Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining MAIRE's first half 2026 financial results conference call. My name is Silvia Guidi and I'm the Head of the Investor Relations Department.

Today I'm joined by Alessandro Bernini, CEO; Mariano Avanzi, CFO; and Fabio Fritelli, NEXTCHEM Managing Director. They will walk you through the operational highlights of our business units, followed by an overview of our financial results.

At the end of the presentation, we will be happy to take your questions. Let me now hand over to Alessandro for some introductory remarks.

Thank you, Silvia, and good afternoon, everyone. The first half of 2026 once again highlighted the resilience of our business model amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Even in this challenging environment, which continues to be characterized by stringent safety protocols, project execution continued without major disruptions, reflecting the strength of our operating platform and the close cooperation with clients and subcontractors. Leveraging our ability to manage complexity across a diversified project backlog, we delivered solid financial results.

Revenues reached €3.7 billion and the EBITDA margin improved by 50 basis points to 7.2%, benefiting from the growing contribution of NEXTCHEM's technology portfolio. In June, we also completed the acquisition of Ballestra and E-Tech, expanding our presence into inorganic chemistry for fertilizers and critical materials.

Both companies will contribute to our P&L results starting from the third quarter. The solid operating and financial performance was complemented by a strong order intake of €7.2 billion in the first half of the year, corresponding to a book-to-bill ratio of 2 and leading to a group backlog of €16.3 billion, close to its all-time high.

Including the contracts secured in July, total new awards have already reached €8.4 billion in the first 7 months of the year, bringing us close to the €9 billion full-year target we had set. This acceleration reflects a stronger-than-expected demand backed by energy security and industrial resilience concerns across the board.

Equally important, this commercial momentum is enabling us to expand our geographical footprint and enter new markets. In this respect, Argentina represents a significant milestone in our diversification journey.

Through the Fertilpampa project, we will deliver the largest urea plant in Latin America, combining Tecnimont's execution capabilities with NEXTCHEM's proprietary technologies. This award further validates the strength of our integrated business model and our ability to offer clients end-to-end solutions.

Importantly, we are entering this new market with a de-risked execution approach, by focusing on our core engineering and procurement expertise, while construction activities will be carried out by SACDE, a leading Argentine contractor with extensive local experience. This first major contract creates a platform for future growth, positioning us to capture additional opportunities across the wider Latin American market.

As our backlog continues to expand, strengthening our engineering capabilities remains a key priority. In the first 6 months of the year, we added around 500 professionals, strengthening our capabilities in fertilizers and in the chemistry of minerals and metals through the acquisition of Ballestra and E-Tech, while enhancing our LNG expertise through targeted hiring.

At the same time, we reinforce our proximity to key growth markets with the opening of NEXTCHEM's Beijing office, establishing a strategic hub within one of the world's leading industrial ecosystems for next-generation industrial technologies. Now let me leave the floor to Fabio for a detailed look at the STS operational performance.

Thank you, Sandro, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks to the recent awards and the completion of the Ballestra acquisition, NEXTCHEM enters the second half of the year with a record backlog of €702.6 million, leveraging a technology portfolio exceeding 80 solutions.

The €506.9 million order intake in the first half, which includes the consolidation of Ballestra's portfolio for €265.3 million, reflected a well-diversified exposure across fertilizers, specialty chemicals, and advanced materials, confirming the relevance of our offering across multiple value chains and geographies. More broadly, we are seeing strong commercial momentum in fertilizers and we are focusing on large-scale integrated projects, where NEXTCHEM can maximize the value of its platform by offering a full package, including licensing and proprietary equipment, as demonstrated by the recent Fertilpampa award.

Let me now briefly walk you through our recent M&A transactions and explain how they strengthen NEXTCHEM's growth platform for future commercial prospects. At the end of June, we completed the acquisition of Ballestra for a total consideration of €184— and €48 million, apologies, €48 million.

