Operator
Good morning everyone, thank you very much for waiting. Welcome to the video conference to the earnings of the second quarter 2026 of Aeris Energy.
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They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they refer to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, market conditions, and other operating factors may affect the future performance of Aeris and lead to results that will be materially different from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.
Today, we have here with us the company's executives: Mr. Alexandre Negrão, CEO and Negrão; and Ms.
Cristiane Barretto Salles, CFO. Before starting the presentation, we would like to invite you to see the agenda for the day on slide 3 of our slide deck.
We are going to start with Mr. Negrão, who is going to address topics 1 and 2 with market prospects and then operational performance.
Then, we are going to give the floor to Ms. Barretto Salles, who is going to address the topic 3, presenting the company's performance.
Then we are going to have a Q&A session, and finally Mr. Negrão is going to come back for his closing remarks.
Mr. Negrão, please, you may start.
Alexandre Sarnes Negrão
Good morning everyone. Starting on slide 4 and talking a little bit about the Brazilian market today, we see a relevant pipeline of new projects.
There are approximately 19.1 GW of registered wind projects, of which about 3.8 GW are already at more advanced stage of development with a higher likelihood of being contracted in the near future. Not all these projects will be executed, but this volume demonstrates that the potential demand is still there.
As the regulatory environment and market conditions evolve, an important part of this pipeline is likely to be converted into effective investment. In the United States, we continue to see a very active market for 2026-2027.
Demand continues to be supported by investments in renewable generation, especially in projects that already have economic feasibility and defined schedules. For 2028, there is still some uncertainty due to the evolution of public policies and incentives planned for the sector, but in the short and medium term, we continue to see a very healthy market for exports.
We also notice a gradual improvement in the regulation and macroeconomic environment in Brazil in recent months. Several discussions have been conducted between the government, ANEEL, and ONS, seeking to solve bottlenecks, especially those related to access to transmission and curtailment problems.
Even though there are still important challenges, we understand that the environment has been evolving in the right direction. Another important point is the expansion in the transmission infrastructure.
The planned auctions contribute to expand the capacity to flow renewable energy, an essential tool to unlock new investments. The expansion of wind generation grid depends on the availability of this structure, we follow this topic very closely.
We would also like to highlight the new round of the so-called day of forgiveness, which is a mechanism created by ANEEL to allow entrepreneurs to return projects that lost economic feasibility, freeing up capacity currently occupied in the transmission network for new projects. In the most recent round, the applications were filed revolving approximately 11.5 GW of projects.
Of those, about 9.3 GW correspond to solar projects, and approximately 300 MW are wind projects. Not all these requests will be submitted to ANEEL and ONS, but they represent an important move to reduce the stock of projects with no prospects of implementation to free up capacity for new investments.
For the industry as a whole, this is a relevant step towards making access to the grid more efficient and contributing for the gradual recovery of new projects. Within this context, we are very confident in our competitive position.
Today, we have approximately 2 GW already contracted to supply blades between 2026 and 2027, in addition to approximately 500 MW in advanced negotiations. The gradual reactivation of four production lines is being conducted in a disciplined manner, following the evolution of contracted demand and preserving our strategy of efficient capital allocation.
Our focus remains to be to grow sustainably, prioritizing profitability, cash generation, and return on the capital invested. Now on slide 5, on the quarter's performance, I believe that the main message is that we are beginning to see the first consequences of the company's operational resumption or recovery.
In the second quarter, we recorded a growth in net revenue compared to the previous quarter, reflecting the increase in the volume produced, the evolution of exports, and the booking of revenues associated to new service contracts. This operational evolution contributed to a significant improvement in profitability, with an evolution in EBITDA margin, showing greater dilution of fixed costs and gain in operational efficiency.
At the same time, we continue to maintain discipline in capital allocation. Investments made in the period remained concentrated in the gradual recovery of production lines, always aligned with contracted demand.
On the other hand, the net results still remains pressured by the company's high financial costs. Despite this, we understand that the operating indicators for the quarter demonstrate a consistent recovery trajectory, which we expect to continue to see as contracted volumes advance and reactivated lines reach greater operational maturity.
