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

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.

Thanks to Silvia, and good afternoon, everyone. We had a solid start of the year with the operation performing well across all geographies, confirming the strength and the resilience of our business model.

Activities in the Middle East continued in line with the safety protocols agreed with our clients and the local authorities. Operational complexities were managed effectively, and as a result, project execution continued without major disruptions.

From a financial standpoint, this translated into first quarter revenues of €1.8 billion and a 7.1% EBITDA margin, supported by the growing high-value contribution from NEXTCHEM. Furthermore, last week, a record of €187.6 million dividend was paid to our shareholders.

On the operational side, the strong order intake further reinforced the backlog, extending visibility towards 2030 and 2031. Indeed, we managed to generate 4.8 billion in new awards in the first three months, including two multi-billion projects.

This represents a book-to-bill of 2.6 in the quarter and over half of our stated target of 9 billion in new awards expected in 2026. Such a strong commercial performance has led to an increase in our backlog to 15.7 billion at the end of March, representing a backlog cover of over two years of full speed production.

Before we move into the details of the quarter, let me provide you with an update on our on-site operation in the Middle East for the E&C business unit. At the end of March, we had around 2,400 engineers and technicians deployed in the Gulf region.

Our EPC projects in the area are largely in advanced construction or in the commissioning phases. During the first quarter, construction activities advanced thanks to the availability of key materials and equipment already delivered on-site.

In particular, in the UAE, the Hail and Ghasha project reached an overall completion of around 70%, while Borouge 4 is expected to start production in this quarter. Projects in Saudi and Qatar are also advancing through their respective construction and completion phases.

Looking ahead, we expect activities to continue under the established security protocols, supported by a constant engagement with our clients to agree alternative solutions across logistics and procurement, as well as the appropriate recognition of price escalation where relevant. Let me now leave the floor to Fabio for detailed look at the STS operational performance.

Thank you, Sandro, and good afternoon, everyone. NEXTCHEM continues to demonstrate resilience amid a complex business environment, supported by our broad portfolio of technologies.

As such, our backlog reached €313.5 million at the end of March. The order portfolio shows a diversified exposure to multiple value chains in fertilizers, specialty chemicals, and materials, serving clients in around 40 countries.

This will be further strengthened by the contribution of Ballestra's portfolio of around 270 million at the end of March, as the closing of its acquisition is expected in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we have already started working closely with the Ballestra team on a number of commercial initiatives, particularly in the fertilizers and metals and mining segments.

This collaboration is also expected to unlock cross-selling opportunities across our technology portfolio and may also evolve into the delivery of integrated solutions. Let me now focus on the biggest project ever awarded to NEXTCHEM: a €485 million contract in West Africa.

The scope includes licensing, process design packages, and critical proprietary equipment for three large-scale nitrogen fertilizer complexes. The project, which is subject to a final investment decision, brings together NEXTCHEM's proprietary hydrogen, ammonia, urea, and methanol technologies, representing the first integrated application of Stamicarbon, GasConTec, and KT tech solutions.

This is strong proof of the complementarity of our offering and cross-selling capabilities. Engineering activities have already started, highlighting both the strategic importance and the strong execution momentum of this landmark award.

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

Thank you, Fabio. The demand for our E&C services remain very solid in a world where energy security and the widespread use of gas-based chemical products are increasingly critical.

During the quarter, we secured €4.7 billion of new orders, bringing the E&C backlog to €15.4 billion at the end of March. This is driven by our clients' willingness to continue sanctioning new projects, in spite of the current temporary business and financial volatility.

The projects awarded reflect our bread-and-butter activities across gas processing, petrochemicals, and refinery upgrades worldwide, with completion dates mainly expected between 2030 and 2031, further strengthening revenue visibility. Now, let me give you additional details on an important achievement that we reached recently through our subsidiary KT, based in Rome.

We are pleased to have successfully completed the upgrade of the Rijeka refinery in Croatia. This was a €550 million project, including the additional compensation agreed upon with the client while moving towards the completion.