The group comprises Ballestra, including the Mazzoni brand, a global leader in detergents and surfactants technologies; Buss ChemTech, specialized in fluorine derivatives and gas-liquid reactions; and Ballestra India, the engineering hub in Bangalore. Together, these businesses bring market-leading solutions with a proven track record of over 6,400 plant references worldwide, significantly accelerating the development of NEXTCHEM's technology platform.

It expands our portfolio across the full NPK fertilizers spectrum, the chemistry for strategic materials, particularly critical minerals and metals processing, while providing access to global consumer goods customers through soap and detergent solutions. We have already started working closely with Ballestra's commercial teams on a number of opportunities, and we are encouraged by the early signs we are seeing, including promising cross-selling potential.

Last month, we also completed the purchase of a 70% stake in E-Tech for a total consideration of €11.1 million, of which €5 million was paid upfront, with the remainder linked to earn-outs. Through E-Tech, we gain exposure to the rapidly growing electronic waste stream with proprietary solutions characterized by high recovery rates, feedstock flexibility, and improved energy efficiency.

The transaction marks our entry into the attractive precious metals recovery market and adds advanced technologies to NEXTCHEM's circular solutions platform. We are already seeing solid commercial interest from our existing waste management customers, providing early validation of the attractiveness of this value proposition.

Together, these two acquisitions are part of a broader strategic initiative aimed at expanding our technology portfolio in mineral and metal processing, with a particular focus on strategic and critical materials. We see significant long-term potential in this segment and intend to further strengthen our capabilities and market position through continuous investment, including additional targeted M&A opportunities.

I will now hand it back to Sandro for the operational performance of the Integrated E&C Solutions business unit.

Thank you, Fabio. Turning to our Integrate E&C Solutions operations, let me provide you with an update on activities across the Middle East, where around 2,500 of our engineers and technicians were deployed at the end of June.

As I mentioned earlier, our projects continue to advance through construction and commissioning, driven by the availability of key equipment and materials already on-site, as well as by a wide range of mitigation actions implemented with our client. Through proactive planning, rapid logistics reconfigurations, and close coordination with our partners, we continue to ensure operational continuity.

For example, all items suitable for container transport were successfully rerouted to alternative trucking and air freight routes, while oversized equipment is expected to continue being shipped by vessel, supported by dedicated local logistics arrangements. At the same time, we are diligently documenting all mitigation-related impacts for the recognition of cost escalations.

Looking more closely at Hail and Ghasha, the project reached 75% overall progress at the end of June. This scale of execution is reflected in the hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of concrete poured and tons of steel structures installed, supported by a workforce of 31,000 people currently on-site, including construction subcontractors.

Maintaining this pace required a highly coordinated effort. Following the reduced operability of the Strait of Hormuz, around 600 shipments were rerouted through alternative ports and approximately 1,500 containers were successfully delivered to the site.

These actions have allowed construction activities to continue without major disruptions. Through continuous engagement with our client, we have also identified multiple execution pathways to support uninterrupted project progress going forward.

Moving on to our commercial performance, E&C's order intake reached €6.7 billion in the first half and, following the award secured in July, is now approaching €8 billion. This acceleration reflects clients' growing need to secure execution capacity for large and complex projects.

As a result, our E&C backlog increased to €15.6 billion at the end of June and includes projects across our core segments, spanning gas processing, petrochemicals, and energy infrastructure upgrades, with completion dates extending through 2031. Before handing over to our CFO for a closer look at the financial results, let me briefly walk you through the backlog schedule of this business unit.

With €15.6 billion backlog at the end of June, further strengthened by July award, we have built a strong foundation to navigate a volatile environment. Based on the information currently available, around 20% of the backlog is expected to be executed in the second half of 2026, which substantially covers this year production, while approximately 40% is scheduled for 2027 and another 40% for 2028 and beyond.

