Good afternoon, everybody. This is Silvia Ruiz speaking. I would like to thank you and welcome you to Ferrovial's conference call to discuss the company's financial results for the first half of 2026. I am joined here today by our CEO, Ignacio Madridejos, and our CFO, Ernesto López Mozo. Just as a reminder, both the results report and presentation were made available on our website yesterday evening after the U.S. market was closed. At the end of the presentation today, there will be a Q&A session. As in previous calls, you will have the opportunity to ask questions live. In order to do so, you will need to join the call through the conference call channel and press star five on your phone keypad.
If you prefer, you can send questions through the forum included in the webcast. I will be reading them out loud at the end of the Q&A session. Before starting, please take a moment to look at the safe harbor statement included in the presentation. Please bear in mind that the presentation contains forward-looking statements and expectations that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual figures may differ. During this call, we will discuss non-IFRS financial measures, which are defined and reconciled to the most comparable IFRS measures in our results report and in our website. With all this, I will hand over to Ignacio. Ignacio, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Silvia. Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review Ferrovial's results for the first half of 2026. Overall, the semester saw a strong performance, driven by our North American highways that saw outstanding revenue growth and our construction business, which delivered revenue growth while maintaining its profitability target. In airports, New Terminal One at JFK has submitted a completion remedial plan with March 2027 as the date for Phase A DBO. In terms of cash, we closed the first six months of the year with a net cash position of EUR 1.3 billion, excluding infrastructure projects. The primary sources of cash included construction, operating cash flow of EUR 329 million, dividends collected from projects of EUR 378 million, and investments of EUR 96 million, mainly from Silvertown Tunnel in the U.K. and transmission lines in Chile.
The cash outflows consisted mainly of the equity injection in NTO that amounted to EUR 63 million, together with EUR 398 million of cash dividends and Treasury share purchases. Regarding recent developments, we submitted bids for two new managed lanes projects, the I-24 in Tennessee, the I-285 in Georgia. We'll know the results in the third quarter of the year. Additionally, our bid for the D35 Highway in the Czech Republic an availability project was noted as the most cost-effective. The bid's technical evaluation process is currently ongoing. Moving now to our main infrastructure assets. Starting with 407 ETR. The 407 ETR grew revenue by 18.7% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. Toll revenue increased 20.2%, primarily driven by higher toll rates, which went into effect on January 1st, 2026.
The traffic grew by 1.8% in the first half of the year, driven by targeted commercial promotions. EBITDA increased by 24.4% versus the first half of 2025, including a Schedule 22 provision of CAD 5.5 million, significantly lower than the CAD 45.2 million in 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, traffic was 2.7% lower than in 2025, reflecting softer economic activity, reduced rehabilitation construction on alternative highways, and adverse weather conditions. Commercial promotions continue with a more targeted approach that enhances customer value while supporting EBITDA. In terms of dividends, CAD 500 million was paid in the first half, and another CAD 550 million was approved to be distributed in the third quarter of the year. Moving on to Dallas-Fort Worth Managed Lanes. In terms of traffic, the area remains strong.
Traffic in our managed lanes was impacted by construction works and less favorable weather. In terms of operating results, the three projects posted solid growth versus last year, both in terms of revenue and EBITDA, despite the increase in revenue share. Looking at each of the assets, at NT, traffic was impacted by the capacity improvement construction works and declined 0.6% in the second quarter and 2% in the first half of the year. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 14.7% in the first half, and it was impacted by $6.5 million of revenue share. LBJ grew transactions by 2.9% in the first half of the year, with traffic increasing by 6.9% in the second quarter, reflecting greater utilization of the managed lanes as construction works on the I-635 East feeder corridor approach completion. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 15.2% in the first half.
NTE 35 West traffic was affected by the increased congestion at managed lanes entry/exit points, which created bottlenecks, as well as by the finalization of capacity restrictions due to construction works on nearby State Highway 121. Transactions decreased by 0.2% in the second quarter and grew by 0.4% in the first half of the year. Adjusted EBITDA, which grew by 18.6% in the first half, was impacted by $15.8 million of revenue share. All our Dallas-Fort Worth Managed Lanes registered double-digit growth in revenue per transaction, well above inflation. This was driven by several factors. A favorable traffic mix with higher heavy vehicles volumes, thanks mostly to technology enhancements in camera recognition that started to be implemented in 2025, which improved vehicle classification, as well as higher number of mandatory mode events at NT and NTE 35 West.
