Aena SME SA

Aena SME SA

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 29, 2026

Carlos Gallego

Good afternoon and welcome to our first-half 2026 results presentation. This is Carlos Gallego, Head of Investor Relations.

It's a pleasure to be with you today. Joining us today are Javier Marín, our Executive Vice Chairman, and our CFO, Ignacio Castejón, who will review the main highlights of the results presentation.

After that, we will open the floor to your questions. As usual, in order to keep the call on schedule, we kindly ask participants to limit themselves to one question at a time.

Without further ado, I will now hand the call over to Javier Marín. Thank you.

Javier Marín

Thank you very much, Carlos. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the presentation of Aena's results for the first half of 2026.

I would like to apologize on behalf of our Chairman, Maurici Lucena, who was feeling unwell last night—nothing serious—but he is unable to attend this conference today. Today's session will focus on the main operational and financial developments during the period.

I will begin by reviewing the main highlights of the period. After that, our CFO, Ignacio Castejón, will go through the figures and the main business lines in greater detail.

Starting by traffic, across the Aena Group, passenger traffic reached 190 million passengers during the first half of 2026, an increase of 3.9% compared with the same period last year. This comparison includes Leeds Bradford Airport passenger traffic in the first half of 2025 on a pro forma basis, although the acquisition was completed on 7th May 2026.

In Spain, our airport network handled 156.2 million passengers, representing a 3.7% increase compared with the first half of 2025. Growth was again driven mainly by international traffic, 5.1%, while domestic traffic increased by 0.9%.

Looking ahead, our traffic outlook for Aena's Spanish airport network for 2026 needs to take into consideration several factors. Prior to the Strait of Hormuz crisis and during the first few months of the year, traffic growth remained below 3%, broadly in line with Aena's expectations.

However, following the crisis, a diversion of traffic towards Spain has been observed as the country has been perceived as a safe tourist destination, supported by capacity deployment from airlines such as Wizz Air, Jet2, and Binter. As a result of that, since March, growth rates have been above the 3% level.

Some constraints in the rail transport sector are diverting passengers towards air travel. Nevertheless, we are observing weaker load factors in the actual traffic growth lagging behind the growth in seat capacity.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, visibility remains limited for a number of reasons. High uncertainty surrounding developments in the Middle East conflict, the expiry of fuel hedging programs at airlines, the potential impact on inflation in the economies of source markets, particularly Germany—that is one of the main country of people flying to Spain—and also there is future uncertainty about the consumer spending patterns from the autumn onwards.

At this stage, we still don't have visibility on the 2026 winter season because only at the end of August the slots required by the company will be closed. We don't have how all these factors are going to affect the autumn season and the winter season.

Taking all these factors into account, at this moment, with all this information, all these uncertainties, Aena estimates that traffic growth in 2026 could be around 3% compared with 2025. Turning to traffic in our international portfolio, the airports within Aena's consolidated perimeter delivered steady growth during the first half of the year.

In UK, Luton Airport handled 8.8 million passengers during the first half of the year, representing growth of 5.1% year-on-year. Traffic also remained above pre-pandemic levels, exceeding the first half of 2019 by 3%.

At Leeds Bradford Airport, passenger traffic reached the figure of 2.1 million passengers during the first half of the year, representing 3.3% increase compared with the same period of 2025. Finally, in Brazil, the group of airports based in Recife reached the figure of 8.6 million passengers, 6.4% above the same period of the year, and the group of 11 airports based in Congonhas, São Paulo, posted a 2.8 increase percent, with a total of 14 million passengers.

Turning to our financial results, total revenue for the first half of 2026 reached approximately €3.3 billion, 10.1% year-on-year increase, or €304 million. Excluding IFRIC 12 construction services, revenue growth was 8.3%, which is a more representative view of the underlying operating performance.

The main drivers were higher passenger volumes, the increase in regulated aeronautical charges from March 2026, improved commercial activity, and higher construction services in Brazil. Construction services amounted to €140 million in the first half of the year compared with €79 million in the first half of 2025.

By revenue line, ordinary aeronautical revenue increased by 8.3%, ordinary commercial revenue by 7.1%, real estate services revenue by 15%, and ordinary international revenue by 27.9%. Excluding construction services, international revenue amounted to €388 million, up 12.4% year-on-year.

EBITDA reached €1.8 billion, increasing by €107 million, or 6.3% year-on-year. The reported EBITDA margin was 54.5% compared with 56.5% in the first half of 2025.

Excluding the Luton insurance compensation impact, EBITDA would have increased by 8.3%, equivalent to approximately €138.2 million. In addition, excluding both IFRIC 12 construction service and the Luton insurance compensation, the comparable EBITDA margin would have been 56.9%, in line with the figure recorded in first half of 2025.

At the net profit level, the improvement was stronger than EBITDA growth. Net profit exceeded the €1 billion mark for the first time in a first-half period, reaching €1,002 million, up 12 1.1% year-on-year.

Regarding the regulated business, DORA III continues to advance through the regulatory approval process. As on 26th May, the CNMC issued its non-binding supervision report within the scope of its functions, representing another milestone in the process.

The final stage will be the approval of the final DORA by the Council of Ministers by 30th September 2026. Turning to commercial activity, total sales grew by 5.9%, outpacing passenger traffic growth, and increased by 2.1% on a per-passenger basis compared with the first half of 2025.