Moving to slide 6, you can see the evolution of our production capacity over the next years. We ended the second half with two mature lines in operation, which corresponds to contract in operation.
We reactivated another four production lines, which are going to go live during the third quarter of 2026. It's important to note that this reactivation does not represent an anticipation or advance of capacity.
It is directly aligned with schedules of contracts already signed and expected, and the expected evolution of demand, preserving our discipline in capital allocation and avoiding costs associated to idleness. It's also worth remembering that wind blade production line does not reach its maximum efficiency immediately after reactivation.
There's a natural learning curve. In our case, however, we are talking about reactivation of lines that operated before and have consolidated infrastructure and processes, which is likely to make this maturation curve faster than a totally new line.
For this reason, as these lines advance on their maturity curve, we expect to gradually recover our production capacity to increase the dilution of fixed costs, capture additional gains in operational efficiency, and consequently, continue to evolve our operating profitability. Slide 7 shows the evolution of our industrial activity in the first half of 2026, with delivered 32 sets equivalent to 147 MW, reflecting the company's current level of demand.
In the comparison between the second and first quarters, we saw an increase of approximately 13% both in the volume produced and in megawatts delivered, although we are still on a level below the company's history levels. This growth represents an important sign of recovery of our operational activity.
This advance is due to the evolution in contracts in execution for the foreign market, currently served by two production lines and is in line with the strategy of gradual recovery of production. In addition, the four lines in process of reactivations are meant to meet the demand contracted for the domestic market, showing the first signs of recovery in this market and preparing the company to meet the expected increase in activity in coming quarters.
Our goal continues to be to increase production in disciplined manner, following the evolution of the order books. This approach allows us to gradually expand utilization of our manufacturing lines to capture productivity gains and increase dilution of fixed costs, reflecting positively on the operating indicators over the next few quarters.
With that, I end my presentation and give the floor to Cristiane, our CFO, who is going to share with you the results of the quarter.
Cristiane Sales
Thank you Alexandre. Starting on revenues on slide 8, in the second quarter we had a net operating revenue of 129.3 million BRL, a growth of 22.4% compared to Q1.
This performance was driven by the increase in operational productivity, evolution in the volume of deliveries in the period, and booking of revenues associated with ramp-up fee and capex to support customer demand. When we analyze all the revenue lines, the growth in the blade segment reflects evolution in current contracts.
The service segment on the other hand showed a growth in relation to previous quarters mainly due to new contracts signed in the period. Compared to the first half of 2025, revenue still remains below the level of the previous year, reflecting a lower level of activity in the Brazilian wind market over the last few quarters.
However, the second quarter of 2026 already shows the first signs of recovery in the company with reactivation of production lines and execution of contracts already signed. We hope that this movement continues to be reflected in the evolution of revenue.
Now moving to slide 9, on the gross margin, I believe that this is one of the main highlights of the quarter. In the second quarter of 2026, consolidated gross margin was 7.6%, representing an improvement of 2.2 percentage points compared to Q1 2026 and 9 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year.
Excluding the effects of depreciation and amortization on the cost of products sold, the evolution remains consistent, with an expansion of 20.1 percentage points between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026. This evolution mainly reflected the improvement in the company's operating performance driven by the increase in production, greater dilution of fixed costs, and the gains in operational efficiency.
In addition, the booking of revenues related to the ramp-up fee and capex also contributed positively to this performance. Analyzing only the blade operation, we see that the margin evolved from 4.5% in Q1 to 20.4% in Q2, a growth of 15.9 percentage points.
It's worth noting that the volume produced in the Q2 2026 was the same level as the previous quarter. Therefore, this margin expansion shows better structural improvement in the operations as a consequence of higher productivity, better absorption of fixed costs, and the evolution of the performance of production lines.
Of this 15.9 percentage points of expansion, approximately 11.6 are associated to ramp-up fee revenues from reactivated lines and capex, while 4.3 percentage points are efficiency gains. Together, these analyses reinforce that the recovery in the margins seen in the quarter are supported mainly by the company's operation evolution, reflecting the increase in efficiency, better absorption of fixed costs, and gradual capture of the gains provided in the recovery of production.