In the first half of 2026, revenue per transaction grew by 18.9% in NT, 11.7% in LBJ, and 17.3% in NTE 35 West. Following this robust operating performance, all three Dallas-Fort Worth Managed Lanes delivered higher dividend distributions in the first half of the year. NT distributed $118 million, LBJ $61 million, and NTE 35 West $143 million. All these figures are at 100% level. Moving to I-66. Traffic grew by 8.5% in the first half of the year, driven by increased traffic in the corridor and despite adverse weather conditions. Revenue per transaction grew by 8.7% in the first half of the year, and total revenue increased by 17.9%, driven by higher toll rates, with Adjusted EBITDA up 20.4%. In terms of dividends, I-66 distributed $80 million at 100% level.
At I-77, traffic declined by 4.8% in the second quarter and 5.2% in the first half, primarily reflecting lower congestion in the corridor. Performance was also affected by a challenging comparison against early 2025, when traffic benefited from alternative lane closures following Hurricane Helene, as well as adverse weather conditions throughout first half of 2026. Despite this, revenue per transaction increased by 11.8% in the first half of the year, reflecting higher toll rates. However, adjusted EBITDA declined by 5.4% compared to first half of 2025, negatively impacted by the step-up in revenue share band from 25% to 50%. This is largely a first-year effect and is expected to normalize as revenues continue to grow within the new share band. First half adjusted EBITDA included the accrual of $15.6 million of revenue share. Additionally, I-77 distributed $18 million in dividends.
Turning to airports, starting with New Terminal One at JFK, NTO has submitted and completed remedial plan with March 2027 as the date for Phase A date of beneficial occupancy. As of the end of the first half of 2026, the project had reached approximately 92% construction progress. Remaining activities are mainly systems integration, testing, and commissioning. Airline engagement continues with commitments today from 32 airlines, including 24 executed agreements and eight letters of intent. In terms of equity, we injected the remaining EUR 63 million, completing all equity commitments and bringing total investment to EUR 1,041 million. At Dalaman Airport, the first half of the year was impacted by the Middle East conflict, resulting in total passengers of 1.8 million, showing a decline of 8.1% compared to the first half of 2025, mainly international passengers. Adjusted EBITDA was 13.7% lower than the first half of last year.
Moving to construction. The business posted solid results, with revenue growing by 7.1% in reported figures and 9.7% in like-for-like terms for the first six months of the year. While margins remain stable at 3.5% adjusted EBIT margin. Budimex maintained healthy margins at 6.9% adjusted EBIT and delivered higher like-for-like revenues. Webber continued to benefit from a strong growth, with a 24.2% like-for-like increase in revenues, leading to higher profitability with 3.4% adjusted EBIT margin due to positive operating leverage. Ferrovial Construction margins were stable, with higher revenues increasing by 4% in like-for-like terms compared to the first half of last year. The order book remained at an all-time high of EUR 18 billion, up 2.8% like-for-like versus December 2025, excluding approximately EUR 2.6 billion of additional pre-awarded contracts pending financial close as of June 2026.
The operating cash flow of the division was EUR 329 million for the first half of the year compared to a negative operating cash flow last year mainly driven by prepayments and compensations received in North America. Ernesto will continue with the main financial information.
Hello, everybody attending the call. I shall start with the consolidated P&L. I shall cover the lines below the EBITDA level. Depreciation has increased in line with higher CapEx in construction. Here we have higher activity and also an increase in sales performance, and also with traffic profiling highways, where we have a higher weight of traffic in the earlier years in the current business plan. The line of disposal and impairments, here we have smaller divestments in 2026 versus 2025. Mainly in 2026, we have a transmission line in Chile that was sold and also Silvertown Tunnel, an availability payment concession in the U.K. In 2025, remember that we had the sale of AGS in airports. Financial results from infrastructure projects, that is a number that is pretty much unchanged year-on-year, with some small impacts canceling each other.
