with our existing installed capacity, this means that 74% of our 2030 targets is already secured or under development, significantly derisking our long-term plan. At the same time, our transition away from lignite remains fully on track with complete phaseout expected by the end of 2026. This will further improve our environmental footprint and enhance the resilience of our generation portfolio.

We are confident in delivering our 2026 targets while positioning PPC for sustainable value creation beyond this decade, supported also by the upcoming capital increase, which we expect to complete by the end of this month. Our ambition is clear to evolve PPC into a champion in Central Southeast Europe with strong financial performance across EBITDA, net income and dividends. Thank you all. We now look forward to your feedback and questions.

The first question comes from the line of Alessandro Di Vito with Mediobanca.

I have 3 questions. First one is on renewables. So the company is expanding its renewable capacity in other countries beyond Greece. I'd be interested in understanding whether you are seeing differences in the execution process compared with what you experienced in your own country, particularly in terms of execution time lines or whether the process is in line with what you see in the Greek market? Second question is on the supply business in which there is a complicated scenario because of underlying costs that are rising and increasing competition. So I wanted to understand which commercial strategy is the company considering to retain and protect its market share? And last question is on the guidance. The company had a significantly positive start of the year. I want to understand which are the main trends you see for the coming quarters and whether the positive numbers could leave space for an additional upside on the full year target?

Thank you very much for your questions. In my experience, like 20 years now that we are -- I'm trying -- I'm working on the renewables, in particular, the renewables rollout is the same more or less in most of the countries. You need to have a very big growth pipeline, you work in parallel in several fronts, in several projects in several countries. That is because you cannot bet in specific projects. Several of the projects die in the process. They get stopped or they get on hold or they delay. Others advance quicker than what you originally think. So working a lot on the total pipeline is a fundamental.

That's why we are constantly working on our current 20 gigawatt gross pipeline. Several of these projects get constructed and new others are entering the pipeline. But we are constantly -- if you monitor us, we are keeping a level of this big pipeline of projects simply because we don't know exactly which will be executed at the end or not. At the end of the day, of course, several are maturing faster. That's why we have, we say right now 6.7 gigawatts already in construction or to start construction very close and some additional 4 -- around 5, which are pretty high mature or medium mature. So we have a basket of projects which make us confident we will be able to cover our target. Actually, we write clearly that this is more than 110% of our total target.

And that is just to underline that even if time would freeze, we would be able to have the necessary projects in our hand to deliver our plan. Of course, time evolves, doesn't freeze, unfortunately, and we will be able in the process to add more projects failing some succeed in others. I think there's no secret recipe. This is the recipe, whether this is in Greece or in Italy or in other -- or in Romania or other countries. Of course, you have different years in terms of permitting more or less. We have countries which have different peculiarities from country to country, others which have better grid or different localities from local to local. But the recipe is the same, and this is what we are trying to do. We have a sort of global organization.

It's not global in the regional, let me say, where we are having a matrix organization, vertical and horizontal with local presence and central in Athens distributed between development, engineering, construction and operation and maintenance. So we can have local experience and central excellence to drive this delivery. Having said that, of course, we will be experiencing also delays. It's not a secret. And we think we are able to manage this risk by the different total business mix we have in our overall organization. And we have proven this till now, and we will continue to do. At the end of the day, any delays would be in the range of 3 or 6 months. At the end, the projects will be done definitely. Now this is for the first question.

The second question, which with your supply, you asked me something generic. I didn't really understand. I mean the overall competition -- I mean, in Greece, since you focus in Greece, where we have our big supply presence, Greece has moved into a better maturity over the years in terms of competition. This Greece used to be a market of like many suppliers by many suppliers, and there was in the last year some consolidation. Many of you in the audience know this. We are witnessing some mergers as well or buyouts. So I think Greece, I can say versus when I came back in Greece in '19, it has moved now to a more -- to a bigger stability.

Throughout this aggressive, let me say, establishment of new players in the past years until we reach this stability, PPC has proven that we have been, let's say, resilient in our market share. Actually, if you would go back to our business plan of 2021 share capital increase, we were expecting we would have been in a much lower market share versus the one we have today. However, I'm not expecting that this will remain forever. I think we will keep on losing market share gradually, however, throughout the following years. And our strategy is always preserving value. We fight more for the customers that are more valuable and not so much for least valuable. So our strategy mostly is customer segmentation and the work on the quality very much. I think we have top quality in the Greek market. And that's why good quality customers are really stickier on us.

Now with regards to the guidance, yes, indeed, we could be tempted to uplift it a bit, but still the state of form situation has not closed. And this is an evolving scenario as we speak. So I'm not convinced that this right now would not fall deep inside the summer. And in that case, this would have an impact on the cost of storage of gas in the European underground storage facilities, which could have a spillover effect at the end of the year in the winter. So I'm not -- I don't have the visibility right now to make an increased guidance. This is the fundamental reason for...

The next question comes from the line of John Karidis with Deutsche Bank.

Firstly, congratulations to PPC for its donation to the Greek police. I thought that was a very good move. Secondly, I've got 3 questions, repredictable telcos. So firstly, you told me 3 times in the last year that PPC is not interested in mobile in Greece. So I'm very clear on that. Instead, I'd just like to know only the key points of PPC submission to the regulatory consultation about the renewal of the 900 and 1,800 megahertz spectrum licenses, please? The second question is approximately when this year will PPC add voice to its broadband service? And then I just want to check that it's still what you told me, June, July. And then thirdly, approximately when this year, I assume it will be this year, will PPC bundle energy with broadband?

Well, I will be very persistent on the answers I gave you also in the past. So we are not interested in mobile retail services in Greece. This is absolutely clear. We have participated to the consultation, which is a consultation because, as you know, we have a very important fiber network of overhead power lines in poles, and we are experimenting and we want to understand better what kind of options we might have on a fixed wireless broadband services in the future. So wireless connectivity for areas that we cannot have access easily could be complementary to our fiber business only. We are not intending to do mobile national services.

This is absolutely fair. So what I have answered you is absolutely persistent to the previous answers. Now I think the second question -- the second issue about voice, indeed, we are working for a June, July launch. Very shortly, you will have news for the voice, as I have told you in the past as well. And the third one was bundling. Bundling, no comment. Thank you.

Okay. Could I possibly ask, please, for the fixed wireless, were you thinking of acquiring spectrum to do that? Or were you -- or just simply wholesaling it?

I don't have an answer on this. That's why we are in consultation. But we're trying to understand what kind of options we have for our broadband connectivity.

The next question comes from the line of Anna Antonova with JPMorgan.

There are 2 questions from our side. So first, the current political noise in Romania, do you think this presents any risks to your guidance, maybe not immediately for this year, but maybe for the guidance in the networks business into 2030? Or how should we think about this? That's one. And then the second question, and apologies if I joined a bit late. Could you please outline the time line for the equity raise after the AGM on May 14?

Okay. Yes. Now for Romania political, I think -- I mean, I'm very, very relaxed on the Romanian political situation. Romania has a very strong President, freshly elected European pro and very Western President with continuous statements. Romania is a presidential democracy with -- that's why we need to have in our mind how Romania functions is a presidential democracy with very increased powers from the President. The President is the official representative of the country abroad. So what's happening under the President has happened several times in Romania.

If you count the different composition and changes of governments over the last 10 years, it's happening every year, more or less. So this is what's happening, too. I think there are some discussions among the coalition partners. I don't have a good visibility how this will work. I think it will evolve. And as it has been -- as I read in the news, there is no chance of parliamentary election. So things move as usual in Romania. This is very normal. Now for the time line on Thursday, the 14th, we have our AGM. And I think that by Monday afterwards, Monday or Tuesday, I mean, the next week, we will be starting the process.

So we will release a relevant announcement to inform the market about the start of the bookbuilding process as soon as possible immediately after the AGM, let me say, approval. Nevertheless, in general, this is a process which will be starting in the following days.

The next question comes from the line of Ella Walker-Hunt with Citigroup.

Just one question from me actually. It's to do with the Greek transmission operator requesting that you keep your lignite plant open for until at least 2027. Do you have any comments on that?

The Greek transition -- thank you, all, for the question, Ella. The Greek transmission operator is not requesting us to keep the coal, have sent a letter and has requested until the 31st of March 2027, so for 3 months, not to start dismantling the coal. So we will finish operation normally by the end of this year and has asked us to keep the asset there, don't touch it, don't dismantle it for coal reserve, let me say, reasons. We have done this also in the past also with most of our assets. We are closing them in a given year, and then we keep them then for a few months until we started dismantling them. There's no -- there was no other request ever. Is it clear?

Yes.

So we will normally close all coal activity by end of this year.

The next question comes from the line of Eric Blake with Fitch Ratings.

Sorry, it's in place, not Fitch Ratings. My question is, is any of the financing or any of the proceeds from the equity raise to be used for any debt refinancing or reduction for that matter?

No, the uses of these funds... I think it's better if you go silent because we have. Can you hear us?

Mr. Blake, can you hear us?

Can you hear us?

Yes, I can. I'm actually struggling to mute -- can you hear?

Yes, we can. You need to mute... yes, we can.

So I don't know if you heard my question. I was just wondering if any of the funds were going to be used for any other process or for any debt reduction or refinancing purposes.

Well yes. The keys which I mentioned before... can you please go on mute? Maybe we can -- because we are having...

I'll try to give the response. It's not a deleveraging transaction. It's a growth approach that we are following. So no, the funds will not be used for deleveraging.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Stassis for any closing comments. Thank you.

Well, thank you very much for being with us in this results presentation for the first quarter. As you know, we are in the middle of a very important event for the company, which will take it to a very big new chapter. The last time we did a share capital increase was in 2021 at EUR 9 -- we're already at '19, '18 level, '19. I think we have demonstrated we are able to deliver value for our shareholders. We are making a very important step for the next 4, 5 years, and we will be very glad all of you to follow us.

Thank you very much.

Bye.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Geli, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Public Power Corporation conference call to present and discuss the full year 2025 financial results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Georgios Stassis, Chairman and CEO; Mr. Konstantinos Alexandridis, CFO; and Mr. Ioannis Stefos, Chief Investor Relations Officer.

Mr. Stefos, you may now proceed.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today's conference call for PPC's full year 2025 results. We will begin with an overview of the group's results from our Chairman and CEO, Georgios Stassis, followed by a review of the financial performance for the period by our Group CFO, Konstantinos Alexandridis. After the conclusion of the presentation, we will open the floor for your questions during the Q&A session. The IR team will be available after the call for any follow-up discussions.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Georgios. Georgios, please go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's earnings call. PPC had a strong performance for another year, in line with the strategic targets set in the business plan with adjusted EBITDA increasing to EUR 2 billion and net income at EUR 0.45 billion, demonstrating the extent of the transformation and the growth that has been achieved during the last years.

This significant growth in profitability has allowed us to keep increasing dividend distribution in line with our plan, which provides for further improvement of shareholders' remuneration with a gradual increase of dividend to EUR 1.2 per share in 2028.

Investments stood at EUR 2.8 billion, with the majority allocated to renewables, flexible generation and distribution projects, supporting a further step-up in profitability going forward. Despite high CapEx, our balance sheet position remains solid with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio at 3.2x at the end of 2025, providing the necessary room to implement our investment plan in the next years.

Moving to Slide 7. The last years have been directing capital towards renewable energy, flexible generation and distribution. As a result of these investments, we have been able to increase both the regulated asset base, as we will see later, but also the renewables and flexible generation capacity, which now represents 80% of our total capacity.

In this way, year after year, we are increasing our renewables footprint, combining it with flexible generation assets, while at the same time, we have made significant progress in phasing out lignite, a process which is at the final stage, with the last unit of 700-megawatt plan to cease its operation by the end of this year.

Deep diving now to Generation business on Slide 8. As you can see, we have increased the total installed capacity to 12.4 gigawatts, led by the continuous rollout of new renewable projects, which has outweighed the reduction of lignite capacity during the last year.

Our total generation output has remained practically stable, however, with increased participation of renewables on the back of reduced production from lignite and oil. More specifically, renewables output increased to 6.9 terawatt hours, driven by wind and solar generation, reflecting the addition of new capacity, which outbalanced the weak performance of large hydro power plants for last year. As a result, renewables increased its share to 33% of our total output.

On the flip side, lignite generation declined at 2.7 terawatt hours and oil at 3.6 terawatt hours, corresponding to 13% and 17% of total output, respectively. 2026 is a milestone for PPC generation activity since it marks the end of lignite-fired generation after many decades, making PPC coal-free.

Last, gas generation had no change versus 2024, being, however, a very important component of our energy mix today, corresponding to 37% of our total output. As a result, CO2 Scope 1 emissions declined by 0.5 million tonnes compared to last year. And going forward, we expect further improvements since we will cease our lignite operations by the end of the year.