This growth was driven by the progress in remodeling works and the additional commercial surface that entails the introduction of new business concepts, new brands, and better economic conditions on the latest contracts awarded. The performance of car parks, the continued increase in demand for VIP lounges, and the development of real estate initiatives.

On this area, real estate, total revenue grew by 15.3% in the first half of 2026. In this case, I would like to highlight the award by Aena of two surface rights for the construction and operation of the first hotel developments within the Spanish airport network: one to Barceló Group at Madrid Airport, for which the agreement has already been signed, and another to Momentum under the Hyatt brand at Barcelona Airport.

Let me now move on to our international business. International business revenue amounted to €529 million in the first half of 20 26, or €388 million excluding the impact of IFRIC construction services, while EBITDA reached €189 million.

These figures include a contribution of €8 million from Agusta UK, following the completion of the acquisition referred to earlier, under which Aena acquired 51% stake in the holding company that owns Leeds Bradford Airport and 49% interest in Newcastle Airport. In Brazil, on 30th March 2026, Aena was awarded under a sale-assisted process 100% of the concession of Rio de Janeiro International Airport.

The operation amounts to Brazilian reals 2.9 billion, equivalent to approximately €490 million as of 30th June 2026. The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026.

Continuing with other key points, let me also briefly comment on investment during the period. Paid capex amounted to €916 million.

This includes mainly investments in airport infrastructure, amounting to €576 million, and the acquisition of 51% of Agusta for €340 million. Regarding capex in Brazil, the group based in Congonhas continues to deliver the investment program required under the concession contract.

We are happy to say that on 4th June last June, the contractual milestone for the completion of the phase one works at nine airports was achieved. The regulator, ANAC, has carried out inspections at all of them to verify compliance with the contractual obligations.

Now we continue with the works at Congonhas. As you know that we have two additional years to end these works.

These are progressing simultaneously on the several projects associated with the first phase of the development plan, including the construction of hangars and cargo terminals for airlines, the development of a new remote aircraft stands apron, and the commencement of works to expand and refurbish the existing passenger terminal. The completion, as I have said, for the Congonhas Airport works is June 2028.

These projects support future growth while complying with the concession contractual commitments. With this information, I end my presentation.

I'm going to hand over to our CFO, Ignacio Castejón, that will continue providing you some details about this presentation. Thank you.

Ignacio Castejón

Thank you very much, Javier. Hello, everyone.

This is Ignacio Castejón. Thank you for joining our results presentation for the first half.

I'll provide some further details on traffic, opex, commercial performance, and the performance of our international businesses. After that, we'll have the Q&A session.

I'll try to be brief so that we have time for all your questions. If we look at traffic performance, if we look at the volumes with Europe, they grow at 5.2%.

Three out of the four largest markets in Europe, excluding Spain and referring to the UK, Italy, and France, remained positive contributors, while Germany was slightly negative, as mentioned by Javier earlier. Poland had the highest increase, with a 27.6% growth rate.

Regarding the long-haul markets, the volumes with Latin America and North America regions increased by 6.2% and 7%, respectively. It is also remarkable the increase of passengers from Asia, with a 30% increase, although still a small contributor to Aena passenger numbers.

If we look at the Middle East, affected by the current conflict over there, the traffic flows went down by circa 26%. As this region only contributed around 1% of Aena passenger volumes.

Looking at airport levels, if we look at the 10 top 10 airports in Spain, Seville, Alicante, Valencia, Málaga, Barcelona, and Madrid were the main contributors to growth. South Tenerife Airport was the only one decreasing, partially explained by the performance of the German market.

Finally, regarding the airlines operating in Spain, the top 10 carriers handled around 113 million passengers, 3.6% more than in the first half of 2025. Wizz Air, Binter, Jet2, Air Nostrum, Air Europa, and Vueling delivered growth rates higher than 3%.

Ignacio Castejón (CFO): Let's go to slide seven and financial performance, and let's focus on opex. Opex at group level increased by 13.5%.

Excluding IFRIC 12 construction activity, opex growth was 9.4%. By platforms or by assets, opex in Spain at the mother company level increased by 94 9.4%, at Luton 1.7%, ANB 11.8%, and at the Congonhas portfolio airport by circa of 62%.

At the BOAB, the increase is significantly affected by the construction activity under IFRIC 12 and the accounting of that activity, increasing both revenue and cost, but neutral from an EBITDA standpoint, as all of you know. If we look at the mother company, at Aena SME, total opex reached the figure of €1.1 billion compared with €1 billion in the first half of 2025.

The increase was mainly driven by other operating expenses, up 9.7%; staff cost, up 11%; while supplies were broadly stable. As discussed with all of you in the past, we don't see reasons to have cost increases materially deviating from these increases that we are seeing in the first half through the rest of the year.

As staff costs reflect the salary reviews, increase in the headcounts, and also increase in the variable remuneration and higher social security costs that the company is suffering. Within other operating expenses, the main increases were related to maintenance, 21.

21 .5% increase; security, 9.8%; PRM services, 15%; professional services, 8.8%; and VIP lounges, 35%. The increase in VIP lounges costs should always be read together with the strong growth in VIP revenues that are delivering a circa 32% increase in this first half of 2026.

The item called other items reflects an increase of circa 19%. Within this category, there are important increases related, for example, to passport controls.