We have some lower expenses from a lower U.S. dollar FX rate, we have some higher inflation expense in the Autema concession. Ex-infrastructure projects financial results were favored in 2025 by the ticking fee of the sale of the last stake in Heathrow that was sold. This stake was accounted for as a financial investment throughout 2025. The equity accounted affiliate results, we have the growth that is in line with the 407 operating results growth. The line of tax reflects a corporate tax rate of 22% on profit before taxes. If you exclude the equity accounted line that is already post-tax, and you take into account that the tax on the U.S. concessions is accrued or accounted for already at our percentage ownership, you don't need to do that minorities, you come to this level.
The net P&L from discontinued operations reflects earn-outs from businesses from the divested services division. Let's move on to review the consolidated net debt. We ended the semester with a solid net cash position or negative net debt of EUR 1.3 billion, roughly. Starting from the left, we have dividends from projects that were EUR 378 million. This is mainly highways with EUR 150 million from the 407, EUR 158 million from the Dallas-Fort Worth M anaged Lanes, we have EUR 38 million from I-66 and I-77 last comes with EUR 11 million of dividends. We have the construction operating cash flows, ex tax payments, and ex dividends. This reached EUR 329 million. This is driven by prepayments and payments that were pending from Canada, the Ontario line. Prepayments in the U.S. and this catching up in Canada.
Tax payments reached EUR 48 million, here we have the main component, this EUR 26 million from Budimex, the corporate income tax there. In terms of investments, we had EUR 187 million of investments. The main one, as was commented before by Ignacio, is the last equity increase here in Phase A of EUR 63 million. We also have investments in energy, some projects in Leon County, in Texas, EUR 65 million that we are considering here, EUR 35 million are from this solar project that I mentioned. In construction, we have EUR 49 million. We go on with the interest received on the other investing activities cash flow. This is EUR 57 million, and this is basically cash remuneration on the equity we have.
We have the investments that reach EUR 96 million, and this is largely driven by the Silvertown Tunnel I mentioned in the last slide, and also the transmission in Chile. This is the most important part, EUR 78 million in total, these two divestments. In terms of cash dividend and treasury share purchases, we have EUR 398 million, and here, EUR 98 million was from the cash dividend, and the rest, the EUR 300 million, is share purchases in the buyback programs that we have since December 2025. We have other cash flows used in financing activities here. This is basically a bond that was raised, another one that was repaid, and also we have dividends to minorities in Budimex or financial leases. Last in this cash breakdown, we have the effect of the exchange rate on cash equivalents of EUR 20 million. Okay.
After this review, we are ready to open the Q&A session.
Okay. Thank you, Ignacio and Ernesto. Let's start with the Q&A session. Operator, please go ahead.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star five on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star five again. Please ensure that your devices are muted locally before proceeding with your question. Our first question comes from Marc Ip from Citi. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got a couple. The first one's just on the JFK New Terminal One delay. Can I ask how much contingency is built into the new March 2027 target, and if there are any other critical paths within that timeframe that could slip, or how prudent are you being with that timeline, basically? The second one on that is around, is there any sort of recourse or compensation available from the design builders as a result of this delay? I've got another question just on the construction business. I've seen the margins have returned, gone to your 3.5% long-term EBIT margin target. Can you share how much in the first half, how much of that margin offset is from the elevated bid costs?
Maybe, is there the potential tailwind in the second half if your bids have now gone in for the I-24 and the I-285 tenders? Thank you.
Thank you for your questions, we'll take both of them now. Regarding the JFK, what we have is this remedial plan that is with the new schedule of March 2027, is based on the best available information today. It's what is expected according to the plan, that has been prepared together with the contractor that we have there. This is the best available information that we have today. About what we have, as you know, the date was June 26, starting July, there are LDs that the contractor should pay for because of the delay. This is EUR 500,000 per day that it will maintain until it is open. Could be, of course, challenged by the contractor if they think that some of the delays is not because of their cost.
In the case of construction, yes, we have the effect in this first half of the year of the bidding cost, especially for the two large projects that we have submitted offers in July, both the I-24 in Nashville and the I-285 in Atlanta. Yet we continue bidding for other projects, we'll start to have other costs that it will have some effect in the bottom line. I think that starting will be lower than the spend so far. We'll see what is the effect at the end of the year. As usual, the only guidance that we give about the construction is 3.5% as an average for the long term.