Importantly, this visibility is supported by a healthy mix of early and later-stage projects and a diversified geographical footprint, with the growing contribution from Africa, Central Asia, and South America. Now I hand over it to Mariano for the financial review.

Thank you, Alessandro. Our first half group income statement continues to demonstrate our resilience through profitable growth.

Revenues reached €3.7 billion, up 6.9% year-on-year, driven by steady project execution. EBITDA was €266.2 million, up 14.7%, supported by higher revenues and improved operating leverage.

These resulted in an EBITDA margin of 7.2%, up 50 basis points, also thanks to the contribution from NEXTCHEM higher value-added services. At the bottom line, strong operating performance, combined with effective financial and tax management, delivered a consolidated net income of €157.2 million, up 18.3%, with a margin of 4.3%, up 40 basis points.

Group net income was €137.9 million after €19.3 million of results attributable to minority shareholders, mainly related to NEXTCHEM and project in joint venture. Let's now analyze our financial results by business unit.

STS delivered revenues of €285.7 million, up 46.9%, an increase mainly driven by low-carbon chemicals and fertilizers. EBITDA rose to €68 million, up 39.9%, with a margin of 23.8%, reflecting the contribution of proprietary equipment in the product mix during the period.

As a reminder, NEXTCHEM's first half results do not yet benefit from the consolidation of Ballestra and E-Tech. Integrated E&C revenues were €3.4 billion, up 4.5%.

Growth was driven by the steady progress of projects under execution across our portfolio. Alongside the continued advancement of projects in the Gulf region discussed earlier by Alessandro, we also recorded solid execution progress in Kazakhstan and Algeria.

EBITDA was €198.2 million, up 8%, with a margin of 5.8%, up 20 basis points. Let's now analyze the cash flow dynamics of the period.

The strong operating performance delivered in the first four in the first half allowed to support investment in technology expansion and continue to rewarding shareholders. As result, we maintained a solid adjusted net cash position of €301.1 million at the end of June.

CapEx amount to €204 million, primarily related to the acquisition of Ballestra and E-Tech. The remaining portion was invested in development and scale-up of proprietary technologies, as well as in accelerating digital innovation initiatives.

At the same time, we returned €194.4 million to shareholder through dividends and €81.1 million through share buybacks. This concludes our financial review.

I will now hand over to Alessandro for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Mariano. Thank you.

As we look forward, we continue to see a supportive market environment, reflected in a commercial pipeline exceeding €61 billion, without—let me emphasize this word—without considering any potential activities to rebuild damaged infrastructures in the Gulf region. This set of opportunities is underpinned by powerful structural drivers, from energy and food security to the increasing impact of geopolitical tensions on global trade and industrial resilience.

We are well-positioned to benefit from this environment, particularly through our integrated offering. A significant portion of our pipeline consists of projects where NEXTCHEM's proprietary technologies are combined with Tecnimont's engineering and execution capabilities.

We have also experienced an acceleration of final investment decision, as evidenced by the €8.4 billion of awards already secured in the first 7 months of the year, bringing us very close to the €9 billion full-year target we had set. Based on the current negotiations, we expect that the order intake to exceed this amount in 2026.

In particular, looking at the near-term outlook, we see further attractive opportunities in Latin America, especially in gas processing, as well as in Europe across biofuels, mainly SAF, and renewables. Looking further ahead, both North and South America and Middle East as well are expected to contribute with opportunities in LNG, gas processing, and fertilizers, including large-scale projects expected to be sanctioned in 2027, supporting the long-term growth of our business.

Just to conclude, our first half results demonstrated the strength and resilience of our business model: steady execution, strong order intake, and highly diversified backlog enabled us to deliver a solid financial performance, even in a complex operating environment. Looking ahead, the mitigation measures already in place in the Middle East, combined with the close collaboration we continue to maintain with clients and partners, are expected to sustain the project execution through the remainder of the year.