Several of these cost lines are linked to activity levels, which have increased in the second quarter of the year more than in the first quarter of this year, operational requirements, service quality levels, expansion of specific services, and also the pressure that we are having in labor costs that are transferred to us by our suppliers. Let me turn to commercial activity.

We can move to slide 14, 14. As as explained by Javier, traffic increased by around 3.7% in the Spanish network, with a sales increasing by circa 6% in our commercial activities.

Total business revenue, which includes fixed and variable rents plus the minimum annual guarantee rents to be invoiced this year, amounted to a bit more of €1 billion, increasing by 9% year-on-year. The strongest component of this growth was the fixed and variable rents, which increased by 9.6%.

MAG revenues increased by circa 5% to by 100 to €156 million. Commercial revenue growth was not only volume-driven, it was also supported by an increase in the total business per pax of 5.4% this quarter and 4.7% the first six months of 2027 2026.

This performance confirms the positive results of the contractual structures, the ongoing renewal of the commercial offer, the track record of the businesses managed internally by the company, and the positive evolution of the real estate services. If we go to slide 15, retail sales increase ahead of passenger growth in the first half of this year, and retail revenue reached the figure of €550 million, an increase of 3.2%.

Within retail, duty-free was broadly stable, F&B increased by 6.7% to €189 million, and specialty shops increased by 9.9% to 72 €72.7 million. In particular, duty-free sales and variable rents grow by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, supported by the reopening of refurbished spaces and new concepts in Madrid, Barcelona, and Palma.

However, reported duty-free revenue was broadly flat. All the lots are operating under MAG except for the Canary Islands lot, while Levante and Balearics and the North lots are close to surpass the MAG thresholds, hopefully in the following months.

F&B continued to show a positive trend. Sales increased by 7% and revenues by 6.7%, supported by new contracts and the progressive renewal of the offer, particularly in Madrid and Barcelona.

Mobility revenue reached €239 million, up 6.7%. Car parks increased by 9%, driven by price management and better optimization of available spaces, and car rental business increased by 4.

4.6%, supported by new licenses and, although still very small, by the continued development of the ride-sharing activity in our airports, with an 80% increase. VIP services were again the strongest performer, with revenue increasing by 31.7% to €124.7 million.

VIP lounges represented approximately 81% of this revenue line, supported by higher penetration and capacity expansion. I'm sure many of you have seen the new offer proposed at Madrid-Barajas Airport under the brand of Altitude.

This is part of the capacity expansion that I was referring earlier. Fast track and fast lane business line increased significantly too, with revenues amounting to €15.6 million euros and the volume of users got moving up to 2.2 million.

Although advertising remains a relatively small contributor to the total commercial revenue, it was one of the fastest-growing activities within the portfolio, with first-half revenue increasing by around 13%, supported by particularly strong demand at Madrid-Barajas Airport. Real estate services increased by 15% to €70 million, as commented by Javier, supported by cargo, FBO activity, hangars, and other real estate developments.

Overall, the results show a very well-diversified commercial performance, with revenues coming not only from retail, but also mobility, VIP, and real estate businesses. If we look at the MAGs, at the minimum annual guarantee rents, in slide 16, you can see an increase versus the figures that we reported with the financial information for the previous year of around €90 million of MAGs increase for 2027 and 2028.

The slide summarizes the commercial contracts that were tendered and awarded during the first half of 2026 for specialty shops and for F&B. For specialty shops, Aena published 31 tenders covering 63 premises during the first half of this year.

Of these, 22 tenders covering 44 premises were awarded. The award MAGs imply an increase versus 2025 of 82% for 2027 and 83% for 2028.

These increases are distributed among the following airports mainly: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, and Alicante. If we look at F&B, Aena published 25 tenders covering 51 premises, of which 20 tenders covering 41 41 premises have been awarded.

These awards imply MAG increases of 11% for 2027 and 37% for 2028 versus 2025 levels. Let me finish with a review of the international assets.

I think we can go to slide 20 to slide 20. The traffic figures have already been explained by Javier earlier.

If we look at the revenue increase of Luton of 4.4 4.4% in sterling pounds, with aero revenue contributing circa £92 million, an increase of circa 9%, with commercial revenue increasing by more than 10%, at 11%, to £95.8 million. Reported EBITDA decreased by 25%, materially impacted by the extraordinary non-recurrent revenues that contributed to the EBITDA in 20 in 2025.

I would like to share with all of you that Luton contributed €83 million to the group EBITDA in this first six months of 20 of 2026. With respect to opex of EBITDA, yes, I would like to mention that the slightly reduction in EBITDA margin that you can see once adjusted or taking into account the impacts of the previous year are mainly explained by the increase in the concession fee paid to the grantor in Luton, because that increase is related to more passengers, inflation adjustment, but also to the end of the special force majeure protection that we had after COVID that ended in March of this year.

Let's have a look at Brazil, ANB and BOAB portfolios. ANB continued to deliver solid growth in both revenues and profitability.

Passenger traffic increased by 6.4%, with Recife reaching 5 million passengers, up 4.5%. Revenue increased by 11.7% in Brazilian reais, aero revenues increasing by 8.6%, while commercial revenues increased by circa 20%.

The main contributors to commercial growth were car rental, F&B, and cargo activities. Construction services increased by 2.7% to 20 million reais.

EBITDA increased by 16%, and the EBITDA margin improved as well from 58% to 60%. ANB contributed €37.5 million to the group EBITDA of Aena.

