Hi, everyone. This is Raluca Kasap, Head of Investor Relations.

Electrica's management team would like to thank you for joining us for the conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the first semester of 2026 financial results. Those of you who are connected only by phone, we kindly ask you to download the presentation in PDF format from our website under the Investor section, Results and Presentations.

Besides the H1 results, in the presentation you'll find about the latest events, strategy, sustainability aspects, share evolution, as well as a brief summary of the regulatory framework governing our business lines. The participants connected online can address written questions on the live webcast or can intervene live on the Q&A session audio at the end.

You can, of course, ask questions as well through our regular IR email. Please kindly note that since the entire conference is being recorded, all participants will be in a listen-only mode, the attendees' voices will be disabled.

Should anyone need assistance, you may signal an operator by pressing * and 0 on your telephone. The recorded presentation will be available later tonight, latest tomorrow, and the transcript as well as soon as possible.

Also, we kindly ask you to see the disclaimer on slide 3 of the presentation. We'll begin the presentation, which will be followed by a questions-and-answers session at the end.

I'll invite now our CEO, Mr. Alexandru Chiriță, to begin.

Thank you, Raluca. Dear ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being [with?]

us today. As always, we value the opportunity to share our journey with you and gain your insights and perspectives.

We are available at the end of the presentation to answer any questions that might arise. Please stay tuned until we finish.

When we spoke 3 months ago about the first quarter, I shared with you our view on the structural transformation taking place in the Romanian energy market, a shift marked by the return to a stable market competition after a prolonged period of volatility and regulatory interventions. Today, looking at our full results for the first 6 months, I am happy to report that our performance fully validates our strategic choices.

In a market where environment dynamics have changed fundamentally, competitive advantage is built on operational discipline, continuous efficiency, and of course proper capital allocation. The figures of this first half demonstrate that the direction we set for Electrica is solid, financially resilient, and fully aligned with our integrated business model.

For H1 2026, we generated an EBITDA of nearly 1.1 billion RON, with a growth of roughly 7.7%. Our net profit reached at this point 457 million RON, up by 8.6%, and the consolidated revenues overpassed 6 billion RON, a 24% increase compared to the first half of last year.

Now, let's go through the core business lines. In short, the distribution segment, as always, represents the steady anchor of value for the group, and it's contributing over 80% 5% of our consolidated EBITDA.

Over these 6 months, DEER distributed almost 9 TWh of electricity to over 4 million grid users across our 18 counties. Revenues rose nearly 5% to 2.84 billion RON, and we focus on infrastructure resilience and our network investment program remains unwavering.

In the first half of the year, we put in operation investments worth 233 million RON. We are fully in line with our operational targets, and commissioning is carrying out continuously across the entire year to ensure and enhance the quality, safety, and reliability of the grid we operate.

By end of June, our regulated asset base reached an approximate 8.7 billion RON in nominal terms. Now, we are going to I hope a full year of normalization after all these periods, and I think we will be in line with our CAPEX program by the end of the year.

The supply segment, we navigated differently. It's one of the most demanding and transformative periods in recent years.

The end of the price capping mechanism last year allowed us to rebuild our pricing strategy around true market fundamentals, risk management, and profitability. Managing this transition in a controlled and balanced way enabled our supply to generate an EBITDA of 181 million RON, a good recovery, I would say, from the 58.5 million RON recorded in the same period of last year.

Even though retail volumes dropped by 9% as the market calibrated, and of course with the actual problems on the market, the lack of energy and the overall reduce of consumption in report to the economic, let's say, stagnation, our revenues decreased year-on-year only by 2%, and it reached 4.3 billion RON. We maintain our position in the supply market, ranking third in terms of overall supplied volumes in the first 5 months and being a leader in the total customer base, over 3.2 million consumption points.

However, I must emphasize that our commitment to open, fair, and truly competitive market remains firm. We're still working continuously with the authorities to recover the outstanding subsidies owed to the group, which stood at 2.54 billion RON at the end of June.

A good news is that the law has made some changes on Friday, and we are looking forward in recovering some of the amounts in the immediate future for roughly 500 million RON. On the strategy of production and renewables, where our vision for the future is becoming a daily reality, in the first half we produced almost 21 GWh of green electricity.

It tripled the volume produced in first half of 2025, and this milestone is the direct outcome of bringing into commercial operation of our Vulturu and Satu Mare 2 photovoltaic parks. Now, we are roughly at 50 MW operational.

Our long-term target remains the same regarding the renewable production capacity, and we have currently 300 MW of solar and wind in various stages. We started the Bihor park and Satu Mare 3.

We're beginning constructions. I think we're going to be in line.

Also, we are currently closing in on the start of the constructions for the wind projects. On the battery side, we still have a lot of pipeline, and we have the target there.