Very clear. Thank you.
Next question comes from Cristian Nedelcu from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you very much for taking my questions. The first one on LBJ. With the construction almost finalized on the 635, having in mind the fact that LBJ traffic has been lagging the other U.S. lanes over the last few years, could you tell us a bit more, how do you think about volume supports in traffic going forward? If you can comment if you are anywhere close to triggering mandatory modes in any segments of the LBJ currently. The second one, there are some press articles recently suggesting that you may be looking to invest in a data center project in Alcobendas in Madrid at around EUR 1 billion. Could you tell us a bit more about this project? In general, from the perspective of capital allocation, is this a segment you are willing to allocate more capital on the mid-term?
Maybe the last one, if I could kindly ask you. I think over the last few weeks, the Washington Airports Authority gave a green light for a 20 billion+ CapEx program for one of the airports there. I believe you made an unsolicited offer a while ago on this project. Could you tell us a little bit more based on what's publicly available, what are the next steps in this process and the timeline from here? Thank you.
Thank you, Cristian. Yes. For the questions, I'll start with LBJ. Yes. You commented, yes, we saw some improvement in traffic in the last quarter, thanks to two of the segments, note, that are feeding the LBJ, and at the 635, we're almost finished. Also, the new managed lanes in the 635 will be completed in the first quarter of next year. But we are seeing some benefit coming from some almost finalization of some segments of this new managed lanes. Also, it's not only impacted by 635, but also 35E. There were some work and other works in the area that all of them will be finalizing in the following months, and we expect not to have any impact from construction activity in the area in the first quarter of next year.
Part of this benefit we are seeing today with some of the segments that have been finalized, but the full effect we'll see in the first quarter of next year. Regarding the data center, as we commented previously, that we purchased two power lands, one in Alcobendas, in Madrid, and another was in Warsaw, in Poland. The news that you read a few weeks ago about this project, is a special project as part of the Comunidad de Madrid, and it's a first phase that we are doing first totally 75 MW IT. The first part will be close to 45 MW IT to start with. What you have to consider that this is a total investment for the all phases. On top of that, there will be some leverage, and we can bring partners to participate with us and also contribute equity.
For us, in this business, we have a policy of recycling capital and rotating capital. Once it's a mature asset with a lease. So in total, the total amount of equity that we'll deploy in this business will be limited because of that, especially because of we'll rotate once it is mature, that it means what is finalized the construction. Then we have a lease in place. We are starting with Madrid and Poland, and depending on, we'll see later how we progress and how successful we are with these two sites in which we are working first. Regarding the Washington Airport, what was announced is that the Washington Airport Authority, that they want to develop a new project.
It's true that we participated in a request for ideas, and we presented some ideas about how to develop this airport with a P3, but finally it's not going to be done with a P3 project, and it's going to be done directly by the Washington Airport Authority. We are looking at it as a poor construction project, but we don't expect that this will be a P3 project in which we can allocate some capital.
Thanks, Ignacio. It's very helpful. Could I just double-check on the LBJ mandatory modes? Are we close-
Sorry.
on any segment to that-
It's true.
or not really?
Yes. Sorry. Yes. It's true that the last months, segment three of LBJ triggered some speed mandatory modes, I will say that these are non-significant and not relevant affecting the revenues at LBJ. As we have commented several times before, there is capacity available at LBJ, and we don't expect that the mandatory modes will have a significant impact in the following months or years. We don't expect, although we may have some sporadic events, I think that they will not have a significant impact in the short term.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Elodie Rall from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Just to jump back on the NTO. I was wondering if, given the delays to Phase A, you would seek a different contractor to carry out the works in Phase B1 and B2? Second question on the U.S. Managed Lanes and generally on your tolls exposure. Generally, traffic seems to be quite resilient, despite all the macro headwinds. What do you think is causing this traffic strength generally, and should we be mindful of gasoline? It doesn't seem to have any impact, but can you share your view on correlation there, between traffic and oil price for your assets? Lastly, I think you're planning a CMD at some point, but could you give us maybe your agenda there, if it's going to be, and when it's likely to be, and what it would be covering? Thank you.