In short, ANB combined traffic growth, commercial revenue growth, and margin expansion in this period. If we go to slide 20 22 22, referring to the Congonhas portfolio, passenger traffic increased by 2.8%, with Congonhas Airport reaching more than 12 million passengers, with an increase of 4.1%.

Revenue increased by 42 1%, mainly explained by the material increase in IFRIC 12 revenues that increased by 72.3%. If we look at underlying operating business, aero revenue increased by 5.1%, and commercial revenue increased by more than 30%, driven mainly by advertising, F&B, and VIP lounges.

EBITDA increased by 17%. The reported EBITDA was 27% compared to 32% in the first half of 2025.

However, as this is materially impacted by IFRIC 12. If we look at the margins, there was margin expansion as well at the Congonhas portfolio, BOAB, with an improvement to 65% of margin compared to 63% in the previous year.

The Congonhas portfolio contributed €63 million in the first half of 2026. Javier has already referred to the important operational milestone reaching the delivery of the construction projects in a number of airports in this portfolio.

As in the case of ANB, the Congonhas portfolio continues to execute its investments program while improving underlying EBITDA and the commercial performance. Finally, the newcomer, Agusta.

This is the first time that we are reporting information on Leeds Bradford and Newcastle. The contribution of Agusta in the first half of 2026 is still small because the integration in the portfolio happened in the very first days of May.

Revenue totaled €13.5 million and EBITDA amounted to £6.9 million. The financial contribution is still limited, but the asset, as I was referring, was the contribution from an EBITDA standpoint only started in the very first week of May.

Let me finish with a very brief comment on the leverage position. All of you will have seen an increase in the net debt to EBITDA levels at the mother company and at group level.

This is mainly explained for two reasons. The first one, the most important one, the dividend payment that took place after the first quarter, €1.6 billion going to our shareholders.

Thank you very much for your support. Secondly, because of the capex evolution at Congonhas, but also the integration and payment, the financial close taking place in relation to the project of Agusta.

This is the end of my review, happy to start with the Q&A session afterwards. Thank you very much.

Charlie, you can begin.

Operator

Thank you. Of course.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, in order to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypads now.

If you'd like to withdraw your question, simply press star followed by two. Also, to accommodate everyone, we would like you to ask one question only.

As a reminder, that's star followed by one on your telephone keypads now. Our first question comes from Tobias Fromme of Bernstein.

Tobias, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Tobias Fromme

Hello. Thank you for taking my question.

In early June, the CNMC recommended that the reclassification of Barcelona-El Prat and the construction works from relevant to strategic investments that would excuse your group to the execution risk of deploying the capex. I was just wondering, what do you think about that, and how would you argue that they should continue to be relevant rather than just strategic?

Thank you.

Javier Marín

We have to wait to the final DORA. The opinion of the CNMC is very important.

In fact, the Barcelona Airport expansion is strategic, but it is strategic from the point of view of the city, of the airport, of the region, of Aena. From the point of view of the definition of strategic in terms of compliance with the regulation is different, because that represents that you have to end at one date.

We'll have to wait the final document that is approved by the Board of Ministers. In any case, if there is limitations out of the hand of Aena—and that in the case of Barcelona project, there are many, because we need to have many administrative processes, many approvals that do not depend on Aena—well, that has to be taken into account in the compliance of the DORA.

Anyway, I think we don't want to speculate about the final result of the DORA.

Tobias Fromme

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Cristian Nedelcu of UBS.

Cristian, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Cristian Nedelcu

Hello. Thank you very much for taking my question.

My question is on the dividends prospects on the mid-term. Two of the large European airports have a dividend policy that is linked to how financial leverage develops going forward.

Do you believe there is merit in considering a similar approach with a fixed dividend and a variable portion of the dividend dependent on financial leverage over time? In relation to this, what is a maximum financial leverage at Aena SME that you would feel comfortable with?

Thank you.

Ignacio Castejón

Cristian, hi. This is Ignacio.

Thank you very much for your two questions. With respect to dividend policy, once we have a DORA, as we will work on the strategic plan.

At that moment in time, we'll have a whole new set of plans for the company. That will be the time that we'll present to the market our updated views on the dividend policy for Aena and for the group.

Having said all that, Cristian, with the numbers, with the analysis that we have in front of us, and happy to repeat the message that we have been sharing with all of you, that we don't see a risk to deviate from the existing dividend policy of 80% of payout. This is the highest.

We believe that something that is simple, straightforward, sometimes is better that having a situation in which dividends are subject to a number of conditions. That would be my reaction to your first question.

With respect to your second question on specific net debt to EBITDA leverage for the mother company, I think that the message that we have shared with the market is that we don't see any risk in the company deviating from the existing strong credit metrics that we have. Of course that net debt to EBITDA will go up and will be up compared to the existing number, to the existing ratio.

We don't think that that increase will deteriorate materially the credit metrics, the strong credit metrics of the company. That's why we are not expecting deterioration or deviation from the existing ratings that we have.

Yeah.

Javier Marín

Yes, Javier. Adding something, and again, we are in the last stage of getting a DORA approved.

We must not speculate about the future. Unfortunately, we have to wait some weeks or some couple of months to know a little bit the future.

There is a common assumption that the only point in discussion is the airport charge. There are other important points as the capex that has to be approved or modified by the regulator.