I think we will overpass in the near future more than 1.2 GWh of battery storage. You have on the screen the exact time frames for that.

We are doing our absolute best to reduce the time that it's spent building these capacities, as they are crucial in the environment we are set to work now. 10 days ago, of course, our shareholders approved our ambitious projects in Craiova, and last week we signed the contract to build a high-efficiency cogeneration plant based on natural gas internal combustion engines, which will supply thermal energy to the city centralized district heating system and electricity to the national grid.

It's a very important investment for us. It makes perfect sense in the synergy of the group.

We, of course, identified this high opportunity for the group in order to make this investment, and we are very pleased that our shareholders supported the decisions and our request to fund it. At the same time, we're not lagging behind with our commitments.

We are going forward with the memo with Romgaz. We are going forward with the memo with Liberty.

It takes a bit of time to start to finish up the paperwork and to have some clear projects on the actual pipeline, but we'll keep the market updated on developments regarding any of them, as usual. At the same time, we continue to evaluate regional growth opportunities.

We are happy to announce that it's the takeover, and now it's going to be the name change for Electrica Moldova. We are looking there on opportunities.

We should add Moldova to the map in the future.

There's a very small note below. Yes.

We should add it to the map there.

We will.

Let's see what the future holds, because we're looking forward and to more than that. On the strategy and finance outlook, looking ahead at the remainder of 2026, we hold a very confident and positive outlook.

Electrica is transforming, and I think it's visible for everybody that things are changing at a much rapid pace. It's becoming a platform.

It becomes something else. It's more than a utility.

It will be an integrated platform for energy distribution, supply, generation, storage, services, and advanced digital processes. It sounds long, but I think the actual transformation is happening, and for this we are putting in place a strong financial structure.

We already have the approval from our shareholders, who I thank, for the bond program up to €1 billion. It will be complemented with a dedicated bridge-to-bond credit facility.

And 2 weeks ago, we also obtained the approval from our shareholders to centralize the existing credit facilities at the level of the mother company on an amount of 8.7 billion RON. This is a very good step forward in having a more strong financial structure.

It will be at group level. Hopefully, it will decrease the overall cost and the financial pressure.

We are on a stable liquidity position, and I think in the end we are working on securing the best possible terms for the group. Financial flexibility will allow us to act much faster, will capture market opportunities, and we can back all the projects in the pipeline with requested today.

The CAPEX is real, it's there. We're pushing to build faster, and we'll keep the market transparently up-to-date as all these endeavors mature.

In closing, not to prolong it, I want to emphasize that our operational discipline, our financial flexibility, and the most important, the dedication and professionalism of our colleagues across the entire Electrica Group is what enable us to deliver sustainable value to our stakeholders and build a secure, modern energy future for Romania. I thank you for your attention and continuous support.

I will be here to answer any of your questions. I will now pass the floor to our Chief Financial Officer, Mr.

Costin Iordache, who will detail the financial results of H1 2026, and then I will be delighted to take your question. Costin, please.

Thank you very much. Good evening.

My name is Costin Iordache, and I'll pass you through our financials. The group results in H1 2026 delivered increase on the line of revenues, 23%.

We have an increase in EBITDA that support our cash development, supported also in the net results margin, where we go to 458 million RON in the results. The consolidated EBITDA net results evolution, the positive variation, it was driven by the energy margin mainly, affected by a negative influence from the OPEX, 74 million RON.

The negative variation of the OPEX was mainly as a group level driven by the increase of the cost in the distribution segment, where we have impacts related to the evolution of the prices in the repairs and maintenance, and we have in the same time expenses increase in the third-party expenses driven by the market price evolution. Distribution segment is the financial results.

EBITDA decreased with 42 million RON mainly, like I said, due to the unfavorable OPEX, offset by some positive evolution in the energy, electricity, and revenues generated by the reactive energy or by the other segments where we are producing margins. Overall, DEER remains the largest distributor operator in Romania, with 4.1 million users.

We have a positive evolution in terms of the distributed volumes, that remains stable compared with last year, and in the same time we optimized our network losses. The supply segment, Electrica Furnizare, EBITDA improved by 22 million RON compared with H1 2025, mainly following by the evolution of the factors below.

The increase in the energy margin was 76 million RON from the supply segment, increased mostly by the variation of the revenues related to the supply segment is determined by the establishment of the selling prices in the electricity competitive mechanism adapted to the company strategy. This positive effect was partially diminished by the 9% decrease of energy supplied in the retail market.

Electrica Furnizare, as we mentioned, ranked as the third among suppliers in January to May 2026, and we are struggling to try to opt to go further to the second place, that I think is belonging to us. The volume in electricity market supplied decreased with -8.7% 8.9%, from 3.71 TWh to 3.38 TWh.