Now moving to Page 9. Let me briefly describe the progress in renewable projects that we have achieved in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Executing our strategic plan with discipline, we completed the construction of an additional 800 megawatts of capacity across Greece and abroad. The majority of these additions were solar projects, which exceeded the 700 megawatt in total, complemented by the first 59 megawatts of battery energy storage installed in Greece and Romania as well as 36 megawatts from a wind farm in Northern Greece.

In summary, 546 megawatts of renewable projects across various technologies were completed in Greece, along with 272 megawatts internationally in the fourth quarter, leading to total additions for 2025 at 1.7 gigawatts, as we will see in more detail in the following slides.

Going to Slide 10, let's see in more detail the additions that we concluded in the fourth quarter of 2025. First, in Greece, major projects totaling 550 megawatts were completed since the November Capital Markets Day. Specifically, we completed the last 30 megawatt of a 550-megawatt solar project located in the former lignite area of Ptolemais in Northern Greece.

In the same region, in cooperation with RWE, we completed the final 623 megawatts of a 938-megawatt solar project. In the Ptolemais region, again, in the former lignite area, we completed the first 125 megawatt of a 490-megawatt solar project. The second 125-megawatt cluster is currently under construction, and the third cluster is scheduled to begin construction later this year.

For wind, we successfully completed 36.4 megawatts in Central Greece in the region of Fokida. And last, an important milestone was also the completion of our first battery project in Greece in the former lignite areas of [ Ptolemais ] as well.

Outside of Greece, in the fourth quarter, we added 272 megawatts of capacity from renewable projects, mainly solar across Southeast Europe, as depicted in detail in Slide 11. Starting with Romania, we completed solar projects of 215 megawatts in total in various locations, along with 9 megawatts of batteries, which will enable us to enhance dispatch optimization and capture value from balancing services and price arbitrage.

At the same time, we completed 17.5 megawatts of photovoltaics in Italy and 30 megawatts in Bulgaria, increasing our footprint in these countries. Overall, as you can see, we keep a good pace of additions, delivering significant renewable capacity while continuing to expand our construction pipeline.

All of the above are summarized in the next slide, Slide 12, which shows that we remain on track to achieve our 2028 renewables target of 12.7 gigawatt, as presented in our last Capital Market Day. We have added 1.7 gigawatt in 2025, standing now at a total of 7.2 gigawatts. And we have another 3.7 gigawatts that are either in construction, ready to build or in the tender process, having secured, in essence, 86% of the capacity that we target for 2028.

There has been further progress in our pipeline also in terms of maturity, having moved during the fourth quarter -- last fourth quarter, approximately 600 megawatts into the under construction and ready-to-build stages from the permitting and engineering stage. And this process of adding new capacity, maturing additional projects is something that we have been doing many quarters now, and we will continue to do so as we advance multiple projects across Greece and internationally.

Let us now move to Slide 13, which provides key highlights of our retail activity and the overall environment in Greece and Romania. Electricity demand was slightly decreased in both countries by minus 1.3% in Greece, reflecting milder average temperatures compared to 2024 and by 0.6% in Romania. Our electricity sales decreased by 1.9% compared to 2024, primarily driven by lower demand in Greece and a slight market share reduction in both countries.

Deep diving in the retail activity in Slide 14, despite this intensely competitive environment throughout 2025, we successfully defended our market share while expanding beyond the commodity segment, demonstrating our ability to diversify and deliver impactful results.

Customers remain our top priority. This is reflected in our strong top line performance across all customer satisfaction metrics and the continued improvement in the quality of our customer base. Notably, bad debt exposure decreased by 14%, as shown in the bottom right graph, driven by improved penetration and more effective management of higher-risk customer segments.

On top of various targeted propositions that we launched during the year, SME, family and other and as artificial intelligence continues to shape market developments; we launched in Greece a virtual assistant support our customers. This is the first AI-powered digital assistant in the market, designed to elevate the customer experience by providing clear explanations of bill charges in simple language.

For our activities in Romania, 2025 was a transitional year following the lifting of the price caps. As competition has been growing, we focus on protecting and strengthening customer relationships through targeted retention actions.

Looking ahead, we expect 2026 to remain highly competitive. We will continue to focus on delivering value, strengthening customer engagement and maintaining resilience in an evolving market landscape.

Just a few words for several synergy streams in the retail activity that we set up in 2025, we are in Slide 15. Kotsovolos has been key for this, providing the opportunity to launch a broad range of initiatives.

Our collaboration has evolved from establishing a strong in-store presence and developing dedicated PPC shop-in-shop corners featuring our products to extending field services coverage that delivers essential energy solutions to customers and households, services that are fundamental to everyday living.

Looking ahead to 2026, we plan to further strengthen our footprint within PPC shops while expanding our product and service portfolio to reach additional customer segments, addressing a broader spectrum of needs.

Next, in Slide 16, a few words of certain KPIs of our Distribution business. We continue to invest significantly in 2025 with CapEx increasing by 2% year-on-year, in line with our strategy to enhance and digitalize our electricity distribution networks. The total regulated asset base now stands at EUR 5.7 billion from EUR 4.9 billion last year, mainly driven by the increase in Greece following material investments.

The strong investment activity is also reflected in the improvement of the reliability indices of our networks in both Greece and Romania, while smart meters penetration continues its upward trend with further room to grow, especially in Greece.

Turning to Slide 17. We can see how the implementation of our strategic initiatives, combined with active engagement have resulted to actual progress in several ESG ratings and scores within 2025. Specifically, our efforts have been recognized by S&P Global, EcoVadis, MSCI, ATHEX ESG and ISS, all of which upgraded PPC's ratings and scores.

These improvements reflect tangible progress in several key areas such as environmental management, renewables portfolio expansion, corporate governance, ESG integration and transparent reporting. These advancements underscore our commitment to sustainability, mitigating business risk and fostering long-term value for all stakeholders.

Let me now pass it on to Konstantinos for the financial performance analysis.

Thank you, George, and good afternoon to all. Moving next to Slide 19 for an overview of the trends for the main energy-related commodities. To begin with TTF, gas prices in early 2025 were initially strong, supported by reduced Ukrainian transit and cold weather conditions before easing as demand weakened and geopolitical concerns softened.

Subsequently, prices declined under the milder weather conditions, strong LNG inflows and lower storage targets from EU with a brief rebound driven by firmer demand and tighter Norwegian supply. Later in the year, gas prices remained broadly stable before falling to their lowest levels towards year-end. Overall, gas prices recorded a moderate year-on-year increase of 5%.

Turning to carbon. EUA prices opened the year sharply, but reversed after mid-February, pressured by declining gas prices and uncertainty around U.S. tariffs. Prices later recovered on the back of easing trade tensions and a U.S.-China agreement, although gains driven by geopolitical developments proved short-lived.

The market remained relatively balanced for a period before a rally emerged towards September driven by compliance buying with prices peaking towards the end of the year. Overall, carbon prices also recorded a moderate year-on-year increase of 12%.

Finally, looking at power prices, they spiked early in 2025, driven by higher TTF and EUAs, easing later in Q1 on the weaker demand and the higher solar performance. Prices rose in Q2, tracking TTF and EUAs, but stayed stable in June, though elevated despite geopolitical tensions, thanks to record renewables output. In the second half of 2025, weather-driven demand and lower renewable output led to a steady rise in prices.

Moving now on Slide 20, where we can see the key financial figures for the period, showcasing the strong financial performance recorded in 2025 with increased revenues mainly due to higher power prices and the contribution of Kotsovolos.

Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 2 billion, up by 13% year-on-year, an uplift driven by higher contribution of integrated activities in our two key countries, Greece and Romania. Adjusted net income post minorities stood at EUR 0.45 billion from EUR 0.36 billion in 2024, up by 23% year-on-year.

The proposed dividend for 2025 is EUR 0.60 per share from $0.40 per share in 2024, demonstrating our strong commitment towards the increase of distributable profits for our shareholders and in line with our commitment in the latest Capital Markets Day. A more detailed overview of EBITDA and net income evolution will follow later in the presentation.

Investments at EUR 2.8 billion, focusing mainly on renewables, flexible generation and distribution. Free cash flow continues to be driven by elevated investment levels in line with our business plan. Net debt at EUR 6.5 billion at the end of December 2025, with net debt-to-EBITDA ratio at 3.2x as anticipated, given the progress in our investment plan.

Proceeding to Slide 21 for the revenues evolution of the group, which recorded an 8% increase. The largest part of this increase is driven by energy sales, which are up by approximately EUR 0.5 billion as a result of higher power prices we experienced both in Greece and Romania for the full year. The rest is mainly driven by sales of merchandise coming from the operations of Kotsovolos, which have a full year effect in 2025.

These two factors have been able to more than offset the impact of our revenues from volume decline related to market share reduction and a slightly reduced electricity demand in both countries, as George mentioned before. All this resulted to a total revenue of EUR 9.7 billion in 2025, up by EUR 0.7 billion versus 2024.

Moving to Slide 22 for the EBITDA performance by business activity. As you can see in the left side of the slide, EBITDA has recorded a 13% increase year-on-year with the integrated business being the key driver for this growth. I will provide more color on this in the coming slides. International contribution at 22%, mostly driven by Romanian operations, which stood at EUR 440 million.

Next, on Slide 23, a few words on the evolution of the integrated business. The improvement that has been recorded versus last year has been taking place on the back of improved performance in the retail business and green and energy mix throughout our footprint as we increase renewables capacity.

In addition, this improvement has been also supported by the reduction of fixed costs associated with lignite activity as we progress with the phasing out of the relevant units. All these factors have been the basis of our commitments in our Capital Markets Day some months ago to improve our profitability in the integrated business by EUR 0.2 billion year-on-year.

Now proceeding to Slide 24 for a view of the distribution activity. With regards to Greece, the demand decrease of 1.3% versus 2024 negatively affected the approved network usage revenues that will be compensated in 2027.

In Romania, the Distribution business marked a slight decrease versus full year 2024, but this was driven by seasonal effects. Adjusting for construction works that have already been included in the 2026 allowed revenues, the 2025 performance would be higher than last year.

Proceeding to Slide 25 for a deep dive on the EBITDA-to-net income bridge. The improved performance in terms of EBITDA that we've discussed in the previous slides has also been reflected in the bottom line with adjusted net income after minorities standing at EUR 448 million, that is a 23% increase versus last year.

In terms of EPS, the year-on-year increase is slightly higher, reaching the 24% given the ongoing share buyback program. Adjustments included in the net income includes special one-off items with the largest being the provision for incentives for volume direct exit schemes that we implemented, the PPAs revaluation as well as the incremental depreciation from the asset revaluation of December 2024.

Moving on to Slide 26 for the analysis of the investments. We continue to keep a high level of investments reaching EUR 2.8 billion in 2025 despite the reduction of 9% year-on-year. Importantly, 87% of our investments are directed to our distribution networks, renewables and flexible generation in line with our strategic priorities.

Distribution has been the largest component, reflecting our focus on network utilization and resilience in both Greece and Romania. At the same time, we are significantly expanding our renewables footprint along with increased investments in flexible generation to support the stability and monetizing the surplus of generation.

Geographically, the majority of investments are concentrated in Greece, accounting for 72%, while Romania represents a growing share of 23%. Overall, our investment program is clearly aligned with the energy transition, strengthening our asset base and supporting long-term earnings visibility.

Let's now move on to Slide 27 for the free cash flow analysis of the group. The strong operational performance, combined with the positive working capital resulted to a significantly positive FFO of EUR 1.9 billion. The change in working capital had a positive impact of EUR 161 million over the period, supported mainly by CO2 and our hedging activities.

With regards to CO2, we had a positive impact in 2025, which is mainly attributed to timing of payments and the overall working capital management. With regards to our hedging activities, initial margin requirements related to new positions declined, mainly as an effect of lower and less volatile gas prices towards the year-end, while at the same time, prior periods positions continued to wind down.

Looking at the trade receivables and excluding state-related entities, we had a positive change in working capital by EUR 70 million, partially offsetting the increase of trade receivables from the state-related entities. We have been working with the state to reduce the overdue amount, and we expect in the first half of this year to have positive results.

Finally, within category Other, we had a negative impact of EUR 92 million as a result of last year's overperformance in December '24, where some payments were shifted to 2025. Overall, free cash flow is in line with our estimates, given the significant capital deployment that we are doing throughout Southeast Europe and across technologies.

Turning to Slide 28. Let me walk you through our debt profile and liquidity position. Despite the acceleration of our investment program, liquidity remains robust, supported by a well-balanced mix of fixed and floating rate debt. We also maintained strong liquidity headroom with $4.6 billion of undrawn committed credit lines as of year-end 2025.