It's better not to consider some assumptions as sure and other in doubt. We have to wait some weeks to see what is approved.

The quality is also an important point that has to be approved by the regulator. Perhaps we see some changes.

Once we have that, as we have announced, we'll prepare our strategic plan. Will be done before the end of the year.

Now, everything around the new strategic plan, unfortunately, in July, we have to wait some weeks.

Operator

Perfect, thank you. Our next question comes from Graham Hunt of Jefferies.

Graham, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Graham Hunt

Thanks very much. Maybe just on the remainder of the DORA process and the rest of the year.

Could you just remind us if there's anything outstanding on your side or if you're still working with the DGAC on finalizing any requests from them? Assuming we pass through the September deadline as expected, should we expect a broader strategic update in the fourth quarter of the year?

Thanks.

Javier Marín

No, the DORA process is completely out of our hands. We sent our proposal in February, and we have no way to introduce any change or any opinion on the process.

We have to wait.

Graham Hunt

On a wider strategic update in fourth quarter?

Javier Marín

Graham, we will have to digest the DORA, finalize the rest of the business lines analysis taking into account the final DORA approved by the cabinet. We will need some weeks.

That's the reason why we'll take some time after DORA being approved.

Graham Hunt

Understood. Thank you.

Javier Marín

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Elodie Rall of JPMorgan. Elodie, your line is open.

Please go ahead.

Elodie Rall

Hi. Can I just follow up on that, please, if you see any risk to the regulation given the better than expected traffic this year?

Second, if you could give us an update on your M&A pipeline, if there is any more to come and where would that be? Thank you.

Javier Marín

As we have mentioned, traffic is performing better than expected at the beginning of the year. Still there is uncertainty for the rest of the year and winter season.

Anyway, in the forecast we did to prepare our DORA proposal, we took into account some limitations we have in capacity at some of our major airports at peak times. As we have said that we consider that perhaps traffic is around 3%, perhaps higher or lower than that, but around that, I think with information we have at this moment.

We'll have to continue taking into account that we'll have those limitations. If we end this year with more traffic in Barcelona, we can't grow with the same growth rate when we thought that we're going to end with a lower traffic.

There is a important limitation apart of the other limitations that we set when we presented that. Now the airlines have said, "No, no, no, we are going to fly in other months of the year," and so on.

We have capacity not at peak times or not at peak seasons, but it's not easy to change the demand, especially in a country where summer season is the most important season in the year. The demand is not only conditioned by the airlines and the airports, it's also conditioned by the hotels and tourist sector, which, as that this sector is not ready to attend a higher demand in winter season.

We have those limitations. Of course the higher number of passengers that we expect to have this year of course have to have an impact on the volumes we are going to manage because we'll start at a higher level in 2027, but we can't grow at very very high growth rates over the five years period.

Operator

Thank you.

Javier Marín

You asked something about M&A. I think, well, we are focused now in the operations we have, both in the Agusta operation.

We have three assets in UK, and we are closing the deal of Rio de Janeiro. We have to integrate that airport in our network there in Brazil in order to get as soon as possible the synergies that we have taking into account when we presented the proposal.

At this moment, we are not looking at any operation. Also we'll reflect on that in the strategic plan that we present in the last weeks of the year.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Luis Prieto of Kepler Cheuvreux.

Luis, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Luis Prieto

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions.

I had a couple of them. The first one is that the press has been reporting that you have been invoicing for COVID MAGs those tenants who have not settled with the company.

What should we expect on this front going forward? Could you shed a bit of light?

The second question, I wouldn't call it speculation, but just to get ideas, if the easyJet takeover went ahead, hypothetically, what is your take on any potential impacts on Aena in particular? Thank you.

Javier Marín

Luis, good morning. About the the COVID discussions we we have had with the with our commercial operators, well, it it is difficult to to explain because it's a very complicated legal process.

The reality is that last year we we had a resolution from the Supreme Supreme Court, and they gave an opportunity to to to change the pace, we could say. We have proposed all of all of our operators agreement that we have signed with several of them, and some of them have not accepted that deal, that agreement.

For those that have not accepted the deal, we go to a previous stage where they don't have protection about their rents. We we we are obliged to to invoice them the the rent that was foresaw in the original original contract.

That's the moment where we are now. These days some of the operators Well, we are working on this for the last for the last months.

In fact, we we announced, I think, in the first quarter accounts that we have reached an agreement at least with Areas, which was Areas is the major food and beverage operator of at our network. We have reached agreement with others, and these last days, some operators said that we are doing something illegal.

It's not it's it's not illegal what we are doing. We have to invoice the the the rents that are in the contract, in the original contract, and and it's our obligation to do that to protect the interest of our shareholders.

Our view is that we'll continue agreeing with some of them, and it's the right of them to to continue with the legal disputes. With those that that we are agreeing, of course we we close all the disputes and and and I think most we'll reach agreements with many of them.

About this easyJet, my view is that it's soon to say something about easyJet. We have to see how the operation evolves, what is the how the European regulation could affect them.

EasyJet is a is an important operator at our network, but we are seeing how other airlines are are announcing very important plans for to to to increase their operations at our airports, that, for example, Wizz Air, for example, Jet2. We will see.

The, the the air transport industry is very dynamic. When one airline disappear or reduce or increase its operation, other other come to to operate.

The important for us is that we have very competitive airports. We have capacity, we have good quality.