Thank you, Elodie. About the NTO first, B1, B2, still we are just working with the design and the main focus of all the teams are on the DBO Phase A. We have not decided yet about who will be the contractor of the next phases, and just what we are doing today is working on the design. Regarding managed lanes, what we see is good. The economy is performing well, especially in the places in which we have our assets, Dallas North Tollway and Washington area and Charlotte. These areas are performing in general from an economic point of view well. We are not seeing a significant impact from oil prices, at least for the time being.
When you see in the long term, the main correlation is with the local GDP, and oil price is high for a long period of time, it may have an effect in the local GDP. For the time being, as commented, we have not seen a significant effect or impact from the oil prices. What we are seeing is a good local activity in the places where we have our assets. Regarding the Capital Markets Day, we have not taken a decision when we are going to do it. What we commented is that our strategic plan, Horizon 24, is finalizing this year, and we are internally working about a new Horizon plan for the next years. We have not taken a decision yet about when and how we are going to communicate externally this plan. We'll let you know as we take a decision about it.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from Ruairi Cullinane from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. First question would be, could you provide an update with regards to the I-77 South and the U.S. Managed Lane pipeline, given the media reports the local vote against the project. Secondly, on the 407 ETR, net financial expense increased 25% in Q2. Is that a reasonable run rate into the third quarter, or was there anything one-off in that? Also on the 407 ETR, quarterly dividend increased by CAD 300 million in Q2 and Q3. Is that the run rate we should be thinking about potentially into Q4, which would leave the 407 ETR dividend less Q4-weighted than in 2025? Thank you.
Thank you for the questions. I will take the first one about the pipeline, then Ernesto will answer the two about the 407, the financial expenses, and the OpEx. Regarding the I-77 South, we have been communicated about a delay of this project. As you know, we pre-qualified together with the other three groups, and the information that we have today is that this project is delayed for the time being, and we are waiting news from the North Carolina DOT about what next steps about this project and if they are going to issue an RFP and what is going to be the new timeline. We still are waiting about this project. Ernesto?
Yeah, okay. Regarding financial expenses on the 407, you have two effects here. One of them is, there's additional debt and additional issuance that, of course, drives costs higher. Also, there's been the effect of inflation on the inflation-linked bonds and derivatives of the concession. I wouldn't take a running rate because of this last effect. There needs to be more detail into that analysis before extrapolating that inflation component. Regarding dividends, there's no guidance provided by the 407. We don't provide guidance here, so I'm sorry, you have to leave it there. The last question, if you could basically rephrase that again. It was about OpEx. Could you please redo that again?
No, you've answered all my questions. It was linked to the question on the dividends. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you.
Next question comes from Luis Prieto from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. A couple of them very quickly. The first one is regarding the fact that you've recognized in the past the balance sheet headroom at the 407 ETR, on top of which the Q3 dividend grew very significantly year-over-year. Can we extrapolate this step-up in remuneration to the last quarter of 2026? The second question is regarding the favorable working capital performance, which seems very meaningful given the seasonality of this variable historically. Are we going to see more of the same in H2, or this is purely exception? Thank you.
Okay. Hi, Luis. I will take those. Regarding the dividend, it's like the last question. We don't provide any guidance regarding the dividend for the year. The 407 doesn't provide that, right? We keep it there. Regarding the other question, the working capital in construction, it's true that the first semester has been favorable from what I mentioned when I was reviewing the cash. There's been some, let's say collections or payments that have been kind of delayed that were basically cashed in this semester. This has been specific for this semester. Yes, the second half of the year usually have some positive working capital effect at the end of the year. We don't provide any guidance, but there's no reason to not expect some sort of seasonality there at the very end of the year as other years.
Super clear. Thank you.
The next question comes from Graham Hunt from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks team, and thanks for hosting the call. Just two questions. If we go back to the 407, I think historically you've talked about catching up some of the pricing that was lost during the price freezes over the COVID period. I wondered, does that still come into your thinking or are we in a different price regime now with a different approach with the promotions and things? I am just kind of looking for a bit of an update in your thinking there. We have seen multiple years of very high pricing, obviously stacked with the promotions. Yeah, just an update in how you think about the catch-up there, in terms of real pricing. Then the second question, I will go again on dividends, but not for the 407, maybe just for the group, Ernesto.