At the same time, ongoing refinancing initiatives and favorable interest rate trends have contributed to a reduction in our average cost of debt, which stood at 3.8% by the end of 2025. Our debt maturity profile remains well spread with no material concentration risks. Over the next 3 years, maturities amount to $2.6 billion, including $500 million related to our sustainability-linked bond maturing in July 2028.

In October 2025, we successfully issued a EUR 775 million green bond due in 2030 priced at 4.25% coupon with strong investor demand and 3.4x oversubscription. The proceeds were used to redeem in full the aggregate principal amount of sustainability linked senior notes due in 2026 and support eligible green investments in line with our financing framework.

The remaining maturities primarily relate to long-term loans and committed facilities, which we expect to refinance in the normal course of business. Finally, our credit profile remains at BB- with both rating agencies with S&P recently revising the outlook to positive, while Fitch affirmed the stable outlook.

Next, on to Slide 29 for the net debt evolution and our leverage position. Net debt and consequently, net leverage increased in 2025 as anticipated, reflecting the acceleration of our investment program in line with our business plan. Net leverage currently stands at 3.2x and is expected to evolve in line with our plan. We remain fully committed to our financial policy, including the 3.5x ceiling we have set.

Let me now pass it on to Georgios for his concluding remarks.

Thank you. Now moving on Slide 31. Before I conclude my presentation, let me reaffirm our guidance on key figures for this year. Our expected adjusted EBITDA is at EUR 2.4 billion, and we anticipate more than EUR 700 million in terms of adjusted net income after minorities, leading to an EPS of EUR 2.1, demonstrating a 58% increase versus 2025.

We are on very good track to achieve these targets for several reasons, as we saw at the right-hand side of the slide. First, we have been experiencing mild weather conditions in the first quarter of 2026 so far, which have led to improved margin in our retail activity.

Second, wind conditions have been quite strong from the beginning of 2026, benefiting our assets both in Greece and Romania, which combined with better hydrological conditions in Greece, contribute to a good start of the year.

And third, we are at a quite advanced maturity stage for the 1.8 gigawatts of new renewables that we are targeting to conclude in 2026, being already at an approximately 50% readiness. Moreover, we feel very comfortable in delivering our targets for 2026 as well. Once again, we highlight our strong commitment for our dividend policy that is expected to reach EUR 0.80 per share from $0.60 per share in 2025, an increase of 33%.

In our concluding slide, Slide 32, let me now wrap up with a few final points. Overall, we are delivering on our strategy with strong execution across all key pillars. Our 2025 performance reflects the benefits of our integrated business model.

We continue to deploy capital in a disciplined manner with EUR 2.8 billion invested in renewables, flexible generation and distribution, supporting our future growth. We have made significant progress in our renewables installed capacity, adding 1.7 gigawatts in 2025. And at the same time, we are building strong visibility on our targets going forward, with 86% of the capacity that we target for 2028 being already secured.

Our transition away from lignite is progressing as planned with full phaseout expected by end of this year, further improving our environmental footprint. This shift is strengthening the resilience and flexibility of our portfolio, enhancing our position in a challenging and evolving energy landscape.

We are very confident in delivering our 2026 targets, and we prepare ourselves to be able to meet our targets beyond this year, aiming at sustainable value creation for our shareholders, our customers and the market in which we operate. Thank you all. And now looking forward to get your feedback and your questions.

The first question is from the line of Di Vito Alessandro with Mediobanca.

I have three. First question is on the general energy outlook. I wanted to understand which could be the implications for PPC in case the current escalation in Middle East extends for a longer period of time? And on this matter, if you could remind us the sensitivity you have to power prices.

The second question is around the political debate to lower power prices in Europe. I wanted some color on your contribution to this debate. And if you see the risk some political intervention, both at national and at European level?

Third question is on your procurement strategy. I wanted to understand if the current disruption in LNG supplies could affect the procurement for your CCGT plants or for your gas supply clients?

And maybe just the last one, a clarification during the explanation of the guidance, I heard 2026 net income above EUR 700 million. So I wanted to understand whether this is confirmed or not.

Okay. Thank you very much for the questions. Now let me start from the general outlook. Of course, we cannot estimate how this will end and when it will end. And nobody is able to do that right now. However, there are -- because we have some experience now and our experiences from 2022, where we had a major energy crisis and impacting very much also our continent.

I want to outline some points. First of all, we do not have any physical delivery issues because we are not procuring from that area, from the Strait of Hormuz. While in 2022, you remember when the pipe was interrupted, we had to handle physical delivery problems as well, which was really a big mess. But we are not in this situation. Therefore, and as far as I understand, this is the situation of Asia, in particular, or some other companies, maybe in Europe, but not ourselves.

And then, of course, you may understand that then we need to handle the issue of prices. Today, we think that -- I mean, if we take the today news, every day is a new situation, of course, it is at 60 -- around 60, 62, 63 in the gas TTF. Gas is of our interest. So if you remember, 2022, we handled prices of 350. So I hope we will not see these prices, of course. But still, it is -- we have the experience and the management to handle the situation, first point.

Second point, we are -- I mean, we are -- we have an overall portfolio that has -- part of it is fixed. Our fixed customers is already fully hedged. So there's no impact in that situation.

And of course, one could question if things go really high, how this will pass into the market. I believe that starting from as you know, from 2023, there was a European directive, which defined when Europe will be considered on crisis and has the limit reaching gas prices at 180. So we are far away from that level, thankfully. And I don't think we will be needed right now to handle any situation like that.

In any way, however, this, because of our vertical integration is not -- has been proven also in the past that we never had a problem into managing this situation. If even in the scenario of infra marginal caps, it simply means that we will not have, let's say, huge windfall profits. And those will be used by the governments of Europe to be -- to supporting the citizens of Europe.

So what I'm trying to say is that point one, right now, we are not in this situation at all. I'm not sure if we will be. And if and if we will go in a very extreme situation, the tools are available to be used also at the European level, have been used in the past, and we proved that we were not affected by that, and we don't believe we'll be affected as well.

Now the other thing is that the timing of this crisis is coming in a period of time, which is spring. And this is very important because we just closed winter. And this is a period of time where renewables are boosting very much. We are mostly of low prices.

So I think that there is time in front of us before we move to the heart of the summer where we will have another peak or when we will reach the point that the European storage facilities will start to be having the need to be, let's say, filling up. And that would be possibly an issue which will impact 2027. We don't believe we will have a major impact in 2026 also in such a situation right now.

So we wait and see how the situation will develop. But I think we are extremely protected as PPC right now, having worked in our overall vertical integration and our own capability to manage our overall customer base.

Now going -- to the second part of your question about the discussion that has emerged in Europe about the energy prices, this is a valid point, I believe. It is a concern for everybody. And I believe it is also a valid point for the industry, which is an important parameter.

I have the impression that -- I mean, we will know today, tomorrow, how things will develop in the council, but I have the impression that mostly the discussion will focus around an ETS reform for the future.

As you may be aware, ETS is supposed to be formed in July, and there is today already taken decisions from the past to remove quantities from the ETS market from the quote that would tighten the market further and would result in a price increase in ETS.

I see personally that there is room in the discussion of the European leaders to make this transition smoother and not so steep in the coming years. And I think, and this is the most important thing, that this is exactly how we were forecasting the development to happen even before this discussion becoming relevant.

If you look on our slides on the Capital Market Day in November, you will see that the kind of path we have for ETS prices are reasonable because we were assuming from that time that we don't believe that the current situation will be activated in the sense that we don't believe we will see crazy prices of the ETS market.

So we have already budgeted with a very smooth pattern from 2026 to 2028, even beyond 2030. And I think the conclusion of the discussions in Europe will more or less go in that direction.

And then having said that, there is another element as well, which is very important, which is our region, because we put all this into a perspective, but we need to think of our region as well because every geography is different.

In the Southeast European region, the corridor between Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, up to Ukraine, Moldova, all these kind of countries, Croatia; this is a corridor which is very tight from the capacity point of view. And on top of that, it has very old fleet.

So because you have a sensitivity, even in our calculations with a lower EPS from our projections, we don't see the dam changing significantly because the assets that will be activated are quite mature and old fleet and into an area which is having a very old fleet.

For all these reasons, I believe that we have been very prudent in managing our assumptions. And I think gradually, we are going in that direction. So we feel that not only for 2026, we are absolutely certain that we will deliver properly, but also for the coming years, we will be in line with our projections.

Last, procurement. I didn't quite understood the last part of your question, but I can tell you that we don't feel any procurement issue as a result of the crisis right now in the rate. But if you can elaborate more of what you meant, I will be able to answer.

Yes. No, I think you already answered. I was asking about your procurement strategy and whether you would be affected by the disruption in the Middle East. But you already said that the fixed portion of supply is secured and you have no procurement from Middle East.

The last question was on the net income for 2026, whether it is going to be around EUR 700 million or above EUR 400 million during the presentation, I had above, but I just wanted to make sure about the detail.

Okay. Listen, we just closed the year at EUR 450 million net result. I can tell you certainly that we will be in the area of 700. I could even tell you that we're having a good year today. So I would be most probably able to verify a number higher than this. But of course, we have -- we are in an environment of huge volatility. So the only thing I can confirm is the 700 level right now.

The next question is from the line of Nestoras Katsios with Optima Bank.

Congratulations for your great set of results. So two questions from my side. The first one has to do with the data centers. Is there any update with your discussions on the data center front? And the second one is about [ Ptolemais ] 5. I understand that you will shut down this year. Are there any final investment decision for the future of [ Ptolemais ], I mean, some gas plant?

Okay. Let me start from the last because I think it's the easiest. I mean, for [ Ptolemais ] 5. I think we have already announced that we will convert it to gas, and we are already working in that direction.

I think we will see it already in operation in gas from 2028 because we are already working in that direction. We have already secured the equipment we need. And I think we have sufficient time to do this transformation by 2028 early. So this is for [ Ptolemais ].

Now for the data centers, for those of you who are following our company, you may remember that we have announced our intention to develop a data center last April. It's almost a year, not even a year yet. And I told you from that day that I would expect -- I was expecting end of '26 to have some sort of real development. And this is our vision right now.

However, we are in discussions with hyperscalers and those discussions are going a little bit better from what I thought. So I mean, we have progress. We have significant progress, but we are not there yet. This is the thing I can say right now.

The next question is from the line of Karidis John with Deutsche Bank.

I have four quick ones on just the telco business, please. The first question is, what was the CapEx in FY '25 in millions rather than billions?

Secondly, how many customers did you have at the end of 2025? And how many do you have now?

Thirdly, during the CMD, I asked you about the timing of the launch for voice services, and you said very soon. Could you please update me on that, hopefully, give me something like a date?

And then lastly, a year ago, I asked you whether you were interested in mobile, and you said you were not. Has your view changed there at all?

Thank you very much for the questions. I can tell you that we have spent around EUR 200 million until now on this project. We have delivered more or less a network of 1.7 million, but only 1 million is commercially available. First, you create the backbone and then you make the remaining pieces.

So very recently, we launched at the end of last summer, the service with a footprint of 500,000, let's say, households passed. And very recently, we opened from 500,000 to 1 million. I can tell you that we are currently connecting around 200 customers per day. This is the current pace we have. So you can calculate.

I think we are quite happy with that because in that level, I think this in the coming months because it's too young, not even 6 months that we are working on that. In the current pace, we will probably reach a level of 250,000 in the coming months. And when we will open the remaining 500,000 and so on and so forth, I mean, going gradually as per our plan to 3.5 million; this means that with this trend, we will be reaching a level of around 700, 800 customers, maybe more per day.

So we are very happy. We are learning as well from that. As you might have noticed, we are not pushing a lot advertising because we want to have a very good service on our customers. But very shortly, we will start pushing more commercially. So I'm expecting these numbers to pick up.

But so far, so good. I mean, we are doing very well. We are very happy, and we will reach the target -- the number of target customers we have in our mind by the end of '28, beginning of '29.

About voice, I think we are ready to launch it probably in June, June, July, we will launch voice. About mobile, we are not investing in mobile because our project is a very specific project. That's why we are so relaxed. I mean we are doing this -- we found this opportunity to roll out this fiber project only in Greece.

It's not a big project for us versus our total CapEx. And we are in line exactly with the numbers we want to have day by day. So we will go gradually. We are not investing in the mobile. I can verify this 100%. Thank you.

I'm sorry, could you please tell me how many customers you had in total at the end of 2025?

We have more than 12,000 customers.

The next question is from the line of Walker-Hunt Ella with Citigroup.