Alongside the increasing contribution for projects in other geographies, they provide a solid foundation for achieving the targets that we have set for the E&C business unit. We have also significantly strengthened NEXTCHEM with the acquisition of Ballestra and E-Tech.

These businesses not only expand our technology offering, but are already enhancing our commercial reach and creating new opportunities across a broader customer base. From the third quarter onwards, they will also start contributing to our financial performance, supporting NEXTCHEM's growth trajectory in the second half of 2026.

We also continue to selectively pursue additional M&A, particularly in the processing of minerals and metals, in line with our strategic priorities. On this basis, we confirm our 2026 guidance.

This concludes our presentation, and we are now ready to take your questions. Operator, please.

Good evening. Thanks for taking the time.

I have two, if I may, and the first one is maybe let's say a bit tricky, sorry for that, guys, but just coming back on the Middle East, you have given us a lot of clear information on how you manage in a way the closure of the Strait of Hormuz with the alternative routes, the freight, etc. We have seen a number of companies this quarter adding additional cost to their P&L, saying that it's subject to negotiation with clients, etc.

I was wondering if you can share with us, in a way, those additional costs that you have seen on your side with the truck, the ports, maybe the storage, the flights, etc.? Have you considered those costs in your P&L already?

What has been the payment received from the client? Just to understand up to now what has been, in a way, paid by MAIRE in terms of additional costs and what has been covered by clients, etc.

Sorry, you provided us a lot of information on how you manage the situation, but just to understand very well how it in a way leads in terms of accounting costs, etc. The second question is maybe easier for you.

In a sense, you upgraded the order intake guidance, because you were telling us up to now around €9 billion and now you are telling us at least €9 billion. What kind of key opportunities do you have for H2 2026 orders that would be material on the order intake side, please?

Thanks a lot.

Kevin, let's start with your first question. Let me say that I don't care very much about what the other contractors have said or what they are doing.

I have I am more interesting of course to our situation and to manage properly what is going to happen or what already happened in the meantime. As you have already mentioned, we are talking about extra cost which have been caused by extraordinary events beyond the possibility to manage them by the by the contractor.

Apart, and I have to say that apart from the contractual protection, I have to confirm precisely that the behavior of the client located in that part of the world are extremely reasonable and cooperative. They recognize that the nature of the extra cost must be reimbursed.

They have already opened a specific process aiming at collecting the amount that we have incurred. We have no doubt that the extra cost that we have incurred and eventually we will incur in the future will be covered, will be reimbursed by the client.

For for this reason, we have no doubt and for this reason the extra cost have not influenced the result of the period, nor will influence the result that we expect to deliver at the end of the year. This is our position as far as the extra cost are concerned.

Then, as far as the commercial pipeline and the opportunities that we see in front of us in the incoming probably weeks, not months, weeks, because for some of them, based on what has been already cleared, clarified by the clients, they would like to sanction some of these the project that we are working on from a commercial standpoint during the month even during the month of August. We expect that most likely in the third quarter additional projects, additional contract will be signed and additional award will be secured by our group.

Which are, as we have already clarified during the presentation, some of them are located in Europe, because there are a couple of projects very interesting because one of them relates to a major SAF plant located in Europe, whereby our expertise in managing this type of technologies will be extremely helpful. We are confident that, based on the ongoing discussion, this could be secured very soon.

Then there are another project in the petrochemical space, not not a big one, because as you know petrochemical infrastructures are have not the same appeal of as they were in the recent past. There are still some specific project concentrated on some specialties, which we know very well how to execute them, and we are looking carefully at the possibility to secure one of them, once again, in Europe, on an on a E&P basis, engineering and procurement, leaving the construction to somebody else, not will not belong to our base.

Then renewable renewable, very big renewable infrastructures are going to be sanctioned. The various potential client have already secured the relating licenses, everything has been already submitted, now it's just up to them to decide when they want to start.

I'm really confident that putting everything together, the target of €9 billion that we have set for 2026 will be we are in very well-positioned to exceed, even significantly, this amount amount of our guidance. Really, I am very, very positive.