The project was executed in a challenging environment, having progressed also through the pandemic and geopolitical instability, further confirming KT's proven capabilities. We are particularly proud to have supported our client in improving the operational efficiency and environmental performance of its asset, while also increasing Croatia's energy security and creating value for the country's economy through the involvement of local companies and workforce.

Now it's time to hand over to Mariano for the financial review.

Thank you, Sandro. Our first quarter group income statement continues to reflect steady growth in revenues and profitability.

Revenues reached €1.8 billion, up 7.6% year-on-year, driven by solid project execution. EBITDA was €131.2 million, up 15.7%, supported by higher revenues and improved operating leverage.

This resulted in an EBITDA margin of 7.1%, 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 €76.7 million, up 19.9%, with a margin of 4.2%.

Group net income was 6- €67.4 million, after €9.4 million of result attributable to minority shareholders, mainly related to NEXTCHEM and projects in joint venture. Let's now analyze our financial results by business unit.

STS delivered excellent growth, with revenues of €140.6 million, up 46.2%, an increase mainly driven by low-carbon chemicals and fertilizers. EBITDA rose to €32.3 million euros, up 40.8%, with a margin of 23%, reflecting a higher contribution of proprietary equipment in the product mix during the period.

As a reminder, NEXTCHEM's first quarter results do not yet benefit from the consolidation of Ballestra. E&C revenues were €1.7 billion euro, up 5.3%, reflecting steady project execution.

Growth was driven by key geographies, including the Gulf, Algeria, and Kazakhstan. EBITDA was €98.9 million euros, up 9.3%, with a margin of 5.8%, up 20 basis points.

Let's now analyze the cash flow dynamics of the period. Our adjusted net cash position at the end of March was €396 million, in line with 2025 year-end figure.

This was driven by a healthy operating cash flow generation of €117 million, which more than offset the share buyback program for 81 million and CapEx of 23 million. Capital expenditure were mainly focused on the internal development and scale-up of proprietary technologies and on digital innovation initiatives.

CapEx also include the consideration paid for the acquisition of the remaining 16.5% interest in Conser, as well as an earn-out related to the acquisition of GasConTec. This concludes our financial review.

I will hand over to Alessandro for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Mariano. As we look forward, our commercial pipeline increased to €61 billion at the end of March, without considering anything relating to the activities to rebuild damaged infrastructures in the Gulf region.

In a global context marked by geopolitical tension, energy security and access to critical commodities, such as fuels, fertilizers, and advanced materials, remain key drivers in accelerating investment decisions. This is creating significant opportunities for both our technology and E&C services.

We are seeing a pickup in specific geographies, including South America, which we continue to approach with the selectivity and a risk-prudent mindset, as clients seek to monetize oil and gas resources and export commodities globally. Additional momentum is coming from gas monetization in Central Asia, LNG developments in the Americas, and refinery upgrades worldwide.

As such, we remain confident in our ambition to secure around €9 billion of orders this year, of which over 50% have been already booked. Going forward, next awards are expected to start materializing in the next few weeks.

Later in the year, then, we are also expecting new awards, including integrated projects, which will enable us to further broaden our geographical reach, as stated during our Capital Markets Day. In conclusion, our first quarter performance has been solid, confirming the resilience of our business even in a challenging and volatile geopolitical environment.

Looking ahead, considering the limited, very limited effects on projects in execution in the Middle East, the group's potential involvement in the rebuilding of damaged infrastructures, as well as the increasing contribution from existing projects located in other geographies, the expected achievement of the previously set target for the E&C business unit is confirmed. The STS business unit first quarter 2026 results do not yet incorporate the consolidation of Ballestra Group, whose acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026.

Such acquisition, together with an expected pickup in the business fundamentals and market environment, will lead to higher revenues and margins, particularly in the second half of the year. We are on track with the expansion of our technology portfolio.

In addition to Ballestra, we continue to selectively pursue additional M&A opportunities, particularly in the processing of metals and critical raw materials, in line with our long-term strategic priorities. On this basis, we confirm our 2026 group guidance.