Any help you can give us in terms of how you are thinking about the last part of your overall returns guidance for 2026, in the second half, the shape of that, how we should be modeling it, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Thank you, Graham. I will answer the first question about the 407, and then Ernesto will come back with the dividends. About the 407, the way we see it is about value for users and how we can capture that value for users, at the same time, with relieving the congestion in the area. That from an internal perspective of maximizing EBITDA. When we think about this, you have to take all of this into consideration. As you know, there are different parts, and one of those parts is about the toll rate that we increase. We announced in November, but we implement at the beginning of the year. Also we offer promotions to different type of users, that is helping with the congestion relief, but is also help with some users that have different point of elasticity.
All of that combined with maximizing the EBITDA and reducing Schedule 22 payments. That is a different thing that, as you know, is traffic at the peak and is related to the thresholds and the different segments and how we are more effective, with promotions, reducing the Schedule 22 payments as we have been able to achieve in this second year. Yes, I think that because all this, we think differently to what we did in the past about pricing. It is not only about one increase, it is also considering how promotions play there. We maximize different effects of congestion relief, of maximizing revenues and EBITDA in different ways. Yes, I think that you should expect that this is the new rationale and how is where we are going to behave in the future. It will be based on these variables that I commented previously.
I think that is different to what we used to do in the past. The focus at the end will be maximizing the EBITDA. That's related to value to users and more economic growth in the Toronto area. Population growth in population will help us to increase the value. Ernesto?
Well, thanks, Graham. Regarding the question on dividends, I mean, there's no update now. Probably the board in October, that takes the decision on the second dividend, will update. Until then, we have no updates.
Got it. Thanks, guys. Very helpful.
The next question comes from Dario Maglione from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon. Three questions from me. The first one on the U.S. Texas Managed Lanes, which posted quite an impressive revenue growth in Q2, almost 20% for all the three assets, and that was despite bad weather. You mentioned various drivers for this growth. Could you maybe rank them or give them? You mentioned, for instance, the technology to classify high heavy vehicles. How significant was this? The second question related to the first question, the tech classification for heavy vehicles. My understanding is that it was implemented in 2025 at different dates for the different assets. Could you give us a bit more detail on this? The third question is on the 407 ETR. Traffic was down in the quarter in Q2. As you mentioned, some various effects.
You didn't mention really the promotion or the different type of promotions, but more an impact of the macroeconomic situation and traffic on alternative routes. With that in mind, what is the implication for the potential for toll increase in 2027 if traffic is now growing? Thanks.
Thank you, Dario. I will start by Texas Managed Lanes and the revenue growth that we have seen in the three assets. I think in terms of importance, probably the most important has been the classification of vehicles. As you know, they have a multiplier. With this new technology that we have implemented in the different managed lanes, it has helped us to identify more heavy vehicles that are paying more than they were paying before. This has been the main effect that we had. In the case of also the NT and the 35 West, also we had more mandatory modes than before that had a positive effect in the revenue per transaction. Of course, always we have some mixed effects, and always we have the impact of inflation in which we increase the soft CapEx at the beginning of the year.
Probably I mentioned those in terms of priority, what has been most relevant, and then the other effects that also were impacting this revenue per transaction with a 20% growth. It's relevant also what you mentioned about the classification of vehicles. Yes, because we implemented that last year, and we started with implementing new technology in the different countries, and we started with the 35 West, followed with NT, and we'll finalize with LBJ. Some of the information about the classification of these vehicles we used just from the beginning in all the three managed lanes. Some of the effect is already included in all of them. It's true that the comparison in the second half, like for like, will be already including this effect that we started to see at the end of the second half of last year.
You have to take that into consideration. The other effect in the managed lanes about traffic is construction. As when we see the end in the construction at LBJ and also at NT, for the capacity improvement, the effects will be of, in the case of NT, more traffic and less mandatory mode. In the case of LBJ, once the construction is finished, it's expected that some traffic will come back to the corridor. In the case of the 407, the effect of promotions has been very limited. I will say slightly more than the previous year, in terms of traffic affected by promotions in the second quarter of 2026 compared to the second quarter of 2025. It's true that with slightly more traffic affected by more promotions, we have been more effective in Schedule 22.