My first question relates to hedging. So in terms of power price exposure, could you tell us what's your hedge position at the end of the year? So how much in terms of terawatt hours have you sold forward and what duration?

And then my second question is about the full-year results. So if you -- if we look at it on a quarterly basis, so the fourth quarter earnings were actually down almost 20% if you compare to the last year. So I was just wondering, what was driving that earnings contraction in the fourth quarter?

Okay. The first part -- what was the first part? The hedging, the hedging, we are at a level of more than 40% to 45% right now for the year for everything, all our position, not accounting the fixed customers, of course, that we have 100%, as I told you, on our fleet.

Now for the fourth quarter, I mean, we navigated -- I mean, we have a sort of -- every year a sort of seasonality, and we are trying to govern the company also taking into account the market in general. So we chose to support more our customers at the end of the year. And -- but still, we brought our results. So -- but this has happened in many of our years, I mean, in the past years.

There is a thin line where you need to keep the pace of growth in a reasonable level. And from quarter-to-quarter, we have and we have had differences like that in the past. This is normal. In the contrary, you will see that if you will compare this quarter, this current quarter when we will announce it because it's going well. With the quarter of last year, you will find exactly the opposite. But it is part of our -- the nature of our business.

The next question is from the line of Pombeiro Mafalda with Goldman Sachs. Congratulations on the results.

I only have two left, if possible. The first one would be any indication or guidance on the net debt levels for 2026, if you can share at least the main moving pieces? And the second one is just a clarification. Out of your retail sold volumes, could you please -- I understand that the part that is fixed contract fixed customers. So what percentage is that of the overall sold volumes?

Our fixed part is around 20%. And now Konstantinos will take the first one. One second, give us.

Yes. So the way we have set up the business plan that we discussed back in November is asking for additional investments. So we do expect that the more we are progressing, of course, leverage ratio will remain at the area of 3.3x to 3.4x. So that would be at an area in terms of net debt close to EUR 7.5 billion to EUR 7.7 billion.

The next question is from the line of Anna Antonova with JPMorgan.

Just a few from our side. So first, on the CapEx outlook for this year for 2026. I see that last year, you spent just a little bit lower than you guided below the EUR 3 billion. Is the CapEx for this year still expected around your target, which I think from the end of last year was EUR 3.8 billion? That's the first question.

Yes. We -- of course, from last year, the big deliveries of renewables started to arrive in our company. On the other hand, last year, we did our CapEx also with an acquisition. as we have noticed. But the last quarter, we brought 800 megawatts. So it's ramping up. And right now, we are going to deliver 1.8 gigawatt, and it's going fantastic. So we are able to confirm exactly our CapEx for this year.

The second question is on the outlook for hydropower this year. I remember you commented during the call that in Q1, the weather conditions were quite favorable. So if you could maybe comment where you currently see the upside for hydro generation for this year compared to last year's maybe level, which was, I think, 3.4 terawatt hours.

Yes. Finally, we are having a good year on hydro after several years. We had the 3 bad years on hydro levels, and this is coming back this year. So I mean, I cannot predict exactly, but it's going to be for sure, more than last year.

We have a follow-up question from Anna Antonova, JPMorgan.

Just a quick follow-up question. So with all the events happening this year and higher power prices and kind of regulatory debate in Europe, can you comment if you see any downside to your targets for this year from the current conditions, both on the financials and on especially the lignite phaseout?

You mentioned earlier the event of 2022, and I remember that at that time, the lignite decommissioning was a bit delayed due to everything that has been happening. So do you expect kind of any potential risks to the targets for this year?

Yes. And what was the lesson in 2022? We kept lignite because why? Not for economic reasons, because of lack of physical deliveries at that time in 2022. And what was the lesson? It was still more expensive than anything else. So we are not intending to keep it back by no means, especially now that we don't have any physical delivery issues.

Other than that, I mean, knock wood, this is going very well this year. If it wasn't the Iran conflict, we would be able to be more optimistic, but we stay at this level right now.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Stassis for any closing comments. Thank you.

Maybe we have a question.

Yes. We have one more question from Mr. Alderman Richard with BTIG.

Can you hear me?

Yes, please go ahead.

Just one follow-up question on the hedging there. Just so we don't misunderstand what you're saying about the gas element of the hedging within your retail book, are you essentially hedged for what you see would be your average demand through the rest of the year from your retail book at this point? And then obviously, if there are variations within that and that costs you more, you would pass that through to customers who are not on fixed contracts. I'm just trying to understand...

This is indeed -- this is exactly correct what you said.

Okay. Because there's been some discussion in the market as to whether you had exposure to that, but that's reassuring to hear.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions now. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Georgios Stassis for any closing comments. Thank you.

I think 2025 has been an important year. because this company proved that it reached a level of significant net result versus the past years. 2026 will be another year like that. Our growth is very important versus last year. And we feel confident we are exactly on target, maybe a little bit more. We will see how the year will develop.

But so far, so good. So we are excited with the development of the company. We are already working very much for 2027, 2028. I believe 2026 is secured. And I think the coming years will be very interesting. Thank you.

Welcome, everyone, to PPC's Capital Markets Day. Today, we will present our strategic plan for the period 2026,2028, along with an update on PPC's financial performance for the first 9 months of 2025. A very warm welcome to those joining us here in London and to everyone connected via the webcast. We are here today with our Chairman and CEO, Georgios Stassis; and our CFO, Konstantinos Alexandridis.

Since 2019, Georgios has been guiding TPC transformation steering the company towards clean energy and sustainable growth. With nearly 2 decades of experience in [indiscernible], has positioned BBC as a leading player in Southeast Europe's energy transition. Konstantinos, who joined PBC in 2020 brings strong financial expertise and a proven record in managing large listed and private companies. He has played a key role in strengthening PPC's financial foundation and supporting the execution of its transformation strategy. Together with a weather management team and TPC employees, they continue to advance our strategy, delivering both efficiency and long-term value for our stakeholders.

Let me briefly walk you through to the end. We'll start with a short introduction where we will initially present 9-month performance proceeding next with how PPC positions in the Southeast European region as well as highlighting its strong track record to date. We will then outline this strategy and how the company continues to lead the crucial parts of the value chain. And after that, we will move on to our financial targets before closing with some final remarks and conclusions. And of course, we will end with a Q&A session where we will be happy to take your questions, both from those here in the room and from everyone joining us remotely. If any question remains unanswered, our Investor Relations team is always at your disposal to follow-up after the event. We expect the session to last not more than 2 hours.

And now let me hand over to our CEO, Georgios Stassis, to begin the presentation. Georgios, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Ioannis. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Capital Markets Day, the City of London. Before we present our track record, let me provide you an update for the 9-month 2025 financial performance, focusing on the main areas. Robust profitability in the 9-month period with adjusted EBITDA reaching EUR 1.7 billion, up by 24% year-on-year. Strong performance in the third quarter which has been driven by improvement in our integrated business and by higher revenues in the distribution activity in Greece, following the implementation of a new network charges as of June 2025.

Adjusted net income after minorities amounted to EUR 400 million being fully on track for the target we have set for the full year, which will also lead to increased dividend per share as we have committed since our previous CMD 1 year ago. We will further discuss this later in the presentation. Investments stood at EUR 1.9 billion, mainly driven by renewables, flexible generation and distribution projects, which are the key focus areas for our business plan. Free cash flow stood at minus EUR 1 billion due to high investments despite improved FFO performance in line with our plan. Net debt at EUR 6.7 billion at the end of September with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio at 3.1x and below the ceiling of 3.5x that we have said in our financial policy and in line with our strategic priorities as we progress our investment plan.

Let me now turn to our performance against our 2025 targets. As you can see on the slide, we are well on track on all key metrics. On the financial side, adjusted EBITDA is expected to reach EUR 2 billion, while net income will close at EUR 400 million with dividend distribution increasing to EUR 0.60 per share. CapEx, even though below our initial estimates are expected to reach a EUR 3 billion area, reflecting our continued investments in renewables flexible generation and distribution networks. And all that, keeping our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio comfortably below the 3.5x ratio, supporting a strong and balanced capital structure. In terms of strategy, we continue to deliver on the transformation we set out.

PPC is becoming greener and more predictable as we remain on track to phase out lignite by 2026 -- end of 2026, with no additional decommissioning liabilities thereafter. We have extended the PPC model across Southeast Europe, strengthening our position as a regional energy champion. We are also driving customer centricity, expanding our reach through new cross-sector touch points and digital services. And we have enhanced our balance sheet through disciplined financial management and higher cash flow stability from our network business. Finally, all's progress is reflected in the performance of our share price which, combined with our increased dividend distribution, adds value to our shareholders. PPC delivered a 168% total shareholder item. Over the last 3 years, outperforming the Euro Stock Utilities Index, which stood at 62%. Overall, our progress demonstrates that our strategy is delivering the target we have set both operationally and financially, delivering ultimately increasing value to our shareholders.

During the last years, we have been consistently growing our operations aiming at becoming a leading clean power tech and critical infrastructure player in Southeast European region. Our activities span from electricity generation to electricity distribution as well as the sale of advanced energy products and services in our 2 key countries in Greece and Romania, while also expanding our renewables footprint in Italy, Bulgaria and in Croatia. We have a total installed capacity of 12.5 gigawatt, of which 50% from renewables, including hydro while our total regulated asset base amounts to EUR 5.6 billion. We are also the leading supplier of electricity in Greece and one of the leading in Romania servicing 8.6 million customers in total. As highlighted at the bottom of the slide, our energy management unit act as a strategic catalyst driving profitability.

At the same time, we are expanding in new sectors to extract additional value and new avenues of growth. First, we have entered the telecom business, rolling out one of Europe's fastest growing state-of-the-art fiber-to-the-home networks in Greece. Based on the competitive advantage we have of the rapid development of the new network at low cost through the use of our existing infrastructure. Second, we are active in e-mobility through the deployment of public charging points, being the leader in the Greek market, having also a strong presence in Romania. Last, we are also exploring further opportunities in the data center space, given our position in Greece, as we will see later in the presentation. Getting into more detail.

Let me start with the distribution activity, which is keep growing, leveraging on the attractive regulatory framework with long-term periods that follow European DSO regulation with regulated asset-based models, having a WACC of close to 7% in Greece and Romania. Distribution grids are the backbone of the energy transition and require major investments to keep pace with rising electrification, renewable rollout and grid flexibility demands. And towards this end, we are upgrading our networks in both countries, focusing on the digitalization of the infrastructure implementing a nationwide rollout of smart meters, especially in Greece, which is lagging compared to the other European countries. As a result of continued investments we have increased our total RAB at EUR 5.6 billion, having doubled the EBITDA to EUR 800 million over the last 4 years.

Next, a few words about our integrated business model. which is supported by a total generation capacity of 12.4 gigawatt, about half of which comes from renewables and a customer base of 8.6 million customers in Greece and in Romania where we hold when we are the leading market in both of the countries, positions. This integrated model covering generation, retail and energy management has consistently driven our profitability while providing a natural hedge against volatility in energy markets. It allows us to deliver resilient performance even during periods of extreme market disruption. We have seen both sides of the cycle in low prices environments such as during COVID, when wholesale prices and generation margin declined, our retail arm provided a stable revenue stream from our large customer base, keeping overall profitability within the targets.

On the other hand, during periods of high prices, such as the res and energy crisis, retail margins came under pressure but our generation business benefited from stronger wholesale prices, again, balancing the overall performance. As a result, PPC has managed to consistently meet its profitability targets effectively leveraging the advantages of its integrated business. Between 2021 and 2024, we doubled our adjusted EBITDA, achieving a 26% CAGR, and we are now on track to reach EUR 1.2 billion in 2025. PPC's growth trajectory is further supported by favorable macroeconomic trends in its core markets despite some headwinds in Romania, especially in Greece, is among the fastest-growing economies in the European Union with GDP growth expected to outpace the European Union average over the coming years. The macroeconomic environment in both countries continues to strengthen, particularly in Greece, where the 10-year government bond spread has normalized significantly, now trading below Italy's for the first time in many years.

This improved macro backdrop supports investment confidence, providing a stable foundation and a stable foundation for PPC's continued expansion and value creation. A growing economy, combined with ongoing electrification is expected to drive power demand higher in both Greece and Romania reaching an approximately 25% increase until 2035 for both countries. We have already seen such inflection points in Greece, with power demand increasing in the last years by 4% between 2020 and 2024, which sets the basis for the evolution of the years to come and provides comfort in our projections. Beyond macroeconomic growth, both our key markets are also benefiting from European Union funding, which continues to support investments across multiple sectors, stimulating GDP and further boosting electricity demand.