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

Yes. Good evening.

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the time.

I have, in a way, three question if I can. The first one, if you can bring us a bit of color on STS and the commercial dynamic in Q1.

We had relatively low order intake this quarter at 60 million. Any color on, in a way, this performance and the expectation for the next quarter, please?

The second one is still related to STS, NEXTCHEM, if you can make any comment on the acquisition of Ballestra and the expected timing for the closure of the deal, and if there is any delay or whatever. The last one, it's on the E&C business.

You mentioned in the press release and in the remarks that if the situation remains closed around the Strait of Hormuz in the coming months, you can find new routes, new alternatives, etc. Any element that you can share with us in what it could mean for the execution work on the ground?

Does it mean that if you have to find new routes, the execution work could be slowed down because the process will be longer in terms of supply, procurement, etc., just to understand a bit the potential outcome? Thanks a lot.

Sandro, let me take the first two questions, which are on STS, and then I'll hand over to you for the third one. You're right.

In a way, you're right that the first quarter of 2026 has been below expectations in terms of order intake for STS. Let me also say that this was partly foreseen, as it is very much linked to a delay to this quarter on the award of two opportunities we have in an area which has been impacted by the current situation.

There has been a slight delay in the award of these projects where the technology has already been selected. We are expecting to recover what is left there shortly.

As far as the timing of Ballestra, you know that the transaction is only formally linked to the receipt of the clearance from the antitrust authority on four of the countries in which the company is operating in. Today we have received three of the four clearances.

We are waiting for the fourth. We are expecting to be concluded in a matter of days, if not weeks, at the longest.

Talking about the projects, the E&C projects that we have in the Gulf region and having reference your question about how we can feed properly the construction in the months to come, as we have already stated during our presentation, Kévin, I have just to reconfirm what we already mentioned. It means that, in particular, over the last couple of quarter of 2025, we have almost concluded the procurement campaign for the project which are located in the Gulf region.

All of them are in advanced stage of completion. All of them are already facing the construction phase.

In order to feed properly the construction, we have decided, regardless the present geopolitical situation, to concentrate, to accumulate near of the various construction sites a significant dimension of materials, in particular, those which cannot be bought in the country. By the way, we are talking about countries, Middle East, whereby the supply chain is able to satisfy most of the procurement which is needed to serve the various projects, with the exception of the most critical equipments.

Some critical equipments have been already bought from Europe, and the equipments have been already delivered on-site. At least for the next three, four months' time, we don't see any particular problem to serve properly the various warfronts.

Of course, in the meantime, in order to be prepared, we have already identified alternative corridors of delivery, spanning from Egypt, then moving through Suez Channel, Muscat in Oman, Fujairah, or Saudi. All of them are alternative corridors which are available for the delivery of the residual materials, which, I repeat, will be necessary to have available on-site not earlier than July-August.

We have a significant time available to wait for a more stabilized situation, without facing any type of disruption in the meanwhile.

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Have a nice evening.

Hi there,

and

thank you for taking my questions. Firstly, just on the E&C

business,

I wanted to clarify on the comment that you made regarding some awards starting to materialize in the next few weeks, and you mentioned that later in the year, you're expecting new awards, including integrated projects. At CMD, you talked about the bulk of the awards coming not prior to the summer months.

Just wanted to clarify on that point, please. Then, secondly, for NEXTCHEM, could you please give us your latest thoughts on the potential FID timing for some of these larger awards?

I'm thinking particularly about this Pacifico Mexinol award that was announced last July. There appears to have been some positive movement on that project.

I believe it is now in the pre-construction phase. Can you clarify whether we can consider that project as having FID'd or approaching FID, and whether it will be added to the NEXTCHEM backlog anytime soon?

Thank you.

Jamie, as you have correctly stated, during the Capital Markets Day, we have declared that we didn't expect to be awarded additional projects on top of the 4.7 already awarded at the time of Capital Markets Day before summer. Useless to say that the present geopolitical situation has pushed the various client to accelerate the final investment decision, regardless the geography.