Now moving to slide 10, we end the second quarter with total expenses with 44.7 million BRL compared to 36.5 million BRL in Q1. When we isolate nonrecurring effects, we see that recurring operating expense remained practically stable in relation to the previous quarter, showing the continuity of discipline in cost management and control of operating expenses.
The increase in total expenses was mainly explained by the booking of the ICMS discount amounting to 4.1 million BRL, and increase in losses on customer revenues related to services 3.2 million BRL, both nonrecurring. This result reinforces the growth in operating activity throughout the quarter was not accompanied by a proportional increase in cost structure, allowing the improvement in gross margin to be also reflected in the evolution of EBITDA.
When we move to slide 11, we extend the analysis to the first 6 months, we see that the discipline in cost management is even clearer. Operating expenses totaled 81.2 million BRL in the first half of 2026 compared to 126.2 million BRL in the same period of the previous year.
It's important to note that the first half of 2025 was impacted by 45.1 million BRL of nonrecurring expenses related to debt restructuring. Even excluding this effect and comparing the recurring expenses of the two periods, we saw a reduction of approximately 9%, reflecting mainly lower expenses with personnel, services rendered, SG&A, and other operating expenses.
This result demonstrates that the initiatives implemented over the last few quarters continue to generate consistent efficiency gains. The increase in sales expenses specifically reflects the higher volume of exports, while the nonrecurring effects recorded in 2026 are related to the ICMS discount and increase in losses on customer revenues related to services.
Now moving to slide 12, here is a more detailed vision of our general and administrative expenses. In the annual comparison, we see a reduction in the main lines of expenses both in the second quarter and in the first half of the year, with emphasis on personnel, services rendered, travel expenses, rent, and utilities.
It's important to remember that for this comparison, we are excluding nonrecurring effects related to debt restructuring booked in the second quarter of last year. When we look at the period between the first and second quarter of 2026, the discipline also remains evident.
Personnel expenses showed a one-off change, mainly reflecting salary adjustments, benefits, and the payment of union bonuses. In contrast, we saw a reduction in expenses with services rendered, more significant, and expenses with travel, while rent and utilities remained practically stable.
These results reflect a series of initiatives that we have conducted over the past few periods, including the optimization of the SG&A structure, revision of contracts, and more rational spending of services and systems, and increasingly more careful monitoring of administrative expenses. We have a more appropriate structure to the company's structure, preserving financial discipline while advancing the process of recovering and resuming our operations.
This operational evolution that we saw in previous slides is also reflected very clearly in the quarter's EBITDA on slide 13. In the second quarter of 2026, adjusted EBITDA was negative by 12.4 million BRL, an improvement of approximately 15 million compared to the negative result of 27.5 million BRL in Q1.
Likewise, adjusted EBITDA margin showed a relevant recovery from -25.9% to -9.6% in the period. This improvement reflects the combination of revenue growth with the recovery in gross margin, operational efficiency gains that we discussed earlier.
At the same time, we continue to maintain discipline over the expense structure, which contributed to the operational improvement being captured in EBITDA as well. Although we report a negative EBITDA, our evolution shows an important trajectory of recovery in the profitability of the operation.
In the semester, the variation mainly reflects a lower level of revenue. Looking ahead, as we move forward in the execution of contracts and the lines that are being reactivated evolve in their maturity curve, we expect to gradually increase production volumes.
This movement should contribute to a greater absorption of fixed costs and to capture new efficiency gains, continuing the process of recovery in the company's profitability. Moving to slide 14, capital structure, we ended the second quarter with a gross debt of 1.96 billion BRL and net debt of 1.94 billion BRL.
As said before, the reprofile completed in 2025, which contemplated approximately 90% of our debt, allowed a longer debt profile, concentrating the most relevant amortizations from 2027 onwards, and with that, reducing the pressure on cash in the short term. The debt in BNDES remains 93 million in the principal.
At the same time, we maintain a continuous evaluation of alternatives to improve our capital structure and adapt it to the reality and prospects of the business for coming years, in line with the company's financial rebalancing process. Finally, in closing, looking at cash flow, we had an operating cash generation of 33.5 million BRL in the first half of the year.
This generation mainly influenced by variations in working capital, with emphasis on the reduction of accounts receivable, movement in supplier accounts, and customer advances, which offset the increase in inventory related to gradual resumption in production. Part of the movement reflects cash management actions.