The same is also affecting the number of the consumption, that unfortunately decreased also from 3.42 to 3.23. We have a positive evolution in the receivables.

The total receivables decreased from 48 million RON with -6% in the first 6 months, significant operating offering us a positive impact in our working capital evolution. This is also reflecting in our slide, and the total outstanding receivables adjusted with the exclusion turnover goes to 806 million in 2026.

The production segment, that it's our new star and it's developing, shows that the strategy is in the right approach. We have a very positive increase.

We see a double-digit increase in the revenues. The EBITDA, it's more than doubled.

It's going from 2 to 7, and the net results is confirming this results. Production segment, it's at this moment driven by the Electrica, Stanesti and Vulturu, Satu Mare through Sunwind Energy, that it's our vehicle, but it's also operational.

In the same time, the other two are under constructive or in different stages, and when they will be also ready, the production segment will become a more contributor in our results. Electrica Serv, in H1, the evolution of the net result is positive, of 70 million, mainly from the evolution of EBITDA of 20 million RON, in which is added the decrease of the amortization depreciation.

As positive things, the group having a positive evolution in the EBITDA during the entire group, the group liquidity and debt maturity profile at a group level, liquidity available in cash and overdraft limits as of 30 30th June 2026 was 2,813 million RON. This is lower, but the driver behind is the fact that the group was able to place more money in the long-term investments, meaning we place more money after 3 months, this offer us a more cash disposal.

As in order to sustain our investments, as you see, our debt is concentrating in the bank borrowings over 2 to 5 years, and we have a significant amount also more than 5 years. We have less than 1 year, it's mainly to the fact that we sustain our working capital and the short-term facilities with 2.5 billion RON available for the short-term improvement.

In mainly, these are the main numbers, and we are able here to answer to any of your questions available for the next time. Thank you.

I think we can start with the questions, Raluca? Regarding the questions, do

we have anyone online?

I have one from Caius. If he's online, I can take the question.

I can't see the screen very well, but I have it on my phone. Timing of subsidy recovery.

Now that that the law is in place, it will take let I don't think it will take more than than a month to see the increase from 40% to 60%, which roughly translates to 500 million. It will help decrease the overall cost burden on the group, especially on the supply side.

We're we're seeing something that it's quite it's optimistic. We had discussions regarding the slow pace of which this subsidy problem is being currently handled, and there is the openness from the state to actually increase again by the end of the year.

Maybe we can get to a different percentage, maybe 70%, which will again lower the the pressure on the on the company. It's not that we're not stable, we're very stable, but there is a financial cost that will be settled in the future that neither of the parties would like it to to to exist.

Now, on declining volumes in supply, you can see it differently. We can see it more, let's say, more emphasized on the supply business, not so keen on the distribution, but it is there.

It's not that we don't do something in practicality, it's that the economy is actually slowing down. We can see it overall.

We don't have the same level of consumption at national level as it is, but I'm sure that by the year by the year pass, we will get back to what will be a new normal. I don't know if we can call normal something at this point.

Our target is still there. We're still doing our best to to manage everything.

For today, the declining volumes in supply, even though they have an effect on the overall results of the group, keep in mind it's one of the scenarios that we had in the beginning when we made the budget. We're still I think we're still 70%, 80% over the over the budget, we're still delivering over our expectation of, let's say, bad events.

In CAPEX completion in till year-end, I think it is, on the network, I guess. On the this on the production, there there is not a there is no problem, maybe slight delays, but on the distribution again, you can see that it's still where it was last year.

We're going to a phase of let's let's say normal course of business where we don't recover in the next year, at least this is our intent, the actual CAPEX intended. We have more than €150 million per year, we have the European funding on various matters.

We should be without deviation. If there is something that we don't reach by end of the year, which I don't think should be the the case, we can still recover the next year.

As you could see in the last 4 years, we actually went over the plan that we agreed with ANRE, and it is our intention to accelerate this investment, because what the most important things for this sector today is the grid. We need to understand that we need more investments in the grid, we need to put more money there, and we need to deliver faster.

We're doing our part. We are speaking with the regulator about reincreasing the level of investments.

I'm sure that at some point we will find some solutions, and we can actual we can actually do these things. On the economics of Craiova businesses, now, everything is in line and you have access to all the data.

I don't know the specific of the question, but I think you can contact Raluca. She can give you access with more details.

For, let's say, at a high level, Electrica needs this kind of this kind of energy capacity anyway in the group. If you remember, there is a permanent talk about the Fântânele plant, which should balance our overall portfolio.

Now that we had this opportunity where we keep we we make this investment with lower risk, we should be more than I, at least, am more than comfortable this is a good investment. It will be done as fast as possible.