Almost all geographies where we were trying to achieve new orders, all of them, the various clients or potential clients, all of them, they have accelerated the process to take the final investment decision. One of them have also surprised ourselves, because we were expecting not to face this potential awards before June, early July.

Now they have communicated their intention to provide the letter of award within the next few weeks' time. This is, of course, a very positive surprise also for ourselves.

Surprise in terms of award, but of course, we are prepared. We are well-prepared.

If this success will be confirmed, we are prepared to start immediately with the relevant operational activities. We are not unprepared for the execution.

Then the rest, for the rest opportunities that we are working on from a commercial standpoint, now I reconfirm that, most likely, nothing is due to happen before summer or during summer, considering that some of them are located in regions whereby they are not used to spend a lot of time in summer for their vacation. For sure, it is not excluded that something could be awarded even during the month of August.

This reflects the investment appetite of many clients all over the world, including spanning from gas treatments, gas monetization, petrochemical as well, but more than that, fertilizer. Fertilizer, for sure, thanks to the significant growth in the price of the commodity, have suggested the various potential investors to accelerate their decision investment process.

For this reason, we are talking about integrated projects, because in case of fertilizers, we are able to serve the client not only with our execution capability, but as well, thanks to the proprietary technology retained by NEXTCHEM, we are able to provide the client with a technology solution for the ammonia, for the urea, granulation and melt, and just in case the clients want to transform or proceed with the methanol production, of course, we are able to serve the client also with this proprietary solution. This, in few words, is the situation that we have in front of us.

As far as the question on the landmark projects which have announced, Mexinol sometimes ago and the West African project a few weeks ago, let me give you some elements for your consideration. What it's happening is that clearly they are paying for early engineering services, in certain cases for PDP, but then the big amounts will only come with the payment of the license fees and the proprietary equipment, which are clearly linked to the final investment decision.

Going to Mexinol, you are rightly saying that there has been a positive move just few days ago in Mexico City, where the sponsor gathered all the various stakeholders, all the companies who are going to be involved there, and there was the entire financial community that hopefully will finalize the debt for this project. We're talking about the IFC, a number of ECAs, and that was including a number of players, European and Asian, which have been awarded the various EPC contracts.

Needless to remind that a $3 billion-plus project requires sometimes for the finalization of the financing package. The sponsor has indicated a timeline of the third quarter of this year, end of this year, for the closing of the financing package.

Just a comment on what Sandro was saying on fertilizers. That's definitely the most remarkable indication we have received from the market in recent weeks.

Also as NEXTCHEM, there's a lot of interest on ammonia. There are a number of initiatives that were already in the mind of investors, but that are taking momentum because of the current situation, and also because ammonia, especially in Asia, is being used as an alternative fuel to coal.

There's a double use which is boosting demand. We see a number of initiatives in that part of the world as much as in Latin America.

Just to confirm what Sandro was mentioning on the execution side.

It's very helpful. Thanks a lot, guys.

Good evening to you all. Thank you for the presentation.

Two questions: one on the Middle East, what kind of cost inflation are you currently seeing on project in the region, and to what extent are clients willing to absorb higher project costs or potential delays? Do you see also potential opportunities emerging around the repair and upgrading of energy infrastructure, and how material could these opportunities be in terms of size and timing?

The second question on NEXTCHEM, the 46% growth reported in Q1 is already well above the pace implied by your 2026 guidance, even before consolidating Ballestra. Assuming Ballestra will be included going forward, the implied growth in the guidance appears relatively conservative to me.

Could you help us understand what NEXTCHEM growth would have been including Ballestra in Q1, and provide some color of the drivers and the phasing of growth for the rest of 2026? Also, any update on the M&A pipeline for NEXTCHEM, considering the sizable CapEx budget for 2026, would be helpful.

Thank you.