Despite the opinion of some airlines, we are also very competitive in airport charges. We will we will we will follow the the evolution of the new structure of easyJet, but we are not concerned about that at this moment.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Lobbenberg of Barclays.

Andrew, your line is open. Please proceed.

Oh,

Andrew Lobbenberg

hi there. I just wondered if you could comment on the continuing loud campaign from Ryanair complaining about airport charges and the structure of charges at regional airports.

Do you think there's a possibility that their campaign will calm down once the DORA defines future charges? Or how are you going to learn to live with this?

Slightly related to it, I think there was some new story about some developers seeking to set up an independent secondary Madrid airport, which is limited to only a million passengers, but Ryanair are celebrating this. Do you think this is going to be a reality, and is it in any form a strategic threat if people think they can deliver micro-airports that compete against you?

Javier Marín

Ryanair, what they say in Spain is the same they say across Europe. They want to reduce airport charges, they are never happy with airport charges.

To be honest, we are not concerned about that. I think they have to grow.

Aena is the first airport operator for Ryanair. Also Ryanair is very important for Aena, is the first individual airline for us.

They will continue growing. Now they have a limited number of aircrafts, and they base those aircrafts where they get more profitability, and they get more profitability through a higher yield at the major airports.

What we see is that when they have decided to abandon or to leave some of the regional airports, there are other airlines that go there because the demand is there. The problem is that it takes some time, because immediately the airlines need time to plan.

We have seen how airports like Jerez in Andalucia, it's growing again once Ryanair decided to leave Jerez, or some airports in the Canary Island, or in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where very very soon we are going to see announcement of a competitor of Ryanair which is going to announce a base there and several routes there. I think Ryanair will continue growing in Spain not only at the major airports, but also at the regional airports because well, there are opportunities there for the industry, and I'm sure they will take those opportunities.

Nothing. Operationally, as we have always repeated, they are very good operationally, and they lead the industry in some way.

In terms of public speech, well, they are not easy, but are predictable in some way because they're saying the same every country around Europe. Talking about the new idea or project, well, it's not new.

In the last weeks, well, we have seen some news about this project because well, taking the opportunity of a public speech of Ryanair, they ask, "Would you like to have another airport in Madrid to complete with Barajas?" "Yes, I would like to that."

I think probably technically speaking there is a difficulty in being compatible the airspace around this new location with the rest of the airports or air bases in Madrid. We have Madrid airport, Madrid-Barajas Airport, but there are also two military bases, and the place where this airport is located or they would be located is I think that it has some problems of compatibility with the airspace, with the routes to land and take off there.

Anyway, we have proposed to the regulator a very ambitious project to expand Barajas. I think it's a great advantage to have this airport in Madrid, Madrid-Barajas Airport, where we have something which is the main advantage of Barajas is that we have the environmental permission to grow up to 120 operations per hour.

That is a great advantage. I would say it's a luxury for us to have that because, well, you know that is very difficult to increase capacity in the air side by growing runways or expanding the current runways.

What we are going to invest in Barajas is terminals because we need the terminals buildings to process passengers. We have the great advantage of having four runways with capacity of 120 operations per hour.

Perhaps is the airport in Europe with more capacity available to grow in the future. Talking about the second airport, I think with the technical difficulties, I think does not make sense.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Dario Maglione of BNP Paribas.

Dario, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Dario Maglione

Hi, good afternoon. Just one question for me on capex.

For the DORA III, of course, we still don't know exactly the amount, but so far we said around €10 billion regulated capex. In terms of the risk, if there is a capex overrun on one of these projects, who bears the risk?

Can you add the additional cost to the RAB or not? What is the process?

Thanks.

Javier Marín

Our capex program will be 13, 1-3. The regulated capex is only 10.

The capex that will have to implement the company will be 13. Anyway, the question is valid for both figures.

The level of definition of the capex in the DORA provides some margin to manage the different portfolio, both with some adjustment in the times, as with some conditions we mentioned before the strategic investment, relevant investment, on, and also with the amount that is foresaw at the beginning. In fact, we are developing projects at this moment and we have proposed some capex for some airports that still we don't know the final amount.

The regulation gives some margin to work with that, of course without increasing the maximum amount, in this case, 10,000, which is the regulated 10 billion 10 billion 10 billion, which is the regulated. That is something which is going to be taking into account at the time of calculating the airport charge.

If we increase that, it's on our side, unless it is approved in the middle of the DORA. Or if we don't invest €10,000, we'll have to give that money back to the DORA IV.

In terms of managing, it's a challenge to implement the capex program, but at the same time, having a huge portfolio, working at different airports, we have some margin to work with it and to comply with the DORA and with the amount of money that we are obliged to invest.

Dario Maglione

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Marcin Wojtal of Bank of America.

Marcin, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Marcin Wojtal

Yes, thank you for taking my questions. When could we get clarity on K factor and also on the P factor that will be included in your tariff increase for 2027?

Could you perhaps share your best estimates of those two tariff adjustment factors for next year? Thank you.

Javier Marín

Normally, we should already know those elements. Because of the DORA is not approved, the process to consult the tariffs for next year is postponed because those factors, as you very well know, have to be added to the or applied to the airport charge of next year.