In that sense, we have some sectors in which we have traffic above the threshold. In those cases, we have reduced promotions. There were other sectors in which we were below the threshold, and in those cases, well, we have been more effective bringing some promotions that have helped us in order to reduce Schedule 22 payments. I will say that this is not a major effect, and the major effects that we have in traffic in this quarter compared to previous year is economic activity. That's mainly related to some industries that have uncertainty of tariffs. The whole economy is growing around 1%, but still we see some industries and sectors that are more affected and that will affect traffic.
We have seen also a relevant effect in terms of the delay in the maintenance in some competing highways, especially the 401, because of the FIFA World Cup, that they didn't want to do some construction works during that period of time. As usually, you can do only this type of maintenance with the good weather of spring and summer. In this year, all this construction activity was delayed. Third, also weather. We have a negative effect of weather. That was general. It was not only the 407, it was also in the managed lanes and other assets that we have that negative effect. In the future, well, as you know, we don't give guidance, but increasing prices will depend on the value that we see that the 407 has for the customers, and we'll try to capture as much as we can of this value.
This is what we are doing with a combination of increasing toll rates at the beginning of the year and also with the promotions that we are doing during the year to different segments. We'll continue to do that, and we'll try to capture the value that we give to users as we have done in the past.
Okay. Thank you, Ignacio.
The next question comes from Marcin Wojtal from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one is on your share buyback. I believe you have an authorization to buy back up to EUR 800 million until October of this year. I believe the latest disclosure points to EUR 340 million of this authorization being utilized. I'm just wondering, do you have an intention to actually fully exercise the authorization of EUR 800 million, and is that even feasible considering the liquidity of the stock? My question number two, if you allow me, I just wanted to come back to these promotions on the 407 ETR. I'm just wondering, are the promotions that you're offering right now very similar to what you were offering at the beginning of the process a year ago, or there has been a learning curve for the company?
Do you see promotions also going forward as an important tool of yield management and also as a tool that will allow you to extract more revenue and EBITDA over and beyond Schedule 22 management? Could you perhaps continue with promotions in the longer term, even if Schedule 22 is no longer an issue? Thank you.
Thanks, Marcin. Regarding the buyback, there's no specific guidance on the buyback. The guidance we have in terms of remuneration is on distributions, remuneration to shareholders eventually. We don't provide any specific guidance on how we manage the buyback. That could be quite sensitive, as you can imagine. Yes, we have the guidance on delivery to our final investors on distributions. That's all that we have.
Regarding the promotions, yes. The idea is to continue with the promotions in the future independently of Schedule 22. I think it's a very good way to attract new customers and maximize the value that we can capture for all the users of the 407. The ones that we do for Schedule 22, I think that are very similar in general. I think probably not in the same sectors or with the same type of users. We have learned which users are the most effective in terms of reducing Schedule 22 in the different segments, and we are more selective in that sense to offer those that generate the most value for us. Adding some new users that they were not offering before in some other sectors that we were paying some Schedule 22.
From there, I think that as you know, some of these promotions are free. The question is how much we can get for these promotions. Maybe the users are open to pay something for them. We are piloting and doing other type of different promotions in order to understand the value for the users. We are trying and testing different things. We'll continue to do these type of promotions and learning from them. It's a way to do a segmentation. Will continue in the future. It's a long journey in which we need to learn from the users.
With that, I think that it will take several years to maximize EBITDA for us using the promotions and to have a good understanding of the value of the 407 for the different user.
Our next question comes from Harishankar Ramamoorthy from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Just maybe on the 407 ETR. It looks like VKTs have been down this quarter year-on-year, but you've still managed to reverse some Schedule 22 provisions. It looks like 407 ETR have become really experts in managing the promotions for maybe peak of peak hours. Is it just that or is there any segment where you've hit the maximum throughput possible, and for that reason, you don't really have to expend efforts in managing the promotion? I couldn't quite square that circle on how you could have VKTs down but still have reversal of provisions. Is it just you've become so good in managing the promotions, or is there any other component to it? That's the first one.
Secondly, when we look at the mix of traffic with promotions and without, is there any plan for publishing or getting some data on color on how this splits between the two segments for 407 ETR? How much of traffic is without promotions and how much are the promotion volumes?