On investment side, we had a consumption of 27.6 million BRL, mainly directed to the reactivation of production lines and preparation of the operations to meet the contracts already signed. Funding activities consumed 17 million in the period.
With this movement, we ended the second quarter with a cash position of 17.3 million BRL. Now we conclude the presentation of the quarter's results, and now I give the floor back to Laís, who is going to start the Q&A session.
Thank you.
Operator
We are now going to start our questions-and-answers session. To ask a question, click on the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen and type your question to join the line.
If you prefer to ask the question by audio, you can indicate this in the Q&A icon. When your turn comes, a prompt to activate your microphone will pop up on your screen.
You just accept the request, open your microphone, and ask your question. We kindly request all participants to ask all their questions at once.
The first question comes from Moisés [Vargas?] , individual.
Despite the operational improvement, the net debt is approximately 1.9 billion in 2Q, while cash is only 17 million, and net financial expenses took up 115.7. Considering the maturity with BNDES and a need to fund the ramp-up of four new lines, what is the company's plan to back up the needs of working capital and the cash generated by operational recovery?
Is there any scenario that management considers that a new capital allocation would be necessary in an equity operation?
Operator
Now question from Moisés: the company ended the quarter with approximate 2 GW of pipeline in 2026 and reactivated the production of four lines. Considering that now we need to recover cash generation and margin, what is the minimum margin consider acceptable for new blade contracts?
Looking already signed contracts and for the pipeline, how much of this volume effectively represents incremental EBITDA after working capital and capex?
Cristiane Sales
Good morning Moisés for your question. I'm going to answer one question, and then Alexandre will answer the second one.
As to the plan regarding financial expenses and debt balance, we've been working internally for quite some time, considering initiatives and possibilities to improve the capital structure. At the right time, we are going to address this theme.
In the meantime, as we said in the presentation, our debt with BNDES that would mature this year has been postponed for 2027, and we have the operational resumption and cash generation of the business being able to fund the day-to-day operations, in addition to have working capital funded by our main customers. Of course, in the day-to-day, we have a controlled cash management with suppliers, and this management in paying suppliers in the short term, we manage it very closely, and we manage it a long way.
That said, we have a plan to solve everything. We don't see any risk of taking up the working capital with negative impact in financial expenses in terms of payment, and we internally address this, and we can talk more about this with you in future conference calls.
Alexandre Sarnes Negrão
Good morning Moisés. Thank you so much for your questions.
About future contracts, internally we consider each one a project, and of course each project needs to pay their fixed cost and operational expenses in addition to the assets that are being used. The thing is that with very low volume, it's difficult to make contracts pay the cost of the structure as a whole.
We need to have a volume that is higher to dilute costs. Whenever we look at a new contract, we assess 10-12% of EBITDA margin paying the project.
Of course, as we increase volume, the entire structure can generate the margin that the asset consumes.
Operator
The next question comes from Ramon Vieira from Axel Capital.
Ramon Vieira
Good morning Aeris, congratulations on your results. How do you see the growth in the wind market in the south region of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul especially?
Now looking to exports, recently in Argentina a new data center was announced by a Polish investor. They intend to use wind energy to supply the cluster.
Is Aeris considering this opportunity?
Alexandre Sarnes Negrão
Good morning Ramon. Thank you very much for your question.
About the south of Brazil, in fact we're seeing that right now it's becoming as an alternative to the northeast. The south has suffered much less with curtailment than the northeast of Brazil, and this has obviously attracted more investors.
Yes, we're looking at the south region of Brazil, and we're also looking at the market in Latin America as a whole. Last year, we could export a small project to Guatemala.
We already exported to Argentina. Right now, we are not exporting, but yes, we keep an eye both at the Argentine and Chilean markets that are potential markets for us.
Obviously, there is more competition with the Chinese, correct? We always look at the market that we consider the Aeris's potential in terms of demand, and we look at the Americas as a whole, and we think that that's where our potential is.
Both Latin America and North America too.
Operator
Next questions comes from Lucas, an investor. The issuance of new shares, could it be considered to reinforce the company's cash?