As you can imagine, at this moment of the year, we have some calculations, but we can't release today because we need to comply with the regulated procedure. Once we know the DORA, we'll call airlines to start with the process to consult the airport charges for next year where we have to apply to the airport charges approved by the DORA K factor, P factor, B factor, quality factor, and so on.

Sorry for not releasing today, but we'll have to wait some weeks for that.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question Anyway,

Javier Marín

you will know those figures before the strategic plan. That's in the middle between the approval of the DORA and the strategic plan.

Operator

Perfect. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of José Arroyas of Santander. Jose, your line is open.

Please go ahead.

José Arroyas

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, Javier, Nacho, and Carlos.

I wanted to ask you about the relevance of the P factor during the DORA III now that the P factor will be uncapped. Anyway, this is the topic of the day, opex inflation of 10% this year in Spain, driven by factors that are clearly specific to Aena and the aviation sector.

I wanted to ask you if there is a reasonable chance that the P factor in 2028 would reflect all of the opex that Aena is seeing in Spain this year, and that the P factor would be well above inflation in 2028. Thank you.

Ignacio Castejón

Thank you, Jose Manuel. This is Nacho speaking.

That the P factor doesn't reflect inflation completely. Is a tailor-made index.

I think assuming that there will be a pass-through of current inflation of 2026 in 2028 because of what we are suffering or experiencing in our financial performance, I think is something that I'm not keen to say. That there is a basket of items, part of the P factor.

There are some constraints in the legal definition of the P factor because sometimes we can only apply the minimum comparing an specific industrial index compared to our management accounts or cost accounting accounts. We have to apply the minimum.

The maximum, in many of those cases, will be in a situation where we wouldn't be able to even transfer our cost impacts if the industry index is lower than the impact that we are having in our accounts. Given the removal of the cap, I think is good news for the company, because as given your experience following us, that has been a constraint.

Having said that, we are more optimistic because that cap has been removed, but we are not completely optimistic of being able to pass-through 100% of inflation through the P index. It's true that we are starting a new DORA, as all of at the 1st of Jan of 2027.

We have the positive consequence of being able to rebase most of our costs at this moment in time with the current constant prices as of 2026. That will give us some push, some help in order to start from a base that is taking into account the price consequences or the nominal consequences of many years of high inflations, including some months of 2026, hopefully.

That's where we are, Jose Manuel. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question on today's call, please dial star followed by one on your telephone keypads.

Our next question comes from Nicolò Pessina of Mediobanca. Nicolò, please go ahead.

Nicolò Pessina

Good afternoon. I would like to ask you about the CNMC proposal included in the DORA III opinion about introducing adjustments to the traffic estimates in the DORA III framework.

Do you have a view on how these adjustments could work? Would you expect the DGAC to move ahead with this proposal?

Do you think the DGAC could do it unilaterally, or an agreement with the Aena is necessary for any change of the framework? Thank you.

Javier Marín

The report of the CNMC is a non-binding report. Of course any decision that the DGAC finally does to propose to the Board of Ministers has to be done in the terms that are defined in the law that regulates.

This is not a question of opinion, it's a question of regulation based in the law that 14 18 of 2014.

Ignacio Castejón

Hi, Charlie, can you hear me?

Operator

Yes, we can hear you on the line now.

Ignacio Castejón

We can go ahead with the next questions, please.

Operator

Of course. Nicolò, if you could please repeat your question there.

Nicolò Pessina

My question was about the traffic adjustments that the CNMC proposed in its opinion for the DORA III framework a couple of months ago. I think Javier Marín's answer has been clear.

Thanks.

Operator

Yeah. Thank you.

Our final question of today comes from Nicolas Mora of Morgan Stanley. Nicolas, your line is open.

Please go ahead.

Nicolas Mora

Yes, good afternoon, guys. Just to talk about something else than DORA, can you talk a bit about the commercial performance that you saw in Q2, and also the way you continue to get contracts quite markedly above historical MAGs into 2027-28?

What's the status with travel operators? You're still empowered to or still feel you've got pricing power to push up expectations?

That's the first one. Then on the MAGs, especially on duty-free, you've been on and off the MAGs in certain areas.

You're still in for the Canary Islands. What should we expect in the back end of the year, and what would you expect further improvement closer to the MAGs in H2?

Thank you.

Ignacio Castejón

Thank you, Nicolas. This is Ignacio.

Sorry for the confusion with Nico before. Let me start with the second one.

You are right. We have had a performance in the past year in which we were able to go above MAGs in many of the duty-free lots.

In this first six months of 2026, only one lot, the one in Canary Islands, is above. There are two lots that are very close, all the Mediterranean coast and Andalucia, and the North one that is a small, but is also close.

What has happened in the Mediterranean coast? I think traffic has performed very well, Nicolas, but what we have seen is that because of the current layout of the airports and too because of the entry-exit system, some potential performance of the duty-free business might have been impacted because traffic has been very strong in those airports.

Hopefully, once we have gone through the entry-exit system, more and more passengers are enrolled, we will be able to deliver a growth that allows Aena to be above MAGs in that lot. With respect to Madrid and Catalunya, we are still far from being able to be above the MAG in the specific year.

As you will remember, MAGs increase every year further to the arrangements that we have with the duty-free operators. Your first question was with respect to the performance of the commercial business in the second quarter.

I must say that has been better than in the first quarter. I think we can go to slide 10 of our presentation.