In addition, the acceleration of data center development is expected to become a significant new demand driver. However, in our projections, we have taken a conservative approach assuming a base case scenario for data centers in Greece and Romania. Let us now pass to the next section of our presentation, focusing on how our company will continue in the next 3 years, its journey of transformation in one of the most significant European utilities. Over the past few years, we have been focusing on our integrated model, aiming to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the ongoing energy transition and digitalize all our operations. The digitalization theme becomes more and more important, especially given the AI revolution that is underway. In the distribution activity, we have been increasing our investments to modernize our networks and improve service quality. However, we need to continue investing further to address the new challenges posed by rising demand also driven by the rapid deployment of data centers.

On the generation side, we have been scaling up investments in renewables and clean energy technologies, and we will continue to do so as these are much needed in the Southeast European region. At the same time, we are not investing only in renewables. We are also deploying capital in flexible generation assets, which are critical to balancing the market and are able to secure higher capture prices compared to other generation sources and for that purpose, we are investing in batteries and in new gas assets in new CCGTs. And of course, all these initiatives are supported by our retail activity and our customers who remain central to our strategy. We are committed to meeting their energy needs and offering additional complementary services, focusing, in particular, on high-value customer segments that are key to our long-term growth.

Before we proceed to the various activities analysis, let me make a brief reference to the strategy. We follow focusing on 4 key areas. At first, we are a vertically integrated utility with presence in the generation, distribution and sale of electricity, having therefore an internal natural hedge that protects us from the volatility of energy markets, making our business more resilient to exogenous SOX. And this is a very important part of our strategy. Then we are technologically agnostic, I would say, investing in all kinds of electricity generation technologies, which are competitive and sustainable for the long run. Technologies which complement each other, so we can be well prepared for power price fluctuations, which we think will continue in the years to come. We are investing in renewables solar, wind and hydro. We are investing in batteries as well as flexible gas units. So technology diversification is a strategic choice for us.

Third point, we are doing a regional play, expanding in neighboring countries, all of them interconnected as a common European market, but with physical interconnections linking them to each other. Countries that have high growth potential where renewables rollout is not yet in a mature stage and the decommissioning of coal assets has not finished yet. In fact, in some of them just started. These are countries with interconnections between them that provide significant cross-border trading opportunities. In the Southeast region, we are operating in the utility space. The power prices where the power prices are impacted by, I would say, 4 main forces in the area we are. First, the energy transition itself. So those countries have their own growth potential. Then the energy saving, meaning that through technology improvement, there is an energy saving. But also on the other hand, the electrification coming from other industries moving to our industry meaning heating and cooling or the automotive industry, for example. Then again, in these regions, we have also something unique that you cannot find elsewhere.

And that is, unfortunately, the Russian-Ukraine conflict, that is draining energy through interconnections and that will continue to do so in a much higher pace, especially goodwill during the reconstruction phase where hopefully, the -- hopefully, the war will end. So Southeast Europe is an area with relatively high prices versus the rest of Europe versus Central and Western Europe, a situation that we don't expect to change by the end of the decade, being impacted a lot by the reconstruction of Ukraine. So to conclude on this point, our regional play strategy is very important for us and, of course, a source of value. Then the fourth point of our strategy is our focus on customers, which as I have said many times, are the anchor for our growth, and that is why we are strengthening our retail services to achieve best-in-class whole listed customer experience.

We try to offer a holistic service to our customers in various different ways, so to stay in every household. And on the back of this support and back of this to support our generation transformation and growth. And to achieve all these, we are leveraging on the AI and digital evolution, assessing its impact across all operations as I will elaborate in the next slides. PPC has been in a growth path all these years, increasing its renewables footprint, investing in flexible generation assets, while at the same time, decarbonizing its generation portfolio. We saw earlier that we have achieved a good track record so far in the renewables build out, but our targets are even more ambitious going forward. We are targeting a 12.7 gigawatt of renewables capacity by 2028, which is 5.5 gigawatt increase compared to the projected capacity at the end of this year. increasing its share in our energy mix up to 77%. At the same time, we are phasing out lignite by the end of next year, shutting down the last unit of [indiscernible] and started its conversion to execute it.

Initially, it will be converted to a 295-megawatt open cycle and by the end of 2027. And next, it will be upgraded to a 400-megawatt CCGT by the second quarter of 2029. Having already locked a total CapEx cost, which is significantly below EUR 1 million per megawatt. On top of this, we are also adding a new 840-megawatt combined [indiscernible] turbine unit in Alexandroupolis, as you know, which is ongoing, is construction in often Greece. Those 2 new high-efficiency units will actually place to older units, improving the efficiency of our overall generation portfolio.

As a result, our portfolio is becoming greener and more efficient with significantly decreased CO2 emissions and which will be even further use driven by the commission of oil capacity given that additional [indiscernible] are interconnected in the mainland in the coming years. I will now take a closer look at our renewables rollout. Our forward targets and the confidence we have in achieving them. As we saw earlier, our goal is to reach 12.7 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2028, representing an increase of 6.3 gigawatts from where it's done today more than doubling our current installed base. And why this is -- this may appear quite ambitious. We are fully confident on delivering it.

Our strong track record, as highlighted in previous slides, supports this confidence. But even more importantly, we have already secured 3.9 gigawatts of projects that are either under construction or ready to build Including our operating capacity of 6.4 gigawatts. This brings the total 10.2 gigawatt already operational or secured, which accounts for about 80% of the target we have of 2028. And on top of that, we have a total of 20 gigawatt anyhow gross pipeline of various in development stages and technologies projects, giving us significant optionality and flexibility in selecting the most attractive projects for future investments and replacing also projects, which things might not go well. Volatility is another thing.

Volatility is one of the most commonly used words over the last years to describe energy markets. In the key markets where we operate, such volatility is evident from the increase of average spreads of power prices in the day head market that has been recorded in the recent years. And of course, we do acknowledge that all of 0 and negative power prices that we have started experiencing within the last 2, 3 years and which we have embedded in the assumptions of our business plan since this has become a part of the environment we operate. It is true that the renewables evolution inherently produces periods of excess generation with wind and solar output exceeding grid or market capacity. Traditional systems viewed this as a failure. However, we think there is a great opportunity which lies in monetizing this surplus of generation. Curtailment is a feature of the clean energy system, a reflection of abundance, not of inefficiency. By embracing it embracing this as a resource, we transform volatility into profitability and variability into resilience.

For us, it is not a story of constraint, but of integration and smart capital allocation, turning a systemic challenge to a competitive advantage. Batteries are the most compelling asset absorbing excess generation when they charge and discharging at high-value during low renewables times, particularly in the evening. As the cost of solar and wind continues to fall, and their contribution to the power mix rises, flexibility is becoming a top priority. Fossil fuel currently provides the bulk of flexibility in the power system, both in terms of dispatchability and meeting peaks in demand. It is a feature, a signal of successful decarbonization and the market opportunity for those positioned correct to extract value for flexibility, integration and optimization. As a vertically integrated utility PPC, we are uniquely placed to transform curtailments viewed as a waste into sources of margin resilience and growth.

Flexible generation, is key in the current market environment, both for profitability optimization as well as to support the stability of the grid and the security of supply. With wind and solar playing a central role in the power systems of the region, assets that can ease that out, put in response to system needs, bring substantial value. There is a range of technologies that satisfy flexibility needs. Their contribution depends on their ability to react over shorter for longer periods and their cost competitiveness. Flexibility requirements over shorter periods can be better satisfied by batteries, while flexible hydro and gas are better positioned for longer-lasting challenges. Flexible assets unlock earnings by turning volatility into opportunity, capturing intra-day price spreads, firming our renewable output and protecting supply when the system is tight.

Through the combination of multiple revenue streams, these assets sharpen our commercial edge, boost cash flow resilience and support disciplined growth in a more volatile power market. And that's why on top of the significant renewables build-out that we are implementing, we are also investing in flexible generation assets. We already have a significant portfolio of pump hydro and gas assets, and we are also developing batteries. Our main focus is stand-alone batteries by charging in low-price hours and discharging when power prices are high, stand-alone batteries give us flexibility when it's most valuable. Additionally, they provide ancillary services where reserve capacity is tightening. And this allow us to monetize volatility, combined revenue from both day ahead and balancing markets, creating a flexible trading asset that enhances our commercial performance across the portfolio.

There are also certain cases where batteries co-located on the renewable assets with the renewable assets in the same physical site also work for us. Colocated batteries paired directly with our solar and wind assets and look at different value proposition. The reduced curtailment and cost of imbalances, stabilizing output profile of the renewable asset, enhancing it economics. The main constraint is that charging is limited to the paired asset, which reduces arbitrage optionality. However, the availability of subsidies and grants at weights that contain in Romania, for instance, making their business case very solid. And that is why we are proceeding with the development of additional 232 megawatts of co-located batteries by 2028. Overall, our business plan includes the development of approx approximately 1.5 gigawatt of batteries in Southeast Europe over the next 3 years. These batteries are coming mainly from our internal licenses development, but we will not exclude further batteries capacity deployment also through partnerships.

Gas. Gas has a dual role to play in the region, both as bulk generator and the source of flexibility as well. With approximately 13 gigawatts of thermal capacity coming off-line over the next 5 years due to both technical and economical strains, the region faces a structural capacity deficit, which is a huge opportunity for us. Apart from renewables, new high-efficiency can fill this gap, delivering reliable baseload and mimetic power with high fuel efficiency and lower emissions and that is exactly the space within which are under construction [indiscernible] will operate on one hand. And additionally, we are also exploring the possibility of SCGT in Bulgaria. Moreover, gas is also a valuable source of flexibility. As mentioned earlier, as renewable surge and volatility grows, fast-ramping gas units become essential offering long duration and constrained flexibility. And this flexibility is becoming a premium commodity in the region in Southeast Europe.

The conversion of Tolemaiva 5 Lignite unit into the open cycle gas Dubai, we said is such an example, alongside with an opportunity of a picker gas plant in Romania. These 2 roles, the bulk power and the high-value flexibility create a compelling opportunity for our integrated portfolio. We already have a substantial flexible generation capacity of 6 gigawatt, which generates close to 10 terawatt hours on an annual basis from a series of technologies. And we will continue to invest in flexible generation in flexible technologies for generation since we see high value as explained previously. In this slide, we try to illustrate the growth of our flexible generation assets to 2028 in such technologies as we described in the previous slides. Just to note that apart from batteries and gas, we are also investing in Hydro with 29 megawatts coming in operation until 2028 and being added to the existing 3.2 gigawatt that we have in operation, out of which 700 gigawatt has already palm hydro capability.

And of course, we are also developing significant palm hydro capacity in our former lignite areas in the quarries of the areas, which will become operational beyond 2030. As a result, we are modernizing and increasing our flexible generation capacity at 7.5 gigawatt by 2028, and generating 11.4 terawatt hours on an annual basis. Let's take a look now at how we are strengthening our position across the region. I talked about our original play before, and this is the slide which illustrates this better. Over the past few years, we have built a solid presence in Greece and Romania, also expanding in the broader Southeast European market. These markets where we see significant growth potential driven by increasing demand. These are countries which are lagging behind renewables penetration versus the rest of Europe. Countries that have not proceeded with the decarbonization of coal-fired assets in the same pace as the rest of Europe. And on this, we see additional benefits from the existing interconnections between these countries.

The vertical corridor, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, including also Italy, enables PPC to optimize our integrated portfolio, achieve economies of scale diversify risk and assess opportunities in less congested renewed markets such as Croatia. Energy management orchestrates the total commercial performance of our entire portfolio. Every megawatt, whether produced by our conversion plants generated from renewables, starting batteries, traded cross-border or contracted through PPAs, every megawatt is optimized across the head, intraday and balancing markets. And this ensures that we monetize flexibility, not just the energy produced. Overall, our regional footprint provides a unique competitive advantage as PPC remains the only vertically integrated utility with a strong operational presence across the Southeast European region. A region characterized by significant energy flows and growing interconnectivity.

We have already seen the strong progress we are making in our generation portfolio. But what is also really important is how the growth -- how we grow in renewables and flexible generation, how this growth strengthens the other side of our integrated business model. I'm talking about the retail across both Greece and Romania. Starting with Greece. We continue to hold a long position in repay, and that remains practically unchanged even by 2028. That is despite the major build-out in renewables since we are also retiring older, less efficient thermal plants during the period. So what you see in this slide, our growth is not just about adding capacity. It is making the system cleaner and more efficient. The same story applies in Romania. As we deliver on our pipeline there we will be able to significantly narrow the gap between [indiscernible] and retail, reinforcing the balance of our integrated model. And even beyond 2028, PPC remains long in retail. And this is something we like.