The second question: the United States fees on Brazil, have they affected the sales to the US market? Do you consider the possibility of opening a manufacturing plant in US?
The manufacturing of Chinese wind blades in Brazilian ground may prevent Aeris to resume revenues as seen at the time of the IPO?
Alexandre Sarnes Negrão
I'm going to answer the first question. As I told Moisés in the beginning of our video conference, we are studying alternatives in terms of capital costs and to deal with our debt, but we cannot say in advance, and maybe we can discuss this better in future calls, considering the studies that we complete in terms of strategies to reinforce the company's cash.
About the US, today we still have exports 100% dedicated to the US. We have a robust market.
Despite the all volatility and everything involving the markets and the politics and everything related to wind power, demand remains robust. We have something close to 10 GW installed this year, showing that despite the contracts, the market remains robust.
Yes, of course, the import fees make us a little bit less competitive, but they are not affecting our exports. On the manufacturing of Chinese wind blades, this is an additional competitor.
Their factory is smaller than ours. I think that the fact that we're not resuming or going back to the revenues at the time of the IPO is because of tariffs, is because of the market.
The Brazilian market is very, very far from what was than the Brazilian market at the time of the IPO. Just as those who were in the IPO will remember, 2020, we had very strong exports to the US, and the US market is not at the same level as it was in 2019-2020.
There has been a shrinking in the main markets where Aeris operates as compared to the IPO. We are not seeing the numbers that we saw at the time of the IPO.
This is not really because of competition, but more related to the timing in the market as a whole.
Operator
Next question comes from Moisés, an individual investor. In 2 in the second quarter, the margin improved from -27 in 1Q to -12.4 million.
At the same time, four lines had been reactivated and will go live in the third quarter of 2026. What is the level of utilization of the lines that are necessary for Aeris to reach a positive EBITDA?
Especially the relationship between operational cash. Can you indicate an EBITDA margin for 4Q 2026 and 2027?
Cristiane Sales
Hi Moisés. I think that about the expansion of the margin, as you said before, we had a very positive result, not just when we look at the consolidated margin, as well as when we consider the blade business.
There has been a clear expansion not just in terms of productivity, but also additional revenue of ramp-up and capex in the period. There is something usual in our industry.
This doesn't happen every quarter, that's why we want to emphasize they have their positive impact, but there was an expansion of 5 percentage points in productivity alone, showing that the variation in the volume of blades supports this level of dilution fixed costs. With the guidance, we do not disclose the guidance for EBITDA margin, we need to monitor the evolution and the trend in our margin related to additional volume what will have for the reactivated lines in the third and fourth quarters of the year.
Operator
The questions-and-answers has now ended, and now we would like to give the floor to Mr. Alexandre Negrão for his closing remarks.
Alexandre Sarnes Negrão
Thank you Laís. In closing, I think that the main message of this quarter is that we have begun to see more clearly the first results of this process of recovery of Aeris.
We are advancing in the execution of contracts and have started the reactivation of new production lines. This movement is starting to show in our numbers, with an important recovery in margins, better EBITDA, and operating cash generation.
Of course, we still have challenges ahead, and we know that. Therefore, we are conducting this recovery in a gradual and disciplined manner.
Investments continue to follow the contracted demand. We remain very attentive to our cost structure, and at the same time, we continue to assess alternatives to improve our capital structure.
Going forward, our focus is very clear: execution. We have four lines being reactivated, and as they come into operation, advance in their maturity curve, we expect to increase volumes and gain productivity and better dilute our fixed costs.
This is what should help us to continue advance in the recovery of profitability. On the commercial side, we remain attentive to opportunities.
We have a relevant portfolio already contracted for 2026-2027, with negotiations underway when we see room for a gradual recovery of the market, both in Brazil and abroad. We remain confident in the directions that we are headed towards.
We know that recovery does not happen overnight, but the advances that we have seen this quarter show that we're moving in the right direction. Now it's time to continue executing with discipline and advance step-by-step in this process of recovery.
I would like to thank everyone for their participation and interest, and see you again next quarter. Have a good day.
Thank you so much.
Operator
The earnings release video conference of the second quarter 2026 of Aeris is closed. Thank you very much for your participation and have a good day.
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