Massimo, if you don't mind, I would like to start talking about a little bit your first question on the E&C, and in particular, with respect to the inflation cost and also the other question that you have mentioned. Inflation: as I hope that you have understood that most of the procurement campaign which have to serve the project which are presently under execution in the area have been already satisfied, have been already completed.

Another element that you have to take in consideration that the most significant portion of the procurement campaign which are due to serve the project in the area comes from China. China has a very stable cost profile, and of course, we have decided in agreement with the client, because you know very well that we can approach certain suppliers to the extent they are part of the vendor list of the client.

Having granted the access to the Chinese market, being a very competitive market and stable as well from a cost-wise, and sometime, please do not forget that some project have been also financed by the Chinese system, we are obliged to buy in China. For sure, for the material which comes from that part of the world, we are not experiencing so far, nor we are experiencing for the next expected orders to face any major deviation compared to the present situation in terms of cost.

Then another important portion of the procurement, as I was saying before, since we have to cope with the local content constraints, which very often are imposed contractually, the region, at least for the time being, the cost profile in that part of the world, they are not moving up significantly. For sure, there is a not significant effect which comes from the higher cost of the fuel, but apart from that, we are not experiencing any major deviation.

Of course, the logistic, we expect to face additional cost, because if we will be obliged to recur to alternative corridors much longer, this will require additional time, and of course, imply additional cost. The reason behind is not just a voluntary decision.

If this will be the case, we are obliged because of the extraordinary reason behind such a decision, which is the conflict. It must be considered an extraordinary event, and because of this reason, we are entitled to have covered by the client the additional cost.

It of course belongs to us the duty to fully demonstrate and to document properly the extra cost that we are going to incur, but apart from that, I do not expect, as already proven by the previous experience with the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, that to the extent you demonstrate properly the extra cost compared to the normal situation that you have incurred, normally the client recognized the additional cost. I don't know if I have, apart talking a little bit about repair activities.

Frankly speaking, I am not in a position to provide a flavor about the size which could affect our business. For sure, we will be part of certain repair activities of certain infrastructure which originally have been designed and built up by our group.

Presently, we are organizing ourselves in association also with other contractors, and whatever is due to come out from this type of activity, this will sort out over the next few weeks' time, because, of course, all the clients which have suffered damages from the present war activities, they are eager to have repaired all their infrastructure, because we are talking infrastructure which were already in operation, they were already originating cash flow. For sure, the priority for them is to re-establish the operation for those infrastructure and to reopen the cash flow from those industrial infrastructure.

For sure, I do not expect that the clients interested by these unfortunate events will take a long time. I expect that they will take a fast-track decision process, and of course, we are studying the situation, and in order to be prepared to immediately mobilize on the potential project which we will be awarded.

Of course, presently, I cannot be very clear about the size and the consequences from an economical standpoint on our operation, but can be just an improvement.

Then on the two questions for STS, Massimo, on the first one regarding the first quarter of this year and the projections, I would say the quarter is in line with what are the projections that we communicated to the market and the guidance we gave for NEXTCHEM. The contribution of Ballestra will kick in from this quarter, and it will be clearly adding to these numbers.

As Ballestra has a slightly different kit of services if compared to NEXTCHEM. They also include a portion of services in the E&P type of business, which in Maire is taken care of by the E&C side of the business.

Now, this type of services have a longer life cycle than the usual services we do in NEXTCHEM, which means that the 270 million of existing backlog in Ballestra, which will have a longer time than the usual timing of our services. At this point in time, we are confirming the trajectory of the 700 million in terms of total revenues.

Let me also give you some elements for your consideration: clearly, we are already working with Ballestra in order to understand cross-selling opportunities and potential upsides going forward, but it's definitely too early at this point in time, not having reached the closing, to understand when these benefits will actually materialize.

Regarding the pipeline on M&A?

Then the second question on M&A: we confirm what we have clearly anticipated in the Capital Markets Day. We'll keep on looking at market opportunities.

At this point in time, we have two concrete opportunities we are looking at. One is in the recovery, the circularity of critical minerals, and the other one is in technologies for the treatment of metals, that as is in our opinion one of those sector that will have interesting chances and opportunities for business going forward.