We made We also made the promise to to the people of Craiova that they will have the heating. I think this winter will be the last one that will be without Electrica actually intervening, and after that we will take over and and secure.

We go to a next question. I think this is for Costin regarding some corrections.

Yes. You disclosed 106 million corrections and adjustments embedded for 2026 tariffs, that it's fully reflects the 2024 deviations, and yes, the affirmation is the corrections fully reflect the 2024 deviations.

There is another question: "What impact do you expect from the Cernavodă outage to have on procurement and supply margins in H2 2026 and how much the required volume are already hedged?"

I'll just make a brief comment on this. The nuclear outage will have some effect on the cost and supply, but I don't think in the end will be If things will go back to normal quite quickly, we won't stay like this more than another 2 should not be a material level.

It shouldn't overall impact the results of the supply. It will probably be some debate there.

There are some legal discussions regarding what happened. There are some legal discussions with the teams regarding the remedies for this.

Let's wait and see exactly. We're not very concerned.

We are concerned indeed if the situation prolongs, but there is enough energy on the market. It's a bit more expensive than usual, but the energy is still there and that's what matters most today.

"How much of the decline in supply volumes reflects lower consumption per customers versus customer losses, and what volume do you expect for 2026?" I don't know if we actually disclose this kind of

No, at this moment this kind of information, exactly, we cannot disclose at the customer level. As a general comment, and you have it already from the statistical evidences of Romania, there is a decrease of the energy consumption overall Romania.

Obvious we are one of the players in the market.

Maybe the question is the overall loss from decreasing the energy or the clients? No, it's from the overall decrease of energy volumes per country.

I think this was actually the question. Sorry to intervene.

"What level of CAPEX do you now expect for the final year 2026 and how much, if any, could slip into 2027?" As a general comment, without giving a guideline, we want to mention that Electrica in the grid they expect to put in CAPEX the expected plan according to ANRE, even to be over the CAPEX.

This is our expectation for 2026. If not possible, everything will be moved 2027, but our expectation that we'll be over the plan at the end of 2026.

"On the network losses conformal assumption, would you consider reasonable for final year 2026 and could you provide any guidance?" I cannot.

It will be around 9%. I think it's already a tradition coming to the third question: "Following the H1 results, what level do you now expect for the final year 2026 and which segments are driving any change versus your previous expectations?"

I think as we already mentioned, we are over the budget, so that is at this moment not a problem anymore that we'll remain over the budget till the final of the year. We don't want to give now any guidance about the final values of 2026.

These questions: "How do you expect the €235 million Craiova CAPEX to be phased over 2026-2028, and when do you expect the commercial operations to start?" I think Mr.

Alexandru Chiriță already answered to these questions. I don't think if I can add something.

No,

the CAPEX for Craiova will be I think split it in two. We will most likely place out the orders by end of the year.

We will settle how much it will be paid upfront or in execution, but shouldn't be a problem. We should be in line with the overall estimates.

We already had discussions with all parties involved. We are on the way to secure everything that is needed and make the most of it and make it a very good project for Electrica.

Again, you can contact Raluca. Some of the information regarding Craiova are under NDA clauses.

You can revert to her, sign an NDA, and then we can actual disclose some of the extra information.

On the quarter 3 potential EBITDA or potential results, as we already mentioned, we see there is a volatility in the market. It was this driving this volatility also in August, expected also to be prolonged in September.

It's difficult now to have to give a guideline what will be the expected EBITDA for Q3 2026. Sorry, on the last things, you want to know on the last question here, "I would like to focus how you see the network losses and procurement costs in the supply."

Little unclear.

The network losses are on the distribution and the procurement cost I guess it's referring to the supply. We can answer one way or another.

Network losses are in line with the targets that are set with ANRE. The procurement cost, now there is a discussion here.

We are in line with what ANRE is targeted. There is a small discussion regarding what happened in the last 2 weeks, but it will be an analysis that we will make post-closings and see if the actual procurement cost of the energy that was due to the closing of the nuclear reactors went over the pricing that was accepted for ANRE.

I think at least for the distribution, if this was the case, it will be closed similar to the capitalization that was before when the energy crisis hit. I don't have a concern on the network procurement as it is.

On the supply business, it's more of a commercial discussion between the supply and Nuclearelectrica. I hope I was clear.

Thank you so much. We can stay 1 minute longer, but I don't think there are any more questions.

Keep in mind we're always here. Some of you requested meetings with us prior, we always said yes, we are always available, very transparent with everything that we do.

We keep a very optimistic outlook for this year. I think things will go better.

Let's see what next year will hold in for us, but for 2026, a positive outlook. I think we can have a positive outcome above expectations as always.

We'll keep pushing on investments. This is the most important part.

Keep tuned. We will have more announcements regarding the group strategy and new projects quite shortly.

Thank you.