I am not mentioning of course other projects which for sure will will be assigned, will be awarded in the second half of the year, but they do not have a very big size because we are talking about the FEED, which means the first step of giants projects for which then the EPC project will follow, but not in 2026, will follow in 2027. In other words, in the second half of the year, most likely we will be engaged in the first part of the engineering activities which with then will follow, will roll over to the EPC, but only in the springtime, first quarter, second quarter of 2027.

We are talking about super-giant projects that most likely we will pay attention to them on through alliances with other contractors, based on the expectation also of the various clients. This is what we have in front of us in the second half of the year, Kevin.

Perfect. Thanks a lot for all this.

Thanks. Have a nice evening.

Good evening. Thank you very much for the presentation.

I have two questions. One back to the Middle East, sorry for that, I will try anyway.

Could you provide some color on the main challenges, if any, you are facing in negotiating the cost recovery with clients, in particular on which cost the are discussion mainly focused on? Second question on cash flow, on the operating cash flow, which was pretty strong in second quarter and with a very high conversion, likely enjoying some tailwind from net working capital.

Can you give us some more color on cash flow generation for second quarter and net working capital? Thank you.

Let me start with your first question and then hand over the second one to Mariano. It's not a matter of challenging for the extra cost, Massimo.

You have just to justify and to properly document them, and then there are no discussion at all. The various clients, but in particular one located in the area, has already opened the process, which is based on three different streams.

The first one relates to the collection of the direct cost incurred. Of course the extra cost relates to the logistical cost, because as you know very often we have been obliged to reroute the goods which was expected to be delivered straight through ways, and then we have been obliged to reroute in another way.

To the extent you are able to document and justify those costs, there are no discussion. I don't see really any challenge in having recognized the coverage of those costs.

Of course then this is the first stream. Second one relates to indirect costs, the extra cost generated by the increased general cost due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Also in this case, to the extent you are able to prove and document properly, there are no discussion. We have already had this experience in the past, when we have managed properly the cost associated with the COVID, when we have been obliged to leave Russia.

All of them were very similar circumstances, and we have never lose even €1. Considering that in this circumstances the attitude of the client is even more positive, I do not expect to face any major challenge.

Yes. Considering the net cash flow and the operating cash flow in particular, Massimo, you know that the financial discipline is one of our key issue in our strategy and in those period it is very, very important.

Focusing on the changes of the period, considering the amount of the award, the key amount was the advance payment from the client and from the new acquisition. They are very important, and we will try to maintain the same result also in the next part of the year.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Hi there. Thank you for taking my questions and thanks for all the color on the Middle East.

Just one small follow-on from that. I just wanted to clarify, you mentioned on Hail and Ghasha the rerouting of around 600 shipments.

Was that all a 2Q event or is that split between 2Q and July so far? Then my next two questions on NEXTCHEM.

Great to see the backlog reaching new highs at €0.7 billion. With it becoming a lot more material now, just wondering if you can give us a sense of phasing, roughly what percentage is for this year and what is for beyond.

Is it still right to think of NEXTCHEM backlog as being fairly short-cycle with a sort of 18-month duration or does it have a bit of a longer tail as it grows further? Then finally just on the NEXTCHEM M&A pipeline, you outlined two concrete opportunities at your last call, and obviously E-Tech ticks the box for one of those, you just wanted an update on the second one.

Thank you.

Let me start with the first one and then I hand over to Fabio for the second one. The 600 cargoes which have been rerouted relates to all the shipments which took place up to now.

It is a very updated situation, because of course it is a situation which unfortunately is not yet over, it's due to continue also in the following days, unless the situation will improve dramatically. I repeat, notwithstanding the situation, 600 relates to the cargoes that we have been able to manage since the very beginning of this geopolitical events up to now, up to yesterday morning.

This cover also July.