Since it is giving us the flexibility and the headroom to keep growing across both markets and in the region in whole. Given the importance of our customers, we have been following all these years a customer-centric approach. During the last 3 years, we have been rationalizing our customer mix in Greece, by reducing market share from low-value customers, which had no meaningful margin for us while keeping market share in segments with high value for us. And this has helped us build the retail portfolio on a sole customer base with low switching behavior and increased profitability. In Romania, we have entered the market since the end of 2023, having a resilient position in terms of volume sold, and this is something that we are expecting going forward. But we are not only a commodity provider to our clients. We are looking to expand our portfolio of value-added services to support our customers across all aspects of their energy transition journey, such as heat pumps, solar panels or consulting services.

In parallel, we are also introducing technology services that enhance the everyday living for consumer and businesses such as fiber-to-the-home charging points for electric vehicles, AI-based tools and devices as a service. Our Retail business unit is strategically important, and we will pursue further growth opportunities also throughout our regional footprint, if available. A very good example of our synergies in the retail activity is Cocobolos, the Greek retail of wide and electronic appliances that we acquired in 2024, which is bringing valuable assets in PPC Group.

First, procurement capabilities and strong logistics infrastructure, which allow us to manage products and equipment efficiently at competitive costs with reliable delivery performance. Second, a consolidated delivery and field force network provide nationwide execution capacity across installation, maintenance and aftersales services. Third, an integrated technology platform for product sales and supply chain management, enabling seamless customer journeys. Fourth, an at scale channel network with access to a large and diverse customer base, including both physical and digital touch points. And finally, a broad portfolio of around the home products and services covering energy solutions and everyday home needs. Building on these assets, several synergy streams with PPC as well, we are already up and running and ongoing in this process.

We have launched a joint heat pump proposition, and we introduced products and service corners inside the PPC stores supported by [indiscernible] technology. In addition, we have built a new service of [indiscernible] field rent network that allow us to offer home energy network, safety certificates mandatory for all households in Greece and a huge market for PPC. We are also extending the reach of PPC's energy and fiber plants glucose channels and enriching PPC's energy consulting tools with Kotsovolos marketplace offers. And all of these synergies are designed to accelerate commercial performance, enhance customer experience and demonstrate the value of Kotsovolos in our holistic approach towards our customers. It is this value that Kotsovolos is bringing to PPC, which makes it 1 of the best acquisitions we have ever made.

Moving next to our telecom business. where we are building a leading position as a wholesale provider to a fiber-to-the-home network in Greece. During the last 2.5 years, we have been deploying our network all over Greece, taking advantage of our electricity distribution network. This existing infrastructure is mostly aerial. Providing us a unique competitive advantage to quickly roll out our fiber network and at a lower cost compared to other telco product players having an average cost of EUR 160 per home passed. Our network has already exceeded 1.4 million homes passed, and we expect to reach EUR 1.7 million at the end of the year. Given the high pace that we are having so far, we are targeting 3.8 million households by 2028. Currently, we are able to provide connection to the FTTH network to a 600,000 ready-for-service hubs and businesses. And at the same time, we have recently launched a retail telecom FTTH offering, providing ultrafast Internet services at very competitive prices, given the very low development cost that we have in the FTTH network rollout.

As we speak, we have reached a pace of 5,000 customers per month, although we almost just launched. I mean we launched in the middle of the summer. And by the end of the year, we expect to reach 18,000 connections and that is in an area of 600,000 ready-for-service neighborhoods. For this going forward, we are targeting a ramping up significantly our customer base, leveraging on our existing clientele on the electricity side as well as our unique retail proposition, which combines the most technologically advanced FTTH network in Greece at the lowest price. We have already invested around EUR 190 million, and we plan to invest another EUR 420 million until '28, targeting at a run rate EBITDA of more than EUR 100 million beyond 2030.

Let's now take a look at our distribution business in Greece and Romania, where we plan to continue investing significantly to capitalize on the stable and favorable regulatory frameworks in both markets. Both countries operate under a regulated asset-based model with long-term regulatory periods and a weighted average cost of capital, the WACC of around 7% providing strong visibility and attractive intends to support the continuous growth of our asset base. In Greece, the WACC has been set up is how AI is impacting the way we operate internally, while the other side is how we, as a utility impact and help the AI evolution through our infrastructure.

Around the world, data centers have become one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand driven by cloud expansion, AI adoption and digitalization of energy -- of every sector. Global capacity continues to increase at a fast pace. Europe is a dynamic market in transformation, driven by sovereignty mandates and enterprise adoption. Historically, development has been concentrating the primary European Union markets, the so-called FLAP-D where connectivity and hyperscaler presence created powerful network effects. But today, those core markets are increasingly limited by land, scarcity, green constraints and long connection use. As demand accelerates, the industry is expanding outward creating new growth corridors across Europe where power and land can be secured at scale. This shift opens a strategic window for energy players like us.

As a vertically integrated utility with access to land, infrastructure and reliable diversified power, we are uniquely positioned to step into this emerging market. Our entry into data centers builds on our core strengths and supports regional digitalization. Our role is evolving from a traditional energy supplier to infrastructure provider for AI-driven growth. With our generation portfolio, expanding renewables, flexibility assets, grid capabilities and fiber connectivity, we can offer the reliable diversified energy ecosystem that AI consumers need. And for this reason, we have announced the development of a mega data center in the region of Kozani, where our former ignite mines were located. Initially, the mega data center will have a capacity of 300 megawatts with the potential of expansion to 1 gigawatt.

The data center will be powered by a diverse mix of power capacity, including both clean and flexible technologies that are already under development. Leveraging the existing grid infrastructure, the availability of land and the new power capacity, the biggest advantage of this project is scale and time to market. However, I want to highlight that this project is not included in their business plan that we are presenting today since we do not have a fair commitment yet from a hyperscale. This is an optionality that we are developing, but we will only invest when the commitment is in place. Our mega data center development in Kozani location is unique. It brings together grid connection water for cooling, gas infrastructure, land ownership and soon, international fiber connectivity. Very, very few places in Europe can offer these full buckets.

The site can host within 2 years of signing and is fully scalable up to 1,000 megawatts. Behind the meter supply and shows no impact on the National Electricity System, neither on prices, nor or on grid stability. And to support the 300-megawatt phase, we would upgrade [indiscernible] 5 to a 440-megawatt CCGT and added an additional 100-megawatt OCGT next to the data center, giving us 540 megawatts of flexible capacity dedicated for this ecosystem. We are already in discussions with several hyperscalers and global DC developers, and the feedback has been very positive. Demand today is centered in the U.S., but Europe will follow. And when it does, we want to be ready with what we believe is one of the best sites in Europe.

Such a project derisks totally the output of the 2.7 gigawatt we are developing in Kozani, secures long-term PPAs with top tier of takers and creates additional value from London infrastructure. All in all, Kosanicide provides everything a data center needs in one place, power assets, cooling facilities, fiber connectivity and land position PPC with a site that very few locations in Europe can match. Again, I want to be very clear. We are presenting here -- what we are presenting here is an optionality. We are investing 0 equity today, and we will move only once we have an agreement with a hyperscaler.

Let me now pass the floor to Konstantinos, who will present you our group financial targets for the following years.

Thank you, George. Hello to everyone, and thank you for being here today with us and also for the webcast. So before deep diving in the financials, let's see how drivers, the key drivers of our operations are expected to evolve during the year, converted also to our view in last year's Capital Markets Day. Power prices are driven mainly by the marginal cost of the generation heavily influenced by gas prices and CO2 prices. The evolution is further safe by the growing share of renewables and the region's capacity tightness. We expect steady deescalation of gas prices from the current level of EUR 40 per megawatt hour down to EUR 27 in 2028. And as the gas market becomes oversupplied due to new LNG production coming online from Qatar field and the U.S.

On the other hand, we continue to believe that CO2 prices will escalate as we move towards 2030, surpassing the EUR 100 per million tonne threshold as launches withdrawal creates a tight market. At the same time, rising demand an aging and inefficient fee thermal fleet in the region as well as Romania's major nuclear refurbishment, strain their general capacity balance, adding upward pressure on power prices. As a result, we foresee that prices will hover around EUR 100 per megawatt are megawatt hour area. The financial targets we'll be discussing about have been thoroughly stress tested for various ranges of all these assumptions. But the most crucial element, as I mentioned before, is the gas price. Although we consider that further decrease of the gas price versus what you see in this chart should be treated as a tail end scenario, we have assessed the impact of a 10% reduction in the gas price that results to less than 1% negative profitability in our numbers. And this is due to our vertical position.

Nonetheless, the level of prices we have used in our models on the right direction. Since they have been very far during our discussions with hyperscalers for the data center. The realization of which we fully derisk our profitability from generation. Having seen the market dynamics, let's now see the targets that we have set in this year's strategic plan. We continue our transformation journey, while at the same time, we keep improving our profitability. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, PPC reached EUR 1.8 billion in 2024, full year results. And we are confident we will reach a EUR 2 billion performance for 2025. Our next year's adjusted EBITDA will reach EUR 2.4 billion and for 2028, we expect the performance to climb to EUR 2.9 billion. That is an 18% compound annual growth rate between '23 and '28. Key drivers of this growth are the silage provided by our integrated model, irrespective of the persistent volatility within the years. We have demonstrated this resilience. We have solid performance throughout 2020 to 2025 during COVID and also during the energy crisis.

Another key driver is the additional capacity in renewables but also flexible generation. As George mentioned before, we want to be present in all technologies and in all geographies, leveraging on the interconnections between the countries. Adding to that, we have the regulated business of distribution that grows as we keep investing in the network. Lastly, let's not forget the loss-making ignite activity that we have committed to stop operations and we expect to free up profitability. Greece is our home country and given our significant investments in the country. The majority of this growth is generated in Greece. Still, the contribution of our international activities are expected to gradually and steadily increase. To better understand these dynamics, let me give you some data. I said before, that 2028 will be a EUR 2.9 billion EBITDA. This is additional EUR 0.9 billion from EUR 235 million.

Let's break this down. The integrated business, meaning the generation, energy management and customers is expected to contribute approximately EUR 0.7 billion, and this is mainly driven by the new capacity additions in renewables but also flexible generation. If we also add the benefit from shutting down the lignite, the fully integrated business delivers a EUR 0.8 billion increase in profitability. And within this number, we do not take into account the capacity that's still under construction, we expect to see this additional profitability of approximately EUR 100 million to EUR 150 million in the next year's profitability. And that is after 2029. For these amounts, I just mentioned, we feel very confident as they are directly correlated with the new additions in renewables and flexible generation, where we have a solid set of projects under construction already to build as well as in the licensing and permitting process.

All these are backed by a strong pipeline of projects totaling more than 20 gigawatts in various maturity stages. Distribution will add another EUR 0.2 billion, given that the regulated asset base is expected to reach EUR 6.5 billion. This operational profitability drives the bottom line we expect that the adjusted net income will grow to EUR 0.7 billion in 2026 and reached EUR 0.9 billion in 2028. This is a 50% increase from '25 to '26 and 100% increase from '25 to '28. Main drivers remain the additional capacity in renewables and flexible generation, the lignite phaseout and the distribution. With a planned full decommissioning of the lignite assets by the end of 2026, we will eliminate the high depletion charges that are associated with these assets resulting in a net income improvement of EUR 0.2 billion from '25 to '28. This also explains the faster pace at which the debt income is growing versus EBITDA.

Consequently, earnings per share will increase from EUR 0.7 in 2023 to EUR 2.5 in 2028, reflecting a compound growth rate of nearly 30%. The EPS growth is translated to a dividend per share of EUR 1.2 in 2028, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 37% versus the 20 -- the 0.25 DPS of 2023. This is the fastest DPS growth in the European utilities industry. In fact, by 2028, our shareholders will be receiving nearly 5x the dividend of 2023 reinforcing our commitment to delivering consistent tangible value and making our equity story stand out in a traditionally low growth sector. To reach this growth in our financial performance, we continue our investing efforts in the Southeast Europe region. Over the next 3 years, we will plan to invest EUR 10 billion in CapEx being selective on the projects we prioritize. Our top priority remains our renewables expansion, along with the opportunities we have identified the flexible generation. The combination of the 2 will consume 58% of our EUR 10 billion investments. that is approximately EUR 6 billion.

If we compare this amount against the incremental profitability I told you before on the integrated business, this is an implied EBITDA yield of 13%. And this is without accounting for the CapEx that is not delivering EBITDA yet. Adjusting for the net effect of this, the EBITDA yield grows to 14%. The remaining areas where we will be focusing our networks, telecoms, digitalization and, of course, retail. Specifically for networks, we will continue building on enhancing the grids increasing the smart meters footprint and, of course, digitalization to support the national energy and climate plan in the countries we operate. Excluding the maintenance CapEx of around EUR 200 million to EUR 250 million per year, the growth CapEx is at a level of EUR 9.5 billion.