Okay. Thank you for your questions. We are not going to disclose traffic that is coming from promotions of traffic that are paying the toll rate at the normal price. You have to see the whole figures of the traffic and the revenue separately, it's something that we are not going to disclose any additional information about that. The other effect, what you have to consider is that comparing the quarter last year to this year, the effect on traffic of the promotions has been slightly positive. We have a little bit more traffic related to promotions this quarter compared to the quarter last year. With this slightly more traffic, what we have been able is to reduce significantly the Schedule 22 payments because we have targeted better for those users that are helping to reduce the Schedule 22 payment.
In other cases, in which some segments were more traffic than they needed for the threshold, we reduced the promotion. We have been more effective in order to address which promotions are helping us to reduce Schedule 22 with almost a similar, slightly above number of traffic related to promotions compared to previous years. We have been more effective. In general, I think that the effect of the traffic and promotion has been slightly more than previous year, but not significant.
Makes sense. Maybe just a follow-up there. None of the segments within the 407 ETR have hit a threshold where the throughput targets are now at the maximum limit, have they?
Well, if you mean we have traffic that is above the thresholds in some segments, the answer to that is yes. Because if not, you have a payment. The question is, do you have promotions in those segments that you need to have promotions in order to be above the threshold? Well, that's a different question. Yes, there are some segments like those, but we don't disclose which ones and how is the mix of that effect of promotions or no promotions to raise the threshold. We only pay Schedule 22 when we are below the threshold, and in the rest we are above. In some of them, we are above without promotions, and in other, we reach that thanks to the promotions.
Makes sense. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, please be reminded that if you'd like to ask a question, you must press star five on your telephone keypad. Our last question comes from Cristian Nedelcu from UBS. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much for allowing me to follow up. Could I please ask you on the Texas Managed Lanes, you mentioned earlier the mandatory modes on LBJ are not something imminent, and you flagged that on the NT, the capacity expansion may be a headwind for triggering mandatory modes. If you have this in mind, we think at 2027, can we talk a bit about the levers of growth in pricing for the Texas Managed Lanes? We know the pricing is at peak close to soft cap or at soft cap for most segments. Can you elaborate what other levers that are there directionally to improve? Is it off-peak pricing? There is room to increase that. Anything more on trucks or any other levers that could help you grow pricing more than the soft cap next year?
Apologies, I have one follow-up on the 407 ETR. I think you've been trialing the loyalty program for frequent users. I believe there were some trials in place the last few months, I was curious, what are the plans for the second half? Will you deploy this loyalty program more widely? How should we think from the perspective of potential dilution to the revenue per transaction related to the loyalty program? Thank you.
Well, thank you for the questions. Yes, in the case of the managed lanes, pricing will come several factors. First is the inflation that will increase soft cap at the beginning of the year. It's something that we do every year. Then, mandatory modes is something that will help us. But as you mentioned previously, we expect that the 35 West will continue to have, as long as the congestion is increasing and the economic activity in the area is increasing, we'll have more mandatory modes in the 35 West. But in the case of NT, we will not see that. We'll see instead of mandatory modes, more traffic. In the case of LBJ, similar to this year, we don't expect mandatory modes that are going to be significant or relevant, we'll see more traffic next year in LBJ similar to NT.
Of course, all depending on how is the economic activity and other variables that could happen at that time. We may have also some mix effect as usual, this mix effect is having more traffic at peak, the other effect is having more trucks. Now that with more economic activity, used to have more trucks than in the past. These are the effects that we'll see next year and that will impact the revenues that we'll see in the Texas Managed Lanes for next year. Regarding the 407, yes, we did start with some pilots of the loyalty program, we have not taken a decision yet how we will continue with these pilots. We are doing the pilots with different types of promotions. Some of them are working, others not.
Based on the results, we take decisions, we have not decided yet how we will continue with loyalty programs.
That's very helpful. Thank you very much.
There are no further questions at the conference call at this time. I will now hand the line back to Silvia Ruiz, Head of IR.
I'm not Silvia Ruiz. I'm Ignacio, but I just to give you thank you for following us, and well, hope those of you are taking vacations, hopefully you have a good rest of the summer. Thank you very much for joining us