Let me take on the two questions on NEXTCHEM. The first one was on phasing of NEXTCHEM portfolio going forward.

If I understood correctly, whether the acquisition of Ballestra is lengthening it a little bit. Let me say that Ballestra is adding more or less the same kind of business that NEXTCHEM already had, licenses, PDPs, proprietary equipment, but it also has an element of EP, slightly more relevant than what NEXTCHEM had, and some of their contracts might extend slightly longer than the usual 12 to 18 months, which is usual for NEXTCHEM.

The blending of it might extend it slightly, not substantially, again for this type of products. The second question was related to the M&A opportunities.

That Ballestra is active on phosphates, and phosphates mean phosphoric acid, which comes from the same pattern where minerals are treated. In a way, Ballestra is already active in the minerals and metals sector.

E-Tech is probably at the opposite of the spectrum. Whilst Ballestra is at the very early treatment of phosphatic rocks, E-Tech is at the very end at this point in time, which is the refining of, right, what we call electronic waste, or batteries.

In between, there are a lot of additional opportunities, because the value chain is quite long, and it entails a lot of growing industries. Mentioned the electrification industry, with all what has to do with batteries, not only the recycling, but the feeding of batteries with lithium.

It has to do with precious metals. It has to do with all the rare earths that you need to treat for the production of chips.

We are looking carefully at a couple of additional opportunities for M&A, one which is probably closer than the other, and we will get to those to inform you about those in due course. Yes, we're looking at other opportunities in that spectrum.

That's great. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone. Two questions, if I may.

The first one is strategic, if you want. There are several geopolitical analysts that are saying that the current crisis in the Middle East is freezing, in the sense that should remain as it is for years.

Is a what-if question. If this would be the case, what could be the strategy of MAIRE?

Exiting or reducing the presence in the area, or I don't know. My second question is on NEXTCHEM, which is gaining size and track record to be valorized in future.

If you can update us on the potential of valorizing NEXTCHEM in 2027. Thank you.

Hi, Marco. Sandro speaking.

Let me answer to your first question, which is most strategic one. In few words, I don't see any element which plays against the decision to abandon Middle East.

Middle East was, is, and is due to remain, also for the next decades, one of the most important market for technology operators and the contractors as well. Despite what is presently going to happen, all the major companies based in that part of the world, they have not modified their investment program, or even better, sometimes they have also accelerated the sanctioning of certain major investments.

Unless the situation will deteriorate dramatically, which reasonably if it's due to happen, it is not a problem just for the contractors, it is a problem for the entire world. I truly believe that we must be rational and of course not taking decisions of this nature, strategic one, just based on what is happening in just a few weeks' time.

Just to be short, I don't change the strategy to maintain our presence in the countries of Middle East. Of course, we would like to diversify our presence in other areas of the world, but this doesn't mean that in the same time we abandon Middle East.

We are there, and we remain even in the future, aiming at having a more balanced portfolio of projects in other regions of the world. For sure, a significant portion will continuously remain in Middle East even moving forward.

As far as NEXTCHEM is concerned, we will keep on maintaining a look at a potential valorization of the company, but as we said in several occasions, it will have to be at the right time and at the right price. We always said that there's a good time for everything.

The company will keep on growing because of internal or external growth through M&A. I think we have demonstrated to be fast enough to adapt to the market environment.

Nuclear is definitely something which will take medium to long term to deploy, for obvious reasons, while our entry into the metals and minerals market can provide very good growth opportunities in the short term. We'll see how it goes.

It's definitely something we have in the radar, but we are in no hurry. We will do it as and when the market will recognize the proper value to NEXTCHEM.

Thank you. Quite clear.

Thank you very much to everyone for participating in today's call. For any follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out to the Investor Relations Department.

Our next earning call will be on October 27th, when we report our 9-month results. You can also find details on our Investor Conference after summer on our website.

Thank you again. Have a great evening and a great summer break.

Thank you.