Out of this, approximately 50% is not yet committed. And therefore, this PPCs discussion to deploy. Our disciplined capital allocation policy allows for a spread between IRR and WACC of more than 150 basis points. PPC will continue to generate a strong annual FFO totaling to EUR 7 billion for EUR 262 million. These operational cash flows will serve as the primary funding source for our ambitious CapEx plan and our dividend policy in the coming years. The remaining needs will be covered by new debt of approximately EUR 3 billion that will be raised mainly at parent level, being mindful of structural subordination. Part of this debt is already secured, utilizing RF funds with the participation of commercial banks. We have well-diversified funding sources, but one of our primary channels will remain the debt capital markets as we intend to be repeated shares. Thus, it is evident that we have no need for any equity increase to achieve our growth targets.

We are maintaining our financial policy targets unchanged to previously communicated guidance. Our leverage target remains at 3 to 3.5x by 2028. And as you can see in the chart, we allow headroom to absorb volatility in the markets. This leverage ratio supports sustainable growth, balancing ambitious investments in all our business lines with some financial discipline. This balance positions us to create value for our stakeholders while preserving financial health, clearly reflecting our intention to achieve investment-grade rating metrics in the medium term.

And with that, I'd like to pass it back to Georgios for his concluding remarks. Thank you.

So thank you very much, Konstantinos. We have tried to illustrate to you our key strategy on the basis of which we are growing the last years and how we will keep on growing in a remarkable manner the following years, navigating the energy transition and the associated volatility. We have presented our vertical integration, our regional growth strategy, our technology diversification, our natural hedging possibilities and the analytical way, we will keep on growing the coming years. This strategy has enabled us to meet the targets we have promised so far and provide us comfort for the ones that follow.

As you can see in this slide, we are targeting for a significant step up to an EBITDA level of EUR 2.4 billion in the next year and an EBITDA level of EUR 2.9 billion in 2028. Accordingly, we are targeting for a net income of EUR 700 million in 2026 next year and EUR 900 million in 2028. Increasing substantially EPS initially at EUR 2.1 next year and EUR 2.5 in 2028. With regards to dividend per share, DPS, follows a similar trajectory, increasing at EUR 0.8 in 2026 and growing up to EUR 1.2 in 2028. And all of that, following a prudent financial policy, keeping the net debt to EBITDA, the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio below 3.5x.

In the previous slides, I have been referring a lot to the volatility we see in the energy markets, how our integrated business model has helped us navigate in such conditions, and how we prepare ourselves to face this market volatility. Such volatility is also evident from the increase of average spreads of power prices in the day-ahead market that has been recorded in the rest of the years. And of course, we do acknowledge that all of 0 negative power prices that we have started experiencing within the last 2, 3 years which have been embedded in our assumptions since it has become part of the environment we operate in. And that is why, on top of the significant renewables build up, but we are implementing. We are also investing in flexible generating assets in order to be -- to balance -- to be balanced in times of low renewable generation or profitability that may be driven by 0 or even negative power prices.

We have a large portfolio, palm hydro and gas assets, and we are also developing batteries and such flexible generation technologies can capture significant upsides in times of volatile power prices. In essence, we are trying to be present in different technologies to be able not only to address the volatility in the markets, but maximize our profitability as well through overall portfolio management. And it is equally important that we are not a pure generation company, but a utility with retail exposure as well. And this has helped us secure our overall profitability in times of lower power prices, offsetting the losses that we have experienced on the generation side. Therefore, we do have all the needed tools and instruments to navigate high price periods as well as low price periods and volatility between the 2 of them, between long-term periods and short-term periods or even in intraday.

On top of this, we are also investing on our regulated and visible distribution activity. which is not affected by market volatility and provides stable and visible cash flows. Therefore, our overall integrated business model is predictable in terms of performance, which we target to further increase in the years to come as we implement our growth investments. Let me also make a special reference to the management team of PPC that has been implementing our strategy. This is a very strong team that consists of individuals with a wealth of experience from many industries and various countries. We bring in the team experience from energy, telecommunications, FMCG, construction, industrial processes, strategic advisory and others in several countries and several continents. Many of them repatriated in Greece in the last years for PPC. Each one of them, top on their field, all of us together absolutely capable to deliver the targets we've set and bring PPC to even greater heights.

But before I conclude today's presentation, let me summarize the key goals of our plan for the next 3 years. In terms of financials, we are investing EUR 10.1 billion focusing on renewables, flexible generation and distribution networks. And this is fully self-funded, mainly through our operating cash flows and to a lesser extent, by debt keeping our leverage ratio below 3.5x.

Consider that around EUR 5 billion of those investments are discretionary. Please note that if needed, we might prioritize share buybacks versus CapEx. We are targeting EUR 2.9 billion EBITDA in 2028, a 45% increase compared to the EUR 2 billion area. EBITDA, we target for this year. And by 2030, it will exceed EUR 3.2 billion. Our bottom line performance is also expected to record a material improvement with net income doubling by 2028, climbing to EUR 900 million. Dividend distribution further improves with DPAs reaching EUR 1.2 in 2028. On the operational level, we are building our successful renewables rollout so far further increasing our capacity by another 6.3 gigawatts by 2028, increasing, at the same time, our focus on flexible generation assets to capture high value from the market. We are approaching towards the end of our decarbonization journey with our generation portfolio becoming coal-free by the end of 2026.

And we are growing our regulated business as well with RAB increasing to EUR 6.5 billion. And we are doing all that, having as a basis of our strategy, our vertically integrated business model, which has been a source of resilience but also fueling our growth in Southeast Europe region. Through our announced strategy and investment plan, we are becoming one of the European leaders in the energy transition. Thank you all, and now look forward to get your feedback and your questions. Thank you very much.

Okay. So let me now proceed to the Q&A session. As mentioned earlier, we will take -- we will start by taking questions here from the room. And then we will also answer any questions that have not been covered from the webcast. From those that -- from you that you are here in the room, please, if you want to make a question, please raise your hand, and we will bring a microphone to you. Okay. So we have the first question from Alexander.

I have 3. First one is related to the Greek power market in the sense that your business plan has a significant amount of renewable capacity additions. I understand that the company is focusing on flexible capacity investments, but still the 1.5 gigawatts of batteries are covering only a portion of the output. So I wanted to understand how do you see in the medium term, the evolution of the Greek power market, if you see any risk? And I wanted to understand the extent of CapEx flexibility that you have on renewables, especially in light of the EUR 5 billion investments that you mentioned at the end of the presentation, does that -- could be done or not.

You may repeat the last part, I cannot hear very well.

I was telling I wanted to understand the extent of CapEx flexibility on renewables, especially on the EUR 5 billion opportunistic investments that you mentioned at the last part of the presentation. Second question is linked to the first one, and it's on the distribution business because I wanted to understand, well, the company has already increased distribution investments quite a lot in the last years. I wanted to understand if we can consider this as the upper threshold of investments in distribution because I understand that you also want to balance the tariff increase for customers. And the third question is on batteries. I wanted to ask if you could share some color on the types of returns that you see on this type of projects. We understand that you want to implement mainly standalone batteries. Yes, if you could provide some data on maybe the IRRs that you see in the Greek market nowadays.

Okay. Thank you very much. I mean, with regards to the Greek market and what we try to illustrate here is that you don't have on a stand-alone, the Greek market or the Bulgarian market or the Romanian market nowadays. These are markets which are couple interconnected and they work together. So when we do our analysis. We model the Greek market, but we also modeled Bulgaria and Romania and so on and so forth. We go to Hungarian and other markets, and we understand the interconnections, and we are resolving, let me say, the model in assuming the demand versus the trends we see and the different pace the countries are moving.

For instance, in Greece, we moved very fast in the last years, and we did a lot of investments in clean technologies and the result of that is already visible, not only in our company, but in the market because Greece used be for more than 20 years, if I don't mistake, a net importer and now has started switching becoming a net exporter.

Why is this happening? It's happening because the internal generation mix is a little bit cheaper versus the rest of the countries, and therefore, somebody is asking this energy outside the country. What I'm trying to say is that in order to understand the Greek market or the Bulgarian, the Roman, you need to think the whole. This is the first point, and this is how we work. Then considering that there will be a need for very big interconnections in the overall area, also in Europe, but interconnections take time. The bottlenecks that today exists between Austria and Hungary are reaching a limit right now on the capabilities of that region. And therefore, as demand is growing, we don't see the region following on the lower price trend of the rest of Europe, especially taking into account the [indiscernible] situation, goodwill the war, we hope will finish soon rather than later. And then you will have the construction of this wonderful country.

And this will increase the demand of this country for quite a few years until they reach their own capacity internally. So this is draining up, it's using up all the energy on the north. Therefore, this is another important element. And the third important element is the energy transition that every country is doing and is doing it in different pace. There will be a lot of -- [indiscernible] mistake, I own 13 gigawatt of capacity, which will removing, which will be removed from the system in the following years, especially in Bulgaria and Romania. Greece has already started earlier, we are close to the end of that. But also in Greece, we will start removing oil generation, we will start in the island, so we will start moving the older gas units. So taking all the situation together, you see today -- you start to think of the maximum penetration of renewables that you can have. And then you add batteries and as batteries are added, then the possibility of renewables can increase further and then you add more batteries and then renewables go back, it takes an example of California, what's happening in California is a typical example.

So we see -- we think that all our investments in our system analysis but also cross check with a lot of the researchers Bloomberg Energy Finance and many others. Let me just make a name, seem to more or less agree with us. But in this region, there will be a need for a lot of capacity, a lot of buildup of capacity and of course, the capacity that nowadays means renewables and flexibility. And this is what we do. On the other hand, I've said that around EUR 5 billion of investments are [indiscernible] that are discretionary. What do I mean? We are in a constant check of every park, every investment we do before we started. We double check, even the very fact that we have a Capital Market Day on an annual basis. Why is this happening? Because we fine-tune every third year that we announce every time that we meet. And this is a system we will keep on doing. So we are checking every time we will have the proper returns on the projects that we invest, and this is how we invest.

I've said before, we will not hesitate to prioritize share buybacks versus CapEx. What I meant is that as the market is understanding PPC day by day and year by year, it should, in my opinion, upgraded significantly. And if not, we will be prioritizing more our buybacks because it's the best investment we can do for us. So this is a combination of how we will move in the coming years. Then on the DSO, very correctly, you said that we have increased our investments. We will keep investing. Of course, this is -- you need to be -- to fine-tuning what is the entire for the customers.

There is no question that in Europe, all over the world actually, but in Europe as well now, my capacity as a Vice Chair of [indiscernible], we have done a study last year, showcasing the huge investments that need to happen in the European networks. They need to quite trouble in the coming years. But if you [indiscernible] the grid investments, it's impossible to be paid by the European citizens. So what we do, we increase so much as we think it's doable by the citizens. And the ways we have -- we think we are in a correct way. This is the third point. The fourth, I don't remember what you asked at the end.

Some best. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] we see returns around 8%, 9%, closer to 10%, let's say, 9 to 10 right now.

[indiscernible] few questions from my side. You talked about Southeastern Europe. Do I understand correctly that your business plan incorporates investments in beyond Greece and Romania in the other countries that you have presence like Italy, Bulgaria and Croatia. Do you -- will you consider investing in other countries in Southeastern Europe as well? This is one question. If you -- if there are opportunities in -- if you find opportunities, could you consider acquiring retail in the countries that you have presence beyond Greece and Romania? And regarding batteries, you talked about 1.5 giga, if I'm not mistaken. What could cause delays in your business plans in developing batteries, especially in Greece since you start from 0, I understand.

Well, I'm starting from the last one, not from 0 because we have a very strong pipeline of batteries projects actually from 1.5 gigawatt of batteries projects. 1 gigawatt is fully secured. We have everything we need and we are in execution. It's a matter of construction, so we will build them. I would say 2/3 are fully secured on our [indiscernible] ambition and 1/3, we will work in the coming years to secure them. So we are very [indiscernible] with our batteries. We -- actually, we're even more relaxed because we have our customers, we have our demand and the tons of developers are knocking our door every day, asking to find an agreement to develop batteries. We see a very big enthusiasm. We are very selective on the projects with you. Already 2/3, as I said, is secured, and we will find the best of those for the last 1/3.

Now about other countries, of course, we will keep investing in all the countries that we have opened. We are investing as we speak in Italy. We do solar. I think Italy will be a good market for batteries, but it's not a must, we will see. We will be investing in Bulgaria. We'll be investing in Croatia. Of course, about majority of our investments is in Greece and secondary in Romania and then the rest. But all of them have the characteristics that we like these countries that are interconnected to the same system, which is linked to the periphery of the Southeast Europe with the energy perspective that I described earlier before. So we will not invest in countries which are not interconnected or are not part of the European energy system.