We confirm those two targets we are currently working on in terms of M&A.

Very helpful, and apologize for the very long questions.

Good afternoon, everyone, and congratulation for the results. Two short question, please: the first one is on the cash flow, which was particularly strong this quarter, with over 100 million generation, just to understand if there was any particular element which impacted, maybe advance payments from clients.

My second question is what is happening below the operating line, in the sense that you reported lower financial charges, at least compared with my expectation, and also lower tax rate. If you can elaborate on what can be your forecast for the full year.

Thank you.

Marco, let me start talking a little bit about the cash flow, and then I leave the floor to Mariano as far as the net financial charges are concerned. Let me clarify, first of all, that in the quarter, we didn't monetize any advance payment from the clients behind the new awards that we have announced.

The €4.7 billion equivalent which have been awarded to the E&C business unit have not yet generated, have not yet expressed any advance payment which we expect to monetize in the second quarter, in the present quarter. As you have mentioned, despite the important cash out that we have sustained in order to finance the acquisition of treasury shares for an amount well in excess of 80 million, this has been counterbalanced, more than satisfied, this cash needs, by the operating cash flow, which have been secured by the projects which are presently ongoing.

Nothing extraordinary from a cashing standpoint, just the monetization of the normal milestones associated with the progress of the various projects.

Considering the financial proceeds, they depends mainly on our financial discipline on all the projects, and so on good financial position, cash position, that means that the proceed from bank accounts were better than expected. Considering the level of tax rate, the tax rate as usual in our business depends on the mix of the country we are operating, and so it is something that probably we will be able to maintain during the rest of 2026.

Around 30% for the full year?

Yes, more or less.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions.

I got two. The first one is, I wonder outside the Middle East, what are the most active areas and the most active segments in terms of commercial pipeline, maybe not the specific geography, but at least the area?

Secondly, I wonder whether you have noticed any difference, or at least a pickup in green ammonia and green hydrogen in the last few weeks. Thank you.

Talking a little bit what we have in our not commercial pipeline, because otherwise we have to talk up to do tomorrow morning, but talking a little bit about the most, let me say, hot commercial opportunities that we are working on, as I was saying before, most of them are located in new geographies, in particular, in South America. South America is particularly active in the gas monetization, which means gas treatments, gas separation, and the gas utilizes feed stock to then to be processed and transform into other commodities, mainly fertilizer, considering that South America agricultural activities represent an important pillar for the local economy.

For sure, South America is due to represent an important step in the growth of our portfolio in 2026, but of course, not only South America. As we have already mentioned, we expect additional further developments in the US as a consequence of the wider involvement in the LNG project that we have already mentioned on behalf of Argent LNG.

Then there are also other geographies closer to Italy, and I am mentioning for a while some countries located in the western part of Africa. Northwest Africa could be another region whereby over the next few months, we could be able to get additional awards.

As far as the potential projects on green ammonia, on green hydrogen, I don't have anything to report on that. On green ammonia, Sandro just mentioned North Africa, but let me add that there are a couple of geographies that are progressing aggressively on green ammonia project.

One is China; the other one is India. They're building the entire value chain to be able to produce efficiently.

Let me also mention that a number of projects we had in Europe that were shelved, let me use this acronym, for the time being for cost reasons, as soon as security of commodities became the main topic, we have seen an interest from those clients to restart discussions, in a way. The other area, if I may add, and to add to what Sandro said, where we see a lot of interest, is in sustainable aviation fuel, led by Latin America, no doubt.

We received a lot of interest for our pretreatment technologies for agricultural and animal waste in that part of the world, as much as in North America. I would say that these are the indications we have received from our clients in the past weeks.

Thank you.

I don't know if I answered your question.

Yes, thank you.

Okay.

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 team.

Our next earnings call will be on July 30, when we report our first half results. You can also find details on upcoming investor conferences on our website.

Thank you again, and have a great evening.

Thank you. Thank you to everybody, and see you soon at the next conference call.