You can see there that the increase in commercial revenue on a per-pax basis has been 4.4% in this quarter compared to a 3% in the previous quarter. Has not only been traffic, but also better performance in many of our business lines.

In some of them, what we are witnessing is that the demand, the strong demand for VIP services is there. We still have a pricing power in many fronts.

We are adding capacity, and that capacity is filled as soon as we open that capacity. We are even offer different types of services in the VIP front in order to be able to have a better breakdown or segmentation of passengers, so that we can offer the right product at the right price given the demand that we are having.

With respect to retail, duty-free, F&B, and specialty shops, we have shared with you the increases in MAGs that are coming from the latest tenders that the company has closed in the first six months of 2026. The results are confirming that there is appetite, that increases are double-digit increases for F&B and for specialty shops, as we are presenting, I think, in slide 16, if I'm not wrong.

Some figures included there could be a bit surprising, and happy to share the background, Nicolas, behind those increases. If we look at specialty shops, an increase of 82% in 2027.

It's true that the comparison of that 82% is taking into account brand-new space that we are adding, the comparison is almost nil. We are adding new space that previously there was nothing.

That's why that percentage is materially higher than perhaps the percentage that we have disclosed in previous quarters for new tenders. If we look at F&B, we have the opposite.

The 11% of MAG increases for 2027 compared to 2025, that's a small number, but that's a small number because the number of units is very small, because that specific RFP was included mainly units that are going to be renewed in 2028, not in 2027. The comparison of that 11% is very small.

Is not that, I would say, a reference that 11%, because the real reference would be the one for 2028. We are still seeing very material increases in most of the RFPs that we are launching and in many of our airports.

Those processes are taking place in airports that are really material, because we are talking about Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, some airports in the Canary Islands. The short answer with respect to pricing power, we are still seeing a strong appetite in many fronts for retail.

The other business lines, mobility, car parks, increasing circa 10% with a pricing power. The issue that we have there is capacity, Nicolas.

That's why when we are asked about DORA III and the non-regulated capex, I think the answer from the company is always we need to invest in car parks. Those €3 billion are mainly explained by car parks, because we need more capacity.

A material increase in that business line will come from revenues explained by more capacity happening at the end of DORA III. Car rental, we are seeing less profitable transactions coming from operators in some of our airports, but still growing.

That what I tried to highlight in my opening remarks, very strong growth in all the ride-sharing initiatives that the company is launching. That would be my review on retail and pricing power, Nicolas.

I hope that I have been able to address your question.

Operator

Perfect. Thank you.

We now have a follow-up from Cristian Nedelcu of UBS. Cristian, your line is open.

Cristian Nedelcu

Thank you very much for allowing me to add. Maybe two quick ones.

On the CNMC proposal, I was wondering, the usual process, have you provided any feedback to DGAC in response to what CNMC has said? Can elaborate, are there any parameters, any assumptions from the CNMC where you have significantly different views that you flagged to the DGAC?

The second one, just a technical one, apologies. As per the disclosure, I think there were a couple of positive and negative impacts in the P&L around the fair value of trade receivables and some impairments of trade receivables.

Could I kindly ask you to clarify, at the end of the day, are they mostly neutral to EBITDA in Q2? Do they mostly offset each other, or were they a net positive or a net negative?

Can you comment in anyway? Thank you.

Javier Marín

Javier, for the second one, I will give the floor to Nacho. The first one, I have mentioned, Cristian, once we sent our proposal approved by the board, that was in February, we don't have a way defined in the process in the law to contribute, to make comments about the CNMC and about other reports.

No, the answer is no, we have not given feedback to the DGAC about the report of the CNMC because we can't in the process. We, on the contrary of some airlines, have considered that we must not press the regulator in this process.

We gave a lot of information in the consultation process with the airlines that it lasted five months. In this consultation process, the DGAC, CNMC attended every meeting, they gave a lot of reports explaining why we needed to increase our opex, why to explain our proposal in terms of quality, and so on.

They know all the information, and well, we have to wait some weeks to know the result.

Ignacio Castejón

Thank you, Javier. Cristian, with respect to your second question, I think if we look at the consolidated P&L, you are right, we have a positive movement in the item that we refer as change in the fair value of trade receivables.

That's a partial recognition of the income, mainly of the income that the company has recognized in relation to the agreement that Javier was referring to earlier with Areas applying IFRS, international accounting rules. That's not part of the commercial revenue.

According to IFRS 16, that's the place or the item where we have to recognize the deal that we have closed with that specific operator. Part of the amount of that deal, because it's related to financial interest, would be in the financial part of the P&L, below EBITDA.

If I remember well, it was around €7 million on top of the amount that you see in the change in the fair value of trade receivables. The minus that you were referring, I understand, is the one that we are including in the item losses on impairment and change and provisions for trade receivables.

What we are mainly including there is a bad debt provision in reference to basically bad debt provisions that we have to record because of relationships with commercial operators. That's the rational for that amount in this specific period.

Thank you, Cristian.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude the question and answer session today.

I'd now like to turn the call back over to Carlos Gallego, Head of IR, for closing comments.

Carlos Gallego

Thank you, Charlie. As there are no further questions, we will conclude today's call.

Thank you for your participation and continued interest in Aena. We wish you all a pleasant summer, and for those taking a holiday in the coming weeks, a well-deserved break.

Thank you very much, and have a good afternoon. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.

We thank you for your participation. Have a pleasant rest of your day.

Goodbye.