Having the strategy of the regional play, the strategy of the vertical diversification means that you need to go in countries which are touching each other with fiscal interconnections, but also selling the same rules of the game, the same European trends. So we will not grow in other countries. We might do spontaneous, for instance, little things here and there, but very insignificant. Now about retail. I think when you are looking at PPC, given the vertical integration that I've talked many times, we have delivered in low commodity pricing is very high commodity price and what is our strength at the end is our customers. We say the customers is the anchor of our growth. It is truly like that. I mean having the demand of the customers, we are able to build behind all we need. PPC has no merchant risk in reality, 0 because we sell to the market, we buy from the market, but all we do goes to our customers at the end.

And still, we are long on customers. And therefore, we pay a lot of attention on the customer-centric model to keep the customer base not necessarily to keep it -- to keep the best part of the customer base, let me phrase. And that's why you see us talking a lot about retail, talking about [indiscernible], have the side for that because we see a lot of synergies there. You see the value of control is not directly the value of [indiscernible] indirectly what it gives you. That's why we entered the retail service of telecom because it's another way to approach a customer. We want to -- we are approaching the customer in a holistic way, and we want to preserve that in many different ways in order to keep the demand and having the demand to do all the play behind it. Therefore, we don't need a bigger share in Greece, of course. Actually, in lease, we will keep on losing.

Actually, we are losing in a far lower pace from what we thought initially. So we're doing something very good in Greece. In Romania, we are in a stabilization period right now because Romania moved from the regulated base back to the Fremont in the last year. So we need to stabilize there in the coming years. May be in the longer term to increase a little bit, but always to our own organic operation. In other countries like Bulgaria or Italy, Italy, particularly could be an opportunity of growing inorganically in the supply sector. But only we find something attractive, it's not a must. In general, talking about M&A, we are not looking any segment in a big way. We will be looking M&A only opportunistic in whatever we find valuable to fit our strategy. We don't need M&A to deliver our targets. That's it.

Ella from Citi. I was wondering, given that -- in the first 9 months, you've already achieved more than 80% of your full year guidance. I'm wondering why there wasn't a sort of guidance upgrade their portfolio? That's my first question. My second question is to do with the distribution CapEx actually. Does that include any subsidies that wouldn't enter the RAB? And if so, can you just give us some -- does the distribution CapEx include any subsidies that wouldn't enter the RAB? Or does it 100% of the -- of the CapEx going to the RAB.

Okay. So about our net result. We started the year saying that it's not a good year from the hydro perspective for those who are following us, they know very well but unfortunately, this year is not a good year from a hydro point of view. We managed to have already a result that we wanted to have. We think we will keep it. Actually, our target was to do above EUR 400 million, and we think we will do above EUR 400 million. But we still have reduced hydro reserves when we enter the last couple of months. of course, rain is coming, and this is very good. But we think right now, given the seasonality of our market from quarter-to-quarter, it's more prudent to stay on our initial projection. Although we might also overpass it a little bit by the end of the year. This is how we feel. Then on subsidies, in Greece, no, in Romania, the part...

Yes, there are some subsidies included. That's why we do not include those in the hub. So that's why we do not see [indiscernible] ramp up in line the distribution of Romania.

Because in Romania is a part of a period there are a lot of additional investments, which are fully subsidized by EU and they don't inside their app. This will be something for 1 or 1.5 years.

Okay. Thank you, Ella. We have another question on the back.

Richard Alderman, BTIG. Just a couple of clarification questions, if I may, please. You said you have absolutely no merchant risk exposure. Does that mean then you have absolutely no trading profitability contribution within the plan. And then also just to clarify your thoughts on -- you talked about the risk of weaker gas prices from the middle of '26 onwards. How long do you think that weakness could last? What's your worst-case scenario?

Sorry, can you repeat the second part because I can't hear you very well. Sorry for that.

Is that any better? I think I'm feeding back from the speaker. The first question is, do you have any trading profitability within your generation mix? You say you have 0 merchant exposure. So I just clarifying whether you have any trading profits inside FlexGen as per other utilities? And then the second question is, you talked about the prospect of weaker gas prices. I'm just wondering what your worst-case scenario is for those weaker gas prices from, say, mid-'26 onwards? How long does that last? What could that do to regional power prices?

Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. we don't do significant prop trading. So we don't have, in our numbers, big profitability from trading, it's insignificant. Our energy management is focused primarily on managing our own internal portfolio. We do some trading, but it is insignificant in terms of margins. Then on the gas prices that I've told -- I've said, do you want to take that?

Yes, of course. So what we have said is that according to the plans that we have, we expect that the gas price will be moving down to '27 when looking beyond the '26 period, '26, '27 and as I said, we have tested our numbers even versus a further decrease, but this -- we consider this to be a remote scenario given that the pressure that will exist in terms of the LNG needed for Europe will not allow for further decrease below the '27 area that we have forecasted.

Okay. So we can switch to the webcast. And in the meantime, if you think of something at this moment from the room, we can come again back. We have a question about the 9-month performance and the working capital we have seen a negative working capital in Q3 if we expect this dynamic to reverse and why in the fourth quarter.

Yes. This is based on the seasonality that we experienced all these years within the group. We expect that by the end of the year, we will be positive in terms of working capital usually, the 9 months results include some sort of pressure on our working capital. And therefore, we do not foresee any problem for the year-end.

Okay. We also have a question that relates to our plans to explore any opportunities in Romania for gas capacity. If we can provide more color on this.

Yes. We think that we can do some gas in Romania, and this will be mostly upping as a picker I cannot disclose exactly which locations we think we have -- we are very close in finalizing 1 or 2 locations. But this will be a total not exceeding, let's say, 100, 150 megawatt more or less. But because we are still negotiating. I wouldn't like to expose the exact locations. That's it.

Okay. So another question from the webcast relates to our telco business activity. Three questions about that. The first one, if and when we are planning to launch a voice service as well?

Very shortly.

Okay. The second, if we would consider stacking the bundling telecom with energy in the retail market?

Quite shortly.

Okay. And the third one is apart from the EUR 420 million that we have already deployed as capital. How much likely is to invest in connecting customers, what is the additional amount, both for connecting customers, but also for the retail part of the business.

That's the beauty because we already very, very, very big in retail in general. We are not building new stuff for our retail. We are servicing our customers with the existing retail engine we have for energy. So we don't have additional billing or whatever you need to do in order to serve the customers. We have everything in place already. We have huge synergies with our current activities. So I would say almost 0 is the additional investments we do internally to serve the retail. On the other hand, of course, you have customer-related vertical costs when you do the connection, and this is passed through to the customer.

Okay. Clear enough. So another question about the data center that we discussed in the presentation, how close we are at securing commitment from a hyperscaler? And if we could -- let's say, at what point in time, we believe that this would cease to be an optionality and become part of our business plan?

Well, that's, of course, a very important question and very difficult to answer because you see there's a huge investments happening in the United States, and people are struggling sometimes to raise the debt needed to perform these investments. So everybody is focused right now there. As I said, this is an optionality for us but a very important optionality, it is -- and it will be transformational if and when it will be happening. I don't -- we have very good discussions with several of them. And the way I understand them, I believe that probably -- and I said this as well in March when we first discussed about that. I would think that somewhere next year, end of next year, we will have a clear picture on this project.

And by the way, anyhow for us, this time is needed because we are doing all the analytical engineering and permitting. So I think we will end the next year with a fully permitted project, which is not yet done, fully permitted project and with a clear answer.

Okay. Thank you. Another question about the CapEx. Given the fact that we have already announced a EUR 10 billion CapEx plan for the next 3 years, and our leverage is at 3x net debt to EBITDA. And at the same time, we are also distributing dividend if we would see any risk of ourselves at a point in time to need additional capital in order to preserve this headroom that we have in this [indiscernible] 3.5x.

There is no need for any capital increase in PBC at all. So we will not pursue them at all. I'm very fair and clear.

Okay. So another question about -- if we can provide an update about a possibility of waste-to-energy project in North in Greece.

The waste-to-energy regulatory gym is in discussion in Greece. There are consultations going on. The [indiscernible] Republic has opened the dialogue. We are not very interested into entering in this business other than in Kozani, where we are -- we have a specific area where they [indiscernible] so our interesting angle is coming from that fact. We are waiting for the regime to finish in order to take our final decision in order to see if we will add to the districting service we give to the nearby city, also a waste-to-energy part or not.

Okay. So there is also a clarification to provide about the CapEx plan. We mentioned that EUR 5 billion is discretionary CapEx. If we can, let's say, provide a clarification what exactly we mean by that?

I think I just explained.

You just explained, okay. Okay, I missed that. I missed that. Okay. Okay. So there are no other questions from the webcast.

Richard Alderman, BTIG again. Just coming back to the data center point and your applications going through the next 12 months for more planning to get the whole project ready for a customer for a data center hyperscaler. When you think about all of the changes you're making in your FlexGen portfolio, so you're closing gas, your building gas, you're closing lignite, you're building a lot of renewables. In your plan, how much of your existing grid connection that you already own are you utilizing for yourself? And how much might be available for more than one data center customer to utilize with you, be it with or without new renewable CapEx or with or without a PPA. I asked the question because the trend at the moment amongst utilities is just to discuss the amount of powered land, as they call it, RWE's example of selling a project where you have land, grid connection guaranteed and energy services. Obviously, in your model, that's a similar sort of strategy, but I'm wondering how much space you have over, say, the next 5 years to utilize that growth connection.

This is a very valid question. You're right. And the way we are doing it, designing it behind the meter injecting it directly to our capacity is -- we'll be releasing also capacity from the system. So it's the same question from another angle. Let me say that in that particular area, we have availability of around 4 gigawatt but 1 could build, let's say, and we are building, we are using it. But when we will put the data center, we will use it through the data center to interconnect and therefore, we will land probably if we were and we will reach this point. When we will reach this point, we will add additional capacity to serve the market. It depends how you see it.

Any other questions from the room? Okay. We also have some additional questions from the webcast that we can cover. The first one relates to the distribution CapEx that we are doing. If we can elaborate on the benefit of having EUR 900 million, more or less CapEx per year in the distribution business, given the fact that -- as the question says that we expect a low increased uplift in the distribution profitability and whether specifically the smart meters investments can benefit us on overall profitability.

First of all, the smart meters, they get an additional percentage of premium on the investing in -- you have 1% more. And any digital investments in Romania, get 1.5% more. So all these investments, they get a bonus. That's why this is one -- it's very correct for the regulator to drive investments in that direction. So I think we need to always to have this in our mind.

Okay. Another question about the AI initiatives that we touched in the presentation, and we have made a calculation or quantify what could be the return until 2028 from these initiatives?

Well, we have assumed -- we were quite conservative, I have to say, because all the world is just entering this story. In our worst conservative calculations, we have assumed in our plan EUR 50 million saving because of this which I think is very modest. And we will be able to forecast and project better next year as this plan will develop.

Okay. Another question about the take of business, whether we would consider to do something similar as we are doing in Greece in another country.

No, because that was a very specific case in Greece. Greece has 75% of its distribution network area. There's no other country in such a high proportion of aerial network. So for us doing this infra play in Greece makes absolute sense. We are very cheap by rolling out this network. We have a rollout cost of EUR 160, somebody was telling me that the FTTH association was looking at an average of 350 in Europe. So we have an average of 160 just to give you now the [indiscernible]. So this is a very specific project for Greece that we found the opportunity and we entered.

Okay. Also, if we can provide sensitivity for the power prices in terms of our profitability, I think [indiscernible] that you made a reference in your presentation, if you can again, repeated because maybe it was...

Yes. So what we have said is that we have tested a downward movement of gas price that, of course, affects the day-ahead market price and therefore affects both sides of the equation, both the generation, lower profitability and generation so what we are saying is that this 10% move on the gas price is sort of something like less than 1% in our profitability which means we will be losing something like EUR 20 million out of the EUR 2.4 billion in 2026, if we were just to see a huge jump further than what we have assumed.

Also another question about the net profit estimate that we have -- what is the average cost of funding that we have assumed for 2028?

Yes. Well, we have the blended cost of funding is close to EUR 4.2 billion as this is comprised of various elements that we have with in our existing portfolio of debt, but also new ones coming in.

Okay. Okay. If there is no other question as we speak from the webcast. The rest of them have been already covered. Not sure if there is any additional questions from the room? If not, I mean, we're close to 2 hours now. So we can conclude the event.

Thank you very much for being here and for also participating through the web. Thank you very much.